Yep, this ticks me off

Ever since the United States changed the rules for Canadians to cross the border I had intended to get myself an updated passport.

One day someone mentioned something called a "Nexus" card which is supposed to be like a passport for travel between Canada and the US and was cheaper than a passport.

Several months ago I looked into it and decided to go for it.
I filled out the online application and waited for the initial application approval. When that was completed a few weeks later I went online to book an appointment for my interview at one of the border crossing locations listed.
The Houlton, Maine location was the closest to me a short distance from Woodstock, NB.

I work in Woodstock. It would have been convenient to book the appointment on a workday and take my lunch hour for it but it worked out the closest appointment fell during the week that I had booked vacation time.
Oh well.

On the day of my interview B and I headed out fairly early for the 1 1/4 hour drive to the Houlton customs office for my interview. B wanted to come along for the ride to keep me company.

I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly and helpful the young lady at the front desk was.
I was equally impressed by the friendliness of the officer who conducted the actual interview too. He was quite easy going and the interview went very well.

At the end he asked me if B was there for an interview too. He told me that kids under 18 can get a Nexus card for free if a parent has one.
That's a pretty sweet deal. Additionally, once my guys have cards they can use them as official photo ID.

When I got home I headed to the web site and filled out the initial applications for both boys.
We were hoping that perhaps we could have the process done in decent time and be able to hop over to Maine for a day trip while it was still summer but as it worked out the initial conditional approval didn't arrive until almost a month and a half later.

From there I needed to go to the web site and book an appointment for their interviews.
We preferred not to have the boys miss any school so I booked them for their next school professional development day on October 21.

Over the next few weeks we assembled what we needed for the interviews.
The problem we had was that we couldn't find T's birth certificate anywhere in the house. I still don't have a clue where it could be.
We tore the house apart looking for it with no luck.

On October 16th I went to the Government of Ontario web site to see what could be done to get T a replacement certificate.
At this point I didn't even know if this was possible but happily found out that replacing it was very easy and only cost $35.
I completed the transaction. A message came up stating that the replacement birth certificate should arrive within 15 days or so.

Unfortunately our appointment was only 5 days away and it wouldn't arrive in time for that.

I was wondering if there was anything else that we could use for T for his proof of citizenship.
If there was no other option I would have to reschedule the boys for a different day. I didn't want to take separate trips all the way to Houlton for this. That would be a waste of time and wasted gas.

I tried several times to contact the Houlton office to ask but every time I tried to call that day the line was busy.
I had an appointment not too far away from there that afternoon so I took an early lunch to drop by and speak to someone in person.

I told the man at the desk my predicament and asked what my options were.
There was nothing else that we could use. It had to be his birth certificate.

When I mentioned that a replacement was on its way, the man told me that the officer could conduct the full interview for T and once the new birth certificate arrived I could head over so they could scan it to complete the process for T.
How sweet is that? That was perfect.
We could still do it on the boys' day off.

A couple of days later I called the Nexus place again to confirm that it would still be okay to drop off T's birth certificate later and that I didn't have to have it with me.
The man on the phone was the same one that I had spoken to when I was there and he confirmed what he had told me before.

Great. We were all set.

On October 21 the boys and I headed out fairly early for Houlton to make sure we got there in time for the 9:30 interviews.

When we entered the man at the desk was the same from my last visit and when I called a few days prior.
I gave him everything we had for both boys and he took it over to the officer who was to do the interviews.
I found out that the person who conducts the actual interviews is a US customs officer.

He called B and I over to do the interview. I had to answer most of the questions since I am the boys' guardian.

It was pretty clear from the beginning that this dude was not as friendly or easy going as the one who interviewed me.
He hardly looked at us and was rather abrupt and snarky at times.
No matter, we breezed through the process in a few minutes.
He took B's picture for the card and that was that.

Then it came time for T's application.
He asked me where T's birth certificate was. I told him that we had misplaced the original but a replacement was being mailed from Ontario and that I would drop by as soon as it arrived.
He said that I would have to reschedule T's appointment when I had his birth certificate.

I mentioned that I was told that we could do the interview without it and I would be certain to bring it when we received it.
Nope, he said. I had to reschedule. There was no other way.

Talk about feeling like being kicked in the stomach.
I didn't pursue it any further. It wouldn't have done any good if I did.

We went back over to the main desk area where the first guy was and I told him what the other officer had said.

He just looked at me.
There was no "Geez, I guess I was mistaken. Sorry about that pal."
Nothing.

I said that I would call and make a new appointment.

As we drove away I was so frickin angry.
T seemed resigned to the facts and took it in stride. Much better than I did.

How could one person who works there tell us something, TWICE, and be wrong like that??
Don't you think they should be on the same page to avoid this?

Anyway you get the point. I was steamed. I won't go on about it any more.

Guess what arrived at the house that afternoon? Yep, the replacement birth certificate was delivered by courier only 5 days after I ordered it.

I've booked a new appointment for T's interview.

Wish us luck.

Stay well,
Tim

Short and Sweet

I know many bloggers don't like to quote or refer to newspapers or other media sources but I make exceptions when I'm the one being written about.
I don't think the Gleaner would mind since I have praise for them in this post.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Heather McLaughlin of the Daily Gleaner to talk about my last blog. She had a couple of questions about my decision to not seek re-election in the spring.
We spoke for a few minutes and I left it to fate to see how it would play out.

(You recall that in the past some news sources have taken my words and I haven't always come out looking so well.)

I was very pleased when I saw this in the Gleaner on Monday October 10.
Heather did a very nice job of keeping the details of our conversation short and sweet to which I am thankful.
Here is a link to it.

Gleaner article

If for some reason the link above doesn't work I have copied and pasted it here as well.

Scammell won't reoffer
Published Monday October 10th, 2011
By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN

New Maryland Coun. Tim Scammell says he has decided not to reoffer when municipal elections roll around next spring.

Scammell said he's enjoyed his experience on council.

"I would encourage anyone to offer themselves for public office, but I really recommend that they evaluate the time commitment and determine if it fits into their lives or not," Scammell said.

The married father of twin boys, who will be 14 by the time May elections roll around, said he wants to spend more time with them during their teenage years.

Scammell said he wanted to make his intentions known early so that anyone interested in running in the next municipal election has a headstart.

"I know of a couple of guys who have expressed their interest in it and if they do, it will be great. It would be an awesome council if they got on," he said.

Scammell said he'd be happy to share his thoughts with any candidates who want to know what the job of councillor entails, and he's not ruling out a return to local politics if the timing is right.

This appeared in the Comments section on the web version of the story.

"But Tim, you are the one who should be running for Mayor! If anyone can get some GOOD things happening for the village, it would be YOU. Too bad the younger blood and voices are being chased out. Wish you would really stay on!"
A Reader, Fredericton on 10/10/11 11:02:10 AM ADT

I appreciated this and replied to it.

"Thank-you very much for the kind words and confidence A Reader. I appreciate it more than I can tell you.
Please don't feel that I'm being chased out though. I don't feel that way.
I plan on staying involved with Village matters and would like to remain on at least one of the committees that I'm presently on if the upcoming Mayor and Council will permit.
It wasn't an easy decision to make but it's the right one for now.
However, in 2016 my sons will be 18 and most likely quite independent of their dear old dad.
That may be a good time to consider seeking office again. (If the voters would have me).
Thanks again.
Tim"
Tim Scammell, New Maryland on 11/10/11 12:05:38 PM ADT

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by what A Reader said.

My pal Charles posted my last blog on his blog site and I was stunned by the level of nastiness that spilled out of the comments section.
If that venom was left here I would not allow them to be posted but Charles censors very little on his blog.
I won't bother repeating them here but I was saddened that there are people who could look at what I had written and blast me for it.
I've blown it off now thanks to good words from good friends who put it in perspective.

Anyhoo, now I carry on with the last few months of my term on New Maryland Council.

There's some busy times ahead with the upcoming budget and the new year coming.

Carry on.

Stay well,
Tim

It's been interesting, Thanks

To many this isn't news since I made this decision several weeks ago.
I haven't kept it a secret but I figured that I should say something publicly.

There's no better place to do so than right here where people can see it.

This decision has actually been brewing in my mind for a pretty long time.

In my July 21st post I referred to the Council meeting of that week.
Specifically a member of the public who showed up and was somewhat annoying.
What I didn't mention was that to be at that Council meeting I had to leave my sons' baseball game in the second inning.

As I sat in the meeting listening to that gentleman a nagging thought in my head was saying "I am missing my boys' baseball game for this".

That wasn't the first time I had heard that thought.

I'll admit that I've been pretty lucky in my term on Council as far as schedule conflicts. Usually these things have worked out pretty well.
However, there have been several occasions that I have missed a game due to a meeting.

I won't blame New Maryland Council for all that I've missed.

I missed T's very first hockey goal several years ago to be at a meeting of NBSCETT Council. I was the president at the time. (I'm not currently involved with NBSCETT Council.)

I still feel the sting of that day.
I remember clearly when my cell phone rang during the meeting. I excused myself to take the call.

It was T calling to tell me that he scored his very first goal that day.
I was so damn proud of him and announced it to everyone at the meeting that my son had scored his first goal.

An awesome feeling and a terrible feeling at the same time.
I wasn't there when he scored the goal.

Honestly, I don't know how my boys feel when I wave goodbye to them while they are on the ball diamond or hockey rink in the middle of a game.

If you were to ask them they would probably tell you that it's okay and no big deal but I'm not sure that would be the whole truth.

Do you know why I think this? Because of the bad feeling I have in my stomach as I am waving goodbye to them while they are in the middle of a game.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love watching my sons in anything that they are involved in.
That's no surprise. Any decent parent has that feeling.

My sons will be 14 years old next year when the municipal election comes along.
If I were to run for a Council position and win, that would mean another 4 year term on New Maryland Council.

At the end of that 4 years my boys will be 18 years old.
I'm not trying to predict the future but I'm thinking that by the time my sons are 18 years old they may not have as much time in their lives for baseball, hockey and activities as they do right now.

The next few years in my sons' lives are going to be pretty special ones.
My being there with them may be important for them.
It will be critical to me.

So, I've made up my mind that I will not be running for a position on New Maryland Council in the upcoming election.

I'm not saying that I will never run again though.

I plan to stay on at least one of the committees that I am on right now.

Perhaps in a few years when the boys have grown up and have lives that are mainly independent of my own I'll decide to jump into the fray again.

I'm not leaving the game. I just want to sit on the bench for a while.

Thanks for putting me in Coach.


Stay well,
Tim

Where to start...

Geez. It gets to be so long between posts and there are so many things in my head that I would love to talk about.
If I tried to I would be typing for days.

I guess I'll start with baseball.
In my last post I referred to the boys' upcoming year end baseball tournament that weekend.
If you go back a year in this blog you'll see that the boys took gold in the tournament by beating Minto and the kid with the rocket arm.
What worked in our favour was that we had several strong pitchers and we saved my son B for the last game to seal it up.
The Minto team on the other hand, only had a couple of good pitchers but the rocket kid was their strength.
Last year he was used in Friday and Saturday's games and when it came down to the final game he couldn't play for as much of the game as if he didn't pitch at all.

This year was a different story, thanks to Mother Nature.

The tournament started pretty well the same as last year with our lads walking over the competition for the first 2 days assuring their spot in the final game on Sunday.
As we expected, the same team from Minto was going to be the other team. Just like last year.

Our coaches had the same strategy and worked it out so that we would use my other son T and the others to pitch and save B for Sunday's final game.
If he didn't pitch at all in any other game he was clear to pitch up to the maximum 85 pitches in the final game.
If he was called in to pitch in any of the other games it would mean that his pitch limit would be reduced by half since there was not enough time to rest between games.

Our advantage against Minto would be that the rocket kid would have been used either Friday or Saturday and would be limited to how many he could throw on Sunday.

B was not used Friday or Saturday and was clear for Sunday.

This is where Mother Nature came in and messed it up for us.
Sunday was rained out so the Final game was postponed until Tuesday night.

Great.
All of the pitchers on boths teams had enough rest and could throw up to 85 pitches in the game.

It turned out that that other kid held our guys back and our bats did not produce results.

B did a very good job on the mound but I'm sorry to say that it was not enough.
I don't want to seem like I'm blaming but there were some plays in our field that were rather sloppy and put us behind.
Minto's offence isn't the strongest but they didn't make the errors that we did that day.
Plus, without hits we couldn't get runs back.

I'm proud of our guys for the effort but Minto deserved that game.

Some people don't understand how a team may not be overjoyed at still winning a silver medal.
Looking at the guys in the photo above it doesn't look like they were overjoyed about it, does it?

In all fairness to them that picture was taken immediately after the game when they were still stinging.
I'm glad to say that within an hour or so they all seemed to be back to good spirits and feeling much better.

Look at it this way. They were the second best team in the entire league for 2011. That's pretty darn good.

So, another baseball season is done.

Yesterday I signed up the boys for the upcoming hockey season.
The leaves on the trees have started changing colours like crazy this week.
Before long the snow will be here and the seemingly eternal Canadian winter will be upon us.

But we have hockey.

Bring it on. :)

Stay well,
Tim

Wait! What Summer?

I can't believe it.
When we were driving home from Moncton the other day I glanced over at some trees near the highway and saw a whole lot of leaves that were already changing colour.

For crying out loud. There are still 2 weeks left in August! The boys are still on summer vacation.

I have to say that this summer has been one of the more disappointing ones in terms of the weather.
The sun would be out on days that we had nothing in particular going on but many days that the boys had a baseball game the rain would blast down and ruin everything.

What's worse is that on a few occasions it rained like crazy in the morning and stopped by midday.
By then it was too late to try and prepare the ball field for a game that night even if it could dry out enough to play a game.

Last night was supposed to be their last regular season game before the end of year tournament this weekend. But, it poured rain yesterday morning and the game was cancelled.
That sucks. We have all been very disappointed when this has happened.

As you know, we love our baseball and I REALLY look forward to watching my guys play.
On top of this, there were 2 games that we were supposed to play that were cancelled because they couldn't find an umpire!
How sad is that?

I'm ashamed to say this but there were a couple of times that I had to leave when the game was in progress in order to be at Council related meetings.

In fact, do you recall my last post? The one about that idiot spouting off at Council about what he felt was the right way to build a road?

That was one of those nights that I had left the boys' ball game to be at that meeting.

I didn't mention this in the last post but what was going through my head when that goof was talking (apart from wanting to tell him where the door was, and for him to use it right away) was that I was sitting there listening to that rubbish while my sons were playing baseball.
And that really ticked me off. The straw that broke the camel's back and provided me with some clarity, if you will.

I guess I'm mentioning this so that the blog I will be posting in the near future won't come as a real surprise to anyone reading it.
A couple of people already know what's coming but I'll leave it at that for now.

For now I'm going to cross my fingers that the weather decides to be nice to us this weekend so that we can at least have a decent conclusion to the lads' ball season.

Stay well,
Tim

The facts? That would be great please.

After this entry I hope to never discuss Baker Brook ever again on this blog.

This was taken directly from FOX FM News page this morning and was played on the air as I was travelling to work.

"A resident of New Maryland is concerned that flooding may start on Baker Brook Court if the village keeps just a paved curb on the street instead of digging a ditch. Bela Galantai made a presentation to the council about his concern last night, he says he wanted to educate council about the problem and hopes council can look into fixing it.
New Maryland Mayor Frank Dunn says he appreciates Galantai coming forward and he will take a look into his concern."

As you know, I am on New Maryland Council and happened to be there. I also have a little knowledge of details that were overlooked by the reporter on hand last night.

I really don't want to go back and detail all of the problems that have taken place with the Baker Brook project. I don't have enough time.
If you like, there's some details here in my blog entry from last year. A little bit weary I suppose. How are you?

I accept that far less people will read this than who heard the radio news item this morning. Plus, most reading this will not have heard it or even care about what I'm talking about.

So I guess I'm writing this as personal way to get things off my back and give some small satisfaction that (to steal a phrase from X-Files) "The Truth is Out There" since my local media outlets don't appear to share my attention to detail.

That's okay. They are very busy with many things.

Okay, let's go.

First of all, when the Baker Brook work was being planned as part of the larger Infrastucture project it was agreed that we should give the residents as much as we possibly can since it had been far too long since their street had been upgraded.

The sanitary system upgrade was mandatory since the existing wastewater lagoon had long passed the end of its lifespan and likely become an environmental hazard.

While this work was to happen the Council decided that we would go that extra mile and connect the residents to the Village municipal water supply. The new water tower being built in the project added some water capacity and hooking on a few more homes onto the system would be no problem.
Presently about 1/3 or so of the Village homes are connected to the Village system. The rest of us are on our own wells.

So that was added to what was to be done.

Prior to the project both sides of the street had sufficient drainage of storm water.
There had been no reports of inablity to handle the capacity of storm water that flowed on the street.
However, there were some funds available so that we could improve the storm drainage on the high side of the street and add curb and gutter and catchbasins while we were in there.
So we chose to go for it. After all, we were giving the residents of Baker Brook a sweet new street with sparkling new features already.

Keep in mind that there was nothing wrong with the system as it was. By rights all we really should have done was fix the road and keep the rest as it was.
This upgrade to the upper side of the street would add appeal to the appearance and also improve the stormwater drainage capacity. Just in case.

The lower side of the street was to remain as it is since we could not afford to do both sides.
That was okay though.
There are other places in New Maryland with curb on one side and none on the other. It's quite common and functions adequately.

The Village's consulting engineer has been satisfied with the work that we have decided to do.
This chap is a Professional Engineer who gets paid well to have knowledge in these things and provide these opinions to his clients.

That was fine with me.

Now to the present day.

The Baker Brook portion of the project is in its final stages.
The watermain laterals are installed in all except one home.
The sanitary system has been modified and that stuff is now travelling to our treatment plant instead of the derelict lagoon which it did before.

The stone is all down and the new curbing is finished on the upper side of the road.

There are a couple of things being tidied up and then it's paving time.
Brand new blacktop.
It will be quite a street to see.

Just prior to our Council meeting last night I received a message detailing this chap's concerns which he brought up with the engineer.
The engineer advised him that it is what it is but that he could go to the meeting and say what was on his mind if he wished.

When this dude started talking he indicated that he has been building concrete foundations for many years and personally did many of the homes in New Maryland.

Somewhere I thought I heard it mentioned that he stated that he is a developer but that is very different than building foundations for someone else completing a home.

Here's my thing.

As you see in the above news item he told the news that he wanted to educate Council about the problem.

First of all, who the heck is he to say that he will "educate" me??
I completely understand the value of practical experience related to formal education. In fact, there is a man I work with who has more experience-gained knowledge in his little finger than most people who are university or college educated.

But for this guy to stroll in out of nowhere and proclaim himself to be an expert and show us what's really going on? I don't think so.
Thanks anyway.

Secondly, this is the very end of the project. No-one has had any issues with the way we were doing this up until now.

Thirdly, there is no more money even if we wanted to add more curbs. The Infrastructure funds are done.
If there is to be more curbing it will have to come out of my Transportation budget. And that will not happen.

Right now we are working on a 5-year plan to add to the sidewalk system in the areas surrounding New Maryland Elementary School so that kids walking to school won't have to walk in the roadways as they do now.
This is my priority and you can't have any money from that.

Lastly, and this is pretty huge.
This guy ISN'T a New Maryland resident!
He lives in Fredericton and just bought a vacant lot on Baker Brook.
His plan is to build a house on the lot and probably sell it.
I don't think that he has ever had any intention of becoming a resident of the Village.
What I see is that he thinks that a new house with a new curb in front of it would fetch more than one without.

I should point out that the news item is confused about what is to go in and what this guy wants.

There is no problem with that drainage.
Will there ever be in the future? Maybe. Maybe not. Who the heck knows? With the wild weather the world is being hit with these days I think that we could all be in for surprises now and then.
The major flooding in New Brunswick last December was a perfect example of it.

I mentioned something last night which I'll say here.

Even if the Village had an extra $100,000, for example, to go out and build some curbs, what makes that piece of Baker Brook any more deserving than any other Village street that is in the same situation?

I'll wrap it up now.

Keep in mind that not all that you read is precise or even true and that even if it is true, there may be details not included that could change the entire tone or meaning.

Stay well,
Tim

Oh! The Places They're Going.

Once in a while something comes along that makes the job of being a Village Councillor truly worthwhile and worth all of the hard work.
Last night was one of those occasions.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Graduation Exercises for the Fredericton High School Class of 2011 at the Aitken Centre.

I had received invitations in the last couple of years but for whatever reason was unable to attend until this year.

I really didn't know what to expect as I had not been to one of these before.
Heck, I didn't even go to my own high school graduation ceremony.
Actually, when I earned my Grade 12 Diploma at A. Y. Jackson Secondary School in North York I intended on continuing on to Grade 13 the following year.
The Grade 12 diploma didn't seem like a big deal to me so I skipped the ceremony.

I suppose I could say that a representative of Canada's postal service presented me with my Grade 12 diploma. (It came in the mail).

I did go into Grade 13 but didn't quite get that diploma at the end. I dropped out that year and went back the next year to try out "Grade 14".
I didn't get the diploma that year either.
It's a long story that I won't bother telling right now but I WILL say that I made a lot of friends and had a very good time that year. :)

It was a weird time in my life. I'll leave it at that.

What I wasn't expecting last night was to see a class of almost 500 kids take a very large step into their adult lives.
I had no idea that there were so many! Granted, FHS has over 1900 students in Grades 9-12 so I should have figured it out that about a quarter would be graduating last night. FHS website

It was incredible to see so many kids down there. I was in the reserved area of the stands. There were at least 1000 family members and friends filling the stands.

It was almost like being at a UNB Varsity Reds game except that it was very very hot in there last night.



Usually in such a situation I may try to find a way to escape and get air but last night I sat there in the heat for the whole time and applauded while every single student's name was called and they went up to receive their diplomas.

It may sound a bit odd but I was okay with that. Really.
I only knew a few of the kids that were graduating but I felt very proud for all of them.

I know that I would never be called upon to speak at these ceremonies but I sort of wished that I was.

I would like to have told them what was going on in my head as I watched the ceremony.

I would have told them that just a couple of days before I was stunned to realize that even though it felt like my boys had just gone into middle school they were in fact ending their second year.

I wish I could have told them how scared I am to know that before I know it my sons will be heading into that very school that they are now leaving after 4 years.

I would have told them that even though there may have been days that FHS felt like the last place in the world that they wanted to be, in fact, their days at FHS are probably going to be the ones that they look back with the most fondness as they move on in life.

I would have said that it scares the hell out of me to know how fast the day is coming that my two "little" boys will be sitting there in those seats at their own graduation ceremony.

I would have told them that I was pretty certain that those parents up in the stands with me were feeling a worry that every parent will always feel that their "babies" will be okay as they grow up and move on in their lives.

I wish I could have told them that wherever they are going and however busy and wild their lives will become tomorrow, please sit down once in a while and talk to those who love you.
Because they really do want to know how you are and what's going on.

Finally, I wish that no matter what places they go and what wonders and worries they are certain to face that they come out happily and safely on the other side.


Stay well,
Tim