Sergeant Joseph Taylor (1887-1918)

"I'm not sure why he had it but my Grandfather who lived in England (he is deceased) gave me a WW1 medal when I was a kid. I was doing some research and figured out that it was awarded to Sergeant Joseph Taylor, 25th Bn. Canadian Infantry (Nova Scotia Regiment). He appears on the Cenatoph in your town. It holds no sentimental value for me. If you have any information about his family, I would be glad to mail them the medal or you could share my email address and they can contact me directly. I live in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I do not want any payment for it. I just think it would be nice for his family to have it.

Thanks, Mark"

Emails to stmarysheritage@lycos.com will be forwarded to Mark
A photo of St Marys Cenotaph

Perth-Wellington (Ontario) Election Results

Conservative incumbant Gary Schellenberger was re-elected in yesterday's federal election in Perth-Wellington, Ontario. The Conservatives, NDP, Green and Christian Heritage Parties all did better than in the last election. St Marys councillor David Cunningham received 2681 fewer votes than the Liberal candidate in 2004.

21,986	45.9%		Gary Schellenberger
12,351	25.8%		David Cunningham
8,934	18.6%		Keith Dinicol
3,203	6.7%		John Cowling
1,432	3.1%		Irma Devries

Shown are results released election night. The validated results released several days later are Schellenberger 22,004 46.1%, Cunningham 12,301 25.8%, Dinicol 8,876 18.6%, Cowling 3,117 6.5%, DeVries 1,396 2.9%

St Marys Ontario Federal Election Results (less advanced poll).

Library Renovation and Expansion Meeting

On Wednesday, January 25 at 6:30 pm project architect John Knox will present his feasibility study on expanding and renovating St Marys library. Mayor Tony Winter, St Marys Public Library Board members and staff will be present. The library was last expanded in 1988 when it doubled in size.

Living Life Mission Update

St Marys council with 1 dissenting vote has given another $10,000 to a Hamilton firm to develop plans to expand the hockey arena (the project is also known as the Living Life Mission).

The project will now cost an additional $3 million from just 2 months ago. The dissenting vote was from Bill Osbourne who dissented on the grounds that if funding was not in place when the expansion cost $10 million then the funding won't be in place now that it costs $13 million.

Municipal, provincial and federal funding will be required. Perth South, which paid for 40% of the cost of the current arena, has rejected making even a token contribution to expanding the arena. Federal and provincial funding programs do not currently exist for this kind of project.

The report Arena Manager Jim Bryson presented at the August 23, 2006 St Marys council meeting that led to hiring the architect is at:
St Marys Ontario - Living Life Project.

Free Curling

St Marys Curling Club will be offering free curling instruction on Tuesday at 1:00pm. They are located at the Lind Sportsplex, 425 Water Street South.

Catholic Reorganization

The London Ontario Catholic Diocese final recommendation for parish reorganization will see 1 in 5 churches closed.

Holy Name of Mary Church in St Marys is part of the Huron-Perth Deanery which will close 7 churches. Holy Name of Mary itself is being asked to reduce its number of Masses. It is also being asked to submit a plan by February 14 to show how it will become financially viable within 3 years.

2 pastors and 1 associate pastor serve St Joseph's, Stratford, Immaculate Conception, Stratford and Holy Name of Mary, St Marys. The Stratford churches had already reduced to 2 Masses each.

Green Party Event

The 2004 documentary 'The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream' will be shown Saturday, January 7, 2006, 7:00PM at the Friendship Centre, James Street, St Marys. The Green Party candidate for Perth-Wellington, John Cowling, will chair a discussion afterwards. The premise of the 78 minute film is that the suburban lifestyle must change because suburbs depend on cheap and abundant fossil fuels and global oil production has peaked.

See also John Cowling on Peak Oil