From The Editors

Hugmob for the Mercury

Posted by Phil Andrews

A hugmob to send off the Mercury, what a brilliant, Guelph, Dawn Matheson suggestion.

Thanks for even floating it.

 

 

Thanks for the support

Posted by Phil Andrews

On behalf of our newsroom team, I would like to thank the scores of folks for their expressions of support since news of the Mercury's closure broke.

We have been touched, floored and very moved by all the messages. The volume is staggering.

I'm told the final edition of the paper is proving a popular sell with advertisers. We're working to develop a final paper with impact too.

Again, many thanks. It has been an honour to serve this community as the editor of the Mercury.

Three newspaper columns

Posted by Phil Andrews

Here's a column I wrote about the history of the Mercury last year.

Here is a good column by a fellow Torstar journalist, Chantal Hebert, on the state of the media in this country and what she feels that means for Canada.

This Marsha Leaderman column in The Globe and Mail is also a provocative piece on the state of mainstream media.

Pot a field of Guelph research and employment?

Posted by Phil Andrews

I typed Guelph into the search field for the Toronto Star website this week. Only, I mistyped the word. (Chirping welcome in the comment field.) I typed in "Gueph."

Through serendipity or fate, it took me to an interesting recent Guelph story -- where the author had made the same typo.Yes, and the editors missed it too.

The story profiled a recent University of Guelph graduate who now works as a production manager at a medical marijuana cultivation facility.

It got me to thinking how (legal) marijuana production and research may be a booming sector for U of G students and grads. And, that was before we reported on the research money landed to do just such work -- under the supervision of Prof. Mike Dixon.

No ice fishing at Guelph Lake...

Posted by Phil Andrews

A few days after we published an image of a man fishing at Guelph Lake, we heard from the Grand River Conservation Authority.

The GRCA official wanted us to help make clear that the authority has no sanctioned season for fishing at Guelph Lake.

This led to a clarification by us -- and a letter to the editor and a press release being issued by the organization.

Like (though not identical) responses sometimes unfold after we publish photos of such things as: children tobogganing without helmets, children playing helmetless shinny hockey on a local rink or people skating on a cleared, frozen, stormwater pond.)

Here is the GRCA press release about Guelph Lake and ice-fishing:

Stay off the ice at Guelph Lake

The Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) is warning people to stay off the ice at Guelph Lake Conservation Area, which is closed for the winter season. There are signs at the park’s entrance indicating the ice is unsafe.

The GRCA does not currently offer ice fishing as a winter activity at Guelph Lake. Those who venture out onto the ice are putting their safety at risk. Guelph Lake is a working reservoir, and water levels can rise or fall quickly, meaning ice can become thin or unstable in a very short period of time and without warning. Ice thickness is not monitored at Guelph Lake and many of the roads within the park are not plowed. This could make it difficult for GRCA staff or emergency services personnel to assist people out on the lake in the event of an emergency.

Avid anglers can go ice-fishing at three other GRCA parks where this winter program is in place: Shade’s Mills in Cambridge, Pinehurst Lake near Paris, and Belwood Lake near Fergus. Conditions are monitored daily at these locations to ensure the ice thickness meets safety requirements. When the ice is too thin, the program is suspended until is safe to resume.

At the time of this release, only Shade’s Mills in Cambridge was offering ice fishing. Those interested in ice fishing at GRCA parks should visit the GRCA website (www.grandriver.ca), and click on the Grand River Parks Winter Activities Update in the Newsroom for the most up-to-date information on which activities are open or closed at GRCA parks.

Reporting on a murder-suicide

Posted by Phil Andrews

There has been some recent commentary on this blog about whether there is news value in reporting on deaths being the result of a murder-suicide.

I was pondering this dialogue in digesting the reports this week of just such an incident in a New York State college setting.

I find it newsworthy and very relevant to make public whether Ontario deaths may be of this nature -- particularly amid the context of our premier leading a very conspicuous campaign where we seek to confront domestic and sexualized violence. If there is a murder in such circumstances, I believe that's an important fact to make public and to note socially.

Reporting on suicides needs to be done with care. I appreciate that. But disclosing some homicides and not others seems inappropriate to me.

Hilary Swank is in Guelph or Geneva or somewhere else

Posted by Phil Andrews

These stories tend to bite us if we chase them and if we don't.

We've been told Hollywood movie star Hilary Swank has recently been sighted in recent days working out a Guelph gym. A Mercury staffer, in a non-newsroom department, says she saw Swank taking a selfie with another patron of the gym while she was there. She even has a photo of the moment.

Tweets have placed her at a variety of Guelph locations in the past week. A local bowling alley, a local gym and a local LCBO outlet are among them.

And, today, a Tweet that seems to be by Swank places her in Geneva, shopping for watches.

We're looking into this.

FOI request for Eden Mills fire report declined

Posted by Phil Andrews

The Mercury tried to obtain the report of the Ontario Fire Marshal's office into a probe of a Nov. 20 fire in Eden Mills. It submitted a request for the document under the province's access to information legislation. The request was denied this month.

The fire was at a home where a husband and wife died that day. The two were in their 40s.

The public has never been informed of the nature of the deaths or what caused the fire. It has not even been provided with a damage estimate connected to the fire.

The incident was the subject of considerable conjecture in the community. The citizens who died were somewhat prominent. One was a firefighter. The other was a staffer in a Hamilton law firm.

The lead rationale cited for withholding the report:

"The ministry may refuse to disclose a record where the disclosure could reasonable be expected to interfere with a law enforcement matter;"

and

"The ministry may refuse to disclose a record where the disclosure could reasonably be expected to facilitate the commission of an unlawful act or hamper the control of crime;"

Given that the OPP has said no criminal charges are going to arise from this matter, it's frustrating that the report is being kept out of the public realm. A far more appropriate response to the FOI request would have been to provide the requested document, with the information that the ministry deems exempt excised from the report.

The communications surrounding this case have raised several questions in the community and they will likely continue to do so.

We're likely to appeal the decision to reject the FOI request

 

 

 

Public advisory about public input period?

Posted by Phil Andrews

Perhaps it was just folks in our newsroom thinking this way.

But our newsroom team was thinking it was pretty inconspicuous how the public had been invited to participate in a 60-day period to offer input about a proposed special, 10-year, arrangement that would allow the local Owens Corning plant to operate outside of pending new emissions regulations.

We only learned about the public input process after engaging in a follow-up story effort related to Owens Corning's application for such relief.

Had there been no media work about this matter, I wonder how many locals would have been aware of this 60-day input period that ends early next month.

Certainly, more effort went into informing the public of the intention of the firm to seek this site-specific emissions operating standard, a year ago.

Season's Greetings, from Liz Sandals

Posted by Phil Andrews

An update on my recent post about politicians and Christmas cards:

I received a card (pictured above) from Liz Sandals today. It included an invite to a New Year's Levee staged by Liz and Lloyd Longfield, on Jan. 10

The card was originally mailed to The Guelph Mercury, on Dec. 12, c/o of a now discontinued PO Box.  The card was shipped in an envelope that contained the original, sealed envelope with the 'Return to Sender' sticker still on it.

Maybe a card from the premier hit the same postal snag.