Sir: On Sept. 3, 2009, Mountaineer Movers backed into our new driveway in Chatham after travelling 497 miles (799 km) from our home in Elliot Lake.
The trip had taken a day and everybody was exhausted. And I was a Chathamite! If that’s what we’re called; I wouldn’t want to be a Chathammer…
Probably as a result of being naturally inquisitive (my wife calls it prying or being nosey but I call it the result of 25 years in the newspaper business), I started trying to find out more about Chatham.
“What’s all this I hear about The Capitol Theatre?” I asked the assembled customers when I first visited the local barber shop. I won’t bore you with the answers, but I soon realized The Capitol Theatre was (and still is) a really hot topic in town.
Another hot topic nowadays is the Ghost Line, which is my name for WDC Rail, officially the municipally controlled company owning the old CXS track, which it purchased in October of 2013.
According to Jim Blake’s story in the Jan. 7 Chatham Voice, WDC Rail is “proactive.” I struggled to relate this to my definition of the word.
As far as I am concerned, it means either “creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened” or “assuming an active, rather than passive, role in doing, accomplishing, etc.; taking the initiative.”
Blake was quoting Stuart McFadden, the municipality’s deputy economic director. Stuart said the council is being both proactive and transparent in its handling of WDC Rail
Eh?
I re-read Jim’s story,
Apparently Stuart was referring to “operating expenses,” which included “being a good neighbour to property owners whose land abuts the track. We don’t want weeds and debris adversely affecting their properties.”
But the track is still available if anybody wants to buy it. Seemingly the municipality is still open for offers for the railway.
“We still have active files we’re working on and remain hopeful that we will be able to attract a purchaser, but as time goes on we have to realize that whether it works out or not, we have a valuable asset,” said Stuart.
By the way, if anybody is interested I am selling some prime swampland ideal for cottages in Elliot Lake. Any offers?
Stephen Beecroft
Chatham
