Student reporter

Our Carleton Place High School co-op student wraps up her time with us on Monday.
Alicia Rogers came to us saying she planned on going to journalism school in the fall. She's been a great addition to the team and we wish her the best in her career.
Here's something Alicia wrote for us this week:

Alicia Rogers
Student reporter

Those who think romance is dead might just be right.
The town of Mississippi Mills and an Almonte youth group are joining forces this Valentine’s Day to host a “Zombie Ball.”
Calvin Murphy, Mississippi Mills’ recreation coordinator, says the zombie themed idea came from “the TYPS side of things.”
During discussions with the town and the group Taking Young People Seriously, ideas were thrown around for a Valentine’s Day dance and the undead idea came alive.
“It was a joint effort,” says Murphy.
Both groups are hoping to get a large turnout of youth for this event. For those who are unsure about what to do for a zombie themed dance, TYPS (located at 79 Bridge St.) will be providing make-up between 4-7 p.m. the night of the dance.
All you have to do is provide a donation. Proceeds from the canteen will go towards the Almonte skate park project.
“We’re putting this on for a worthwhile cause,” says Murphy.
The dance will take place Friday, Feb. 12 at the Almonte Community Centre between 8-11 p.m. The cost is $2 per person at the door and all youth aged 12 to 18 are invited. For more information contact TYPS at 613-256-8485 or Murphy at 613-256-1077.

YourOttawaRegion.com

Sorry for the long period of silence.
We've been busy getting ready for the official launch of YourOttawaRegion.com next month.
The new site will give us a good push to become a daily news organization, which I think is pretty much a must in 2010. The site has already got us going with video and some of the staff have really taken an interest in the new medium.
There are still some bugs to be worked out, but I think we're nearly there.
YourOttawaRegion.com isn't the newspaper put online, but rather a product of its own that gets most of its copy from our community papers.
Take a look and let me know what you think.

Councillor threatens newspaper

Our sister paper, the Kanata Kourier-Standard, is involved in an interesting situation.
All of the newspapers in our family have cut back on editorial space. In order to find some room for more local news, some papers have decided to end the free weekly columns written by politicians.
One Ottawa councillor is now threatening to have the city yank its advertising dollars if her column isn't reinstated.
Read more about the story and what Coun. Marianne Wilkinson has to say:

‘I can pressure you’: Kanata North councillor vows to stop city ads if paper pulls column

Give your head a shake, councillor

Councillor's cancelled column spurs front-page fight

Send your thoughts to the Kourier-Standard's associate editor: blair.edwards@metroland.com

Driving us to drink

Sometimes the simple stories are the hardest to put together.
We wanted to do quick piece looking at what's hot at the LCBO for Christmas this week.
Memories of hitting the liquor store for a gift on the way to a premier's Christmas party came flooding back for me. (We got him some ice wine)
But there was an early problem in the story.
Our local manager said he needed the OK from corporate. So we called and were surprised to hear the communications person say she wasn't sure if they could handle the request.
That request was basically to tell us what trends were big this year locally in wine, beer and spirits.
The LCBO employee then said she'd try to get someone in the greater Ottawa area ... to tell us what's big in Carleton Place.
Later, she called to say she found someone in Barrhaven who would love to tell us what's all the rage in the liquor store -- he'd just have to touch base with the Carleton Place manager first.
That's right, in order to get a quote from right here, we'll have to call LCBO HQ, who would call someone in Ottawa, who would call someone here, who would then call us.
Your taxpayer dollars at work.

Barn fire video

Reporter Erin Fitzgerald shot her first Canadian Gazette video for us yesterday.
As always seems the case, we put off the hands-on camera training for too long. Instead, Erin was given the camera, shown how to turn it on and sent on her way.
The results were pretty good, I think.

Lord's Prayer

More letters keep coming in regarding the Lord's Prayer.
We've had quite a reaction to the stories and letters regarding the Carleton Place mayor's attempt to bring the Lord's Prayer to county council meetings.
A majority of feedback has congratulated Paul Dulmage and seems to see this as a beachhead against political correctness.
On the other hand, I've been surprised by the letters against the move. All but one have been very analytical and scholarly in tone. Some even use scripture to argue against having the prayer.
Our editorial will take a look at this issue in the Nov. 26 edition.
A part of me wonders if this is pre-election posturing. After all, the council has already had this debate and even the courts have ruled against it.
But what politician would want to hear at the doorstep, "I heard you voted against the Lord's Prayer."

Carols in Pakenham

Canadian Gazette photographer Katie Mulligan visits the Jingle Bell Tour in Pakenham. We're hoping to offer much more local multimedia in the months to come.