Bob JonesD
11868 
New life for Callander’s old Lookout Inn
BayToday
5Where is the money coming from to do all this, especially if there is a December opening? Is this being privately funded, or is taxpayer money being spent? If it is private funding, I wish the investors luck, for they will need it. On the other hand, as a taxpayer I don’t want to see my money going down into some rathole. There has been too much taxpayer money handed out over the years to questionable enterprises that eventually go bankrupt.
32- Bob JonesD
Widdifield school could land on the auction block
BayToday 12Why not move the students back to Widdifield, and sell off Chippewa? It’s a safer neighborhood. The homeless shelter next to Chippewa is a real problem. It’s costing extra for security, fencing, and extra custodial care to pick up needles and other drug paraphernalia. Chippewa could be turned into some sort of social services hub.
4- Bob JonesD
Deal makes OPP uniform officers highest paid police in Ontario
BayToday 13There is an upward ratchet effect to this. Toronto Police will use the OPP settlement as a reference point when their contract comes up for renewal. Toronto thinks they should be the best paid police in Ontario. Then, once Toronto settles, smaller municipal forces like North Bay, Sudbury, Kingston, and Windsor will demand raises that bring them close to Toronto and OPP. Soon, small town taxpayers will be funding police salaries starting around $150,000. I agree, it can be a tough job, but at these wages they are encroaching on doctors, dentists, engineers, and architects, who must undertake a lot more costly education. The government needs to look at ways to rein in policing costs, whether by a longer tier of increments (teachers take 12 years to reach their maximum, after 4 years of undergraduate and 2 years of teachers college), or more auxiliary police at lower rates.
1- Bob JonesD
North Bay body-worn camera project hits pause
BayToday 10The OPP are already wearing body cams in several regions, well along the way to province-wide use. Sooner or later, lack of body cams by North Bay Police will become a major issue in a high profile event. The next time the issue of North Bay switching to OPP comes up the OPP will have a selling feature to offer as an incentive to change police services. The OPP will be able to offer a centralized support system for the storage and retrieval of camera footage. If the NBPS service wants to maintain its place, it will need to stop making excuses and get with the program.
4- Bob JonesD
'So scared': Victim hurt in Barrie jewellery store robbery still reeling from attack
BayToday 9Did Terri Andrianopoulos not understand the story. Someone was injured. Terrible that this type of thing is happening more and more. But why jewelry? It has to be fenced, resulting in a low payout to the thieves, Violence during a robbery brings consequences, even in our very lax justice system. There are better ways for thieves to get money: go into politics and get payouts from land developers.
5- Bob JonesD
Lakeshore drug bust brings out the SWAT team
BayToday 12You would think these low level drug dealers would look around and realize what a low margin job they are in: high risk and low reward. Maybe realize that they would be better off getting a legitimate job. If I had a job that requires me to stay at places like that to do my business, I’d find another line of work.
- Bob JonesD
Child refusing to go to school? There's a seminar for that
BayToday 12My mother had a solution for that. And it wasn’t a seminar.
- Bob JonesD
Widdifield school could land on the auction block
BayToday 9The job of senior administration is to do long term strategic planning. Why is it that they are only coming up with a plan now, and need a year to do it? The closure of Widdifield was announced back in 2016, and it has sat (mostly) empty since June of 2020. There should have been several options considered and documented by now. What has the top leadership been doing to justify their rich salaries?
1- Bob JonesD
Fedeli promises update on Canadore's delayed treatment centre
BayToday 7Poverty and its accompanying issues (mental illness, substance abuse, low grade criminality, etc) are big business. Plenty of well paying jobs in the court/prison/police system depend on a steady stream of poor souls who can not function well in society. Similarly, support programs are top heavy with administrators and bureaucracy. Now it seems friends of Fedeli have tapped into the money steam. For all the money spent, nothing seems to get better. Of course, if your job/business/cash flow depends on poverty, there is no real incentive to truly solve the issue.
3- Bob JonesD
Driver with more than three times the legal limit arrested by police
BayToday 6OPP release the names of drivers charged with impaired operation. North Bay police don’t. Court records are public. Anyone can access court dockets online, which show the name of the person charged, and the offence. The public can attend court to view the proceedings. All this requires some digging, which is why it is preferable to keep your name from being released in the first place. This is one reason why local big shots prefer to have city police.
3- Bob JonesD
21-year-old arrested in overnight schoolyard shooting
BayToday 6The spokesman for the Nipissing- Parry Sound is not providing information on the incident, reassurances to parents, or information on when the school will re-open. What is the point of having a spokesman, if that is the best they can offer? Why does a relatively small school board even need a spokesman? Shouldn’t that simply be one of the duties of the well paid Superintendents, or the Director of Education?
2- Bob JonesD
Near North schools data breach affecting current and former students and staff
BayToday 6It is an unfortunate fact that security breaches do happen. Less forgivable are the secretiveness and evasiveness with which the Near North School Board responds to this, and other issues. Consider also the way in which public inquiries over the situation at the former Widdifield Secondary School site have been stonewalled. At the top of the pyramid are a Director of Education, several Superintendents, as well as a few other well paid administrators. Why is it that press releases go unsigned, as if to deflect responsibility for poor decisions and/or lack of response. The sunshine list makes quite clear that these people are well paid, yet they don’t seem willing to take the responsibility that comes with the pay and the position.
2- Bob JonesD
Officer struck by fleeing stolen vehicle
BayToday 2Kudos to the Supervisory Officer who had the good sense to abort the vehicle pursuit out of concerns for public safety. Unfortunately, the police in Durham weren’t as competent.
6- Bob JonesD
$1 turns into $100,000 for North Bay resident
BayToday 6Is that you, my long lost uncle Norman?
1- Bob JonesD
PODCAST: Nuclear waste transportation through North Bay?
BayToday 2The electricity generated by the nuclear plants primarily is used in the GTA. Let them store the nuclear waste there. Maybe deep under a subway station near Forest Hill or Rosedale. Or perhaps near the Beaches or the Kingsway. If you want to see a bunch of wealthy Toronto big shots squeal, tell them to take care of their own problems instead of dumping it on a remote First Nations community. In Oakville about 10 years ago they would not allow a natural gas generating station to be built; they would have screamed blue murder if a nuclear waste dump was proposed.
1- Bob JonesD
CONTEST: Enter for a chance to win four tickets to see comedian Pauly Shore at the Capitol Centre
BayTodayI can’t imagine paying to see Pauly Shore. The real winners in this contest for free tickets are those who don’t win a ticket. They get to keep two hours of their life to do something more interesting, such as rearranging their sock drawers.
3- Bob JonesD
Local retiree wins cool quarter-million bucks
BayToday 1Is that you, my long lost uncle Raymond?
- Bob JonesD
