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Petrolia may not be facing big provincial funding cuts now, but Mayor John McCharles is worried about the future. The provincial government recently released the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund grants and rural municipalities faced huge cuts. Some, such as Brooke-Alvinston, Dawn-Euphemia and Enniskillen Township, face cuts, which if left unchecked would increase taxes between 10 and 20 percent. Petrolia actually

Helen Havlik is ready to make a comeback. The Petrolia town councilor has been sidelined since August after suffering a stroke. Town council has been holding her seat open while she recovers. Monday, she was at the town council meeting, not at her regular chair but sitting in the gallery, keeping up with the agenda. Havlik told The Independent she

Charmaine Collins   Friends and family are reeling after a  23 year old Petrolia native died in a house fire in Ottawa. Saturday Charmaine Collins died when the two-story duplex she shared with a number of young women caught fire in the early morning hours. Collins’ 21 year old roommate from Perth also perished. Reports say a number of the

Petrolia Councilor Joel Field and his daughter, Hanna, look over some of the items donated to the Blevins family after their Eureka Street home caught fire Dec. 7.   Every time Brian Blevins picks up the phone, it is someone else who wants to help. The Petrolia man and his family were left homeless after fire heavily damaged their Eureka

  Helen Haywood is looking to spread some Christmas cheer. The owner of Helen’s Hideway in downtown Petrolia is offering a free meal Tues. Dec. 17 to show her customers she appreciates their business. She’s also opening up the free turkey buffet to those who may not be able to afford a Christmas dinner this year or who will be

One woman’s fight to keep ad mail out of the garbage is growing. Becca Amendola was “persistently complaining” for weeks about the papers being thrown out in the Petrolia post office’s garbage can only to be told Canada Post is not required to recycle. Officials at the district office also told her they would not put a recycling bin in

WAIT in Plympton-Wyoming is hoping to get a little more time to respond to Suncor Energy’s Cedar Point project. Suncor’s 42 industrial wind turbine project based in Warwick and Plympton-Wyoming is up for approval by the Environmental Review Tribunal, but the public first has 30-days to ask questions about the controversial wind energy development. The notices of the 30-day question

It looks like BMX bikers and skateboarders in Wyoming will have a place to ride in 2014. Plympton-Wyoming Mayor Lonny Napper says council will move ahead on the project in the spring. Council has been studying the idea for sometime, but were having  problem coming up with a location. Some councilors thought the park should be built at the Bowling

  Homes with seniors and the disabled will have to pay to have their fire plans reviewed each year. This spring, the province decided all seniors’ homes and those for the medically vulnerable had to have sprinklers. More than 50,000 seniors live in about 700 retirement homes in Ontario Part of the changes made at the time included making each

Jesse Grandmont expects this year’s VPP Christmas Jamboree to be little like the music which happens when family gets together during the holidays. Grandmont, know for his show Fiddler on the Roof and as part of the Starbright Christmas ensemble, is one of five artists bringing Christmas to Victoria Playhouse Petrolia starting Friday. “The way I’m describing the shows this

The Town of Petrolia is looking for a home for an oil derrick. Town council agreed to move ahead on a new entrance sign at its Monday meeting. It will be placed at the corner of Petrolia and Discovery Line where the current sign, complete with a steel replica oil derrick, stands. “Pride Signs will start making the sign over

Seed farmers may soon have a way to gain extra revenue from their crop. Don McCabe, an Inwood farmer who is the vice president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, says a new study by the University of Guelph shows corn stocks could be the next feedstock for biochemical companies. But he says farmers will have to ban together to