Page 4 - July 27, 2017

Editorial
Hard work pays off
It has been a long two years for the people who have been keeping Petrolia Discovery going despite di cult circumstances. And they can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
A er many nancially di cult years, in Aug. 2015, the foundation which runs Petrolia Discovery and the Town of Petrolia struck a deal for town o cials to man- age the site. e site closed so the town could review the state of the buildings. It wouldn’t reopen again.
e town asked Lambton County building inspectors to come out and look at the buildings. By late Septem- ber, the building inspector condemned six buildings and posted an order which kept everyone but Discov- ery board members o the property.
e town “reluctantly” stepped away from the pro- ject saying the repairs would be too much for Petrolia taxpayers to bear.
e Discovery Foundation didn’t have the money either but they didn’t step away. Over the past few years, the group has not only raised money through Victorian Tea’s, yard sales and working bingos, it has made sure more oil wells are pumping crude from the ground - the black gold is the nancial lifeblood of the site as well as its reason for being.
And on top of that, they started guring out how to meet this massive challenge to keep Petrolia’s oil history alive.
We’re sure there are those who say it has taken too long or perhaps the volunteers aren’t getting enough done or the work that is done should have been done di erently but those people didn’t step up. Just the vol- unteer board and a few local business people held on to the belief that Petrolia’s oil history must be shared. ey put their heads down and like the hard oilers who built this town, they went to work.
And now, they’re close to their goal. We expect they could use a few hands to help tidy up the grounds so the site can open in August. Perhaps some current day hard oilers might be willing to lend a hand.
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Page 4
The Independent
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Our Story
A rare early photo of what is now St. Paul’s United Church. Both of the peaked roofs on the towers are now gone.
From the Dave Burwell Photo Collec on
Journalists weigh their words knowing the power of print
When I was a kid, I didn’t really know what my dad did at work each day.
cause or their best friend and they want to make sure you know about
it. Generally speaking, I don’t mind explaining what I do and why I do it. But sometimes, it’s dif cult especially when it has to do with ethics in journalism. The industry is constantly changing.
media.
We try our best.
He would leave the house early in the morning with his black lunch bucket and return around supper time with stories to tell and jokes to share.
Very often I will sit at my desk trying to gure out how to approach a story.
I knew he worked at his auto sales and wrecking business, but WHAT he did, I didn’t really understand.
Years ago, if you printed something in a newspaper, only the people who read the newspaper would know about it. If they didn’t like it, they might call you or perhaps write a letter to the editor.
While this
column doesn’t
give me
enough room to
articulate all of
the guidelines I
follow, I will say
myself, and every
journalist I know,
does their best to be fair to all, to think through each decision before acting. We recognize the impact words have and we don’t take our responsibilities lightly. We weigh every action we take.
I only found out one summer when I took care of the books for my dad while his secretary was on maternity leave. It was an eye opener into the world of owning your own business and how people treat car dealers.
Now, everything is in the public domain. People in your community
or across the ocean can comment and criticize instantly. It increases the impact of what we do. That’s good and bad.
Heather Wright
The same is true for journalists. I would hazard a guess that at least once a week, someone questions why I do what I do in the local newspaper.
Sometimes, the questions are just people being curious. Sometimes, people are angry. You’ve done something to offend them or their
It can be a very daunting thing to make a decision based on your ethics because we know it might affect someone’s life and play out on social
We also know sometimes we get it wrong and then we have to be big enough to admit it.
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CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2016
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Reporters: Sales Associates:
Classi eds / Graphics:
Heather Wright
news@petrolialambtonindependent.ca
Bonnie Stevenson, Pam Wright Dawn Sperling
sales@petrolialambtonindependent.ca
Barry Wright
sales2@petrolialambtonindependent.ca
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o ce@petrolialambtonindependent.ca
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