Lesson to heed

Nestor Falls may only boast a few hundred residents but its vibrant community spirit would make towns many times its size green with envy.
Take, for instance, the spirited campaign underway to have Nestor Falls proclaimed the “Ultimate Fishing Town.” The community surged past Dauphin, Man. over the weekend and, now nearing 34,000 votes at last report in the World Fishing Network’s online contest, is closing in rapidly on Port Alberni, B.C. for top spot.
What’s amazing is how the effort, spearheaded by Maureen Hanson of Hanson’s Hideaway Lodge & Getaway North Outposts, not only has blossomed from a small group typing in e-mail addresses for hours upon end to more and more people getting on board to help, but, as she put it, has put a “spring in everybody’s step and a smile on their face.”
Whether Nestor Falls wins the title, along with the $25,000 donation and a 30-minute special on WFN, when voting ends at 4 p.m. (local time) on Sept. 28, it’s great to see a community rally around a common cause. Such spirit certainly was lacking here as Fort Frances, by contrast, barely could muster 500 votes in the preliminary round en route to being eliminated from further contention.
Then there’s the Nestor Falls area residents and businesses who grabbed the bull by the horns to protest a proposed site for a new landfill. It took just a couple of weeks for a groundswell of opposition to rise up and convince the township to abandon the Peterson Road option.
In short, you can fight city hall if people care enough to take up an issue.
Nestor Falls is a perfect example of what community spirit and pride can accomplish even in troubling times, and is a good lesson for other district towns to heed.