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Not sure if this is the right forum, or if I can even post a petition. MODS, feel free to relocate or if this does not meet the rules, regulations and or policies of this site, please feel free to remove or suggest an alternate forum where this can be discussed, and the link for the petition be posted.
Regards,
Marmite
"Last standing POW camp of its kind is on Canadian Soil" but it is going to be demolished unless we can mobilize enough people to petition the municipal, provincial and federal governments to step in with funding. The way I see it, if they can flush billions down the drain propping up a car maker that wastes money and produces a garbage product, they can at least send a few hundred thousand and preserve a piece of History. At least give me a say in where some of my tax dollars are spent.
Please sign the below petition and express your support.
Thanks.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-bowmanville-pow-camp-30-from-demolition
(edited to insert correct link)
Updated News Article from the Toronto Star...
http://www.thestar.com/article/610075
Blaze damages PoW camp
YVONNE BERG FOR THE TORONTO STAR
Clarington firefighters tend to hot spots inside the administration building at Camp 30 in Bowmanville, which served as a PoW camp for German officers.
Crime Stoppers
Gutted 'jewel' of a building at centre of bid to preserve WWII site from development
Mar 29, 2009 04:30 AM
Sunny Freeman
STAFF REPORTER
"It's a sad day for Canadian history," local historian Lynn Philip Hodgson lamented yesterday after learning that two suspicious fires gutted buildings at the historic Camp 30 facility, a World War II-era PoW facility in Bowmanville.
Camp 30, a collection of 18 buildings on 40 hectares of rural land about 45 minutes east of Toronto, was the only one used by the Allies to house captured high-ranking Nazi officers. It is the only known intact camp for German prisoners of war still left in the world.
Fire crews and police were called to the site at 2020 Lambs Rd. around 5:30 a.m. yesterday, said Clarington Fire Chief Gord Weir. A resident in a neighbouring subdivision saw flames and called 911.
One fire caused "major damage" to a vacant building known as the classroom or administration building, used as a general's quarters in World War II. Weir estimated the loss to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The roof of the two-storey classroom building collapsed, but the brick walls are still standing.
Fire crews and police discovered a second blaze during a precautionary check of surrounding buildings. Weir said officials believe the fires broke out independently.
The second fire caused minor damage to a building nearly 550 metres away, which housed a swimming pool and a gym.
"It's quite a large property, it's not that the embers flew over to the other building,'' said Weir. "We're treating it as suspicious, but I can't speculate further."
The Ontario Fire Marshal was called in to investigate, along with Durham police.
Weir said fire and police crews have received reports that kids frequent the abandoned property to play and vandalize the site, but he did not recall being called in for a nuisance fire in the past.
Hodgson, a councillor for nearby Scugog Township who has been working to preserve the site for 10 years and wrote a book on its history, visited the scene yesterday.
The administration building, built in 1925 to house the then school's headmaster, used to be "an absolute jewel," he said. "But it's now completely gutted ... It's a shell of brick out there."
"I can't imagine what human being would do that to our history and heritage ... I hope it's a wake-up call for anyone else interested in preserving Canada's history to step in and do something to preserve the remaining buildings."
Hodgson said the destroyed administration building was the cornerstone of his pitch to preserve the site. "Unfortunately, most of my ideas were built around the building destroyed today. The idea was to turn the building into a community centre, where youth could play basketball and floor hockey."
Bowmanville Mayor Jim Abernethy said town councillors and the complex's new owners feared the boarded-up buildings, which have been vacant since an Islamic school moved out last fall, would become "an attraction for kids."
"It's a disappointing tragedy," he said. "It was everybody's greatest fear that something like this would happen."
Fire officials contacted the property owners, The Kaitlin Group, which slated the buildings for demolition this spring to make way for homes.
The owners could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Last month, Clarington council put the site on its list of heritage properties, which gives them 60 days to do something once the owner applies for demolition.
"We're going to have meetings to resolve how to move forward. We certainly don't want something like this to happen again," Abernethy said.
His council appealed to provincial and federal heritage ministries to assist in the site's preservation, but so far they "haven't got any concrete response," he added.
"We need to come up with a plan in terms of saving the site, or a portion of the site. It's of extreme importance as a Canadian military heritage site."
Regards,
Marmite
"Last standing POW camp of its kind is on Canadian Soil" but it is going to be demolished unless we can mobilize enough people to petition the municipal, provincial and federal governments to step in with funding. The way I see it, if they can flush billions down the drain propping up a car maker that wastes money and produces a garbage product, they can at least send a few hundred thousand and preserve a piece of History. At least give me a say in where some of my tax dollars are spent.
Please sign the below petition and express your support.
Thanks.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-bowmanville-pow-camp-30-from-demolition
(edited to insert correct link)
Updated News Article from the Toronto Star...
http://www.thestar.com/article/610075
Blaze damages PoW camp
YVONNE BERG FOR THE TORONTO STAR
Clarington firefighters tend to hot spots inside the administration building at Camp 30 in Bowmanville, which served as a PoW camp for German officers.
Crime Stoppers
Gutted 'jewel' of a building at centre of bid to preserve WWII site from development
Mar 29, 2009 04:30 AM
Sunny Freeman
STAFF REPORTER
"It's a sad day for Canadian history," local historian Lynn Philip Hodgson lamented yesterday after learning that two suspicious fires gutted buildings at the historic Camp 30 facility, a World War II-era PoW facility in Bowmanville.
Camp 30, a collection of 18 buildings on 40 hectares of rural land about 45 minutes east of Toronto, was the only one used by the Allies to house captured high-ranking Nazi officers. It is the only known intact camp for German prisoners of war still left in the world.
Fire crews and police were called to the site at 2020 Lambs Rd. around 5:30 a.m. yesterday, said Clarington Fire Chief Gord Weir. A resident in a neighbouring subdivision saw flames and called 911.
One fire caused "major damage" to a vacant building known as the classroom or administration building, used as a general's quarters in World War II. Weir estimated the loss to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The roof of the two-storey classroom building collapsed, but the brick walls are still standing.
Fire crews and police discovered a second blaze during a precautionary check of surrounding buildings. Weir said officials believe the fires broke out independently.
The second fire caused minor damage to a building nearly 550 metres away, which housed a swimming pool and a gym.
"It's quite a large property, it's not that the embers flew over to the other building,'' said Weir. "We're treating it as suspicious, but I can't speculate further."
The Ontario Fire Marshal was called in to investigate, along with Durham police.
Weir said fire and police crews have received reports that kids frequent the abandoned property to play and vandalize the site, but he did not recall being called in for a nuisance fire in the past.
Hodgson, a councillor for nearby Scugog Township who has been working to preserve the site for 10 years and wrote a book on its history, visited the scene yesterday.
The administration building, built in 1925 to house the then school's headmaster, used to be "an absolute jewel," he said. "But it's now completely gutted ... It's a shell of brick out there."
"I can't imagine what human being would do that to our history and heritage ... I hope it's a wake-up call for anyone else interested in preserving Canada's history to step in and do something to preserve the remaining buildings."
Hodgson said the destroyed administration building was the cornerstone of his pitch to preserve the site. "Unfortunately, most of my ideas were built around the building destroyed today. The idea was to turn the building into a community centre, where youth could play basketball and floor hockey."
Bowmanville Mayor Jim Abernethy said town councillors and the complex's new owners feared the boarded-up buildings, which have been vacant since an Islamic school moved out last fall, would become "an attraction for kids."
"It's a disappointing tragedy," he said. "It was everybody's greatest fear that something like this would happen."
Fire officials contacted the property owners, The Kaitlin Group, which slated the buildings for demolition this spring to make way for homes.
The owners could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Last month, Clarington council put the site on its list of heritage properties, which gives them 60 days to do something once the owner applies for demolition.
"We're going to have meetings to resolve how to move forward. We certainly don't want something like this to happen again," Abernethy said.
His council appealed to provincial and federal heritage ministries to assist in the site's preservation, but so far they "haven't got any concrete response," he added.
"We need to come up with a plan in terms of saving the site, or a portion of the site. It's of extreme importance as a Canadian military heritage site."
