Every now and then, a story posted on Facebook, or in this newspaper, garners an unusual amount of attention. When we published the story about the honey-making business in Kemptville coming under attack by the Municipality, the resulting post on Facebook got around 7,000 views (and counting). Not only is this a very large number of views for a local story, it resulted in a remarkably large, and virtually unanimous number of comments. It should be a concern for Council, Mayor and staff that those comments were overwhelmingly critical of them.

People in North Grenville and beyond are absolutely furious that a small and successful local business should be subjected to what is seen as bureaucratic bullying, when it should be encouraged and promoted. Not only, according to the comments, is this a long-established and successful business, it is environmentally friendly, protects a dwindling honey bee population, and produces a product that is of high quality and popular with consumers. What is the Municipality doing putting bureaucratic by-law enforcement ahead of decent common sense, ask the comments?

A small sampling of remarks: Rob says, “I think it is time to remind our famous council that they don’t work for a few they work for us all . There is too much bullying tactics going on with government today. This council has embarrassed us and the community long enough. Elections are not far off, maybe a new council will start working for the betterment of all, not just a few”.

Maria echoes the thoughts of many when she says: “This man has tried to do everything to comply, what a shame to see this business go and put people out of work.”

Bernie asks a pertinent question: “Is it not funny that most towns and or municipalities would love to have businesses set up shop in their zone, but instead, we have an arrogant town that wishes the opposite? This family, business, and property deserves better treatment”.

Almost everyone made the point that this business predates many of the houses around it, and people buying in that area knew about it before they moved in. They should not be complaining now. Others are concerned that there is more to this than meets the eye. Paul says it: “I have a feeling that the Municipality is acting on behalf of development interests and rather than openly trying to expropriate, the Municipality is trying to tie up Mr Vichos in so much red tape that he has no choice but to move his wonderful business…I think there are other undisclosed reasons the Municipality is giving this Business a hard time”.

Whatever the circumstances, it is at least heartening to know that sales of Vichos honey in North Grenville have increased significantly since the story first appeared. Given the support expressed in almost 7,000 comments, Council should pay attention.

13 COMMENTS

  1. Outstanding! It IS all a bunch of “snakes in the grass” SOMEBODY wants Mr Vichos property because they think all communities should be like that “economic apartheid” community down by the golf course! I was an active volunteer, and a 14yr resident of the community, and i feel this was one of the unique and interesting things about Kemptville.
    Unfortunately this sort of “piracy” is going to continue as long as we let them. Somehow, the people of the community are going to have to start finding ways, other than waiting for elections, to let governments know that THEY WORK FOR US! IT’S NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!!

  2. The Vichos property sits on a hill. Imagine the building and business both gone. What a lovely spot it would make for a developer to come in and build big new home. Council wake up! We don’t want long time local businesses like this bullied out of existence by an arrogant council that perpetually panders to developers and their own desires rather than those who voted them in.

  3. As a born and raised local I find it hard to be proud of my town in recent years. This catering to new home development has been nothing but detrimental to our town (village certainly doesn’t suit us anymore; no charm). I remember Honey Hill from my childhood, and was hoping maybe my son would aswell. I guess this is just another nail in the coffin for Kemptville.

  4. As a proud member and supporter of this community both personally and corporately I am disappointed that my name has been brought into this in a negative manner. The facts are this issue has to do with intolerance from 1 or more neighbors and nothing to do with the building community. We support dozens of local businesses and would never do anything to negatively affect a colleague or their employees. While the staff at North Grenville may not be perfect (or are the rest of us) they are not out to destroy or harm new or established businesses and I am sure they will work hard to come up with a positive solution for Peter.
    If there is one thing that I have come to realize after 23 years of being in the work force is that negativity towards problems that arise will never help towards a positive outcome.

  5. Years ago we slid down this hill on our toboggans , today we would need a licence , to have fun . It was known as the honey hill . We were never stung once, but seems Peter is about to get stung, one persons complaint shouldn’t overpower no complaints in 60 years . That person should stand up and fight the battle face to all residents of Kemptville

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