Louise Sproule

Position: 
Publisher and Editor
Photo
Review publisher Louise Sproule has owned The Review since 1992. Louise writes the editorial each week, covers Champlain Township council meetings and water and environmental issues, in addition to regular news. Louise is a two-time winner of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association “Best Local Editorial” award in the 10,000-and-under circulation category.

She is a member of the Higginson Tower Restoration Committee; a project which is being funded by the Champlain Time Capsule. She is also an involved member of the Vankleek Hill Business and Merchant Association, organizing Trash and Treasure (the town-wide yard sale in Vankleek Hill which occurs each year on the first Saturday of June) and the Victorian Home and Garden Tour, which takes place the third Saturday in June.

She loves local history and her roots in Vankleek Hill go back to Simeon VanKleek, the town’s first settler.
Email: 
lsproule@thereview.ca

Stories from Louise Sproule

Alone again, naturally
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
lsproule@thereview.ca
Let’s be honest. There are some days, by 4 p.m., when the only words I hear in my head are: Leave me alone! Those are the days I’ve had enough and it is in this edgy state of mind that I do my grand 60-second commute home around the corner to a partner expecting a pleasant evening in my company.
If only I could find a nice way to say I need a few minutes to recover my sociable self. I am working on just that . . . because I do need more time alone.
Zumba: like attending a rock concert twice a week
Louise Sproule
Friday, January 27, 2012

(Links to Youtube Video and Photo Soundslide follows at the end of this article.)

If you talk to any of Amy Cooper's zumba followers, they all agree: there is something indescribable about her classes.

There are a few men who show up at the Grenville Community Centre on Monday and Wednesday evenings for an hour of the non-stop Latin-based dance exercise workout called zumba. But mostly, it is a sisterhood of women who have discovered a certain "something" at these classes.

The best things about lists
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
lsproule@thereview.ca
Everyone who knows me knows I am a big advocate of lists. It’s all about being organized, I tell myself.
But whether you write things down or not, I think we all have lists running through our minds with the hope that they help keep us on track.
I especially like to write things down when I get to work in the morning . . . usually my day list and maybe some things I need to accomplish sometime during the week.
Does crime define who we are?
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Last week, The Review’s editorial staff met with Hawkesbury Ontario Provincial Police Detachment Commander Brian MacKillop and Constable Pierre Dubois, who is our main Hawkesbury OPP contact.
MacKillop has just two months under his belt as the new OPP detachment commander for this region, which includes the Town of Hawkesbury, Champlain Township, Alfred-Plantagenet and The Nation Municipality.
Just a second. Have you got the time?
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
lsproule@thereview.ca
You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time. As I stood in the bank line-up last week, I joked with the teller: I wish I could withdraw a few more hours today. I am really in need of more time to get everything done.
“More time?” someone piped up. “If you had more time, you’d just fill it up with more things to do.”
Just a second, I thought. But alas, the speaker was right, I thought.
But there has to be a way to get a grip on time.
Who is talking inside your head?
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
lsproule@thereview.ca
Sometimes, I wish I could turn it off. That voice inside my head that doubts decisions . . . that voice inside my head that tells me that so-and-so really didn’t mean that mean thing that came out of their mouth when a part of me wonders why they said it at all. It’s the voice inside my head that says do more, talk less, work harder and get smarter.
The best thing about ambiguity
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
lsproule@thereview.ca
I hope you dance. I remember the year that was the theme song selected by the Pleasant Corners Public School graduating class. As I watched the young people leave the gymnasium I considered that their entire lives lay ahead with quite possibly not much time at all to dance. 
We all know that dance has many meanings: Dance like nobody’s watching. Dance till you drop. Dancing in the dark. I’m dancing as fast as I can. You’re trying to dance around a sensitive issue.
What people give us
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
lsproule@thereview.ca
The concert that got people all riled up
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Cambridge Public School has postponed its Christmas concert until February and that got some parents and CFRA listeners into a frenzy. The Review’s Facebook page item about this story received 35 comments and some of them were disturbing.
Tales of the unexpected: Part II
Louise Sproule
Thursday, December 1, 2011
lsproule@thereview.ca
“Well,”  he says. “I’ll just play every song I know.”  We laughed.
But it wasn’t that funny, really. I had just learned that the substitute musician at the Champlain Seniors Gala was a classical guitarist currently focusing on flamenco guitar. Not exactly the easy dance music that the senior crowd was expecting that evening.
But to his credit, he dove in and recalled repertoire from his years of gigs in lounges, pubs and cruise ships. Of course, he didn’t have all those years of tunes at top of mind. Plus: the band was missing.
Times are changing but ideas lag behind
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Hawkesbury residents should be disgusted by last week’s debate, during which some council members said they think it is okay to spend taxpayer money to attend political functions – even if part of that cost is used as a contribution to a political party.
A few points need closer examination. First: the town’s former treasurer, now a councillor, reminded his fellow councillors that municipal contributions to political parties are not allowed and are, in fact, illegal.
Finding your local thrill
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
lsproule@thereview.ca
Let’s just start by saying that we at The Review do know that not everyone is part of Facebook. But what we do know is that it is a new place for us to meet with some of you and find out what you think. Sometimes we are serious and sometimes, the conversation is just for fun.
Doing their own thing or doing the right thing?
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
As municipalities make a start on their 2012 budgets, it feels much like other years. Few ratepayers show up at the meetings to discuss the budgets. Some meetings take place during the daytime, when most citizens are at work. And if you do plan to find out more, listen to discussions, or ask questions, the most important question you can ask first is: can you see a copy of the draft budget so you can be as informed as the decision-makers sitting at the council table.
Tales of the unexpected
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
lsproule@thereview.ca
I refuse to eat the same thing for breakfast every day and have to confess: I inwardly sigh with a resigned kind of boredom when I hear people talk about that vitamin pill they take every day at 7:46 a.m. or that they never start watching a movie after 9 p.m. 
Council decisions: a false sense of security?
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
We have all heard the complaints about too many rules, too many bylaws, too much municipal involvement. Too much, that is, until a guy wants to run an extreme rodeo event. Or maybe a company wants to set up solar panels.
Then we need some rules.
Volunteers: Give and get
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
lsproule@thereview.ca
As we counted down to the Victorian Christmas Home tour, the busy-ness and tension at our offices in Vankleek Hill mounted. As the final 48 hours ticked away, and little glitches surfaced and had to be dealt with in short order, I wondered why, oh, why do we do all of this?
What we forget
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Sometimes it creeps in. The so-called good news items fill our pages and before you know it, happy schoolchildren, carved pumpkins, certificate presentations, cheques, parties, anniversaries and donations to the food bank seem to be all that you read about.
These days, traditional newspapers are up against it in more ways than one. People want the news to be free, they want to select the news and finally, they want it fast.
But we know and you know: it’s not that simple.
My complaint is . . . complaints
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
lsproule@thereview.ca
The compliments about our front page are always when we feature two or more uplifting stories. When someone wins an award, someone overcomes adversity or someone wins the lottery, you take the time to say: Good paper! Nice front page!
On the other hand, a front page plastered with explosions, fires or robberies brings little or no response. Smashed up vehicles are not popular either.
What we don’t write about says a lot
Louise Sproule
Lianne Lahaie
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
The recent spate of teen suicides is especially disturbing given how bullying and/or mental illness is a common denominator.
Jamie Hubley, a 15-year-old openly gay student in Ottawa, is the latest young person to commit suicide after allegedly suffering merciless bullying at the hands of fellow students. It was bullying that left him feeling demoralized and unable to go on, as he wrote in one of his many online blog posts prior to his death.
More than words
Louise Sproule
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
lsproule@thereview.ca
Maybe you have seen these: they are magnetic words and they can fill up most of the space on your refrigerator door.
While visiting someone recently, she confessed to having a illuminating moment: she removed all the words she didn’t like: dead, dismal, sad, angry, frustrated, horrible . . . you get the idea.
She only wanted to see positive, uplifting words like happy, inspire, moving, exercise, great, satisfied. Enough with the miserable words, she figured.