Dan McNeil is a retired Royal Canadian Navy officer who served as Central Elgin Ward 1 Councillor from 2010 to 2018. An activist and environmentalist, he also helped establish the Port Stanley Village Association and served as its first president.
Melissa Schneider is president of the Elgin Federation of Agriculture and a past Zone 4 Director for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. A respected journalism veteran – with stints at the Dorchester Signpost, Woodstock Sentinel-Review, London Free Press and Elgin-St. Thomas Weekly News – Schneider is perhaps best known for founding The Echo in Central Elgin. She served as The Echo’s editor and publisher until winding down the newspaper in November 2019. Schneider grew up working on her father Eric’s and mother Brigitte’s cash crop farm. Her grandparents – Otto and Luise Schneider – started on the farm in the early ‘60s.
Esther Wendel-Caraher is the Principal at Kettle Creek Public School, in Port Stanley.
John Morrow lived in Port Stanley in the ‘60s and moved back 10 years ago after retiring from a career in education. You can find him most mornings sharing coffee and wisdom with friends at a local coffee shop. John enjoys writing about the humour he sees in everyday life.
Read the latest articles from our new column, the OFA Viewpoint.