january 3, 2013 issue
DESCRIPTION
News and views from in and around St.Thomas and area.TRANSCRIPT
1- Janaury 3, 2013 - St. Thomas - Elgin W
eekly News
Real Estate Brokerage527 Talbot Street, St. Thomas,
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St.Thomas/Elgin
Volume 8 No. 35 519-633-1640 • www.theweeklynews.ca
January 3, 2013
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432 Talbot Street • Downtown St. Thomas Open Mon-Wed & Fri 9-5:30 • Thurs 9-7 • Sat 9-5
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295 Wellington St., St. ThomasCorner of First Ave. & Wellington
519-631-8346
GeerlinksHome Owners helping homeowners www.homehardware.ca
Open: Mon-Fri.9-8, Sat. 9-6, Sun. 10-5
Let’s Start the ConversationCome talk Federal Politics with the
Elgin-Middlesex-London Federal Liberal Association
January 4th 2013, at 7 pm
The Beanery625 Talbot St.,
St. Thomas
at
St. Thomas energy company re-launches as Ascent
The former St. Thomas Hold-ings Inc. announced a rebrand-ing in January of all its divisions with the exception of St. Thom-as Energy Inc. As a result, utility bills in St. Thomas will continue to be delivered under the name St. Thomas Energy Inc. But the other companies previously acquired and operated by St. Thomas Holdings Inc. will now operate under the name Ascent Group Inc., still wholly owned by the City of St. Thomas. In
addition to St. Thomas Energy Inc., Ascent owns divisions in Tillsonburg, Belleville, London and St. Thomas – operations formerly known as Tiltran Ser-vices, Lizco Sales, Tal Trees, ECM Controls and Terra Vox Group, are now united under Ascent.
John Wise custodian shaves beard
In early December with the annual Christmas donation project coming up, the teach-ers and staff at John Wise Public School in St. Thomas found their solution in a very unlikely source – the school custodian. Already rumoured
to be ‘the Jolly Old Elf’ him-self, Jim Venus suggested if every student, teacher and staff member contributed a toonie, he would go before the school at its holiday as-sembly and have his long white beard shaved off. By assembly day on Decem-ber 23, the $1,200 goal had been surpassed. Courtnee Campbell, of First Choice Hair Cutters, accompanied Mr. Ve-nus across the stage and the shaving began.
New website promotes local natural heritage
If you love trees or want to learn more about the them in your neighbourhood, the Her-
itage Trees Committee has just unveiled a new website called elginheritagetrees.ca.
The website displays the lo-cations of over 400 trees in St. Thomas, East Elgin and West Elgin, and incorporates over 1,000 photographs, including images of each tree as seen through the seasons. Commit-tee chairperson, C. Frank Lat-tanzio, says that since 1990 when the volunteer committee was formed as an initiative of the St. Thomas Field Natural-ists, the maps they published helped identify worthy trees in the community.
Trees were selected and given an identification plaque based on the historical sig-nificance of the tree, whether it was a good example of its type and if could easily be viewed by the public.
Most Ontarians still confused about HST and resale homes
An Ontario Real Estate As-sociation (OREA) survey reveals that confusion about the Har-monized Sales Tax (HST) and buying a resale home has not decreased in the last year de-spite efforts by the provincial government and real estate industry to educate the pub-lic. The survey conducted by Ipsos Reid shows that 58 per cent of Ontarians mistakenly
believe the HST is applied to the purchase price of a resale home versus 56 per cent who believed the same in an iden-tical OREA/Ipsos survey con-ducted last fall. With the aver-age Ontario home selling at just under $350,000 in August 2011 (Canadian Real Estate Association), potential home-buyers may wrongly assume a resale home costs an additional $45,500 more than it does.
New St. Thomas Police headquarters plan unveiled
A special St. Thomas city council meeting was held January 25 to hear about up-coming plans for the new po-lice headquarters building pro-posed for a site the city bought last year on Third Avenue. After five years of research and plan-ning by Rebanks Pepper Little-wood Architects, Inc., president John Pepper presented his needs assessment and con-cept plan, including two cost estimate options: Option A at $17 million and Option B at $14 million (with a firing range and some indoor parking removed). He said that ancillary costs, if going with Option B, would bring the final price tag to $19 million. Treasurer William Day
in January 2012...
in February 2012...
Continues on p.4
3- Janaury 3, 2013 - St. Thomas - Elgin W
eekly News
For our students, we provide:• AfullrangeofAcademic,AppliedandLocallyDevel-opedprogramsfromgrade9to12• Fullsupportprogramsforstudentswithspecialneeds• SuperbprogramsintheArtsforstudentsinterestedindrama,vocalandinstru-mentalmusic,mediaartsandvisualarts• Strongmathematicsprogramsindicatedbyout-standingresultsingrade9provincialtestingandlargenumbersparticipatinginUniversityofWaterlooMathContests• ElginCounty’sonlysec-ondaryFrenchImmersionprogram• Extensivetechnologypro-gramincludingconstruction,design,horticulture,hospital-ity,manufacturing,transporta-tionandwelding• Alargevarietyofathleticsatthejuniorandseniorlevelincludingcompetitivecheer-leading,swimmingandtrackandfield• SuccessfulDramaproduc-tions,musicaltheatre,impro-visationteams,concertandstagebands• Co-operativeeducationprogramsattheseniorlevelthatprovideopportunitiestoworkatbusiness,communityserviceorindustrialorgani-zations• Destinations:aWork-InternshipProgramguidingstudentsfromschooltowork• Giftedprogramingrades9to12
• DualCreditprogramof-feredincollaborationwithLambtonandFanshaweCol-legesParksideoffersdiversepro-grammingoptionsandextra-curricularactivitiesthatmeetawidevarietyofstudentneeds.OurultimategoalistocreateaCARING environ-mentinwhichstudentscandevelopintowell-roundedgraduatespreparedfortheirfuturedestinations.Inkeepingwiththisgoal,Parksidehelpsstudentsto:• EXPLORE avarietyofeducationalprogramswhichpreparethemtomakechoic-esaboutspecificcareerpaths• DEVELOPasetoftrans-ferableskillstomakethemlife-longlearnersandproduc-tivemembersofsociety• PARTICIPATEinactivitiesthatfosterasenseofcommu-nityanddevelopleadership,teamwork,socialandorgani-zationalskills• LEARN entrepreneurialskillswhichareadvantageoustotheirfuture• DEVELOPself-respectandrespectforothersandtheircommunity
PARKSIDE GOALS INCLUDE:• CHARACTER• ACHIEVEMENT• GRADUATIONParkside’sdiversityofpro-gramsalsoincludes:• SpecialistHighSkillsMajorPrograminManufacturing,andLandscaping/Horticul-ture• HockeyCourse• PeerTutoringCourse• LeadershipCourse“ The expertise of the staff along with the Parkside fa-cility/ programs contributed to ‘igniting the passion’ in these students for school”. Observationsmadebyateamofexperiencedadminis-tratorsreviewingParksideinNovember,2012Grade 9 EQAO Mathematics• AppliedmathscoresconsistentlyaboveboththeTVDSBandProvincialaver-ages(Level3and4)• Academicmath.scores5%to8%aboveboththeTVDSBandProvincialaverages(Level3and4)Grade 10 Ontario Second-ary School Literacy Test Results• Firsttimeeligiblestudentshavescoredinthe79%-81%passrateforthepastfiveyears• Thesescoresare2%abovetheTVDSBaverages• Grade9’scompleteamockliteracypracticetesttoiden-tifyandtargetat-riskstudents• Grade10’sreceiveexten-siveliteracysupportfortheOSSLT
What PARKSIDE Can offer YOU
Thursday January 17, 20137:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
241 Sunset Dr. St. Thomaswww.tvdsb.ca/parkside
519-633-0090
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St.Thomas/Elgin
A Community Newspaper, published by Metroland Media.15 St. Catharine St., (Lower) St. Thomas, N5P 2V7519-633-1640 Fax: 519-633-0558
Terry Carroll - General Manager: [email protected] ......... [Ext. 25]Nelson Parreira - Advtg. Manager: [email protected] ...... [Ext. 24]Melissa Schneider - Reporter: [email protected] ...... [Ext. 26]Linda Axelson - Sales: [email protected] ....... [Ext. 27]
Chris Heil - Sales: [email protected] ........ [Ext. 23]Laura Bart - Office Administrator: [email protected] [Ext. 21]Jim McHarg - Creative Dept: [email protected]
Member of St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce, St.Thomas Executives Association, Ontario Community Newspapers Association, Canadian Media Circulation Audit
CMCAAUDITED
Member:
The Weekly News welcomes letters to the editor. Senders must include their full name, and a contact phone number. Phone numbers will not be
published. We reserve the right to edit letters for space and content. To submit
a letter to the editor, please email to [email protected] fax to
519-633-0558 or mail to The Weekly News, 15 St. Catharine Street,
St. Thomas ON, N5P 2V7.
Slice of lifeAl Annett and his young son enjoy a slice of watermelon in Cowan Park in the summer.
Austin Gagnier, 16, of Fingal is a rising star. The Grade 11 student from Parkside Collegiate has performed at numerous events throughout Southwestern Ontario, includ-ing opening for the RCMP Musical Ride.
A little help, pleaseDuring Fire Muster on Labour Day Weekend, three year-old Tristan Ferguson gets help trying on a fireman’s boots and hat from Jack Sieloff, 14, and Wyatt Herbert, 13.
How’s the weather up there?A guy on stilts entertained children at the Real Canadian Superstore’s event in Pinafore Park.
Taking a restHikers take a rest in the snowy woods near Dutton. The snow melted later in the day.
Musical RideThe RCMP Musical Ride attracted a crown of 3,000 on September 6, 2012. The event was brought to the fair-grounds by the Rosy Rhubarb Committee, which were celebrating their 20th year.
These teenagers from the Under 17 co-ed division of the St. Thomas Soccer Club seem to be coming right at the camera in the race for the soccer ball. (photo by April Laroche)
Photos by Brian Wilsdon
5- Janaury 3, 2013 - St. Thomas - Elgin W
eekly News
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As we say farewell to 2012, we wish you special moments with family and friends, and countless blessings throughout 2013! Shawn Jackson
Funeral Director / Owner
explained that the cost would mean a rise in property taxes between 3.3 to 5.4 per cent, depending on 10, 15 or 20-year repayment rates. He re-minded council that the city is still paying for the Timken Centre, the debt of which will be discharged in July 2015.
Project Ojibwa gets boost
The project to bring the sub-marine HMCS Ojibwa to Port Burwell took a giant step for-ward February 7, 2012 with the donation of $300,000 to the Elgin Military Museum by the Estate of Dorothy Palmer. “Everyone is excited about this donation and the generosity of the Palmer Estate,” says Jim Ziegler, vice president of the Museum Board. The Museum has been working diligently for over two years to put together a plan to acquire, move and mount the cold war subma-rine Ojibwa as part of a new, state-of-the-art museum of naval history in Port Burwell. In November 2011, the Minis-ter of National Defence signed an approval in principle for the donation of Ojibwa to the mu-seum, subject to the museum putting the necessary financ-ing together. This approval freed the Museum to launch
its major fundraising cam-paign early this year.
School gets ready for Algoma University
Construction activity on the former public school on Wel-lington Street will commence almost immediately and will be completed by mid summer in order to receive Algoma’s first St. Thomas students in September. Following months of planning and a successful campaign to attract student applications to Algoma Univer-sity for the St. Thomas cam-pus, St. Thomas City Council accepted a tender from the Cobrell Company to move for-ward with the demolition of the gymnasium, construction of an elevator, installation of a new heating system, instal-
lation of a new suite of wash-rooms and a general refresh-ing of the interior
St. Thomas Police Services building open for public in-spection
This Saturday, it’s your chance to have a look inside the St. Thomas Police Ser-vices building on St. Catharine Street. Members of the public are invited to an Open House to view the working environment of St. Thomas police officers. The Open House is in response to questions recently raised by city council aldermen about the feasibility of renovating the current police services
building as opposed to build-ing a new headquarters on Third Avenue. According to St. Thomas Police administrator Lynn Coates, consultants were hired in 2003 and 2007 to evaluate the building, and they confirmed that it was not suit-able for renovation. “We have specific needs and purposes that are unlike an ordinary of-fice building,” said Lynn.
Gordon Lightfoot coming to St. Thomas
When was the last time a Canadian music legend came to St. Thomas to give a con-cert? Gordon Lightfoot, winner of 15 Juno Awards and nomi-nated for five Grammy Awards,
is coming to the Timken Com-munity Centre for a one-night performance June 24.
Beloved by music fans across the country, Gordon Lightfoot was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Cana-dian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. He will perform his classic hits, including ‘If You Could Read My Mind,’ ‘Sundown,’ ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ and many more.
Safe drinking water for Southwold
The completion of the Clin-ton Line water main in the Township of Southwold was
officially celebrated March 15 at the Township’s offices in Fingal. The Clinton Line water main now loops the end of the water main on Wonderland Road to the water main on Sunset Road. Originally, the Wonderland Road water main ended at the Ford Assembly Plant, the operations of which provided enough pressure to pump water to households further down the line in South-wold. However, with the plant closing and the water draw discontinued, the new water main was necessary to keep water circulating and maintain safe drinking water for resi-dents.
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in March 2012...
in February 2012...
Photos by Brian Wilsdon
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HealthTalkSteve Bond, BSc.Phm., CDE, FASCP
Pharmacy Operation Manager
We can put a man on the moon; we can design a handheld device that holds the entire works of Wil-liam Shakespeare; we can microwave a dinner in 3 minutes. Despite all the advances in human his-tory, one advancement still eludes us- the cure for the common cold. Since ancient times, humans have battled itchy eyes, runny nose and coughs us-ing a variety of home therapies, herbs and medica-tions. But what is effective? What is safe to use?
The common cold is an infection of the upper re-spiratory tract - the nose, nasal passages and the throat. It can be caused by over 200 viruses, but the most common is a family known as the rhi-noviruses (“Nose” virus from the Greek Rhino). Symptoms usually show up a couple of days after we become infected. Early signs of a cold are a sore, scratchy throat, sneezing, and a runny nose. Later symptoms include headache, stuffy nose, wa-tering eyes, hacking cough, chills, muscle aches, and general malaise (ill-feeling) lasting from 2 to 7 days. Some cases may last for two weeks.
Naturally, rest and fluids are the cornerstones for treating a cold. Water, juice, clear broth or warm lemon water with honey helps loosen congestion
and prevents dehydration. Best to avoid alcohol, coffee and caffeinated beverages, which can make dehydration worse.
A variety of over the counter (OTC) products ex-ist to treat symptoms. While they do not alter the course of the cold, they may help to relive symp-toms. By using an OTC medication, you can get over a cold in a week; without them it will take 7 days. One of the most common questions asked is “which product is right for me?” With so many products on the market, wading through the cough and cold aisle could seem like a difficult task. A couple of suggestions: Only treat the symptoms you are experiencing; check for conditions such as high blood pressure/diabetes/thyroid disease and finally, ask your pharmacist to select a product that is best for you. Health Canada no longer recom-mends OTC meds for children under 6. There is limited evidence that these products work in young children and the risk of side effects and overdose overshadows any minute benefits. Take care of yourselves and each other.
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Discover thedelights of
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DAILY SPECIALSSunday – Roast Beef Dinner with Yorkshire Pud-ding, includes soup, your choice of potato and vegetable.Monday – Grilled porkchop dinner with creamy mushroom sauce. Comes with your choice of soup, tea or coffee and Pudding for Dessert.Tuesday – Beef of Chicken Pot Pie with Salad. Comes with your choice of soup, tea or coffee and Pudding for Dessert.
Wednesday – All You Can East Pasta. Your choice of Spaghetti, Fusilli or Penne noodles with Meat sauce, Marinara or Mushroom Sauce. Includes a Side Salad (Garden or Caesar) and a Slice of Garlic Toast.Thursday – Half Roasted Chicken Dinner. Comes with your choice of soup, tea or coffee and Pudding for Dessert.Friday – Fish & Chips. Comes with your choice of soup, tea or coffee and Pudding for Dessert.
Exit 195, Highway 74 & 401 Home of the Big Canada Flag 519-644-0200
You done what?The West Elgin Dramatic
Society (WEDS) is celebrating 40 years in business without a cancelled show. The streak will continue thanks to this nifty comedy.
Paying homage to the screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s, “A Little Mur-der Never Hurt Anybody” by Ron Bernas is a spoof about a man’s mid-life crisis and his hilarious attempts to get rid of his wife. It turns into a match of wits, with plenty of murder, mayhem and slapstick.
St. Thomas city budget approved
After almost five hours of deliberations over the Part 2 Capital Budget, Operations Budget and grant requests, St. Thomas City Council ap-proved the 2012 Budget at its April 2 council meeting. With gross expenditures of $104,675,710 and gross non-tax revenues of $62,798,389, the municipal tax levy came in at $41,877,321. “What’s the bottom line for tax payers?” asked Ald. Dave Warden. It means a municipal property
tax increase of three per cent, but coupled with the prelimi-nary education property tax of 0.221 per cent, the overall in-crease in residential property tax is 2.6 per cent.Tropical fish hatchery wins major honour
Karen and Blair Ashford were presented with the Jef-frey Karp Survivor Award at the 25th annual general meeting of the Elgin Busi-ness Resource Centre (EBRC) in St. Thomas. The award is in memory of EBRC busi-ness counsellor Jeffrey Karp who passed away in January
2009, after a courageous and inspiring battle with cancer. It recognizes an EBRC client, in business a minimum of five years, who has undergone a significant business trans-formation or has overcome a significant adversity. The Ash-fords operate Catfish Creek Tropical Fish Hatchery. They raise tropical fish for sale to the wholesale market across Ontario. Over the past 15 years, the business has grown from a small fish hatchery to a specially built facility on Prog-ress Drive in St. Thomas, with the assistance of EBRC.
Local fire chiefs remembered
Thanks to the efforts of Dick Anderson and Lesley Buchan-an, the St. Thomas Fire Service now has a historical record of its fire chiefs. Dick Anderson was active in the St. Thomas Fire Department for 30 years
and has been retired for the last 16 years. He said there is a wall of photos of former fire chiefs in the entrance lobby of the Wellington Street fire sta-tion, but no one seemed to know much about who they were. So he decided to find out. He joined forces with Les-ley Buchanan, manager of the St. Thomas Cemetery Com-pany, who does genealogy research as part of her job. After six months of digging up newspaper clippings and taking photos of gravestones in local cemeteries, Dick and Lesley put their research find-ings into a scrapbook. It starts off in 1882 when the first fire hall was built in St. Thomas. In 1883, Alonzo Bowlby, the first paid fire chief was hired.Renewed rail-way corridor in St. Thomas
Renewal of the London & Port Stanley (L&PS) rail cor-ridor in St. Thomas came two steps closer to reality with
acceptance of a report to City Council May 7 from CAO Wen-dell Graves and an announce-ment at the site May 8. If all plans materialize, St. Thomas should see the scaled version of the old L&PS Railway Sta-tion reconstructed on its origi-nal site north of Talbot Street, largely courtesy of the St. Thomas & Elgin Homebuild-ers’ Association. Port Stanley Terminal Rail excursions could then run from Port Stanley to downtown St. Thomas, ending at what is now called the Sta-tion Parkette. The City plans to rebuild Moore Street, from Tal-bot Street to Centre Street, at a cost of $450,000 to $500,000, and the balance of the project will run “$800,000 or some-thing like that,” Wendell said.Local students honoured for peace-making skills
The Community of Christ Church really had something to celebrate on May 4. The awards ceremonies are a
in March 2012...
in April2012...
in May2012...
7- Janaury 3, 2013 - St. Thomas - Elgin W
eekly News
519-631-1881168 Curtis St., St. Thomas
See us at the London
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Free SkateEast Elgin Community Complex — Aylmer9-11am, 1:30-3:30pm
Free skateEast Elgin Community Complex — Aylmer1-2:30pm
St. Thomas City Council meeting545 Talbot Street7pm
Alzheimer Walk For MemoriesParkside Collegiate Institute9:30am – noon
St. Thomas City Council meeting545 Talbot Street7pm
St. Thomas City Council meeting545 Talbot Street7pm
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Paw PrintsThe Importance of Blood
Work and your PetAdam Mahovlich, BSc. DVMVeterinarian, Partner/Owner
When our pets are sick we rely on their be-haviour to tell us something is wrong. Unfor-tunately, oftentimes our pets don’t act differ-ently, or we miss small changes and illness becomes quite advanced before we see the signs. Regular visits to your vet and blood testing allows us to detect problems early and treat as soon as possible.So when should your pet have blood work done?At your Annual Wellness Visit:Remember, it’s in your pet’s nature to hide ill-ness. In the wild, sick animals don’t survive. Most animals won’t show they’re sick until it is advanced enough that they can’t hide it anymore. Blood work will catch problems early and maximize chances of success.When Your Pet is Sick / Emergencies:Blood work will tell us exactly what is going on and allows us to make immediate deci-sions to help your pet. It also helps us de-
termine medications and therapies to maxi-mize your pet’s chances of recovery. Before Surgery:Blood work should be done before any ani-mal undergoes a procedure requiring anaes-thesia. This allows us to determine if an-aesthesia is safe for your pet and if we need to take any special precautions during the procedure. If Your Pet is on Medication Long Term:Pets on medication should have regular blood work done to make sure the levels of medication in their bodies are safe. It also allows us to watch for any side effects or po-tential problems. Over time some pets will require dosage changes, and blood work al-lows us to make these changes as needed. If your pet falls into any of the above cat-egories, call us and make an appointment to talk about how regular blood screening can help your pet.
Elgin Veterinary ClinicsElgin Animal Hospital – 9789 Sunset
Rd. St. Thomas 631-0430www.elginanimalhospital.com
Talbot Animal Clinic - 930 Talbot St. St. Thomas 633-5970
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special presentation in which a $500 Scholarship Award is given to one student from each of the five local high schools, honouring them for their peacemaking skills. The recipients of this year’s awards are Heidi Earhart from Arthur Voaden Second-ary School, Cassandra Mallory
from Central Elgin Collegiate Institute, Monica Loewen from East Elgin Secondary School, Mandy VanZeggelaar from Parkside Collegiate Institute and Riley Spence from St. Jo-seph’s Secondary School.
Port Burwell proud owners of Ojibwa
On May 26 at 1pm Atlantic Time, Ojibwa will depart from Halifax to begin her 10-day
journey to Heddles Hamil-ton shipyard. She will leave Hamilton on May 28 taking her final voyage through the Welland Canal and across Lake Erie to officially arrive in Port Burwell September 7. On May 16 after more than three years of discussion between the Department of National Defence and the Elgin Military Museum, Ian Raven, Museum Executive Director, signed the
official Donation Agreement to transfer ownership of the decommissioned submarine HMCS Ojibwa to the Elgin Mili-tary Museum in St. Thomas. “It went right down to the wire, but I am thrilled to say that Ojibwa is finally ours,” Ian said. Ojibwa will become the centerpiece of the new Elgin Military Museum of Na-val history to be built in Port Burwell on the North shore of Lake Erie.
Despite the weather, Relay For Life a huge success
Torrential rains Friday, June 1, 2012 did not dampen the success of this year’s Re-lay For Life. When the skies opened up mid-afternoon, the organizing committee worked with St. Joseph’s Catholic High School and moved ev-erything indoors. In the end, at least $133,000 was raised for Canadian Cancer Society research by 55 teams, an in-crease of $24,000 from 2011 where 41 teams gathered $109,000 in cash and pledg-es. A volunteer contingent of 140 people organized the relay, with planning over the year and an intensive three months of preparation as the event drew closer.
Keeping kids safeKeeping our children safe
is top priority for both Fam-ily and Children’s Services of St. Thomas and Elgin County and Elgin County Fire Depart-ments. On June 11, a new pro-tocol was signed formalizing a set of procedures in which a CAS (Children’s Aid Society) worker making a home visit will be taking note of fire haz-
ards or absence of working smoke alarms and alerting the local Fire Department. Re-ciprocally, a Fire Department official may notice and report any concerns to the CAS that the children in the home are at risk for neglect, abuse or any other form of maltreatment. The purpose of this protocol is to create a partnership in the provision of services to fami-lies involved with Family and Children’s Services, who need education, and increased awareness of fire safety.
Port Stanley awarded Blue Flag
Port Stanley Main Beach on Lake Erie has been awarded the Blue Flag again. This makes Port Stanley’s Main Beach the only Blue Flag beach on Lake Erie and one of only 17 beaches and four marinas that will be flying the Blue Flag in Canada this summer. To be awarded a Blue Flag by Environmen-tal Defence, the Blue Flag coordinator in Canada, four sets of criteria must be met: water quality, environmental management, environmen-tal education, and safety and services. The program is in its 25th year, and 2012 will be the third year that Port Stan-ley Main Beach will be flying a Blue Flag.
Celebrating 50 yearsJune 30th marked the 50th
Anniversary of the St. Thomas Raceway Park in Sparta, On-tario. This was the first “built” drag strip in Canada. A local car club, the St. Thomas Gear Jammers, approached Bob Harvey, the owner of a farm just west of Sparta, with the
idea of building a drag strip for the local car enthusiasts to safely race their cars. Be-fore the creation of the strip, competitions had been held at airstrips and of course on local side roads. Construction started and Sparta racetrack became operational in 1962.
Local woman wins title
Confidence is the key to success. It takes a strong – willed person to face the challenge. Twenty two year old Kristen McCord from St. Thomas faced this head on without hesitation and won the title of Miss Ontario Globe last week. It started a few months ago when the third runner—up of Miss Canadian Globe 2011 contacted Kristen and messaged her from the ‘Model Mayhem’ website (a website in which individuals post their modeling pictures) and said “I believe you would be a great candidate for Miss Canadian Globe. Check out the website and apply.” Kris-ten did exactly that, “I applied and had to wait to find out if I made it. The board of directors that work for Miss Canadian Global pick the top 100. It is based on photos and biogra-phies which are written by each contestant.”
Sparta post office 170 years young
With its 200th anniversary fast approaching (2013), there is a quality of nostalgia among the residents, a fondness for the old ways of hospitality and community fostered, in part, by the town’s reliance on the old style general delivery postal outlet located inside Helmer’s Variety. “The post office opened in late 1841,” says local historian Bill Fish-leigh, meaning that for 170
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400 Talbot St., St. ThomasP: 519.631.5470
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Aylmer Community Services25 Centre Street, Aylmer
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years, village residents have been coming to the store to pick up their mail not from a box but under the supervision of an actual person. That per-son, today, is Deb Corner, who has been doling out the mail for the past 31 years. In that time, she has watched many of the town’s children grow up as they come in to pick up everything from their birth certificates to their driver’s licenses to their acceptances for college.
Four year-old wins beauty contest
A few months ago, The Weekly News ran a story on four-year-old St. Thomas resi-dent Aubrey, who had made it to the finals in a North Ameri-ca-wide beauty contest called the ‘Be the Face’ campaign sponsored by First Choice Haircutters. Guess what? Thanks to all of those who supported her through online voting, the little St. Thomas delegate won. “They told us in New York that 16,000 people had voted online in the con-test, and of those, Aubrey got more than 8,400 votes,” said mom Alicia Blaxall. “We were really shocked that she did so well.” Aubrey’s prize included an all-expense-paid trip to New York City for herself and her mom where she was given a real ‘top-modelling’ experi-ence.
Cabbage White tops butterfly count
St. Thomas Field Natural-ists Club members recorded 1,807 sightings and 40 differ-ent species of butterflies dur-ing their 15th annual butterfly count July 14. The count area is limited to a 24-kilometer circle centred at the junction of John Wise Line and Rieger Road southwest of St. Thomas. The Cabbage White species and the Orange Sulphur were the most common at 453 and 369 sightings respectively. The Clouded Sulphur at 287 and Monarch at 130 were the next most frequently sighted. The American Snout, Common Roadside Skipper, Delaware Skipper, Northern Pearl-Eye and Tawny Edged Skipper were the lowest, at one sight-ing each.
Aylmer boy going for top ten win
Seventeen-year-old Aylmer resident Stevie Blankenship has a major goal. He wants to finish in the top ten at the 2012 World Triathlon Age Group Championships in New Zealand, representing Canada,
this October. He qualified for this event in 2011, following a career that began with the Aylmer Optimist Arrows at age eight, running seriously by age 13, swimming at East Elgin Secondary School, and biking, beginning with a $100 road bike in 2010. “A typical day for me starts at 5am with either a swim, bike or run, then school, another workout of either a swim, bike or run, work for the YWCA teaching swimming lessons and life guarding, and I still have homework.”
Rotary Exchange ‘amazing’ opportu-nity
Language barriers are no longer a problem. Not for 19 year-old St. Thomas resident Marissa MacGillivary, an ex-perienced world traveller who now speaks fluent Portugese. Marissa, who spent one year on an exchange program in Franca Sao Paulo, Brazil read about the program in the pa-per, called for more informa-tion and found herself flying to Brazil. While there she stayed with four different host fami-lies, each for three months. The Rotary International Youth Exchange Program, run by the St. Thomas Rotary Club, gave Marissa the option of choos-ing which country she wanted to visit. Her top three choices were Spain, Germany and Bra-zil. Both the St. Thomas Rotary Club as well as the South Fran-ca Rotary Club helped sponsor
the cost of her trip. The main expense for her, she said, was her plane ticket.
Green Lane Trust supports nutrition program for schools
The Green Lane Community Trust Fund recently commit-ted $125,000 over five years to nutritious breakfasts and snacks for all school in Elgin through the Elgin Community Nutrition Partnership (ECNP). An initial ceremonial cheque for $25,000 was presented at Southwold Public School Sep-tember 10. After presenting the grant, Southwold Township Mayor Jim McIntyre, repre-senting Green Lane Commu-nity Trust, said the members of the Trust were impressed with the level of volunteer involve-ment and the fact all schools across the county are par-ticipating in the program. Judy Mott and Gwen Gowan are co-ordinators for the program at Southwold School. They make a grocery run every Friday and work with parent and student volunteers at the school daily throughout the school year. ECNP coordinator Charlotte McDonald that the number of student being served has “increased dramatically” with this new, cross-county partici-pation – from 6,800 last year to about 9,000 this year.
Fantasy of Lights prepares for 20th an-niversary
Two new displays are just the beginning for this year’s Holiday Fantasy of Lights. Committee Chairman Ross
Whalls said he’s looking for-ward to the 20th year of the event and hopes to top the 60 exhibits on display last year. With the loss of four people from the organizing commit-tee this year, many commu-nity groups and individuals have already stepped up to fill the void. Ross, an electrician by trade, sold his business in 2003 and joined the Fan-tasy of Lights committee. He’s been chairman for the past two years.
St. Thomas police chief set to retire in May 2013
Policing today is much dif-ferent than policing in 1978, when Police Chief William Lynch started as a beat cop with the St. Thomas City force. Chief Lynch knew in high school he wanted to be a po-lice officer. Born and raised in Fingal, Chief Lynch always considered himself home-grown. When he retires he said there will be a lot of aspects of the job he’ll miss. Officially re-tiring in May 2013, the Police Services Board will use the next few months to start the search to replace him.
Terminal cancer pa-tient not giving up
Diagnosed with terminal brain cancer (stage four glio-blastoma) in 2008, St. Thomas resident Ed McDade wants to know why Ontario isn’t will-ing to provide him with the drug Avastin, the last hope for him in Western Medicine. Ed, who has far surpassed the typical 12-15 month sur-vival rate window for some-one with this kind of terminal
cancer, said the drug is even more expensive to Ontarians because it would have to be administered at a private clinic in London. With a price tag of $8—$15,000 per month, the drug already doesn’t come cheap. It won’t save Ed’s life, but it would help prolong it, allowing him to spend a few more months with his 11 year-old daughter Faith. Even though Avastin is offered in several provinces in Canada for brain cancer, Ontario isn’t
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one of them. Right now the drug is only offered in Ontario for colo-rectal cancers.
St. Thomas native breaks NASCAR record
With seven wins in a 12 race series, St. Thomas native D.J. Kennington broke the NASCAR Canadian Tire Se-ries record in 2012. Of those seven total race wins, five were consecutive on his way to the 2012 series champion-ship. “We had an exceptional season. We won seven of our 12 races which is a record — no one’s won more than six.” D.J. says he placed top five in 11 of the races. The only reason they lost out on the 12th race was because of a fuel pump problem. Up until the fuel pump went he was in second place.
Local woman wants end to Huntington Disease
With a 50/50 chance of
getting Hungtington’s Disease, Terri Biloski isn’t just waiting around, she plans to do some-thing about it. Hungtington’s, a genetic brain disorder that causes cells in specific parts of the brain to die, is in Terri’s family. Her grandmother passed away from the disease, and now her mother has it. About one in every 10,000 Canadians has the disease. At the moment there is no cure for it, but that’s not stopping Terri from running to-wards a goal she feels will help all the families affected by the disease. Terri, who’s enjoyed running since she was a child and owns St. Thomas specialty store Run For Your Life, thought this was the perfect way to combine something she loves to do with something that can help others. She, with the help of 21 volunteers, will be running her 100 miles, aptly named Run 161 (100 miles is 161km), through-out Elgin County on November 10—11, which coincides with World Run Day.
Weekly News joins new family
The St. Thomas/Elgin Weekly News and Elgin This Month is joining a new family after being acquired by Metroland Media
Group Ltd on Thursday, Novem-ber 1, 2012. The Weekly News joins fellow papers London Community News, the Exeter Times-Advocate, The Confed-erate in Mount Forest and the Walkerton Herald-Times just to name a few. Metroland owns over 100 daily and weekly newspapers in Ontario which Doug Rowe, Metroland Re-gional General Manager South-western Division, says shows the company’s commitment to growing both the print and on-line businesses. “We are really excited. This is a great addition and an excellent fit especially working with our London op-eration.” Metroland started the free weekly London Community News last year after purchasing the Star Mail distribution opera-tion in the city.
Karate academy expands
With more than 100 students, Jelfs Academy of Karate Excel-lence has expanded. The new facility is located in the former Shrine building at St. Thomas at 10 Princess Avenue.
School and business man-ager Christina D’Haene says the school has been looking to ex-pand for a while and after look-ing for a place to rent decided it would be more cost-effective to own their own space. When the Shrine building came up for sale both Christina and owner/Sensei Jeff Jelfs agreed it was a building that fit the vision they had for the school, so they put in an offer and within six months they moved in.
Plan in place for Ford Plant closure
With rulings from the Assess-ment Review Board on the hori-zon, the Municipality of South-wold is looking how the Ford Plant closure will impact tax rates on the surrounding area in the coming year. In 2010, the company was originally valued at $46 million by the Municipal Property Assessment Corpo-ration (MPAC), and provided 24.5 per cent of the total prop-erty taxes. That amount was reduced by half in 2011, when the Ford Plant was given its first value reduction. Now they’re seeking further reduction and are appealing taxes paid for 2009-2012. It’s a move that will, at worst, cost Southwold $1.27 million. And it’s some-thing they’re prepared for. For the municipality, Ford is just one of many losses the town will take in 2013. Other losses for the 2013 budget include $17,000 from the Fingal wildlife area — the property was re-designated through MPAC from commercial to residential/farm, and a $54,900 reduction in the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) provincial grant.
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SERVICE TOALL MAKES
Dance, Karate, Soccer, Basketball, ages 4-15, Jan to May. Locke’s & Morrison gyms on S. Edgeware, starting at $60. Jumpstart subsidies available. Locke’s Mor-rison Community Assn. (LMCA) 519-488-6449.
Fitness classes for active seniors. Emphasis on functional mobility. Ac-tive Abundance fitness program includes social time. Tuesday after-noons starting January. Contact Elizabeth Win-dover 519-851-9460.
VON Hospice Volun-teers needed! If you are interested in join-ing our team call 519-637-6408. Training will be held in St Thomas starting January 21st!
January 3rd, The VON Exercise program starts back up. Every Thurs-day from 10 - 11 a.m. at the Union Commu-nity Centre. For info. Call Vicki at 519-631-3840.
Port Stanley Public Li-brary, 302 Bridge Street, features work of Guild artists Kim Hughson and Sine Maule through December. Call 519-
782-7472 for hours.
Field Naturalist Boxing Day Bird Count, Wednes-day, December 26. Day finishes with potluck dinner at Knox Church , St. Thomas at 5:30pm. Info 519-631-7557.
“Get” Your Gadget eBook Workshop, St. Thomas Public Library, Saturday, December 29, 10am. Call 519-631-6050 for info and registration.
Field Naturalist Walk, Tuesday, January 1, Walk at Fingal Wildlife Man-agement Area, 34469 Fingal Line. Meet at the gates at 10am. Info 519-633-4235.
Wednesday, Janu-ary 2, 7pm, Dutton Dunwich Community Centre, Dutton Lions Bingo, cash prizes in-cluding $500 Jackpot.
Thursday, January 3, Euchre Games & Des-sert, 2pm, St. Andrew’s United Church, 60 West Ave. Everyone Welcome for info 519-631-4558.
January 3, The VON Ex-ercise program starts back up. Every Thurs-day from 10-11am at the Union Community
Centre. For info. Call Vicki at 519-631-3840.
Field Naturalist Meet-ing, Friday, January 4, 7:30pm, Knox Church, St. Thomas. Presen-tation by members. Info 519-631-5279.
Railway Family Fun Day, January 4th, 12-4 pm. Elgin County Rail-way Museum, 225 Wel-lington Street, St. Thom-as. Admission $5/adult, kids $2, under 2 Free!
Saturday, January 5, “Messy Church” 4:30-6:30pm, all ages learn-ing together, Epiphany Story, Supper provided, St. Andrew’s United Church. Everyone Wel-come. 519-631-4558.
Saturday January 5, 2:00pm. The Open Door of Remembrance at St. James Presbyte-rian Church – For those grieving the death of someone loved. Cor-ner of Ferguson Line & Yarmouth Centre Rd.
Parkinson Support Group, Meeting Tues-day Jan. 8, 2-4pm., Knights of Columbus, 265 Wellington St. Info: 519-631-9313.
Low Impact Circuit Train-ing Classes, Union Com-munity Centre - 8 week session starting Jan. 8, $45 for once a week and $80 for twice a week or pay per class - $7. Vicki at 519-631-3840.
Wednesday, Janu-ary 9, Bible Questions 10:30am, St. Andrew’s United Church, every-one is welcome. For info 519-631-4558.
VON Public Foot Care Clinics, St. Thomas Seniors Centre, Jan 9, 16 & 23, 8:30am-12:00pm, 225 Chest-nut St. Call 519-637-6408 for an appt.
Yoga at the Union Com-munity Centre - various class times - mornings and evenings, start-
ing back up on January 9. Call for more info. Vicki at 519-631-3840.
Golden Rescue Wish-bone Lottery, Dinner for two anywhere in the world, includes all ex-penses, VIA Rail to Que-bec City for 2. Tickets $40 or 3/$100. Draw Jan. 10. 519-633-2419.
Thursday, January 10, Kickers 6pm, St. An-drew’s United Church, mid week group ages
5-13, games, mu-sic, craft. Everyone welcome, for more info 519-631-4558.
Jan. 11, Beef Supper, Odd Fellows & Rebekahs Hall, 54 Moore St. Doors open 4pm, serving 5-7pm. Adult $10, child 6-12 $5, under 5 free. Tickets at door, eat in/take out. 519-631-3494.
St. Thomas Spikes Vol-leyball registrations for Friday night winter
session beginning Jan. 11. Grades 1-3 from 6-7pm, grades 4-6 from 7-8pm. $50 for 8 weeks Dennis 519-495-9179.
Grab & Go Roast Pork Dinner, Friday January 11, St Mark’s United Church, 38 Aldborough Ave. Pick-up 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. Pay at door $12.
Sunday, January 13, 9am-1pm in the Lions Den, behind Dutton Dunwich Community
Centre, Dutton Lions full breakfast for only $6.
VON Public Foot Care Clinics, Milton Tow-ers Apartments, Janu-ary 14, 9am-12pm, 5 Milton St. Call 519-874-4901 for an appt.
VON Public Foot Care Clinics, Belmont Unit-ed Church, January 15 9am-12pm, Col-lege St. Call 519-644-9037 for an appt.
The Corporation of the Municipality of
Happy New Year Mayor Bill Walters and Council extend their best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.
Holiday Garbage and Blue Box Collection There is no waste collection on New Year’s Day, Tuesday, January 1st. If Your waste is
normally collected that day, it will be collected on Wednesday. Waste will be collected one
day later than normal for the balance of the week.
HAVE YOU GOT YOUR NEW PINK TAGS?
2013 Garbage Bag Tag Distribution Property owners can pick up their 2013 garbage bag tags in the Central Elgin Municipal Offices in the Elgin County Administration Building, 450 Sunset Drive, Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm excluding holidays. Proof of residency is required to pick up your garbage tags. If you are a tenant and wish to pick up tags for the property you rent, a letter from your landlord is required. Persons unable to pick up their tags can authorize in writing a friend, neighbour or family member to pick up their tags. Farmers must provide proof of a valid Farm Business Registration number to obtain additional tags.
Christmas Tree Disposal Depots Until January 11th, 2013, you may dispose of your Christmas tree:
• at the Municipality’s White’s Station Operations Centre, 42343 Fruit Ridge Line (1 km west of Sunset Road), or
• at the Belmont Arena, 14020 Belmont Road. The Municipality will be chipping the trees for mulch. Please remove all tinsel and garland from the trees.
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