South Huron District High School music director Isaac Moore leads the senior concert band at MusicFest Canada in Ottawa

Story and photos by Casey Lessard

They’re the best percussion ensemble in Canada, and they’re right here in our backyard. Led by music director Isaac Moore and coach Dave Robilliard, South Huron District High School’s percussionists won the Zildjian Outstanding Percussion Section Award at this year’s MusicFest Canada national competition in Ottawa May 22; graduating student Jon Gill of Grand Bend, who is attending UWO for music in the fall, won the Zildjian Outstanding Percussionist Award. Judge and seminar leader Wayne Toews called the group the best student percussion ensemble in Canada, and could challenge any group in the world. If that’s the case, says Robilliard, it’s because the students are fully committed to success.
“We challenge our students in a way that other percussion ensembles I’ve seen in Canada are not challenged,” says Robilliard. “We give them – and they’ve requested – very difficult material that requires extra time and rehearsal on their time. It’s one of the best things (judge) Wayne Toews has seen in high school percussion ensembles, so in his eyes, it’s world class. It’s a very flattering statement.”
The accolades came hours after performing at the nationals; the percussionists performed last and earned a gold standard, while two other groups led by Moore and fellow teacher Matt Weston – the senior concert band and senior jazz bands – performed earlier the same day, each earning the silver award.
“A lot of kids in the music program are goal-oriented students,” says Moore, “and they respond well to having a goal. Whether we go to nationals or regionals, that goal is one of the things that motivate them to continue to get better. MusicFest Canada is on a different level because you have 10,000 kids from across Canada who are passionate about music. Something really special gets created when you put them together in the same place.”
To compete at nationals, the bands had to earn either gold or high silver with invitation at the regional competition in London. When the nationals are held in Ottawa, South Huron finds it convenient to attend, and a great experience as well.
“Ottawa is a great place to play, and the National Arts Centre is one of the best concert halls in the country, as it should be,” Moore says. “The experience of playing in that building and hearing other bands in that building, it’s incredible for them. It’s probably something a lot of them won’t have the opportunity to do again, so it’s important for me that every student experience the nationals if possible.”
During the years when the competition is not in Ottawa, Moore and Weston take the music students on non-MusicFest trips, including last year’s trip to Chicago. It’s part of Moore’s mission to give a rounded music education.
“A teacher I had while at university asked, are you giving your students a fantastic four-year band program, or are you giving your students a fantastic band program for four years, as in the same program for four years,” he says.
“A lot of what we do is based on routine and tradition, and it called into question for me how you maintain tradition and routine, but also offer the kids a different experience over the four years they are here. It opened my mind to the different options of where kids can go and what they can learn. In the four years you’ve got, you can do a lot.”
This year’s trip to the nationals was the second for Robilliard, whose father Bob was music director at South Huron for many years. After returning to Canada from graduate school in Oklahoma, Dave Robilliard joined Moore and Weston – the three studied percussion together at UWO – three years ago to lighten their load.
“I am able to focus on techniques and sound concepts that Isaac and Matt can’t focus on in the large classroom or band settings,” says Robilliard, who, unlike education majors Moore and Weston, pursued performance at university. He now works with the Stratford and International Symphonies, serves as a substitute for the Kitchener and Windsor Symphonies, and performs in a percussion group called DuO. His contribution has led to great success for the students.
“We received a gold standard in 2008,” he says, “which was my first year working with percussion ensemble. There was still a large number of carryover of students this year – Jon Gill, Joe Pavkeje and Jeff Penn – and we won gold again. But we don’t do it for the awards. We want to see students grow as musicians and see their confidence grow on stage.”
While South Huron has a full trophy case – and that’s just from this year – Moore agrees that they’re not looking for pats on the back.
“The real measure of success is how we feel about our performances when we’re done. I measure our success as a teacher how we fare when we compete at a higher level (the 2008 bronze winning senior concert band competed in a higher bracket this year and earned silver). If we were not taking the kids to an uncomfortable place, it would be an exercise in self-confidence. It makes more sense to shoot a little beyond where you might be so you can develop.”
The success can be attributed to the approach of the teachers, and the commitment of the students.
“It’s a lot of practice, a lot of one-on-one with your section and Mr. Moore,” says graduating student Trish Pavkeje, who performed in the concert and jazz bands. “It helps that Mr. Moore and Mr. Weston are easy to talk to. It’s easy to ask them for help.”
“Everyone’s on the same level and enjoys being there with everyone else,” says Joe Pavkeje, a member of all three groups, winner of the national honour award for the jazz band, and SHDHS student of the year. “Our school isn’t segregated into athletic kids and music kids. Everyone is doing everything. It feels cohesive for that reason.”
Clarinet player Stephanie Pratt agrees.
“Kids from all over the school are in this, so you get a sense of diversity,” Pratt says, noting music is attractive because of the lessons you learn. “Self-discipline is important, you learn a lot of patience and togetherness.”
For Stephen Mills, who has experienced bullying at school, the inclusivity makes the music room a refuge.
“We have to work together to do anything in the band,” Mills says. “We all have to talk to each other, and when you have to talk to someone, you appreciate them for who they are.”
And that’s exactly what Isaac Moore wants to hear.
“If a student is willing to commit themselves to the educational experience, we try not to discriminate in any way. Students can find their place in the band based on their strengths and weaknesses. Without your strong players and weaker players, you can’t maintain consistency. Eventually the weak players become strong and take over the leadership roles.”
Now that many members of the successful bands are graduating, Moore, Weston and Robilliard look to the future.
“We take it year by year,” Robilliard says. “The younger students will now have an opportunity to succeed at a higher level than they’ve had in the past. We’re going to do a lot of different pieces in different styles, and give everyone an opportunity to learn and grow.”

Percussionist Jon Gill performs at MusicFest Canada

Jon Gill (right) of Grand Bend is a member of the 2010 Zildjian Outstanding Percussion Ensemble of the year (below), and winner of the Zildjian Outstanding Percussionist Award.

As told to Casey Lessard
Photos by Casey Lessard

When we won in 2008, it was the first time in six or seven years that any of our bands had earned gold at nationals. It wasn’t a tradition before, but over four years, we’ve earned seven golds at eight festivals. It’s a legacy of excellence at South Huron.
I still can’t believe it (the individual award). I know a couple of guys who have won it before, and I look up to them as amazing people who I want to be half as good as they are. To be compared to them on a national level, it’s mind-blowing for me.
I wanted to start playing drums in Grade 4, but my parents wouldn’t let me. They got me started on bass guitar, and then I came here to the high school. Mr. (Bob) Robilliard recognized that I had a sense of rhythm, so he gave me a pair of drumsticks and stuck me in the percussion ensemble. It really caught on and I really enjoyed playing. I bought my own drum kit and I started playing a lot.
A lot of us take lessons from Dave Robilliard, and he’s taken that percussion ensemble further than we could have imagined.
I don’t think we could do it without the help of dedicated professionals. It just gives us the real world experience and the ability to go beyond just playing. I’m hoping to be a high school music teacher (attending UWO in the fall), and I want to give back to students what my teachers have given to me.

A Killing Snow runs June 23 to August 13 and features Patricia Hamilton of Green Gables fame

Patricia Hamilton is a Canadian icon best known as Rachel Lynde in Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea. A long-time stage performer at Shaw Festival and other theatres, she makes her Blyth Festival debut in Grand Bend resident Paul Ciufo’s A Killing Snow, which runs June 23 to August 13.
Nominated for the Governor-General’s award for drama for his play Reverend Jonah, Ciufo’s follow-up was inspired by the 2007 murders of Bill and Helene Regier, and focuses on the way people react to such events. “The panic people were feeling, and also the feeling of how could something like that happen here,” Ciufo says. “I explored that fear in a different way. My way of exploring that is writing a play.”
The play also examines the surprising complexity of small town life. One character is a pig farmer who also models. Patricia Hamilton’s character runs a lunch place in Clinton, but is also a psychic. Big cities aren’t always as dangerous as we think, and small towns aren’t always safe. These ideas are brought to light in a thrilling ensemble piece, and Casey Lessard spoke with star Patricia Hamilton to learn more.

Interview by Casey Lessard
Photo courtesy Blyth Festival

You are performing in Paul Ciufo’s play A Killing Snow. Tell me about the play and your role.
It’s a murder mystery about a group of people who get stuck in a farmhouse for four days because they can’t get on the road due to whiteouts. Murders ensue.
I play a middle-aged woman with a grown-up family who is on the road and ends up at this place. Her old lover owns the house and she hasn’t had anything to do with him for a long, long time. One of the other people stuck is her daughter’s ex-boyfriend. They all know each other, so when people start dying, you wonder who is killing whom.
It’s an interesting play by Paul because he doesn’t only write murder mysteries. He’s trying to broaden his writing. If you get a good murder mystery, it will do the circuit and can make the playwright some money.

I take it there aren’t very many older women in theatre; it’s really a young people’s game. Does that give you an advantage?
I think it does. There are a lot of plays being written about older people. The baby boomers are interested in people their own age and the problems of those people. I think you will see a lot of plays about people of that group. They’re going to see things that interest them about themselves. The second play I’m doing here at Blyth is called Pearl Gidley, and it’s about two elderly women living together in Blyth in 1969 who take in a boarder who is a deserter from the Vietnam War. It will speak to the audiences that come to Blyth.

Most people would recognize you from the role of Rachel Lynde, but you’ve been doing much more over the years as an actress. What has brought you to perform for the first time at Blyth?
I like the theatre more than I like television and film, although the Green Gables stuff was fantastic. I did it for seven seasons plus the four movies, so I played that role for about a decade. But I really am a theatre actress mainly, and I love working in repertory theatre, which is what they do at Blyth.
For the last 12 years, I have been at Shaw Festival, and I love doing that. Before that, I used to do a lot of new Canadian plays. There is nothing more wonderful than being the first person to say a writer’s words on stage.

Our most memorable moment from your career is in Road to Avonlea, where Rachel Lynde has a stroke. It’s such a touching concept.
That series was very good to work on, and it was given good production values from the beginning. And it was about an iconic book that every Canadian girl had read as a child. As we went along, the scriptwriter had already seen what I could do, so that script was written for me. When you got an episode where you were featured, like that one, it’s very exciting.

Sarah Polley was also in that show. She directed a film called Away From Her (adapted from a story by Alice Munro) about Alzheimer’s. It’s so interesting that you’re able to perform acts of reality for older people, for example strokes. Other Canadian films are also about this reality, for example Juno. Do you think we are different from the Americans in what we’re doing?
Yes. That’s one of the reasons we fight so passionately to have our own culture. We are not like the Americans in so many ways. Our culture should reflect who we are. We have to stand up for our culture, and Blyth is a place that really does that.

What’s special about Canadian theatre in particular?
It’s ours. We’re writing about what we know. And the actors who live in Canada have a better chance of being able to perform it because we know it. It’s fun to do plays about a place you know. That’s what Anne of Green Gables was about, too. It’s about doing things that are part of your culture.
I’m an actor. I’m a Canadian actor. I love performing on stage, and I love it in all its forms. There are plays from all over the world that attract me. I look for plays where there is a part for me, where it has something interesting to say, and where I can work with congenial comrades, all of which is true at Blyth.

Actress Cynthia Dale

Casey Lessard stole Dale away from her lunch break to discuss the role and how she ended up in Grand Bend.

Interview and photo by Casey Lessard

Cynthia Dale: Sweet Charity had been a dream role of mine for 30 years. It’s been the part I have wanted to do, and I’ve had some fabulous parts. In January, I was out with some girlfriends, and they said, well, why aren’t you doing it? I said I was too old, etc., but they convinced me to do it.

You’ll be 50 this year.
In August. It’s hard on the old bod. I am a dancer, thank God. I didn’t have to learn how to dance for the part. It’s a full part for anybody at any age. It’s just a lot of work, but that’s okay.

What attracted you to this role?
It’s who Charity is. She wears her heart on her sleeve and is full of moxy and sass. She’s a broad, but she believes in love and sees the world through rose coloured glasses and dreams of another life. She’s a part of everybody in the world because everyone has those qualities.
The show has some of the best music to sing and dance to. It’s just a fabulous show for music. It doesn’t come along that often. It had a revival on Broadway a few years ago and had a brief tour. If I didn’t step into it at this point, I may not get the opportunity again.

This is your first time with Drayton. What’s that been like?
It’s great because I know so many people in the cast. I’m doing it because it’s Michael Lichtefeld’s production. I did six shows with Michael at Stratford over the years. He knows me really, really well and knows what my strengths and weaknesses are. I knew I was going to be in really good hands with him.

You’ve been performing for a long time; most of your life. Do you find the roles you think you should be doing are changing?
No. I’ve been really lucky in the past two or three years. That hasn’t hit me yet. I played the crème de la crème parts in theatre for 10 years. There weren’t many more that I wanted to play other than this. There are others, but they are older ones. I’ve got some time for those.

You’ve also done some production work, including judging Triple Sensation (she spent the last two years co-producing a CBC movie). With your reputation, are you able to write your own ticket?
No, I don’t write my own ticket. I still audition.

But your name must carry some cachet.
I guess it does. I got offered a play in Toronto this week I’m probably going to do. I still lose parts I really want to do. Usually they’re TV or film roles. I’ve done pretty much every role I wanted to do in theatre. There are parts that come along and the director just doesn’t think you fit into his vision. That’s what theatre is.

There’s a mystique about people who are on television or film that they are different from other people, but it doesn’t exist.
No. We go buy groceries. We’re normal people and we have every single joy and hardship that everyone else does. I love performing, but it’s not the be all and end all for me.

This is your first time being to Grand Bend, but you haven’t been downtown yet.
I’ve been too busy. I started training in January, and Michael and I started rehearsals a month beforehand.

I see you also do art, and especially beach scenes. I’m surprised you haven’t been down to the beach.
I know, that’s what people keep saying. Go paint the beach. Part of the plan in July is to paint.

Looking at where you’ve been and what you’re doing, what would you like to do for the next 25 years?
I want to raise a good kid. That’s the dream. That’s all. If I work, that’s lovely, too.

Drayton Entertainment continues its tradition of tributes to popular music, this season bringing Country Legends to life at the Huron Country Playhouse. The Alex Mustakas show sold out last year in Penetanguishene, bringing a fusion of classic country, gospel and bluegrass music, dance and comedy to the Grand Bend stage. Among the highlights are songs by Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Patsy Cline, and many others. Country Legends runs from June 30 to July 24. Tickets are available at huroncountryplayhouse.com or by calling 519-238-6000.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel church celebrates 150 years as a parish July 18 with a mass, music, games, and a barbecue chicken dinner. Anyone interested in attending the 5 p.m. dinner must buy their tickets before July 4, the caterer’s deadline for attendance numbers. You can do so by contacting Judy Steeper (519-294-6639), Fran Roelands (519-294-6710), or Cecile Muller (519-238-8536). Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children under 10.
Free activities require no tickets, and include refreshments and cake after the 2 p.m. mass. Souvenir pens will be given to each family after the mass, and live Christian music, face painting, and old-fashioned games will include sack races, wheelbarrow races, three-legged races, bean bag toss, relay races, etc.

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

The most popular month for people to get married is June. I suppose people figure if April showers bring May flowers, then June will bring good weather that is neither too hot nor too cold. This is a good time to start a new life with someone you love.
It has been said that white is a colour that symbolizes happiness and good luck. Black on the other hand, would symbolize bad luck and unhappiness. I can understand why so many brides choose to wear white, so why do the grooms wear black? You’d wonder, wouldn’t you? Wearing earrings will bring the bride good luck provided they are not pearl earrings. Maybe the groom can get on this bandwagon and change his luck with a nice pair of earrings. Apparently, for every pearl a bride wears, her husband will give her a reason to cry. Great! After 47 years of marriage I find this out.
Most animals that you see on the way to church are good luck, including lambs, doves or toads. Even birds that fly directly over your car are good luck. It’s bad luck, though, if a pig crosses your path or bats fly into the church. Your old bat of an Aunt Gretchen doesn’t count.

Things we think we know!

• The red coral of the Mediterranean is actually blue.
• The grey whale is actually black.
• The Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea are both actually lakes.
• The Douglas fir is a pine tree.

Found in the classified ads

• Beautiful 6-month-old kitten. Playful, friendly, very affectionate. Or handsome 32 year old husband. Personable, funny, good job, but hates cats; says he goes or the cat goes. Come see both and decide which one you’d like. (Rita: I guess that honeymoon is over.)
• Amana washer – owned by bachelor who seldom washed.
• For sale: Cows, calves, never bred; also, a gay bull.
• Georgia peaches – Californian grown, 89¢/lb

Quotables

• Golfer Elaine Johnson once drove a ball that hit a tree, bounced back and landed in her bra. “I’ll take two stroke penalty,” she said, “but I’ll be damned if I’m going to play the ball where it lays.”
• Rita Rudner: My grandmother was a very tough woman. She buried three husbands, and two of them were just napping.

Happy Father’s Day to Tom and all my sons who are fathers. To Casey – an honourable mention for looking after his two dogs.

Keeping the Peace
By Tom Lessard, C.D.

It was early November 1953 when my fellow apprentice soldiers and I arrived in Montreal by train. It seemed to us a huge city. We were staying at the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps on Hochelaga Street, and after debarking from the bus, we were taken to the administration building to be documented. My name was listed as Thomas John Lessard, and not the way it should, John Thomas Lessard. I tried to explain the error and was told by the clerk that it was on all my paperwork and would take too much time to rectify. He said, “This is the army. Live with it.” As a result, I have been correcting it all my life.
Carrying on, we paraded to the quartermaster stores to be kitted out with uniforms, bedding, schoolbooks, rifles, etc. Our medical was set for the next day.
We made our way to the barracks, which was a two storey, typical military structure. Ours had classrooms upstairs and downstairs, along with a laundry room, dormitory style bedrooms, our own administration offices and NCO quarters.
It wasn’t until the next day that we discovered the worst thing about our camp. After we were rudely awakened in the morning, we were told that we had 10 minutes to get cleaned up, dressed and get outside to parade to the mess hall. When we stepped out the door and into the crisp November air of Quebec, we were greeted with one of the most God-awful smells any of us were to meet the rest of our lives. Situated a couple of blocks away was an Imperial Oil refinery neatly on the west side of the fences. A couple of the weaker stomached youngsters turned around and went back into the building, only to be quickly escorted out again. The mess hall was a couple of streets west of where we were, which made the oily stench worse — as if that were possible. Anyway, we struggled through the smell. That was the first of my experiences with army mess halls, and the food was actually very good. Being 16 years old we had pretty good appetites, and were even allotted extra rations.

Last Monday, my wife (her name is Rita, and she’s cute) and I took at drive to Londesborough to try to find the hall at which we would be going for a wedding reception the next Saturday. Since there were no restaurants in town we carried on to Bayfield to DJs. Everyone I know is aware of this establishment. I remembered my sister telling me that an old school chum lived in this town. We looked him up and, sure enough, after 60 years we met again. Being older now, we each have minor medical problems, but still are pretty chipper. As he had to visit his doctor, we had a short but wonderful meeting. Like mine, his wife is in pretty good shape. We both chose our life partners very well.

Happy birthday Donald Dinney, Christopher, Will, Connie, and Olivia Lessard.
Congratulations to Liette Clarke and Jeff Burton, who have a new baby girl.

Community/Charity

Grand Bend Nursery School is now offering five sessions a week of the Early Learning Program, a FREE high quality program designed to help prepare young children for school. If you have children 2.5 to 4 years old and reside in Lambton County, call Grand Bend Nursery School at 519-238-8514

Tuesdays
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Port Franks Community Centre
Kids Matter every Tuesday. Join us as we crochet sleeping mats out of milk bags to send to the children in Africa and South America. Bring your lunch, scissors and a #7 crochet hook. Call Peggy Smith at 519-296-5834 for details.

7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Bingo

Wednesdays
8 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Colonial Parking Lot
Grand Bend Farmers’ Market

Fridays
5 to 7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Meat Draw

Friday, June 18 to Sunday, June 20
Friday 7pm-11pm, Saturday 10am-1am, Sunday 10am-5pm – Grand Bend Beach
Grand Bend Optimist Burgerfest. Three days of beach fun, food and entertainment. For more information call 519-238-6859, or visit www.grandbendtourism.com

Saturday, June 19
2 p.m. – Trivitt Memorial Anglican Church, Exeter
Strawberries and Champagne silent auction. Fundraiser for AIDS mission in Africa. Featuring the Sweet Adelines and other entertainment. Tickets: $20 by calling 519-235-2565 or online at trivitt.ca

Wednesday, June 23
Grand Bend CHC
Huron Country Playhouse Guild Lunch.

Monday, June 28
7 p.m. – Grandpa Jimmy’s Scottish Bakery, Grand Bend
Relay for Life meeting. Team Captains meet at 6.30 p.m. General Meeting at 7 p.m. Everyone welcome!
Tuesday, June 29
Grand Bend Legion departure
Grand Bend Horticultural Society Bus Trip Royal Botanical Gardens, Aviary in Hamilton and Canning Perennials in Paris. A few seats are still available. Cost $45. Contact Rosie Heipel at 519-238-5225.

Thursday, July 1
Grand Bend
Canada Day celebrations, plus official opening of the Grand Bend Main Street. Street opens 4 p.m., entertainment at 5 p.m. and fireworks at 10 p.m.

Friday, July 9
7 p.m. to 7 a.m. – Klondyke Sport Park, Grand Bend
Grand Bend Relay for Life fundraiser for Canadian Cancer Society. Please join us for an inspiring but fun evening. Entertainment produced by Ken Dinel. Food and more. Come out and support our teams! Info at www.cancer.ca/relayforlife or call Carole 519-238-2297.

Saturday, September 11
5 p.m. – Huron Country Playhouse
Autumn Indulgence. The gala fundraiser supports our community and showcases the exceptional talents of local artists.
The ticket price is $90 for the whole evening, and $25 without dinner. Please note that the dinner tickets are now on sale. All proceeds support The Rotary Club of Grand Bend’s projects.
Buy your tickets now – this event sells out!

Arts & Entertainment

Mondays
10 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Golden Agers shuffleboard

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Tuesdays
1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

Wednesdays
7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Thursdays
9 to 11 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Golden Agers shuffleboard
Thursdays
1 to 4 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Shuffleboard

7:30 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Cards

Fridays
10 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Badminton

1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – Grand Bend Youth Centre
Grand Bend Drum Circle. Contact Anita at the Youth Centre or call 519-238-8759.

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Saturday, June 19
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by Mike Fagan

Friday, June 25
4-9 p.m. – Sunset Arts and River Road Galleries, River Road, Grand Bend
Sunset Arts and River Road Gala Openings. Meet the artists, enjoy refreshments, and enter to win a $300 Sunset Arts gift certificate.

Saturday, June 26
3 to 7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion (upstairs)
Live Music by Brian Dale

Saturday, July 3
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by Bob Finlay

Saturday, July 10
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by Mid Life Crisis

Health & Fitness

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8 to 9 a.m. – Southcott Pines Clubhouse
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Beth Sweeney at 519-238-5555

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8:45 to 10 a.m. (Mon/Fri), (to 9 a.m. Wed.) – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF Exercise classes with Elinor Clarke. $3/week – all proceeds to charity.

Mondays and Wednesdays
6 to 7 p.m. – Precious Blood Catholic School gym
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Shelley Van Osch at 519-234-6253.

Tuesdays and Thursdays
9 a.m. – Port Franks Community Centre
Healthy Lifestyle Exercise Program. Program includes warm up, low impact aerobic workout, strength work and stretching. Sponsored in part by Healthy Living Lambton. Cost: Free!! Everyone welcome. Contact Cindy Maxfield, Health Promoter at the GBACHC, 519-238-1556 ext 6 to register.

9 a.m. – Catholic Church parking lot
Grand Bend CHC Walking Program. Warm up stretching, walking and strength work. Call for details 519-238-1556 ext 231. Everyone welcome! Program runs until July.

9 a.m. – Port Franks Community Centre
Walking program in Port Franks

Wednesdays
9:30 a.m. – Lambton Heritage Museum parking lot
Savannah Strollers Pinery Park Walking Group. Meet at 9:30 so we can coordinate rides into the park for 10 a.m. walk. Different Trail each week. Everyone welcome!

Wednesday, June 23
10 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Mental Health Support Group. Contact Social Worker Lise Callahan at 519-238-1556 ext 230.

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Advance your cooking skills and enjoy a tasty healthy lunch for $5. Contact Miranda at 519-238-1556 ext 222.

Thursday, June 24
2 to 4 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Blood Pressure Clinic. Come out and have our blood pressure checked at this free clinic! Prevention and early detection can save a life.

Here’s your chance to mingle with local artists and enjoy an evening out: artists at the Sunset Arts and River Road Galleries, located west of Purdy’s on River Road, invite you to their 2010 gala opening June 25 from 4 to 9 p.m.
Grand Bend Strip publisher Casey Lessard is among the artists selling art at Sunset Arts this summer. His photo of tundra swans mid-flight is one of the works featured in his Casey365.com project from 2009.

As we head into the fourth annual Grand Bend Burgerfest weekend, James shows you how to make his signature burger. Warning: it packs some heat!

Recipe by James Eddington
http://www.eddingtons.ca

Eddington’s Burger

Ingredients
2 lbs medium ground beef
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp butter
1 small red onion, diced
3 tbsp minced garlic
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp horseradish
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp hot sauce

Directions
Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add red onion and garlic. Cook and stir until the onion softens and begins to turn brown, or about seven minutes. Transfer into a large bowl. Add yogurt, salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, horseradish, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and hot sauce. Whisk together until smooth. Mix in the ground beef and bread crumbs until evenly blended with the yogurt mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat barbecue (medium heat). Shape mixture into six patties, each 1/2” thick and 6” across. Grill burgers until no longer pink in the center, or about five minutes per side. Only flip once. The less movement the burger has, the better it will maintain its integrity.
For those who want to be creative try making a unique chutney or relish for your burger. You can find a chutney recipe we featured here previously under In The Kitchen at www.grandbendstrip.com. Although the original recipe called for rhubarb, you could try substituting peaches, bell peppers or even hot peppers for a unique burger topping. Have fun and enjoy.

Cheers,
James Eddington

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

I feel a level of simpatico with Mark Reilly. We’re not friends, not business partners; I met him once and talked to him on the phone once. But I know how he probably feels: he just wants to run a business in Grand Bend within the rules established by the prevailing authority.
When I started the Grand Bend Strip, I got a some nasty looks from people I didn’t know. Others simply ignored me, considered the paper junk mail, or didn’t care. They liked the old way, the other newspaper. But, as I believe Mark Reilly is, I was committed to doing my best every day and showing that I wanted to be part of this community. Luckily, there is a vocal minority – you who are reading this – who said, let’s support this guy. He’s doing something good.
I think Reilly’s dream of making Grand Bend a destination for athletes is a good thing. Somewhere along the line, he screwed up the execution. Too much, too soon. The town just redid the beach and downtown, after all. Add to that a contract that was too long for too little.
But let’s try to determine who is responsible here. It is really Mark Reilly?
Mark Reilly simply made a proposal to run a business. He did nothing wrong in that respect. His idea had no fundamental flaws. However, he made some mistakes by not communicating with residents, by not paying his initial fee, and by not securing insurance for the season. After his first mistake and the resulting meeting May 1, I can’t blame him for making the other two mistakes. He probably didn’t expect this project would happen this summer.
Is it Lambton Shores council, or perhaps the administration, that should bear the blame for the controversy and uproar by a group of concerned citizens? The administration wrote the terms of the agreement under direction of council, and made some critical errors in its construction. After a series of mistakes, council had enough reason to be concerned that it gave 60 days notice to terminate the contract with PVB. Good thing for them that PVB made the mistakes it did.
I’m going to take it one step further, though. If council and the administration are responsible for this mess, then perhaps the person ultimately responsible is you. After all, you voted in the council and they direct the administration.
I want to hear who you think is responsible. Visit our website and answer our poll, which is active now. It’s an early way to express your opinion to council. You’ll get another opportunity in October with the municipal election.
Regardless of your opinion, it looks like this project will go ahead. Ed Fluter says those supporting this project are a silent minority. But when it comes down to decision time, there may be a more important portion of the population that emerges. They’re the ones who vote in the councilors for wards other than Grand Bend. And when the residents of Grand Bend say, not in my backyard, are they listening? If not, who is in the majority here?

The Grand Bend Strip and publisher Casey Lessard took home more awards than any other newspaper in Ontario Friday, May 14 at the Ontario Community Newspapers Association gala held in Toronto. Here are the results and judges’ comments:

Is mom stunned by the success of the Grand Bend Strip? Unfortunately, they only take one photo at the Ontario Community Newspapers Association awards banquet in Toronto, and this is the one they sent us. From left: publisher Casey Lessard, mom Rita Lessard, OCNA president Don MacLeod, and co-owner Anjhela Michielsen hold the most plaques taken home by any newspaper at this year’s awards, held May 14.

3rd place – General Excellence (best overall paper), circulation under 1,999
Note: Top marks in 4 of 11 categories, including Front Page, Presentation, Photography, and Production Quality
Judges Norm Park, Cindy Beaulieu, Kelly Clammer, Heather Thomson: The most eye-appealing publication in this class. No question about artistic quality and photo presentation. That is tops in the class. This paper also provides good, easy to read features with strong leads. It’s a home-spun feel-good paper with a professional flair.

2nd place – Photographer of the Year (competing with all newspapers)
Judge Bill White: Strong features. Some very nice lighting.

1st place – Best Creative Advertising (under 9,999) – ad promoting Casey365.com
Judge Wayne Aubert: Unexpected clean layout for the clutter of ads in a community paper.

1st place – Best Feature Photo (under 9,999) – cover photo from Parkhill fair
Judge Dave White: I think the photographer made some smart decisions regarding depth of field and camera angle to help us feel this child’s pure joy. The viewer is right there with her. I really love this image.

2nd place – Education Writing – SHDHS music trip to Chicago
Judge Richard Dal Monte: Great photos and a good idea going along for the ride on the band trip to the Windy City.

3rd place – Best Sports Photo – Hockey Night in Zurich dressing room photo
Judge Ron Scheffler: The photographer is commended for exploring behind the scenes to reveal a closer look at those who play simply for the love of the sport.

3rd place – Best Photo Layout – Parkhill’s Five Fun Days
Judge Joe Callahan: An uncomplicated layout and typography that allowed the photograph to communicate effectively.

3rd place – Best Rural Story (under 9,999) – potato farmer Marcus Koenig
Judge Jake Boudrot: Well written, well researched, significant local story, with a nice layout and excellent photographs.

Why you’ll see PVB on the beach this summer

PVB Enterprises runs Canada’s largest independent beach volleyball camps. When one of owner and former national team member Mark Reilly’s club players, Taylor Ivey, and her parents Charlie and Katrine invited him to Grand Bend, an idea was born.
Reilly proposed developing a program in Grand Bend similar to the one he started in 1999 at Ashbridge’s Bay in Toronto. With plans to operate youth and adult camps and tournaments on the town’s north beach, Reilly and PVB approached Lambton Shores council in October 2009 and entered into a contract March 29, 2010 to run 15 courts for ten summers for $1500 per year.
Residents were informed April 5, and expressed to Reilly and the Iveys at a PVB-hosted meeting May 1 that they disapproved of the project and wanted it stopped.
While council supports the project, contractual problems (discussed on page 4 of this edition) led Lambton Shores to give PVB the 60 days notice required to void the contract. Council decided Monday night to renegotiate, and the matter is before lawyers. The Grand Bend Strip spoke with Mark Reilly Sunday night, ahead of the meeting, to see what he’d like to see now.

Interview by Casey Lessard

Grand Bend, Ontario - Mark Reilly of PVB volleyball.

Some changes to your original contract have been made as of Friday. What is the status?
Following the May 1 meeting we had with the community, we realized and were sensitive to many of the residents’ concerns. We’ve scaled back the contract and nothing has been signed yet, but we’ve had discussions with the municipality on how we could change a few clauses. Essentially adapt the contract to better suit the needs of the community and the municipality. We realize that the nature of the contract will demand an exceptional relationship with the municipality.

Here are some quick facts about the program: the original contract pitched 15 courts on the north beach for 10 years at $1500 per year; basically 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week for 15 weeks. What is the new agreement you’ve come up with the town?
We’ve scaled back the number of courts from 15 to 10 in year one. We’ve cut out all of the adult programming, all of the liquor licences and the idea of running tournaments where liquor would be involved for year one. We’ve entered a profit sharing agreement with the municipality where registration that comes through on the tournament side would result in revenue for the municipality. We’ve taken all of their concerns and digested them and came up with a proposal we believe will be suitable to the municipality and the residents.

Is the time length pretty similar?
We’ve scaled things back big time. We’re trying to show the residents and the municipality that we are listening and we’re hoping the residents will be sensitive to the changes and aware that the changes were made on behalf of them.
The courts are not being used nearly as much as it appears. In terms of the beach being used 24/7 by the beach volleyball courts, that’s not even close to a true equation. We have three child youth camps in place that are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and that’s for a total of three weeks. We’re running three OVA youth tournaments; we cancelled our first tournament in June.

One big change is the venue.
Yeah, the venue is now being changed to the main beach. For us, it’s equally exciting. Each beach has its advantages, but the main beach, we’re very happy to be there.

Would you consider other venues?
The program needs to exist and function out of the Grand Bend beach. The beach is the lifeline to the success of the program. Tourists and volleyball clientele want to be on the beach and experiencing beach volleyball on the beach in front of the water. Grand Bend presents an exceptional beach to do that on.

A lot of people remarked on the dollar figure for the original deal. What is the situation now?
The municipality will be making more money now, but it’s a win-win. What will end up happening in the new deal, the town will make more money with more programming. Should we be offered more tournament time, the municipality and businesses will make more money. Should they decide to lighten the tournament load, they end up getting less revenue. They want more money, they’re getting more money. But with that, we have to have more tournaments.

What is your vision for beach volleyball in Grand Bend?
We’re going to take slow steps and see what the market yields. If you do your research, some of your top volleyball players, including the top male and top female, came from the London and Kitchener-Waterloo areas. Western Ontario has a great volleyball history, and that history will get better. You’ll start to see beach volleyball athletes develop. Athletes simply don’t want to travel to Toronto and Cobourg, so our hope is a lot of families will see an opportunity to stay close to home and invest their time and energy in Grand Bend.

What’s your reaction to the way the community reacted to your proposal?
You have a generational gap who don’t understand the demands that young children are faced with and the many routes young children and adults can take these days. They don’t get the PlayStations and all the other distractions life presents for these families and young kids. I’m sensitive to that. I’m not calling them naïve. I’m calling them unfamiliar with the environment kids are dealing with.
At the same time, I’m completely aware and sensitive to these families who are craving more for their children. This program, without a doubt, is going to give the community a healthy, athletic focus. There are many residents, older and younger, who are afraid to speak. The way the other side presented their case, it was quite bluntly very aggressive. Any time people are afraid to speak, you have a problem. People should be able to speak openly and voice their opinions, and that certainly was not the case with this item. A lot of misinformation was dealt initially, and that bred anger and created a revolt against the project. As a citizen, I don’t agree with that.

I understand you have received some threats. Do you have any safety concerns?
I don’t. I think there will be a lot of focus and attention dealt toward volleyball and I think it’s a good thing. People are going to quickly realize this is a good, sound project, and we’re doing a good thing for the community. People involved in the project are going to take a lot of pride in the program, what we’re doing. I’m not concerned about safety at this point. We’ve addressed some of the safety issues, and we made it very clear that we’re going to be watching very carefully for outsiders who are not in support of the program.

There have been suggestions that because of your relationship to Charlie Ivey, who is related to former mayor Cam Ivey, that some favour was curried here. Has your affiliation with the Iveys led to any special treatment at council?
For anyone who wants to know how the volleyball business works, this has been the most taxing volleyball project I’ve ever been attached to. For anyone who thinks this has been an easy journey and that the Iveys have helped streamline this process and make it easy for us to get a contract, they’re sadly mistaken. Of every deal I’ve ever put together – with literally 20 or 30 companies or municipalities – this has been an extremely detailed process. Charlie has been a mentor to me, but in no way, shape or form has the Ivey name taken this deal through the pipes easily.

How do you heal the gap between your company, which wants to be here, and the people who are already here, especially the group led by Ed Fluter? What steps can you and they take to heal that rift?
I think they have to understand that there is a generation looking for more. We’re very grateful and thankful to be on the beach. We plan on working through a program model that is respectful to the community. If they plan to continue to slam the program and ruin the program, if that’s how they want to spend their lives and create their legacy in Grand Bend, that’s their path. If that’s the path they want to take, no one can stop them. But I’ll tell you that they’ll be upsetting a lot of families if it continues.

What is Grand Bend missing if it decides not to do this?
It’s a watershed moment. In the community of Grand Bend, we’ve had countless people email us to say they’re scared and are starving for a program like this. There’s a group of people that yields a lot of power and they do it in ways like mobbing. That’s what this was. They created misinformation and have managed to get a whole lot of people angry.

What if you aren’t here? What will you do?
I’ll continue on. I’m a passionate guy who’s involved in a game that’s done a lot for me. I don’t plan on ever stopping my volleyball journey. The sport has done wonderful things for my life and I feel I’m a disciple of the game.
If we need to go an alternative route, we will. But my hope is we don’t have to go down that road. I’m really confident that Grand Bend is the right spot to be.

Ed Fluter is a Grand Bend resident and representative of a new community association supported by many residents in the area. Fluter and his group oppose the PVB project – and any others – using the public beach for commercial purposes.
The Grand Bend Strip spoke with him shortly before Monday night’s council meeting.

Interview and photo by Casey Lessard

What are your main issues with volleyball on the beach at Grand Bend?
This is not a volleyball issue. I am a strong proponent of volleyball and other sports. My career was as a physical educator and coach. I love volleyball and sports and the benefits of sports. This issue is about commercializing our beach, a beach that has been designated for public use. It’s my feeling and our feeling – I represent a fairly large segment of the population right now – that no commercial activity should take over any portion of any of our beaches.
Beach volleyball is big business. If you have John Morrison of Not So Pro owing the City of Toronto $328,000 (including, according to the Globe and Mail, $113,000 for three months rent), you have to know this is big business. Even if it weren’t a huge potential for business, it’s still a for-profit activity on our beach.

So what do you say to suggestions that many of those opposed are of a certain generation that does not understand the needs of young people?
It has absolutely nothing to do with it. We are trying to protect this beach for people of all ages. We feel it is totally unfair that an organization of any kind is allowed to take over and lease a portion of public beach for private use for four months. One of the great joys I’ve seen over the years, on that part of the north beach that is not used for bathing purposes, the area considered underutilized is often used for spontaneous free play for people of all ages. I’m a strong advocate of that. Zoning regulation states that lakeshore be used for such passive recreation.
This deal is a precedent we don’t want to be set. I’m not against non-profit groups coming in and using a portion of the beach for a weekend, preferably during the shoulder seasons. In fact, I would be a proponent of that.
That portion of the beach that will be used for beach volleyball can be used by nobody else if they’re running from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week for the entire summer.

You are part of a new group referred to at council as the Community Association of Lambton Shores. Can you tell me about that?
We felt that our voice was not being heard. When you can show up with 100 people at three or four council meetings, when you can show up with 200 at the only meeting we had any opportunity to have input in (the PVB meeting on May 1), when you can get over 1000 names on a petition, including 50 businesses, when you can get that kind of vocal majority and be totally disregarded, you have to take further steps to fight this and other concerns through a group.

This has become quite a heated debate. Someone suggested they would put spikes in the courts where the children were playing volleyball. Do you and your group condone such violence?
Absolutely not. We condone no form of civil disobedience.

What do you plan to do if the revised agreement with fewer courts, shorter hours and fewer tournaments goes ahead this summer?
We are against that because it still doesn’t solve the bottom line issue. We have a number of strategies planned that I would prefer to keep in confidence at this point in time. We’re not going away. We’re not going to roll over and give up on this issue. We’ll take it as far as we possibly can.
There’s a small minority – I call them the silent minority – who claim they haven’t been heard, but have made no attempt to be heard in a formal, professional way other than complaining and gossiping in the background. Let them step forward and speak out.
We’re not getting personal in this debate. I have no personal issues with the proponents. This is an issue we’re fighting because we strongly believe in it.

And why council still wants to see beach volleyball in Grand Bend this summer
Interviews performed by Casey Lessard in advance of May 17 council meeting

Gord Minielly, Mayor
Years on council: more than 25, mayor since 2006.
Position sought in October 2010: none

Did you support the initial proposal from PVB?
Yes.

Do you support the contract the way it was signed?
Yes, I did. We’ve certainly altered it since the original, so I’m supportive of what’s being changed since the original.

Is there anything you would change about the contract?
I think it’s still a good idea, although there is a percentage of people who don’t support it. I like the concept of volleyball for kids on the beach, and I think it’s going to be beneficial to some of the people on the main strip. Maybe we should have done it on a yearly basis. We haven’t done anything about tournaments, but the fact that they’re not going to have any alcohol is a positive. The food voucher thing used to be done by the guy who rented the beach house, but it certainly wasn’t our intent to include that, so it’s gone.
If you bring more people to Grand Bend, the revenue of the businesses should increase. With Americans not coming the last little while and probably again this year, it’s an opportunity to get folks to bring their kids and generate revenue for the main street.

Do you think PVB should be operating on the Grand Bend beach?
I think they should. If they become successful, perhaps we can find a second venue so some of it can happen on the beach and some of it locally nearby without having to drive four or five miles to do that.
We’re kind of out of the contract, in my opinion, so we do have an opportunity to renegotiate if they’re interested. We’re not sure if that’s true or now. As of Friday afternoon, with 60 days notice, we’re out of the contract. They have been given notice.
It gives council some control to tighten up the contract if they’re still interested.

What rationale broke the contract?
It was the insurance portion and the fact that they were supposed to pay their $1500 by a certain date, which they didn’t do. The beginning of the season in the agreement was May 1. (They’ve been informed of this?) Yes.

Do you plan to make a new contract?
If council agrees, we will. If council doesn’t agree, we won’t. As of now, they still have the right to renegotiate. Because of the 60 day notice, there’s a little more time on our side to modify the agreement to what the residents were looking for.

What is your vision for the long-term use of Grand Bend’s beach?
The beach is for everybody’s use. If we can make this successful and bring more people, the long term would be to have two venues. Volleyball on the beach and volleyball close by. It would bring more folks and help everybody be a little more economically viable.

Carolyn Jamieson, Deputy Mayor
Years on council: more than 20
Position sought in 2010: Deputy mayor

Did you support the initial proposal from PVB?
Not the way it was, no. It was way too large.

Do you support the contract the way it was signed?
In principle. I still think it’s probably too big. I had my doubts about the number of courts, but I went along with the majority.
Is there anything you would change about the contract?
No.

Do you think PVB should be operating on the Grand Bend beach?
I do not have a problem with them operating on the beach.

If you could get out of the contract today (interviewed May 16), would you do it?
I have no idea. I hadn’t thought about that.
What is your vision for the long-term use of Grand Bend’s beach?
As a beach. They play volleyball there now, so they should continue to play volleyball. They swim, they sunbathe, they walk. You use it as a beach. I am not a beach person, so I am a poor person to ask. I do not like the water and I do not swim. But I understand that many, many people use that beach. They enjoy the beach.

John Dehondt, Ward 1
Years on council: four
Position sought in 2010: mayor

Did you support the initial proposal from PVB?
Yes and no. I supported a volleyball school. I didn’t support tournaments, beer tents, food concessions, or the size that it came up at. Actually I suggested it be two-thirds the size they suggested.

Do you support the contract the way it was signed?
No.

Is there anything you would change about the contract?
There was to be a clause in it that should the residents not be on side, that we can terminate the contract. There are a number of things wrong with it. That would be the simplest. The way I saw it happening, they would go out and do their communications program. They would come back and say, “it’s not going the way we thought, why don’t we do this and this?” Work out a collaborative agreement between what the residents and PVB wanted.

Do you think PVB should be operating on the Grand Bend beach?
No, I do not.

If you could get out of the contract today (as of May 16), would you do it?
Yes.

What is your vision for the long-term use of Grand Bend’s beach?
My vision is to keep it uncommercialized. I qualify that, too. I’d like to see an international rugby tournament. I’d like to see volleyball played, but being played on four permanent courts that allow people to play, including the teams that have been coming there for years. I’d like to see a committee created that would be made of people from the service clubs that would come up with recommendations of what and how we should protect our beach. That would be the best solution. As far as the volleyball goes, it should go back to the recreation and leisure plan. I think what would be supported would be a small community-based volleyball school. We have enough talent in the community that we could probably create some sort of volleyball school that would be at a different scale than PVB but still give us the opportunity to let young people have sports activities. But it doesn’t have to be on the beach.

Is Klondyke still an option?
Kids don’t care if volleyball is on the beach or at Klondyke. I really don’t believe that. The kids just want to learn and go play volleyball. I can see doing 90 per cent of the activities off beach. They could do finals and tournaments on the beach. That would be perfect. I think residents would get behind that.

Bill Weber, Ward 2
Years on council: 22
Position sought in 10/2010: mayor

Did you support the initial proposal from PVB?
The initial proposal from PVB was different than what was approved by council. Many changes and controls were added by staff following council’s direction from discussions held in open council meetings.

Do you support the contract the way it was signed?
Yes. The contract was moved and seconded and passed by a quorum of council so I support it as a member of council. No, I do not agree with all of the terms in the contract.

Is there anything you would change about the contract?
Things I believe should be negotiated: I have always said that a smaller number of semi permanent courts would be better – six may be a good number; and I think the contract should able to be reviewed, amended, extended, or cancelled each fall after the season of operations.

Do you think PVB should be operating on the Grand Bend beach?
I believe a school for volleyball on the beach can be beneficial to our residents and our businesses, so yes.

If you could get out of the contract today, would you do it?
Anyone can get out of any contract. But what is lost in reputation or opportunity for the community may take years to recover from. The last motion from council was to look at options and negotiate with PVB to address concerns and work toward a volleyball program in Grand Bend.

What is your vision for the long-term use of Grand Bend’s beach?
The beach is public and should be enjoyed by all.

Mark Simpson, Ward 3
Years on council: seven
Position sought in 10/2010: mayor

Did you support the initial proposal from PVB?
In principal I did support the concept. I had concerns with the number of courts, parking, the amount of the lease, and alcohol at events.

Do you support the contract the way it was signed?
As a member of council, I accept the contract as written.

Do you think PVB should be operating on the Grand Bend beach?
The municipality does not provide programming. We provide the facilities for both non-profit and for-profit organizations to provide the programs.

If you could get out of the contract today (as of May 16), would you do it?
While I wasn’t at the council meeting where the contract was approved (I have missed 2 meetings in 7 years, and that was one of them), I support all the decisions made by my colleagues that night.

What is your vision for the long-term use of Grand Bend’s beach?
Passive recreational use with the continued use by community groups for their activities, and for other programs that are suitable for beach use.

Ruth Illman, Ward 4
Years on council: seven

Did you support the initial proposal from PVB?
I supported the concept of a volleyball school on the beach as I believe it provides increased opportunity for physical activity for youth and adults. The volleyball school can also be seen as having potential for economic spin off for community businesses.

Do you support the contract the way it was signed?
Lambton Shores does not have a parks and recreation department and I can support the for-profit proposal provided that we treat this organization consistently with other for-profits that have provided programming in our Lambton Shores facilities and that all operational costs be the responsibility of the organization. I do not envision provision of alcoholic beverages on the beach, use of food vouchers, use of amplified music or PA systems. It is also important to have an evaluation of the program at the end of the season.

Is there anything you would change about the contract?
If I had this to do over, I would prefer that the municipality initiate the communications plan and that we start smaller than what we initially agreed.

Do you think PVB should be operating on the Grand Bend beach?
Yes.

If you could get out of the contract today (as of May 16), would you do it?
We agreed as a council that we wanted staff to go back to PVB and discuss a modified version of the volleyball school. I am hopeful that negotiations and discussions can achieve some positive adjustments.

What is your vision for the long-term use of Grand Bend’s beach?
I see the Grand Bend beach as one of the many jewels of this municipality. I want to see the beach as an attractive, safe and fun place for all of our residents to live and play and for tourists and families to visit. I want to see opportunities for both organized and unorganized play for children and youth.
I want to see the beach continue as an internationally recognized “Blue Flag” beach with more opportunities for environmental programming in partnership with other community groups and organizations. The opportunity for partnerships for environmental education and partnerships in beach safety education is certainly possible in conjunction with a beach volleyball school.
I want to see more opportunities for the handicapped and disabled. The main beach enhancement goes a long way to making the area more accessible but we do need to review the overall beach enhancement plan and consider accessibility possibilities for the north beach. I look forward to community discussions of these issues as we move forward with the Recreation and Leisure Master Plan.
We do not staff a recreation department and we do not have the financial means to do so unfortunately. We facilitate programming by partnering with both public organizations and private profit and not for profit organizations.

Gerry Rupke, Ward 5
Years on council: four
Position sought in 10/2010: Ward 3

Did you support the initial proposal from PVB?
I thought it was a great concept. We had some significant concerns, and they were to be addressed and brought back to council again. I wasn’t there when it came back to council.

Do you support the contract the way it was signed?
It didn’t address all the concerns we had, and one of them was communication with the local residents. We realized from the start that would be problematic, and would require significant effort by the company to sell their program to residents.
Is there anything you would change about the contract?
The communication plan. Nothing proceeds until local residents are happy with the plan.

Do you think PVB should be operating on the Grand Bend beach?
I think it’s a good potential use of the beach, yes. I’ve seen it done in other communities. In fact, I was just in Israel, and in Tel Aviv they have a very similar beach. There were four or five courts there in continuous use and quite compatible with other uses adjacent to it.

If you could get out of the contract today (as of May 16), would you do it?
Yes. I would alter it. (But you support them offering something on the beach?) Yes.

What is your vision for the long-term use of Grand Bend’s beach?
It’s a primary asset of our municipality and should be used for the benefit of our municipality as a whole. All the way along our shoreline we have a great asset, and we should ensure it is used in an environmentally appropriate way to benefit this community.

Doug Cook, Ward 6
Years on council: A few months
Position sought in 10/2010: Ward 6

Did you support the initial proposal from PVB?
(Was not on council at the time.)
Do you support the contract the way it was signed?
I would support most of it in principle.
Is there anything you would change about the contract?
I’m a business owner, so I thought they were given a pretty lucrative opportunity for $1500. That’s my only position.

Do you think PVB should be operating on the Grand Bend beach?
I have no problem with that.

If you could get out of the contract today (as of May 16), would you do it?
I still like the premise. The fact that you’re giving young people the opportunity to have a sports program in Grand Bend is a good thing. The spinoff benefit to the local businesses was another opportunity for them. Businesses on the main drag tend to need some support, so I think more traffic in town wouldn’t hurt them at all.
What is your vision for the long-term use of Grand Bend’s beach?
I really don’t know the issue very well. I’d have to find out more about what’s going on in Grand Bend. There is a recreation committee being put together right now that will be coming out in the next few months, and it will give direction for what we will see in parks and recreation use across Lambton Shores.

John Russell, Ward 7
Years on council: less than a year
Position sought in 10/2010: Undecided

Did you support the initial proposal from PVB?
Yes.

Do you support the contract the way it was signed?
I don’t support the existing contract because I didn’t know it was going to be signed (missed meeting due to family concerns).

Is there anything you would change about the contract?
Those are all details. The issue is for or against. I’m for it. I’m for volleyball. I’m for recreational opportunities. We made mistakes and PVB made major mistakes because they didn’t listen to us when we said they had to deal with the public. That’s our mistake, too, because we didn’t force their hand with that.

Do you think PVB should be operating on the Grand Bend beach?
I have no problem with them operating on the beach.

If you could get out of the contract today (as of May 16), would you do it?
Yeah. I made a motion that was defeated at the last council meeting that referred the issue of volleyball as a use of beach. It should be referred to the master plan on recreation, which is starting as we speak. We have a strategic plan. Recreation, heritage and culture are not in that plan. A strategic plan without recreation is not strategic.
I supported what they were trying to do. The idea of having volleyball on the beach is a good idea. But we have a bad history on this council of not using the public in a correct manner. That’s why you have these types of documents and public processes (master plans, etc.). Because this wasn’t quite correct, I suggested that the world wouldn’t come to an end if you don’t do it right now.

What is your vision for the long-term use of Grand Bend’s beach?
I don’t have one. That’s why I go through processes like that. I spent a lot of years chairing planning in Bosanquet, and my feeling is this: it’s not my vision; you get public input and find out.

Grand Bend Speedway team in memory of his late son is a way to help others

Larry Whiting formed the Derik Whiting Foundation in memory of his son, who took his own life in 2006 at age 24. Derik was an avid racer at the Grand Bend Speedway, and Larry Whiting has started a race team to help stop other youth from sharing Derik’s fate.

As told to Casey Lessard
Photos by Casey Lessard

Amanda Welsh is this year's team driver for the Derik Whiting Foundation race team.

He said he was going to hang up his helmet in 2006. He wanted to try some other stuff. He was working for me doing some property management, and was in the process of getting a truck on the road. He had gone through school for tool and die, and had passed with flying colours. His school had five awards, and he won all five. I think it was because I told him that if he flunked, he was paying for it, and if he passed, I would pay for it, so he made sure he passed.
He had a job working in tool and die for a short time in Strathroy, but it was the beginning of the crunch and they were laying people off. He struggled to get a job in the industry and came back to work with me in maintenance.

It was May 29, 2006. It was the morning, and I was working at the medical centre around 8 a.m.. I used to have another shop with my friend Rick Maguire. Rick called and said, “Can you come over to the shop?”
When I got to the shop, Rick met me outside and told me that Derik had hanged himself. It was hard to believe. First you think, no, it didn’t happen. I put reality together and knew it had.
I was dumbfounded. Lost. I did go in and look. I felt I needed that to know that it really happened. Then the police showed up.
At the funeral, I didn’t realize he had so many friends. Jim Hoffman told me it was the second largest funeral they’d had. I can understand it because he was so well liked.

I don’t think there’s a day that goes by that I don’t think about him or wonder why. He was a vibrant young man who loved life and made the best of everything he did. People called him a greeter because he was so friendly. He was the life of the party. We were all very shocked when it happened because, to this day, we don’t understand why.
It was a real shock to the family. He did leave a letter to the family that he was tired of crying himself to sleep, which we found very shocking.
A depression that’s held inside is the worst kind. If he had reached out to my wife Marlene or myself, or to his sister, or to someone at the medical centre where I work, that might have changed something.

It took about six months before I came up with the idea for the Derik Whiting Foundation. Derik was working on saving the ball diamond, so I took that on. It was something I would never have done, but Derik started it, so I felt I had to finish it. So far, with Bud Desjardine and Vince Bury, we’ve got that done. We put an ad in the paper and in the first year, we had 35-36 T-ball kids. Today, we have five traveling teams and still T-ball. The diamond’s still there. The diamond’s used so much now, we have actually taken over Dashwood for the bantams, and hopefully we’ll add two more teams, the midgets and mosquitoes.
A few people commented that Huron County has a higher than average suicide rate. I realized there weren’t a lot of programs for kids to hear about this, and I felt I had to do something. I knew how much Derik liked getting into the race car, and thought this was a good way to get kids who were having a rough time in life, or couldn’t afford it, into a race car. Give them some self-esteem and help them get over that hump in life.
A year passed, and another. We got the charitable status, but didn’t have the funding. We’re at the stage now where we have enough funding to buy a race truck and get kids into the program. We don’t just race. It’s a program where they learn mechanics, auto body, all the way down to writing stories for the local papers and taking pictures, speaking, announcing at the track, and so many other things. If one likes mechanics, we’ll try to help get that person into a garage or school for apprenticeship. Same with auto body or photography. And provide counseling while they go through the program.

We have three kids in the program now, Amanda, JJ and Jason. Amanda is driving this year and we’d like to put another car on the track next year.
We don’t pick people off the street to be part of this. They have to be in a counseling program. They’re being counseled because they’ve either made an attempt on their life or they have a real rough life. If the counselor feels the person needs a boost and is stable enough after counseling, that person can come to us and be part of the program.
We welcome any volunteers. We are looking for people who would be interested in helping the kids. Over the next winter, we would like to build the trucks, so when they get on the track next year, they know they’ve built that truck.
The end goal is that if I can save one person’s life, I’ve accomplished it. I’d like to do more than that. I have a feeling we will do a lot more than that, and that the program will grow. The future doesn’t have to involve racing. They could build a house. Let them do it and learn that they did something. That they’re part of a team. That’s what it’s all about. At the end of the day, the team did it.

I feel like I’m doing something for Derik. I miss his smile, his jokiness, his little smirk. I miss everything about him. I totally miss him. I miss him every day. It’s been frustrating getting this foundation going, and I think he’s the only one keeping me going. It was at a point about a year ago that I almost gave up on it. I’m glad I didn’t, because now we have some kids – team members – in the program, and it’s really satisfying knowing I could be helping save their life.

Larry Whiting would like to acknowledge the support of the team’s sponsors: Prosper’s Garage, Mike & Terri’s No Frills, Track21 Graphix, MacTools, Four Seasons Performance, MacFadden’s Welding, TNT Security Systems, Warwick Collision, and Glassford Chrysler.

Watch for Cole Martin, 9, of Zurich in his second War Amps TV PSA

Cole Martin of Zurich is a fun-loving nine-year-old who loves to play soccer and swim. He’s also a double amputee appearing in his second PSA for the War Amps Child Amputee program. Cole was born with only three toes and missing parts of his legs, and doctors amputated his legs above the ankle at six months. The Grand Bend Strip sat down with him and his parents Dwayne and Claudia Martin to discuss their journey.

Interview and photo by Casey Lessard
Screen capture courtesy War Amps

Dwayne: We knew from an early ultrasound that there was something not right with his legs. That created confusion among the medical staff because they had never come across this kind of situation before. They realized that there was something wrong with the legs, so they checked other limbs. They dug further and looked at internal organs. They were pretty sure nothing else was wrong but that there would be something wrong developmentally. They couldn’t even guarantee that he was going to be a highly functioning child. Just before he was born, Claudia was referred to an orthopedic surgeon, who finally gave this condition a name: fibular hemimelia. It means the absence of part or the whole limb. If he could adapt to walking with prosthetic legs, he should be otherwise a healthy child. When he was born, they had a team ready in case there were other complications.
Claudia: We were pretty confident that he was going to be fine otherwise. It was pretty devastating to hear that your child’s legs aren’t developing properly, but we believe there was a reason for him and we would do whatever we needed to do. He walks and jumps and plays. Cole hasn’t read the manual that he’s not supposed to be able to do what he does, and we’re not going to stop him. It’s a little different. We have to find legs in the mornings sometimes, and remember where we put them the night before.
The biggest thing at the beginning was telling people that he was fine: “don’t feel sorry for him”. The more we baby him, the more disabled we allow him to become. He could become disabled if we allowed him to be.
The biggest struggle was at school. When he’s climbing the ladder for the slide, he can’t feel when another child’s fingers are under his foot. We went into his class and explained this to the other kids.
Dwayne: The biggest apprehension I had was peer acceptance. We’ve found that because all the kids he goes to school with have grown up with him, they don’t see him as different. In fact, there are kids that say they wish they could take their legs off. They think it’s cool. For us, it’s always been about educating people what it’s like having an amputation and prosthetic legs. Yes, you do things a little differently, but you can do basically anything that everyone else can do. You just have to adapt a little bit. He rides a normal bike; he needs to start and stop a little differently, but he finds his own way. With skating, he can’t feel the slipperiness of the ice, so he’s had to experiment on his own.

War Amps’ help is crucial
Claudia: He has a carbon-fibre foot that is responsive, so he gets lift off the toe. Right now they’re working on swim legs for him with an adjustable ankle so he can put flippers on. He’s also getting a pair of legs without the additional height so he won’t have the additional weight when he’s running. By that time, he’ll have three pairs of legs. War Amps covers everything. We just got the bill for the swim legs, and it was almost $25,000 for one pair of legs. Regular legs are slightly less than that. War Amps is covering everything. Without their help, he wouldn’t have them.
Dwayne: We would be very limited in what we could provide him. War Amps does an amazing job of giving kids specialized gear, whether it’s arms and hands or legs and special feet. They cover everything over and above what insurance does.
Claudia: Dwayne’s plan covers 80 per cent for one pair every two years. We also get help from ADP (Ontario’s Assistive Devices Program). But they don’t cover recreational legs. War Amps allows kids to be kids, to live a normal life. Because they’re normal kids.

Cole’s biggest challenges
Claudia: The biggest problem is stump sores. The splits, the blisters, the bleeding that happens. You deal with it. He doesn’t know any different. He was six months when he was amputated. This has always been and always will be.
(When he was learning to walk,) we didn’t do anything differently. When he was learning to crawl, we had to put pads on his legs so he could grip the floor, otherwise his plastic legs kept sliding away on him. It was a little more emotional the day he walked across the kitchen because this was a child that doctors said wasn’t supposed to live, and if he lived, he would never walk. The day any child walks is a huge day, but the fact that he did it at 18 months on the day, that was emotional.
Dwayne: We’ve always taken the viewpoint that if we don’t tell him he can’t do it, he won’t think he can’t, and he’ll try it. If he tries and decides it’s too difficult for him, he can pursue it or not. For the most part, he has always exceeded what doctors say he technically should be able to do. As he’s grown, he learns his limits and he has a lot fewer limits than we believed there would be.

Dwayne: We all have challenges. His just happens to be more visible. Because of certain limitations, he can’t become a firefighter, but otherwise, there are no limits to what he can do.

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

Happy belated Mother’s Day to one and all. What a great station in life it has been for me to have the privilege and fortune to have been able to attain. I hope it has been as wonderful an experience for others as it has been for me. Being a mother has been a roller coaster of emotions, but for me it has been the best time of my life with absolutely no regrets. It is an honour to have raised five great and successful sons. Thank you boys for all you’ve achieved to make me happy and proud to be called your mother. This past weekend I was specially proud and delighted to attend an awards ceremony where Casey won eight awards for the Grand Bend Strip. What a thrill that was. Way to go, Casey!

As mothers, we don’t get much time to relax, but occasionally we let the housework slide and watch a game show or two. One day, I was talking to my neighbour and she was saying how her husband came home from work one day to find the house in complete disarray. There she was plopped in front of the TV. “So that’s what you do while I’m at work?” he said, smirking. “I just happened to have it on,” she lied. The jig was up the next day when the family was watching the prime minister giving a speech. As he stepped out of his car and waved to the cheering crowd, her son shouted, “Look, mommy, he won the car!”

As mothers go, I always considered myself a half decent housekeeper. I enjoyed playing games with the kids, so that was my excuse for not being 100 per cent perfect in that area. My friend, on the other hand, was a bit of a cleaning fanatic. The one Friday night her teenagers had a party down in the recreation room, and she was not too happy about the mess they made, so she made them clean it up. As she watched them work, it was clear that she was completely dissatisfied with their cleaning efforts and she let them know. Finally the son, exasperated with having to do it all over, reached for a broom and asked, “Can I use this, or are you planning to go somewhere?” Wow! How brave was that?!

From Reader’s Digest:
All mothers have intuition. The great ones have radar.
Raising kids is part joy and part guerilla warfare.
Just be kind and good to your children. Not only are they the future of the world, they’re the ones who can sign you into the home.

Hints from Woman’s World:
Like to round off that gas purchase to a nice even number? Don’t bother. Adding fuel after the pump’s auto shut-off kick actually doesn’t get you any extra. The tank needs a bit of room for gas to expand, and any extra fuel evaporates into the car’s vapor collection system. What’s worse, it could cause poor engine performance. Wow, who knew? If this is true, it’s a lesson for me.

While you’re gardening carry a quart size spray bottle filled with a couple of drops of liquid dish soap and water. If you see bugs attacking your flowers, give them a hefty squirt and they’ll fly away.

Stratford actor and screen star Cynthia Dale is coming to the Huron Country Playhouse next month. Dale, star of CBC’s Street Legal and frequent stage presence at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, hits the stage June 9 to 26 as the title character in Sweet Charity.
Set in New York in the 1960s, Sweet Charity is Neil Simon’s Tony Award-winning musical about an optimistic young woman who always wears her heart on her sleeve.
For tickets, call 519-238-6000 or visit huroncountryplayhouse.com.

Community/Charity

Grand Bend Nursery School is now offering five sessions a week of the Early Learning Program, a FREE high quality program designed to help prepare young children for school. If you have children 2.5 to 4 years old and reside in Lambton County, call Grand Bend Nursery School at 519-238-8514

Tuesdays
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Pt Franks Comm Ctr.
Kids Matter every Tuesday. Join us as we crochet sleeping mats out of milk bags to send to the children in Africa and South America. Bring your lunch, scissors and a #7 crochet hook. Peggy Smith 519-296-5834.

7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Bingo

Fridays
5 to 7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Meat Draw

Wednesday, May 19
6:30 p.m. – Parkhill Leisure Club
Plant Sale and Auction. Outdoor Plant Sale $1, $2, $5. 7:30 p.m. – Live Auction of Plants, Garden Tools & Accessories. Sponsored by Parkhill Area Horticultural Society. Phone: 519-293-3645

Sunday, May 30
10 a.m. – Lions’ Pavilion, Grand Bend
The Purina Walk for Dog Guides. Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides provides Dog Guides at no cost to Canadians with disabilities. The walk is a fun-filled day for both community members and their four-legged friends to enjoy the spring weather, meet fellow dog owners and contribute to a wonderful cause.
purinawalkfordogguides.com

Tuesday, June 1
6:30 p.m. – Grandpa Jimmy’s Scottish Bakery, Grand Bend.
Grand Bend Relay for Life 2010 meeting. Team Captains meet at 6:30 p.m., general meeting follows at 7 pm. Everyone welcome. Relay on July 9 this year.

9 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion lower parking lot.
Grand Bend Horticultural Society Planting Day. Bring planting tools. Contact Eric Brown at 519-238-1583.

Wednesday, June 2
12 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Grand Bend Golden Agers Luncheon.

Thursday, June 3
7 p.m. sharp – Grand Bend CHC
Sunset Cinema (Grand Bend Social Film Club). Last film till fall.

Saturday, June 5
8:15 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Departure for Port Franks Garden Club bus trip to the Bossu Wetland. Tentative return time is 6 p.m. Morning spent at Wetlands, then lunch in Wallaceburg. Tour of gardens there followed by trip to Sarnia for two more garden tours.

Tuesday, June 8
9:30 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Grand Bend Women’s Probus. Everyone welcome.

Tuesday, June 15
10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Grand Bend Men’s Probus. Topic: Probus Canada

Saturday, September 11
5 p.m. – Huron Country Playhouse
Autumn Indulgence has become a Grand Bend tradition – a splendid evening of food, fellowship, and live entertainment. The gala fundraiser supports and celebrates our wonderful community and showcases the exceptional talents of our local artists.
This year’s theme is “Nautical”. Enjoy the exceptional atmosphere along with a gourmet steak and lobster dinner, unique live and silent auctions, two live bands and dancing.
The ticket price is $90 for the whole evening, and $25 without dinner. Please note that the dinner tickets are now on sale. All proceeds support The Rotary Club of Grand Bend’s local and International projects.
Please join us for a fun and exciting evening that benefits the entire community.
Buy your tickets now – this event sells out!

Arts & Entertainment

Mondays
10 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Golden Agers shuffleboard

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Tuesdays
1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

Wednesdays
7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Thursdays
9 to 11 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Golden Agers shuffleboard

1 to 4 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Shuffleboard

7:30 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Cards

Fridays
10 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Badminton

1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – GB Youth Ctr.
Grand Bend Drum Circle. Contact Anita at the Youth Centre or call 519-238-8759.

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Saturday, May 22
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by Mike Fagan

Saturday, May 29
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by Larry McQuarrie

Saturday, June 5
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by Cactus Jam

Saturday, June 12
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by Persuaders

Health & Fitness

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8 to 9 a.m. – Southcott Pines Clubhouse
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Beth Sweeney at 519-238-5555

8:45 to 10 a.m. (Mon/Fri), (to 9 a.m. Wed.) – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF Exercise classes with Elinor Clarke. $3/week – all proceeds to charity.

Mondays and Wednesdays
6 to 7 p.m. – Precious Blood Catholic School gym, Exeter
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Shelley Van Osch at 519-234-6253.

Tuesdays and Thursdays
9 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Centre
Healthy Lifestyle Exercise Program. Program includes warm up, low impact aerobic workout, strength work and stretching. Cost: Free. Everyone welcome. Register with Cindy Maxfield at 519-238-1556 ext 6.

9 a.m. – Catholic Church parking lot
Grand Bend CHC Walking Program. Warm up stretching, walking and strength work. Call for details 519-238-1556 ext 231. Everyone welcome! Program runs until July.

9 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Centre
Walking program in Port Franks

Wednesdays
9:30 a.m. – Lambton Heritage Museum parking lot
Savannah Strollers Pinery Park Walking Group. Meet at 9:30 so we can coordinate rides into the park for 10 a.m. walk. Different Trail each week. Everyone welcome!

Wednesday, June 2
10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Cooking for One or Two. Learn how to scale down recipes, freeze portions and make new friends! Call Miranda 519-238-1556 ext 222 to register.

Thursday, June 3
2 to 4 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Early Stage Alzheimer’s Support Group. This series is for individuals who are in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Contact Jennifer Burns at 1-800-561-5012.

Monday, June 7
7 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Alzheimer Caregiver Support. Group program that provides education and support to caregivers. Alzheimer’s Society of Huron at 1-800-561-5012.

Recipe by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

This is a simple little recipe that I hope will inspire you to plant some peppers and tomatoes this spring. If, as I do, you lack a green thumb, no need to fret; they are easy to grow. I bought the seeds, followed the instructions on the package and stuck them in planters on the front porch. Even with the lack of frequency in our watering patterns, I produced healthy, vibrant and delicious plants that were enjoyed all summer.

Beyond the varietals, take a look at the benefits!
Source: villagefarms.com

Tomatoes are fat-free, low in sodium, and have been shown to lower cholesterol. Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin A and calcium. They are also packed with phytonutrients, including lycopene, an antioxidant that protects our cells from damage. They have proven to help prevent a wide variety of cancers, including colon, prostate, breast, lung, and pancreatic cancer. Tomatoes also contain an array of nutrients that work to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease, including fiber, potassium, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, and lycopene. Finally, tomatoes also contain phenylalanine, an essential amino acid important in the functions of the kidneys and bladder. Phenylalanine has been found to boost energy levels, ease depression and increase mental clarity.

Bell peppers are also rich in vitamin C and vitamin A. The vitamin B6 and folic acid in peppers reduces homocysteine levels that increase our risk of heart attack and stroke. Bell peppers are also a good source of fiber, which can help lower cholesterol and reduce our risk of heart disease. Red bell peppers also contain lycopene.

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion (diced)
1/2 bunch celery diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cloves garlic
4 large red bell peppers, roasted, skinned and diced

Note: when roasting red peppers, char out side until black, place in stainless steel bowl and cover until cooled. This will steam the skin, making it a lot easier to peel.

5 large tomatoes, chopped in cubes (Any variety works. I used simple field tomatoes in my soup.)
1 clove
2 bay leaves
1 cup heavy cream
2 ounces honey
Salt and pepper to taste

In large stock pot, sauté onions and celery in olive oil over low/medium heat, stirring occasionally until soft. Add 1/4 cup white wine to deglaze pot. Add 3 cups of stock, 2 cloves of garlic, diced peppers and chopped tomatoes. Bring to rolling boil then simmer for about an hour. If needed, add water to thin mixture. Once ingredients are soft, puree with hand blender. Return to medium heat and add 35% cream and honey, and blend again. Add cloves and bay leaves and let simmer on low heat until ready to serve. Add pinch of salt and pepper as needed, or more honey if desired.
If you want to be creative, add balsamic vinegar for a unique flavor or substitute one red pepper with a hot pepper for kick.
Have fun and enjoy.

Cheers, James Eddington

Disney’s High School Musical

Written by David Simpatico
Directed & Choreographed by David Connelly, with Louise Johnson and Luke Brown
Musical direction by Peter Aylin
Performed by David Cotton, Melissa O’Neil, Lisa Lennox, Chad McNamara, with Thomas Alderson, Mark Harapiak, Cassandra Kranjec, Amelia Sirianni, Stephanie West, Shaun Castor, Liam Flanagan, Alison Jantzie, Tim Porter, Liam Tobin, Jonny Wexler, Ken Chamberland, Caitlin Goguen, Susan Johnston Collins, Alana Randall, Sarah Vance.
Drayton Entertainment Production

St. Jacobs Country Playhouse, Waterloo – April 21 to May 15, 2010
Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend – May 19 to May 30, 2010

Entertain This Thought!
By Mary Alderson
(Disclaimer: The reviewer’s son is in the cast.)

Last year, when High School Musical hit the stages in St. Jacobs and Penetanguishene, it was an amazingly energetic show.  This year, the energy has been kicked up a notch or two, if that’s possible!
The show is lots of fun, with enthusiastic singing and dancing.  It’s back at St. Jacobs after completely selling out there last year, then in mid-May, it opens Huron Country Playhouse’s season in Grand Bend.
Director David Connelly describes it as a Romeo and Juliet story; two kids from opposite sides fall in love – the jock and the brainiac.  Troy, the school’s basketball star, meets Gabriella while on a ski vacation.  They take part in a karaoke contest and are surprised to learn they can sing.  But when Gabriella enrols at Troy’s school, he’s embarrassed to tell his friends he likes singing.  She is pressured into taking part in a math competition, rather than audition for the high school musical.
This show is also the new Grease, but instead of peer pressure on the couple to conform, High School Musical celebrates the differences.  The cliques can mix: the jocks, brainiacs, skater dudes and musical theatre geeks can all be friends.  They can even admit to enjoying activities outside their clique, like the jock who bakes, or the skateboarder girl who plays cello.  In act one, they are afraid to mix up the cliques, singing “Stick to the Status Quo”, but by the end, the kids declare, “We’re all in this together.”
With 10 of the 20 cast members returning from last year, the show has all the same good qualities.  Plus, 10 new cast members have joined, bringing with them experience playing the same characters at the Neptune Theatre in Halifax.  Like the plot, the two groups have come together, raising the energy level.
David Cotton reprises the role of Troy Bolton – this year with hair à la Zac Efron or Justin Bieber, which is sure to impress the girls in the audience. But more impressive is David’s voice.  He nails every song perfectly, with better harmony than Efron’s movie versions.
Canadian Idol Melissa O’Neil returns as Gabriella.  Her character is quiet, shy, smart, and endearing much like O’Neil herself.  Her solid singing experience is certainly evident.
Lisa Lennox is the evil Sharpay, with ideal comedic timing and plenty of energy.  Her twin brother Ryan is played perfectly by Chad McNamara.  The two of them are amazing dancers.  Lennox and McNamara, along with Jonny Wexler, who plays Chad Danforth, are TV’s Doodlebops.  All three know how to hold the young audience’s attention.  In addition, there are four other members of the Doodlebops live touring shows in this production: Shaun Castor (Mongo), Tim Porter (James), Amelia Sirianni (Kelsi) and Sarah Vance (Cathy).
Susan Johnston Collins is back as the eccentric drama teacher Ms Darbus, perfect in the comedic role.  She talks to her class in a variety of accents, each one funnier than the last.   Mark Harapiak, just back from a North American tour as King Arthur in Camelot, plays the nasty, tough Coach Bolton well.  After Bolten has his revelation, Harapiak infuses some comedy into the character, joining the students for the final dance numbers.
The rest of the cast, Thomas Alderson, Cassandra Kranjec, Stephanie West, Liam Flanagan, Alison Jantzie, Tim Porter, Liam Tobin, Ken Chamberland, Caitlin Goguen, and Alana Randall, are adept at handling various parts and many quick costume changes.  They also bring great enthusiasm and energy with their singing and dancing.  An audience favourite is “The Start of Something New” where the cast sings and signs the lyrics.  The huge megamix finale with the entire cast is spectacular.
This show is very family friendly with a 7:00 p.m. start, wrapping up at 9:30 so the kids can get home to bed.  There are also booster seats available for diminutive theatregoers – extras were brought in from the Elmira McDonalds.
Kids love seeing the movie brought to life on stage.  They have the DVD memorized and know exactly what will happen next.  For the most part, they love the predictability.  However, last year, I chatted with one young fan who was upset that a new song had been added that wasn’t in the movie.  But then it was forgivable when her friend reminded her that the song was an “extra track” on the CD.
If you have pre-teens in your family, take them to the show.  But even if you don’t have a handy youngster, go anyway.  It is a great evening of entertainment, with superior singing, lively choreography, and a positive message.  All ages can enjoy High School Musical.
Just a note – if you have the Drayton Entertainment Theatre Guide 2010, there have been changes:  The booklet lists High School Musical as appearing at the Drayton Theatre, but the show has been moved to St. Jacobs due to renovations at Drayton.  Also, the booklet shows that High School Musical runs until June 5 in Grand Bend, but now it is scheduled to close May 30.  Order tickets now, last year it sold out.

High School Musical continues with eight shows a week until May 15 at St. Jacobs Country Playhouse, and then from May 19 to May 30 at Huron Country Playhouse, Grand Bend.  Tickets are available at the St. Jacobs box office 519-757-7788, Huron Country Playhouse box office at 519-238-6000, Drayton Entertainment at 1-888-449-4463, or check out www.draytonentertainment.com.

A member of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association, Mary Alderson reviews shows at area theatres and posts her reviews at www.entertainthisthought.com.

Some of you may recognize the name Murray “Slim” Gordon Lewis from his long and storied career as a musician in Ontario and across North America. For others, like the editor’s parents, he was your insurance salesman.
Slim Gordon, as he was called, was born in 1926 in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. Today, he lives alone in an apartment in Exeter. In December, he was diagnosed with cancer. A fellow reader, Diane Lovie thought you might like to hear his story.

As told to Casey Lessard
Portraits by Casey Lessard
WSM images courtesy Slim Gordon

I had my own radio program when I was six years old in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. I had been performing with other kids on a children’s program every Saturday afternoon, and the Rawleigh man came to the house one day. He was so used to our place that he just walked in. My mother played the pump organ and she was teaching me a new song I was going to learn for the program on Saturday. When we were done, my brother came into the parlour room to tell us that he was out there, so we went into the kitchen. He had been listening to the rehearsal.
I was a boy soprano and he said to my mother, “The radio station is looking for someone to star in a program, and my wife plays piano for them.” He said, “Why don’t you bring your son down some evening and let my wife hear him?” She took me down and I got the program.
I did that for two years. The announcer was also the announcer for the show with the children. He retired to Newfoundland, so they didn’t have an announcer to do the kid’s shows. He was very good at it. I remember they didn’t have an adjustable microphone. It was a set height. If they stood me on a chair, I was too tall. If they didn’t stand me on a chair, I was too short. They had to sit me on the announcer’s lap to do the program. He was adjustable.

Boston-bound
When I was 15, I decided to start my own band. I rented a country hall for $5 per night, and we made our own posters. We had a full house. We charged 25 cents admission, and made $7 each. Farmer’s helpers were working a whole month for $10.
This was 1941. We didn’t have electric instruments. Everything was acoustic. It was a rousing success.
When I was 17, we had a dairy farm and a milk route and delivered milk by the bottle. I met a customer one Sunday, and his wife told him I sang cowboy music. There was no such thing as country music at the time. John lived in Boston, Massachusetts. He said I ought to go to the radio station and get a program on the radio.
I stayed with my uncle, who lived in Boston. While there, John took me to a country outfitters. My father gave me $100 to buy western pants, a western shirt, belt and boots, and a new guitar. John took me to a photographer and I had my picture taken. He took my picture around to the different nightclubs and tried to book me. Damned if he didn’t! I played a different nightclub every night. I was 17 and too young to drink, but that didn’t matter.
He took me to WMEX radio, and a fellow named Gene LaVerne had a country band and did a country show every day at noon. He listened to me sing and told me he didn’t have any work for me, but he got me some bookings.
John got me booked on the Boston Barn Dance, which was broadcast from the Armories every Wednesday night. I did one show and then the next week. We were leaving to come back to the house, and there were three girls standing in the lobby.
One girl came over, shook my hand, and said her name was Betty Lee. “I’m going to be doing a tour of Nova Scotia,” she said. “We’re going to be doing a radio show there and we’re looking for a boy who can sing, play guitar and act as straight man for our comedian.”
How much do you pay?, I asked. “You get $25 a week, even if you don’t work the whole six days. And you won’t have to worry about the fare back to Yarmouth because we have our own car.” So I had a job.
The next year, she was planning a U.S. tour, but I couldn’t get a work permit to work in the U.S. because they were still under wartime rules. The company I was working for offered me a position in Hamilton, and I took the chance. I worked for Cosmos Imperial Mills and I ran a loom that wove felt that was 40’ wide by 200’. It was used in paper mills.

The move to Ontario
I came to Hamilton in 1948 and started my band in 1949. We were doing a Saturday night show with three other bands at CKPC radio in Brantford. The Cockshutt plow company was hosting a show and they wanted a country band. The plowing match was coming up in Paris, and the announcer thought it would be fair to run a contest for the four bands to do the job. The audience chose. We got the job.
We had sporadic work. We rehearsed in case something came up. Then the band started pestering me. “We’ve been rehearsing two to three nights a week for two years. Are we ever going to go out and get jobs working nightclubs or something?” So I thought, well, we have a big enough repertoire – I could do 500 songs myself – maybe I should go see what I can do.
We had an audition at Hanrahan’s Tavern, and we got our first job. I told him what our price was and he accepted it. We didn’t have an argument. We had a two-week gig, which was normal. The first week, I noticed a guy came in and sat at the bar. He looked like a businessman. He came again the next night. He said, “I’m Harold Kudlutz, I book bands.” He became our agent. He booked us for quite a long time.
I had a good paying job because not a lot of people can weave felt. Now I had a problem. Halfway through the second week at Hanrahan’s, I was bushed. I went to my factory manager and explained the situation. I asked for Wednesday mornings off to get a day that I could sleep in and catch up. I didn’t want to quit what I was doing because I had been working toward it for a long time. He agreed to it.
Then, by golly, we started getting bookings in Toronto. So I went back to him. “Now what do you need,” he says. “Well,” I told him, “I’ll make it short and to the point. Can I get a six-month leave of absence?” It’s quite a question to ask someone. He said, “I suppose if I don’t give it to you, you’re going to quit.” I told him, “I guess you’re right.” He gave it to me.
That was the end of working in a factory. I never went back.
By this point, I had been married a long time. Since 1950. We met when I was trying to start a show in Hamilton at a supper club with a dance floor. I was hoping it would be a success, but it bombed. We ran it for four nights. My best friend was putting up the money for it, and he wasn’t a rich man.
Rita Muir was a girlfriend of my competitor, Mike Patoma. He came to one of the shows, and brought her and her girlfriend.
He took me down and introduced me to her. It was a mistake on his part, if he was serious. But then, it was a big mistake on my part because I married her. We were married for 12 years. Twelve years of pure hell. We had three daughters, but the last one, Leslie, wasn’t mine. That was the end of the marriage.
That didn’t stop me from loving the little girl. She had nothing to do with it. When we broke up, Rita took Leslie with her.
Last January, one of my daughters died of cancer. The night of her memorial, some of the family came and Leslie came, too. I said, “The last time I saw you, you were 10 years old.”
She said, “I remember the last time I saw you.” I asked how old she was, and she said 52. I said, “I haven’t seen you for 40 years.” She looked the same. I couldn’t believe it. Forty years. And she still felt like my daughter. She threw her arms around my neck and stood there and cried. It had to be 20 minutes. I haven’t seen her since.

Hit the road, Slim
(After my marriage ended,) I did a tour with George Jones and one with Hank Snow, each for a month. I’m still playing nightclubs, but now I play Toronto a lot. We didn’t have a holiday for two years, so I went back to Oshawa, where I bought a house. I gave Rita the house in Hamilton to take care of the girls.
I used to run Saturday night shows in the Red Barn. In the fall of ’64, a fellow came who owned a dude ranch north of Kirkland Lake. He wanted to know whether the band and I would do a TV show from the ranch as a form of advertising. We settled on a price for Sunday night.
The guy was going to try to pull a fast one on me. If you’re in this business long enough, you get wise to this stuff. He wrote me a cheque that night when the show was finished. I was up the next morning when the bank opened and I went into the bank. The teller told me they couldn’t honour any more cheques from him. I could see his idea of the TV show, but not with my money. Back to the ranch.
I pull into the yard of the ranch, and he’d just come out of the ranch house with a metal cash box in his hand, heading for the bank. He said, “Where’ve you been?” I said, “To the bank, they wouldn’t honour your cheque.” He told me to come back into the ranch house and he’d give me cash. All smiles, I told him that would suit me just dandy. His wife stood there gritting her teeth.

We wound up in Hearst, the last jumping off point in Ontario. You either have to turn east or west; you can’t go north, no highway. I met a guy who came and asked if he could play banjo on my show. His name was Smiley Bates. Not too many guys running around playing the five-string banjo. Hard to play.
He said, “I play everything. If it’s got strings on it, I play it.” And he did. He played them all equally well. I needed a smaller band to play nightclubs, so I thought I’d hire him. Before I left Hearst, I had a booking at the Franklin Hotel in Kirkland Lake.
I had two weeks off and I was in Oshawa. My agent called and said the band playing the Queen’s Hotel in Seaforth was from the United States and their banjo player ruptured his appendix. They can’t play a show without him. He asked if we would fill in. And here I thought we’d have two weeks off.
We had a ball. The second night we were there, Smiley said to me, “Did you see the blonde that came in here?” I said, “I’m not bothered with women, I just came through a bad marriage.” He said, “She’s really something. She’s got blonde hair she can sit on.” And she did. I like long hair.
He said he’d take me down and introduce me during the break. That was his mistake. I sat and talked to her until my break was over. She had a good head, and she was real pretty. Her name was Lydia Roelofs. Dutch. She was a dandy.
When we got married, she was 20 and I was 40. They told me I was robbing the cradle. We were married for 34 years. Had two kids that made us proud. Their mother, I give the credit for that because I was on the road all the time.
I took three weeks off, and thought, I can’t subject Lydia to life on the road. If I take her to Oshawa and dump her in my apartment, I don’t know when I’m going to get back and that wouldn’t be fair to her. I thought if she could stay in Exeter, that would work out because she has friends here, went to high school here.

End of the line
In 1970, I got booked in Vietnam, so I took it. The money was damn good. I was going to be entertaining American troops.
It was busy. You flew somewhere every day of the week. If you couldn’t fly, you took a train or a van. I was by myself, no road band. A lot of clubs had house bands. You want to talk about bands? Get a Japanese or Filipino country band; as good as anything in Nashville. Couldn’t speak a word of English. Well, there was always one guy who could speak enough that you could get by, but other than that, no. Did that for 17 weeks.
The closest I came to being in danger that I know of, I was flying from Manila in the Philippines to Taipei, Taiwan. When we got there, my road manager came running as I came down the gangplank. He said, “We were really worried. We didn’t know if you were going to get here or not.” I said, why?
He said, “What time did you leave Manila?” Quarter past twelve. He said, “Well, they blew up the airport at 12:30.”
I was over there in 1970 over Christmas, New Year’s, and my birthday, December 30. I missed my family, and I thought this is a stupid damn job. I’m 10,000 miles away from my family at Christmastime. I should start doing something else. I don’t think I’m ever going to be a big star. Just a little star. This is after 31 years in the business.
I came home and didn’t do anything for a month. I told my wife I wasn’t going to do anything for a year. I was going back to college for woodworking. I’ve always loved woodworking all my life. I took a course in fine carpentry and cabinet making. I loved it. Made loads of stuff.
I built my own house. I knew how to do that because we did it at school. I worked in insurance for 18 years until I retired. I lived in that house for 25 years.

A sudden change
In 1999, Lydia died. Heart stopped. She hadn’t been sick. Doctor didn’t know there was anything wrong with her.
It was two days before Christmas. Twenty-third of December. She was laying out her pies because we were going to have both of the children with their families. She said to me, “When you have your sandwich, could you go uptown and get the Christmas turkey?” Holtzmann’s had called and told us our fresh turkey had arrived from Hayter’s.
It was 2:20 because I looked at my watch. I went uptown, got the turkey, came back home, and my wife was dead on the floor. That’s all the warning we had. The end of a happy marriage.
I couldn’t believe it. It was days before I could think it wasn’t happening. A bad dream; I couldn’t wake up.
Phoned the kids and told them. Thursday. Thursday afternoon. Couldn’t believe it. Thought I was safe. I’m going to die first, for sure, because there’s 20 years between us.
I lived eight years in the house by myself. I was lonely there. The house had everything we wanted. Took me six and a half years to build it because I was working in the insurance office. All beams in the ceiling. A huge backyard. Four thousand square feet. Five bedrooms, pool room, a bar with more booze than some of the clubs I played in. But it became too much for me.
I never thought I’d wind up like this (living in an apartment). I thought my wife and I would live in our house.

A new battle
In December, I wasn’t feeling that well. I had trouble with my throat, and I went to the doctor. They decided to run some tests.
First, they did an ultrasound. Then they found something. They did an x-ray and a CAT scan. The CAT scan nailed it down. She said, “You’ve got cancer.” In my kidney.
I thought, you can haul one out and leave the other one.
I went to the surgeon in London, Dr. Chin. He’s the top surgeon in London. I told him I’m a Jehovah’s Witness, so I don’t take blood. He said, “Just a moment. You don’t have to worry about the blood because I’m not going to operate. You’re 83 years old. Most people don’t realize how complex a kidney operation is. It’s a hell of a shock to your system. I think the shock would kill you.” Shit.

So here I sit. I’m looking at alternative medicine. Conventional medicine won’t look at that at all. It’s a hell of an attitude. They’re killing people doing that.
It’s a pain in the ass, no, the kidney. When it comes to alternative health, you can control it through what you eat. The guy I’m dealing with now is Dr. Julian Whittaker in California. He’s been using this system for 30 years and never had a failure yet. I could be number one.
I’m not cryin’. I’m a Jehovah’s Witness. I’m not afraid of dying anymore. I was apprehensive before, but I’m not afraid now. There’s no such thing as hell.
I’ve got nothing to complain about. I’m happy I lived in the time that I lived. From 1926 to 2010, that’s a hell of a long time. Look at the changes I’ve seen. I think I’m pretty lucky.

Pinnacle of a career
In 1962, I was running shows at the Red Barn in Oshawa Sunday nights in the wintertime. I was bringing in talent from Nashville and Wheeling; both had 50,000-Watt stations. I had booked Skeeter Davis, who had about five gold hits by then. She was going to be flying in Saturday evening. I couldn’t go pick her up because I was doing the radio show, so I sent my wife down to pick her up at the airport. She brought her up to the station, so she was there when I signed off. I had written and rewritten the signoff about five or six times. “Mama, put the kettle on, I’m coming home.” Thanked the people for listening. Skeeter is listening to this, and when I got finished, I looked at her and she had tears in her eyes. She said, “That’s the most beautiful close I’d ever heard. Could you do that again on a tape not going out on the air?” I did it.
She took it home to Ralph, her husband, an all-night DJ at WSM Nashville. She played it for the board of directors. They said, that’s our next DJ.
I got a telegram from WSM at the end of October asking me to come to Nashville September 2, 1962. Nashville voted me Mr. DJ USA. I’m the only Canadian that ever got that award. I did a one-hour broadcast as a DJ from Nashville. We had five or six Opry stars lined up for my show.
Later, I walked out on the stage to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. In the floor of the stage at the Grand Ole Opry, there’s a circle there about 8’ to 10’ in diameter, where it’s new wood. That’s where all the stars perform because that’s centre stage. Walking out there, when you see that circle and you know you’re going to stand there, it gives me teardrops. You feel about two inches high. Really humble. I did a song, “I’ll Pretend There Was No Yesterday”.
That was the pinnacle.

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

I’ll admit that I don’t spend a lot of time in downtown Grand Bend in the winter. My home base is in Parkhill, and I am usually heading in the other direction, to Toronto, during the school year.
That’s why it was interesting to visit the strip April 2. The day was too beautiful not to see whether others would be soaking up the sun and getting sand stuck between their toes. They sure were. It felt like July.
More interesting, though, was seeing the main street construction that will be done by the time most people expected summer to start (i.e. not April). Regardless of what you think of the width of the road, the remake looks promising. The facelift was a long time coming.
I can understand why some people are nonplussed about the process. It makes life tougher if the road’s not wide enough. But let’s be honest. This construction is not to make life easier for drivers. It is for the walkers, and those using wheelchairs. In other words, it’s for the shoppers. Someday, that may even be you.
That will be some time from now, though, if you won’t go downtown while visitors run amok. If a town can’t sustain its downtown economy year-round solely on its residents, what do you expect? Businesses are going to continue to plan for the summer economy, and had people known it was going to be so beautiful Easter weekend, more businesses would have opened to serve the influx.
There’s no turning back on this downtown project, and we may have the best infrastructure around by this summer. With the new look, we may even be able to attract a few more downtown businesses that cater to locals, as most people say they want.
But it will take some more vision, like that of a select few (including Kazwear, which is finishing its own intriguing renovation), to get us to the point where the majority make a living off the residents instead of the visitors.
Is that right for Grand Bend? You tell me.

The Grand Bend Studio Tour runs May 1 and 2 in studios and galleries across the area. This year’s roster includes: Adelaide Glass (Linda Rupp), Anne Luxton, Barb McKnight, Barry Richman, Bill Nieuwland, Bliss Studio, Casey Lessard (I’ll be at Pine Dale and Sunset Arts), Christopher Grimes, David Bannister, Debra Bailey, Fran Roelands, Gallery Algo, Helga Otton, Jack Winn, Josy Britton, Kristyn Watterworth, Laura Jones Wright, Mary Lynn Fluter, Michael Billett, Patricia Downie, Sunset Arts, and Teresa Marie. Admission is free to all.
The best place to start is at Baillie’s Framing, where you can find maps to the various locations, including the River Road strip of galleries, Pine Dale Motor Inn, Bliss Studio in Port Franks, and various home studios.

Jolene Unwin of Crediton died October 9, 2007 after the car she was driving rolled on the gravel road near her home. She was a month shy of her 20th birthday. To remember Jolene, Jim and Donna Unwin organize an annual hockey game involving family, friends and the London Devilettes, a team she was about to start playing hockey with before her death.
This year’s game was held March 27 at the South Huron Recreation Centre in Exeter. Funds raised this year go to the Critical Care Unit at the London Health Sciences Centre, where Jolene spent her last moments.

As told to Casey Lessard
Game photos by Casey Lessard

Donna: She was almost born on Friday the 13th. She would stay up late at night, wouldn’t go to bed even when she was a baby. She’d be up in the morning at six o’clock when Jim would go to work. She just never wanted to miss anything.

Before she played hockey, she was a member of the Exeter Starlights Baton for two or three years, and she also played baseball. When she was in Grade 8, that summer she said, “I’m going to play hockey next year and I’m going to be a goalie.” Sure enough, they didn’t have one, so that’s when she started playing hockey and went into net.
Jim: I coached her for three years. I liked to see her play hockey because she always played road hockey out here with the boys, and she was the goalie. I tried to get her to use her glove hand a lot. I’d fire tennis balls at her all the time. The first year she played goal, she was voted to go to the all-star game.
Donna: With the hockey, because of her size, the first time she was skating around against Parkhill, the girls commented that the net was taller than the goalie. But she surprised them all.

As she was going through school, she was an artist right from the start. She was always drawing stuff or making stuff. She made her own doll outfits. As she got older, I don’t think she ever went anywhere without her sketchpad. That’s why we’ve got all these pictures here. If she got depressed, she would draw a picture and that would help her out.

Finding her way
Donna: She had just got her license in June, just before she started her course at Fanshawe College. She had taken a year off school and was here all the time. When we were away, she did a lot of cutting grass and taking care of the house. She’d help the boys with their homework if they needed it. It was weird to have her out of the house.
Jim: I didn’t want her moving to London, but it was nice for her to move on.
Donna: And she moved in with friends, two of them her best friends. It wasn’t like she was going off to be with people she didn’t know.
She came home on Thanksgiving Saturday and picked up Jacob to bring him up to Kincardine, to our place up there. My mom and dad, and aunt and uncle were there and we had Thanksgiving there. Jacob had a project, so she brought him home on Sunday and took him into town to a friend’s place.
For some reason, she came back here rather than going straight back to London. She lost control of the car on the gravel road. It was freshly laid gravel. They had just done it the past week. When Jacob come home from where he was doing his homework, that’s when we found out about it.

As soon as the police called us, all they said was we had to get to London. The hospital called and said we had to get there right away. They wouldn’t say anything about her condition. The police told us they don’t condone speeding, but we should get there as fast as we could. You have a feeling when they say that, that there’s something terribly wrong.

Jim drove and I was calling everyone so my mind wasn’t dwelling on what was going on. When we got to the hospital and they told us, it was very, very hard.
They were asking us to do organ donations. We decided to do that, and at about 11:30, they tested her and her brain was still alive, so they kept her on life support. Then at about three o’clock, she had no blood pressure and I heard one of the nurses in back say that if that keeps up, the organs won’t be any good. So we decided then to shut the machine off and there was no use to put her through any more. It was hard to do.
We turned the machine off and watched her pass away. I spent a little time with her and we came home. One of the longest days of our lives.
Jim: It still hurts. I go talk to her every day at the cemetery in Crediton. Every day.
Donna: We still struggle with it, even now. It’s going to take us a long time to get over it.
You just go a day at a time. That’s why we do this game to keep her memory going. Her friends have been a good support. I don’t really remember a lot of it because you go through on autopilot. It gets a little easier, but not much. There’s always things you know you’re not going to be able to do.
I don’t think she would want us to dwell on it. She would want us to get over it. But that’s not the way things are. I know she wouldn’t want us to be upset about it all the time. But it’s not that easy.

This year’s game raised about $6,000 for the LHSC Critical Care Unit. Jim would like to see the game grow to include a match with former NHL players. In addition to this fundraiser, Jim’s employer donates money for a scholarship in Jolene’s memory to help students interested in art or sports who need financial assistance to attend school.

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

What’s with this weather already? A couple of nice, sunny days, and then it’s spoiled with cold and frost. Twice this past week I had to scrape the ice off my windshield. It’s half a wonder why people get sick when one day we’re wearing shorts and the next it’s back to the sweaters and winter jackets.
Well, we have to wear clothes anyway, but do you ever wonder why we do it to ourselves? Generation after generation of women has willingly exposed themselves to the high risk of pantyhose strangulation, girdle-induced respiratory arrest and turtleneck gagging. What kind of sick people punish themselves like this?
Men, too, continue to punish themselves. Just look at the necktie. Where did that idea come from? Perhaps from watching too many westerns? Some bright eyed designer must have been watching a hanging one day and thought, “Now there’s an idea that could really catch on!”
At least it stays tight. Contrast that with pantyhose, a nylon half-body suit that fits like a tourniquet but gradually loosens throughout the day until it folds at the ankle like ribbon candy? Not pretty, but we love it.
Spandex is another thing. I’ve seen both sexes wearing it, and believe me, I honestly think some people wearing it these days are seriously violating the spandex rules of engagement. You know who I’m talking about.
High-heeled shoes are another bad fashion idea. Backaches, bunions, sore feet, fallen arches, etc. Come on, people. Give it up! Sweats, socks, running shoes and sensible walking shoes are our reward for enduring decades of fashion abuse. Embrace them.
Bottom line is, clothes and other apparel shouldn’t punish us. I may be showing my age, but considering I just celebrated my 69th birthday, I feel I’ve earned that privilege. Even though people say I don’t look a day over 68, I am what I am. Thanks for the thought anyway.

Thank you to my husband, sons and daughters-in-law, my sister Joan, brother Peter and brothers Bill and Richard, as well as my friends Deb and Roy for the cards and gifts for my April 5th birthday. Your kindness is overwhelming.

Lighter notes
Someone once told me to marry a man your own age. As your beauty fades, so does his eyesight.

Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving.

Overheard at Tim’s?
A woman walked up to the manager. “Are you hiring any help?”, she asked.
“No,” he replied, “we already have all the staff we need.”
“Okay,” she said, “then would you mind getting someone to wait on me?”

Touché.

Keeping the Peace
By Tom Lessard, C.D.

My military career of 18 years took me to many places I probably would never have gone on my own. When I joined the RCOC in 1953 at the age of 16, I was sent to Montreal, where the ordnance corps school was located. For a kid that young who had never been away from home, it was quite an exciting experience. One of the best times was when we had to do our qualifying on the rifle. We had to take a bus to Mt. Bruno off the island and into the Gatineau hills. Beautiful country.
After completing my training, which took almost two years, my first posting was to 27 COD on Highbury Avenue in London. For the first two months, I was living in Wolseley Barracks, but was told that I had to move out and find a place on the economy (in other words, an apartment or a rooming house). One of the older guys showed me a rooming house on Hale Street, just a ten-minute walk from work. The lady who ran the place had two small children and 21 boarders whom she fed and housed. She found room for me on the third floor (at one time the attic) with seven other tenants, all army. We ate and lived – and caroused – together. It was a very interesting time. They certainly taught me a lot, about half of which they shouldn’t have.
A little more than a year later, the Suez Crisis occurred. Up on the notice board, a request for volunteers was posted. The first name to be entered was yours truly. Off I went to Egypt for the better part of a year. Six months after I returned, there was a request on the board for a storeman to go out to Wainwright, Alberta, as increment attached to the RCEME workshop for a three month summer exercise. I got the job, but when I reported in, I was told that I would be the C.O.’s batman-driver. That was a pretty cushy duty. It was a surprise for me to find out that my brother-in-law Sam was stationed in Calgary with the Queen’s Own Rifles, at whose camp we bunked before heading north to Wainwright. I didn’t realize until then that my sister was living there; they showed me a great time.
Back to London. The next year I was back to Alberta again. Another good summer.
I wanted to go to Germany and the only way to get there was to get posted to the 1st battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment stationed at Ipperwash. I didn’t even know where that was. I soon found out and was pleasantly surprised to experience one of the best camps I was ever to live in. The other in consideration was Lizard Flats in Cyprus.
While with the battalion, I had three years in Germany, two tours in Cyprus, two summers in Petawawa, one in Gagetown, winter exercises up north, and a month in Jamaica. If not for the army, I wouldn’t have gone on an upgrading course in Montreal, where I met my future wife. She travelled with me to Germany, where we married and had our first two boys. Rita turned 69 earlier this month (happy birthday).
Happy birthday this month to Bob and Jessica. I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful spring weather. It’s nice to be alive.

SHDHS Cabaret
All members of the community are invited to attend South Huron District High School’s Music Department 2010 Cabaret concerts. The concerts will take place in the large gym on Saturday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday, April 18 at 2:00 p.m. Each day will be a totally different program.
This informal, relaxed environment will feature a variety of bands who will perform popular selections for you to enjoy. Audience members are seated at tables and are encouraged to get up, move around during the concert, visit the refreshment tables, and participate in draws for many amazing prizes donated graciously by the South Huron community, and much more. Refreshments are complimentary with the purchase of your $5.00 ticket.
Also, the SHDHS Senior Band will be premiering “The Seal Lullaby” by Los Angeles-based composer, Eric Whitacre. South Huron is lucky to be one of only twenty-five schools in North America premiering the piece!
You can buy your ticket today from any South Huron music student, or in the office at the school. For more information call Mr. Isaac Moore at the school at 519-235-0880 or email isaamoor@fc.amdsb.ca. All proceeds from the Cabaret will go to the Music Department.

Community/Charity

Grand Bend Nursery School is now offering five sessions a week of the Early Learning Program, a FREE high quality program designed to help prepare young children for school. If you have children 2.5 to 4 years old and reside in Lambton County, call Grand Bend Nursery School at 519-238-8514

Tuesdays
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Port Franks Community Ctr.
Kids Matter every Tuesday. Join us as we crochet sleeping mats out of milk bags to send to the children in Africa and South America. Bring your lunch, scissors and a #7 crochet hook. Call Peggy Smith at 519-296-5834 for details.
Tuesdays
7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Bingo

Fridays
5 to 7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Meat Draw

Tuesday, April 20
8:30 a.m.
Grand Bend Men’s Probus Bus Trip to St. Thomas

10 a.m. – Port Franks Community Centre
Euchre-Rama. Games start 10 a.m. sharp. Cost is $6 per person and includes lunch. Contact the Port Franks Seniors for details 519-243-2297

Thursday, April 22
11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. – Exeter Day Centre at South Huron Hospital
Community Lunch. Homemade Chili, Roll, Relishes, Squares and Beverage. $6 per person. Dine in or Take Out. Call Tammy at 519-235-4600

Monday, April 26
7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Grand Bend Horticultural Society Meeting. Topic Organic Gardening. Guest speakers Ken and Martha Laing, Orchard Hill Farm.

Wednesday, April 28
12:30 p.m. – Aunt Gussie’s
Huron Country Playhouse Guild monthly luncheon meeting. New members and guests are welcome. Please call Mary at 519-238-5640 for details.

Thursday, April 29
9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Grand Bend Women’s Institute 2nd Annual Spring Awakening. Topics: Container planting , Tai Chi, Summer entertaining, beauty and skin care. Lunch included, door prizes. Motivational guest speaker Eleanor Woods, Fashion Show and more! Tickets $20. Call Barb 519-243-1163 or Cassie 519-238-2727

Arts & Entertainment

Mondays
1 to 3 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Golden Agers Shuffleboard

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Tuesdays
1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

Wednesdays
7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Thursdays
1 to 4 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Shuffleboard

1 to 3 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Golden Agers Shuffleboard

7:30 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Cards

Fridays
10 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Badminton

1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – Grand Bend Youth Centre
Grand Bend Drum Circle. Contact Anita at the Youth Centre or call 519-238-8759.

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Saturday, April 24
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by Yeager

Friday, April 30
9:30pm – Aunt Gussie’s restaurant
Fundraiser music night with Mike Monaghan and Patrick Powers. Proceeds go to South Huron ‘Cobras’ U16 regional girls soccer team. $20/ticket – all tickets purchased ahead of time will go into a draw for a dinner/theatre package for two. Tickets can be purchased through LeeAnn Powers at 238-1765 or powersinthebend@hay.net. Door prizes throughout the night and free hors d’oeuvres.

Saturday, May 1
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Horse Races

Thursday, May 6
7 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Sunset Cinema presents: An Education, award winning comedy/drama

Saturday, May 8
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by Ben Shane & Bobby K

Health & Fitness

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8 to 9 a.m. – Southcott Clubhouse
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Beth Sweeney at 519-238-5555.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8:45 to 10 a.m. (Mon/Fri), (to 9 a.m. Wed.) – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF Exercise classes with Elinor Clarke. $3/week – all proceeds to charity.

Mondays and Wednesdays
6 to 7 p.m. – Precious Blood gym
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Shelley Van Osch at 519-234-6253.

Tuesdays and Thursdays
9 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Centre
Healthy Lifestyle Exercise Program. Cost: Free. Everyone welcome. Contact Cindy Maxfield at 519-238-1556 ext 6 to register.

Thursday, April 22
2 to 4 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Home Safety and Falls Prevention. Join Occupational Therapists Shawna Palmar and Kate Mason.

4:30 to 8:30 p.m. – South Huron Rec Centre, Exeter
Bump2Family. The Greener Expo. Help to celebrate Earth Day. Natural pregnancy services and products, greener products for babies and the family. Participate in ‘Bunz on the Run’ Diaper Derby and a ‘Proud Parent Contest’, a baby contest. Adults: $2 (donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Huron). Children: free with a canned good donation. 519-527-1948

Thursday, April 29
2 to 4 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Blood Pressure Clinic. Free. Prevention and early detection can save a life!

Recipe by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

Photo by Casey Lessard

The great thing about a chutney is that is can be used in so many applications. It makes a fantastic topping for chicken, pork tenderloin, fresh fish, etc. Once you’ve established your chutney base, you can also “pear” your fruits to each season.

Ingredients

1 round Brie cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 small carrot, julienned
1 red pepper, julienned
4 stalks rhubarb, diced
2 ounces balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup white wine
3 tsp butter

Note: These measurements are a guideline for the wine and vinegar. At start, add less liquid than listed above and increase as necessary. Water content in each fruit varies and must be considered before adding wet ingredients.

Mix butter, onions and garlic in a medium stock pot on low heat. Once softened, add carrots and peppers, stirring periodically until just about soft. Now add diced rhubarb and balsamic vinegar. Mix well.
Turn heat up between medium and high and add remaining ingredients. Bring to quick boil and reduce heat, letting liquids reduce.
Now you be the judge. Taste chutney and make sure it suits your palate. Not too sweet, not too sour. Never overcook the chutney. The entire process should not take more than 10-12 minutes. Texture is key to final product.

Enjoy!

High School Musical
Presented by Drayton Entertainment
Huron Country Playhouse
May 19 to 30
Tickets: $39 for adults, $20 for under 18
Box office: 1-888-449-4463

Photos and story by Casey Lessard

Aiming for fame, more than 100 teenagers joined auditions in Exeter and Guelph for Drayton Entertainment’s summer presentation of Disney’s High School Musical, which runs at the Huron Country Playhouse May 19 to 30. After a weekend of auditions, including a full Sunday at South Huron District High School, 80 actors were chosen to join the P.E.P. Squad, the play’s chorus.
“I saw it in the paper and right away I knew that it was something I had to do,” said Alicia Veens, 16, a student at North Lambton Secondary School in Forest. “I love the play a lot, and I love to sing. I love to dance, even though I’m not very good.”
Veens and the rest of the teens had to show their abilities in both areas. Director and choreographer David Connolly and dance captain Michelle Black taught the audition attendees one of the routines those selected will be performing in the play, “We’re All In This Together”.
“It was nerve-wracking,” said Viktor Coletta, a South Huron student from Parkhill. “I was scared out of my mind. I wasn’t expecting what they did. I felt better when we were in groups, but I think I did pretty good.”
The Drayton team acknowledges the fear auditionees have. After all, for some, this is their first time trying out for a professional role.
“We had kids coming to the door, still not convinced of whether they were going to do it at all,” Michelle Black said. “Still thinking it over and they got here. The fact is, they got the courage to learn the material and present at the end.”
The process is not new for Grand Bend’s Meaghan Forrester. She was in the chorus of last season’s Oliver!
“With my Oliver! audition, I screwed up, too, and let my performance suffer,” Forrester said. “This one I screwed up, but I felt my performance was better. You miss a step or have to catch up.
“I hope I get in, but if I don’t, I’m applying to university and those auditions need work,” she added. “If I do get in, I plan to work a lot harder than I did on Oliver!, because we had a lot more time and it was less complicated. This will be less time and more complicated.”
It seems Forrester impressed Connolly and Black; she was among those chosen to join the squad for eight performances this summer. But Connolly understands the pressure the audition process puts on a new performer.
“These kids are making courageous choices to be here,” he said. “For some, it’s an obvious choice; their parents support them and they drove them and it was a no-brainer. There are others who moved mountains to get into that room. When you know what an audition is, it’s scary enough, but they don’t even know what an audition is and they’re walking into a room to put it all on the line.”
Alicia Bradley, 17, of London put it on the line. The Central Secondary School student, who spends summers at a cottage in Grand Bend, has experience at the Grand Theatre in London, where she was a pianist. She was hoping to move from the orchestra pit to the stage.
“I love to dance and sing, Bradley said. “I want to go into theatre at university, but I didn’t realize that until last year, so I’m trying to get my show experience now. I have a couple of auditions at Ryerson, York and U of T. I’m a dancer, so I thought this would be a good chance to get on stage.”
Unfortunately, Bradley is not among those who will be on the Playhouse stage this summer. Neither will Beth Smallman, a South Huron student new to professional theatre.
“I want to go into acting after high school,” Smallman said. “This was my first audition. I’ve been in a lot of drama things through school. I wanted to see what an audition is like and see whether I get it.”
No matter, though. It was a worthy experience for the teen.
“It went really well,” she said. “I learned a lot. I tried my hardest and it was a lot of fun.”
That’s the kind of attitude David Connolly was looking for, even if it didn’t translate into a position with the cast. The overwhelming desire to succeed reminds Connolly of his early theatre years.
“My first big audition was for Alan Lund at Kitchener-Waterloo Musical Productions. I had done some dancing with dance studios and competed a little, but Alan Lund was standing in front of me with Cynthia Toushan Brnjas, who was his assistant, and I didn’t even know that choreographers had assistants. I remember being in awe of that. I must have been so bad and awkward. But we’re looking for passion, someone who can’t think of anything else they’d rather do, and I must have had that.”
It’s all about perspective, Michelle Black said.
“If they did it again, it’s less of an audition and more of a workshop on life. Every time I spend time with David, I learn a little more about myself. Today, if they don’t get the show, the confidence they’ll get from being in the room with him is huge.”
And it’s not for everyone.
“We had a girl yesterday break down in the middle and say, ‘I can’t do this,’” Black said. “You can see that, for some of them, it’s terrifying.”
It wasn’t a problem for Virginia Iredale of Exeter, who earned a spot on the squad.
“The hardest part is keeping it all together,” the Grade 10 student said. “I don’t get embarrassed on stage. The easiest part was coming. I just decided, I’m going, my mom will bring me. Then it’s like, I’m here, guess I get to do it now.”
Family support is important, and makes the process easier.
“My mom made me (audition),” said Viktor Coletta. “I did this in London with Original Kids. I was Zeke Baylor, the cook. It’s a fun show, a lot of energetic people.”
Alicia Veens came wearing a shirt that reads Born to be Famous.
“My grandma bought me this shirt,” Veens said. “She loves what I do and hopes for the best for me. I want to be famous really bad.”
And she knows what it takes to get there.
“If you have it, you have it. You don’t have to be good looking, as long as you have the talent and believe in yourself.”
Words David Connolly might argue were taken right out of his mouth. He hopes some kids discovered this about themselves during the audition process.
“You can tell somebody they’re great, but that will never replace them feeling that they did it themselves,” he said. “That moment of doing it for themselves will stay with them.”
Veens walked away wanting the moment to last.
“I would love to get a letter in the mail saying I’ve made it. I’ve always wanted to be in a play like this.”
“I’d like to see all the good people get it,” added Virginia Iredale. “I will definitely go see it now because it looks like fun.”
No need to buy a ticket, Virginia, because you and Alicia are in it. Veens and Iredale were both added to the P.E.P. Squad roster. And yes, High School Musical looks like fun. To see it for yourself, visit http://www.draytonentertainment.com

Fran Roelands is ABCA feature artist

21st annual Conservation Dinner
Thursday, April 15
South Huron Rec. Centre, Exeter
Tickets: $50
Phone: 1-888-286-2610
http://www.conservationdinner.com

West McGillivray watercolour painter Fran Roelands is this year’s Ausable Bayfield Conservation Dinner feature artist, and is offering her painting, Along the Banks of Mud Creek (above), to this year’s auction. The painting depicts a late winter scene at the back of her family farm on Creamery Road, where she has lived for 30 years with her husband, Matt.
Casey Lessard visited her home studio and gallery to discuss art and conservation.

As told to Casey Lessard

I’m an outdoors type of person. I enjoy the scenery and we’re blessed to have this beautiful climate we live in with all its seasons. I enjoy every kind of weather.
We live on the land. We appreciate the beauty that we’re surrounded by. We appreciate the clean water and clean air and try to keep it that way for generations to come. We tap into all the resources we can to do things properly.
I was inspired (to pursue art) years ago when I was young. My dad had a lot of books with drawings and I felt someday I could do that.

The artist’s way
My approach is very simple. If I’m driving around, I always have my camera with me, and if I see something interesting from a different angle, I like to capture that. I’m also interested in our modern agriculture. As much as I like the older antique nostalgic feeling, I appreciate the newer, more modern ways of farming as well. I’m interested in painting what I see as the way our future generations will be farming.
It all starts with the initial drawings, figuring out what lines of direction you’re going to use to get your viewer into the picture and to what you want them to see. You do a light and dark value sketch to make sure that image is going to work. You don’t want something that is off-balance or boring. Contrasting colours are huge; everything you do, you try to create conflict. You try to just bring that emotion out in the painting. That’s my goal.
I take lots of photographs and sometimes combine different images from different photographs. I’m very particular about the design and composition. I look at what’s important to me in this painting and I do everything I can to get my viewer to know that that’s the focal point.
My colour choices come into that. It shows what kind of day it was, or what I was feeling that particular day. Along the Banks of Mud Creek is a painting more of what I was feeling that day than the actual site. I just felt the warmth of the sun and thought, this is the best day to be back here appreciating this winter day. We’re lucky to have that in Ontario.
Local details add an emotional feeling that I want my viewer to get. I painted an old barn near Dashwood, and I love the aspects of decaying wood; I have an appreciation for things like that because I know they won’t be here forever that way. As far as animals in pastures, I see changing times. Life is change and I’m trying to capture images of this moment in time as well.
Light can give you the mood in the painting. I like to paint something that gives the viewer a positive feeling. It’s not part of the business approach; it’s my outlook on life. I try to be positive and have a good attitude about what I’m doing. I just feel I need to be true to myself when I paint. I enjoy the interaction with people coming and talking about the art, and it’s a really personal decision to them whether they would like a piece of art.
I hope people get a peaceful sense of pleasure looking at it. I did a painting once of a crazy storm in the summer time, and it was the wildest sky. Three quarters of the painting was the sky, and there was a streak of light on a farm. I did this painting and I got it framed. That was the first year of the studio tour, and I hung it up. A couple came in and said, “When we drive to our work in London, there have been so many storms this summer, and we saw that sky. And that is exactly what we felt when we saw that scene.” They bought that painting. When someone buys a painting of mine, they are buying something of me. It’s very personal.

Moving forward
I hope to keep growing and never lose enthusiasm about what I’m doing. I’m an independent spirit and I will go where I think I need to go. I hope to venture into more colourful scenes, and this one is part of that journey. I’m having fun with it, so that’s where I’m going now.

If you’re not passionate about what you’re going to paint, don’t bother because you won’t enjoy it. You have to know what inside of you drew you to that subject, and do everything you can to make your viewer know that, too.

Fran Roelands
Creamery Road Studio and Gallery
519-294-6710
http://www.franroelands.com
Viewings by appointment. Giclee prints available at Baillie’s Framing in Grand Bend and Beside Mom’s café in Parkhill.

Story and photos by Casey Lessard

After winning Best in Show at Paint Ontario several years ago, Josy Hilkes Britton used her cash prize to buy a canoe. Her ensuing paddling excursions resulted in Reflections, Britton’s second Paint Ontario Best in Show painting.
“That’s how I get inspired in the first place, canoeing,” Hilkes Britton said after winning the prize Friday night. “This year’s painting is what I see when I canoe down the Ausable River, where you see the full reflections of the trees and it makes the water look really deep.”
The complexity of the work requires a skilled artist, and a discerning eye.
“I like a painting to work from two distances,” she says. “From a distance, I want it to draw you in closer. Then, when you’re close, I think you shouldn’t be disappointed that you took the trouble to get close. In this painting, from a distance, you might think it’s upside down. Then, when you get closer, you see the leaf and it makes sense.”
The realism of the painting is pervasive in much of the work at Paint Ontario, a show that showcases representational work, in other words, paintings that illustrate real things.
“When you look at the artwork, you will know what the artist was trying to paint,” says founder Barry Richman. “That doesn’t mean the artist can’t push the boundaries toward abstraction. This isn’t by any means a competition of magic realism, of who can paint the most fur on the fox or feathers on the loon.”
Still, that type of work is welcome at the Lambton Heritage Museum hosted show. About 145 artists from across Ontario submitted 288 paintings, and 180 were juried into the exhibition. In its 14th year, Paint Ontario has sold more than 400 paintings over that time, resulting in more than $250,000 in sales for artists.
“We will bring in more than 2000 people to the museum in the shoulder season,” Richman says. “It’s a win-win for the artists and the community.”
Artists interested in entering work in the 2011 exhibition should contact Richman through http://www.paintontario.com.

The Grand Bend Strip leads all community newspapers in Ontario with eight nominations for this year’s Ontario Community Newspaper Awards, including best overall paper (a first for the paper) and photographer of the year for Casey Lessard, a two-time runner-up for this award. The paper also recently won two national awards, first prize ad design and third for photo essay in the Canadian Community Newspapers Association Better Newspapers Competition.
The top three OCNA entrants were announced March 1. The Parry Sound North Star has the second most nominations with seven. Winners will be announced at the OCNA’s annual conference in Toronto May 14. CCNA winners were announced March 15 and will receive their awards May 13 at the CCNA conference.
To learn more about the Grand Bend Strip’s history of awards since its first publication in May 2007, visit http://www.grandbendstrip.com/about/awards.

The Grand Bend Strip and publisher Casey Lessard are nominated in the following categories:

Canadian Community Newspapers Association

Best Ad Design (circulation up to 3,999)
1st place – Casey365.com – ad promoting website
Runners-up: The Chief (Squamish, BC), Wainwright Review (Wainwright, AB)

Best Photo Essay (circulation up to 3,999)
3rd place – Five days of good, clean fun – Parkhill Five Fun Days
Winner: The Provost News (Provost, AB)

Ontario Community Newspapers Association

General Excellence (best overall)
Class 1 [under 2,000 circulation]
Other nominees: Cobden Sun, Manotick Messenger

Photographer of the Year
Casey Lessard
Other nominees: Belleville EMC and Peterborough This Week

Education Writing
Chicago! – SHDHS music trip
Other nominees: Parry Sound Beacon Star and Richmond Hill/Thornhill Liberal

Best Photo Layout
Five days of good, clean fun – Parkhill Five Fun Days
Other nominees: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser and North York Mirror

Best Feature Photo (circ under 9,999)
Best Seat in the House – Dashwood soap box derby cover photo
Other nominees: Aylmer Express and Bracebridge Examiner

Best Sports Photo
Hockey Night in Zurich – Mark Buruma in dressing room
Other nominees: Brampton Guardian and Mount Forest Confederate

Best Rural Story (circ under 9,999)
Fields of Gold – Marcus Koenig, potato farmer
Other nominees: Listowel Banner and New Hamburg Independent

Best Creative Advertising (circ under 9,999)
Casey365.com – ad promoting website
Other nominees: Mount Forest Confederate and Nunavut News/North

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

Daylight saving time: is this a good thing or a bad thing? Whether it started in the First World War or it started the First World War, I don’t know. All I know is that we’re denied an extra hour of sleep. That’s not a pretty thing, especially in respect to my regular Monday morning customers. Most of them are a little cranky first thing anyway, so you should see them when they haven’t had enough sleep.
I think it all comes down to a lack of patience. They say the great thinker Socrates had a lot of patience, but I think Rodin’s model for the sculpture, The Thinker, had more. I have a lot of patience, but I don’t think I could pose in that position for too long. Brr! Get me my Snuggie already.
Most people today don’t have the patience for people who stand around thinking. For instance, when you come into Tim’s and you’re standing in line waiting to place your order, you’d think you would know what you want by the time you’re in front of me. Not necessarily true! Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s fine to be a thinker and stand around contemplating life, but the customers behind you don’t have the same patience as I do. Heck, it’s not as if I’m going anywhere.
I guess thinkers are a dying breed. At a stop light, when the light turns green, that’s no time to sit daydreaming or even thinking. When you hear that horn beeping behind you, you’d better get moving, sister! See what I mean? No patience.
There are so many places you have to stand in line and practice patience. In the bank and the grocery store, that’s a sure thing. For heaven’s sake, you don’t want to ever hold up the line thinking at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Geez, grab the check and go already. People have no patience when they’re tired or hungry, so quit your thinking and move on before you give yourself a headache.

St. Patrick’s Day
Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, even though St. Patty himself wasn’t (he was a British missionary). For most Irish-Americans, this holiday is partly festive and partly religious. Many Irish came to Canada and the United States and brought their saint and traditions with them. In fact, today there are more people of Irish descent than there are in Ireland.
St. Patrick’s name is found all over Ireland, where it is used for town names including Kirkpatrick and Kilpatrick, and family names such as Kirkpatrick and Fitzpatrick. That name, Fitzpatrick, was my mother’s maiden name. Mom hated the colour green, and always told me never to buy anything green, but I couldn’t because green is my favourite colour.
The Irish, who have the shamrock as their symbol, believe good and bad things come in threes. Three tasks, three wishes, three brothers, three sisters. How odd is that? I come from a family of seven, and have three brothers and three sisters. Then mommy, daddy and baby make three.

O’Casey
Getting back to Irish names, sometimes Casey would upset me and I’d say, “Oh, Casey, stop doing that.” Guess I said it enough that some people thought his name was O’Casey, which is a great Irish name.

Inspired by the holiday
A man in New Zealand was arrested for setting his underwear on fire and riding through town on a motorized bar stool. The charge? Driving without a license.

A snatch-and-grab thief in London decided to see how much he could scoop from the display window of a jewelry store. But first he had to break the window, so he pried a manhole cover off the street and hurled it through the window. He grabbed the jewelry and took off running. He might have gotten away with this crime had he not fallen, you guessed it, down the open manhole.

They say you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, but what are you going to do with all those flies?
Happy 80th birthday to Joan Smith.

Keeping the Peace
By Tom Lessard, C.D.

(Editor’s Note: Please remember that these are memories of a time long ago, and the activities described in the following story are neither condoned nor recommended.)

My buddy “Bobbie” and I were walking back to the barracks one summer evening when, out of the blue, he says, “Let’s go to Port Huron.”
The canteen was closed and the hotel in town would be closing at midnight. With Ontario being on daylight saving time and Michigan on standard time, the bars were going to be open for a while, especially considering some of them stayed open until 2 a.m. in those days.
Away we went. With very few OPP around and the speed limits higher than today, it didn’t take too long to get to our destination. At the bar we went to, there were already a number of Canadian military enjoying some time off. We closed the place.
Bobbie was in pretty rough shape as we got to the car and took off. I was able to hold my liquor better than he could, but he still wouldn’t let me drive. About halfway home, he turned his head to barf out the window, and sure enough, t was closed. You can just imagine the mess.
Undeterred, we continued home. We pulled into the parking lot at the rear of the camp, turned off the motor, and staggered to the barracks. It was about 4 a.m. by this time, and we had to be up at 6 a.m.. Because we didn’t leave camp by the front gate, we didn’t bother getting passes, which I suppose meant we were AWOL, but we never got caught on any of our excursions.
The afternoon was very warm and sunny, and we didn’t get back to the car until after duty at 4 p.m. Our first mistake was opening the doors. The odour and flies were enough to make us throw up, but neither of us did.
We had to haul our rears back to the shack and get a bucket, soap, rags and tools. The door panel had to come off, and the glass had to be taken out. With the sun shining on the car all day, it was like an oven inside and Bobbie’s heavings from the night before were caked on the door, glass and floor. I’m sure we didn’t get it all off because the smell lingered for what seemed like forever. It took us until about 10 p.m. to get the car cleaned as best we could and put back together.
We were sweaty and smelly, so we we drove down to the beach and cooled off in the lake. We were thirsty and I remembered that I had picked up a six-pack in Port Huron. I don’t know why it hadn’t exploded from the heat, but it was still intact. When I opened a can, the beer shot into the air and left me with about half a can of warm liquid. Undaunted, I drank it up and grabbed another. Bobbie wasn’t interested. I wonder why.

Thanks to Gary D. for all the help you gave me and Rita during my rehab this winter. You are very much appreciated.

Photo and story by Casey Lessard

A sight to see, thousands of tundra swans are now back at the Thedford Bog behind the Lambton Heritage Museum. The bog is a natural staging area for the swans, who are on their way from Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, to cooler climates in Canada’s North for the summer. The trip is 6,500 km, so it’s understandable they’d want to stop for a rest and some food. Here, that includes the grains left in the fields from the fall harvest.
To celebrate the annual migration, the Lambton Heritage Museum (on Highway 21 south of Greenway Road) hosts the Return of the Swans festival. With displays, videos, and other resources, the museum is a good home base to learn more about North America’s smallest and most abundant swan.
For the month of March, the Lambton Heritage Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors/students, $3 for children, and $15 for the family.
The best source of updates for people interested in watching the birds is the museum’s website, http://www.returnoftheswans.com, which has a migration report that is updated daily with locations where the birds are gathered. If you don’t have internet access, you can also call 1-800-265-0316.
If you go
Dress warmly and bring binoculars. If you plan to take photographs, here are some tips from the publisher:
- Assume you will need a long telephoto lens (at least 300mm). The birds are pretty far away, but there are locations where they fly over a road to move from field to field, and here you need only about 100mm. This is where I stand because you can capture them coming at you, and then over you. Just watch out for small falling objects.
- Remember to look behind you. If they fly toward you and over, they will come back later.
- Use a fast shutter speed (1/1000 or faster). These birds flap their wings quickly, so if you want sharp images, you need to freeze that motion. I try to get to about 1/4000 if I can. Can’t get that high? You might need to raise your ISO (but if it’s daylight, try to avoid higher than ISO 800)
- Use a slow shutter speed with a tripod. Breaking the rules can get some interesting motion photos. This works best in lower light.
- Use your burst mode or continuous shooting mode. You’ll want to take a rapid series of shots to get one you like. There are times when you wait five minutes for 20 seconds of action.
- If you use continuous shooting, make sure your focus is set to Servo AF, which means the camera continues to focus as long as you hold the shutter button down. Remember that the birds are constantly changing your focal point.
- Shoot at your highest resolution. You will have to crop most of these photos later.
- Bring lots of memory cards or film. You will shoot a lot, and you might get a couple of good shots from the whole day. It’s worth it, though.
- Try to arrive early. The light will give you good texture and colour, and you might be the only one there.

After suspending grants for a year because of the global economic downturn, the Grand Bend Community Foundation returned to the business of giving money to support community projects in 2009. The foundation gave four recipients a total of $38,500: The Friends of the Pinery Park, Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, and Grand Bend Home and School Association’s Wheelchair Accessible Playground Campaign received a total of $13,500; a bequest from the late Dorothy Child of Grand Cove sent $25,000 to the Grand Bend Area Community Health Centre.
“The educational experience of the students at the School has been so enriched by the opportunities created through the grants from the Foundation,” says Grand Bend Public School principal Susan Manz. “It also sets a real example for volunteerism and gifting for our students.”
Donors gave $106,000 in 2009, including a major gift from Jean Muma to establish the MJ Muma Endowment Fund and from Nancy Poole to establish the Charlotte Edwards Robinson Memorial Fund for the Arts. The annual fundraising drive brought in $10,000 in individual gifts to support grants for community projects.
To make a contribution, visit http://www.grandbendcommunityfoundation.ca

Sunday, March 21
2 to 4 p.m. – Trivitt Anglican Church, Exeter
Celebration launch of Bach Music Festival of South Huron and Bach’s 325th birthday. Concert, birthday cake and door prizes. Free to attend. RSVP to bachmusicfestival@bellnet.ca or 519-235-2565.

A teaser of what’s to come in July 2011, the Bach Music Festival of South Huron’s celebration launch will feature organist Janet Heerema and cellist Christine Newland. A year of concerts and special events for area residents and visitors from across Ontario will culminate in the first week-long international festival July 11 to 17, 2011.
The goal of the series is to attract music aficionados to South Huron as an important and accessible location for concerts, and the caliber of the music is expected to enhance the local economy. For more information, contact executive producer Louise Fagan at l.fagan@rogers.com or call 519-851-0393. Everyone is welcome to attend the celebration launch March 21 to get a taste for what is in store for next year’s festival.

Community/Charity

Grand Bend Nursery School is now offering 5 sessions a week of the Early Learning Program…a FREE high quality program designed to help prepare young children for school. If you have children 2.5 to 4 years old and reside in Lambton County call Grand Bend Nursery School at 519-238-8514

Tuesdays
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Port Franks Community Ctr.
Kids Matter every Tuesday. Join us as we crochet sleeping mats out of milk bags to send to the children in Africa and South America. Bring your lunch, scissors and a #7 crochet hook. Call Peggy Smith at 519-296-5834 for details.

7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Bingo

Fridays
5 to 7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Meat Draw
Until Sunday, April 4
12 p.m. – Greenway Road just east of Highway 21
Return of the Tundra Swans. Bring your binoculars. On weekends naturalists will be on-site to answer any of your questions. For more info visit www.returnoftheswans.com.

Thursday, March 18
1:30 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Grand Bend Women’s Institute. Topic: the Community Living Program in Dashwood.

Wednesday, March 24
12:30 to 3 p.m. – Colonial Hotel
Huron Country Playhouse Guild monthly luncheon. New members and guests are welcomed. Please call Mary at 519-238-5640 for details.
Monday, March 29
7 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Grand Bend Horticultural Society. Topic: Eating your Weedies – edible weeds presented by Kerry Hackett. Everyone welcome.

Saturday, April 3
11 a.m. – Port Franks Community Ctr
Easter Egg Hunt. Presented by Ausable Port Franks Optimists
 
Wednesday, April 7
9:40 a.m. – meet at Lambton Heritage Museum parking lot
Savanna Strollers Pinery Walking Club. Each Wednesday morning, participants will meet at the side parking lot at 9:40 and car pool with others in the group to the walking trail. With financial support from the Grand Bend Community Foundation, eight annual passes for Pinery have been purchased for the group.
If you are interested in attending or becoming a Volunteer Coordinator please call us at 519-243-1521 or email fopp@oxford.net for more information.

6:30 p.m. – Grandpa Jimmy’s Scottish Bakery, Grand Bend
Planning meeting for 2010 Grand Bend Relay for Life.Team Captains at 6.30 p.m. and the general meeting at 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome. The relay date is Friday July 9  at 7 p.m to Saturday July 10 at 7 a.m. at the Klondyke Sport Park.

Friday, April 9
9:30 p.m. – Aunt Gussie’s
135 Ontario St. S., Grand Bend
Fundraiser for Grand Bend Public School Athletic Department. Presented by Grand Bend Home and School Association and Aunt Gussie’s. Music by Brian Dale and Patrick Powers.
Tickets: $20; call Jenn Maguire at 238-8687 or Amy Wiseman 238-1116. Some tickets may be available at the door, but only tickets purchased ahead of time will go into a draw that night for a dinner theatre package for two. Free hors d’oeuvres and door prizes. All proceeds go to support athletics at the Grand Bend Public School.

Arts & Entertainment

Mondays
1 to 3 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Golden Agers Shuffleboard

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Tuesdays
1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

Wednesdays
7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Thursdays
1 to 4 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Shuffleboard

1 to 3 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Golden Agers Shuffleboard

7:30 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Cards

Fridays
10 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Badminton

1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – GB Youth Centre
Grand Bend Drum Circle. Contact Anita at the Youth Centre or call 519-238-8759.

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Saturday, March 20
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
St. Patrick’s Day. Live music by Mike Fagan. Corned beef and cabbage.

Saturday, March 27
3 to 6 p.m. – GB Legion
Horse Races

Thursday, April 1
7 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Sunset Cinema presents: Bright Star, love story of the poet Keats and Fanny Brawne

Saturday, April 3
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by DJ Barry Sheppard

Saturday, April 10
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by The Persuaders

Health & Fitness

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8 to 9 a.m. – Southcott Clubhouse
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Beth Sweeney at 519-238-5555

8:45 to 10 a.m. (Mon/Fri), (to 9 a.m. Wed.) – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF Exercise classes with Elinor Clarke. $3/week – all proceeds to charity.

Mondays and Wednesdays
6 to 7 p.m. – Precious Blood Catholic School gym, Exeter
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Shelley Van Osch at 519-234-6253.

Tuesdays and Thursdays
9 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Centre
Healthy Lifestyle Exercise Program. Cost: Free!! Everyone welcome. Register: Cindy Maxfield 519-238-1556 ext 6.

Tuesday, March 23
2 to 4 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Aging at Home. Please bring your questions to our drop in session and meet Occupational Therapist Shawna Palmar.

Wednesday, March 24
10 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Mental Health Support Group. Contact Lise Callahan at 519-238-1556 ext 230.

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Men Can Cook. Advance your cooking skills and enjoy a tasty healthy lunch for $5. Contact Miranda at 519-238-1556 ext 222.

Linked fundraisers result in first hair cuts since birth, father’s death

Inspired by a desire to help raise money for residents of Haiti recovering from January’s earthquake, Ashlan Hollingsworth, 4, of Parkhill had her first ever hair cut at the hands of Rachel Michielsen of Beauty ‘n’ the Beach salon in Grand Bend. The $560 she raised went to support The House that Jack Built, a charity named in Rachel’s father Jack’s honour.

Her sister, Jessica Michielsen, also got a cut; she raised $12450 by cutting her dreadlocks, growing since Jack’s death in 2005. The money goes to Baptist Haiti Mission’s fund to rebuild Haiti.

Story by Casey Lessard

Drayton Entertainment is gearing up for the summer season at the Huron Country Playhouse, but needs your help finding accommodations for its cast and crew. More than 100 people will need a place to stay for their time here, which can range from five weeks to the whole summer.

“It’s a great way to bring in some extra money if you have an empty room or two in your home, or a private apartment, basement apartment, or empty cottage that would be available during the summer,” facility manager Paul Pembleton said in a release. “Some of our accommodation partners open their homes to several actors for the entire season while others choose to house an actor for just one five-week period.”

Proximity to the Playhouse is important, but some performers will have access to vehicles, so communities other than Grand Bend are an option for them.

Pembleton says the average accommodation rate is about $100 per week – with certain amenities that must be included, such as cooking and washroom facilities. Most productions run for three weeks, plus an additional two weeks of rehearsals.

“We rely heavily on the community’s support and generosity to help maintain the calibre of production that our patrons have come to expect and Huron County never lets us down,” Pembleton says. “Everyone loves coming to this area. They always feel very welcomed into the community.”

For more information, or to add your name to the list for available housing, please call Paul Pembleton at (519) 238-8387 ext. 50.

Recipe by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030

http://www.eddingtons.ca

Photo by Casey Lessard

This is always a fun dish, and it has a little sweet and a little heat to get you going.

Note: Three of the ingredients are available at Foodies in Grand Bend. I found the combination of the 3 sauces make for a truly unique flavor. I normally don’t recommend where to get your ingredients, but Foodies has a great selection of high quality and unique products.

All other ingredients will be available at your local grocery store. If Shanghai noodles are not available, chow mien noodles work just as well. Enjoy!

Shanghai Noodle Stir Fry

Serves six

3 6 oz chicken breast

Stonewall Kitchen Thai Marinade

(available at Foodies in Grand Bend)

1 lb cooked Shanghai noodles

1/4 cup diced celery

1/4 cup diced red peppers

(long thin strips)

1/4 cup sliced red onion

1/4 cup julienned carrots

1/4 cup sugar snap peas

1/4 cup bean sprouts

1/4 cup julienned green cabbage

1/4 cup diced broccoli crowns

2 oz sesame oil

2 oz soya sauce

2 oz Rootham’s Teriyaki Orange sauce

(available at Foodies)

2 oz Rootham’s Thai dipping sauce

(available at Foodies)

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

1/2 tbsp chopped ginger

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 bunch fresh cilantro

Directions: Marinate chicken overnight in Thai marinade. Bake in oven at 350°F for approximately 18 minutes. Let slightly cool and dice into medium/long strips.

In wok on medium heat, add sesame oil, ginger and garlic. Once slightly brown, add remaining vegetables and turn heat to high. As a rule of thumb, the harder or more dense vegetables should be added first; add carrots first, wait 20 seconds and add celery, then cabbage, etc. until you get to the bean sprouts at the end.

Once vegetables have started to soften, toss in all sauces and cooked Shanghai noodles until hot while mixing well.

Plate in bowls. Once plated keeping wok hot (residual of sauces should still remain), add diced chicken to quickly reheat. Once hot, add sesame seeds to chicken and glaze. Serve immediately on top of stir-fry.

Garnish with fresh cilantro. Enjoy.

The Grand Bend Strip leads all community newspapers in Ontario with eight nominations for this year’s Ontario Community Newspaper Awards, including best overall paper and photographer of the year for Casey Lessard. The top three entrants were announced March 1; winners will be announced at the OCNA’s annual conference in Toronto May 14. The Parry Sound North Star has the second most nominations with seven.
To learn more about the Grand Bend Strip’s history of awards since its first publication in May 2007, visit http://www.grandbendstrip.com/about/awards.

The Grand Bend Strip and publisher Casey Lessard are nominated in the following categories:

General Excellence – Class 1
(Award for best overall paper from two random issues submitted)
Other nominees: Cobden Sun and Manotick Messenger

Education Writing
(Chicago! – SHDHS music trip)
Other nominees: Parry Sound Beacon Star and Richmond Hill/Thornhill Liberal

Best Rural Story (circ under 9,999)
(Fields of Gold – Marcus Koenig, potato farmer)
Other nominees: Listowel Banner and New Hamburg Independent

Best Feature Photo (circ under 9,999)
(Best Seat in the House – Dashwood soap box derby cover photo)
Other nominees: Aylmer Express and Bracebridge Examiner

Best Photo Layout
(Five days of good, clean fun – Parkhill Five Fun Days)
Other nominees: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser and North York Mirror

Best Sports Photo
(Hockey Night in Zurich – Mark Buruma in dressing room)
Other nominees: Brampton Guardian and Mount Forest Confederate

Photographer of the Year
(Casey Lessard, photographer)
Other nominees: Belleville EMC and Peterborough This Week

Best Creative Advertising (circ under 9,999)
(Casey365.com – ad promoting website)
Other nominees: Mount Forest Confederate and Nunavut News/North

Crediton area rancher Julie Forrest is an animal communicator, which means she speaks with animals, expressing their thoughts to the people who take care of them. Forrest speaks to the animals – large or small – telepathically, and says they have a lot to say. She has used this skill to train the many horses and cattle on her farm, which are used as professional athletes on rodeo tours across Eastern Canada. Casey Lessard sat down with Julie Forrest, and invites you to sit back, open your mind and hear what she has to say about her work.

As told to Casey Lessard
Photos by Casey Lessard

I have communicated with animals since I was a kid, and I always thought everyone did. I didn’t realize it was a special gift or that I was different from anyone else. I always heard their voices. I’ve always heard them talk. People would say, I wonder what they’re saying and I’d say what they were saying. Everyone would laugh and I thought they heard it too, that it was no big deal. Then a friend of mine and I went away for the weekend to a course about 16 years ago, and it ended up being a telepathy course. I thought, I do that, but I didn’t know that was what it was called. I had always done it for family and friends, but from there I started doing it for other people. I came out of the closet.
It was a very big social issue. People asked me, what makes you so special that you think you can talk to animals. But what I get from the conversations, it’s definitely a validation to the owners that that is their animal.
They say one in 10 people can talk telepathically if they choose to focus. I can do people, but I choose not to for the simple fact that people are so hung up on themselves and the social or religious whatever. People are more critical.
Animals say what they need to say. They don’t sugarcoat anything and they tell you like you need to hear it. End of subject. It’s not usually opinionated things. They’re telling the truth because animals show our truths.
I always ask the animals to describe their essence, to tell me something that the owner knows they always do. It’s not like I go and tell them that they like to roll over and have their bellies scratched. Every animal’s different. Their response validates to the owner that it is their animal. Then we ask them their problems and what’s going on.

An ongoing conversation
They can hear you all the time. Animals speak telepathically, so whatever you picture, they’re also able to pick that up. People say dogs can always sense when you’re afraid of them. Chances are pretty good that when you walk away from that dog that you’re thinking in your mind, please don’t bite me. You’re picturing this dog coming from behind and grabbing you, so you have actually given that dog permission to do that. You’re giving him that visual image.
The level of a conversation from an animal is so much higher than we can imagine. They have so much more knowledge of the universe than we do. Some can be extremely deep.
The owners will write up a list of questions they want to ask the animal and I sit down and write out the conversation so they have a copy of it and I always have a copy. I’ll read it back to the person and see if there are any other questions from that. It’s important that the animal is able to convey what they want their owner/guardian to know or understand about their problems. I always read it back first to be sure it’s explained on that proper level, the way they want it. You could put out a piece of paper and 10 different people could read it 10 different ways. That’s why I always want to interpret it the way it is meant to be interpreted.
Every animal has its own voice. Some have accents. I did a horse that had a really strong English accent with ye and thee, and it’s important to put that in the conversation as I hear it because it means something to the owner. He ended up being shipped here from England. They all have different personalities the same as we do, so of course, they’re going to have different voices the same as we do.
They speak English. I’ve done some from Quebec that are raised French and I ask them to come to me in a universal language that I can understand. There may still be the odd French word in there and I write it down as it sounds because I don’t understand French, but the owner will know what it means.
There’s none that are ever too shy to talk. As soon as you’ve given them that opportunity, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I can finally be heard. Yes! They’re getting it. I can convey what I want them to know.’ Animals all already speak on that level, and that’s why we have so much more to learn from them than from each other.
The only animals that are really hard to work with are chickens and emus. I’ve done every other animal and they’re thrilled to be able to talk. I’ve done seven or eight pages of a conversation. Small animals like a cat or dog can take anywhere from 30 or 45 minutes to an hour. Some conversations with horses and dogs can take from two to four hours. I did a conversation with one horse that had hopes of being a Pan-Am horse racer and heading to the Olympics, and we talked for four and a half hours. That was almost a whole notebook. We wanted to make sure everything was covered.

Communication and rodeo
I’ve been riding since I was three and showing competitively since I was seven. When Ed and I got together, he decided he wanted to do a more manly thing, so that was the rodeo and we’ve been together for 16 years now. We started off just competing in steer wrestling, barrel racing, and roping events, and it’s been about nine or 10 years now that we’ve been the stock contractors for the rodeos for Eastern Canada. We supply the stock (steers and calves) for the rodeos for steer wrestling, team roping, breakaway roping, tie-down roping and junior steer riding. That covers five of the seven mandatory events.
We have always integrated the two businesses, communicating and rodeo. With the average calf-roping horse, it typically takes a full two years to train them to do that. I can do it in three to six months because I can talk to them and tell them, “This is what I want you to do. This is your job. Do you understand?” If I can’t explain what I want verbally, I show them a picture. I show them an image of, for example, “I want you to do a sliding stop when the rope becomes tight on that calf, and you have to face up to that calf and be in control.” Then I’ll ask them, “What’s the best time for your rider to get off? When you’re squatted or just as you go to stop? That rider has to come off and you’ve got to help send him off. Do you like the rope where we have it positioned on your face? ‘No, I don’t like it there, I want it lower.’” Then it hooks underneath instead of coming by his eye. Different things like that.
We can really tell him, “When the gate cracks, you’ve got to follow that calf out.” Other people have to keep drilling it and drilling it, whereas I can talk to him and tell him what we need him to do, “Now what do you need us to do to make it better for you?” It makes for a better relationship and a faster training process. It makes everyone happier.
Not all horses want to do that type of job. You could spend a full two years on a horse and it’d never be able to step up to the plate to be that champion horse or do the job to the best of its ability because it doesn’t want to do that. We’ve had some like that. That’s fine. We change their career or we sell them to somebody who’s going to be compatible with that animal.
All our stock has to be trained prior to going to the rodeo. You can’t just pull a cow out of the field and say, you’re going to go and do this, so they’re trained so their muscles are stretched equally as well to ensure they don’t get hurt. It’s inevitable that at some point, some of them may get hurt, but we’ve had a really good record of not many getting hurt. You lose more from a sickness in a barn; we look after our rodeo stock very well. It’s our livelihood. It’s mandatory that they are looked after; it’s no different than our horses. They are athletes, so they need the best care and upkeep because we’re traveling. It’s nothing for us to travel 2100 km in a weekend. We leave on a Thursday, go to Quebec for an 18 hour drive, show there, travel all night another 12 hours to another rodeo, and from there another 10 hours home.
I get lots of emails saying, “If you’re an animal communicator, how come you’re promoting the sport of rodeo? That’s cruelty to animals.” It’s not. It gives them a career. It’s no different than us having a career or the horses having a career. If those cattle are not used for rodeo, their only other option in life is to be in our freezer. These animals have a career for two or three – and some even four or five – years depending on what they’re doing. They follow the ranks up, starting with calf tie-down, then breakaway, then steer wrestling and team roping, and then to junior steer riding. If they’re good and like what they’re doing, they keep on going. Otherwise, most of them are butchered before they’re two years of age. Now they have a career. Being longhorns, they’re extremely smart animals.

We can learn so much
I don’t believe there’s any such thing as a stupid animal. Animals are the same as people. You can be an old soul or a young soul. If you get a dog that doesn’t listen, it’s because their either don’t associate with their name, or because they’re a very young soul and it’s your job to teach them the ways of the world. You get some, that old soul that picks up things so quickly and is so intelligent and that’s because they’ve been here many times. An animal’s purpose in life is to be taught and to teach. To help us along the way.
There’s so much that animals have to offer. Beavers build a dam that we have to blow up with dynamite. Why couldn’t we learn how to build something that strong? Birds build nests that can withstand tornadoes. Spiders’ webs are the strongest substance in the world. Ants build colonies that don’t destroy our land. People are destroying our natural resources and destroying different animal species for our own selfish, ignorant purposes. People are using monkeys for their gall bladders and eating their brains for a delicacy.
They show us so much, like unconditional love, responsibility, not to be so endeavoured into ourselves and to think of others. Animals are a huge part of our lives. Our kids can grow up and move out, but our animals are still here.
I’ve always been the type of person who gets along better with animals than I do with people. I always believe that animals have so much more to share with us than the average person does with each other.
They’ve proven that a lot of animals – for example, gorillas – can speak by hand language. Animals whose owners are hearing or speech impaired learn those hand signals and know what they mean.
Most people only use eight to 10 per cent of our brains. A lot of people are so caught up in our social and cultural structures that we’re not open enough to accept other forms of communication. Telepathy can be done through audio, pictures, feelings, or colours.
When I first started, there were a lot of skeptics. People would say, ‘I’m going to let you talk to my horse just to prove that you’re wrong.’ And I did that in the beginning to prove that I was talking to their animal. I did that for the first two years, but now I don’t have to prove myself to anybody. If you want my services, you’ll ask for it. These days, there are a lot of people who do believe in it, and are looking for methods to help their animals other than pharmaceuticals.

Lessons from furry friends
It’s just kept me very humble and not judgmental. Through the eyes of the beholder, it has made me realize that I’m equal with everybody. I don’t ever think I’m better than any one else. We’re all equal, and we have to be equal to coincide with everybody. I am not my dogs’ master. I may be their guardian and I am looking after them, but we are all equal. We have to learn from each other and teach each other.
Every conversation with an animal is new and fresh. It never gets old. I love my life and I love what I’m doing.

Julie Forrest offers animal communication sessions for $75 for small animals (cats/dogs, etc.) and $125 for large animals (horses/cows, etc.). To learn more, visit http://www.julieforrest.com or call 519-234-6130.

Photo by Casey Lessard

Welcome Wagon is once again rolling out the red carpet for area brides, showcasing wedding vendors at their annual Bridal Showcase at the South Huron Recreation Centre this Tuesday, February 23.
Brides and grooms attending the show will be treated to displays and fashion shows, and have the chance to win prizes that include a diamond pendant from Bakelaar Jewelers in Exeter, and a honeymoon sun vacation courtesy Today’s Bride magazine. The first 100 brides will receive a gift bag.
Participating vendors include photographers, cake makers, gown stores, and many more. Doors open at 6 p.m., and admission is free. To register, visit: http://www.welcomewagon.ca or call 1-866-873-9941.

It’s already been a big year for Zurich musician Lance Bedard, most recently nominated for best Pop Artist/Group of the Year in the London Music Awards. The nomination and growing radio play are early highlights of 2010 that Bedard and his band hope to build on as the year progresses. They are currently wrapping up a six-song EP album after industry advisors recommended a better quality recording.
“The last EP, Restless, got great feedback,” Bedard says. “Industry professionals told us the recording was not near up to par for prime time radio, but that the songs are good.”
Taking the feedback to heart, the band recorded four new songs and was ready to press it, but decided to add two more before releasing the EP.
This spring, Bedard plans to release the song “Sunday Afternoon” on iTunes, and the band is strategically planning to coordinate fan purchases in one day to draw industry attention to the song’s popularity.
The band’s popularity has translated into the London Music Award nomination, but he can’t win without fans voting for him. To vote, visit the contest website at http://www.londonmusicawards.com. Other local bands nominated include River Junction Band, Vintage Moments, and Brownsyn Jerome.
In the meantime, plan to attend the band’s “Post Recording Party” Friday, February 26 at the Zurich Bluewater Community Centre. Brownsyn Jerome is the opening act. Tickets are $5 in advance, or $7 at the door; the event starts at 9 p.m. Proceeds go to support a Performing Arts Society of Ontario scholarship for a student at South Huron District High School.
To learn more about Lance Bedard, visit his website at http://www.myspace.com/lanceromance01

Submitted by Tim Cumming, Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority

Tickets to the Conservation Dinner usually sell out quickly but now there is extra reason to purchase tickets early, according to the volunteer dinner committee.
Patrons who purchase their gala dinner tickets before February 22 will be eligible for an ‘early-bird’ prize draw where they may win a limited edition print by artist Gary Corcoran. The print is of a beautiful nature painting entitled Winter Sylvan – Downy Woodpecker.
The 21st Conservation Dinner is a local success story with donors, patrons and volunteers working together to support environmental health through accessible trails, commemorative woods, fish stocking for youth, conservation education and other conservation initiatives. This year’s gala charitable dinner and art auction takes place on Thursday, April 15, 2010 at the South Huron Recreation Centre in Exeter.
Tickets are $50 per person and patrons received an charitable gift receipt for half that amount. For tickets, talk to a Conservation Dinner committee member or phone 519-235-2610 or 1-888-286-2610.
The gala Conservation Dinner includes a live auction of art and other unique items, a silent auction, special raffles and general raffles. Local individuals and businesses wishing to sponsor auction items or contribute donations to the event are encouraged to contact Ausable Bayfield Conservation.
For information on the Conservation Dinner visit conservationdinner.com

Keeping the Peace
By Tom Lessard, C.D.

Arriving at Camp Ipperwash in 1960, I was directed to the battalion orderly room, where I was greeted and my name entered on the battalion nominal roll. After all the paperwork was completed and I was told about my assignment to headquarters company, I was directed to that office, where all the routines and paraphernalia were explained to me. After pointing out where I would be working, at the quartermaster stores, I was then told I would be living in H Block 26B. The glimpses I had of the camp as I was arriving that morning led me to think he said Stalag 26B, as I was certain that camp resembled this one. Undaunted, I stumbled around and finally found the hut that was to be my home until we left for Germany in the fall of 1962.

The voice of God
My bed was located right beside a window. I dumped my gear and headed for the Q.M. stores. As I was walking across the parade square, I heard a loud voice come over the air. “Halt! Where are you going?!” I thought it was God and almost fell to my knees. “To find the Q.M. stores, sir!” I replied. “Turn right around and march off the parade ground: NOW!” he said. Of course, I obeyed, and later found out that my first thoughts were very close to the truth; the regimental sergeant major is god of the battalion and the parade square is his holy domain.

Fitting right in
I found the Q.M. stores and reported in. By now, it was almost closing time, so the clerk quickly introduced me to everyone available, gave me a quick glimpse of the stores and told me to follow him. He led me outside to the parking lot and we drove to the wet canteen without even asking if I drank or not. The canteen wasn’t open yet, but that didn’t deter him. He just dragged me around to the back door, pounded a couple of times, and we were admitted. Since the bar was legally closed, and you never knew when the orderly officer or anyone else with authority might come along, the bartender took us into the walk-in cooler where we had a couple of pints before supper. Talk about being taught the ropes; I was learning very quickly.
After supper, I was asked to join two of the guys on a tour of Thedford. First stop, just inside the village, was the Legion. It was located off the main road and back in quite a piece so the residents wouldn’t complain about noise or other things that might go on in an establishment that served booze. After a glass or two, we went to the next watering hold, the Thedford Hotel, which would some time later be renamed The Pink Elephant. In those days, it was a jumping joint.
You may not remember, but there was segregation in those days. Every hotel was separated into a men’s room and a ladies’ and escorts’ only room. The only way to get into the ladies’ room was to have one of the women invite you over. There were times when one of the soldiers who lived in town would go home, pick up his wife, and bring her down so we could all drink on the women’s side.
To add to the fun, there were apartments above the hotel and most of the Main Street stores, and we knew many of the married couples who lived there. We had many a party up there in the days when I was stationed at Ipperwash with 1RCR.
A year later, I married Rita in Germany on February 8, 1963. We celebrated 47 years last week. With love, Tom.

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

By the time you read this article, I will have started my Lenten fast. Shrove Tuesday, better known as Pancake Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), will be the last hooray for me as I will give up the goodies until April 3, the Saturday before Easter Sunday. Forty days of sacrifice. By now my friends are accustomed to my habit of doing this and bear with me as my moods can change from the lack of sugar. Thank you to everyone for being so patient.
Chinese traditions
February 14 rang in the Chinese New Year, and this is the year of the tiger. To usher in luck and prosperity, the Chinese exchange money in small red envelopes. For the best karma, they hand out cash in even numbers, the number eight being the luckiest.
I really enjoy reading my daily horoscope, and I usually read Casey’s as well. A few weeks ago, I was reading Casey’s and it said he would do well in pursuing a career in communications, journalism, or photography. How freaky is that?
The Chinese horoscope uses animal signs based on the year the person was born. This is a fun thing; as you look at this lineup, you may see some traits that relate to you according to the year you were born. Enjoy!

Tiger (1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010) – Passionate, powerful, love luxury, and loyal to friends and family.
Rabbit (1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999) – Diplomatic, romantic, can turn a profit, and love to try new things.
Dragon (1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000) – Extroverted, like to learn new things, optimistic, inexhaustible.
Snake (1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001) – Great intuition, wise advisor, love live, lots of youthful energy.
Horse (1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002) – Determined, talented, encouraging, live in the moment.
Sheep (1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003) – Make friends easily, creative, artistic, elegant, nurturing.
Monkey (1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004) – Verbal, expressive, witty, enjoy the spotlight.
Rooster (1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005) – Outspoken, opinionated, confident, ambitious, can easily inspire people.
Dog (1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006) – Protective of loved ones, good with money, always lend a hand to those in need.
Pig (1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007) – Humble yet confident, honest, usually in the right place at the right time.
Rat (1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008) – Problem solver, value independence, have great people skills.
Ox (1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009) – Loyal friend, hate surprises, practical, tend to distrust authority

My fair valentine
Donna: He’s so romantic, every time he greets me, he starts with “Fair lady.”
Joyce: Romantic, my eye! He used to be a bus driver!

Happy birthday to my grandson Jonah & Molly McCann (March 4), Robert Peter (February 24), and my granddaughter Abby (March 12).

Community/Charity

Grand Bend Nursery School is now offering 5 sessions a week of the Early Learning Program…a FREE high quality program designed to help prepare young children for school. For children 2.5 to 4 years old who reside in Lambton County. Call Grand Bend Nursery School at 519-238-8514.

Tuesdays
10 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm Ctr.
Kids Matter every Tuesday. Join us as we crochet sleeping mats out of milk bags to send to the children in Africa and South America. Bring your lunch, scissors and a #7 crochet hook. Call Peggy Smith at 519-296-5834 for details.

7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Bingo

Fridays
5 to 7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Meat Draw

Thursday, February 18
1:30 to 2:30 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Grand Bend Women’s Institute (Please bring item for children’d hospital).

Saturday, February 20
9:30 to 11:30 a.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Grand Bend Community Foundation 2009 Donor and Grant Celebration. Everyone welcome.

Monday, February 22
7 to 9 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion.
Grand Bend Horticultural Society. Chris Thompson and OPP Constable Crystal Jones. Topic: Identity Theft & Security

Wednesday, February 24
9 to 11 a.m. – St. John’s by the Lake Anglican Church, Grand Bend
Matters Meeting making mats for 3rd world countries

Wednesday, February 24
12:30 to 3 p.m. – Schoolhouse Restaurant, Grand Bend
Huron Country Playhouse Guild Luncheon. Guests and new members welcome. Contact Mary 519-238-5640.

Monday, March 1 to Wed. March 31
12 p.m. – Greenway Road e. of Hwy 21
Return of the Tundra Swans. Bring your binoculars. On weekends naturalists will be on-site to answer any of your questions. For more info visit www.returnoftheswans.com.

Tuesday, March 9
9:30 to 11:30 a.m. – GB Legion.
Women’s Probus. Anyone interested in joining is asked to call membership chair, Susan Trumper, at 519-238-5516.

Monday, March 16
10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Grand Bend Men’s Probus club. Topic: Sailing Across the Atlantic with Brian Hall

Arts & Entertainment

Mondays
1 to 3 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Golden Agers Shuffleboard

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Tuesdays
1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

Wednesdays
7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Thursdays
1 to 4 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Shuffleboard

1 to 3 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Golden Agers Shuffleboard

7:30 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Cards

Fridays
10 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Badminton

1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – GB Youth Centre
Grand Bend Drum Circle. Contact Anita at the Youth Centre or call 519-238-8759.

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Thursday, February 18
1 to 2 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Grand Bend Golden Agers Euchre

Wednesday, February 24
1:30 to 2:30 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion.
Grand Bend Golden Agers Euchre

Saturday, February 27
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Horse Races

Thursday, March 4
7 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Sunset Cinema presents: Shattered Glass, drama based on a true story.

Saturday, March 6
3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live Music by Midlife Crisis

Health & Fitness

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8 to 9 a.m. – Southcott Clubhouse
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Beth Sweeney at 519-238-5555

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8:45 to 10 a.m. (Mon/Fri), (to 9 a.m. Wed.) – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF Exercise classes with Elinor Clarke. $3/week – all proceeds to charity.

Mondays and Wednesdays
6 to 7 p.m. – Precious Blood Catholic School gym
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Shelley Van Osch at 519-234-6253.

Tuesdays and Thursdays
9 a.m. – Pt Franks Community Centre
Healthy Lifestyle Exercise Program. Program includes warm up, low impact aerobic workout, strength work and stretching. Sponsored in part by Healthy Living Lambton. Cost: Free!! Everyone welcome. Contact Cindy Maxfield, Health Promoter at the GBACHC, 519-238-1556 ext 6 to register.

Thursday, February 18
Grand Bend CHC
Pick Up Good Food Boxes

Tuesday, February 23
1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Stop Smoking Program

Wednesday, February 24
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC.
Men Can Cook. Advance your cooking skills and enjoy a tasty healthy lunch for $5. Contact Miranda at 519-238-1556 ext 222.

Thursday, February 25
1 to 2 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion.
Grand Bend Golden Agers Euchre

Wednesday, February 24
10 a.m. to noon – Grand Bend CHC
Mental Health Support Group. Contact Social Worker Lise Callahan at 519-238-1556 ext 230 for more info.

Thursday, February 25
2 to 4 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Health Screening Day. Screening is one of the best ways to detect and correct your health! Screening will be offered for Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Senior Nutrition, Occupational therapy needs, Exercise and Mental health! Refreshments and door prizes too! Contact Health Promoter Cindy Maxfield 519-238-1556 ext 231 for details.

Area high school students will hit the stage at the Huron Country Playhouse this summer as members of the chorus of Disney’s High School Musical May 19 to June 5. Auditions for Avon Maitland, Bluewater, Huron Perth and Lambton Kent District School Boards take place this Sunday, February 21 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at South Huron District High School; London and Thames Valley District School Boards will audition from 2 to 5 p.m.. The auditions are exclusively for students in Grades 9 to 12, and 36 students will be chosen to perform in the show alongside professional actors, including Canadian Idol winner Melissa O’Neil.
“Since the show is High School Musical, what better way to show that than by casting high school students to be in the show,” says Drayton executive producer Steve Roth. “We’re looking for enthusiastic high school students who can sing and dance but who also have a passion for theatre.”
Other than that, no specific preparation is necessary, but students should come with a recent photo and comfortable clothes and shoes.
Students cast through the auditions will be involved in five numbers. Roth says auditionees will learn the music and choreography for one of the songs they’ll be performing if chosen. Those chosen will spend one week learning their roles before joining the professional cast two days before the first show.
“Getting the community more involved in Grand Bend is something we’ve talked about for years, and I hope that in the next year or two, we’ll go back to the way it used to be, where we have our professional company, but community members are invited to be part of the show.”
Meaghan Forrester, 18, of Grand Bend (left) was a member of the children’s chorus in Oliver! this year at the Playhouse, and is eager to audition for a role that fits her age more appropriately. The South Huron student encourages other students to try to be part of the process.
“Try to have fun with it. Even if you don’t get in, it’s a really good experience. Getting to know people and doing the work is so nice. I made tonnes of friends, and I’m actually keeping in contact with the director as a reference for university.”
The show premiered last year at St. Jacobs to sell-out crowds, with O’Neil, the 2005 Idol winner in the starring role. David Connolly (Miss Saigon) returns as director after successful runs in St. Jacobs and Penetanguishene.
For tickets to the Drayton season, call 1-888-449-4463. Audition forms: http://www.draytonentertainment.com/

By Casey Lessard

Sisters Rachel Michielsen-Gray and Jessica Michielsen are running two hair-cutting fundraisers this month to benefit a charity honouring their father, the late builder Jack Michielsen of Arkona.
Rachel, a hairdresser at the Beauty ‘n’ the Beach salon, will be cutting hair this Saturday, February 20 at the salon’s temporary location, 20 Ontario Street South in Grand Bend (across from New Orleans Pizza). She and Barb Speirs will be donating all proceeds from hair services bought that day to The House that Jack Built, a fund named in her father’s honour that builds homes for needy families in Haiti. In the wake of last month’s earthquake, the fund needs to be filled to help as many families as possible. The salon will offer draw prizes, refreshments (by donation) and hand massages. To book an appointment, call 519-238-6520.
Rachel’s sister Jessica is running a separate fundraiser that involves donors cutting the dreadlocks she has been growing since 2005 as part of the process of grieving their father. Each dreadlock was worth $100, and with 50 dreadlocks available, Jessica has already exceeded her $5000 goal, raising $8000 for the fund.
All dreadlocks are accounted for, but those interested in donating and being part of the cutting process (if dread purchasers don’t show for the event) are invited to an open house at 27 Eastglen Drive in Arkona from 3-6 p.m. on Sunday, February 28. Jessica invites interested donors to make a long-term commitment, and says fund managers, registered charity Baptist Haiti Mission Canada, will be on hand to discuss monthly withdrawals; any sized commitment is welcome.
Since the earthquake of January 12, Jessica says donations The House that Jack Built fund have exceeded $16,000. Donations are collected by registered charity Baptist Haiti Mission Canada and donations over $10 are receiptable.

With sun-dried tomato polenta and pan roasted zucchini

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

Photo by Casey Lessard

I am often asked, what is a supreme breast of chicken? A supreme breast of chicken is boneless except for the drumstick of the wing, and the skin remains. A butcher can prepare this, or you can do it yourself with a boning knife. Feel free to use a regular chicken breast if desired. For those who prefer not to eat the skin, you can remove it during the second stage of cooking; it just adds more flavor to the dish.

Eddington’s contemporary Italian pancetta chicken
Serves four

Ingredients:
Four 6-8 oz marinated supreme chicken breasts
8 slices pancetta or prosciutto
8 slices fresh mozzarella (two per breast)
1/2 cup grape tomatoes cut in half
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
olive oil
8 cranks cracked pepper
A dash sea salt
(great alternative is a small splash of anchovy paste)

Marinade:
1 orange
1/2 tbsp of chilies
olive oil
diced fresh basil, oregano and thyme
(two sprigs of each)
1 clove of diced garlic

Marinate chicken over night: dice orange with peel on, mix with diced herbs, garlic, chilies and olive oil. Mix well, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Roast chicken in 400°F oven for 20 minutes. While chicken is cooking, mix olive oil, minced garlic, tomato paste, olive oil, cracked pepper and sea salt together in small mixing bowl (this can also be done ahead of time to extract a more robust flavor).
Top each chicken breast with two slices of pancetta or prosciutto on each breast of chicken. Drizzle half of grape tomato mixture over pancetta, then layer two slices of fresh mozzarella. Drizzle remaining mixture. Return to 400°F oven for another 10 minutes.
Now your chicken will be ready to be layered and served on polenta.

Sun dried tomato polenta
(This can be made the night before when making the chicken marinade)

Ingredients
16 oz (2 cups) chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
A dash salt and pepper
1/8 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes

Combine chicken broth and milk in medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Slowly mix cornmeal, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low/medium setting. Gradually add remaining water. Cook for approximately 15 minutes. Mixture should be thick. Now add in remaining ingredients and mix well.
Pour in to greased 9” spring form pan. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
Once chilled, place on cutting board, remove from pan and cut into wedges. Will make 8-12 wedges depending on size of cut. To finish cooking, place in 400°F oven on cookie sheet for 25 minutes or until golden brown. If you want to be creative, try grating Parmesan cheese onto wedges before reheating, or drizzling olive oil and balsamic vinegar over wedges.

Pan-seared zucchini
Ingredients
One zucchini, cut into long slender strips.

Pan sear on high heat on non stick pan for 1 minute per side moments before serving.
To glaze zucchini, steal the olive oil that will have somewhat separated from grape tomato mixture that was intended for the chicken.
To serve, layer polenta on center of plate, top with cooked pancetta chicken and accent with zucchini.

Wine pairing:
Rocca delle Macìe Chianti Classico, Italy
Medium bodied, plum, sweet tobacco, mushroom, and a touch of oak: complex finish.

On a side note: I would like to thank all the readers who express interest in my recipes. I’d love to hear about your experiences with the food, recommendations, or concepts/recipes you would like me to cover. Please email me at: wine-at-execulink.com
Most of all, I would like to thank Casey for bringing the Eddington’s food to life through photography. For those who have ever wondered when or where we do our pictures, well, we do them at the restaurant, our houses or wherever we can. Casey has been more than accommodating to drive to the restaurant with sometimes less than an hour’s notice when I call: “Hey Casey, I just got some fresh fish in, lets go to the green house,” or “Hey Casey, I am in the midst of making a chestnut soup, can you come by NOW and take some pictures? I have a great concept for the Strip.” It’s a great experience for both of us, and most of all, it’s creative fun that challenges us to strive for perfection. So, thanks Casey for all the wonderful photos. Look forward to many more great issues of the Strip!
Cheers, James Eddington

February 4
Hensall Public School

February 25
Stephen Central Public School

March 4
ARC makes recommendations to board

2008-09 school populations
Source: AMDSB.ca
Zurich – 148 (110% of capacity of 135)
Exeter – 303 (74% of capacity of 409)
Stephen – 171 (68% of capacity of 250)
Hensall – 152 (58% of capacity of 262)
Usborne – 117 (52% of capacity of 227)

Avon-Maitland District School Board superintendent of operations Mike Ash is the chair of the Accommodation Review Committee examining which schools should close in South Huron and Bluewater. The contentious decision will be made this summer, and may see one or more local communities lose their schools. The committee, consisting of school and community representatives, meets every few weeks to discuss the options and present their suggestions.

As told to Casey Lessard

Any accommodation review is a difficult process for the community. It’s also difficult for the trustees and the board staff as we consider these decisions. At the end of the day, we as a board have to be able to demonstrate that we are using the tax dollars we receive in a fiscally responsible fashion. If there are ways we can use the grant dollars we get, we need to do that. Duplication between schools can be questioned as an effective use of revenue.
More important to us, though, is being able to provide an effective quality program. Our belief based on our experiences is that we need to have a sufficient number of students in a building to allow us to prevent triple-grade classes as a minimum. This can also allow us flexibility in timetabling to minimize the number of double-grade classes, and provide options to students to be in a straight-grade class or a split-grade class. We also believe that there should be a sufficient number of classes so that you have more than one teacher in a particular division so those teachers can collaborate and learn from each other in terms of best teaching practices and improve the learning environment. As schools get smaller, it becomes more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve that level of staffing to allow for that dialogue to occur or to provide that flexibility in terms of timetabling.
Based on enrolment projections, the board has done some difficult work to consolidate the schools so we will have a stable, viable school system going forward. The enrolment in our area is projected to plateau and then rise a little bit. That increase in school age children will be very small. If we can come up with a consolidated group of schools in South Huron now, that will serve the needs of students for 10-15 years, if not longer.
Last year, we did a formal accommodation review with the Usborne school committee. At the end of that process, the trustees deferred a decision on the future of Usborne Central PS pending a review of all of the schools in the South Huron area.
The five elementary schools that feed into South Huron District High School were identified as having about 400 empty spaces in their schools. In addition to that, we have a couple of schools that have fewer than 150 students. The combination of the empty spaces, plus a significant number of spaces in SHDHS has prompted the staff to recommend that we look at the accommodation in that area.
Staff and the community have presented a number of options. The preferred option from the board staff includes both the closure of Usborne Central PS and either Hensall PS or Zurich PS, and then the redistribution of students from those schools to the remaining schools. At the last two meetings, we’ve also presented and discussed the closure of Stephen Central PS, and a configuration that would see two of the five schools close with the remaining schools operating as K-8. In the other scenarios, we were presenting Grades 7 and 8 at the high school. Friends of Hensall PS have presented the idea of closing Exeter PS and merging it with the high school through an addition to create a K-12 school. That would address excess capacity, but it wouldn’t address program delivery issues that would be present at the other schools that have small populations and small staffs.
Closing Exeter is a viable option for discussion. The concern with that is: where do the capital dollars come from to build the addition onto South Huron DHS? That money ultimately has to come from the Ministry of Education of the Province of Ontario. In our dialogue with the ministry financial folks, they only become interested in capital funding when it meets certain criteria. At this point in time, those criteria would require the closure of at least three schools to create a school in the order of at least 500 students. Any plan would have to include the use of any other excess capacity in the area under review, so that would include the secondary school. The ministry probably won’t provide capital to the board unless the community is on side with how that capital will be used.
The reality is that schools that are smaller than 500 aren’t self-sustainable in terms of the funding mechanism that is currently in place. In a district like ours, the schools that are 350 or 400 students are actually subsidizing the smaller schools. When a trustee looks at the equitable distribution of funding across the board, that is a concern. Should the smaller schools be subsidized by larger classes in larger schools?

Certainly the board trustees and staff are aware that closing a school is traumatic and has an effect on the community. Unfortunately, when we start weighing that impact, which is speculative, with the reality that we have to provide a program for our students today and balance our budget today, the program issues and the board’s financial picture will carry more weight than the impact on the community. Ultimately, we are charged with providing a quality education for our students, and their needs come first.
Quality of life is also a concern. Usborne and Stephen Central are both fully bused now. Any changes in the location of where those students would attend in the case of Usborne would actually reduce the bus ride for those students because the buses are run in conjunction with the secondary school and they stop there before going to Usborne. If the Usborne students were relocated to Exeter, they would have a shorter bus ride. If Hensall were to close, we would be putting a group of students who do not currently ride the bus, depending on where they live, on a bus ride ranging between 30 and 60 minutes per day. It’s a similar situation in Zurich. We do take that into account, and as we plan our bus routes, we make them an hour or less wherever possible.

It is not a done deal (i.e. the end result is not predetermined). The trustees make the decision. Staff and the ARC make recommendations; staff need to make their recommendations based on the ARC’s recommendations, so until they make that decision, the staff is listening. Then the trustees will consider all of the information and make a decision in June.
The timeframe for the ARC deliberations has been sufficient based on others in the past. One of the challenges for the members of the ARC is to keep focused on their mandate. The recommendations to the trustees don’t have to be accurate to the penny in terms of potential capital costs or changes in costs for the board, but they do have to give trustees a picture of what the community would like to see in terms of a school configuration for the next 10-15 years.

We know that when we go into this process that we will not make everyone happy. We focus on the core issues. For the school board, they are the delivery of program and ensuring we’re using our financial resources most efficiently and effectively. At the same time, we want to wherever possible address the concerns of the community while ensuring a quality program.

The next public meeting is at Hensall PS February 4, followed by one at Stephen Central PS February 25. The ARC will make its recommendations at a meeting March 4. Staff will report in April, and the trustees are currently scheduled to decide at a meeting June 22. The board typically ensures at least one year for transition, so changes would not be implemented until September 2011.

Joan Bradley is the vice-chair of the Hensall Public School parent council. All three of her daughters attend the school.

As told to Casey Lessard

With my children, part of the deal when we moved here was that they did not want somewhere they would have to ride the bus. They wanted to have a school close by and that was part of our decision to move to Hensall.
The board proposal was to close Usborne and either Hensall or Zurich, and move the 7s and 8s into the high school from all feeder schools. I’m opposed to putting the 7s and 8s into the high school. I understand some of the philosophy behind it, but the places where it has been done (Goderich and Stratford) are urban schools. In Goderich, the students can go over to the public school to walk home younger siblings. Here, we’ll be losing before and after school child care, and it leaves a big hole for us.
No community wants to lose their school. It’s so detrimental to the community. Part of the detriment is that Hensall has some great affordable housing. Young families won’t choose to move to Hensall if there isn’t a school.
I don’t want to ship my children to Exeter. It’s an older facility, it has issues with bus loading and unloading, there’s no parking, there’s very little playground space, it’s not an accessible building, there are security issues because the office doesn’t face the front door. Why close a good facility with room for expansion to put children in a school that is 70-plus years old and has seven or eight additions to it?
It’s still a lovely school and well-maintained, but it’s so close to the high school, why not make the high school into a K-12 school? It’s the right thing to do as far as taxpayer dollars go. If we’re having declining enrolment at the elementary schools, it’s going to hit the high school eventually. We’re not always going to be able to save these rural schools, but closing them and shoving the students in a facility that’s in worse shape than the one they’re coming from is not a good solution. A K-12 school at the high school is the standard practice that seems to be going on in Ontario right now. We just have to find a way to get the capital ($2 million).
The board tells us we would have to close at least three schools to get any capital from the Ministry of Education. The projections for South Huron District High School are attendance of 455 by 2018, so eight years from now. My question is, what is the cutoff to make a viable high school?
I think we need to figure out how to get some capital into this game. I haven’t crunched the numbers, but I think there’s a way we can get some funding. We need to build a good enough business case about making that a K-12 school to keep some long-term stability in the community. Closing one of these schools and pumping more into Exeter, only to have a school 20 years from now that is impossible to repair, how does that show foresight on our part?

We want to make sure we have a recommendation that accurately reflects what the community’s wills and wishes are and viable enough that the board will go ahead and accept it. If we’re not thorough enough, what we put forward may be revised slightly so they end up with an issue like they have in Blyth. They put forward a recommendation that all schools converge into one super school in Wingham, and they ended up splitting the town so that half of the students go to Hullett and half go to Wingham. Blyth ended up feeling ripped off because they lost their school and don’t get to take advantage of a new facility.

I don’t believe the decision has been made. The proposal in St. Marys is not what happened. The proposal in Wingham is not what happened. Our trustee Randy Wagler has been fairly responsive. I do think they’re trying to listen. It’s our job to make our wills and wishes heard.

It’s a lengthy, complicated process. There are a lot of things to take into consideration: how to best educate the children in the area, maintain things in the community, and make sure we’re spending our tax dollars wisely. It’s not an easy committee to be on. We’ve been inundated with copious amounts of material to try to get through and figure stuff out. It’s extremely challenging.

Laurie Russell is the chair of the Exeter Public School parent council.

As told to Casey Lessard

Emotions are running rampant. No one wants their school closed. The reality is one or two schools have to close. It’s just the reality. To come up with a decision that everyone agrees with is not an easy process.
In Hensall and Zurich, if one or both close, it will have a huge impact. Why would new families come into that community if there isn’t a school available to them? They won’t move there.
I understand everyone’s putting proposals forward to make it fair, to make everyone involved. At first, Exeter and Stephen Central were not on the chopping block, even though they would be involved. The other night in Exeter, they brought up the option again that the Hensall community came up with of closing Exeter Public School and putting a K-8 school in the high school. The board came back and said that’s really not an option for funds. They said the ministry wouldn’t consider offering the money without closing three schools.

Closing Exeter is an option. Exeter Public School is not greatly represented at these meetings. The Exeter PS community seems to feel they are not affected. Exeter PS may not close, but it will be affected. I have put a plea out to the parents and guardians of the children and explained the options and telling them that we will be affected. Unfortunately we only had a handful out to the meeting the other night, one other representative at the Usborne meeting, and no one at the Zurich meeting.
I understand everyone’s concern about the age of Exeter PS. Personally, I think it’s in great shape, but I’m obviously biased. The age is one of the main arguments, but everything has been kept up to date. Everyone has cosmetic issues with their school. I don’t think it’s a hazard to anyone’s health to send their children there.

I don’t think there is enough time (given to the committee to make recommendations), but it has worked in other areas. It just happened in North Huron with the same amount of time and number of schools. We’ve had some unofficial meetings outside of the official ARC meetings. I think we should have more time, but…
I don’t think it’s predetermined. (The board) have their ideas, but truthfully, they are open to what we recommend. We do have a voice and they will consider what we come up with.

There is not a solution that everyone will be happy with. In the long run, people may come to think this was the best decision, but right now, there is not a solution where everyone will be happy. Unless this all went away and we all kept our schools.

Trustee Randy Wagler has unenviable task of deciding schools’ fate

Randy Wagler is one of nine trustees who will make the final decision about which school(s) to close. He is a chemical engineer and product manager for Honeywell, and his five children attended Exeter PS and South Huron DHS.

As told to Casey Lessard

I haven’t made up my mind. It’s early. We’re hearing the concerns, and there’s lots of time for more input.
In the end, the goal is to provide the best education we can for students. The best thing for communities is to have the best education for students. Sometimes, it may not be to have it in the particular setting people would like.
There are a number of criteria we consider. The first thing we look at is the impact on students. That has to do with the resources they have. If teachers can collaborate, that will affect their education. We do look at the financial implications because if we don’t have the right finances, that costs students as well. It’s not one or the other. They’re linked.
It makes a community strong when kids get the best education. I realize it’s a challenge, but I will go for the best education for students. If money were not an issue, we might not be doing this. But even then, it’s better when we can put more teachers grouped together to collaborate to improve education.

I think people are now at the point where they’re ready to give some input. It is a difficult process because it may mean some change, which is always a challenge for people. Some of the municipal councils have tried to stop the process or delay it, but the trustees believe the time frame for getting input is reasonable. The committee will be finished its work in March, and they’re ready to start sifting through the information and analyze and give input about the different scenarios.
Some solutions will result in more savings or less savings. There are lots of empty spaces, so that costs us money to keep those spaces open. We don’t have any indication that the ministry will give us any money for capital changes. There’s no influx of money. Given that, the lowest capital options are probably favoured, but we have to look at how it affects students.
I would like a long-term solution so we don’t have to review this within the next 10 years, and one that results in improving education for the students in our area.

We have strong communities. There are lots of communities around that are strong but don’t necessarily have a school in their town, Bayfield as one example. I don’t think it’s the only prerequisite for a strong town. Hopefully people see that, and rally around the quality of education for their students.

Richard Webb wins second Canadian Poker Tour title

Story and file photo by Casey Lessard

Canadian Poker Tour champion Richard Webb will retain his crown after winning the championship this weekend in Calgary, Alberta. The Grand Bend resident beat the tour’s 50 best players, and wins a second $100,000 contract that pays for his travel and entry fees to tournaments around the world.
“I think I’m happier the second time,” Webb said in a phone interview from Calgary. “It was a tougher field this time with even better players.”
In addition to the $100,000 contract, Webb took $120,000 in winnings from the tournaments he entered last year on behalf of the Canadian Poker Tour, among them a win at the Regina Harvest Poker Classic and a second place finish at the Barcelona Open, a stop on the European Poker Tour. The Canadian Poker Tour takes 20 per cent of his winnings, and he donates an additional 10 per cent to charities, including the Grand Bend Public School playground and Grand Bend Rotary.
Considering he spent 90 days on the road this year, he is thankful for his brother and staff for keeping the family business running. One of the highlights of his year was traveling with his wife, Jackie Stenhouse, and their daughter Sarah. This week’s he’s off to join Jackie in Phoenix, Arizona before tournaments in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. In addition to visions of Germany and Greece, a trip to compete in the EPT event at San Remo, Italy, is one he’d like to repeat.
“I love the place. The country is wonderful, the city is wonderful, and we’re going to go back there.”
Webb’s win will be available for viewing at canadianchampionshippoker.com soon. His 2009 win continues to air on The Score.

Summer resident Carla Johnston set to spend winter, spring in central India

A summer resident of Grand Bend, Carla Johnston is known to many in the area as the daughter of Chris Bregman, manager of the Grand Bend Chamber of Commerce. Johnston is finishing her last semester at F.E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham before flying February 1 to Indore, in the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. There, she will volunteer until June 8 at the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, a vocational and residential school for rural, tribal and village women to learn basic domestic, literacy and job skills. The trip was suggested by Grand Bend’s Gord Britton, who visited the institute in December after several years of interest in their project.
“So much of social and economic development does not hit the mark,” Britton says. “The West tends to see social and economic development delivering a package from developed countries to undeveloped countries. We’ve been doing this since the mid-20th century and the formation of the United Nations in 1948. The greatest minds came together to solve global poverty, and all these NGOs started. The United Nations contracted a study in 1968, and it showed to everyone’s dismay and complete surprise that poverty got worse in those 20 years. Ten years later, they did another study and got the same results.
Economic development is not about delivering a package, but rather developing the capacities of the people themselves. This institute views the person as a noble being lacking some capabilities that they have the capacity to learn. Local people teach local people. It’s peer mentoring.
When a woman is not educated, they’re told what to do by their fathers, brothers, husbands, and the local village leaders. The women have no power to make any decisions whatsoever. They literally don’t know how to make a decision because they don’t need to make any.
“(At Barli) they’re taught is to speak the national language, Hindi, and then they’re taught to read and write Hindi. These women go back and transform their families. A literate woman will educate her kids. An illiterate woman will not. The cycle of poverty stops by simply focusing on women, on mothers.”

As told to Casey Lessard
Portrait by Casey Lessard
India photos courtesy Gord Britton

Even though I live in a small area, I’ve always wanted to learn about other cultures. Small town life is great, but I’ve always wanted to see more and see the world. I’ve always wanted to break away from the small town, but I know I’ll probably get into the big city and find out that I want to go back to my small town. I’ve always wanted to bring some sort of positive social change to the world.
I will be working in the office and I will also be helping teach a computer class. They do gardening work because they are self-sufficient, so everything they need they grow, except for rice. The gardens are extensive, so all of the trainees – the women who come to the institute – work in the gardens, and I’ll get to help out with that.

Indore is in the state of Madhya Pradesh, in central India, and it’s one of the poorest states in India. Indore is a city about the size of Toronto. It’s not very well known because it doesn’t have any tourist attractions. It’s a relatively poor city because Madhya is so poor. It has a very low education rate in that area. One in 100 girls who start high school graduate. In India, the national average is 14 out of 100.
Women are in this situation because of the social issues that have always been there related to the social inequality of men and women, the historical prejudices of what a woman’s role is supposed to be there. They’re not supposed to be the head of the household, and that’s why they don’t get an education and further themselves.
The institute was started 25 years ago by Dr. Janak McGilligan, who is a Baha’i interested in doing something good for India. It started as a three-month program and turned into a six-month program. The women come from all over India, but most from Madhya Pradesh.
They learn domestic skills, job skills and social and community skills to build their communities and the people around them. They give them job skills, but simple job skills. They give them domestic skills, like sewing and cooking. Things that they can bring back to the community that are modest in the amount they’re moving forward. They give them skills that wouldn’t isolate the women from the community. They want them to be a special part of the community to help it develop.
Most communities are actually very welcoming to it. There have been some communities where the men try to sabotage the institute representatives going in to talk to women. They’ll say you have to pay to go to the institute when it’s actually free, they’ll make up rumours that they teach evil things or will make havoc for the community. There are some men who aren’t happy with this, but most communities are happy because the women don’t just develop themselves; they’re learning skills to help that whole community to come out of their poverty. They have prejudices that women should have certain skills and a certain place in the community, and that they should stay in that place.
The families that send the women to the Barli Institute are very supportive. They want the women to go there because they want them to develop and be a strong part of the community. It’s usually other community members who are holding them back.
One woman, before she went to the Barli Institute, couldn’t read or write and one day, a group of men came to her door and told her she had to sign a contract. She didn’t know what it was about, and they told her it was a building contract. Later, she learned she was signing off on a loan that was very substantial with interest rates that she couldn’t afford. After the Barli Institute, she now has her own job, she can read and write, speak a little bit of English, and she got out of the loan. She has confidence now that she doesn’t have to follow what people say; she can make her own decisions.
You need to be able to make your own decisions to break out of poverty. You need the education that can get you a job to bring development to your country. We take our education for granted here in Canada. It’s the social norm to go to school. We get it and don’t realize it’s the education that has developed our country. In India, to get a simple education can bring the standards of a village up much higher.

I think I’m going to learn more to appreciate education. I know that I’m very privileged living in Canada. They’re getting the simplest education they can get. I think I’m going to learn to value the education we have available to us and make that part of my life.
In June, I’ll be coming home to work in Grand Bend, and then I’m off to university for International Development. I’d love to work for the UN; that’s my dream job. I’d like to do what I’m doing in India for the rest of my life.

Keeping the Peace
By Tom Lessard, C.D.

“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”
Those were the words that came out of my mouth the day I slipped and fell on the ice next door. I had been to town in the morning and walked in and out of a number of stores with no problem. Then I went home.

When I got there, I noticed that the BRA truck had come and gone, so I gathered up my blue box, threw it onto the porch. Then I reached for my neighbour’s to do the same, but walking across the driveway, I didn’t notice a small patch of ice covered with a light film of snow. Sure enough, I hit it with my prosthetic leg. Down I went, and looking back on it now, I think my leg must have landed on the cement step.
What now?
I lay there contemplating what to do. Rita had worked all night, so I thought she would be upstairs in bed, but I called her name a number of times anyway. Luckily she was still up; she ran out and tried to help me up, but my stump was too sore. She ran in, got a blanket, rolled me onto it, and dragged me over to the porch, which had a railing. I still couldn’t get up, so she went inside and got my wheelchair. She laid down a rug, rolled the wheelchair onto it, and engaged the brakes. I crawled backwards and inched my way up. She pushed me to the steps and, because we don’t have a ramp, I had to use crutches to make my way into the house while Rita brought the chair in.
My stump was swelling rapidly, and I asked Rita to fetch some ice. I called Tele-Health, and the nurse said I should go to the emergency room in Exeter for an x-ray. It took us an hour to get outside, into the car and to the hospital; we arrived at 2 p.m.
The waiting room was empty, so I reported to the reception. The doctors were in a meeting until 4 p.m. or so, so we waited until a new receptionist came on duty at 3 p.m. She sent a nurse out to take me into triage, where she took my blood pressure and sent me back to reception to be documented. I was wheeled into examination at 4 p.m. The doctor had a look at my knee and arranged an x-ray.
After the x-ray, the doctor returned to tell me that the results were inconclusive because the swelling was too hard to see through. He was going to make arrangements at Strathroy hospital for a CAT scan as soon as possible.
The next day, the orthopedic specialist’s nurse called at 10 a.m. and asked me to be at the hospital by 11:15 a.m. That was impossible because Rita wouldn’t be home until 11, and the hospital’s an hour away, so she scheduled me for 1:30 p.m. the following day.
The test done, the doctor told me I have two faint cracks in my femur, put my leg in a half-cast, and sent me home. Can’t walk for three months!

It’s an odd coincidence that exactly 35 years prior to the accident, Rita also spent December 16 at South Huron Hospital. It was a much happier event, though, as she was giving birth to our last child, Casey.

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

Christmas has come and gone and, on the whole, I imagine most people were pleased with the presents they received. Some people are hard to please, resulting in the regifting concept. Every year, my mother disliked the presents my brother Richard and I gave her, which I thought was fine because by March she would forget who gave her the gifts and would ask me to take them off her hands.
Tom and I did were blessed to receive many gifts this year. There were, however, a few glitches. Tom got some underwear without a pee hole (the latest fashion, apparently) but they weren’t really for him. Nevertheless, he is keeping them, so good luck, Mr. Pee Pee Pants.
Tom also got one of those hearing aids advertised on TV, but apparently it doesn’t work. I received a car starter, which was quite exciting, but I had to return it because it didn’t have all the parts to install and would take an additional $200 to get it working. The rest of our gifts were wonderful and I am thankful to have such a generous family.
I had a customer tell me that the gift she gave her husband was a bit of a disappointment. She said she bought him an SUV, which made me think, Wow! That’s a great gift. That was until she said, “Yeah, Jack was a little sour with my idea. Who wouldn’t appreciate an SUV – socks, underwear and Viagra?” You can’t please everyone; try again next year.
I don’t know why we aggravate ourselves by making New Year’s resolutions. My resolution was to abstain from making resolutions. I do better at Lent, when I give up all sweets. It’s only for 40 days, so it’s easy to manage than torturing myself for 365.
Here is a New Year’s belief, Scottish or Irish. A tall, dark and handsome man brings good luck to your home, as long as he isn’t flat-footed. Similarly, the first person you meet walking down the road signifies your future. If it’s a child, you’re lucky, but if it’s a gravedigger, not so much.

Since Tom fell and broke his leg last month, I won’t be going on any trips this year, which means I can put my language lessons on hold. They say that English is one of the hardest languages to learn, and these signs seem to show that’s true:
In a Japanese hotel room – “Please to bathe inside the tub.”
In a Finnish hostel – “If you cannot reach the fire exit, close the door and expose yourself at the window.”
In a Copenhagen airport – “We take your baggage and send them in all directions.” Such honesty!

Amid the holiday rush, the Christmas airline traveler was curious and asked why there was a mistletoe hanging over the baggage counter. The clerk replied, “It’s so you can kiss your luggage goodbye.”

Happy birthday to Mike (Jan. 24) and Glenn (Feb. 19). Happy anniversary to my husband of 47 years (Feb. 8). Happy New Year to my family, friends and neighbours!

It was one year ago this month that it was decided that the Grand Bend Home & School Association would start fundraising for a new wheelchair accessible playground for the children of Grand Bend Public School and the youth of the community. The goal was $70,000, daunting to say the least. It was through grant applications, letters to Grand Bend community organizations, H&S fundraisers and public donations that our goal was reached. There are so many people to thank, and thank you just does not seem to suffice.
It is because of the people in this town that we can be so proud and that our children are being given such a great start in life. The children are so excited to be getting a new playground that all of them will be able to play on every day.

There are so many organizations and individuals that I would like to thank:
The Grand Bend Rotary Club; they were the first to lend support. It shot us forward, knowing that without a doubt we would succeed.
The Grand Bend Royal Canadian Legion not only supported us, but also enjoyed partying with us along the way.
The Grand Bend Lioness are a wonderful, thoughtful group who I enjoyed sharing a “spot” of tea with.
From Lakesmith Conservation I received some life lessons over coffee, tucked some future metaphors in my pocket for later use and got the biggest hugs.
Kause for Kids Easy Riders led by Nelson Desjardine donated the last of their fundraising efforts to our cause.
Thanks to Grand Bend Mariners Hockey Team, Grand Bend Women’s Institute, Sunrise Garden Centre and the Grand Bend Community Foundation.
The Million Dollar Round Table grant would not have happened if it weren’t for Mr. Brian Hall of Waypoint Financial.
Thanks to Mr. Paul Ciufo from Godbolt Ciufo Insurance & Financial Services.
Thank you to the Grand Bend Optimist Club, where I have gained many new friends.
Thanks to all of you who sacrificed the calories for our children with the yummy Smile Cookies, and Brian and Cheryl Dallner from Grand Bend Tim Horton’s.
Thank you to Jennison Construction who will always have a special place in my heart.
Huron Woods Inc., Hayter’s Turkeys, DJ T&A.
Thank you to Bob Uhrig of Grand Bend Sobey’s, who works well with short notice and to Mac’s Milk customers who spared their change.
Thanks to Casey from the Grand Bend Strip and Lynda from the Lakeshore Advance who did what they do best, get the word out.
Special thanks to all the Grand Bend families that supported our fundraisers throughout the year.
Thanks to ALL the children, who not only danced their way to a huge contribution, but also those who dug into their own piggy banks… honorable mentions are Paige Elliott, Hunter Penford, Aylish Betts, Ava Duffield, Bridget Donaldson and Caleb Rood.
Many people made personal donations including long time friends Cam & Randi Ivey whom I love dearly. Randi started the H&S at GBPS and also fundraised for the original playground structure at the school. Some passions never die.
Peter & Esther Warner, Tony & Fran Relouw, Richard Webb, and Stephanie Donaldson endlessly give to our community.
Grand Bend is a community but has proven to be more than that; we are family. To our family at GBPS, teachers, staff, students and our H&S members, thank you. It has been quite a year for all of us. The glue that holds any family together are the friends you can count on to weather the ups and downs.
Special thanks to Craig Wiseman for his endless patience and I am compelled to thank my children Ridley & Aidan. Without them I would not have discovered the thrill of such an amazing event.
Thank you to Jennifer Maguire my co-chair, who has been by my side from the beginning.
Susan Patton is the world’s best cheerleader.
Honorable mentions to Andrea Matheson, Erin Sageman, Kaleigh Clemens, Jennifer Blackhall, Jennifer Mossop, Julie Beattie and Kelly Stanlake for assisting in our many playground fundraisers.
Thanks to Susan Manz for her continuous support to us and our children.
We hope to see everyone at the unveiling of the playground in June. Heartfelt appreciation to all involved.

Amy Wiseman
Playground Committtee Chairwoman

Friday, February 5
6 to 9 p.m. – GB Public School
Sobey’s Drive-in Movie Night. Build your own car and come to the movies. Ages 12 and under.

8 p.m. – Various Locations
Opening Ceremonies. Torch Relay beginning at Municipal Parking Lot across from FINE A Restaurant. Lighting of the Flame at Paddington’s.

Saturday, February 6
9 a.m. – Grand Bend ball diamond
Sno-Pitch Tournament

11 a.m. – Oakwood Inn
Snow Golf

11 a.m. – Paddington’s
Children’s Piñata Party. Mexican theme. Limo contest and more. Call 519-238-5788.

1 to 8 p.m. – Riverbend
Riverbend Olympics

2 p.m. – Gables
Fat Kat Karaoke. Win prizes.

5 to 8 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Spaghetti Dinner. $8 adults, $5 children.

6 p.m. – behind Legion
Fireworks

Sunday, February 7
10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Register for Veteran Memorial Dart Tournament. Mixed doubles and teams. Contact Legion or Sam Bell (519-243-2452) or Bob Chapdelaine (519-238-2775)

Second weekend

Friday, February 12
TBA – Gables
Bring Your Own Meat BBQ. Age of Majority. Reserve early. Call 519-238-2371.

Saturday, February 13
9 a.m. – Grand Bend ball diamond
Sno-Pitch Tournament

9 a.m. – Pine Dale Motor Inn
Winter Carnival Craft Show. Vendors register: call 519-238-2231.

11 a.m. – Main Street Grand Bend
Rotary/Chamber Parade

11:30 a.m. – GB United Church
Lunch. $6/person. $3/child 12 and under.

12 to 4 p.m. – Colonial parking lot.
Kids’ amusement rides

3 p.m. – Gables
Search For Talent. Win prizes. Age of Majority.

3 to 6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Live music by The Persuaders

5 to 8 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Steak BBQ. Limited tickets $12/person.

9 p.m. – Riverbend
Karaoke Contest (age of majority event).

Sunday, February 14
8 a.m. – Grand Bend fire hall
Firemen’s Breakfast. $6/person. $3/child aged 5-12. Free for children under age 5. Please bring canned goods for the Food Bank.

10 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Register for Youth Dart Tournament. Free admission. Lunch provided by Legion.

2 p.m. – Colonial parking lot.
Waiters’ Race. Music by Lance Bedard.

TBA – Oakwood clubhouse
Children’s Talent Show. Free admission. Call 519-238-7325 to register.

6 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Closing Ceremonies. Tickets $10/person. Join us as we put out the flame on another Winter Carnival. Dress as your favourite Winter Olympic athlete. Medal presentations for business and community awards and snow sculptures. Carry The Torch Passport Lottery draw at 8pm.
Other community events

Monday, January 25
9:30 to 11:30 a.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Heart Health Workshop. Free program. Patricia Baker 519-238-1556 ext 235.

Wednesday, January 27
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Men Can Cook. Advance your cooking skills and enjoy a tasty healthy lunch for $5. Contact Miranda at 519-238-1556 ext 222.

10 a.m to 12 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Mental Health Support Group. Lise Callahan 519-238-1556 ext 230.

12:30 to 3 p.m. – Southcott Pines clubhouse
Huron Country Playhouse Guild monthly luncheon meeting. Mary 519-238-5640

Thursday, January 28
2 to 4 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Blood Pressure Clinic. Free service.

Thursday, February 4
7 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Sunset Cinema presents “Amal”. Admission: free.

Sunday, January 31
1 to 3 p.m. – Morrison Dam, Exeter
Winter Wonderland snowshoeing event

ABCA education staff will be leading a guided hike on snowshoes. Participants will travel by snowshoe on the South Huron Trail while learning about trees and animal life in winter. The cost is $5 per adult to join in on the guided hike and there is no charge for children when accompanied by an adult. Please call 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610 to register for the guided hike.
Anyone who wants to rent snowshoes for the event can rent them for only $3 per pair. They are available for rental starting at 1 p.m. sharp and must be returned by 3 p.m.
Snowshoers are reminded to dress appropriately for being outdoors and wear comfortable, low-heeled boots. After snowshoeing, enjoy some hot chocolate (please lug-a-mug) and warm up by the fire.

Saturday, February 13
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Sunnivue Farm
27093 New Ontario Road, between Parkhill and Ailsa Craig
Winter Day

Winter activities, good food, and good conversation. Organizers are hoping for snow so participants can enjoy snowshoeing, skiing, making snowmen, snow forts or snow sculptures. There will be a hockey game and hockey stick snow-shoveling contest, so bring your own hockey stick either way.
If snow fails to fall, there will still be a hockey game, and participants will enjoy a walk by the river or through the bush.
Visit the farm’s water buffaloes, who stay close to the barn in cold weather.
For lunch, the farm will provide hot apple cider, one of Ellinor’s renowned soups, bread, and wieners. Feel free to contribute additional treats.
For more information, call Sunnivue Farm at 519-232-9096.

Drayton Entertainment is looking for area teens to be members of the chorus for Disney’s High School Musical, which runs from May 19 to June 5 at the Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend.
Open auditions will be held on Sunday, February 21 at South Huron District High School in Exeter from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for students of the Avon-Maitland, Bluewater, Huron-Perth and Lambton-Kent District School Boards only; from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. for students of the London District and Thames Valley District School Boards only.
Auditions are open exclusively to students in Grades 9 though 12. Students do not need to prepare any material for the audition; please bring a recent photo and comfortable clothes and shoes for the movement audition.
Additional information is available at: draytonentertainment.com.

You don’t need much to fill their bellies with this affordable – yet gourmet – dish

Recipe by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

Photo by Casey Lessard

Looking for something more romantic? “Take a flight this Valentine’s Day” from our February 2008 issue.

This recipe is intended for a slow cooker. If you do not own a slow cooker, don’t worry. It can be done in the oven; just reduce cook time by one-third and cook in covered roasting pan at 225°F.

You’ll need one pork leg, butt, shoulder blade or roast. It’s your choice. I have chosen a de-boned pork leg.
Note: This recipe (3 lbs) serves 8-10 people.

Ingredients

3 lb. pork (choice of cuts above)
1 tbsp salt and pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 red onions diced
6 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp coriander
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
(Optional. This will add flavour and heat)
1 small can tomato sauce
6 oz smoked hickory BBQ sauce
1 oz cider vinegar
355ml root beer (one bottle)
1 tbsp brown sugar

Preparation
Rub pork with salt and pepper, then sear in a large pan. Once seared, transfer pork into slow cooker. Mix all other ingredients together and pour over pork. Cover and cook on low heat 8-10 hours.
Once cooked transfer pork to cutting board, tent with tin foil and let rest for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, take 2 forks and shred pork. i.e. pull pork.
While pork is resting, pour remaining liquid in slow cooker into large pot. Let settle then skim fat off the top. Bring to a boil and reduce and thicken mixture, approx 15-20 minutes. Add pulled pork to mixture and you are ready to serve.

Note: this can be made prior to event and reheat pulled pork in sauce.

I have chosen to serve my pulled pork on a rosemary ciabatta bun with diced onions, avocado, pickled jalapenos’, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce and sour cream. Served with sweet potato fries, and beer of course.
Delicious. Enjoy!

Just a brief mention that South Huron District High School is hosting a Grade 8 night Wednesday, January 13 (snow date Jan. 14). The event takes place at 6:45 p.m. in the large gym.

Police seek driver, family seeks closure after Jason Pearson’s death near Grand Bend during Not So Pro volleyball weekend

Originally from Regina, Saskatchewan, Jason Pearson of Waterloo was an avid volleyball player, and serious about taking part in Grand Bend’s Not So Pro tournament each year. After the first day of competition at this year’s event, Pearson was killed while walking back to his campsite at the Grand Bend Motorplex when a truck hit him at 5 a.m. July 26. The vehicle and its driver are still at large.
Days after what would have been Pearson’s 32nd birthday (November 29), Casey Lessard visited Waterloo to speak with his fiancée Erin Jobidon and their friend Drew Neath.

Erin: We hit it off right away. He just glowed. He drew everyone into him. He’d go out of his way to do whatever he could for you. He was always up for something new and was good at everything he did.
I came here to go to the University of Waterloo, and I met Jay at the Boa Nova, a Portuguese-style high-class restaurant. I was working there with Drew’s ex-girlfriend and Jason’s roommate. I was serving and bartending, and he was working there as well; he had a share in the restaurant.
I was getting a tour of the restaurant after getting hired, and he was working in the back. I think even then, there was a sparkle in his eye that caught my attention.
We did everything. Skied, kayaked, fished, played volleyball, traveled, you name it. He got into horses with me. Name a sport, he was probably into it and good at it.
Drew: The first time I ever heard about Jason was from my ex-girlfriend. He was looking for people to play volleyball with him, but I had to try out because he would only play with people who were good. We ended up playing together at the pickup courts at University of Waterloo. I still have a lot of close friends from elementary school, and Jay was one of my first friends outside of that group of friends, and I’ve gotten to know a lot of people through Jay.
Erin: We moved in together after a year of dating because we were at each other’s house every night anyway. We lived in a house for a year and a half after that. He made a point of bringing me everywhere. He was like that with his friends, too. He had five groups of friends that co-mingled.
We lived together almost two years. He was great to live with. We had talked about getting married, but we had a mutual agreement that nothing would happen until I finished school. We went away to Kicking Horse, where his brother has a condo, and he proposed without a ring, but our intentions were known to his family. Our long-term goal was to have a farm for our horses. This house was our first step toward that.
Drew: I remember him saying the weekend in Grand Bend, “Save up your money, because when we get married, we’re going to go away somewhere.”
Erin: We were going to go somewhere warm and have a wedding.
He traveled way more than me. I had never really gone anywhere before I met him, and he used to go to Europe every year. He lived there for a year and played football. His family’s out west, he went out east every year, he went to Europe every year. Just a busybody.
We had known each other three months and he asked me if I wanted to go on a cruise to Greece in November. I said sure, but thought it would never pan out. But November came and we planned a trip. We stayed in Paris for three days and he knew every corner. It was crazy. The Greek cruise cost him $80. He could get anything for a deal. Anything. He wouldn’t tell anyone how he did it. Tickets for plays and concerts. He had connections everywhere.
Drew: For example, we went to last year’s Stanley Cup finals. His brother got us tickets and we all went down.
He told me two days before the game and we just packed up and went down to Detroit for the night. I think we paid $230 US, and we were very close.

For the love of the game
Erin: His friends were his life. His friends and volleyball. I wasn’t allowed to play on his volleyball team. I wasn’t good enough.
Drew: Jay was always the team captain. If someone was playing badly, he was the one to get them going. He’d have everyone’s spirits as high as could be so they could play well. We followed the Not So Pro tour. Hang and Bang was our team name most of the time.
He always wanted to win. In Grand Bend, we played intermediate because the competitive teams were fours, and he wanted everybody to play, so we played the intermediate sixes. It was still really competitive, and this year we probably would have won if this hadn’t happened. The year before we got third and second in the two tournaments I played in.

The fateful weekend
Drew: I got to Grand Bend two hours late. Jay saw me and looked at my girlfriend. He was about to say something, but he said the look on her face was so bad that he couldn’t get mad.
(At the end of the day,) we sat in the beer tent for a bit, and there was a girl trying to learn how to jump serve, so we stayed a while teaching her how to do it. We went back to the campsite and started partying.
Erin: I got there later. I had to work the Saturday night and I got there at midnight. We went to Gables and were there until close.
Jay and I got into an argument hanging around the bar waiting to go back to the campsite at the Motorplex. One of the girls we were with hadn’t been drinking, so she was going to drive my car. There were four of us, and Jay was being stubborn as usual. He said he was going to walk and stormed off. There’s no arguing with him when he’s like that. And it’s not unusual for him – he walked everywhere.
In the morning, he still wasn’t back, which was kind of weird, but he’s slept in bushes before. I was just going to head home for the day, and I saw there was an emergency road closure. I went back and started getting a little worried. There was a rumour that a girl had been hit. I kind of brushed it off but I had a bad feeling. I drove into town because, with volleyball starting in half an hour, I knew he wouldn’t be late for that. He still didn’t show up, so I drove back to the roadblock and the officer wouldn’t say anything.
One of the girls went back to the campsite to see if he went back there. She ended up talking to the investigator, and she said it sounded like it was him.
She came back to the beach. I remember sitting with Drew’s girlfriend watching them play a game and I saw Sarah, the girl who went back to the campsite, walking with the police officer, and my heart sank. I just remember looking at both of them and no one would say anything to me. They just stared blankly. I knew. I fell.
Drew: I remember driving and saying to my girlfriend, if he’s not at the courts, something’s happened. As soon as I saw her, she said yeah, and I collapsed. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say.
We just sat around waiting for the officers to do what they needed. We stuck around for interviews and headed home after that.

The aftermath
Erin: I waited in Grand Bend for my mom to come so I didn’t have to drive home. By the time I got home, everyone was calling. They all knew. It traveled so fast, and everyone was horrified. It seemed unreal and still does.
For me, one of my biggest fears was getting in a fight with someone and something happening. That’s how you ended it. That’s something I’ve always been terrified of. But it doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. A little fight is nothing. I know he still loved me.
The officers said they’re shocked nothing has come out yet. They interviewed hundreds of people. From what I know, they looked through the list of everyone registered at the Motorplex. They highlighted everyone who they think might have been leaving that evening. Their vehicle of interest is the truck with the trailer. But that could be from anywhere in Ontario or the States. We don’t know.
They did a reconstruction, and they think he was on the west side of the road walking back, and then may have been crossing the road. He was 100 meters from the Motorplex, and was hit at a low speed by a vehicle heading toward Grand Bend. It happened between 4 and 5 a.m. To their knowledge, they found him within 15 minutes. It was not very long.
I think about it and wonder why I torture myself. I hope it was someone who was driving and didn’t see him, and then freaked out.
Drew: They obviously didn’t stop. If they’d known, I’d hope they would have been nice enough to stop and get help, but from the sounds of it, they didn’t do anything.

Moving forward
Erin: I didn’t even know where to begin. I stayed with my mom for a week and then went to a friend’s house and stayed with her. We went out to Regina for the funeral and stayed with his family for a while. It was really important for me to be up there.
When I came back to reality, it was a huge slap in the face. We were living here, and I thought about moving out of this place, but I finally clued in that that’s not the way to deal with it. This is where there are memories and I want to hold on to that. Remember good things and try not to run away from thinking about it.
Drew: He was just a really good guy. The Monday after Jay died, a bunch of us gathered and everyone realized none of us had each other’s numbers because he was the one who got everyone together. He was that kind of person.
Erin: Our group of friends isn’t going to be the same. He always managed to get people together for something all the time.
It’s causing ripples in his family, for sure. His mom and sister are in horrible shape. His brother is super strong, and he’s held the family together while working full-time as a doctor.
For me, I do what I can to keep myself busy so I don’t have to think about it all the time. I’m not sure that’s a good thing. I work full-time and go to school full-time, and he’s on my mind every minute of every day. I can’t imagine moving on. I can’t imagine his clothes not being in the closet and his pictures not being on the wall. But I know that will happen one day.
For me, I didn’t think it would make a difference if we found someone. But I want to know what happened. He was always with people, and I just feel terrible that he was alone.
As Jason’s dad, Carl, says, “Someone knows something.” I can’t imagine being that person. I can’t imagine knowing something that horrible and not feeling the need to say anything.

In hopes of encouraging information that leads to the case being solved, Pearson’s parents posted a $25,000 reward, which was recently bumped to $35,000.
Any information is welcome; you can call Huron OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

Accommodation Review Committee community representative Tom Roes tells Casey Lessard that Zurich Public School should stay open. And that Hensall and Usborne should, too.
Will the school board listen?

Recognizing declining enrolment in area schools, Avon-Maitland District School Board is currently reviewing the need to close schools, including Usborne Public School near Exeter, and Zurich and Hensall Public Schools. To make such a decision, the board is required to collect public input through an Accommodation Review Committee, or ARC.
Tom Roes, who home-schools his children, is the community representative for Zurich Public School, which is being considered for closure. The committee also consists of the parents’ council chair, and a representative of Bluewater and South Huron municipal councils.
A meeting scheduled for December 10 would have been the second in the ARC process, but it is now scheduled for January 7 at Usborne Public School. A further meeting is January 14 at Stephen Central Public School.

As told to Casey Lessard

At the beginning of the process, the board staff presents their preferred option. Staff don’t decide; trustees do. The board’s preferred option has three parts: take all of the Grade 7 and 8s and put them in the high school; part two is to close Usborne; and part three is to close either Zurich or Hensall. Ultimately, they want to close two schools.
It would be a devastating blow to lose either school. Zurich is full of young families, and to lose a school would be like ripping the heart out of the community. The students at Zurich feel very safe at their school, they have excellent relationships with their teachers, and the teachers have a good relationship with the parents.
Zurich has some of the EQAO results in the entire board. Zurich is at capacity. Zurich has among the best teacher retention rates of any school in the board.
I think the main rationale behind closing Zurich is that it is one of the smallest capacity schools in the board. We have a lot of splits and some triple-splits. But they haven’t proven that splits are bad for students.
I think Hensall should stay open as well. It has special education classes, and a move to Exeter would be hugely problematic for those kids. They just moved from McCurdy a few years ago and they’ve just recovered from that.
One idea that has been thrown out by the Hensall people is the idea of closing Exeter Public School and renovating or adding to the high school to have an elementary school attached to the high school. That would open up green space for those kids, they’d be going to school in their own town, it would solve vacancy rates, and solve the empty space issue at the high school.
At this point, I don’t support any schools or sending Grades 7 and 8 to high school. The board hasn’t taken into account the effects of such a decision.
The board hasn’t explored other options other than closing schools. They haven’t considered sharing space with other boards. Similar to what they did in Stratford between the public and Catholic high schools; they share facilities.

It bothers me that, ultimately, we have no power in this decision. The board has the decision making power over the schools. We can only make suggestions. The Community School Alliance has been fighting with the ministry for a few years now trying to get them to call for a moratorium on closing schools where the closure is in dispute (such as is the case here). The minister refuses to do that.
According to the policy that rules the ARCs, the highest priority is supposed to be the value of the school to the students. If you look at what they’re doing, the highest value is clearly the bottom line. Avon Maitland is running a balanced budget, so that shouldn’t be a factor.
There’s a lot of skepticism that the board has already made their decision and this is a rubber stamp process they have to go through. There’s some evidence to support this. The ARC they did last year, they did five meetings to review one school, and they’re asking us to do the same type of review for five schools in the same number of meetings. Some other boards, including Simcoe and Peel, did ARCs reviewing four to six schools and had up to 26 meetings.

What do you think?
To have your say, Roes recommends you attend one of the meetings, write your MPP or school trustee, or tell the trustee what you think by talking with your votes.

Public policy and regulation among subjects of winter Partners in Learning discussions

The winter season of Partners in Learning, a discussion group that meets at the Southcott Pines clubhouse, runs Wednesdays from Jan. 13 to Feb. 10 and then March 3 to 31. This season’s topics include Science, Serving the Public Interest?; Has Big Brother Gone Too Far?; Theatre, Behind the Scenes; and The World of Books. Socrates Café runs Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m. every other week from Feb. 4 to April 1.

“Has Big Brother Gone Too Far”
Molly Russell, moderator

I find that hardly a day goes by that I don’t hear on the news that there is some law being instituted to “protect” the public. I think these laws have gotten out of hand. That’s the premise of my course.

Give me some examples.
For instance, when the actress went skiing in Quebec and died of a head injury, they wanted to bring in a law that said everyone has to wear a ski helmet all of the time. And people are saying, come on, that’s too much.
Seat belts are another example. Most people would agree that seat belts are probably a good thing, and they have saved lives. My mother was in a car crash, and in those days (1952), they didn’t require seatbelts. My dad was saved because he had the steering wheel. But my mother was tossed from the car and she died. So seatbelts are at least rational for most people.
Another one: people were in a boat, and had lifejackets in the boat. The boat capsized and they weren’t wearing them, and one of them drowned. So now in a boat you have to wear a jacket at all times. How are you going to get a suntan or swim off the boat in your bikini, etc.?
To protect us, they put laws in, but they base it on a small part of the population. What are they really afraid of? I think people are afraid of being sued. (Demonstrating a coffee cup cardboard sleeve) This is from VIA Rail. They decided they had to do this to protect people from the heat of the cup. Is this really necessary? It’s very costly.

But laws are made by people. How do these laws come into place if people don’t think they’re a good idea?
I disagree with that statement. Laws are not made by people; laws are made by politicians. And politicians wish to be reelected. They get on bandwagons and lose the rationality that’s really behind a lot of human behaviour. Most people would say there is too much regulation because we are not making these laws, but are subject to these laws.

So what would you like to see? What is the solution?
I’m going to throw that out to the participants. I think there are two things: one, the politician thing; and two, people protecting themselves from being sued. Should we have people sign a waiver saying, if they get hit by a car and they’re not wearing a helmet, that they can’t sue?
The problem lies where laws infringe upon my freedom. Human beings are individuals. Every one is different. You can’t do a blanket law and treat everyone the same.
I feel we need more examples of people taking responsibility for their actions, and not having Big Brother telling them what to do.

Science, Serving the Public Interest?
Mike Ash, moderator
It’s exploring whether science supports or doesn’t support the benefit of society. And how that connects with public policy because public policy gets formulated by interest groups and input from the public, but also hard information – let’s call that science. How do those things all connect?

What are some issues you are looking at that are hot topics influenced by public policy?
With the Copenhagen conference going on, what is science telling us about the future of the environment and sustainability? This is probably one of the areas we will explore. For 20 years, scientists have been warning us about global warning, but why hasn’t this translated into public opinion and public policy action to make a change and an improvement? What’s the problem there?
How is science providing information to predicting the future or the formulation of public policy that supports the public interest?
How well can we predict the future? Do we believe these predictions? Does the public understand what science is telling them? How good is science at communicating that to the public? Why are there contradictions in scientific evidence, for example when one group says one thing and another says the opposite?

Why is this topic important right now in Grand Bend?
I think probably because there’s so much conflicting information out there and I think there might be a perception that science isn’t held in the esteem it once was. Why is that? We need to know why we can’t have fact based, research based decision making for the betterment of society. I know people think that happens a lot, but I’m not sure society is taking full advantage of scientific information.
Certainly locally, there are some issues to talk about. Wind energy; are there really health issues related to wind energy?
One interesting topic might be whether public opinion and public interest are one in the same. This comes across in the balance of the welfare of individuals and special interest groups and society overall. How does that translate into the best solutions and policies overall?
Today, public input seems to be dominated by opinion and communication through social networking tools. Fact based decisions are less, rather than more, common at all levels of society. Today, with the Internet, anyone can put out information and sway the public without any basis in fact.

It’s a challenging and demanding topic, and I think it will be very interesting for the group.

To register, visit partnersinlearning.ca

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

With the mediocre weather and mediocre economy we experienced this year, it’s tough not to feel glum. I’m happy, though, (for the most part) with how 2009 went here.
No health problems this year. Missed the swine flu this time around.
Anjhela is almost done school. Well, for now, anyway.
We got a new little dog, and she is delightful. A true joy, minus her piercing barks.
Made inroads on improving myself, creating new photographs for almost 300 days in a row. Too bad the project was supposed to last 365. Oh, well.
Perhaps I should stop tempering all the positives with a negative. So, here are some truly good things I’m thankful for:
Got more hours working at Humber College. My car is still kicking at 340,000 km. My parents still want to do their articles. James, Lance, Jenipher, and Yvonne have really helped give some needed breadth to the paper. My photo project forced me to take my work more seriously. You, the reader, responded to keep this paper going, and for that, I am truly grateful.

So, what about 2010? I’m interested in seeing how things pan out. In Grand Bend, there’s the promise of the new Main Street, which some argue is too thin for traffic. They’re probably right, and we’ll measure it before the summer to see. There’s the prospect of sewers, and most of you affected by this – according to our small survey – are opposed to the project. For you, there is a municipal election to anticipate.
From a personal level, I’m looking into returning to school part-time, and looking at ways to improve both my photography and the paper. Do readers want a heavier web presence at the expense of the print product? It’s a prospect we all face in the media industry, and I’m going to push that way very soon.
I’d also like to spend some time (if I can find it) actually getting some exercise. Another new year’s resolution.

For you, I hope you can savour the joys, find shelter from the storms (they’re coming), and see the light in the darkness. Just keep pushing and I’ll see you next year!

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

Merry Christmas to one and all. This is one of my favourite times of the year. Most people are happy and cheerful at this time as they enjoy the company and goodness of their family and friends. At this time, I would like to share some Christmas trivia with you.

I’m sure most people are familiar with the traditional 12 days of Christmas. The Aussies interpret the song differently; here is the final verse:
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
Twelve goanna goin,
Eleven snakes a-sliding,
Ten dingoes dashing,
Nine wombats waddling,
Eight koalas clinging,
Seven emus running,
Six ‘roos a-jumping,
Five opals black,
Four great galahs,
Three parakeets,
Two cockatoos,
And a kookaburra up a gum tree.

I’m not familiar with some of these words; sorry, I’m from Montreal, so I don’t profess to know everything.
Let’s kiss under the what???
Did you know that the word mistletoe is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning dung on a twig? Apparently it was thought that life could spring spontaneously from dung. Mistletoe groups on tree branches, and since bird droppings are commonly found on tree limbs, the words mistel (meaning dung) and tan (meaning twig) thus blend to give you dung on a tree. True story.
Hey, it’s not as if you’re eating the stuff, just kissing under it, for heaven’s sake.
Apparently the tradition of midnight mass on Christmas originated in the belief that the Christ child was born at the stroke of midnight.
These trying times
Christmas can be frustrating sometimes. My greatest frustration was hiding the gifts so my kids would be surprised on Christmas Day. This, I’m sure, didn’t happen as long as Mike was around. It was amazing how he knew exactly what everyone was getting. Believe mem, I would wrap everything and code it some way or other, and that didn’t matter. I almost think he unwrapped and rewrapped everything. Since I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer at this busy time of year, he got away with it for years until one day the cat was let out of the bag and I found out. From then, I took all the gifts to a neighbour’s house and didn’t bring them home until Christmas Eve.
If you have this problem and you don’t want to store your stuff at a neighbour’s, you might want to try this: use different wrapping paper for each member of the family. Gifts can be left in plain sight under the tree and no one will know which is theirs until it comes time to open them. No gift tags necessary!

Some people think that Christmas is like a day in the office: you do all the work and the fat guy in the suit gets all the credit.

Happy birthday to my brother Richard (27th) and my son Casey (16th), and happy anniversary to Bill and Christine (15th).

Overheard (as told by my friend Frank): Things are still bad in the banking industry. The other day, a lady went to the bank and asked the teller to check her balance, so he reached over and gave her a push.

Keeping the Peace
By Tom Lessard, C.D.

It all began about the middle of November. The weather was perfect for the harvesting of corn and beans, and the planting of winter wheat. Also, it was ideal for the installation of Christmas decorations. Dark evenings became brighter and brighter. First, one resident put up a couple of lights. His neighbour then, not to be outdone, put up a few more. Just like clockwork, the fellow across the street sees his chance to outdo the Joneses and erects lights and blown-up Santas or Scrooges. Sure enough, everyone gets in on the game and pretty soon we don’t require street lights. The majority of the houses have been well laid out, but as is to be expected, some go way overboard. I would imagine this lighting will take a downturn when the so-called “smart meters” come into use.

Electrical problems II
I looked forward to attending the annual lighting of the park in Exeter on a nice evening at the end of November; last year’s lighting was cancelled because of snow. It was disappointing, then, that it wasn’t better organized this year. The donated hot chocolate from Tim Horton’s must have been picked up too early because it was lukewarm, but it was appreciated and polished off nonetheless. The entertainment had a rough time getting the sound to work and so were set back half an hour. When they were able to get started, the countdown to the lighting began, 5-4-3-2-1. Nothing. Soon, the lights did come on. Actually, half of them lit and were followed by a loud bang. Eventually all came on, prompting oohs and ahhs from the kids. We couldn’t sing the two songs that followed because we didn’t know the words. Before the scheduled end time, I followed a large number of revelers to our cars.

The fix is in
This week, we were visited at our old municipal offices by a large delegation of electrical contractors. Maybe the work on our new community centre will begin soon. I’m looking forward to the completion of our recreational facilities in about 2011. If it turns out the way it’s planned, it will give Crediton and area residents something to cheer, deservedly after the mess we put up with these past few years.
I was hoping the new sewers would end the smells that sometimes permeate my house and those of my neighbours, but it seems that someone is still sending paint thinners and sewage into the storm drains. The smell of the thinner was so strong that I called the South Huron offices to send someone out. A man arrived, checked my house and basement, and went out front and lifted the manhole cover. He sniffed and said, “Yep, that’s paint thinner.” I asked him what I could do about it, and he told me to shove a rag into the drain hole, which I did. After a couple of days, the odour was gone. We still get occasional sewage stink through the house, but I’ve never heard back from South Huron. I don’t expect I ever will. Maybe when everyone west of me is hooked up, I won’t have that problem.
Merry Christmas!

Yes, this year you will actually roast chestnuts on an open fire, and then create a delicious soup

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter
519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

Chestnut soup

4 cups chestnuts, peeled and skinned
3/4 cup equal parts diced celery, carrots and onions
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsbp butter
pinch garlic
pinch allspice
pinch cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat stock pot on medium heat, add butter and olive oil and sauté until semi-soft. If you want to reduce heat and slow cook, this will draw more flavour. Add roasted chestnut and chicken stock, bring to boil for approx. 15 min. or until chestnuts are soft. Now add 1 cup of heavy cream, garlic, cinnamon, all spice and salt and pepper. Use a hand blender and pureé soup until smooth. If still chunky, boil for another 5 min. and reblend.
Feel free to be creative in garnishing this soup. For example, whisky-soaked cranberries or apricots are a nice touch; shaved roasted parsnips or caramelized bacon and onions would complement this soup.

Note: roasting chestnuts
Preheat oven to 425˚F.
(The following is NOT fun, but worth it in the end:) Use a sharp knife to cut an X into one side of the chestnut to allow the steam caused by roasting to escape; if you don’t do this, the chestnut will explode.
Place each chestnut with the cuts facing up onto cookie sheet. Roast 20-30 minutes or until chestnuts are tender, easy to peel, golden brown in color, and the shells are beginning to open.
Peel nuts when they are cool enough to handle.

Oven-roasted salmon with a zesty mustard and herb glaze
6 salmon fillets OR
1 fresh side of salmon
2 cloves of garlic
2 sprigs fresh chopped rosemary and thyme
splash of white wine
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp grainy Dijon mustard
salt and pepper, to taste
fresh lemon

Combine garlic and herbs in a food processor. Blend for 30 seconds, then add wine, oil, mustard, salt and pepper. Blend for another 15 seconds.
Preheat oven to 400˚F. Use baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Arrange salmon on sheet and spoon mustard mixture over the fillets evenly. Bake for approx. 15 minutes until salmon are done. Note: many people are nervous when it comes to cooking fish. Do not overcook fish; cook until texture is slightly firm; no more. The centre of the fish should be hot, but retain its moisture.

Boursin crab stuffed potato
(A great little side)

In a mixing bowl, combine a wheel of boursin cheese, 1 cup of crabmeat, a pinch of salt and pepper, 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs, and a squeeze of lemon. Mix together.
Cook potatoes. You can used baked, a mini, or a red, whatever. Once cooked and cooled, cut potato in half, hollow out centre, and add boursin mixture. To make it more dense, add potato flesh that was removed to the cheese mixture. This can be made a day ahead; to reheat, place in oven on baking sheet eight minutes prior to salmon.

Chocolate, Bailey’s & Tia Maria café au lait
1 cup whole milk
3 oz Bailey’s
3 oz Tia Maria
cinnamon stick
Pinch ground cloves
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups brewed strong coffee
1/4 cup heavy cream
cinnamon, icing sugar and cocoa for garnish

In medium sized saucepan, whisk together milk, sugar and cocoa until smooth. Bring mixture to a simmer. Add cinnamon stick, pinch of cloves, Bailey’s and Tia Maria.
Simmer for approx. four minutes, then reduce heat to low setting and let steep for 10 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, whip heavy cream and add pinch of sugar. (Feel free to add a hint of vanilla.)
Strain mixture into another pot and add coffee. Bring back up to temperature. Serve immediately and garnish with a dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy!

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

I’m sure Gord Minielly is ready to let someone else be the front man (or woman) for the municipality after last month’s meeting to discuss the Lambton Shores sewer project. It’s a tough job and he has to do it. You can imagine why his health has suffered; more than 300 people attended the meeting, with most ready to fight him to the death over the project (only a slight exaggeration).
So what should residents do? It’s not for me to say. But I think the decision can only be made after the final numbers come out. If it’s more affordable than septic, doesn’t it make sense to share the burden among your neighbours? Sewers make a home more attractive to buyers, and housing prices go up as a result. I do understand Dick Matzka’s point about the cost of living pushing people out of the market here; I know I’ll likely never be able to afford a house here.
But when the provincial and federal governments are willing to invest in your community, it’s hard to say no. They sent money for the beach and money for the main street. If the money’s still there, it seems foolish to turn it down. But someone has to make the decision on how to spend it. Let’s make sure it’s an informed council. Election day, as Minielly reminded the crowd, is set for October 25, 2010.

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

My wonderful sister Joan treated Tom and I to Remembrance Day dinner at the Grand Bend Legion November 7. We had a great time and the meal was, as usual, superb. Thanks, Joan.
On Wednesday November 11th, Tom and I were out again to celebrate Remembrance Day. This is such a solemn occasion and I always get teary-eyed when I hear the sorrowful sound of the bagpipes and when I sing ‘O Canada’. After the ceremony, we enjoyed some fellowship and a great luncheon provided by the hardworking Legion staff. Thank you so much. It was just swell.

A free lunch
On the lighter side, I heard this veteran telling a story while on leave after a year-long tour of duty in Korea. He said that his first craving when he got home to Canada was a meal at McDonald’s. Much to his surprise, the cashier took on look at his uniform and refused his money. “Thanks,” he said. “Sure,” she replied, “we never charge bus drivers.”

Blind man’s bluff
I’m not sure whether his second story was true or not, but you can be the judge:
Two female privates are ordered to paint the general’s office. They are warned not to get paint on their uniforms, so they lock the door, strip off their clothes and get to work. An hour later, there’s a knock at the door. “Blind man.” Seeing no harm in allowing him in, the privates open the door. “Hi,” says the man, “where do you want the blinds?”

Roadside assistance
On a more serious note, if you travel or commute in the winter, it is worth taking a little extra time and make sure you have an emergency kit in the trunk. You might want to include the following things:

• a good scraper;
• snow brush;
• blanket;
• hats & mitts;
• matches and candles;
• canned fruits and nuts, and a can opener;
• traction mats;
• small shovel;
• help sign and Call Police sign;
• and jumper cables.

Now would be a good time to do this, while the weather is still nice.

Bumper stumpers
When I was in a variety store a while back, I saw some bumper stickers. I’ll share them with you.
I have good brakes. Do you have good insurance?
I may be slow, I’m ahead of you.
If you can read this, I’ve lost my trailer.
Out of my mind – Back in five minutes.

Happy Birthday to Bill and Katie Lessard.

Keeping the Peace
By Tom Lessard, C.D.

I was privileged to attend the Grand Bend Legion’s Remembrance Day dinner on Saturday November 7.
My first order of business was to purchase a nice cold beer at the bar. Next was to find where Rita was sitting. My sister-in-law Joan, who volunteers at all of the occasions, directed me to the table, which was right in front of the head table. I’m usually the type who goes to church and sits at the back, so I felt hemmed in sitting in the front: too far from the bar. I felt embarrassed getting up and walking down the middle aisle for refreshments and back up to my seat with all the people eyeing me, so I didn’t. One beer to last me all through the evening? I don’t think so.
Anyway, after the guest pastor said grace, we made our way to the food tables. Legion members and guests are always so friendly and laid back at these functions. Even though everyone is hungry, no one pushes or complains if things don’t go as smoothly as they would like. Once the super volunteer ladies had everything in place, the lines began to move. Plates were filled – some with lots of food and others with less, depending on the individual. I just said, “Keep it coming,” because I didn’t have to cook it. The beef was cooked like no restaurant can do it. These ladies – God bless them – know how to put on a meal that has no equal.
After we were filled with food we were treated with the guest speakers thanking the veterans and those who never made it back to Canada. One speaker made reference to a Canadian who had travelled to France and at immigration he was asked for his passport. Fumbling for it in his pocket, the French officer said, “Don’t you Canadians know that you have to have your passports ready when you come to France?” The Canadian replied, “The last time I was in France was at Dieppe in 1944 and none of you Frenchmen stayed around to check my passport.”
The guest of honour was a young RCR corporal who had recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. This soldier did himself proud in his presentation. He shows us slides depicting the environment in which he served: pretty desolate. The conditions reminded me of my tour in the Gaza Strip in 1957. He spoke of the living conditions his unit was forced to put up with. The temperature change between day and night can be very disturbing. The ground does not absorb the heat like it does in Canada and therefore, it can drop from 50 C at noon to 15 C at 4 a.m..
He stressed that he and his comrades try very hard to represent Canada well to the locals, sometimes succeeding and sometimes not. They do think that they are making a difference.
Every year the Legion is making improvements to educate Canadians of the importance of remembering those who have and still do give their lives for all of us. I witnessed this in the number of school children attending the cenotaph ceremony on Wednesday.
I have one request: one of my uncles was torpedoed twice in the North Atlantic while working as a boiler man in a convoy heading for England. He was a civilian, but was never recognized by the government. We need to consider changing the rules for how civilians serving in the theatre of war are recognized for their contributions.

Lambton Shores mayor wants low-pressure sewers before infrastructure funding runs dry

The Lambton Shores sewage treatment plant and Zone 3 sewer network could be the last project mayor Gord Minielly is involved in before he retires. Casey Lessard sat down with the mayor to discuss the projects.

Why is this project necessary now?
We just spent a big chunk of money on our beach, and any day you have a beach closing, it’s a negative for us. The Blue Flag designation will put up with two or three per summer. Our water comes south from Bluewater. If we can get them on sewers along with South Huron and us, we’re not going to be affecting the quality of the water in the Grand Bend area. It makes it safer for our visitors and our residents, and gives us a positive over some other areas in Ontario that are having more pollution days. We were lucky last year and had very few, but if you look a few years ago, we were closed many days. Whether it was our fault or animal runoff, we don’t know. If we can take care of our part, then we’ll know.

Where are you at today?
I’ve asked Maria (Van Bommel, Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP) to set up a meeting with the infrastructure minister for us to firm up whether there’s going to be two-thirds funding for us. When we met with David Caplan, he thought it was a great idea; “Do the plant first and come on back.” We’re going back to see if we can get that two-thirds funding, and if we do, Caplan told us 2014 was the cutoff. I would hope we can get some funding by 2012 and be completed along with Bluewater and South Huron by 2014.
There are effects going on in the water table that are not positive. I know people in Grand Bend are environmentally friendly, so I think we will get this done to the liking of the majority. Right now it doesn’t seem that popular, but the reality is, we are treating that water in a negative way. The lake water and the groundwater levels are the same, so it’s flowing into the lake. If we clean up our act, we can’t be blamed any more when there’s high E. coli; it’s got to be coming from runoff or something else.
One of the main reasons you feel you need to do this now is because of the money, right?
Two-thirds funding is not going to be here long. I suspect based on the deficits the province and Canada are going to have, there won’t be any money past 2014 while they try to clean up their debt. I think now is the most financially possible time to do it. If we can get two-thirds funding, it’s not going to be a burden. If we can spread it over 12-15 years, I think it will be doable for most people.

I was reading in the tri-municipal meeting minutes (where the three municipalities are discussing plans to build a shared treatment plant) that South Huron CAO Roy Hardy had spoken to someone who said there was no money.
I was at the same meeting that Roy was at, and I didn’t hear that. He was talking to people who were nervous about the downturn in the economy, but I have spoken with some of the ministers and as far as I know the stimulus package is going to continue because the economy is still in a trough, and they plan on doing what they planned in the beginning, which is going to 2014 and spending that money. Roy has his opinion about many things, and we don’t often see eye-to-eye, but the fact that we’re on track to get an appointment with the minister tells me they’re willing to talk to us; they must think this is going to continue on.

Is that the stumbling block from South Huron’s perspective? Is it the money or something else?
I have no idea. If you read the Lakeshore Advance, I made the comment that I thought we had a deal. Mayor Oke commented that he thought we had a deal but it wasn’t in the minutes. Mayor Oke didn’t come to the next meeting and it was in the minutes. It’s ready to be signed and we’ve invited them to come to a meeting in a couple of weeks and Bluewater and South Huron will hopefully sign along with us and then move on to the collection system.
That’s the sewage processing plant, which is quite a big project in itself. But that’s a separate project.
We got $15 million of infrastructure funding, and we have to add in another $5-7 million depending on how the tenders come in. But we have additional funding for energy efficiencies like solar panels.

And you do have that money secured?
Yes, we have $17 million of the total cost, so we’re well on our way to having that looked after. When that’s done, we hope to have the collection system ready to go if not in the process already.
Do you think that regardless of whether South Huron comes on board that you will go ahead with it?
We’re definitely going to build the plant. We have the funding, and it’s needed. We have no capacity for development, they have no capacity for development. Certainly Bluewater wants to get in there so they can clean up their beach-front. So for me, we have to go ahead. There’s no debate.

You’ve said changes are “coming down the pike”. What did you mean by that?
I’ve chatted with people from the ministry, and you can see that in Bruce they’re doing mandatory inspections of septics, and if your septic isn’t working, then you’re being forced to upgrade. The upgrades are not typically the normal. A gentleman told me the other day that he paid $18,000 for one that he had to redo. Would you rather do that and have something that will last 15-20 years or a permanent collection system you can depend on?
The question of whether it’s low-pressure or gravity is still being debated. Maybe we can do a combination. I know in Bayfield they have several low pressure tanks operating for the last 10 years with no maintenance. Maybe in the less dense areas we can use those and in the more dense areas, we can use gravity. But it’s twice as expensive, so it’s a debate that hasn’t been completed.

I’ve seen the numbers; will it be twice as much overall or per house?
I think it’s an overall view. Where I live, my sewer is 17’ down. When you excavate that far down, you have to have a much wider hole. In places like Beach o’ Pines, we’d have to excavate the road and probably damage many trees trying to get down so you do have a flow. We have to look long and hard. Doing gravity feed is not environmentally friendly; if you have a greenfield site, it’s not bad, but when you have a woodfield like that, it’s pretty bad for devastation. Then you have to rebuild all those roads and it’s part of the cost. The low-pressure system is less intrusive.

The gravity system construction would also take the roads from having a cottage feel to having new roads like downtown, right?
People like it that way (narrower roads) because it forces people to drive slow. Fix them up and put them in (to standard) and they’ll be like speedways. Walking to the beach will be more scary than it is today. But the fact is it’s much more expensive.

You spoke of development at the meeting. What is the vision for how these communities should look in the future? Should they always have the style of roads they have now or should they be at today’s standards?
Any new development will have 66’ roads with proper sewer lines. Southcott Pines and those subdivisions built them purposely (narrow) because they don’t want visitors coming in and out. Unless their board makes a decision, the roads will be like that until they change. They were designed that way and will stay that way. (But with gravity) there certainly would be a lot of damage. I suspect they would have to be (restored to the new standard).

Of the three options – gravity, low-pressure, and septic tanks – which one makes the most sense to you?
In my opinion, in the areas along the lake, the low-pressure is the least intrusive, the least expensive, and based on what I know about those pumps, should be as good as the gravity feed.
The issue with no power, I don’t know how many of the folks in there have generators, but I suspect it’s a lot. Our power grid around here is not what it used to be, and when you’re out for 24 hours, especially when it’s cold, you either have to move or have some form of heat. Especially along the lake in the gated communities, the low-pressure makes the most sense.
In new developments, the gravity feed makes sense. It makes lots more expensive because the contractor is responsible for that cost. I don’t know if we can do this one way and the other. That’s why it’s hard to answer questions because we don’t have the answers. Hopefully by this time next year, we’ll have a plan in place they can go forward with.

When I look at the numbers of people affected by this, the count I saw was 1500 homes in Lambton Shores that don’t have sewers. How many people are there year round?
I don’t know. In Beach O’ Pines, it’s likely the majority (that aren’t there). That’s changing. If I look down the road 15 years, I see Grand Bend having two-storey buildings all along Main Street with business on the main floor and apartments above.

How important is it to have services like this?
I’ve moved around Ontario and I always tried to find places that had sewers. I’m sure the tiles in Huron Woods are being filled with tree roots. A sealed low-pressure system doesn’t allow roots in, while a gravity feed does.

What is your current feeling about what people think about what you’re proposing?
I’ve been elected one way or another, sometimes in and sometimes out, over the last 30 years. Change doesn’t come easily to the average person. Here in Forest, the fire hall had been let go and we decided to build a new one. People threatened us and we had public meeting where people yelled at us. Carnegie Library wasn’t wheelchair accessible and we built a new library; I lost an election over that because I was the chairman of the committee that put it together. But the reality is that once it’s done, people go on with their lives and say, “Isn’t that a lovely library? What a beautiful fire hall.” People have difficulty with change and if it hurts them in the pocketbook, they have greater difficulty.

What is the actual cost per household expected for the sewer project?
We haven’t figured out the final numbers. I suspect that probably by spring, we should have those numbers down. We have to go to the ministry with firm numbers. I’d like to get them done sooner, but there are some decisions we have to make first. If your septic system is five years old, how long will you be grandfathered? If you grandfather nobody, there’s more people to pay for what you’re doing. If someone put one in yesterday and spent $20,000, it’s hard to ask them to cough up another $12,000-15,000.
The other thing we have to do is, if someone wants to build tomorrow, do they put in something less expensive than a whole septic system?

If the province and federal government do not have the money for this project, will it happen?
I guess I could answer that by saying I won’t be the mayor when that decision is made. Depending on the council of the day, and how much they think this is important, they will make that decision. Personally, I think there’s a 50-50 chance we will get funding. We have a good argument to make: we have a great beach, we’re trying to be as environmentally friendly as we can, and we need their help in getting us there. Tourism has been down in Ontario, but we are a destination and they know that. I have a good feeling we’re going to get some funding. I said that about the plant and it came through, and I hope it carries on. We’ve been very fortunate.

What is the timeline on this decision?
We’re trying to get a meeting for mid-December with Gerry (Phillips, infrastructure minister), and if we get some positive news there, I suspect we’d talk to him at the OGRA (Ontario Good Roads Association) convention in February, give him an update on numbers. The environmental assessment in Bluewater and South Huron, so they should have good numbers by then. I emailed them to say we were arranging this meeting and to ask if they’d be interested in coming. I got an immediate response from Bluewater and I’m still waiting for South Huron because they don’t want to play with us. Hopefully they come around. We’re meeting in Varna again and hopefully they’ll be there and sign the agreement so we can go to Toronto.

When do you think you’ll have something to tell people in the community?
At the latest in May, and at the earliest before we go to Toronto in February. I don’t think we need to have a meeting. We’ll put it out at a council meeting and I’m sure everyone will hear very quickly. Toronto and Ottawa have treated us very well, and other municipalities are jealous of the success we’ve had. I don’t think there will be money after 2014 for a long time.

Southcott Pines resident Dr. Carl Belke retired from Brandon University after 31 years teaching chemistry. Dick Matzka has cottaged in Southcott for 58 years. Neither is in favour of the sewer project proposed.

What are your concerns?
Dick: There are two major concerns. One is the expenditure the township plans on making. Two is that they keep telling people they’re going to get financial support from the province. A letter from the tri-municipal meeting says the province is not going to be able to assist them. Apparently there’s $8 million in the Build Canada fund, and it’s going to go to major metropolitan areas (Mayor Gord Minielly’s disputes this).
Carl: I’m concerned that they present the numbers correctly. Let the people decide if there’s a problem or if there isn’t a problem. How big of a problem is it and is it worth spending the money on a sewer system?

They mentioned nitrates at the meeting as being a concern. How do nitrates become part of the ecosystem as a result of human activity?
Belke: Our elimination process puts out ammonia and nitrogen products from the metabolism. The bacteria found in most systems are aerobic, which means ammonia gets converted to nitrate. Nitrate is very soluble. It’s an excellent fertilizer and plants require it. Nitrates can cause algae in the lake, but it’s good for plants. If you give nitrate anaerobic bacteria, that turns it into nitrogen gas, and our atmosphere is mostly nitrogen.
The limit for nitrates in drinking water is 10 parts per million. If you look at Pinery Park, the level is 0.2 ppm. If you look at Southcott, the average here is 3.1 ppm. If you compare that to what the river is putting into the lake – mostly from farmers’ fields – they’re about the same as what we’re doing.
Golder says we’re polluting the water, but who knows what the level was before we were here in the 1950s. We have geese here that contribute a lot of waste and that contributes to the nitrates.
Dick: They’re going to build a sewage plant and they don’t have to. The plant is going to pump more nitrate into the river than they allow.

Is the plant necessary?
Carl: Yes, in one respect. The Clean Water Act says any new development will have to have both municipal drinking water and municipal sewers.
In 2006, Dillon recommended a plant that would cost $13 million and a sewage collection system that would cost $40 million. Fast forward to 2009, the plant will cost $23 million. At the meeting the man from Dillon said the cost had gone up by 25 per cent. But it’s gone up 73 per cent. What’s the collection system going to cost? Sixty-eight million (based on extrapolating the numbers by 73 per cent)?
Dick: And they’re not finished with the plan. We’re only talking about 1500 homes in Lambton Shores. This town operates full bore for three months. For nine months it’s low key and casual. We’re spending a tremendous amount of money for a project that’s not necessary.

Carl, you hoped to speak at the meeting. What did you want to present?
Carl: I wanted to present the analytical data on the water wells in a normal light. They directed it to one parameter and ignored everything else to scare people that everything is bad. Maybe it is bad, but is it as bad as they say? Since no one in the area is on well, no one is directly affected by the drinking water.

You’re saying it’s still bad. What do we do to fix that?
Carl: Have better septic systems, I guess. The problem is, none of the septic systems here are inspected. Everyone waits until there’s a problem.

There are three choices: low-pressure, gravity and septic tanks. What is the most logical or best situation?
Carl: If they were honest with the numbers, the best we can do is let the people decide. I don’t think there is a pollution problem, and we’re not going to be growing in this neck of the woods (Southcott Pines).
Dick: I firmly believe that septics have done the job over the last 50-70 years. We should stop the sewage plant, grow the lagoons, and stop the sewers in the dunes area completely.

Industry professional thinks septic tanks are fine, gravity next best option

Richard Webb of Stewart Webb & Sons has been installing, repairing and replacing septic tanks and sewer line connections for more than 20 years. His family has been in the excavating business for more than 75 years.
The Strip asked the Southcott Pines resident for his expert advice about the sewer project plans.

As told to Casey Lessard

It would greatly benefit us, but I don’t see the benefit of spending the money if it’s not necessary. Certainly if it can be proven that huge of a negative effect on the environment, but we’ve done all we can to protect the environment. The septic systems here work properly.
There’s thousands and thousands of dollars that we would earn if sewers went ahead. For the amount of repairs that we do in septic systems, we might do 10-15 installs a year. If the sewers went ahead, our company would have work unlimited for 10 years. Then there’s the repair work after.
For the people in this area right now, private septic systems are the way to go. If they’re going to force us to go to sewers, a shallow-dug gravity system, meaning 5-6’ deep along the road with pumps in our basements would be my choice. A low-pressure system would be my last choice.
If they’re going to force people to put in sewers, don’t do low-pressure systems. From a maintenance standpoint, with pump chambers, they’re just a maintenance nightmare. If you’re going to install sewers, make sure they’re gravity fed.
The low-pressure system is not commonly used. It’s not a preferred method. Let’s say there are 20 houses on a street and 18 of them are owned by people who only come to Grand Bend in the summer time. The remaining two pumps have to push your effluent down the street to a central boosting area. When the system was designed, it was built so 12-13 pumps were kicking in. What’s it going to work like? That’s what the engineers are going to have to answer.
They’re trying to put in low-pressure sewers with as little disturbance as possible, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right way to do it. Why not pump the sewage from several main pumps instead of pumps on each individual property?

I feel they’re trying to fund this sewage lagoon expansion project and they need to have a certain number of homes using this system. I’m a big advocate of future development. But here in Southcott, in VanDongen, in Beach O’ Pines, we all sit on good soil for private septic systems. There’s more than enough area and the load rates are acceptable to have private septic systems on these lots.
Before they considered the water quality, they had a signed, sealed and delivered deal that everyone was going to be on sewers. We convinced them to come back with some data, and the highest readings that came back were from the oldest area in Southcott and the highest load areas; the highest readings were 5.5 ppm, and the acceptable limits for drinking water are 10 ppm.
We take sand from excavations here, take it back from the site and reuse it in septic systems to the north in the clay. We know the sand has a T time (percolation rate) from 3 to 6 minutes per centimetre. That’s the time the water takes to pass through the material. We know that’s an acceptable rate.
In Bluewater, they need sewers. The lots are too small and the clay conditions are too heavy to make a septic system work properly. In clay, they have a T time of greater than 50 min/cm. It needs to be lower than that, so we bring sand in and put it in the septic bed. Here, we don’t need to do that.
An engineer from Golder got up and said we were sitting on soil that was unacceptable, but any indication that we have, the soil is more than acceptable, and in fact is ideal. In Southcott Pines, I have a contact area of 300 square feet because the soil absorbs the water at a good rate.

We need a council that will take a hard look at whether this is necessary or not. I’d like to see all the associations that fall within this area stand up and say no to this.
I’m hoping they will stick with their word and let the new council decide, which will give us enough time to put in a council that will do what’s right for the people in this area.

The Grand Bend Chamber of Commerce named its 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year and Business of the Year at its annual general meeting November 12. Colonial and Gables won the business award, while Paddington’s Pub owner Jen Gaukroger won the entrepreneur honour.

Interview and photo by Casey Lessard

What makes you successful as an entrepreneur?
I’m trying desperately to get business owners in Grand Bend to work together. When I first came to Grand Bend, I met so many nice people and I was surprised at how they weren’t supportive of each other. I’ve designed this logo and program called the Grand Bend Dining District. I’m trying to say to the restaurants, we’re all very diverse, we all have different things to offer. If you have regulars, and we all do, they don’t want to sit in the same restaurant every time. And instead of tourists going to the first place they see, how can we give them to the type of restaurant they want?
The municipality supports the idea of a sign with a You Are Here locator that has all the restaurants on it. I’d really like everyone to pay into a pot so we can all advertise as a group and cut down on our marketing costs. If we all work together, we can do more.
For the Winter Carnival, this being the Olympic year, I’ve designed a passport with each page representing a country, and each page would be dedicated to one business. Instead of buying a ticket to be entered into the cash draw at the end of it all, each page would be a ticket and as soon as you redeem your coupons, you get a ticket into the draw. Up to 40 businesses can be involved. It’s about trying to get more people and more businesses involved.

You have all these ideas about marketing Grand Bend and the business community here. Why do you care?
People ask me why I bother. But it’s what this town needs. Why would a clothing shop downtown say they don’t know that there’s a pub down the street? I’d like to be in this town long-term. A lot of restaurants pop up and leave, and I don’t want to be one of them. I want to stay and sustain here. I don’t like the idea of having to move my daughter. I like it here and I’d like to see it grow. But I’m very anti-franchise; big box stores hurt little businesses.

How did you get into this business?
I was in radio for nine years, and I loved that but it became very corporate. At my first station, I worked with an owner whose office was in the building so we did some cool stuff. We threw pumpkins off a firefighter training tower for Smashing Pumpkins concert tickets; as creative as you could be, you could do it. As these stations were bought by bigger companies, with liability and corporate policies, all the fun went out of my marketing job.
I was living in Grand Bend and commuting to London. I got the opportunity to open a restaurant for a silent owner, and that was fun, and then I thought, why not do it on my own?

It’s quite a risk to take to do this on your own. Tell me about that decision.
My first thought was I didn’t want to do it because of the risk and start-up money it takes to do it. But if you want to live in Grand Bend, you need to either make yourself a job or travel outside the area to work, which is too bad. We shoestring-budgeted the little place and it was two solid months of 12 hour days of dealing with Alcohol and Gaming, and building code.
In England, people go to pubs like we go to coffee shops. It’s very social. Here, I’m trying to create that, but Canadians associate that lounging around with coffee. In England, people bring their kids and partners to the pub. If you don’t have good food, you’re sunk.
Pubs in England can be anything from a hole in the wall, beer only joint, to a fancy pub. I wanted it to be somewhere in the middle. Grand Bend had a variety of places to eat, but they were either burgers and wings on one end or very fine dining on the other. There wasn’t anything middle range. I knew I wanted to find that middle range before I knew it would be an English pub.
The beer is my favourite part. We carry 50 at any given time. We carry a lot of wine, too. We’re going to start promoting a wine luncheon that is social and laid back. We also have 30 types of tea if alcohol is not your thing.

You’re the Chamber’s Entrepreneur of the Year. Do you have any advice for people considering starting their own business?
I really believe you need to have the funds behind you. The first few years are really tough. You have to love what you’re doing; otherwise, it’s not going to last. You have to love every aspect of it, including cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming the floors. There is a not-so-glamourous side to it.
I live on life balance. If I wasn’t a parent, I don’t think I’d ever leave work. My daughter keeps life in balance. You don’t want to work too much, party too much or parent too much. You have to get it all in there.

Darlene O’Rourke taking part in torch relay

Story and photo by Casey Lessard

This is one flame Dashwood firefighter Darlene O’Rourke won’t want to put out. O’Rourke is on her way to Summerside, PEI this week to take part in the 2010 Winter Olympic torch relay. She will run the torch November 22 at approximately 5:56 p.m.
O’Rourke won the chance to be part of the run after submitting an entry each day through the Vancouver 2010 website sponsored by Coca-Cola and RBC. She was asked to submit a choice of three cities, and her choices were London, Vancouver and Summerside. She passed into the second round and was asked to submit a 200 word essay about how she lives an active lifestyle and inspires others to do the same. July 30, she was notified that she was being considered, as long as she passed legal muster, and was notified October 2 that she would be carrying the torch.
“Being a part of the torch relay is very important to me,” O’Rourke says. “I have competed in world championships for tug-of-war and won a bronze medal and know how proud it makes you feel to represent your country in such an event. Words can not describe how great this opportunity is to be a part of the Olympics in your country.”
It’s taken more than a ballot to make this happen. O’Rourke has to cover the cost of travel and accommodations in Summerside, and has received support from friends, family and neighbours. She gets to keep her torch bearer uniform, and thanks to a $350 contribution from her work, Hayter’s Turkey Products, she will also get to bring home the torch she will be carrying.
To follow her progress, you can visit iCoke.ca, CTV.ca, or her blog, which she will start posting Friday:
darleneorourketorchrelay.blogspot.com

Locally, the torch comes through the London-Strathroy area December 27.

Zurich photographer opens shop in Exeter above Village Vines

Story and photo by Casey Lessard

One of our favourite area photographers, Sandra Regier, opened a studio and office above Village Vines in Exeter in July. Regier hosted an open house Friday to show the new place, which is a photographer’s dream. The former apartment has two floors: the floor above the flower shop is her office, and the top floor is a wide open loft ideal for studio portraits and classes.
“I wanted to separate my work and family life,” Regier says, noting she was previously running the business from her home. “I got busy a lot faster than I thought I would. When I was at home, I was always working. Part of it was to separate that. I also wanted to show people that it is my business and I take it seriously. I love doing it, but it’s not just a hobby.”
Now that digital photography has made photography a hobby anyone can do, it seems like many are trying to also make it a business. The Strip asked Regier what she thought of the trend.
“For me, it’s making sure the images last a lifetime and are well taken care of,” she says. “I also want to make sure your children and grandchildren have pictures to look at. It’s not just about having pictures on a disc, but also prints that can become family heirlooms. Digital is really easy, it seems, but if you never make a print or album, there’s nothing for people to look at. It’s important to me that you have something that has lasting power.”
To get a sense of Sandra’s work, visit http://www.sandraregier.com or stop by her studio at 391 Main Street in Exeter.

SHDHS receives $10,000 CARAS instrument grant

Story and photos by Casey Lessard

Music students at South Huron District High School are blowing new horns after the school’s music program received a $10,000 equipment grant from the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS).
“You’d be surprised how much equipment costs,” says music director Isaac Moore. “We were able to refresh every section a little bit and that helps us out in terms of the longevity of the program’s equipment in general. We got three flutes, three clarinets, three trumpets, three trombones, one new baritone, one tenor sax and two alto saxes.”
Close to 70 senior band members use a school instrument, and the intermediate band adds more users, so the need for decent equipment is high.
“Having one that works well makes a huge difference,” says saxophonist Trish Pavjeke, who uses her own instrument. “Some of the older saxophones are gross. They’ve been used for 100 years. The keys stick and the necks swivel back and forth. I’ve tried the new ones and they’re really nice. They work perfectly.”
While Pavjeke’s 100 year estimate is a bit off, former music teacher Bob Robilliard says some of the equipment was due.
“When I first came here, the equipment was one year old,” Robilliard says, noting the program started in 1986. “Most of that equipment is still here and still being used. Most school line equipment has a life of 25 years. It gets a lot of use.”
CARAS issued 60 MusiCounts Band Aid grants across Canada in 2009, and South Huron is one of the only rural schools in Ontario receiving the grant. Letters of support from the community were key to getting the grant on the first attempt, Moore says, noting some schools try many times unsuccessfully.
“It came around at a nice time for us,” he says. “The instruments have been heavily used. I wasn’t sure how we would pay for new ones. Having good equipment for the kids to play is really motivating. Without this, I’d have to build a case to the board, which has been very supportive of us, but its budget is finite like ours.”
As a result of the grant, some of the school’s older equipment will be transferred to another school in the board.
The band showed off the equipment for the first time at this weekend’s school concert, but Moore suggests the audience may not see a noticeable difference in sound, but it certainly makes playing easier.
“It’s like buying a new car. It’s not like it takes you anywhere faster, but it’s a more enjoyable experience and lasts longer. Eventually things need to be replaced. Plus, the older it is, the more you have to put into repair, so that will save us a lot.”
And while the actual sound may be the same, music council president Joe Pavjeke thinks the musicians will sound better because they’ll have more confidence.
“It’s like we’re getting recognized for our work. The students notice that. It shows that what we’re doing is a big deal.”

Community/Charity

Grand Bend Nursery School is now offering 5 sessions a week of the Early Learning Program…a FREE high quality program designed to help prepare young children for school.
If you have children 2.5 to 4 years old and reside in Lambton County call Grand Bend Nursery School at 519-238-8514

Tuesdays
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Port Franks Community Ctr.
Kids Matter every Tuesday. Join us as we crochet sleeping mats out of milk bags to send to the children in Africa and South America. Bring your lunch, scissors and a #7 crochet hook. Call Peggy Smith at 519-296-5834 for details.

7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Bingo

Fridays
5 to 7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Meat Draw

Thursday, November 19
1:30 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Grand Bend Women’s Institute Meeting.
The Currant Organic General Store – Angie Richter. Everyone welcome!

Wednesday, November 25
1 to 3 p.m. – Southcott Pines clubhouse
Huron Country Playhouse Guild Annual Christmas Wassail
Please come out and join in for a fun afternoon. Guests and new members welcome. Call Mary at 519-238-5640.

Monday, November 30
7 p.m. – Grand Bend Legion (check to be sure)
Grand Bend Horticultural Society. Annual Meeting and Pot Luck Dinner.
Flower show – format to be announced.

Tuesday, December 8
9:30 to 11:30 a.m. – Grand Bend Legion
Women’s Probus, Grand Bend. Anyone interested in joining is asked to call membership chair, Susan Trumper, at 519-238-5516

Arts & Entertainment

Mondays
1 to 3 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Golden Agers Shuffleboard

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Tuesdays
1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

Wednesdays
7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Thursdays
1 to 4 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Shuffleboard

1 to 3 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Golden Agers Shuffleboard

7:30 p.m. – Pt. Franks Comm. Ctr.
Cards

Fridays
10 a.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Badminton

1 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Bridge

1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – Grand Bend Youth Centre
Grand Bend Drum Circle. Contact Anita at the Youth Centre or call 519-238-8759.

7 p.m. – Port Franks Comm. Ctr.
Dunes Duplicate Bridge

Health & Fitness

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8 to 9 a.m. – Southcott Pines Clubhouse
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Beth Sweeney at 519-238-5555

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
8:45 to 10 a.m. (Mon/Fri), (to 9 a.m. Wed.) – Grand Bend Legion
TGIF Exercise classes with Elinor Clarke. $3/week – all proceeds to charity.

Mondays and Wednesdays
6 to 7 p.m. – Precious Blood Catholic School gym
Workout for your Life. To learn more, call Shelley Van Osch at 519-234-6253.

Mondays
10:30 to 11:45 a.m. – Pt. Franks studio
Gentle Yoga to November 9th – 8 weeks. Anne Chute 519-243-3552 www.annesyogaworks.com

6:45 to 8 p.m. – Pt. Franks studio
Gentle Yoga to November 9th – 8 weeks. Anne Chute 519-243-3552 www.annesyogaworks.com

Tuesdays and Thursdays
9 a.m. – Port Franks Community Centre
Healthy Lifestyle Exercise Program. Program includes warm up, low impact aerobic workout, strength work and stretching. Sponsored in part by Healthy Living Lambton. Cost: Free!! Everyone welcome. Contact Cindy Maxfield, Health Promoter at the GBACHC, 519-238-1556 ext 6 to register.

Wednesdays
7 to 8 p.m. – St. Francis Advocates Building, Arkona
Yoga to November 4 – 8 weeks. Anne Chute 519-243-3552 www.annesyogaworks.com

Wednesday, November 25
1:30 to 3:30 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Healthy Aging Seminar – Present Changing Relationships. Join Social Worker Mickey Gurbin and N.P. Lynda Wilkey as they discuss how aging can change our interaction with others and how to enhance and improve our relationships.

7 to 8:30 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Healthy Aging Seminar – Present Changing Relationships. Join Social Worker Mickey Gurbin and N.P. Lynda Wilkey as they discuss how aging can change our interaction with others and how to enhance and improve our relationships.

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Men Can Cook. Advance your cooking skills and enjoy a tasty healthy lunch for $5. Contact Miranda at 519-238-1556 ext 222.

10 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Grand Bend CHC
Mental Health Support Group. Please note new time. Contact Social Worker Lise Callahan at 519-238-1556 ext 230 for more info.

Recipes by James Eddington
Eddington’s of Exeter
527 Main Street, Exeter, 519-235-3030
http://www.eddingtons.ca

You may have heard that onions can kill the H1N1 virus, but that’s just a myth. Still, a warm soup like this is good medicine for your body and soul during cold and flu season…

Caramelized onions
(This is the base for the soup.)

4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp vegetable oil
6 large Spanish onions, peeled & thinly sliced
8 drops Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 splash water
1 cup red wine (just open a bottle)

In large pot, sauté onions in butter and oil on low to medium heat for approx. 30 minutes, stirring periodically. The slower and longer you sauté your onions, the more flavor and sweetness will be present.
Once onions have softened, add Worcestershire sauce, splash of water and brown sugar. Turn to high heat and let caramelize. Once color is slightly darkened, add approx. 1 cup of red wine to deglaze pot.

French onion soup

2 cups red wine
4 bay leaves
4 cups beef stock
2 cups chicken stock (or more beef stock)
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
4 slices old bread, toasted and cut to fit bowl
2 cups cheese (your choice; I like a blend of
cheddar, smoked gouda and Swiss)

Once you deglaze the caramelized onions add all ingredients (other than bread and cheese) to same pot. Bring to Boil and then reduce heat to medium simmer. Let simmer for one hour. The longer you simmer and reduce your soup, the more flavours you will have.
Preheat your oven’s broiler. Ladle soup into four French onion soup bowls and place fitted toast into each bowl. If you slightly dunk the bread to ensure it is moist, this will reduce any chance of burning under the broiler. Sprinkle cheese evenly on toasted tops and place bowls onto baking sheet. Place under broiler until cheese has melted golden brown.
Your soup should be bubbling through and around the cheese. Caution: although tasty, it will be hot, so let rest for at least two minutes.
Serve and enjoy!

The Grand Bend Chamber of Commerce named Paddington’s owner Jen Gaukroger its entrepreneur of the year, and named the Colonial Hotel and Gables Bar the business of the year for 2009.
The awards were presented at the chamber’s annual general meeting Thursday night at Hessenland Country Inn in St. Joseph.
Guest representatives from Saugeen Shores also shared their first impressions of the area at the meeting (see our story from our visit to Saugeen Shores and my editorial comment).
The Grand Bend Strip will profile Jen Gaukroger in the November 19 edition, and the owners of Colonial and Gables in the December edition.

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

In the wake of Thanksgiving, it’s important to take a moment and consider what we’re thankful for. I’m thankful for the support I have for the work I do here and at home, support that comes from readers and my family.
I also want to send a message of thanks to my mentor Martha Perkins, who is leaving the Haliburton Echo (where I worked before returning to this area) after 24 years (more than half her life). As editor, she has won more than 60 provincial and national awards for her work, so you know I was trained by the best in the business. She’s moving to Vancouver to take an editor’s position at the Bowen Island Undercurrent. Best of luck, Martha.
She’s a big supporter of small towns, and gave me a sense of community. If you believe in community, too, vote for Grand Bend in the CBC Radio 2 SongQuest contest featured on pages 2-3. It’s a long-shot, but let’s try to win!

My apologies to the cast and crew of Our Choir’s the Pitts; a change in publication deadline meant I didn’t have a chance to promote or attend the play, but I hope it was a great success.

Father Brad Dunbar has been rector of Trivitt Memorial Church in Exeter and St. John-by-the-Lake in Grand Bend for the past two years, and recently presided over Trivitt’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

As told to Casey Lessard
Photos by Casey Lessard

Trivitt has begun to recognize that we live in a post-Christian era. The days when everyone went to church Sunday mornings are gone. Families are way too busy. So what’s been happening is a looking back to the early church and trying to do the things that started Christianity: feeding people, housing people, and trying to be a voice for people who don’t have one. It’s active, not passive.
We have a three pronged approach: we look to our world, we look to our region, and we look to the town of Exeter. With our global view, Trivitt has been active in the construction of an AIDS clinic in South Africa, and that’s been a big project. In our area, we’ve been sponsoring Huron University College to support their trans-cultural projects. And in a big way, we’ve worked aggressively in being part of the town of Exeter. The money raised at our Thanksgiving celebration went to the Habitat for Humanity in Exeter. We have a weekly Alpha program that includes a free meal. There’s a free monthly meal hosted the third week of the month for the needy, and we go to the different agencies that help people who are on social assistance, and the end of the month is a tough time for those people, so Trivitt tries to feed them.

Spirituality’s important, and how it is expressed can be varied. We’re trying to bring a message of hope and good news to Exeter, but being creative about it. We’d like to make our physical space available for the town when it’s needed. We want to be a civic church and a centre for the community.
I’m involved in Fresh Expressions (www.freshexpressions.ca), and the idea is to find new ways to meet people half way. The folks who are in their 20s and 30s don’t necessarily have a church memory, but they have a strong spirituality. If you go to Chapters, the best sellers on the shelf will all be books on spirituality. So it’s important for people. What we’re trying to realize and live out is the traditional method isn’t going to work in the reality we live in. We’re looking toward the church of 2050 as opposed to the church of 1950, and I think that’s going to look quite different.
The building will still exist – it’s architecturally significant. The church will look different. The interior will not look like it does today. Just like banks and schools have changed in the last 100 years, so will the church change to meet the needs of the community using it. What the people in their teens and 20s are going to look for is different than what it looked like in 1950. You can’t avoid technology, and I think it will be a big part of how the church looks. Kids today are the generation of the screen. They work and learn and play using the screen. It will be a significant change for the Anglican church. New churches look more like gymnasia than churches, and it’s intentional. People are more comfortable walking into a gymnasium than they are walking into a church. Our building will show the history of the church, but will change to meet the needs of the emerging generation of churchgoers.

For a lot of people, walking into a church building – and we look like a traditional church – can be a very intimidating thing. It can be a barrier for people, so when we hold concerts and shows and other events, and people are able to come in and enjoy, they get a little more comfortable with coming into our worship space. If they don’t go to church, it’s a gentle way to say, Hey, we’re here. If they have something in their lives that makes them need to speak to a pastor, we want to be an option they consider. We also see it as a benefit to the community; we have the physical space to put on big productions and we would like to bring them to South Huron, and we don’t think you have to drive to London for that.
We’re looking at a couple of very contemporary services that we’re hoping to start in Exeter at a different time than Sunday morning. Often, that’s the only time of the week you can relax, sleep in and have bacon and eggs or whatever. We’re going to offer church in a worship sense at different times of the week. We’re also looking at programs that feed someone’s spirit but don’t seem like traditional worship.

The parish spent some time doing some soul searching, and we discovered that music was very important to us and to Exeter. In bringing music director Janet Heerema in, we’ve brought a music professional in full-time and she has made a dramatic impact right from the start. She does an adult choir, children’s choir and a hand-bell choir, which are community based, and the Trivitt choir. The community choirs have people from various churches in the area, and some who don’t go to church. As a church, it’s a gift to the community: we pay her salary and she spends a great deal of her time working on music for the community.
We have an aggressive arts agenda over the next 10 months. We created an arts and culture community and started brainstorming what people might enjoy in the area. The Three Cantors came up on the list, and they work out well for us because they donate from the proceeds of the show to the Huron Hunger Fund, which is affiliated with the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund. It becomes a charitable event, and they’re a big draw, so it will sell out.

Future concerts include a children’s choir concert Dec. 6, and a Christian rock concert in March. The Three Cantors (www.3cantors.com) perform Wed., Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 available online (www.trivitt.ca).

Story by Casey Lessard
Painting by Helga Otton

After a trip to Cuba, an inspired Helga Otton returned to Grand Bend with plans to document the town in the way Caribbean artists do. The result is Dreamin’ Grand Bend, a surreal collage of favourite Grand Bend landmarks painted in acrylic on canvas, as seen at left.
“I put in what I wanted, but I’m sure some business people will say, ‘How come I’m not in there?’ But I was looking for interesting architecture.”
The buildings that are included are iconic, Otton says.
“I knew I had to have a steeple in it for the skyline, and the rest are landmarks of Grand Bend. The church is a landmark as are the lighthouse and the bathhouse. I used a couple of cottages from the old village. Dairy Dip is pretty important; you can’t come to Grand Bend without having an ice cream. FINE is a cute little building.”
Otton, who is inspired by Lake Huron and often paints the lake, admits she left out some iconic parts of Grand Bend.
“I don’t have any sand. I couldn’t put sand in it. (Casey: “No bikinis either.”) I do have T-shirts in the Island Beach Company window!”
Several prints have already sold, including one on its way to Florida, and another to Toronto. It’s enough to inspire Otton to consider more using this technique.
“With the response I’ve gotten, I think I might do more.”
If you’re interested in getting a print, Otton will be part of the Sunset Arts Christmas show November 7 and 8 at the gallery in the River Road art complex. Otherwise, you can contact the artist directly at 519-238-6671.
Prices are as follows: 8×10 matted prints are $55, 8×10 framed prints are $100, 16×20 prints on canvas are $275, and 20×25 prints on canvas are $385.