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PHOTO: PHIL LAMEIRA

Morning light done right A couple of Muskoka chairs, man’s best friend, and a Beach sunrise. There was no better way to start an early September day for Nancy Leach, Bill Gillespie and their 11-year-old chihuahua, Angel.

Diligence is the only cure for car break-in ‘headache’ By Anna Killen

Volume 45 No. 12

September 6, 2016

WHILE CAR break-ins are not on the rise, they are a “never-ending headache” that requires car owners to be diligent and consistent. That’s the word from 55 Division community policing officer Jon Morrice, responding to social media reports lamenting recent car break-ins in the East End. He is going to speak with 55 Division’s investigating team about whether or not it makes sense to place a bait car – a car fitted to catch car thieves or people

who steal items from cars in the act – in the Beach, but said “there are legal and investigative issues with a bait car.” Meanwhile, Morrice said the most effective way to protect your property is to keep valuables out of your car. “Police across Ontario used to use the slogan ‘Lock It Or Lose It’ in campaigns to prevent car break-ins. I kind of feel a better slogan might be to promote removing all valuables from cars entirely,” he said. Continued on Page 2

‘Motorless’ Markus sets his sights on Asia By Anna Killen

ONE YEAR into his five-year journey to circumnavigate the world without a motor, Markus Pukonen has had his share of scary moments. Take the time he was rafting down an icy river, with no one around for miles. Already a harrowing experience, his situation intensified as he turned a bend and saw an ice dam stretching completely across his path. The water was disappearing under the dam and, without seeing a clear escape, he worried that he might disappear under the dam, too. “I rowed upstream as fast as I could, but I wasn’t moving anywhere,” said Pukonen. “So I did the only thing I could and rammed the raft onto an ice shelf at the bank of the river.” Not knowing how strong the ice was, he delicately and deftly as possible scampered to the shore. “Happy to be alive,” he said. That’s just one of dozens of wild experiences Pukonen has had over the last year travelling across North America, the first leg of his five-year journey to travel the

world without using a motor. He’s raising money and awareness for his charity Routes of Change, an initiative which aims to give money to several environmental charities and inspire people to challenge the status quo. He’s had to think fast, plan in advance (but allow for flexibility), and rely on the kindness of strangers and new friends. The documentary filmmaker’s 82,000 km motorless journey began in July of 2015 when he launched a canoe into the water in front of the Balmy Beach Club in front of dozens of supporters. He pogosticked 10 km across Winnipeg, cycled 1000 km on a recumbent tricycle – which he said was unexpectedly uncomfortable to travel such a long distance in – and ski-toured 800 km through several mountain ranges in Alberta and B.C. The ski-tour trip proved challenging. He had little experience with skiing and winter camping – his previous adventure trips involved water – and realized on his first day traversing the Rocky Mountains that his three-day trip would take longer and burn more calories than he’d anticipated. But he stretched out his food, making it last until the

final hours of the trek, and made it through the deep, fresh, unpacked snow without injury. “I didn’t exactly run out of food while ski-touring, but I did eat everything I had,” he said. “Lesson was that I need to carry a pound of butter with me while skiing.” While backcountry skiing might sound like the most stressful ski trip, Pukonen said one of his most nerve-wracking experiences was on a ski hill in Canmore with his family. Motorless means motorless – no escalators, no elevators, and certainly no ski lifts – so he was skinning up the hill with his brother in order to ski down. The ski patrol stopped them and said that they needed to get on a snowmobile to be escorted off the mountain – they were breaking the rules skinning up the hill. Pukonen said he told them about his initiative and that he can’t travel by motor. “They thought I was lying and said that if I didn’t get on the chair lift or snowmobile, they were going to call the police,” he said, noting that was the scariest moment of the trip for him, thinking that he would have to go on the run from the cops.

PHOTO: ROUTES OF CHANGE

Beacher Markus Pukonen is travelling around the world without the use of any motorized vehicles.

Luckily, the cops looked up his website, saw that he was legitimate, and let him skin back up to the village where his family was staying. After the Rockies, he made his way to the coast of B.C., where his friends and family in Tofino cheered him on as he set sail on

the Pacific Ocean. He crossed the ocean with a friend on a sailboat, docking in Hawaii, where he has been for the last several months – marooned there longer than he expected, trying to find a motor-free boat to ferry him to Asia. Continued on Page 3

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