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06 | 20 | 2015 VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 25

GOOD AT PUTTING HIS MEMORY TO THE TEST LIVING HERE PAGE 28

COMMENT PAGE 8

CPAC CHANGES NOTHING WITHOUT MOE ACTION

Both sides blame other for lack of report cards

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Teachers, school board still at an impasse over contract talks; letters of placement to serve as stand-in SCOTT BARBER Waterloo Region’s 40,000 public elementary school students will not receive year-end report cards, following a controversial decision by the WRDSB this week. Students were sent home with a letter from the board Tuesday informing parents that there will be no grades this year. Instead, they will get a “letter of placement” for the 2015-16 school year by June 22. In a legal strike position since May 10, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario began work-to-rule tactics May 18 in an effort to get negotiations – the union has been without a contract since August of last year – moving in their direction. In that vein, teachers will be submitting grades this month, but are refusing to provide comments or to input those marks electronically. Some school boards have taken measures to work around the inputting issue by having administrators – already required to sign off on report cards – take over the task. TEACHERS | 32

Premier Kathleen Wynne toured the new building at the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market alongside Kitchener-Centre MPP Daiene Vernile June 16.

Audit requested for Woolwich mayor’s election expenses

[SCOTT BARBER / THE OBSERVER]

STEVE KANNON Add Mayor Sandy Shantz to the list of Woolwich councillors scrutinized for their election expenses. Her financial statement will be under the microscope at a July 2 meeting of the Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC). The group is getting

plenty of work in the township, where Ward 1 Coun. Scott Hahn’s election filing is under review and Ward 3 Coun. Mark Bauman was temporarily removed from council for failing to file. Elmira resident Alan Marshall’s request for a compliance audit of Shantz’s finances came Tuesday afternoon, just before MEEXPENSES | 6

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THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

Woolwich to axe CPAC for new review format

There are 4 Hs and 100 years Since it started here a century ago, the club has maintained itself in good health to subsequent generations

Goal is to bring Chemtura, Ministry of the Environment back to the table, as both groups no longer take part in meetings STEVE KANNON Looking to woo Chemtura and the Ministry of the Environment back into the fold, Woolwich is scrapping the citizen watchdog that monitors the Elmira chemical company in favour of a new, less adversarial format. Neither Chemtura nor the ministry has been attending meetings of the current Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC). CPAC will be dissolved as of August 31, replaced by two new bodies, the Remediation Advisory Committee (RAC), which will be the CPAC’s direct substitute, and a Technical Advisory Group (TAG), will provide technical advice and recommendations to RAC. Woolwich councillors meeting Tuesday night reviewed the changes, including the terms of reference for the two new groups. They’ll vote on the changes June 23, waiting on further input from the public. The goal is make more amicable the relationship between the chemical producer and the government body that’s supposed to monitor Chemtura’s pollutants. To that end, RAC will consist of two representatives from township council (the mayor will serve as chair), someone from the Region of Waterloo and Grand River Conservation Authority, and three people from TAG. Chemtura and the MoE will attend. The Technical Advisory Group is to be made up of no more than eight members. It will serve in an

advisory capacity, and its meetings are to be technical in nature, with no public input, though they can’t be closed sessions. “Since the purpose of this group will be to review ongoing technical reports, ask questions, identify problems, and make recommendations to RAC as appropriate, and while meetings cannot legally be held in private there would be no public forum/delegation component since RAC is the designated body for delegations,” reads the report to council. In another concession to Chemtura, TAG will be led by an “independent, thirdparty chairperson.” The idea is to have someone who will keep meetings on topic without straying from the approved agenda. David Brenneman, the township’s chief administrative officer, said that was deemed the best way “to move forward,” noting the chair would be paid, likely from new funding from the chemical company. “It was thought that it would benefit the process to have someone that was concentrated on running the meetings, keeping procedure focused, keeping the agenda, etc. ...” A plan to move away from CPAC’s historical role as a citizens’ group raised some concerns for Coun. Patrick Merlihan, however. “I wonder with the thirdparty chair if we’re turning a citizens’ committee ... if we’re professionalizing it by hiring someone from outside to come in,” he said, noting to date the

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CPAC | 27

Ontario’s first 4-H club, which started in Waterloo, has been busily preparing for its 100th anniversary this Saturday. Some of the people who are part of that history are Helen Martin, Sharon Grose, Clarence Diefenbaker, Susan Martin, Luke Martin and Evan Woods. [WHITNEY NEILSON / THE OBSERVER] WHITNEY NEILSON This is one barn yard celebration for the books. The Waterloo 4-H club hits the 100-year-old mark this year and will be celebrating it in traditional 4-H style on June 20. And as they should, being the longest running 4-H club in the province, and one of the oldest in the country. And while the celebration is important for the whole region, it’s especially significant here in Elmira, where the first-ever meeting was held. Back in 1915 it was called the Boys and Girls Club, and 30 boys attended the inaugural meeting, where they started a poultry club. It evolved to 4-H, representing four personal development areas of focus: head, heart, hands and health. Most of the people who were involved when the club began aren’t around to share their stories anymore, but 4-H has a way of staying in the family, meaning they left children and grandchildren to carry on the tradition. You don’t have to look far to see how

4-H has become a staple for so many families across the region. It’s not uncommon for three generations to have gone through the same 4-H club, as evidenced by Sharon Grose who’s been involved since her childhood, along with her mother-in-law and now her own children. “They were talking about it on the weekend, what does 4-H mean to you? It’s the friends and public speaking opportunities and the travel opportunities. I got to go on a 4-H exchange. My kids have gone on to leadership camp and to the national citizenship camp in Ottawa and one in the States,” Grose said. And by Susan Martin, whose father, Clarence Diefenbaker, was a 4-H leader for 20 years. She has since followed in his footsteps, leading for nearly 15 years now, and passing on the tradition to her kids. She also was nominated by one of the clubs she leads for the outstanding leader award and was chosen as the Ontario

outstanding 4-H leader in 2006. “Our goal when we lead a club is I want the kids to connect and make friendships and I want it to be a safe environment,” Martin said. She notes it’s been a great addition to her kids’ resumes, with employers asking what clubs they’ve taken part in. The celebration this weekend will give former and current 4-H members the chance to reminisce and reflect on how their lives have changed because of their involvement. And also, how tight knit the 4-H community is. Take Grose, for example, who competed against her future husband in a calf showing competition back in her youth, unbeknownst to them both. Or Helen Martin, granddaughter of the Waterloo club’s founder Stanley Knapp, and a past-president herself. She now runs the Go for the Gold trivia competition, which tests 4-H members’ knowledge of a variety of different clubs.

“My grandpa was an agricultural rep from 1914 to 1924,” Helen Martin said. “During this time he organized and taught first onemonth short courses in Elmira in 1915. And these short courses gave rise to the Waterloo County Junior Farmers Association.” She followed in his and her parents’ footsteps, joining homemaking and agricultural clubs. She notes showing her calf at the annual competition was her favorite activity. The club has nearly 300 members, with 6,000 members across Ontario. 4-H leader and 2013 4-H national volunteer of the year recipient, John Drummond says they’ve increased their membership locally by 100 people over the past five years. “We are the longest running youth program in Ontario, so that’s something we’re celebrating. We’ve been around for 100 years and I’m so proud to be a part of the county where it started,” Drummond said. The entire organization 4-H | 4

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4 | NEWS

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

Stars set to cruise into Linwood on SCOTT BARBER Elvis is back in the building – well, Linwood, at any rate – this weekend for the eighth annual Cruisin’ with the Stars fundraiser. Yes, it’s time again to slip on those blue suede shoes, get all shook up and rush on in to the popular car show and concert June 20 at the Linwood Community Centre. This year, performing tribute artists will include Elvis Presley – several, in fact – Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Jim Reeves, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynnette, John Denver, Rod Stewert, Toby Keith and Patsy Cline. “I think it’s a beautiful family event,” longtime organizer and Wellesley

Township councillor Herb Neher said. “There are always lots of things for kids to do there from bouncy castles, face painting, pony rides, and of course we also have the classic cars and the tribute artists that will be on stage continuously throughout the day.” Neher helped launch the event back in 2007 as a fundraiser for local clubs and service organizations. Originally called “Kruisin’ with the King,” the show only featured Elvis impersonators, including Neher himself. In the years since, organizers decided to expand the roster of performers to try to appeal to a wider audience. “I had heard that the Rod and Gun Club was doing a classic car show and I had

Saturday

Cruisin’ with the Stars returns to the Linwood recreation complex June 20 with a classic car show and performances by tribute artists in support of local service groups. [FILE PHOTO] “blossomed,” Neher said, the idea, and decided to been doing a lot of singing with last year’s event join up with the Lions Club all over including Gracebringing in some 500 and we got Kruisin’ with land and Nashville, and I patrons and raising over the King going.” thought maybe we could $9,000 for the Linwood fire Once they opened up make the event even bigstation, Lions Club, Rod the roster to include more ger,” Neher recalled. “They and Gun Club and the local genres of music, things were really interested in

recreation committee. A strong turnout is weather dependant, of course, and also depends on word of mouth, Neher said. “It’s all about the weather and the promotion we do, I’ll tell you, if you don’t do that, you could have Justin Bieber out there on stage and you still wouldn’t get 300 people out.” Cruisin’ with the Stars runs 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 20 at the Linwood Community Centre, 5279 Ament Line. Cost is $5 for adults and children under 16 get in free. It is a licensed event with a BBQ chicken dinner as well as kids meals of a hot dog, fries and a drink for $6. For more information about the event, visit www. cruisinwiththestars.com.

4-H: Celebration of the group’s first century has local significance given its roots in the area FROM | 3

has seen plenty of changes, shifting from purely agriculture clubs to anything and everything that promotes leadership and community involvement. It started as a way to teach new agricultural methods to the next generation of

farmers. But through the years it’s become a way to teach leadership skills to young people, through agricultural projects, environmental projects, cooking projects, health projects, and the list goes on. “We’ve always been very innovative with the clubs

PLATINUM

that we run. I think they have great appeal to young people,” Drummond explained. “One of the clubs that we started six or seven years ago is a paintball 4-H club. It’s been extremely successful. Last year we had 86 members in the club. But I’ve never led a

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club that has more teenage boy appeal. It’s so successful at recruiting boys into 4-H.” It’s also interesting to note they’ve got a large base of kids from urban areas, a significant difference since the start of the club. Drummond says it’s encouraging to play a role in agricultural awareness, drawing in kids through their Kitchener Farmers’ Market club on Saturdays. Evan Woods started in with the grain club and the swine club. He later became the main auctioneer for the annual 4-H beef sale at the stockyards, and was an auctioneer there for 30 years. It was held there every other year, rotating with a competing livestock barn in Waterloo. “The top price was $6.60 a pound and it was bought by a man named Archie MacRobbie, who owned Armac Transport. That was in 1988,” Woods recalls. The same live calf would only fetch in the $2 to $3 per pound range nowadays, he says. Woods notes the commitment of local agriculture reps when it came to checking in on young 4-H members and their animals. “I remember Sandy Forsyth so well, he was just an assistant agriculture rep then and he’d come out,” Woods said. “Where my plot was, was a long pace from the house and you couldn’t get there with a car. And Sandy was a big man but he walked all the way back, I thought he wouldn’t want to bother. It was a hot day.” Sitting around the kitch-

en table, Diefenbaker also takes a trip down memory lane. He’s deeply tied to local agriculture, as he was the president of Holstein Canada for a time, and the coach of the winning 4-H livestock judging team in 1959. “They had this thing called the calf race after the classes were all shown. You take your calf and run with the calf and see who would win. They run up the hill. And I was just a little guy back then and I was afraid my calf was going to run away on me,” Diefenbaker says with a laugh. The 100th anniversary club has been preparing for this Saturday’s celebration for more than a year. In that time they’ve talked to lots of former and current members about their time in 4-H. Almost every one of them said learning parliamentary procedure, surprisingly enough, is what helped them the most. “They take you through and actually pretend to be people in session,” Grose explained. “So they have a prime minister, and they meet all the MPs and they learn to network, and it’s a really wonderful opportunity. We open our clubs, we elect presidents, secretaries, treasurers, press reporters. That’s what you use when you’re out in the community.” They’ve also come across some neat paraphernalia from decades ago, some of which will be on display. “They don’t just keep their scrapbooks they keep the pillow they

stitched. And one guy won silver dollars, he never spent them. He had them wrapped up perfect, there wasn’t a scratch on them,” Grose said. Drummond adds they’ll have 4-H scrapbooks dating back to 1945, black and white pictures of 4-H members through the eras, old 4-H sweatshirts and t-shirts, and trophies. “We did these 100th anniversary commemorative toy tractors, only 100 of them and they’ve all sold except for two,” Drummond said. “We held on to number one and number 100. And then we also have one of our 4-H members who’s incredibly artistic, who did a special 100th anniversary drawing. So the framed original is going to be auctioned off live.” The Waterloo club is holding its 100th anniversary celebration on June 20 from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Steckle Heritage Homestead in Kitchener. Ontario Minister of Agriculture Jeff Leal will be on hand along with other dignitaries. There will be historical displays, silent and live auctions, popcorn and cotton candy; Go for the Gold, a tribute tree planting, a beef barbeque and a barn dance. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children seven to 12, and free for children six and under. “I think all of us would tell you we are where we are today because of our involvement in 4-H,” Grose said. “4-H was a good stepping block. It planted a seed and it taught you an experience, and from there you could grow.”

NEWS | 5

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

Woolwich post large surplus Woolwich reported a tax-supported surplus of $759,000 in 2014, with most of the funds destined for the township infrastructure reserve fund. Higher than expected tax revenues, principally from the addition to the rolls of the new Waterloo North Hydro building, and larger dividends from the township’s ownership stake in the utility fueled much of the surplus, director of finance Richard Petherick reported to council June 16. A surplus was managed even with a harsh winter that added more than $300,000 to a snow-clearing budget of $620,000. Cost savings elsewhere helped to offset that deficit. On the water services side, there was a surplus of $148,072, while the wastewater service saw a deficit of

$114,349. The water surplus came from lower expenditures on the costs controlled by the township as well as higher demand, said Petherick. The wastewater deficit can be tied to the wet year, which saw large volumes of water leach into the sewage system – what’s known as inflow and infiltration (I&I) problems – and subsequently added to the bill from the Region of Waterloo’s treatment plants. In a related matter, and clearing the way for the final surplus/deficit numbers, the township’s books received a clean bill of health in an audit by the firm of KPMG.

9 a.m. in Room 106 of the Kitchener regional courthouse. Cowan is accused of double-billing expenses to Waterloo region and Woolwich township to the tune of $2,700, which he claims was an accident. A review began last July after a citizen acquired Cowan’s expense records from regional government through a freedom of information request, and compared it with his township expenses.

Yet another date for Cowan

A major reconstruction project for Woolwich and Dolman streets in Breslau is on hold, Woolwich having cancelled its deal with the contractor it selected in February. Work was to have been started in April, but delays in the $2.3-million project ended with the termination of

Former Woolwich Mayor Todd Cowan’s court date was adjourned for the fifth time on Tuesday, this time rescheduled for June 23. It will be at

Breslau road project on hold

Regional Sewer and Watermain Ltd. The job will now be sent out to tender again, with work to be carried out next year. The project will see 25 properties in old Breslau connected to municipal water and sewer services. The benefitting property owners will be billed $11,200 apiece, their share of the overall project cost. Each is also responsible for any laterals and connection fees to hook up to the services. The delay takes some of the urgency out of a dispute over the redrawing of lot lines on Dolman Street. Woolwich has applied for a hearing under the province’s Boundaries Act aims to reconcile discrepancies discovered by a surveyor during preparations for the roadwork. The problem dates back to 1961, when a pair of surveys apparently moved the limits of Dolman Street south of previous demarcations, shifting lot lines accordingly. Restoring

the pre-1961 boundaries would shift the road to the north and cut across existing properties on that side of the street in the old part of the village.

end collision on Northfield Drive East in Woolwich Township.

JUNE 14

Woolwich waives meeting fees Non-profit, volunteer groups will no longer pay fees to hold meetings in Woolwich Township facilities as of July 1, councillors decided this week. The move recognizes the contribution of such groups to the health of the community, acknowledging the work they do. Based on last year’s numbers, the township will forego $3,500 in annual revenue. While the aphasia support group Expressive Café was the largest single user ($1,300 last year), most of the groups that use Woolwich space for meetings are minor sports organizations, the hockey associations principle among them.

A world of music If there’s one draw in downtown Kitchener, it’s the live music in and around the civic square. This weekend, the attraction is the Our World Festival of Music, which presents performances by artists whose roots reflect and celebrate Canada’s rich cultural diversity. This year’s outing on Saturday (June 20) marks the event’s 10th anniversary. Leading the charge are fan favourites Alysha Brilla & The Brillion Dollar Band, the critically acclaimed Tanzanian-Canadian artist is known for her delightful mix of jazz, world and pop, and Kobo Town, Canada’s dynamic Caribbean ensemble featuring an upbeat brand of Nu-Calypso. There will also be a performance by the Contemporary School of Dance. The music goes from 8 to 11 p.m.

POLICE BLOTTER

OPP reports number of collisions with deer up substantially so far this Wellington County OPP are cautioning drivers to be more alert on area roads due to an increase of collision with wildlife, primarily deer. Already this year officers have investigated 93 carvs.-deer collisions in the county compared with 52 last year at this time. Police remind motorists to be attentive, especially from sunset to midnight and during the hours shortly before and after sunrise. These are the highest risk times for deer-vehicle collisions. Deer seldom run

alone. If you see one deer, others are likely nearby. When driving at night, use high beam headlights when there is no oncoming traffic. The high beams will better illuminate the eyes of deer on or near the road. Slow down and blow your horn with one long blast to frighten the deer away. If you encounter a deer in the roadway, brake firmly, but stay in your lane. Many serious crashes occur when drivers swerve to avoid a deer and hit another vehicle or lose control of their cars, say police.

JUNE 8

2:00 AM | Emergency services responded to a house fire on Stonecroft Way in New Hamburg. As a precaution, residents on either side were evacuated. No one was injured as a result of the incident. The cause of the fire is not deemed suspicious at this time – a lightning strike may be a possibility. The house is anticipated to be a complete loss. JUNE 11

10:42 PM | A cardboard box found smoldering inside a shed at the convenience store at 54 Arthur St. S. in Elmira was extinguished by police. The cause remains undetermined. JUNE 13

3:03 PM | A 71-year-old Chatham man was charged with ‘careless driving’ following a rear-

5:00 PM | Officers responded to the scene where two suspicious males were reported in the rear lot off of Arthur Street in Elmira. One man was found to be breaching his recognizance and took off running. He was caught by officers after a short foot pursuit. He was arrested and held for bail hearing. The other man had stolen plates in his vehicle involved with several theft investigations outside the region. As well, a quantity of drugs, a BB gun and a large knife were recovered. A 24-year-old Mitchell man and 28-year-old Elmira man were charged with ‘breach recognizance,’ ‘possession of controlled substance,’ ‘possession of stolen property under $5,000,’ and ‘resisting arrest.’

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There were minor injuries, and one of the drivers was charged with ‘failing to obey stop sign.’ 6:11 AM | Several motorcycle helmets, golf clubs and shoes were reported taken, likely overnight, from a garage of a residence on Zinkann Crescent in Wellesley. 10:35 AM | The roundabout at Arthur Street and Sawmill Road near St. Jacobs was the scene of a side-impact collision, resulting in minor injuries. No charges have been laid to this point. 7:00 PM | A resident of Molesworth Street in Wellesley reported the theft of 10 beers from a fridge in an outbuilding on their property.

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6 | NEWS

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

EXPENSES: MECAC meeting to review audit request set for July 2; mayor says finances in order FROM | COVER

CAC members convened to chose an auditor to examine Hahn’s expenses. Following that, they were able to quickly select a date to look at the new application.

Under the Ontario Municipal Elections Act, the township has 10 days from receipt of the request to contact the audit committee, but the timing made it possible to do so within an hour of Marshall’s request.

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Now it’s up to the committee to decide if the request has merit. If it does, MECAC will follow the same path to appointing an auditor it did in Hahn’s case. Shantz said she sees no issues with the statement she filed. “As far as I’m concerned, my reporting is accurate, from everything I know,” she said in an interview following Tuesday night’s council meeting. “It’ll go to MECAC; if there’s anything [incomplete], I’ll make it right. “As far as I know, every-

thing that I’ve done is correct.” As with Dan Holt, the applicant in Hahn’s review, Marshall will be asked to make his case before the committee at the meeting preliminarily set for July 2. Shantz will be given a chance to respond. In his application to the township, Marshall laid out several areas of concern with the expense filing submitted by Shantz in relation to the 2014 municipal election. He claims the mayor’s financial statement may be incomplete

and contains inconsistencies, with combined contributions and expenses that may have exceeded the $10,000 threshold to require an audit on filing. “Also, I have just recently been advised by other citizens that there are possibly a number of other expenses which appear not have been included,” he wrote in his application. “Despite the contributions being thousands of dollars in excess of the $10,000 mark, it is also likely that the required audit may find undeclared expenses which

have improperly lowered the value of total expenses below the $10,000 mark.” Shantz’s election filing shows contributions to her campaign $9,475.39 (including $200 nomination fee) and expenses of $9,063.83, well below the spending limit of $22,625.75. She said she’s at a loss to explain Marshall’s rationale for requesting an audit. “The legislation is there to protect the public, but I don’t think this is serving the public good.”

New rules for stopping on streets around Breslau PS STEVE KANNON The “chaos” that descends upon Breslau PS when parents in cars jockey to drop off and pick up their children will be tackled with a series of “no-stopping” zones around the school. Or at least that’s the hope of Woolwich council, which this week approved the measures. The move is the latest attempt to deal with a safety issues that “approaches chaos at times,” said di-

rector of engineering and planning Dan Kennaley. To do so, the township has approved “no stopping” restrictions on the south side of Shields Street (between Wakefield Street and Joseph Street), new “no stopping” restrictions “Monday to Friday” between the hours of (8 a.m. 4:30 p.m.) on the east side of Joseph Street (between Dolman Street and Shields Street), new “no stopping” restriction on the west side of Joseph Street (between Dolman Street and a point

25 metres southerly), and new “no stopping” restriction on the south side of Dolman Street (from Joseph Street to a point 70 metres westerly). Parents will be encouraged to use the drop-off and pick-up space on school property, said Kennaley, acknowledging that will cause some delays in the name of safety. “Parents have to become more patient,” he said, “rather than a freefor-all on neighbourhood streets.”

“It’s scary to see how parents drive around other people’s kids,” noted Coun. Mark Bauman. Waterloo Regional Police have pledged to step up enforcement around the school when the new bylaw goes into force. In a related matter, council approved a reduction of the speed limit, to 40 km/h from 50, in front of Park Manor Public School in Elmira. The move applies to a stretch of Mockingbird Drive from Finch Place to Oriole Parkway.

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THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

Splash pad/ice rink combo is latest proposal for Elmira’s Gibson Park Council wants policy for future costs associated with community projects STEVE KANNON Woolwich wants to get a handle on costs – operating, maintenance and eventual replacement – before backing anymore recreational facilities. The latest under consideration is a combination splash pad/ice rink proposed for Gibson Park in Elmira. While not unsupportive of the plan offered up by the non-profit Kate’s Kause organization, councillors meeting this week felt there were too many unanswered questions to provide a blanket endorsement. As with similar projects, from the Kate’s Place playground already established in Gibson Park to a splash pad planned for Breslau, the township would provide the land, take over ownership and assume all future costs. Given the higher costs associated with the winter ice

surface proposed for this latest project – refrigeration equipment would be installed – and concerns about future replacement costs of a growing inventory of facilities, councillors are looking for more information. “As projects come forward, it’s great for the community to pitch in, but 20 years from now when we want to replace them, who’s going to pay for that? We need to get a replacement-cost program in place,” suggested Coun. Mark Bauman. While the money is raised in one community, all Woolwich residents pay for the operating costs and future replacement through general tax coffers, he noted. Coun. Larry Shantz, too, expressed concerns about the expenses related to new facilities. “It’s the ongoing costs to operate these things. This

one in particular is going to be fairly high dollars to operate on an annual basis.” He suggested community groups raising money for such projects look at collecting more than just the capital costs, with an eye to establishing a fund to cover future costs such as replacement. In this case, the project is estimated at $600,000. The Woolwich Recreational Facilities Foundation (WRFF) already has a commitment for $200,000 in funding, with the potential for $150,000 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The splash pad portion is expected to cost about $8,000 a year to operate, while the winter ice rink is expected to be the larger expense at up to $43,000 a year if the refrigeration unit is used steadily during a particularly mild winter – electricity costs are estimated at a wide range of $3,000 to $8,000 a month.

“The operating costs may look a little scary, but I’m sure you realize that $43,000 per year would only apply if you were building it in Florida. Refrigeration, with our winters, will cost you very little,” said Ruby Weber of the WRFF She was joined by Kelly Meissner of Kate’s Kause, who called the project an ideal extension of the current amenities in Gibson Park. The accessible playground has already become a favourite of local families and people from out of town, she said. “People are looking for a splash pad. That expectation is out there. That’s kind of always been the expectation,” said Meissner, saying the extra services would add to the “one-stop shopping for parents.” Gibson Park is a destination, where families can spend the whole day using the facilities, she added.

Grant helps Big Brothers Big Sisters expand programs in Woolwich WHITNEY NEILSON Big Brothers Big Sisters is expanding two programs into Woolwich this fall with some help from the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival. The festival committee doled out $51,000 in funds to community groups last week in honour of its 51st festival. Big Brother Big Sisters was one of said recipients and will use it to bring their in-school mentoring program to Woolwich. They will also be adding their Go Girls group mentoring program due to funds received from a Kitchener-Waterloo Community Foundation grant. “It’s always been part of our strategic plan for our agency and in the past five years we’ve served 36 kids in Woolwich Township, so we really want to expand and as much as possible make sure any youth in Woolwich who needs a mentor has access to one,” Jessica Maindonald, fund development coordinator for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Waterloo Region said. It’s not clear yet which schools will be participating, but she notes Breslau

PS and Riverside PS have expressed interest. Until the new school year starts they’ll be focusing on volunteer recruitment in the township. “We’ve had a few of the schools in Woolwich already approach us and say ‘hey, these are programs we need in our school.’ But without the volunteers in that community then we can’t match the child with a mentor. They basically sit on a wait list,” Maindonald said. The in-school mentoring is for any student from Grade 1 to Grade 8 and the Go Girls program is for girls aged 12 to 14. Kids spend an hour each week with their mentor at their school for the in-school mentoring program. “They are working on anything from some academics, maybe they’re a child who’s been flagged who just needs some extra one on one, to social development, maybe just hanging out reading a book, doing a craft, taking the basketball to the gym,” she explained. The Go Girls program encourages healthy living and teaches girls how to

maintain a balanced lifestyle. Some weeks they’ll cook together and others they’ll do hands-on activities based around health. It’s all about matching a child to a positive adult role model and building a friendship with someone they can trust, talk to, and confide in. Teachers and parents can recommend children for the programs, and they’ll be matched up with a mentor based on their needs. “We have some partnerships with the local schools in Woolwich, and so they identify the children who would best benefit from our program,” Maindonald said. “Because of lack of funding and being able to do a volunteer recruitment campaign we haven’t been able to put a lot of focus in that area. But now with funding we’re going to be able to get out there to the community, partner with the schools, and put some marketing and advertising in place to recruit the volunteers that we need for the kids.” Big Brothers Big Sisters celebrated 50 years in the Waterloo region last year.

Wellesley township is in the same boat as Elmira, where if there’s funding available Big Brothers Big Sisters will expand their programs into that area, too. “I think a lot of times, not that they’re forgotten about, but it’s really easy to just focus on the city centres and they kind of get left behind a little bit. We do recognize that and we’re trying to do our best to reach out for funding to say there’s an absolute need here and we need to do something.” She explains they’ve done surveys of past participants and the effects of participating in a mentorship program are strong. Of those surveyed, 80 per cent go on to pursue healthy lifestyles, while 92 per cent say they now feel confident. From the participants in the in-school mentoring program, 88 per cent report improved literacy skills. “The results are there through the survey,” Maindonald said. “It’s pretty clear that having a mentor in your life is important.” Anyone interested in becoming a mentor can apply at www.bbbswr.org.

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8 | COMMENT

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

JOE MERLIHAN PUBLISHER STEVE KANNON EDITOR

COMMENT

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OUR VIEW / EDITORIAL

THE VIEW FROM HERE

CPAC shuffle all for naught until MoE takes action THERE’S SOMETHING OF A re-arrangingthe-deckchairs feel to Woolwich’s latest mucking about with the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC). That’s accompanied by a slightly bitter taste of appeasement. In order to get both the chemical company – ironically avoiding its namesake committee – and the Ministry of the Environment – inexplicably ignoring pollutants in the environment – back at the table, the township proposes to yet again revamp the citizens’ watchdog group. In doing so, it essentially removes both the citizen and the watchdog component. CPAC will be replaced by two new groups, the Remediation Advisory Committee (RAC) and a Technical Advisory Group (TAG). It appears the former, while ostensibly a public forum, will be long on bureaucrats and politicians. The latter will provide some element of citizen participation, but without any public input. Credit or blame lies with Mayor Sandy Shantz. She wanted Chemtura and the MoE to return to the table, so gave them what they needed to do just that: less angry public, more “respectful” bureaucracy. And, let’s be frank, less Alan Marshall, the very vocal thorn in many sides. This is not the first time CPAC has been tweaked to make Marshall less of a factor, whether his removal from the committee itself, to former mayor Todd Cowan’s first wooing and then rejecting the longtime environmental gadfly. It’s no secret both Chemtura and the ministry took exception to Marshall’s continued involvement at CPAC meetings, even just as a private citizen. Nor has Marshall made friends with Woolwich council – make what you will of his request this week for an audit of Shantz’s election finances. The revisions to CPAC are heavy with the scent of a workaround to keep Marshall at a distance – the aforementioned appeasement, if you will. Will the changes be for the better? Worse? Indifferent? It could be any one of those, though in the end it may be largely irrelevant. That’s not to say the committee’s work isn’t important: Chemtura is obligated to remediate the groundwater it contaminated, and it must be held accountable for its past transgressions. Part of CPAC’s job is to keep an eye on the situation. Removing some of the distractions – soap opera-like at times – may be helpful. Certainly meetings should run more smoothly, with a good chance of more leisurely noshing and coffee-drinking among likeminded folks. But it remains to be seen if the new format will be any more successful at dealing with the very real problems, which extend beyond the increasingly unlikely concept of removing all contaminants from the aquifers under Elmira by 2028. There’s really just one thing that has to change: will the MoE step up and do a detailed study of the contaminants on the site and force the company to clean them all up? Thus far, it’s shown no interest in doing that, perplexing given its mandate to protect the environment – a shortcoming that’s responsible for some of Marshall’s most colourful outbursts, but the concerns about who the ministry is really working for extend to many more people, many of whom have been involved in the cause since the groundwater crisis arose more than a quarter-century ago. Without real action on the part of the one player with any clout – the township has no regulatory power, and can’t even get its questions acknowledged, let alone answered, by the province – we’re simply rolling the chaise lounge around as the ship of state takes on water.

With no report cards coming home, parents find it easy to make their own assessment of the teachers on the public payroll and their tactics. WORLD VIEW / GWYNNE DYER

Revisiting Waterloo reveals the perils of being a superpower WORLD AFFAIRS This week saw the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, and in the course of the day you were bound to hear or read somebody claiming that it “changed history.” It was a very big battle, after all, and it would be a century before Europe saw war on that scale again. But did the events of June 18, 1815 “change history”? Probably not. The really decisive battle was fought a year and a half before that near Leipzig in Germany: the ‘Battle of the Nations.’ Three times more men were involved in that battle than fought at Waterloo. There were many more battles before the Russian, Austrian and Prussian armies entered Paris and Napoleon finally abdicated as emperor of the French in the spring of 1814, but he never won another battle. Napoleon was given a mini-kingdom on the island of Elba, off the Italian coast, to keep himself busy. The victors began to

put Europe back together after 20 years of almost unbroken war, around three million combat deaths, and a comparable number of civilian casualties. And after only ten months, Napoleon escaped from Elba and went back to France for another try. But it was really already over. The British (the paymasters of the coalition), the Austrians, the Prussians and the Russians were all still mobilized, and their armies started closing in on France. In the ‘Hundred Days,’ Napoleon managed to lure many men who had fought for him in past wars back into his new army, but it was pure nostalgia. He moved fast, hoping to defeat the British army in what is now Belgium before the other allies arrived to reinforce it, and he almost succeeded. The British commander, the Duke of Wellington, said that the battle of Waterloo was “the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life.” In the end, late in the afternoon, the Prussian (German) army showed up and turned the tide. But if Napoleon hadn’t lost at Wa-

terloo, he would have been defeated a little later. “God is on the side of the heaviest battalions,” said Voltaire, and Napoleon agreed, just substituting “the best artillery” to demonstrate that his military knowledge was fully up to date. But his political knowledge was woefully deficient: God is actually on the side of the biggest economies, especially if they know how to turn their wealth into military power. Britain had already overtaken France as Europe’s biggest economy (and in those days, that meant the world’s biggest economy). The industrial revolution in Britain was already into its second generation, while France had barely entered the first. Even in sheer numbers of people, a low birth rate meant that France would fall behind Russia, then behind Germany, and eventually even behind Britain in population. So even if Napoleon could go on winning battles, he couldn’t win the war. In the end he couldn’t even win the battles. He was running out of sol-

diers, and his enemies had spent a generation at war learning (very expensively) to fight battles just as well as he did. Waterloo only confirmed what everybody with eyes could see already: France was finished as Europe’s superpower. Then Britain got a century at the top (and after 500 years of Anglo-French wars, it never had to fight France again). The United States is now about 75 years into its term as the reigning superpower – and you are probably assuming that I am now going to speculate who gets the crown next. Wrong on two counts. First of all, it’s a thorny crown, and nobody in their right mind would want it. The relevant statistic (which hides in plain sight) is that the more powerful a country is, the more wars it fights and the more people it loses. More power doesn’t give you greater security; it just gets you into more trouble. Secondly, about half the time there is no undisputed top dog. That was the situation for the century 16001700, when Spain was in DYER | 10

COMMENT | 9

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

THEIR VIEW / QUESTION OF THE WEEK

What’s your ideal way to spend Father’s Day?

»»Nacer Lamine

»»Ron Lehnen

»»Jim Preston

»»Jim Kahue

»»Mark Holman

“I want to go to the beach.”

“A barbeque, family around, and the sunshine.”

“One of my daughters is having a barbeque, myself, her father-in-law and my two daughters.”

“What I’ve done in the past is go to a Nascar race, or a baseball game. I have two boys.”

“The ideal way would just to be at home with all my kids and my wife, hanging around the house and the pool. Our tradition is to go to Mandarin.”

“So even if Napoleon could go on winning battles, he couldn’t win the war. In the end he couldn’t even win the battles.” Gwynne Dyer | 8 HIS VIEW / STEVE KANNON

Even an idea as evident as planting more trees has a hard time taking root EDITOR'S NOTES Nobody would take issue with planting more trees, or at least you wouldn’t think so. There are plenty of groups promoting that very idea – take Trees for Woolwich, as an example. We’re increasingly aware of the pivotal role trees play in our environment, particularly the urban areas. But attempts to foster a province-wide effort under the Queen’s Park banner have thus far been unsuccessful. Enter the Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition (GIO) and its recent initiative, ‘Ontario’s Urban Forests: A Call to Action.’ Our urban areas are losing trees at a time when they are more important than ever, the group argues. The emerald ash borer, an invasive pest that’s no stranger to this neck of the woods, is killing millions of ash trees in backyards, along streets and in parks across the province. Climate change is

resulting in more extreme weather events – including storms, heat waves and droughts – that can devastate urban trees. Combined with increasingly difficult growing conditions, such as reduced soil volumes that come with urban densification, these stresses are wreaking havoc on our urban forests. Now would be a fine time for the province to take action on the many disparate attempts to bolster the tree count in our urban areas, home to more than 80 per cent of us these days. “We’re looking to move along the urban forest agenda here in Ontario,” says Janet McKay, executive director of Torontobased LEAF (Local Enhancement & Appreciation of Forests) and chair of the GIO coalition. “We’re losing our urban forests. It’s an emergency, a crisis situation.” Development is leading the charge, as we would expect, turning treed areas into various combinations of concrete, asphalt, glass and bricks. It’s doing the same, of course, to farmland, which also lent

HOW TO REACH US

real impact on the quality of life in our communities, not to mention a real economic cost. On the strictly pragmatic front, for instance, trees reduce storm-water runoff, acting as sponges that keep water onsite and recharge the groundwater: a typical urban forest of 10,000 trees will retain 10 million gallons of rainwater per year, says the U.S. Forest Service. In doing so, the trees help reduce the amount of runoff and pollutants into water courses such as rivers and creeks. While manmade drainage systems such sewers and storm drains accelerate the flow of polluted water through a community, trees slow it down and clean the water. As we know from heightened awareness of climate change, trees play a big role in sequestering carbon dioxide, while also capturing and storing air pollutants of all kinds. That provides both short- and long-term benefits to air quality. With summer rolling in this weekend, we’ll be even more aware of the shade provided by trees. Not just a convenient place to relax

and read a book, the shading writ large of buildings and pavement reduces the demand for air conditioning and the formation of ozone – 30 per cent of the energy used for air conditioning could be saved by providing more shade, McKay notes. “There are measurable physical and mental health benefits.” Trees are certainly good for our well-being, advocates such as McKay argue. Urban forests strengthen the urban core by improving public social space and the walking experience, bringing a more natural setting to our increasingly compact development. They serve to divide various uses and buffer noise, encouraging mixed-use communities that improve the places we live and boost the economy. We know instinctively that trees greatly enhance our communities. On the residential front, think about the most desirable neighbourhoods: they tend to be those with a nice canopy of mature

trees intertwined over the roadways. (That the homes tend to be much nicer than the cookie-cutter suburbs inflicted on us these days is another factor.) Still, it’s a losing battle to ensure mature trees are retained when new subdivisions go in, and even difficult to see urban forests incorporated into new developments, McKay notes. While places like Woolwich call for tree planting as part of new building projects, the trees are often treated as something of an afterthought. Poor, scarce soil is not an ideal start for the saplings, with neglect not helping them in a hostile environment. Urban trees exist in an inherently difficult environment. The lack of growing space above and below ground, contaminated and compacted soils, de-icing salt, and the physical damage caused by trenching, mowers, snow removal activities and cars, are but a few of the factors that prevent most urban trees from reaching their genetic KANNON | 10

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mightily to the historical deforestation that afflicts even rural areas like Woolwich and Wellesley townships. Ironically, it’s not just socalled greenfield development, which disturbs previously undeveloped land and often leading to tree loss, that’s an issue. Infilling projects demanded by provincial legislation – the brownfield development espoused by planners – can clear existing urban trees in favour of new buildings. This can remove stock from the urban forest just where it’s most needed. When you throw in sudden losses through the likes of ice storms, invasive species and even wildfires, then we quickly get into more trouble. Things are changing so quickly, that advocates and government agencies are having a hard time keeping up. “We don’t even have measures. We know that it’s large. It’s happening so fast ... that we can’t stay on top of it. We know it’s bad,” says McKay. Aside from the aesthetic value, such losses have a

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10 | COMMENT

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

THE MONITOR

VERBATIM

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Smoking, excess weight, over-consumption of alcohol and physical inactivity are some of the leading causes of chronic disease among Canadian men. The annual economic burden attributable to these four factors is estimated at $36.9 billion.

“Students who have been unable to find work this summer will be forced to take on more debt in order to cover the cost of post-secondary education this fall. Summer jobs are not a luxury for students, they are a necessity. The federal government has failed to take action to address skyrocketing tuition fees, high student debt and a lack of good jobs for students.”

Workers arriving at the Elmira post office June 15 were turned away, locked out by Canada Post. The mail sitting in boxes waiting for carriers to deliver sat there pending a resolution of a dispute over wages, benefits and working conditions between the corporation and member of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). The move by Canada Post followed 12 days of rotating strikes across the country by the union representing some 54,000 postal workers.

»»Canadian Men’s Health Foundation

»»Bilan Arte, national chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, points out

»»From the June 18, 2011 edition of The Observer

that the unemployment rate for students was 15.1%, an increase of 1.5% compared to last year

DYER: Fewer decisive military

NATIONAL VIEW

victories probably a good trend

FROM | 8

visible decline but France was not yet ready to assume the mantle of sole superpower. It was equally true in 1945-1990, when nuclear weapons (the great equaliser) meant that the United States and the Soviet Union were coequal superpowers even though the U.S. economy was far bigger than the Soviet one. And now, with the American superpower allegedly in decline, there is obsessive speculation about when China will step in and take over the role – or might it turn out to be India instead? As though

it were still the early 19th century, when France was going down and Britain was taking over. It isn’t. Military power doesn’t deliver the goods any more. The United States has lost almost every war and mini-war it has fought in the past 50 years (except Grenada and Panama), even though it accounts for around half of the planet’s spending on defence. In the present global strategic environment, decisive victories are about as rare as unicorns. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it is probably a good thing. Victory is a much over-rated concept.

KANNON: Short-term thinking

works against trees, all of us FROM | 9

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potential. In addition to contributing directly to the decline of trees, these factors can predispose them to attack by insects and diseases, notes a study by the Canadian Urban Forest Network. With so much stacked against them, fledgling additions to our urban forests would benefit from provincial standards for soil and planting conditions, says McKay. “Most new developments are not a great growing environment,” she says in calling for the government

to help develop best practices that can be applied province-wide. Thus the group’s call to action. Individuals and small community groups looking to help can take the cause to their MPPs and municipal councils, keeping the pressure on for a more cohesive strategy for preserving and expanding the resource, she suggests. Like so many things, however, trees are easy victims of the short-term thinking that’s the bailiwick of politicians. Considerable pressure will be needed to convince them to gain some proper perspective.

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SPORTS | 11

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

SPORTS HOCKEY / JUNIOR B

NOT SO GREAT OUTDOORSMAN / STEVE GALEA

We need new lists of what’s fascinating OPEN COUNTRY

Ethan Skinner, Zac Coulter, Mitch Wright and Alex Mutton hit the links for the annual Sugar Kings golf tournament at the Elmira Golf Club June 15.

ward group and certainly, they will be missed.” Asked why two top-end talents would decide to move down a level, Snyder said it might be in part because Junior C hockey allows guys to play an extra season. And Ayr is also closer to home for both players, he added. Wellesley’s Brendan Schneider was a rookie last season, scoring 20 points. He’ll move down south to Upstate New York in the fall to play hockey at the Albany Academy prep school. “That’s a big loss for us because we felt like he was going to be a big contributor offensively this coming

If I seem a little perturbed of late, you can blame that on television’s own Barbara Walters and her poor judgment. Apparently – and not for the first time I might add – I’m not fascinating enough to make her list of the World’s 10 Most Fascinating people. I know this happened a few months ago, but I’m a slow reader. I’m pretty sure I would have placed, if not for Oprah. I know this might sound like sour grapes but, clearly, this list is a sham. Look, I’m not saying Scarlett Johannson, Chelsea Handler, Neil Patrick Harris, David H. Koch, Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, Michael Strahan, George RR Martin, Taylor Swift and Amal Clooney are not fascinating. I’m just saying, I doubt they possess a single good hunting or fishing story between them, which, of course, is the hallmark of truly fascinating people. Need further proof I should have led that list? Twice last year, I watched a bigger bass try to eat the smaller fish I had hooked. And once, while duck hunting, I watched a big pike swim by holding

KINGS | 14

GALEA | 14

[SCOTT BARBER / THE OBSERVER]

Sugar Kings lose key players to other leagues for 2015-16 season Management to step up recruitment efforts in the offseason to fill unexpected holes in the lineup SCOTT BARBER The Elmira Sugar Kings will have big shoes to fill this offseason following the unexpected departure of numerous key players, including the club’s starting goaltender and leading scorer. The defending Cherrey Cup champions confirmed this week that netminder Jonathan Reinhart, forwards Mitch Klie, Cash Seraphim and Brendan Schneider as well as defenseman Adam Brubacher have all left the fold. “It seems to be the way things are going in the Junior B ranks where guys are going to Junior A and now we’re losing guys to

Junior C, it’s just an ongoing challenge to try to keep your team together,” Kings’ director of hockey operations Jeff Snyder said. Reinhart played two seasons in Elmira, taking over the starting job last year. He led the club to a first-place finish in the Midwestern Conference during the regular season with 28 wins, a .922 save percentage and a 2.44 goals against average. The Cambridge native will head out west to play for the Nanaimo Clippers of the BCHL. “That’s a move up for him,” Snyder said. “He feels that if he’s going to get a scholarship he’s got

a better opportunity to get one if he goes out there” Klie joined the Kings midway through the 201314 season, and took over as captain last summer. He led the club in scoring with 14 goals and 53 assists, adding another 22 points during the Sutherland Cup run. Despite being a team leader and a GOJHL all star last season, the Cambridge native will move down to the Junior C ranks with the Ayr Centennials. He’ll be joined by Cash Seraphim, who heads back to his hometown after two seasons in Elmira. “Mitch Klie was our leading point producer during the year and also

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Jeff Snyder, director of hockey operations had a good playoff for us as well so obviously we’re going to miss his offensive contributions,” Snyder said. “Cash, he was hurt for part of the playoffs but still had a really good playoff for us. Both of them were key guys in our for-

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12 | SPORTS

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

The Elmira Maple Syrup Festival would like to thank all of its sponsors for their generous support. Their continued sponsorship enables the festival to be successful year after year. We would also like to thank all of the volunteers who helped out, without whom none of this would have been possible.

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SPORTS | 13

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

GETTING ON TRACK AT PARK MANOR PS IN ELMIRA The Park Manor Public School junior track and field team competed at their annual track meet on June 15, where all of their Grade 6 relay teams finished first. [WHITNEY NEILSON / THE OBSERVER]

Tour de Waterloo ... and Woolwich ... and Wellesley set for this weekend, with race’s starting point in St. Jacobs

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SCOTT BARBER The Tour de Waterloo returns to the streets of Woolwich and Wellesley this weekend, with some 600 cyclists expected to participate in the sixth running of the event. For the second year in a row, the race will be based out of downtown St. Jacobs, though this time the start and finish will not occur along King Street, to make sure vehicles have access to restaurants and businesses along the main drag throughout race day on June 21. The “gran fondo” style event includes three courses to fit the abilities of beginner, intermediate and expert racers, with all registration fees directly supporting the Grand River Hospital Foundation and Kitchener Waterloo Counseling Services. The fourth and final stop on Cycle Waterloo’s annual race calendar, the Tour de Waterloo has raised over $100,000 for charity, and organizers are hoping to bring in another $40,000 this year. “Riders love the course and they really enjoy having the venue in St. Jacobs,” organizer Blake Ellis said. “This year, we decided to move the start and finish line over to try to keep the businesses open

down there. But everybody really seems to love coming to St. Jacobs for the race because they enjoy the small town atmosphere, that’s one of the main reasons why we came back.” The event takes place entirely on paved surfaces and is chip timed. The roads are not closed to vehicle traffic, though there will be paid duty police and auxiliary officers on site. Routes are the same as last year, apart from the finish line, Ellis said. The 133-kilometre main event heads northwest through Wallenstein and around Conestogo Lake, followed by a long stretch across Country Road 121. Next, riders turn left onto Line 61, right onto Township Road 20 and left on Deborah Glaister Line, before wrapping around Wellesley Village and travelling east on Weimer and Lobsinger Lines. The homestretch includes a stint on Three Bridges Road before the final sprint along Henry Street. The middle distance race heads in the same direction, however racers will turn left on Herrgott Road instead of right, cutting the Conestogo Lake portion from the course and shortening the route down to 76 kilometres. Finally, the 46-kilometre race also heads to

the northwest, stretching from hemlock Hill Drive in the north, Greenwood Hill Road to the west and Weimer Line at its southernmost point. A long continuous track rather than a small circle with multiple laps, makes this gran fondo race a real treat, and a challenge for riders, Ellis said. “There are a lot more variations when you’re riding because there are different terrains and different wind factors. Wind plays a huge part, because depending on what direction you are riding, the wind can either be behind you or in front of you or there could be a cross wind. That plays a huge factor in racing, especially in our area where winds are such a big factor. And the terrain itself, so here we have the Glen Allen climb which is a pretty tough climb, but then you also have the hills out behind Conestogo Lake that are fairly tough and you have the Hawkesville Hill, where riders will do the backside which is a fourteen per cent climb.” The day starts with the short course at 8:30 a.m. followed by the middle route at 8:45 a.m. and the long route at 9:05 a.m. Awards ceremonies and a banquet will take place at the St. Jacobs Arena beginning at 11 a.m.

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14 | SPORTS

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

KINGS: Managers have their work cut out for them in filling out the roster for next season FROM | 11

year,” Snyder said. “He had a great rookie year, especially in the second half and we felt he played really well in the playoffs.” Elmira native and threeyear Kings’ veteran Adam Brubacher will play in the BCHL next season with the Prince George Spruce Kings. An all-star defenseman,

Brubacher scored 12 goals and 33 assists last season. “I think he’s been a great Elmira Sugar King,” Snyder said. “I really like Adam. He’s a great kid and he’s a low-maintenance player. He just comes to the rink and plays hard every day and I think he’s been like that every year he’s been with Elmira. I think he had an outstanding year last year, just

tremendous back there steady every night. He was a real key cog in our success and obviously we’re going to miss him. He’s really what our program is all about, he’s a great kid that is a good student that is constantly trying to get better. If we could have 20 guys like him we’d have a great team every year.” To fill in some of the holes, Synder has been

busy signing guys from across the province. Signings include Jeff Jordan from the North Bay Trappers AAA squad of the great North Midget League. Jordan notched 75 points in 34 games last season to capture the league scoring title and most valuable player award. The Kings also picked up: forward Tyler Jackson

from the Trenton Golden Hawks, a Tier II Junior A club in the Ontario Junior Hockey League; forward Tyler Biles, a Georgetown native drafted by the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League in the twelfth round in 2014; and defenseman Colton Culbert from the Hanover Barons of the Ontario Hockey League Junior C ranks.

Mitch Klie

GALEA: There’s probably not one really good outdoors story among that ersatz Top 10 list FROM | 11

a perch in its jaws. Let’s not even talk about the one-legged wood duck that my brother shot when we were hunting together or the time I witnessed a buck and raccoon standoff face to face. I’m sorry Oprah, that’s fascinating. What about that time last June when I spent the whole day with my tee shirt on accidentally inside out,

huh? Everyone I have told that story to, just shakes their heads and mutters, “fascinating.” And yet, once again, I never made Ms. Walter’s list? If you ask me, there is something fishy going on here. I suspect this is probably all about the Hollywood elite scratching each other’s backs. Speaking of which, how

come my buddy Tom isn’t on that list? He is a falconer who flies a Cooper’s hawk and the other day it dug its claws into his fingers – and yet he still likes falconry. When he went for stitches, his doctor also thought that fascinating. More than that, Tom cuts his own hair. I think you can see that Tom and I are just two examples of people who are

far more fascinating than say, Elon Musk. All he did was found Paypal, a host of other internet sites and started companies whose goals are to rid the world of fossil fuel and travel to Mars. I doubt he even has much more than a conservation fishing licence. And George RR Martin? I’m honestly not sure if his claim to fame is writing Game of Thrones or having the initials for railroad as

a middle name. It doesn’t even matter; I bet he never even got out in the deer season. I just want to reiterate that I am not bitter. Barbara “Poor Judgment” Walters is entitled to her own opinions – however wrong they might be. I am sure that T-Swizzle (or Taylor Swift as most of you know her) is only interesting because she’s made millions singing and writ-

ing songs. Well, T-Stezzle (what my friends call me) is no slouch when it comes to music either. The other day I was singing a blues song and Jenn came rushing down the stairs. When she got to me she asked, “Are you hurt?” which is exactly what the blues should convey. How she figured that out from a few notes is nothing short of fascinating – but try telling that to Barbara.

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HOME & GARDEN FEATURE | 15

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

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THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

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THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

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18 | VENTURE

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

VENTURE FOOD FOR THOUGHT/ OWEN ROBERTS

AGRICULTURE / GROWING MARKETS

Sheep farmers get a boost from feds Wallenstein farm sees unveiling of additional competiveness supports for industry worth $157 million

Innovation and new options are key to growth FIELD NOTES

of farmers,” Albrecht said. “Whether they’re the sheep sector, dairy, or feather industry they can actually be not only healthy in their own country, but also enable them to be strong players in the global market.” He added this will help ensure the sheep sector continues to create jobs and growth in Ontario. Rob Scott, vice-chair of the Canadian Sheep Federation explained the Food Safe Farm Practices Program first became available to Canadian sheep producers in 1997. It was

I drank buffalo milk this week. And not on a dare, either. On a rare warm and sunny afternoon, I was fortunate to be part of a very small entourage featuring Premier Kathleen Wynne, visiting Koskamp Family Farms near Stratford. Brothers Henry and Fred and their families operate a unique water buffalo dairy there. They’ve taken Ontario’s buffalo mozzarella market by storm with their homegrown cheese, marketed as Bella Casara by Quality Cheese in Vaughan. By being innovative and research-driven, they’ve captured half of the province’s market in just a few short years – a market once dominated by imports. And that’s why the premier wanted to visit, as part of the first leg of her southwestern Ontario tour. “I’m impressed with the way the Koskamps found a niche,” she said, after a relaxed half-hour tour of the buffalo milking parlour, and some friendly photos with the farm family. “This is the way we’ll grow the agri-food sector in Ontario. We need to be smarter than others, we need to innovate.” Agriculturally, she’d

COMPETIVENESS | 19

ROBERTS | 19

The federal government announced last week they’ll contribute $348,090 to promote the competitiveness of sheep and lamb production in Ontario, like at the Schill’s Wallenstein farm, home to these sheep. WHITNEY NEILSON Sheep farmers in Ontario received a boost from the federal government last week as they pledged $348,090 to combine sheep and lamb production assurance systems under the Food Safe Farm Practices Program, with the intention to support food safety, animal welfare, and biosecurity. Kitchener-Conestoga MP Harold Albrecht was on hand at Romy and Ryan Schill’s Wallenstein sheep farm to make the announcement. “I’m really pleased to be here today on a farm,

where I feel most comfortable. I grew up on a farm, still have a 75-acre farm,” Albrecht said. The funds are part of the five-year Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada AgriMarketing Program, which designates up to $341 million to agriculture projects, under Growing Forward 2. GF2 is made of three federal programs; AgriInnovation, AgriMarketing and AgriCompetitiveness, and was created in 2013. Albrecht notes in 2014 Canadian farm tax receipts for sheep and lambs totaled nearly $157 million. “That’s a big number. I would never have esti-

mated it was that high,” Albrecht said. “To see that number is great. Nearly half of those dollars, or $69 million, come from sheep farmers right here in Ontario. The future continues to look very bright for this industry.” He says this initiative will help the Canadian Sheep Federation take their quality assurance programs to the next level by providing producers with an integrative farm practice program to meet the demands of buyers, retailers, and consumers. “Healthier animals and safer handling systems mean stronger profits for

producers, improved safety on the farm and better animal welfare,” Albrecht said. This sort of recognition is especially important for people like the Schills, who have some 300 sheep on their farm with plans to expand in the next few years. Their barn used to be for beef cattle and pigs, but they rebuilt it when they decided to make sheep their livelihood. The sheep are sold for breeding or for meat. More than 600 lambs are born on their farm each year. “Instead of sending farmers subsidy cheques to keep going we want to invest in the competitiveness

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VENTURE | 19

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

COMPETIVENESS: Getting in on the growth FROM | 18

reviewed and accepted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as a creditable national on-farm food safety program for the sheep industry as part of their food safety recognition program. “The CSF’s mission is to work closely with all levels of government and industry-related organizations to further the viability, expansion and prosperity of the Canadian sheep and wool industries,” Scott said.

“The Canadian Sheep Federation develops programs for the Canadian sheep industry that have a natural approach and is pleased to launch a project to expand the industry’s national on farm food safety program, the Food Safe Farm Practices Program.” Census data shows there were 492 farms in Woolwich Township and 502 in Wellesley Township in 2011. According to Statistics Canada 70 per cent of farms in the region were

livestock, with 37 per cent of those being cattle. Sheep and goat farms increased slightly from 2006 (from 30 to 35 farms), while hog and pig farms decreased significantly, dropping to 99 farms from 185 in 2006. “Over the next 40 years world demand for meat is expected to grow by 60 per cent. That’s very encouraging,” Albrecht said. “However, to meet this demand we’ll need to be as innovative and efficient and productive as we can be.”

Ryan and Romy Schill showed off their sheep farm to CSF vice-chair Rob Scott (left) and Kitchener-Conestoga MP Harold Albrecht (right), along with the help of their sons Cameron and Emerson (middle). [WHITNEY NEILSON / THE OBSERVER]

ROBERTS: Building local supplies for imports or finding a niche help producers tap into the market FROM | 18

been from one extreme to the other that day, having earlier visited the Frito Lay plant in Cambridge. There, she announced $3 million in support to the company, through Ontario’s Rural Economic Development program, to help owner PepsiCo Foods Canada modernize the plant and keep 550 jobs in Cambridge. She’d taken some grief online for that announcement, from critics who said she was subsidizing junk food. But she wouldn’t bite. “The company buys local potatoes that get turned into food eaten by Ontarians,” she said. Indeed, most of the potatoes that become Lay’s chips in Ontario come from Alliston and Leamington. The premier is looking for companies big and small, from Frito Lay to

Koskamp Farms, to answer the challenge she issued two years ago to the agrifood sector. Back then, she called for a doubling of the sector’s annual growth rate and the creation of 120,000 new jobs by 2020. Progress is being made. Food and Beverage Ontario reported just prior to its annual meeting this week in Toronto that exports from the province’s 3,000 processors have risen 12 per cent over the past two years. Those now total $7.6 billion, the organization said. The province’s food sector believes a lot of opportunity exists domestically to replace imports. Over the same two-year period that exports have risen, imports have jumped a whopping 20 per cent. But circling back to the purpose of the premier’s visit, import replacement

is what companies such as Koskamp and Frito Lay have both done, in different ways. Koskamp is directly replacing imports, while Frito-Lay is making sure imports stay at bay. Countrywide, though, processors can hardly replace imports with homegrown products if interprovincial trade is tied up in red tape and crushing regulations. Recently, in Toronto, provincial internal trade ministers gathered to proclaim they were going to work together to enhance and modernize the 20-year-old framework that oversees trade in Canada. It’s frustrating to think how much opportunity has been lost because we protect provincial borders against each other. It’s nonsensical to simultaneously lecture other countries that

304

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their food exports are unwelcomed when we don’t have our own act together. The provincial trade ministers say they’ll have some resolve to their

situation by March. Is that soon enough, given how trade talks are swirling all around us? I don’t think so. Interprovincial trade barriers prevent Canadians from

enjoying local food from other provinces. Plus, they stall innovation and new opportunities of all sizes – from buffalo mozzarella to BBQ chips.

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20 | THE ARTS

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

THE ARTS THEATRE / BEHIND THE SCENES

ECT seeking new rehearsal space Pending sale of current home comes as Elora Community Theatre begins auditions for its fall production WHITNEY NEILSON Big changes are on the horizon for Elora Community Theatre. Big changes they weren’t expecting, like losing their rehearsal space come the end of July. ECT president Deb Stanson says they found out last week the building they’ve been rehearsing in for the last year has been sold. Now, they’re looking to the community for help finding a suitable space for a group who’s got a busy season coming up. “I sent out an email to the board and I must have got “OMG” at least five times,” Stanson said. “It’s a lot because we’ve got 43 years worth of wonderful costumes, we’ve got flats and set pieces. It’s a lot to move and plus it’s costly as well.” They’re looking at two options, the first of which is a separate rehearsal space and storage area. Ideally, they’d like to have it all in one place again. “We used to be at the Elora Centre for the Arts. We just had a room there, so of course all of our other stuff is located around the countryside and our costumes room is located in someone’s basement. And she was selling her home so that’s what necessitated the move over to Gary Cooper’s. The building’s been up for sale for quite a while, so we figured we’d have at least a couple of years there,” Stanson explained. Their current rehearsal space was the first time in 43 years of ECT’s existence they’ve had everything

60s who is in the play and is very full of himself, very confident, very over the top. And then Beatrice who’s in her 60s is an actress in the play who is past her prime, but doesn’t think that she is. And then Lucinda who could be 30s, early 40s is the stage manager who is extremely OCD,” Reaume said. It takes place in New York City in modern day time. It follows actors in a rehearsal space and explores what happens during rehearsal time. She says it will appeal to anyone who has worked in theatre. They’ll recognize the ups, the downs, the characters, and the personalities. But it will also appeal to anyone that goes to the theatre because they’ll get an inside look into what happens during rehearsal. “I heard about it when I was travelling down through the states and I liked the title to start with. And then I researched it and I could really identify with it,” Reaume said. “It’s a comedy but the characters all have warm hearts, kind places, so it’s not just about the funny lines, but it’s actually about their emotions and their feelings. It really appealed to me. And because I’ve worked in the theatre for many years I could identify with a lot of it.” Before ECT gets into that production though, they’ve got two weeks of Shakespeare in the Park in downtown Elora, starting on July 10. Tom Dudzick’s Don’t Talk to the Actors runs in November, followed by

2015

Sunday Night

CONCERT SERIES

Elora Community Theatre is busy preparing for Shakespeare in the Park this July, while also looking for a new rehearsal space given the pending sale of the group’s current location. [SUBMITTED] Christmas Cabaret in December. The Drawer Boy will open in February and they’ll end their season in May with Little Women.

“We always work it out one way or another,” Reaume said. “We’re very adaptable. If we have to rehearse in my house until we find

something or my backyard or someone’s garage, we work it out.” “The show must go on as they say,” Stanson said.

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under one roof. They could rehearse and build their sets in the same place. They have a couple leads on new locations, but nothing definite yet. “We’ve been nomads, so the longest we’ve been anywhere was we used to rent space right at the corner of Mill and Metcalfe, right across from the Metcalfe Inn,” Stanson said. “It used to be the Odd Fellows Hall, so we had the whole top floor there for 12 years. And then they sold the building so we’ve kind of been on the move since then. That would have been in 1999.” They’ve had access to a barn for more than 30 years where they’ve been able to store some stuff, but it’s not ideal for keeping everything, since it’s not heated and animals do go through it. With auditions coming up this month for their fall production of Don’t Talk to the Actors, it’s essential they find a space as soon as possible so they can start rehearsing in August. Auditions run June 21 and June 23 at 7 p.m. at the old auto showroom across from the Elora Quarry, their current rehearsal space. Director Nancy Reaume says they need three men and three women of varying ages to fill the roles. “There’s a man who is the actual playwright, his name is Jerry and he’s in his 30s. His girlfriend, who’s not really a theatre person but is along with them, her name is Arlene. She’s 25 to 30. Mike, who is the producer is in his 50s. Curt is in his

CLASSIFIED | 21

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

CLASSIFIED HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

THURSDAYS BY 10AM

HELP WANTED

AUCTION

DO YOU WANT?

We currently have an opening for:

Office Administrator /Inside Sales This full-time position includes: • Purchasing office and shop materials • Maintaining sales orders and related documentation • Communicating sales orders and work orders with co-workers • Scheduling shipping • Answer phone calls and quote customers • Work hours are 7:00am – 5:00pm Monday-Friday To Apply, please forward resume to Credit Valley Steel Products 6393 Yatton Sideroad Wallenstein, ON N0B2S0 Or email: Sales@CVSP.ca

7877 WELLINGTON RD. 8 P.O. BOX 248 DRAYTON, ON. N0G 1P0

Service & Installation Manager

We currently have an opening for:

Tri-Mech Inc. is a mechanical company specializing in Gas Fitting, Hydronic Heating, Geothermal, Furnaces, Air Conditioning, Sheet Metal, and High Pressure Cleaning Systems. We service agricultural, light commercial and residential systems. Applicants should be able to work with minimal supervision, have good customer relation skills and general computer skills. Duties could include, but not limited to, scheduling jobs, service management, safety management, and customer service. A general knowledge of mechanical equipment is an asset.

Truck Driver (DZ)

This fulltime position will involve safe operation of a bag unit or bulk hopper bottom unit week days (Monday to Friday) with an occasional Saturday shift. The successful applicant will have • A valid commercial driver’s license • Strong oral and written communication skills • Ability to develop effective work relationships with co-workers, and • Ability to represent the Company positively with customers.

Tri-Mech offers competitive wages and health benefits.

At Floradale Feed Mill Limited we take pride in providing the finest in quality feeds and service to our customers in the livestock and poultry industries. Therefore, a background in agriculture is considered an asset.

We appreciate all that apply but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

To apply, forward your resume to: Brian Chamberlain, Operations Manager Floradale Feed Mill Limited 2131 Floradale Road, Floradale, ON N0B 1V0 Or e-mail: brianc@ffmltd.com

7877 WELLINGTON RD. 8 P.O. BOX 248 DRAYTON, ON. N0G 1P0

HVAC Installer or Apprentice Shipping and Receiving Manager SMB Mfg in Wallenstein, ON is looking for a full-time Shipping and Receiving Manager. Duties include: Managing a busy warehouse to fill orders on a timely basis, Scheduling daily shipments with trucking companies and customers, Loading/unloading trucks, and Supervising shipping department staff.

Tri-Mech offers competitive wages and health benefits. Applicants are invited to submit a letter of application or resume by fax to 519-638-3342, or by email to jobs@trimech.ca

Contact hr@smbmfg.com or 519-669-1537 ext. 103 and leave a message.

HELP WANTED CREW HANDY PERSON required, with landscaping skills. Drop off resume 426 Albert St. Waterloo, or fax 519-746-7848. ELMIRA AREA DAIRY farm looking for part time help with evening chores year round and other farm work on some days during summer. 519-669-8870.

The Township of Wellesley Requires a Full Time Permanent

Building Inspector/ Plans Examiner See our website for further details at www.wellesley.ca/employment

We appreciate all who apply but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Tri-Mech Inc. is a mechanical company specializing in Gas Fitting, Hydronic Heating, Geothermal, Furnaces, Air Conditioning, Sheet Metal, and High Pressure Cleaning Systems. We service agricultural, light commercial and residential systems. Applicants must be able to work with minimal supervision, and have good customer relation skills. Certifications are an asset but not a requirement.

The right person will be detail oriented, thorough in the completion of documents and maintain an organized, clean and safe working environment.

FULL TIME HELP wanted at Schnurr’s Grocery in Linwood. Call 519-698-2370. HELP WANTED FOR 4 days a week at The Corner Store in Linwood. Job includes kitchen and retail duties. Call 519-698-2600.

Employment Opportunity DZ Truck Driver

HELP WANTED PART TIME RETAIL Clerk with sales and customer service experience required for Thurs., Sat., & Sun. Drop off resume 426 Albert St. Waterloo or fax to 519-7467848.

HEALTH CARE BOWEN THERAPY YOUR choice for effective treatment of specific health conditions or wellness maintenance. KEVIN BARTLEY, Professional Bowenwork Practitioner, Clock Tower Wellness Centre, 69 Arthur St. S., Elmira. 519-669-0112. Every Body is Better with Bowen!

A wide range of jobs? Welding? Millwrighting? Assembly? Blueprint reading? Inside work? Outside work? Responsibility?

Floradale Feed Mill Limited is an independent, family owned and operated feed company serving livestock and poultry producers in Ontario.

Applicants are invited to submit a letter of application or resume by fax to 519-638-3342, or by email to jobs@trimech.ca

HOW TO REACH US

CLASSIFIED DEADLINE:

Then you should be working for us. WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

Construction or Industrial Millwrights Millwright Leadhands 3-4 Years Experience 2nd & 3rd Year Apprentices, Will consider new apprentices Assets:

• Arc Welding • Blueprint Reading • Agricultural background • Leadership Ability • Must be able to pass CWB Welding Test SMAW all position

WE OFFER: • Competitive wages • Company uniforms • Pension plan • Company benefits Apply in person between 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. OR fax or e-mail resume to:

We are currently searching for a selfmotivated person to join our team.

M&G MILLWRIGHTS LIMITED

We require a person with a positive work attitude, strong customer service skills, and the ability to work independently as well as in a team environment.

R.R.#1 Reg. Rd. 19

(1540 Floradale Rd.) Elmira, ON

Candidates must have a clean Abstract / CVOR.

519-669-5105

fax: 519-669-1450 email: bob@mgmill.com

Please forward Resume (including abstract) to:

We thank all applicants for their interest but only those considered will be contacted.

dmacleod@eldoradoplywood.ca

FOR SALE LUXURY MODEL MOBILITY Scooter, new, used once. Many features. $2500. or best offer. Floradale. Ph. 519-638-0572.

RENTALS 1 BEDROOM MODERN apartment, close to downtown. Secured entrance, free laundry, A/C, gas stove, lots of closet space. Call Hugh at 519-669-5533 after 6PM available August 1st.

RENTALS BRIGHT, SPACIOUS 1BEDROOM apartment in quiet, adult building. Seeking non-smoking mature tenant. Close to downtown. Laundry, parking. Phone 519-669-3423.

CONTINUED ON PG. 22

PHONE 519.669.5790 | TOLL FREE 1.888.966.5942 | FAX 519.669.5753 | ONLINE WWW.OBSERVERXTRA.COM

ADDRESS 20-B ARTHUR ST. N., ELMIRA, ON N3B 1Z9

CLASSIFIED ADS

DISPLAY ADS

519.669.5790 EXT 0

519.669.5790 EXT 104

ads@woolwichobserver.com

sales@woolwichobserver.com

RESIDENTIAL COST $7.50 /20 WORDS EXTRA WORDS 20¢ PER WORD

COMMERCIAL COST $12.00 /20 WORDS EXTRA WORDS 30¢ PER WORD

PLACING A CLASSIFIED WORD AD In person, email, phone or fax submissions are accepted during regular business hours. Deadline for Saturday publication is Wednesday by 5 p.m. All Classified ads are prepaid by cash, debit, Visa or MasterCard. Ask about Observer policies in regard to Display, Service Directory and Family Album advertising.

22 | CLASSIFIED

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

CONTINUED FROM PG. 21 RENTALS ELMIRA - 3 Bedroom/upstairs apt. Available immediately. Includes utilities and single car garage plus outside parking. Close to downtown. $1100.00 monthly. Call Mildred or Len Frey to view. 519-669-1544 or call direct, Mildred 519-747-0231.

TRADES & SERVICES RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL Mortgages with the best rates and terms to suit you. Call Suzanne at Dominion Lending Centres 866-244-3289.

FAMILY ALBUM ANNIVERSARY

ANNIVERSARY

Happy 60 th Anniversary

Happy 80th Birthday

Sidney & Martha Brubacher June 18, 1955

OBITUARY Martin, Lloyd

Doug Uhrig

Peacefully passed away surrounded by his family on Friday, June 12, 2015 at Sakura House, RR 5, Woodstock at the age of 90 years. Loving husband of Minerva (Brubacher) Martin, and was predeceased by his first wife Dorothy Martin in 1991. Dear father of Sharon Brubacher of Elmira, Joyce and Mark Erb of Tavistock, Dale and Sharon Martin of Elmira. Grandfather of Tamara Lobo, Jeffrey and Danielle Brubacher, Jonathan and Samantha Erb, Sara Erb, Kieran Martin, Jackie and Randy Bauman, Michael Martin and friend Kaila Kutchaw and his 7 great grandchildren. Stepfather of Gordon Brubacher and Donna of Elora, Lorne and Carol Brubacher of Tillsonburg, Doreen and David Frey of Kitchener, James Brubacher of Waterloo and Kenneth Brubacher of Elora and remembered by his 11 stepgrandchildren. Brother of Seleda and Oscar Martin, Viola Brubacher, Agnes and Henry Weber. Predeceased by his parents Amsey and Sarah Martin, brother-in-law Leonard Brubacher. The family received their relatives and friends at the Dreisinger Funeral Home, Elmira on Monday, June 15, 2015 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral service was held at Crystal View Mennonite Church, Floradale on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at 2 p.m. followed by interment in Crystal View Mennonite Cemetery. In lieu of flowers donations to Sakura House or Christian Aid Ministries would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.

GARAGE SALES

RENTALS FOR SENIOR FEMALE - 2 bedroom or rent a room. Shared kitchen/laundry 1/2 bungalow house. 519-5741489. MOOREFIELD - ONE bedroom apartment, furnished or unfurnished. Patio, laundry facilities, parking, electric heat, cable tv. No pets, adult building. References. $775.00 inclusive. First & last. 519-638-3013.

COMM/ INDUSTRIAL FOR RENT INDUSTRIAL UNIT - For lease or rent. M-2 zoning, 2640 ft2, 16’x16’ electric OH door. 600V, 600 Amp service, gas radiant heat, natural and energy efficient lighting. Please call 519-669-8776 for details.

ANNUAL MULTI FAMILY Garage Sale. 26 Hampton St. Elmira. Fri. June 19, 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.; Sat. June 20, 8 a.m. noon. Antique reclining chair, Hammond organ, toys, many household items. STREET SALE - 7+ homes. Northside Dr. St. Jacobs. 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. Sat. June 20th. Bar stools, French country table and chairs, rubber boots, kid’s stuff, sports, 1930’s swim suits.

STORAGE STORAGE TRAILERS: 53 foot dry van storage trailers for sale or rent all with barn doors. Several available. Delivered or pick up. Call David at 519-465-8723.

June 25, 2015 His family invites you to an Open House Sunday June 28, 2015 2-4 pm Bloomingdale United Church Love your Children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren xo xo

860 Sawmill Road Bloomingdale, Ontario Best Wishes Only

GRADUATION

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Congratulations, Alex!

for

Doug Ratz June 27, 2-4 p.m.

AUCTIONS

AUCTION SALE

Of 2010 Pontiac G5, riding lawn mower, household effects, antiques and miscellaneous items, to be held at 2 Phoebe Crescent in Elmira (off Kingfisher in Birdland), for the Jean Letson Estate, on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24TH @ 4:00 P.M.

CAR & MISC. ITEMS: 2010 Pontiac G5, 4 cyl.

4 door, red, 85,000km, 1 owner, selling safetied & e-tested, good condition. Bolens G16XT – 16hp riding lawn mower, good running order. Invacare Pegasus 4 wheel electric scooter – excellent. Powerback 5200 watt generator, good. Assortment of hand & power tools (including Husky socket sets). Tool chests. Battery powered lawn mower. Portable air compressor. Pressure washer. Featherlite & other ladders. Propane furnace. Small water heater. Garden tools, etc.

HOUSEHOLD: MOFFAT propane stove. 3pc. queen oak bedroom suite (Snider’s furniture). Double bed. La-Z-Boy green leather recliner. Ext table & 6 chairs. 6pc. wicker set, like new. Upholstered furniture. 2pc. sofa & loveseat (tan). Coffee & end tables. Patio furniture. Panasonic Viesa 42in. TV. Samsung 32in. TV with wall mount. Electronics. Electric fireplace. Classic water dispenser (hot & cold). China, glass & other household goods. ANTIQUES: OAK china cabinet. Dresser.

Dressing table. Parlour table. Colonial phonograph. Crosley floor model radio. Table top radio. Coca-Cola door push, good. Small porcelain Star Weekly & Salada signs. New Haven weight clock. Ansonia steeple clock. Oil lamps. Lantern. Brassware. Cast iron pieces. Counter scale. O’Keefe & Labatt’s clocks.

Celebration of Life

Join us to share stories, laughter and memories of Doug. Doug and Jenny Martin proudly announce the graduation of their son, Alexander Mackenzie Martin. Alex graduated from the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus, with an Associate Diploma in Agriculture. We are proud of your accomplishments Son. Your hard working ethics will take you far.

Woolwich Memorial Centre 24 Snyder Ave. South Elmira, Ontario (casual dress)

www.dreisingerfuneralhome.com OBITUARY

All who knew Doug are welcome

We wish you great success in your future endeavors.

Conrad, Cynthia

DEATH NOTICES

IN MEMORIAM

CHADBOURNE, DONALD | “Chaddy” Of Fisherman’s Cove, passed away at Kincardine Hospital on Monday, June 15, 2015 at age 79. Local relatives are his daughter Tracey (Doug) Mooder and their children Chase and Delaney of Elmira.

In Loving Memory

DENTON, SHIRLIE (NEAL, HUMBY) | It with great

sadness that we announce the peaceful passing of Shirlie Joyce Denton on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at Grand River Hospital, born May 3, 1930. MARTIN, ADEN M. | Peacefully on Friday, June 12, 2015 at his home RR 2, Wallenstein, at the age of 79 years.

Michelle Krasovec To the most beautiful wife, best friend and mother. Michelle, it is hard to believe a year has already passed since you were called to heavens gate. It feels like only yesterday we could walk through the door and be surrounded by your radiance. Your laugh, smile and passion for life is what we all miss the most. Although tears flow when we realize we can not see or hold you now, we also know that you are walking, dancing and cooking up a storm once again. And for that we smile. We deeply miss you and will forever love you. Tony, Zack and Janessa, Cam and Vanessa

DEADLINE FOR FAMILY ALBUM IS WEDNESDAYS BY 5PM

Passed away surrounded by her loving family on Friday, June 12, 2015 at Grand River Hospital. Cynthia (McDonough) Conrad in her 65th year was the beloved wife for almost 45 years of Murray Conrad of Elmira. Loving mother of Kimberly and Derek Martin and Christine and Chris Allison all of Elmira. Caring Grandma of Cole and Katie Martin and Octavia and Odessa Allison. Sister of Pauline Baker of Durham, Gloria and Stefan Schader of Stouffville, Linda Halley of Toronto, John McDonough of Arthur, Heather and Fred Ball of Elmira. Predeceased by her parents John and Edna McDonough and her brother Francis McDonough. The family received their relatives and friends at the Dreisinger Funeral Home, Elmira on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. where the funeral was held in the funeral home chapel on Wednesday, June 17, 2015 at 11:30 a.m. Interment in the Elmira Union Cemetery. In Cynthia’s memory, donations to St. Mary’s Cardiac Care or Grand River I.C.U. would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.

www.dreisingerfuneralhome.com

NOTE – An interesting auction. See

www.auctionsfind.com/gerber for photos. Executors and auctioneers not responsible for accidents day of sale. Terms – Cash or cheque with I.D.

AUCTIONEERS:

Gerber Auctions Ltd.

519-699-4451 or 698-0138 2827 Hutchison Rd., RR#1 Millbank (Crosshill)

MAKE YOUR OWN

HEADLINES

IN THE COMMUNITY.

THE OBSERVER FAMILY ALBUM IS HERE TO SHARE YOUR FAMILY NEWS.

CLASSIFIED | 23

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

OBSERVER SERVICE DIRECTORY AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES

TIRE

THOMPSON’S

Complete Collision Service

WHERE TIRES

Auto Tech Inc.

ARE A

SPECIALTY, NOT A SIDE LINE.

Providing the latest technology to repair your vehicle with accuracy and confidence.

101 Bonnie Crescent, Elmira, ON N3B 3G2

519.669.8330

Farm • Auto • Truck Industrial On-The-Farm Service

FAX: 519.669.3210

35 Howard Ave., Elmira

AFTER HOURS

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SPACE FOR RENT

GENERAL SERVICES

Various sizes & rates

CLEAN • DRY • SECURE Call

519-669-4964

100 SOUTH FIELD DRIVE, ELMIRA

REDMOND AUCTION SERVICES Shawn Redmond AUCTIONEER

Boat Covers | Air Conditioner Covers | Small Tarps Storage Covers | BBQ Covers | Awnings & Canopies Replacement Gazebo Tops | Golf Cart Enclosures & Covers •Ratches, Hooks, Straps, Webbing etc. •Canvas, Vinyl, Polyester, Acrylic Fabrics

General Repairs

shawntredmond@gmail.com

 WOOD  GAS  PELLET

519.595.4830

Elmira, ON

519-503-0601

6376 Perth Rd. 121 Poole, ON

CONESTOGO

FERGUS

1871 Sawmill Road

180 St. Andrew St. W.

519-664-3800

519-843-4845

877-664-3802

888-871-4592

www.fergusfireplace.com

GENERAL SERVICES

MUSIC-LOVER GIFT ALERT!

PROFESSIONAL BIKE MECHANIC ON STAFF

Buy your bike from us and get a FREE annual inspection!

COUNTR Y

’s 60’s / 70

HIGH SCHOOSL BAND

GOSPEL

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MUSIC TRANSFERS FROM LPs, 45s, 78s, CASSETTES TO CD

20

$

Your favourite albums get a whole new life on CD after we clean up the clicks, pops and surface noise.

PARTS EXTRA

MORE INFO | 519.669.0541

22 Church St. W., Elmira

Tel:519-669-5537

EMAIL: vinylp2cd@gmail.com

STORE HOURS: M-W: 8-6, TH-F 8-8, SAT, 8-6, SUN 12-5

RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING EFFORT!

TROPHIES | CUPS | PLAQUES | MEDALLIONS RIBBONS | NAME TAGS | NAME PLATES DOOR PLATES | CUSTOM ENGRAVING

QUICK LOCAL SERVICE | 245 Labrador Dr., Waterloo

www.UniTwin.com | 519.886.2102

BAUMAN PIANO

SPACE FOR RENT

BIKE SALES & REPAIRS

SERVICES TUNING & REPAIRS

JAMES BAUMAN Craftsman Member O.G.P.T. Inc NEW PHONE NUMBER

519-880-9165

HOME IMPROVEMENTS SERVICES “25 years in Business”

WINDOW FASHIONS

CONSTRUCTION INC. (519) 569-0772 • Commercial & Industrial General Contracting • Specializing in Concrete Work & Excavation • Retaining Walls

Free in-home Consultations. Call someone you can trust. Call Cindy.

info@trappconstruction.ca www.trappconstruction.ca

• • • •

Stamped Coloured Concrete Demolition Bin Service Machine Bases

A Brand You Can Trust 22 Church St. W., Elmira

Tel: 519-669-5537

Concrete Breaking & Removal

STORE HOURS: M-F: 8-8, SAT 8-6, SUN 12-5

WEICKERT& MEIROWSKI Concrete Foundations Limited

YES... WE DO RESIDENTIAL WORK!

6982 Millbank Main St., Millbank 519-595-2053 • 519-664-2914

HOME IMPROVEMENTS SERVICES

The Right Window Treatment Can

Save you

Blinds by Elite or Mera

In home consultations Wide selection of styles & fabrics 1011 Industrial Crescent St. Clements | 519-699-5411 www.LetUsFloorYou.ca

FREE

INSTALLATION When you buy 3 or more

Hours: M-F 8:30 - 5:30 Sat 9:00 - 3:00

• Residential • Commercial • Industrial

Randy Weber ECRA/ESA Licence # 7000605

Tel:

Evenings By Appointment

Fax:

519.669.1462 519.669.9970

18 Kingfisher Dr., Elmira

SPACE FOR RENT Your Business Here!

Advertise your business services in our service directory. Weekly exposure with fantastic results! Call Donna at 519.669.5790 Ext 104.

Ltd.

RESIDENTIAL & AGRICULTURAL

Driveways • Sidewalks • Curbs • Patios Finished Floors • Retaining Walls • Steps Decorative/Stamped and Coloured Concrete www.marwilconcrete.ca

519-577-0370

24 | CLASSIFIED

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

OBSERVER SERVICE DIRECTORY HOME IMPROVEMENTS SERVICES

AT YOUR SERVICE.

Wet Basement? Foundation Leaks Fixed Permanently Free Estimate Flexible Resin Injection • Professional Service • •

- Design and build -

We specialize in getting the word out. Advertise your business services in our directory. Weekly exposure with fantastic results! Call Donna at 519.669.5790 Ext 104.

Interior and Exterior Drainage Systems • Sump Pump Installation •

We Build our Reputation on your Foundation

AGRICULTURAL | RESIDENTIAL FRAMING • ROOFING RENOVATIONS • EAVESTROUGHS

(519) 746 6611 1 866 449 2228

Wayne Martin | 519-504-2016

visit us at: thecrackspecialists.com

darwayconstruction@icloud.com | Alma, ON

HOME IMPROVEMENT SERVICES COMMERCIAL • RESIDENTIAL

ST. JACOBS

GLASS SYSTEMS INC.

APPLIANCES – FURNACES – FIREPLACES AIR CONDITIONERS – WATER HEATERS SPRING SPECIAL ON AIR CONDITIONING TUNE UP $99, INSTALLED FROM $1999 FURNACES INSTALLED FROM $2499 FRIDGES $499, STOVES $399, WASHERS $399, DRYERS $369, FREEZERS $199 Come visit our show room FREE QUOTES 1 Union Street, Elmira

ehc@hotmail.ca (519)-669-4600

1553 King St. N., St. Jacobs, ON N0B 2N0

• Store Fronts • Thermopanes • Mirrors • Screen Repair • Replacement Windows • Shower Enclosures • Sash Repair TEL:

519-664-1202 / 519-778-6104 FAX: 519 664-2759 • 24 Hour Emergency Service

Steve Co.

Plumbing and Maintenance Inc.

John Schaefer Painting FREE ESTIMATES Interior/exterior Painting, Wallpapering & Plaster | drywall Repairs

RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL • INDUSTRIAL

For all your Plumbing Needs. 24 HOUR SERVICE Steve Jacobi

ELMIRA

519-669-3652

NOW ACCEPTING VISA OR MASTERCARD

AMOS R O O F I N G

INC

IRA HOME COMFORT M L E (519) 669-4600

• Specializing in residential re-roofs • Repairs • Churches A Family owned and operated business serving KW, Elmira and surrounding area for over 35 years.

WORKMANSHIP GUARANTEED

CALL JAYME FOR YOUR FREE ESTIMATE.

519-669-2251

519.501.2405 | 519.698.2114

36 Hampton St., Elmira

In Business since 1973 • Fully Insured

OUTDOOR SERVICES

519-669-1278

www.groprolawncare.com

SPACE FOR RENT

Since 1998

•Final grading •Lawn repair & complete seeding well equipped for large stoney areas •Spike Aerator/Overseeding •Natural & Interlocking Stone •Retaining Walls, Walks & Patios •Help for Top Water & Drainage issue

Murray & Daniel Shantz

ALMA, ONTARIO | PHONE: 519.846.5427

Outdoor

Services

> Commercial & Residential > Fully Insured > WSIB Clearance > Senior Discount

Lawn Maintenance Programs | Spring Clean-up Flower Bed Maintenance Programs Leaf Clean-up and Removal | Soil & Mulch Delivery & Installation | Snow Clearing & Removal | Ice Control 27 Brookemead, St, Elmira P: 519-669-1188 | F: 519-669-9369

kdetweiler@rogers.com

PRINTING | MAILING | SIGNAGE SERVICES

KEVIN DETWEILER

OWNER-OPERATOR

CLASSIFIED | 25

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

REAL ESTATE LISTINGS

CONSIDERING A MOVE? WE CAN HELP! A DONATION will be made with every home bought or sold by Alli, Paul or Sue.

June 20 , 1-3pm 102 Muscovy Dr., Elmira OPEN HOUSE Sat., th

$369,000 BACKING ON FARMLAND

SALES REPRESENTATIVE CALL DIRECT

519-577-6248 allibauman@rogers.com

SALES REPRESENTATIVE CALL DIRECT

519-503-9533 paul@remaxsolidgold.biz

SALES REPRESENTATIVE CALL DIRECT

226-750-9332

suewidemanhomes@gmail.com

Solid Gold Realty (II) Ltd., Brokerage Independently Owned and Operated

3 Arthur St. S., Elmira 519-669-5426

FAMILY COMMUNITY

Hawkesville - This beautifully maintained 3000 sq foot home features the following updates: new hickory custom kitchen, all windows & exterior doors, newer roof, furnace & a/c, cement pad for rec. vehicle next to driveway. No upgrades required for years! Small town living at it's best. Minutes from KW. MLS 1517094.

$257,500 PEACEFUL SETTING

$464,000 BACKING ON WALKING TRAIL

Elmira - You'll be impressed with this upgraded open concept Verdone home. With a gourmet kitchen open to the dinette, and family room with a gas fireplace. Walk out into the private back yard, backing on green space and enjoy the 4 year old salt water heated pool. MLS 1517611.

$469,000 COUNTRY SETTING

SO LD

Alli Bauman Paul Martin Sue Wideman

$524,900

SO LD

Elmira - Great location overlooking farmland. Welcoming entrance in this open concept home, equipped with huge kitchen and dinette open to great room with vaulted ceiling. Enjoy sunsets through the large windows or from the back patio while entertaining guests. Large 3 bedrooms and convenient upper floor laundry. MLS 1527694.

Wellesley - This home has original character, with all the updates including a high efficiency gas furnace, owned water heater, newer windows, completely rewired in 1992, and the exterior walls have been insulated making this an affordable home to operate. Relax on the back deck in your fully fenced yard in small town Wellesley, only 15 minutes from Waterloo. MLS 1527311.

$319,000 LARGE YARD

Elmira - Situated on a quiet street, close to schools, parks and rec centre, this 69 x 140 foot lot has a large private backyard. The main floor has 3 bedrms, a dining area off the kitchen, and an inviting living room with picture window. Huge rec room in the basement as well as a 3 pc bathrm and extra bedrm. Attached garage with inside entry. MLS 1527479.

$235,000 BUNGALOW ON QUIET STREET

$749,000 CUSTOM BUILT HOME

Linwood - Beautifully located in family friendly Village of Linwood - Only 15 minutes from Waterloo on a large lot. This home is equipped with a sunken living room, family room, main floor laundry, and separate dining room! Master bedroom with walk in closet and huge luxury ensuite with skylight. The dinette has a walkout to the back deck in the oversized back yard backing onto greenspace. Don't miss this property! MLS 1522429.

Heidelberg - Exceptional Custom Built 5 bedroom home boasts a 1500 square foot triple car garage with a drive through to the back yard. Situated on a 133 x 165 foot lot with a beautiful country view, enjoy relaxing on your back deck around the pool. MLS 1517249.

Drayton - Eat in kitchen, spacious living room, walk out from the master bedroom to the large back deck, this house would be a great starter home, or retirement spot. The finished basement includes 2 extra bedrooms and a 3 piece bathroom. Lots of room in the oversized shed for all of your outdoor toys at the back of the property. MLS 1521798.

$305,000 ATTENTION FIRST TIME BUYERS

$439,000 OPEN CONCEPT BUNGALOW

$234,900 4 BDRMS ON HUGE LOT!

Thinking About Selling? Call today and book a

FREE

HOME EVALUATION.

Elmira - This beautiful home is the opportunity you have been waiting for! This 1600 sq.ft semi detached home is bigger than it looks with a large eat in kitchen and walk out to the back deck into the fully fenced yard. Cozy up next to the gas fireplace in the living room or take the time to enjoy your finished basement. MLS 1527086.

Elmira - Make yourself at home in this beautiful bungalow. The master bedroom boasts 2 closets in the dressing area into the ensuite bath. With wet bar, games area, and a projector included, this rec room was made for entertaining or simply relaxing. MLS 1527515.

Rothsay - This century old home has been refinished top to bottom including new kitchen, bathrooms, deck, main floor laundry, poured concrete foundation, windows, siding, steel roof, electrical and plumbing. Situated on a huge 264’ x 132’ lot, enjoy the country view from the back deck. MLS1525051.

OBSERVER PUZZLE SOLUTIONS

BEST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

LIST YOUR HOME IN OUR CLASSIFIED SECTION TODAY! Call: 519-669-5790 or Visit: www.observerxtra.com

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26 | CLASSIFIED

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

REAL ESTATE LISTINGS

Bert Martin Re/max Solid Gold Realty (II) Ltd.,

R.W. THUR REAL ESTATE LTD.

BROKER

Brokerage

Independently Owned and Operated

DIRECT: 519-572-2669 3 Arthur St. S. Elmira OFFICE: 519-669-5426

45 Arthur St. S., Elmira

www.remaxsolidgold.biz

EMAIL: bert@remaxsolidgold.biz

FREE Market Evaluation NEW PRICE $449,900! Elmira two storey on large lot offers 4 bathrooms, 3+1 bedrooms, open concept main floor features ceramic & hardwood, two sided gas fireplace, centre island, finished basement with gas fireplace, new roof (2015), beautiful landscaping, fenced yard, stone patio. MLS. Call Bert to view. ELMIRA COMMERCIAL PROPERTY! NEW PRICE $239,900 One story building in down town core area offers great store front, natural light, lots of parking, air conditioned, basement storage, two bathrooms. Zoning allows numerous businesses. MLS. Call Bert to view.

BRAD MARTIN

BROKERAGE LET OUR 50+ YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WORK FOR YOU!

LINWOOD

JULIE

TRACEY

WILLIAMS Broker of Record, HECKENDORN Broker Sales Rep. MVA Residential Res: 519.669.1068 Res: 519.669.8629 Cell: 519.505.0627

WINTERBOURNE

519-669-2772 www.thurrealestate.com

WEST MONTROSE

$579,900

$629,000

$545,000

Unique custom built home overlooking farmland & greenspace. Main flr. is open concept w/’Chervin’ kitchen – huge island & walkin pantry. Fin. bsmt. w/heater floors & separate entry. MLS REDUCED.

ON THE WATER Unique property on 1.8 acres, siding to water and overlooking the countryside! Updated windows. Hdwd. flrs. In LR, DR & 2 bdrms. Ensuite bath. Gas fireplace in L.R. & wood F.P. in fin. rec. room. Updated kitchen.. W/O to deck & hot tub.

Lovely brick bungalow on a large lot. Lots of windows facing south. Main flr. fam. rm. w/fireplace. All rooms are spacious! Unfin. bsmt. w/walkup to garage. MLS

HERBERT ST.

ARTHUR ST. S.

HOBBY FARM

Your referrals are appreciated!

FIND YOUR DREAM HOME IN THE #1 COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IN ONTARIO

® 519.747.0231 (Office)

Near Alma. 11 acares, park-like grounds. Well maintained., 4 bdrm. home. Lge. kitchen & D>A> Bank barn for cattle and hogs. Det’d garage/shed. MLS

QUEEN ST.

BETWEEN ELMIRA & DRAYTON

PHOEBE CRESCENT

D L O $364,900 S

Tree lined street close to downtown. Addition at the back features a kitchen/dining area w/wo to deck. Main flr. LR, DR & den. 2 baths. Garage. MLS.

INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED

519.500.1865 (Direct)

Updated from top to bottom! Everything on one level! Quiet street. Finished bsmt. 2 baths. A must see! MLS.

Lots of parking! Updated furnace, bathrms. shingles, cupboards. 2 tiered deck & private back yd. Rec.rm. & 4th bdrm. MLS

D L O S $279,900

REALTY LTD., BROKERAGE

Dale R. Keller Sales Representative

410 Conestogo Road, Unit 210, Waterloo, ON N2L 4E2

www.KellerSellsRealEstate.com | dale@kellersellsrealestate.com

Renovated | Kitchener | $169,900 Bright spacious 3 bedroom townhouse condo. Great location near Fairview Mall. MLS Call Dale.

$539,900

$319,900

$355,900

BEEF FARM

BETWEEN ELMIRA & DRAYTON - ‘country setting’ backing to trees– no neighbours closeby! Main flr. laundry, fam. rm. & 3 pc. (addition). Workshop under addition. W/O bsmt. 4+ bdrms. MLS

D L O S $349,900 Spacious 3 bdrm. 2 bath home. 3 season sunroom. Updated kitchen. . Fin. bsmt. Great location. Double+ garage w/ furnace & LOTS OF PARKING! MLS REDUCED.

148 ACRES, north of Alma. Approx. 325 head of cattle. Newer barn. TWO houses. 3 silos. TMR mixer. Lge. machinery shed. MLS $2,250,000.

CALL FOR YOUR FREE MARKET EVALUATION

PRIVATE SALE

Model Home | $371,900 Enjoy the covered deck out back this summer with walk out from both dining area and master bedroom. This bright open concept custom home by Verdone is sure to please the discriminating buyer looking for a bungalow on a generous sized lot .Gourmet kitchen and ceramic and hardwood floors. Other models and lots to choose from.MLS Call Dale.

Drayton | NEW PRICE | $337,000 A lot of house for the money. Large 4+1 bedroom, with walk-out finished basement, huge master and ensuite, separate detached insulated and wired workshop, above ground pool, large fenced yard and more. This is a great value! Enjoy the pool this summer! MLS Call Dale.

Worth a Look | Drayton | $489,000

SOLD

For her - large 1/2 acre in town property with renovated 4 bdrm, 3 bth home, large front porch and rear deck, attached dble garage. For him - a detached dream workshop 2400 sq ft, chain hoist, hydraulic lift, air compressor and lines, insulated and heated, room for ALL your toys. MLS Call Dale.

Sale or Lease Elmira | $329,000 Commercial building, great exposure from 2 main streets, Arthur and Church, retail on main floor and large 2 bdrm upstairs. Upgraded and renovated 2011. Both up and down currently rented. Also available for lease. MLS Call Dale.

New Listing | Fergus | $327,000

SOLD

Open concept 4 bedroom home on a quiet court. Fenced yard. MLS. Call Dale.

For info on these or any other real estate enquiries, Call Dale

58 Duke St, Elmira

$329,000

Large, well maintained bungalow on beautiful, EXTRA LARGE lot landscaped with mature trees, perennials and flowering shrubs. Recent upgrades include: hardwood flooring, carpets, bathrooms. MLS X3209218.

MOVE IN READY! Call 519-669-1252 or 519-669-2646

PRIVATE SALE OPEN HOUSE | Sunday, June 21 | 2-4pm

SUBMIT YOUR

SCORES ONLINE www.observerxtra.com/forms/submit-your-scores/

4 Bedrooms with Double Car Garage

$488,900 77 Porchlight Drive, Elmira. 4 Bedroom, great family home on 44.7 x 120 feet deep lot. MLS-X3227563. *Buyer’s agent welcome*

Call 226-266-6929 • View comfree.com (No. 613848)

Baseball, Soccer, Karate and more … Share your victories with our community!

CLASSIFIED | 27

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

HAVING A LITTLE FUN TO WRAP UP THE YEAR AT EDSS

EDSS held its final assembly on June 12 with a dance-off between the incoming and outgoing student council co-presidents, Tyler Townsend and Ryan Bauman, and Sydney Jones and Quinn Docherty, and musical accompaniment from Karley Sider.

[WHITNEY NEILSON / THE OBSERVER]

Safety concerns prompt changes to concession area outside Wellesley arena WHITNEY NEILSON Concerned parents will be relieved to hear Wellesley council is addressing the issue of kids running into the street at

the Wellesley arena to get to the new outdoor concession stand. The concession stand, operated by the Millstream Market and Grill, was approved for a trial period

starting May 24 and running until October 2 to sell ice cream and other frozen treats. And it’s been a big hit so far, the only problem being children crossing the road

from the picnic table area to get to the ice cream vendor, often without looking. After hearing from a concerned family, Mayor Joe Nowak went to the park one weekend to see for himself.

REAL ESTATE LISTINGS

HAPPY Elmira Real Estate Services

INDEPENDENTLY OWNED & OPERATED, BROKERAGE

FATHER’S DAY!

Bonnie

Shanna

Brubacher

Rozema

BROKER OF RECORD

BROKER

“HELPING YOU IS WHAT WE DO.” 90 Earl Martin Dr., Unit 4, Elmira N3B 3L4

519-669-3192 | www.YourFamilyTeam.ca

OPEN HOUSE | SAT & SUN • 1-3PM • OR BY APPOINTMENT • Executive Freehold Townhomes • 2 Bungalows remaining in Phase 2 • 1424 sq ft mainfloor • Double car garage • Mainfloor Master +ensuite • Loft plans available for last phase Exclusive

AFFORDABLE BUNGALOW $267,000

PRICED FROM $322,900 | 162 Ridgeview Dr., Drayton

ELMIRA Solid home in good condition, 2 bdrms, 2 baths, updates include: windows, kitchen, flooring, bath, family rm with walkout to yard. Steps to downtown. NEW MLS.

PARK-LIKE SETTING $597,000

ELMIRA Private backyard oasis surrounded by mature trees, large inviting deck, 4 bdrm cape cod, 4 baths, newer kitchen w/granite & built-in appl's, sought after cul-de-sac location. MLS.

NEW LISTING!

UPDATED CONDO $229,900

NORTH WATERLOO Lovely 3 bdrm end unit, newer flooring, paint, furnace, c/air, 4 appliances incl., finished basement w/gas FP., carport, walkout to deck. NEW MLS.

“I did sit there, there was a couple sitting on the park bench with a little two-year-old. He got a little antsy and before you knew it he was on the road,” Nowak said. Director of facilities Brad Voisin said he had a line painter come in to repaint the speed bumps as bright as possible to make them stand out, and do the rest of the parking lot too. “I’ve now ordered some white composite vinyl fencing, 12 feet on each side of the sidewalk that goes up to it and this will run in front of the picnic tables. So it should stop anything like that,” Voisin said. The fencing will be installed shortly, he added. You will now be able to access the concession stand from the side or directly in front of it. “But if they’re sitting in the picnic table area there will be a barrier to the road. I think that will definitely help. I’m not sure how you completely block it off. But I think that will delay what the mayor saw happen,” Voisin said. Coun. Carl Smit asked if people speeding through there was an issue. Coun. Shelley Wagner said it was

more an issue of little children who don’t look both ways before running across the street. “I think it was more the concern that there’s a lot of foot traffic that goes back and forth from getting ice cream. They’re concerned someone may get hit, not necessarily from speeding, just kids darting in and out,” Wagner said. Nowak noted he couldn’t help but be impressed by how much was happening at the park. “There’s got to be 1,000 people there. The ball diamonds were all in use, and the soccer fields were in use, and the splash park was going. It was incredible to see all the people.” And it seems giving the green light to an outdoor concession stand for the summer is working out favorably for both the business and residents. “I asked the attendants how’s business and they explained to me that as soon as the game’s over from that window they line up sometimes right around the corner, up towards the garage door. It’s going over very well,” Nowak said. He added, “The ice cream was very good, by the way.”

CPAC: Plan still awaiting final

NEW LISTING!

LOCATION LOCATION! $274,900

ELMIRA 174’ deep lot! Originally yellow brick home, now aluminum sided, 3 bdrms, 2 baths, gas furnace/06, re-insulated & drywalled, beautiful treed lined street. NEW MLS.

IMPRESSIVE HOME $344,900

D L O S

ELMIRA Great two storey home across from parkette.

1 ACRE LOT $119,900

DRAYTON 1.06 acre building lot mins outside of Drayton on paved road, buyer to satisfy permits, development charges, well & septic required. NEW MLS

ELMIRA FOR LEASE $900/Month + cam.

SMALL BUSINESS UNIT South end Industrial Park of Elmira. 1350 sq ft includes bay and office, back entrance w/overhead door - 22’ ceiling height in bay with additional space available. CALL for further details. MLS.

TIME FOR YOUR FREE SPRING MARKET HOME VALUATION! CALL TODAY!

decision from Woolwich council FROM | 3

committee has largely involved citizens who have been looking out for the community’s interests. Having made concessions to get Chemtura and the MoE back at the table, does the township have any guarantee they’ll stay? he asked. “We can only hope that they will stay at the table based on the [new] structure,” said Brenneman. “We hope that everyone will see an efficient and effective process, a process that will be professional, be respect-

ful and will be sticking to the point, which is how do we best ensure that the remediation and cleanup of the Elmira aquifer.” “What the independent chair will do is focus more on the technical aspects of things, focus on facts, and will help to take some of the personal and emotional aspects out of the committee,” added Coun. Mark Bauman, noting that getting the format they asked for should encourage Chemtura representatives to continue attending meetings.

28 | LIVING HERE

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

LIVING HERE CHEF’S TABLE/ DIERRE ACHESON

BRAIN POWER / COMING UP WITH A SYSTEM

You must remember this St. Clements’ Sutherland is mindful of what it takes to win the Canadian Memory Championships SCOTT BARBER Take a deck of cards. There are 52 unique cards, with numbers two through ten, four face cards, jack, queen, king and ace, and they’re all divided into four suits, heart, spade, diamond and club. Shuffle up the deck so the order is completely random. Now you’ve got five minutes to go through and memorize the order. How many could you then place down in the correct spot? The first dozen, maybe? Not even? On June 14, St. Clements native Greg Sutherland won the Canadian Memory Championships in Toronto by lining all 52 cards in perfect order after a record breaking two minutes and two seconds. The 26-year-old also set a new Canadian record in the random words category. “They give you a sheet of 400 words and there are 20 in each column and so basically you start at the top of column one and you try to memorize all 20 words in the proper order with the correct spelling and you try to do that for as many as you can.” In fifteen minutes, Sutherland was able to memorize 120 words in order, but misspelled one, and so he earned a winning score of 119. For most of us, who find ourselves heading upstairs only to forget what we were going to get or who can’t even remember what we had for lunch the day before, these feats are hard to

Strawberry season just in time for Dad’s big day RECIPE NOTES

way it keeps everything organized and you don’t mix two words up or forget anything.” For longer lists, like the one used at the competition, Sutherland uses the journey technique, which is similar, but instead of a house he visualizes a walk or a drive he knows well, placing words at landmarks. “Once I saw people doing it online I read up more about it and found sites that give you the basics,” he said. “It’s unique to every-

The strawberries are ready! The signs are up at the roadside and our mouths are watering. Strawberries, of course, are thought to be a dessert but surprisingly, work well in savoury applications. The berries are a lovely size to work with this summer and full of flavour. We have been serving berries and brie with red wine biscotti, a delicious addition to the menu for showers or special back yard events. This particular recipe came about with a salad we were making in the store, with fresh berries and brie, which led to a baked brie on a cedar plank. The creative process is an evolving experience, I’m so thankful, I never seem to get bored. Father’s Day and BBQ season go well together. The permeating smell of cedar as it bakes is a treat before the brie even hits the table. You will need to find an untreated cedar plank at the hardware store; some fancy food shops will have them, as well. Happy Father’s Day to all those amazing dads out there and to my hubby, who makes all this crazi-

MEMORY | 31

CHEF’S TABLE | 31

xxxxxxxxxxxx Greg Sutherland’s mind was put to the test as he captured the title at the Canadian Memory Championship in Toronto last weekend. fathom. But for Sutherland, who says he always thought of himself as having an average or normal memory, it’s all about practice. “I just saw it online, that people do random challenges like this and basically everyone says that anyone can do it,” Sutherland said. “Once I looked more into it I saw that it just comes down to practice. So at the time I was thinking about joining the army to become a pilot, so I had to do some really rigorous testing, so I thought if I had a better memory it would

certainly help me out.” He didn’t end up going down the path to the military, but he did really enjoy doing the memory exercises. And he found a system that worked exceptionally well. “The first challenge was to see if I could actually memorize a whole deck of cards,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to do it fast, I just wanted to see if I could do it.” Eventually, he got it in about 20 minutes. In the year or so since he started, that time has whittled

[SCOTT BARBER / THE OBSERVER]

down by 1,000 per cent. For the random words event, he uses what he calls a memory palace. “What that is, for example, you could think of your house,” he explained. “You know where your couch is and the TV is and the window and so forth, and so what I would do is think of a word and then think about it interacting with the door and the TV and I would put words at each location, so then when I need to recall them I just walk through the pathway and imagine everything in the same order and that

Tip of the week: Contaminants such as pollen, dust and mold spores can easily enter a vehicle’s passenger compartment through the A/C, heating and ventilation systems. This can make the air in the car 6 times dirtier than the air outside. It’s a good idea to have your cabin air filter changed regularly! – Gary

Tel: (519) 669-1082 Fax: (519) 669-3084

20 Oriole Parkway E., Elmira, ON

info@leroysautocare.net

www.leroysautocare.net

LIVING HERE | 29

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015 “A GOOD JOB DONE EVERY TIME”

Skilled craftsmanship. Quality materials. CONSTRUCTION STARTS HERE.

Kleensweep Carpet Care

3435 Broadway St. Hawkesville 519-699-4641

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COMMUNITY EVENTS CALENDAR

West Montrose, ON

T. 519.669.2033

COLLEEN

Cell: 519.581.7868

Truck & Trailer Maintenance Cardlock Fuel Management

COMMERCIAL 24 CARDLOCK FUEL DEPOT HOUR M&G MILLWRIGHTS LTD. • Design • Installation • Custom Fabrication

MATERIAL HANDLING & PROCESSING SYSTEMS

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KIN KORNER

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JUNE 20 WIENERS, WIENERS EVERYWHERE!!! DACHSHUNDS (Dashies) will descend upon Embro Ont. for Weinerfest. 9:30 a.m., Embro Community Recreational Centre, 355644 35th Line, Embro. This year is especially exciting as Crusoe the celebrity Dachshund will be joining us. For more information www.wienerfest.ca. WATERLOO 4H IS HOSTING 100th anniversary celebration of Ontario’s first 4-H club. BBQ and square dance at Steckle Heritage Homestead, 811 Bleams Rd., Kitchener. Tickets $10 adults; $5 for kids 7-12. For info, call Sharon Grose at 519-8469788 or visit www.waterloo4-h.ca. CRUISIN’ WITH THE STARS 2015 - Classic car show fundraising event with a variety of tribute artists performing throughout the day. Proceeds to support fundraising projects for the Linwood fire station, Linwood Recreation Committee and Linwood Rod & Gun. Admission $5 per person - 16 and under free. Linwood Recreation Centre, 5279 Ament Line, Linwood; 9 a.m. For more information visit our website - www. cruisinwiththestars.com. 7TH ANNUAL CAR SHOW & Shine, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Maryhill Community Centre. Wheelchair accessible. Car entry $10 per car - complimentary lunch voucher with each car. Admission $2 per person; $5 per family. Several awards as well as

E-MAIL: ads@woolwichobserver.com

People’s Choice Awards. Great BBQ food, door prizes & raffles, live band. All funds to local charities. For more information, call Doug Zinger at 519-648-2939. JUNE 21 HUNGRYMAN BREAKFAST SUPPORTING WOOLWICH Wolf Pack Soccer at the Elmira Legion, 11 First St. Anytime between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.. All you can eat. Adults $6; 6-10 yrs $3; 5 & under free. ELMIRA & DISTRICT HORTICULTURAL Society Bus Trip. August 20, 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., North Perth (Listowel area). Buffet salad lunch included. For more information please call Reta Weber 519-669-5330. JUNE 23 ELECTRONIC BINGO EVERY TUESDAY upstairs at the St. Clements Community Centre, 7 p.m. Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the Paradise & District Lions Club. For more information, please contact Joe Brick at 519699-4022. ALMA GOLDSTONE UNITED CHURCH Strawberry Social. Tickets sold at the door. Adults $14; children $5. Servings from 5-7 p.m. at the Alma Community Centre, 51 Simpson St. E., Alma. Need more information contact Ruth Grose 519846-5329.

JUNE 27 ALL COLOUR TRACTOR RUN leaving new Premier Equipment John Deere yard west of Elmira. Be there by 9:30 a.m. to unload and register. This is a FOOD & FUND($)raiser for local food bank. Dinner at The Crossroads, potluck evening gettogether. For more information call 519-6695079 or 519-669-4671.

Check Us Out Online! woolwichkin.com

ELMIRA & DISTRICT HORTICULTURAL Society Bus Trip. August 20, 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., North Perth (Listowel area). Buffet salad lunch included. For more information please call Reta Weber 519-669-5330. JUNE 30 ELECTRONIC BINGO EVERY TUESDAY upstairs at the St. Clements Community Centre, 7 p.m. Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the Paradise & District Lions Club. For more information, please contact Joe Brick at 519699-4022.

21 INDUSTRIAL DR. ELMIRA

519-669-2884

JULY 11 ELMIRA AND DISTRICT HORTICULTURAL Society’s annual fund-raising Garden Tour. 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Seven lovely gardens in Elmira. Tickets $10 each, available at Brian’s Photo, 57 Arthur St. S. Elmira. For more information contact Barb 519-669-8239 or barbs@rogers.com.

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SUBMIT AN EVENT The Events Calendar is reserved for Non-profit local community events that are offered free to the

public. Placement is not guaranteed. Registrations, corporate events, open houses and the like do not qualify in this section. 24-HOUR EMERGENCY SERVICE

TOTAL

NANCY KOEBEL

Bus: 519.744.5433 Home: 519.747.4388

Individual life insurance, mortgage insurance, business insurance, employee benefits programs, critical illness insurance, disability coverage,

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226-266-2432 pmerlihan@woolwich.ca @PatMerlihan www.merlihan.com WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE

PLACES OF FAITH | A DIRECTORY OF LOCAL HOUSES OF WORSHIP 9:30 am: Worship

building relationships with God, one another and the world

SUNDAYS - 9:00 & 11:00AM WEDNESDAYS - 7:00PM

St. James Lutheran Church

MACHINE WORKS INCORPORATED

COUNCILLOR | WARD 1 WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP

VERMONT Castings

652 Waterbury Lane, Waterloo

SANYO CANADIAN

PATRICK MERLIHAN

It’s time to call your Welcome Wagon Hostess.

YOUR OIL, PROPANE, NATURAL GAS AND AIR CONDITIONING EXPERTS

HOW CAN I HELP?

Pastor: Hans J.W. Borch Proclaiming Christ through Love and Service

60 Arthur St. S., Elmira 519-669-5591

NURSERY PROVIDED

SUNDAY SCHOOL

Zion Mennonite Fellowship -The JunctionSunday School 9:30am Worship Service 10:45am Finding The Way Together 47 Arthur St., S. Elmira • 519-669-3153 www.thejunctionelmira.com

Service at 10:30am Rev. Paul Snow

850 Sawmill Rd, Bloomingdale, ON N0B 1K0 (519) 744-7447 | kcf@kcf.org | www.kcf.org

33 Industrial Dr., Elmira 519.669.1591

HEARING ASSISTED

Sun., June 21st 11:00 am

Keys To Courage Speaker: Dale Ward

Discovering God Together

4522 Herrgott Rd., Wallenstein www.wbconline.ca • 519-669-2319

REACH OUT. KEEP FAITH ALIVE, ADVERTISE HERE.

REACH WITH LOVE. TEACH THE TRUTH. SEND IN POWER.

www.kcf.org/academy

Elmira Mennonite Church

290 Arthur St. South, Elmira • 519-669-3973 www.ElmiraAssembly.com (Across from Tim Horton’s)

58 Church St. W., Elmira • 519-669-5123

How To Handle Stress Sunday, June 21st

KEEP FAITH ALIVE, ADVERTISE HERE.

EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY CHURCH

Sunday, June 21, 2015 9:15 AM Service (@Woodside) 11:00 AM Service (@Conestoga Bible Camp)

REACH OUT. www.OBSERVERXTRA.com

Emmanuel

Worship: 9:30am

Father’s Day: Psalms that celebrate God as Father

SUNDAYS @ 10:30AM @ Park Manor School 18 Mockingbird Dr., Elmira • 519-669-1459 www.elmiracommunity.org

www.OBSERVERXTRA.com

Speaker: Pastor Stefan Konig 200 Barnswallow Dr., Elmira • 519-669-1296 www.woodsidechurch.ca

Worship Service

Sundays 10:45am

elmiraemmanuel.com

519.669.5030

Sunday School 9:45am Worship Service 11:00am Hopping Thursdays 7-8:30pm 22 Florapine Rd., Floradale • 519-669-2861 www.floramc.org

30 | LIVING HERE

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

STRANGE BUT TRUE / BILL & RICH SONES PH.D.

Given that there are 3 for every 1 of us, chickens are a key part of our diets WEIRD NOTES

Q. Sign on for this one

and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be traveling in â&#x20AC;&#x153;high style,â&#x20AC;? if not your highest ever, on top of the world and looking down on it. Do you know whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up?

A. If all goes as planned,

in 2016, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be able to book a flight in a heliumfilled balloon that reaches 100,000 feet up to the top of the atmosphere, report David Esher and Bill Andrews in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Discoverâ&#x20AC;? magazine. For $75,000 payable to Tucson, Arizona-based World View, you can board a 4.5-ton 19-by-12-by-9-foot luxury passenger cap-

sule for a five- to six-hour flight, complete with â&#x20AC;&#x153;light refreshments, a bar and an in-capsule lavatory for its eight passengers and crew.â&#x20AC;? Interested? Start saving your money now. Q. What would the world be like without any chickensâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;all 22 billion (22,000,000,000) of them?

A. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chickenless, we humans would face â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;a starving world,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? says molecular biologist Olivier Hanotte, as reported to Andrew Lawler in â&#x20AC;&#x153;New Scientistâ&#x20AC;? magazine. Close to onethird of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s meat supply and nearly all of its eggs would vanish, Lawler adds. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The chicken-human bond is ancient, forming roughly 3,000 years ago in the Pacific islands. To the

ancient Greeks, the bird was sacred to their god of healing,â&#x20AC;? and today chickens have become â&#x20AC;&#x153;staggeringly abundant, outnumbering all the pigs and cows on the planet combined.â&#x20AC;? There are now about three chickens for every person on the planet. Humans gobble about 100,000,000 tonnes of chicken meat and over 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) eggs annually. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On a single day this year, Superbowl Sunday, Americans ate an estimated 1.25 billion chicken wings.â&#x20AC;? Much of this is relatively recent: In 1950, Americans ate twice as much red meat as chicken; today, these numbers are reversed. This change is not necessarily a bad thingâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;actually, the chicken is a sort of â&#x20AC;&#x153;en-

vironmental hero.â&#x20AC;? Beef, which makes up about a quarter of the meat eaten in the U.S., would be a disastrous replacement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kilogram for kilogram, we would need to find over 1,000% more land for beef than is used to produce chickens.â&#x20AC;? Q. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in a name?â&#x20AC;? What if that which is named isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a person but a laboratory research animal?

facilities suggests that most of the 900,000 US research animals have proper names, including non-human primates, dogs, pigs, rabbits, cats and sheep.â&#x20AC;? There are monkeys Nyah, Nadira, Tas, Doyle, an octopus called Nixon and breeder mice pairs Brad and Angelina. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a mouse with a penchant for escape, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be Mighty Mouse or Houdini. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a nasty mouse youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be Lucifer or Lucifana.â&#x20AC;? Some scientists worry that names lead to anthropomorphizing that could trigger bias, while others feel that named animals may be tended to more carefully, making for better studies. For many researchers, naming is a practice whose time has

A. Such animals have been informally named after shampoos, candy bars, whiskeys, movie stars, superheroes, also Russians, colors, The Simpsons and historical figures, says Michael Erard in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Scienceâ&#x20AC;? magazine. Though scientists once shied away from doing this, â&#x20AC;&#x153;a look at many

come. Says Cindy Buckmaster, President of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I can count on one hand the people who say to me, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I work for somebody who tells me I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t name the animals.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;I ask them if they do it anyway, and they say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Yup.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Yet psychologist Matthew Novak believes that â&#x20AC;&#x153;naming not only changes our expectations, it changes what we see the animal doing.â&#x20AC;? So the debate continues, with no research directly backing up either side.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Bill is a journalist, Rich holds a doctorate in physics. Together the brothers bring you â&#x20AC;&#x153;Strange But True.â&#x20AC;? Send your questions to strangetrue@compuserve.com.

OBSERVER CROSSWORD PUZZLER ACROSS 1. Dog with a blue-black tongue 5. Looks for 11. Annoys 16. ___ lamp 17. Sighter of the Pacific Ocean, 1513 18. Render defenseless 19. Whipstitching 21. Record groove, e.g. 22. Wrist joint 23. Bricklayersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; equipment 24. Chemical cousin 25. Israeli parliament 27. Impending 29. Bleeding Gums Murphyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s instrument 30. Breakfast cereal 33. Jocksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; antitheses 34. Grade 37. Yank 38. During 40. Back 42. Dresdenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s river 46. Well-known

47. Express 48. British P.M. Tony 49. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Absolutely!â&#x20AC;? 50. Coastal raptor 51. Clumsy workaround 52. Corn serving 53. Very much 55. Extraterrestrial 59. Table clearer 61. Winged pea 64. Continent, e.g. 66. Dressing table 69. Mumbai native 70. Handbag 73. Verb with thou 74. Rewrites 75. Igneous rock 77. Buttocks 78. Kyoto companion 79. â&#x20AC;&#x153;... happily ___ afterâ&#x20AC;? 80. Glove material 81. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Finally!â&#x20AC;? 82. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fudge!â&#x20AC;?

DOWN 1. Timepieces 2. Cuban capital 3. Work up 4. Nintendo portals 5. Legal org. 6. Laundry basin 7. A chorus line 8. Bibliographical abbr. 9. Throat part 10. Decline 11. Tussling 12. Chant 13. Dairyman, e.g. 14. Damon, to Pythias 15. Common sense 20. USSRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s successor 24. ICQ 26. Give off, as light 28. Corner fit 31. It may get you to first base 32. Perceptions 35. Yemeni port 36. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Acidâ&#x20AC;? 38. Santa ___, Calif.

39. Delivery person? 41. Biting 42. Twelfth Hebrew month 43. One barely riding? 44. Famous 45. Poetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preposition 47. Words of action 48. Short order, for short 51. Knockout 52. All together 54. Stone Age tools 55. Martians and such 56. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ed Woodâ&#x20AC;? Oscar winner 57. Compose 58. Altered 60. Early online forum 62. Kind of bar 63. Back 65. Associate in Nursing 67. Doctor of sci-fi 68. Stationed 71. Drudgery 72. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Majorâ&#x20AC;? animal 75. ___ Khan 76. Pillbox, e.g.

OBSERVER TRAVELS

SUDOKU CHALLENGE LOCATION

Normandy, France

CAPTION In May, Martha McHale and Hildegard Geimer spent 10 days in France, where they visited Paris, Cannes, and Normandy. The Observer traveled with them to Mont Saint Michel, which is an island commune in Normandy, France.

HOW TO PLAY: Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9 only once. Each 3x3 box is outlined with a darker line. We have got you started with a few numbers already placed in the boxes.

LIVING HERE | 31

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015

EMSF MAKES $51,000 CONTRIBUTION TO COMMUNITY GROUPS

The Elmira Maple Syrup Festival committee doled out $51,000 June 11 at St. James Lutheran Church in Elmira in honour of the 51st festival. Community groups from across the township and Waterloo Region were on hand to receive the funds and explain what they’d be using the money for. [WHITNEY NEILSON / THE OBSERVER]

CHEF’S TABLE: Fire up the BBQ FROM | 28

A system is key to Greg Sutherland being able to recall long lists of things such as the order of cards in a deck. [SCOTT BARBER / THE OBSERVER]

ness work – I couldn’t do it without you!

Balsamica mental journey to recall items kissed Berries and need to add more words, you can just keep going to Brie on a body because things that Toronto or London, you I know and will remember just keep scaling it to whatCedar Plank easily aren’t things that ever you need.” MEMORY: Taking himself on FROM | 28

you will know, so you kind of have to tailor it to yourself. That’s why they say you should start with your childhood home because that’s what you know the best.” For his contest-winning 119 random words performance, he used a journey that “went all around St. Clements, to Elmira, to Waterloo and my workplace.” The journey method is effective because “if you

Popular in Europe, the World Memory Championship has been held since 1991, with Canada jumping on board with a national event in 2012. If he keeps improving, the international scene could be in store for Sutherland, although it won’t be easy. Currently the world record in the speed cards category is under 22 seconds and the random words mark is 300.

1 wheel of brie (size depends on number of people) 1 cedar plank presoaked in water for 24 hours 10 strawberries sliced into quarters 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar 1 tsp. olive oil Cracked fresh pepper 1 sprig of thyme 3 leave of mint, chopped

Wash the berries in water and remove the hull. Cut

SELECTED 10”

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Vicky Rau ........ Broken Star Queen Size Quilt (Catholic Women's League) Wayne Vollmer .............................................$350 (Knights of Columbus) Barbara Lizun ................... 6’ Black Walnut Kitchen Bench (The Ditner's) Linda Ransom ............................................................ $200 (Stirling Doors) Mary Lou Knapp ............................................................. $200 (Resurfice) Donna White ..................................................................$200 (Anonymous) Marcella Furlong ........................ $150 (Dreisinger Funeral Home Ltd) James Goll ................................................................ $150 (Hanley Kitchens) Chris Kelly ..........................Electolux 2 in 1 Cordless Stick Upright Vacuum

6

strawberries into quarters and place in a small bowl. Add balsamic vinegar, olive oil, pepper and thyme. Toss until the oil and vinegar coat the berries. Unwrap brie and place on the presoaked plank, the surface area would need to be dry to the touch. Place the berries on top of the brie. The barbeque should be on medium heat. Place the plank on the top rack of the BBQ and allow it to bake. Once the brie has been warmed through, it will be ready to serve. Place on a plate and serve with cracker bread or sliced baguette. Garnish with fresh mint.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Never Enough Thyme Catering Inc. was created with one thought in mind ... to create more thyme! Enjoy our food shop, specialty cakes and catering. 83A Arthur St. S., Elmira. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

2 GALLON

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315 Arthur St. S., Elmira 519-669-5403

32 | BACK PAGE

THE OBSERVER | JUNE 20, 2015

TEACHERS: “Summary of marks” will substitute FROM | COVER

Our Annual

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FLOOR TILE 16” X 16”

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figure. He did speculate that, “in the past, when you start a negotiation, and I can only speak to locally, because that’s the level I am involved in, you would always come forward with some kind of starting position, which was certainly never something that you expected to get. ... I can tell you I would not go in front of my members, in the climate we are in, and say we are going to do a job action just to get salary improvements. I wouldn’t support that and I know my members wouldn’t support that.” Teachers’ salaries increased by 21.5 per cent from 2004-2012 in Ontario, holding steady since in part due to the lack of a new contract. The OPSBA says the union’s salary demands would cost the province some $3.2 billion. The WRDSB says students and parents looking for information about their progress during the year should contact teachers the week of June 22. That could prove difficult though, since the ETFO has instructed members against providing grades, verbally or otherwise.

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can’t verify the information that has come to us in a variety of different ways from 2,700 elementary teachers, so it’s a tough one to get done.” The letter of placement will substitute for the report card in official student records, essentially indicating whether the student passed or failed, along with basic information about attendance. For months, union representatives have insisted teachers are looking to maintain prep time and class size limits along with other student learningcentered initiatives at the bargaining table. However this week, the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association went public with the teacher’s demand of three per cent raises for the first three years of a new deal, on top of cost of living increases. ETFO local representative Greg Weiler denied the assertion, saying there has been no formal proposal put on the table. “There have been no monetary issues discussed,” he said, adding that he has no idea where the OPSBA would have gotten the three per cent

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1 Union St., Elmira The Shops At Roxton

519.669.3072

*products may not be exactly as shown. limited supply

1362 VICTORIA ST N. KITCHENER 519.742.9188

M-F 9AM-9PM SAT 9AM-6PM SUN 11AM-5PM

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HOURS: Mon.-Wed. 9:30-5:30 Thur.-Fri. 9:30-7:00 Saturday 9:30-5:30

May not be exactly as shown. While quantities last.

TILE

Officials with the Waterloo Region District School Board said that was not feasible in their case. “We have spent a lot of time trying to work this through, both locally and with the province, to say, ‘what can we do, based on our board of 40,000 students and 40,000 report cards, considering that the information has not been submitted electronically,’” WRDSB spokesperson Marty Deacon said. “After looking at all of the possibilities we have decided to do what is called a letter of placement, and so we are going to put this letter together and it will replace the typical report card.” Considering the fact that many other boards, including the province’s largest in Toronto, have promised to get report cards out to students, parents in the region have expressed disappointment and frustration, Deacon said. “People have been asking why couldn’t we make this work, and are we taking the easy way out? But this is not an easy way out. It is a very, very complex process and we’re not comfortable moving forward when we