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Serving to Better-Connect Communities in New Brunswick’s Upper St. John River Valley
Volume 1 Issue 8
RIVER VALLEY SUN FREE ONLINE @ www.rivervalleysun.ca
September 15 to October 15, 2019
SHIRES GRAB N.B. CROWN IN ‘STORYBOOK WEEKEND’
PITCHER AND TEAMMATES WIN IT FOR ‘PAPA’ JIMMY MARTIN BY ANDREW MCCORMICK
F
ourteen-year-old Cooper Jones of Woodstock knew when waking up Friday morning Aug. 30, he had a tough day ahead. The day included his Western Valley Bantam AAA Shiretowners playing in Games 1 and 2 as host of the New Brunswick Bantam AAA Provincial Championships. However, what happened the day prior added a much greater weight on Jones’ shoulders, more than anything he carried before. Jones’ grandfather, James Martin, affectionately known as ‘Papa’
to all his grandkids, died in a workplace accident Thursday. “I was asked several times if I thought I could play. But I knew he’d be mad at me if I didn’t. Friday morning I woke up and it was a little hard,” Jones told me. “I talked to my Mom (Holly) and she settled me down. I decided to just go out and play baseball like I always do.” Jones and the Shires promptly won their two games on Friday and needed only one win in the two games on day two, Saturday, to secure a berth in a Sunday semi-
final. Without his grandfather watching from his regular spot in the lawnchair bleachers at Barney Wright field, Jones paid tribute to his Papa in a special way. “I wrote his name on my cleats.” Jones plays center field and pitches for the Shires. He knew if a semi-final game would be played that pitching ace Drew Lenehan would get the start. Meaning if a championship game included the Shiretowners, the lefty Continued on page 2
TOP: Back, from left: Coach Andy Lenehan, Andrew Pirie, Zachary Bridgeo, Oliver Crossman, Drew Lenehan, Hunter Harding, Kyle Gallagher, coaches Dwight Schriver and Steven Jones. Front: Thomas Oulton, Vincent Hebert, Cooper Jones, Isaac Sparrow, Jed Gilpatrick, Kaden Graham. Missing from photo: Superfan Ann Demerchant. ABOVE: Cooper and Papa, Jimmy Martin, and Cooper’s cleats. (Photos submitted)
REGIONAL RECYCLING SUCCESS
WESTERN VALLEY DIVERTS 942 TONS OF WASTE IN 12 MONTHS BY THERESA BLACKBURN
Recycling material before being sorted at the Municipal Waste facility in Woodstock. (Photo submitted)
T
he numbers don’t lie. Curbside recycling in the Western Valley Regional Service District is a success. Since July 2018, more than 942 tons have been diverted from the landfill. That’s triple the waste diverted through community recycling bins in 20162017. “We’re not where we want to be, but we’re steadily increasing,” said Katelyn McGrath, Executive Director of the Western Valley Regional Ser-
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vice Commission. “It was a learning curve for the public – everyone getting used to the program and what can and can’t be put in their carts. We still get a lot of calls, and we want people to ask. We’re up to nine per cent (diversion), but our goal is to see a 12 per cent diversion rate.” McGrath says their goal is based on data from other similar-sized regions. Continued on page 2
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