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Voice Ocean Grove
THEY'RE MADE OF IRON, PAGE 3
August 31 - September 13, 2016
OCEAN GROVE’S NUMBER ONE NEWSPAPER
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Attack on beach By Justin Flynn AN OCEAN Grove woman was left with facial injuries after being attacked at Main Beach on Thursday morning. Sharon Kewley, 45, was walking her dog with her partner when she said a man assaulted her. Ms Kewley said she threw a ball for her dog to chase and the man’s doberman retrieved it. When she asked for the ball back, she said the man become confrontational. “I asked for the ball back and he said ’you’re going to have to go for a walk for 30 minutes and come back’,“ she said. “I was dumbfounded. I asked again and he said ’No, you’re going to have to say please’. He became quite demanding and uncompromising on every level.“ Ms Kewley said the man then started hurling homophobic abuse at her and her partner. “The sort of things he was saying were absolutely horrifying,“ she said. “He came out with some really disgusting stuff. I could see him twisting the (dog) chain up into his hand and he then came into my personal space. He had a doberman and a very aggressive ridgeback with him and neither of them were on a lead.“ By now, Ms Kewley, a career CFA firefighter, was concerned. “I was very concerned for the safety of my partner,“ she said. “He then lunged at me with his fist still in the chain.“
She said the man broke one of her teeth and left a gash on her top lip. “I was just trying to protect myself,“ she said. “My partner was trying to defuse the situation. I have never come across anything like this in my 30 years of living in Ocean Grove. He went straight for the jugular.“ Ms Kewley reported the assault to the police immediately and sought medical help. “I had to rush to the dentist and he was amazing and gentle. I’m a career firefighter. I help protect the community. I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else. We have a right to feel safe on our beaches. I was able to protect myself to some degree. I took his punches from the chain and from his fist. Others might not be able to stand up to him in the way I did.“ Ms Kewley said in some regards, the homophobic insults cut more deeply than her physical wounds. “That’s what disturbs me. In this day and age you just don’t expect that level of abuse anymore,“ she said. Despite the attack, Ms Kewley said the Ocean Grove community had been very supportive. “The Ocean Grove community has been absolutely fantastic,“ she said. “We’ve had many, many people supporting us and asking about our well-being.“ On the weekend, Bellarine Police said that a man was assisting them with their inquiries.
Sam’s medal hope By Justin Flynn
Sam McIntosh will compete in the 100 and 400 metre wheelchair races in Rio. 158264
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OCEAN Grove’s Sam McIntosh is hopeful of winning a medal at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro next week. The 26-year-old will compete in the 100m and 400m wheelchair events at the Games after jetting off to Florida for a pre-Games acclimatisation camp with the rest of the track and field team. “It’s kind of a nervous confidence,” McIntosh said. “I’ve been working on becoming more consistent. I’m a chance on paper, but on the day it’s about who puts in the best performance.” McIntosh fell from a BMX in 2007 and fractured his C6 vertebrae rendering him with incomplete quadriplegia. He fractured another vertebrae in his neck on New Year’s Eve in 2011. He competed in the London Paralympics in 2012, but wants to improve his performance. “I was fortunate to go to London and have that experience,” he said. “Watching the final in London and seeing the other athletes on the podium, it made me realise that I wanted to be there.” McIntosh’s best time for the 100 metre race is 17:30 seconds. “I’d need to at least do that to be a chance of a podium finish,” he said. “There are two Americans that are very good. I raced up against them in Switzerland and they were the only two to finish ahead of me.” Since London, McIntosh missed the 2013 World Championships and struggled for form. “We decided to focus on my best event and that was the 100m,” he said. “I’ve been having professional training for seven years, but specifically for the 100m, probably three years now.” McIntosh qualified for the Paralympics at the Summer Down Under event in Canberra in January and has been swamped by the support of the local community. “The Geelong community and Ocean Grove is always right behind me,” he said. The opening ceremony for the Rio Paralympics is on 7 September and McIntosh will begin his heats on day two of competition and, hopefully, on day three he will be racing in the finals.