SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 50 ISSUE 10
DRAYTON, ONTARIO
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FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017
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Conestogo Dam updates included in GRCA budget
Record setter - Colleen and Roland Mechler of Goldstone travelled to Birmingham, Alabama on the weekend of Feb. 25 to 26 to watch their son Nathaniel compete in his first indoor NCAA Division 1 Conference Championship. Nathaniel won the heptathlon and set a conference record as a freshman. Nathaniel’s men’s team was also conference champions. LEFT: Nathaniel in action. RIGHT: Nathaniel and his coach Kyle Tellez, whose father Tom Tellez coached legendary American sprinter Carl Lewis. Submitted photos
Mapleton youth sets NCAA conference record at indoor meet By Patrick Raftis ALABAMA – Mapleton native Nathaniel Mechler set a record in the heptathlon en route to winning a championship in his first indoor NCAA Division 1 Conference Championship on Feb. 25 and 26. Nathaniel’s parents, Colleen and Roland Mechler of Goldstone, travelled to Birmingham, Alabama to watch their son compete with the men’s team from the University of Houston, which also won the conference championship. Roland Mechler told the Community News in an email he and Colleen are “very pleased� with their son’s auspicious start to his college athletic and academic career at Houston, where he began studying kinesiology on a track and field scholarship last fall. “Most importantly ... he is enjoying school and doing extremely well, and he really loves his coach. As parents you are just happy and relieved when you know your kids are doing well (especially when they are a couple thousand miles away),� stated Roland. He added Nathaniel has impressed his coaches by setting a record in his freshman year. In an email Nathaniel stated, “School has been going
well and the busy schedule has been manageable. “For track I have been able to adapt to the training well and I am excited to see how I do this outdoor season.� He continued, “For me the indoor season was just a good way to see how training is going then I can make the necessary changes outdoors and hopefully break the 8,000point total in the decathlon for the first time this year.� Nathaniel feels the biggest difference about competing at the NCAA Division 1 level is the depth of the system. “In Canada we have a handful of athletes who are world class in each event, but in the NCAA there are over 20 world class athletes in each event,� he said. Technical changes are among the key elements to Nathaniel’s new training and competition regimen. “Over the last couple years of competing in the multi-events I have picked up some bad habits in specific events, so my new coach Kyle Tellez has been working a lot with me to unlearn my bad habits and implement the new technique,� he explained. The new techniques are already paying dividends, said Nathaniel. “It usually takes a while to learn a new technique and often it can take over a year
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to see the success after changing technique, but fortunately in most of my events I have already made improvements. “The second biggest help has been training in one location. Unfortunately in Canada there are very few places with good facilities, good weather and coaching for all the decathlon events, and at Houston I have all three in one place, so that has also helped me significantly.� Nathaniel’s next competition will be the Texas Relays, where he will compete in the decathlon on March 29 and 30. His goal there is to score high enough to qualify for the NCAA championships in June in Eugene, Oregon. “Beyond that one of my goals is to also score 8,000 points, which is a rule of thumb that represents a world class senior decathlete,� he stated. “If I were to accomplish this, I would be one of only a very few freshman to have ever achieved this score.� Nathaniel first became interested in track and field as a student at Drayton Heights Public School and continued to compete while attending Elmira District Secondary School. In 2015 he won a bronze medal at the Pan American Junior Championships in Edmonton.
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The CAMBRIDGE Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) will spend about $31 million this year on programs that protect water quality, reduce flood damages, protect natural areas, support responsible development and provide outdoor recreation and environmental education. The budget was approved by the GRCA board on Feb. 24. The board is made up of 26 members appointed by the municipalities in the Grand River watershed. Municipalities will contribute $11 million in general municipal levy to the GRCA this year, about 36 per cent of the total budget. The municipal levy portion is up about 2.5% this year. That works out to about $10.60 per resident. Government grants totalling about $4 million represents about 13% of the budget. This includes $800,000 from municipalities towards the Rural Water Quality program. The remainder is primarily provincial grants, including over $800,000 for the Source Protection Program. The GRCA also receives approximately $300,000 in funding from the federal government. Approximately
Emerald Ash Borer on GRCA lands. About $400,000 will be spent this year responding to damage caused by the invasive insect. Most of the money will go to remove hazardous trees in the areas where the infestation is the highest; About $800,000 is expected to be available to farmers to help them undertake projects to protect water quality on their land including tree planting, erection of fences along water courses, construction of manure storage tanks and other projects. The money for the Rural Water Quality Program comes from municipalities within the Grand River watershed, while the GRCA manages the program. The GRCA operates 11 active parks in the Grand River watershed, offering a wide array of activities including camping, fishing, swimming, hiking and skiing. These parks are usersupported through gate admission, equipment rental fees, and camping revenues. Following two very successful operating seasons, the parks will focus on infrastructure reinvestment in 2017. This reinvestment will SEE GRCA Âť 3
Bowling for Kids Sake - The Arthur/Alma communities had 135 bowlers support the Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Wellington’s Bowl for Kids Sake fundraiser at the Mount Forest Bowling Centre on March 5. Alma Optimists, from left: Rob Avery, Linda Avery, Shelly Skerritt and Les Skerritt, were among those bowling and were dressed in red and white to go along with this year’s theme, Canada’s 150th birthday. They were awarded Canada pins for being the best dressed team. Photo by Lynne Turner
WEEKLY WAG
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.� - George Orwell
$220,000 of this funding this year is in support of Canada 150 projects. The GRCA generates about $14.6 million, or about 47%, of its own revenue through revenue sources such as camping fees, park admissions, nature centre programs, hydro sales, property rentals, tree sales, planning permits, and donations raised by the Grand River Conservation Foundation (GRCF). The GRCA will continue to work on the development and implementation of a Drinking Water Source Protection Plan for each of the four watersheds in the Lake Erie Source Protection Region, including the Grand River watershed under the Clean Water Act, 2006. All four source protection plans are now approved. supporting Beyond municipalities and other agencies in implementing the plans, the focus will be to undertake water quantity risk assessment studies, development of water quantity policies, updating water quality vulnerability assessments, and the development of an annual progress reporting framework. The GRCA will continue to address the impacts of
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