THE
SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY NEWS Volume 48 Issue 11
Drayton, Ontario
1 Year GIC - 2.15% 3 Year GIC - 2.35% 5 Year GIC - 2.55% Daily Interest 1.25%
638-3328
Friday, March 13, 2015
www.jackfinancial.ca
Roundabout will be built this summer at perilous Mapleton intersection
Equipment adjustment - Keith Metzger, of Woolwich Sledge Hockey, helps Amy Kabbes of Drayton Heights Public School with her sled, at the sledge hockey session at the PMD arena. Sledge hockey was part of the physical education program and also brought awareness to students about physical disabilities. photo by Caroline Sealey
Students learn about inclusion while enjoying sledge hockey by Caroline Sealey DRAYTON - Drayton Heights Public School staff organized a three-day event, Inclusion - A Lesson through Sledge Hockey, at the PMD arena from March 3 to 5. A total of 156 students from Grades 4 to 8 were bused to and from the arena in 80-minute blocks. Participants spent an hour on the ice each day. Last year, the school organized a trip to the World Sledge Hockey championships in Toronto. Drayton Heights families packed four buses for the event. Students and parents were impressed by the speed and power of the athletes. With the success of the event, the staff decided to expand the physical education program to include sledge hockey in the 2015 school year curriculum. Sledge hockey began in Europe in 1966 and by 1982 sledge hockey teams formed in Canada. The first international rules for sledge hockey were drafted from Canadian rules. Since 1994, sledge hockey has been part of the Paralympic Games and is Canada’s fastest growing winter sport. Men’s sledge hockey is a Paralympic event, but women’s is not. Sledge hockey is similar to
regular hockey and uses the same rules as the International Ice Hockey Federation. Players sit inches above the ice, strapped inside a bucket type seat, on an aluminum frame. The frame has two blades attached under the bucket and one under the foot area. Players move across the ice using two hockey sticks that are about one third of the length of a regular hockey stick. One end of the stick is a blade similar to a regular hockey stick. The other end is tipped with a six point pick. Sledge hockey is a full contact sport. Players are equipped with the same hockey equipment that able-bodied hockey players wear. Keith and Sandy Metzger of Woolwich Sledge Hockey, instructed students on and off the ice. The Metzgers’ involvement with sledge hockey began with their daughter, Corin, who is now a member of the Canadian Women’s National team. The Metzger’s coached and managed the national women’s team for a number of years and volunteer in various capacities with the Woolwich group. School staff encouraged
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parent volunteers to experience the game. Many parents rose to the challenge and spent time on the ice doing drills and helping students who had difficulty keeping their sleds in an upright position. “Not only did the students learn to play sledge hockey, they also learned to understand differences which helps with acceptance and inclusion of students with physical disabilities,� said Andy Speers, a staff member of Drayton Heights. On day one of the program, titled Get Down to the Basics, students learned about equipment and familiarized themselves with how to sit in a sled, move the sled, injury avoidance and modifications to the game. Day two involved hockey skills. Participants focused on moving, passing and shooting the puck, along with basic drills. Let’s Have Some Fun was set aside for day three. Actual games of sledge hockey were played. Drayton Heights staff discussed the events over the past three days with students. After the third day, the students indicated they loved the program and asked if they could do it again next year.
by Patrick Raftis MAPLETON – A roundabout will be installed here this summer at an intersection that has been a scene of many accidents, including two fatalities, in the past decade. The roundabout will be built at the intersection of Wellington Roads 8 and 12. “The decision ... was based on accident history at an intersection that has sight lines for sufficient distances in all directions. A roundabout will prevent the high-speed collisions that have been occurring in the past,� said construction manager Mark Eby, of the county roads division. Information from Mapleton Fire Chief Rick Richardson showed there have been more than 20 accidents at the corner in the past 10 years. In 2006, a bus and car collision claimed one life and another fatal two-vehicle accident occurred there in 2012. Fire department records indicated 19 people have been injured at the corner and firefighters were required to use extrication equipment on three different occasions. “It’s a safety issue,� said Mapleton Mayor Neil Driscoll, a member of the county roads committee. “There have been a lot of accidents at that corner.� The most recent occurred Feb. 28, when a two-vehicle crash injured three people and required extrication by firefighters. Drayton station firefighters responded to the
Roundabout site - Wellington County is planning to install a roundabout at the intersection of Wellington Roads 8 and 12 this summer. photo by Caroline Sealey accident, which occurred just as Mapleton firefighters were preparing to take on Wellington OPP officers in a charity hockey game at the PMD arena. The $900,000 project was approved by county council in January. The budget includes finalizing the design, tendering, construction, contract administration and inspection during construction. Eby said the tenders are expected to be let soon in order to allow time to obtain roads committee and council approval by the end of May. The roundabout will be a single-lane design, similar to two constructed in Puslinch
Township on Wellington Road 34 in the summer of 2013. “Agricultural equipment movement through the roundabout has been considered through the design process,� Eby noted. Construction is expected to start at the beginning of July at the latest, said Eby, and completion is anticipated sometime in August, before school starts. Traffic will be maintained in all directions, but will be only one lane during working hours, with a full closure of the intersection required to allow the surface asphalt to be paved unobstructed.
Paul Day recognized for forestry efforts ALLISTON - Mapleton resident Paul Day received the Robert de Pencier award (formerly Forest Stewardship award) for outstanding activities in private land forest management and strong support for forestry promotion, education and understanding at the annual Forests Ontario conference in Alliston on Feb. 20. Day is a retired faculty member of the Conestoga College School of Business. He is a dedicated land steward who lives with his wife, Yvonne, on their 250-acre farm near Goldstone in former Peel township. The farm has been in his family for over 150 years, since his ancestors cut it out of the Queen’s Bush starting in 1845. As a founding member of the Peel Historical Society, Day has done much to preserve the history of that former township. Always drawn to the farm
Weekly Wag
te asier to crea e h c u m ’s it Sadly, a forest. a desert than lock - James Love
Friend of the forest - The Robert de Pencier award (formerly Forest Stewardship award) for outstanding activities in private land forest management and strong support for forestry promotion, education and understanding, was presented to Paul Day, right, of Trees for Mapleton, by Terry Schwan of Forests Ontario. submitted photo woodlot as a “spiritual place,� Day and his family, including grandchildren, have planted over 35,000 trees since 1974 on their various properties. The
organic orchard with many varieties of heritage apples draws many customers every year. Continued on page 3
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