Couple talks turkey about break & enter
Chris and Charlene Phillips nearly had turkey for Easter dinner, but it showed up a week late and not on a platter.
A friend was driving by their house shortly after noon last Sunday when he saw one of their front windows was shattered. The Phillipses were away from home at the time, and their cell phones started ringing and didn‘t stop. Charlene tried to reassure the kids that it was probably just a ball someone had thrown, but she thought immediately of a burglar.
Conestogo resident Chris Phillips holds a turkey that crashed through the front window of his home last Sunday.
When they got to the house, they realized with some relief that it couldn’t have been a human that broke in.
“The window was kind of broken from the top, so a person couldn’t have gotten through without seriously hurting themselves,” Charlene said. “So then it was just a matter of figuring out what it was.”
They discovered the culprit was still inside – asleep on the floor beside a decorative wrought-iron bird. The wild turkey was quiet enough until she noticed …Read more
Schooled in new challenges
As a teacher at a government school, Emily Nswana had a secure, well-paid job – an important achievement in Zambia – but she wanted more. She wanted to look after her students’ bodies, minds and morals as well as their multiplication tables.
“I worked in Zambian government schools for 20 years,” Nswana said. “In my first appointment, I thought I would do better if I had my own school, because I wanted to reach the whole child.”
Emily Nswana (centre) shared her story of establishing a school in Zambia with students at Linwood PS, including Lousia Sherk (left), Chantelle Weber and Johnny Metzger.
So in 1993, after eight years of researching and planning, Nswana opened the Luwi International School.
Nswana spent two days in classrooms at Linwood Public School. She was supposed to be presenting at a conference in Bermuda this week, but she could get only one Canadian entry visa. If she left the country she couldn’t return, so she ended up with a longer stopover in Canada.
Nswana stayed with friends Gordon and Heather Martin, who she met two years ago at a conference in Germany, and shared her story with the students at …Read more
Up for bid: fun with the teachers
Imagine your teacher cleaning out your locker or taking you and your friends to the mall and treating you to a dinner at the food court; imagine getting to ride with your teacher in his convertible.
A bit too much to expect?
Students and teachers at Park Manor in Elmira took part in a special auction, raising $1,400 for cancer research. Two of the highest bidders included a group of four boys who forked out $170 and a group of four girls who paid $120 to get a chance to go shopping and have dinner with their teachers at Conestoga Mall. From left, Evan Buehler, Adam Brubacher, Sean Wilton, Kyle Bauman (centre), Tiffany Bauman, Anika Bartel, Emily Martin, Lindsay Letkeman. At back, teachers Christina Neely and Meghan Martin.
In Elmira, these uncanny scenarios were the stuff of reality as several teachers at Park Manor Senior Public School were put up for auction as a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Great Ride n’ Stride taking place in Elmira tomorrow (Sunday).
Students in Grades 6 to 8 teamed up and placed bids for a number of items and services offered by their teachers.
Saving up their allowances or babysitting pay, or receiving some help from their parents, students purchased items and raised a total of $1,400 for …Read more
Wealth of knowledge at home show
Twenty years after simplifying finance with his book The Wealthy Barber, David Chilton has another simple message for Canadians: cheer up, already.
“Canadians’ national pastime isn’t hockey, it’s complaining,” Chilton told the audience at the Home Hardware spring show Tuesday. “This country has completely lost the ability to distinguish between a major problem and a minor inconvenience. A long lineup at Tim Hortons is not a major problem.”
David Chilton, author of The Wealthy Barber, was the keynote speaker for Home Hardware’s spring market this week.
Chilton mostly kept the tone of his speech light, sharing behind-the-scenes stories of writing The Wealthy Barber and starting his own publishing company. He admitted he broke one of his own biggest rules, cashing in his RRSP to print the book.
Chilton was only 25 when he started writing it, and he questioned whether anyone would want to buy a book from a 25-year-old. He nearly gave up after sending it to a trio of financial experts for review and getting bad reviews from all of them. Then he gave it to the guys on his slo-pitch team – “beer-swigging, illiterate Canadians” – and they loved it.
“You’d be amazed at how many questions in the book came right from the mouths of the guys on my slo-pitch team.”
The Wealthy Barber was not a runaway hit but it built steam gradually and went on to …Read more
She’s an athlete of the year nominee
Kelly VanderBeek, Scott Stevens, Dana Ellis, Lennox Lewis, and this year, quite possibly, West Montrose’s Lisa Hutson.
Because of her feats as a mountain biker this season, she finds herself on a list of nominees for Kitchener-Waterloo’s athlete of the year, organized by the Kitchener Sports Association.
Hutson was pleasantly surprised when she learned of her nomination.
West Montrose’s Lisa Hutson finds herself nominated for K-W and area’s athlete of the year. Her success mountain biking in 2008 has her on a list that could see her join the likes of boxer Lennox Lewis and retired NHLer Scott Stevens.
“I was looking at the list of past recipients … these are pretty amazing athletes that have been nominated from our area, who have been past winners,” she said.
“It [feels] strange – I don’t even know anything about this award or the nomination process, so it’s kind of out of the blue.”
The West Montrose athlete did, however, catch the attention of the volunteer organization that honours athletes hailing from the Kitchener, Waterloo and the townships of Woolwich, Wilmot and Wellesley. …Read more
Rugby team bounces back after slow start
The rookies on the EDSS girls’ rugby team got a rough introduction to the sport.
Their staff coach, Rob Harvey, popped his Achilles tendon and had to step down a week beforetheir first game.
At the same time, Heather Seiling, the student teacher who was coaching, left for a work term in Uganda.
Tracy Weber (left) tries to shake off a tackle as the EDSS girls took on Huron Heights Secondary in their second match of the season Wednesday. Weber had 18 points in the Lancers’ 38-10 victory over Huron Heights.
The girls played their first game on Monday with two new coaches and without 10 of the senior players, who were on a class trip to New York. The day was miserably cold and wet, and they lost 28-0 to Bluevale Collegiate.
With a start like that, there was nowhere to go but up, and that’s precisely where the Lancers went on Wednesday, defeating Huron Heights 34-10. Tracy Weber scored two tries and kicked three converts, Sarah Van Allen added another pair of tries, and Steph Duench scored her first try, an impressive feat for a fullback.
“We did much better than we did on Monday,” said staff coach Terri Radley. “When we only have 36 kids and 10 of them are away, it’s tough.”
The rugby team doesn’t have a lot of seniors to spare; there are only six or seven Grade 11s and 12s on the team. Fully 15 of the girls are Grade 9s or 10s who’ve never played the sport before.
“A lot of them are still learning the terms because rugby speak is so different,” Radley said. …Read more
Each of us has a role in saving the planet
April, Healthy Communities Month in Woolwich, provided a plethora of examples of how to live lighter on the land, enriching ourselves and our environment in the process …Read more
Propane provider to open Elmira depot
It won’t come in time for the summer barbecue season, but a proposed propane distribution facility is on the books for a site adjacent to the former Glenoit building in Elmira.
Based out of London, Ont., EDPRO is one of the largest propane solutions providers in the province with terminal facilities located in London, Brampton and Stoney Creek.
A photo of a similar facility operated by the company.
Construction on the Elmira plant, which will be located at Union Street and Oriole Parkway, is slated to begin on July 1, and the company is currently working on finalizing its long-term leasing and development issues.
“We have not finalized all aspects of the development at this point but we’re looking at moving forward in …Read more
Students rhyme and have a good time
“After all those years of being stuck on a page, did you ever think you’d see me on stage?”
There will be no question in the minds of the audience, as the Cat in the Hat struts in front of them in living colour and three dimensions.
Students at St. Jacobs P.S. are putting the final touches on their production of Seussical before performances next Tuesday and Wednesday.
St. Jacobs Public School is bringing to life the Cat and a troupe of other Dr. Seuss characters in their spring performance of Seussical Jr. The musical is a mash-up of the plots of several popular stories combined with Broadway-style show tunes and dance routines.
“It’s kind of like you took all the stories, put them in a pot and stirred them together,” explained music teacher Lisa Shuh.
The play is a one-act version of a Broadway show that debuted in 2000 and spawned two national tours. The original version incorporates 18 Seuss books, including Horton Hears a Who!, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Oh the Thinks You Can Think! and The Cat in the Hat.
Shuh said fans of Seuss will see a bunch of their favourite characters, including Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie La Bird, Jojo, the Grinch and of course the Cat in the Hat.
The plot is loosely centred around Horton, who discovers the people of Whoville living in a speck of dust and attempts to protect them.
It’s been several years since St. Jacobs PS put on a play, simply because of the work involved. This year, the teachers felt …Read more
Tear-down
Getting a little ahead of themselves, some of this weekends
revelers take the tear-down event too literally.
