Multiple offences for driver after Wellesley boy killed

A New Hamburg man faces multiple charges after an 11-year-old Wellesley boy was killed in a collision Dec. 22.
Jeremy Huber, 11, of Wellesley and his family were travelling in a 2007 Dodge Caravan on Nafziger Road near Gerber Road in Wellesley Township when their vehicle was struck by a 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee. He was transported to a Hamilton hospital with life-threatening injuries to which he eventually succumbed.

The driver of the Jeep, 33-year-old Jeremy Glenfield, has been charged with ‘impaired driving causing bodily harm,’ ‘refuse to provide breath sample,’ and ‘dangerous driving causing bodily harm.’

The accident was the second tragedy of the year for the Huber family: son Lyndal Huber, 17, was killed Mar. 20 in a single-vehicle crash in Palmerston when he lost control of his car,  left the road and struck a pole.

Wellesley will continue to back regional tourism group

Wellesley will continue to provide funding for the continuation of the Waterloo Region Tourism Marketing Corporation until 2015. Four years ago the township endorsed the creation of the marketing corporation, funding the region-wide organization with $5,000 annually.

Last year a re-evaluation was conducted by the chief administrative officers in Waterloo Region, who concluded the municipalities should continue to provide support for the marketing corporation as it promotes tourism throughout the region, adding value to the economy and assisting in delivering a strong unified approach to tourism services in the area.

Coun. Herb Neher, however, had some reservations during Tuesday night’s discussion in council chambers, questioning if there was a way to determine if the township was seeing a return on its investment.

“We are spending $5,000, but how do we know that we are getting anything back from this in the long run?” asked Neher. “I can see that it would be great for the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, as they have a lot of facilities, but we don’t have any museums, concert halls or hotels, and I am wondering if we are really getting our money’s worth out of this.”

Neher told council he would like to see how belonging to a marketing corporation benefits the township.

“I would be interested in seeing if any businesses see an increase in sales or are more out-of-towners coming in after we contribute to the committee,” he said. “Just because it is marketing does not mean it is valuable marketing or that you are getting your money’s worth. I just want to know how effective this group is to the area.”

Mayor Ross Kelterborn assured Neher that the marketing corporation helps the entire region, adding that it aids in the promotion of local festivals like the Apple Butter and Cheese festival and the St. Clements car show, as well as the Buy Local! Buy Fresh! and agri-tourismin the area.

“We are trying to create a brand for the region. When you hear about Stratford you think of the festival, but when the Waterloo Region is mentioned there is not one particular thing that comes to mind – it offers a lot of stuff, but not a single catchphrase to describe the area as a whole. That is what marketing will do for the area,” said Kelterborn.

CAO Susan Duke backed the mayor’s statement, saying the marketing group is trying to create buzz for the region and that it is hard to quantify how much of a return the township really sees entering this program.
Noting that the City of Kitchener adds $90,000 to the venture, she said Wellesley’s contribution is not a large share, adding it keeps the Township of Wellesley on the map through the marketing and advertising.

 

Be it resolved …

More reflective on their political roles than on resolutions of their own, township councillors nonetheless have a few targets heading into 2012. Woolwich Mayor Todd Cowan does not normally make New Year’s resolutions because he finds himself constantly looking to change things and move forward as soon as he can and he does not wait for January to do so. When it comes to the township he hopes to continue on the task of fiscal responsibility and looks forward to the number of developments in the area including the new housing development in Breslau and revitalizing the downtown of Elmira.

“Across the township we want to continue with our whole mantra of better communication, and I am looking forward to the new community guide that we are developing for this spring.”

Coun. Bonnie Bryant of Woolwich’s Ward 3 has given up on personal New Year’s resolutions, saying she never really keeps them. As a councillor, however, she hopes to develop and organize a heritage committee.

“I would like to see us preserve the heritage in our beautiful township before it is lost.”

Ward 1’s Coun. Allan Poffenroth plans to lose some weight in the new year, complaining he enjoyed too many treats over the holiday season. Poffenroth has some lofty goals for the township, including a zero per cent tax increase for residents of Woolwich, but he admits that it may be hard to pull it off this year.
“We are anxious to keep spending down somewhat, and I hope that we don’t need to increase the taxes this year. If we must have an increase, I hope it does not go above two per cent.”

Mayor Ross Kelterborn of Wellesley is trying to stay healthy and admits it is harder to do so at his age but he continues to walk three kilometres every day.

For the township, Kelterborn hopes to replenish some the reserves that were tapped during the spate of infrastructure projects funded by federal and provincial stimulus spending. He admits it will be hard to restore the reserves to their 2009 levels but that is his prime objective for this year and the rest of his term as mayor. He also hopes to keep tax rates low over the next year.

“The economic situation in the Region of Waterloo is as good as it gets, but there have been some hardships and I believe we are going to have to learn to do more with less.”

Wellesley’s Ward 3 Coun. Jim Olender hopes to stay healthy and fit in the coming year. When it comes to the township he hopes to keep moving forward with improvements while at the same time staying fiscally responsible to ratepayers. He’s also looking forward to finally getting underway with township’s new strategic plan.

“I would like to see the completion on a multi-sports pad in Wellesley. We have been trying the get that rolling for some time now and it would be great to see in completed by the end of 2012.”

For colleague Herb Neher in Ward 2, a new year brings a renewed sense of duty to the township. He hopes the public is more informed about where the township and council are heading, and he wants to ensure residents get the most out of their tax dollars, making the most of the services offered.

“We are developing some very specific short and long-term strategies for the township that I would like to see accomplished this year. I would like to see the township perform more like a business with goals to reach year after year,” he said.

Plain & simple, good combo for comfort food

At The Culinary Studio we always try to look at ingredients in their most basic form, keeping their integrity by not manipulating them too much so that they lose their original purpose. Bread and garlic, condiments such as capers and vinegar, and even simple ingredients like pure, unsalted butter can be used really simply, without compromising flavour.

In the cold winter months I think that we crave simple, warm dishes. I know I could eat potato soup at least twice a week. The following cooking tips (which they are, rather than exact recipes) work with some of your favourite comfort food recipes to make them feel new again.

Garlic Toast/Croutons

• Half a baguette or other good quality bread, sliced into 3/4-inch slices
• Olive oil, as needed
• Butter, as needed
• 1 good large clove of garlic, peeled and one end sliced off
• Pinch of salt (optional)

A simple side dish or topping, remember that a crusty piece of garlic toast can go well with a soup, stew, chili, or a pot roast.  The toast can be broken up into croutons to give a nice textural contrast to a creamy pasta dish, baked beans, or even tossed in warm to a romaine lettuce salad.

Place bread on a baking sheet; drizzle liberally with olive oil and spread lightly with butter. Yes, the oil/butter combo may sound extreme, but it’s good;
Toast in a 400°F oven until just golden brown, about 7-10 minutes;
As soon as it comes out of the oven, rub with cut side of the garlic clove; sprinkle lightly with salt, if desired, and serve.

Crispy Capers

• 2 tbsp capers, patted dry
• 2 (approx.) tbsp canola oil

Capers are the little green buds of the Caperberry bush. They are harvested, dried and then pickled in brine with vinegar or packed in salt. They have a tart, salty flavour, similar to olives. Less of a snack on their own, they are fabulous in pastas, or as a garnish to a monotonous soup such as potato or squash. By frying them lightly they become a little milder, and pleasantly crispy

In a small frying pan, heat oil;
Carefully add capers (they will splatter a bit);
Fry for a couple minutes until they open up slightly and start to brown;
Drain on paper towels.

Basic Breading Procedure
Try using a fresh, fluffy breadcrumb the next time you want to turn your pork tenderloin, chicken breast or fish into something really special. Soft breadcrumbs become so crispy and flavourful when fried. Here’s just a refresher on basic breading procedure. Enough for about 4 chicken breasts.

In a food processor or a blender, blend about half a loaf of a sourdough bread. Pulse, leaving some larger crumbs. To these crumbs, a couple tablespoons of freshly chopped thyme is really nice;
Breading procedure: in one bowl have about 1 cup flour. In second bowl, 2-3 eggs, beaten well. And in the third bowl, the crumbs. Season each bowl lightly with salt;

Season your product with salt and pepper and then bread, keeping 1 hand ‘dry’ and one hand ‘wet.’ First in the flour, lift out and into the eggs. Lift out with wet hand, and into the crumbs. Lift out with dry hand and onto a baking sheet until ready to fry in medium-hot fat.

Jacks edge Centennials to finish out 2011

The Wellesley Applejacks got a late Christmas gift to end the year when they defeated the Ayr Centennials 6-5 in overtime at home on Dec. 28. Josh Herd and Connor McLeod led the way with three points apiece, and Josh Heer made 44 saves for the win.

“There were 11 goals scored, so it was a great game for the fans,” said head coach Kevin Fitzpatrick. “I think the only two people not happy were me and Josh Heer.”

The Jacks opened the scoring with the man-advantage at 12:58 when Corey Way tallied his team-leading 17th goal of the year from Herd and Kevin Howorth.

Ayr didn’t take long to respond, however, as Tyle Gauthier tied the game less than two minutes later from Scott Sippel at 14:20 of the first.

The teams entered the first intermission tied, with Ayr holding a 19-13 edge in shots.
In the second, Wellesley broke the game open thanks to a pair of quick goals by McLeod, who scored at 4:11 from Matt Sovereign and again at 7:31 from Herd and Rob Hinschberger.

The Centennials’ Jordan Eby got Ayr back in the match when he beat Heer at 10:30 from Sippel.
Derek Lebold was sent to the box for holding at 12:51, giving Ayr the opportunity to tie the match, but instead Brett Vickers restored Wellesley’s two goal cushion with a shorthanded goal at 14:48 from McLeod to make it 4-2.

The scoring continued at a torrid pace with Ayr’s Andrew Tapsell making it 4-3 at 17:06, before Way scored his second of the night just 19 seconds later to put Wellesley up 5-3 heading into the third period.

The Centennials wouldn’t go quietly, however, and managed to crawl back into the match.

Tapsell tallied a powerplay marker early from Declan Kaster for his second goal of the night at 3:24 to give Ayr hope of a comeback, and the pair teamed up again at 14:44 with Tapsell finishing off the hat trick to send the game to overtime.

Wellesley wouldn’t let this one slip away, however, and the Jacks sealed the win thanks to Herd’s first goal – and third point – of the night from Hinschberger and Geoff Parr just 34 seconds into the extra frame.
Despite losing the lead, Fitzpatrick was pleased with the way his team controlled much of the game.
“They came in spurts, we came in waves,” he said.

When the Jacks scored their first goal of the game, the fans also tossed a record 137 teddy bears onto the ice. The bears will make their way to Stratford General Hospital and to other local charities.

After facing off against Burford (8-16-2) on Friday night, the Jacks (15-7-2) are right back at it Saturday when they take on the lowly Norfolk Rebels (1-19-3). Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Fitzpatrick said despite the poor record of both teams, they aren’t looking past them.

“Burford plays tough every game, and if you look at Norfolk they’re in about 90 per cent of their games until the third period. We have five weeks until the playoffs, and we have to run the table here.”

You Are… What You Eat

You are what you eat. It’s a common phrase that is more than 190 years old, yet one we still have trouble adhering to today. Not to be taken literally, of course, but “you are what you eat” is the basic idea that the food you consume influences both your health and state of mind – and it’s also the name of Conestogo resident Stephanie Forte’s newest business.

Forte, who has spent the past 14 years as a registered massage therapist, has decided to expand her business to include nutrition and health coaching and some personal training as well.

“I’ve been in fitness and health all my life. That’s where my passion lies,” said Forte while sitting in her home office at 2180 Hunsberger Rd.

“What I want to do is help the general public learn to eat again, and dispel some of the myths that are out there about what is good, what’s not, what you should eat, and what you shouldn’t.”

Forte said her passion for health started during her teenage years when she was 30 pounds overweight. Her struggle with trying to achieve a healthy lifestyle is what inspired her to want to do the same for others.

She studied physical education and biology, and after a brief stint as a teacher, decided to switch to massage therapy. She also has experience as a doula, providing support for women in labour, and said making the move to becoming a nutrition and health coach was a natural progression for her.

She said her aim is to make life simpler for people, and said she sometimes takes for granted the fact that not everyone has the same nutrition training as she does and have trouble making the right choice when it comes to eating healthier.

“I’ll teach people to read labels, and I’ll offer a service where I’ll go shopping with people. We’ll go through the aisles and learn to read the labels and learn to make better choices, because there is a lot of confusion,” she said, adding she will also go to a client’s home and help them look through their cupboards and fridge to spot the not-so-healthy choices.

“I’m not going to throw it out like they do on TV,” she laughed. “I just want to help people understand what it is they’re eating.”

Forte will also give instruction on portion sizes, and help convince her clients that making dinner at home and eating healthy doesn’t take a lot of time or money. She is not trained as a dietitian, she said, but instead all of her knowledge is self-taught by studying materials on the subject and through her educational background.

There are a few simple tricks that Forte uses to help clients achieve their weight goals or their healthy lifestyle changes.

One of the first things she says to do is go grocery shopping with a list of items that you need, rather than shopping without one, because that is when you’re more likely to forget a staple ingredient and succumb to impulse buys.

Her second tip is that you should never grocery shop hungry; otherwise you’re more likely to splurge on snack items that you don’t really need and that are not as healthy for you.

She also said that there is simple cooking and baking tricks that can help cut down on fat or sugar in your recipes. One is to replace at least a portion of the butter required for baking with either apple sauce or prunes. Another is to use make small changes that will go virtually unnoticed, such as using whole wheat pasta instead of white.

Forte also stressed making cooking a family affair where everyone can get involved, that way cooking will be viewed as less of a chore and more of an activity to do together.

“And start your child early on real food,” instead of food bought in jars, said Forte, who has a three-year-old son of her own.

“I take a sweet potato, put it in the microwave until it’s soft, mash it up and I’m done. It’s easy, and cheaper.”

Forte is a big proponent of what she also calls the six pillars of health, which are sleep, thoughts, breathing, drink, eating, and movement. She stresses to her clients that they need to get adequate sleep at night, drink enough water, eat the right food, and stay in motion. She purposely avoids the word “exercise” though, as it can have negative connotations for some people, which could then discourage them from doing any activity at all.

“The key is to find something that you enjoy; whether that’s swimming or running or playing sports, go back to thinking like you’re a kid again.”

With a new year upon us, Forte also recognizes the urge by most to make a New Years resolution to lose weight or start exercising more.

While those are good goals, she suggests to her clients not to get too far ahead of themselves and to just view every day as a new day and a new opportunity to make lifestyle changes.

“I don’t like the word ‘diet’,” she said. “Even setting a goal of fitting into a certain dress or losing a specific amount of weight sets you up for failure, because once that’s achieved you’re more likely to go back to your old habits.”

Instead, be mindful of what you’re putting into your body every day, she said, because food is fuel and the better fuel you use, the better you’ll perform.

Forte also makes the case for the rare indulgence from time to time, and lives by the 80-20 rule, where 80 per cent of what she eats is healthy and high-quality food, while the other 20 per cent she labels as indulgences.

“Give yourself a break every once and a while,” she said with a smile. “If you don’t see treats or goodies as forbidden during the rest of the year, you’ll be less likely to overindulge at Christmas or during any other holiday or get together.”

For more information on You Are What You Eat, call Stephanie Forte at 519-569-1616.

They call it democracy, but that’s still a stretch

Was 2011 the year of democracy? Or, at least, when we gave lip service to democracy?

As Gwynne Dyer notes in his year-end summary, the planet was full of democracy-related news, most notably the Arab Spring. Public action in the likes of Egypt, Libya and Syria (still unfolding) put shame to the those of us here who can’t even be bothered to vote, nor to even take note of the erosion of our rights and freedoms.

In the latter context, we did see the Occupy movement gain some traction, only to break on the battlements of public apathy and entrenched corporate interests. While casting some light on the inequities of the system, the movement’s failure to breakthrough echoes the string of letdowns that followed the financial collapse of 2008, as politicians of all stripes sold out the public interest to corporations lobbying against regulation and accountability.

We got platitudes – lip service – but no action.

What did stick from the Occupy experience are the 1% and 99% labels. Not just catchy, they are appropriate as they show the growing economic inequities in our society: a handful of people got richer even as the majority of us took a hit. That’s a problem in itself, but the real story lies in the fact that those who have profited are responsible for the poor economy, having lobbied for the deregulation, trade and fiscal policies that created the mess.We remember the slogans, but how many of us really got the message?

As it does every year, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives brought the situation into stark relief this week – and garnered the usually short-lived media attention – with its report on the compensation of Canada’s top 100 CEOs. By noon on Tuesday, that select group had already pocketed $44,366 – what it takes the average wage earner an entire year to make.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ (CCPA) annual look at CEO compensation reveals Canada’s Elite 100 CEOs – subbed the 0.01$ – pocketed an average $8.38 million in 2010, 27 per cent more than the average $6.6 million they took in 2009.

In contrast, after taking inflation into account, the average worker’s weekly earnings are lower now than they were during the worst of the 2008-09 recession.

“The average of Canada’s CEO Elite 100 make 189 times more than Canadians earning the average wage,” says the report’s author, economist Hugh Mackenzie.

“If you think that’s normal, it’s not. In 1998, the highest paid 100 Canadian CEOs earned 105 times more than the average wage, itself likely more than double the figure for a decade earlier.”

The report finds that those CEOs among the country’s richest 0.01 per cent, a privileged group of 2,460 tax filers whose minimum income was $1.85 million in 2007. Their incomes soar above the average income of $404,500 (2007) required to enter the richest 1 per cent club. The lowest paid of Canada’s CEO Elite 100 pocketed $3.9 million in 2010, though few of us would shed any tears over that.

“The conclusion from these data is inescapable,” says Mackenzie. “Soaring executive pay plays a significant role in driving the growth in income inequality in Canada. “The gap between Canada’s CEO Elite 100 and the rest of us is growing at a fast and steady pace, with no signs of letting up.”

These people are certainly the elite, as the title of the report suggests. Still, there’s something to be said to fall into that 1% category that is the mainstay of the Occupy movement. If you’ve made it into Canada’s richest 1% club, you’re among the 246,000 who made a minimum of $169,300 and an average income of $404,500 (as of 2007, the most recent year for which data are available.).

What about the remaining 99% of us? Well, we’ve not been so lucky, says the report.

Between September 2010 and September 2011, average weekly earnings in Canada rose by only 1.1 per cent. After taking inflation into account, weekly earnings are now lower than they were during the worst of Canada’s 2008-09 recession, resulting in a dan­gerous mix: Canadians are feeling the squeeze of shrinking disposable incomes, a rising cost of living, and record-high household debt.

Clearly, the very modest efforts made to correct such inequities did not make the problems vanish when the calendar flipped over. Much more effort is needed if we’re going to reverse a decades-long slide. Note, however, that politicians don’t have that kind of change among their resolutions.

 

If the biggest worry is the state of the weather, the year is off to a
pretty good start in these parts … though you’d never guess it.

No white Christmas

Those dreaming of a white Christmas will just have to put that dream on hold this year. The majority of Canadians will wake to a green Christmas this year even though 85 per cent of the country will be covered in snow. The snow will be contained to the most northerly parts of the country with people living in southern urban centers across the Canada only experiencing the odd flurry, said Dave Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada.

In Woolwich and Wellesley townships temperatures are a little higher than normal and although the temperature for Christmas Eve is expected to be below freezing there is no precipitation in the forecast.

Christmas Day will see a high of plus one with a 40 per cent chance of flurries, but to qualify as having a white Christmas, there must be two centimeters of snow on the ground at 7 a.m. on Dec. 25.

“You don’t get a white Christmas with flurries and we will not be getting the two centimeters that we would need for a white Christmas,” said Phillips. “We may have that second-best feeling when the gifts are being opened or the family is sitting down to eat turkey and those snowflakes may just start to fall outside the widows giving you the look of Christmas without the accumulation.”

The good news is that travel over the holiday weekend will be easy. That is the offset to not having the white stuff on the ground. Those kids receiving sleighs or toboggans from Santa Claus this year will have to wait to use them.

It is unusual that so many millions of Canadians will go without a white Christmas this year, said Phillips.

“This is something that is not rare in the region as it occasionally occurs what is odd is that the majority of Canada will also be experiencing a green or brown Christmas. Across Canada we usually know by Halloween if we are going to have a white Christmas and this year that will not happen.”

Because the month of December has been on average five degrees warmer than normal – milder that Phillips has ever seen in December – most of the snow that has fallen has melted soon after hitting the ground, he said.

Environment Canada is unable to tell when the first real snowfall will occur in the region, but temperatures are starting to cool off. Models show warmer than normal temperatures for the month of January, but the snow has simply been postponed.

“There will be moments in late January going to February and March when Canadians will wish they were somewhere else. We could be facing a very short winter but it is still winter and there will be moments when it will seem tough,” said Phillips. “Those that love winter will just have to be patient, it will come – it always does here in Canada.”

 

Lions look to start club in Breslau

The booming village of Breslau could soon be the newest home of the world’s largest service club. The president of the St. Jacobs Lions Club and one of Breslau’s newest residents has put out a call for members of the community who might be interested in organizing their own Lions Club. “At this point the only service club that I’m aware of that is operating in Breslau is the South Woolwich Optimist Club,” said Dennis Lougheed, who moved from St. Jacobs to Breslau in September.

“A couple people have expressed surprise that there wasn’t already a Lions Club over here, considering the community is growing so rapidly.”

With nearly 1.4 million members in 46,000 clubs and 208 countries, Lions members have sought to better their communities and their world since their founding in 1917.

Lougheed recognizes the hard work and determination of other groups such as the Breslau Rec. Association, but noted that the scope of their work is limited to the community, unlike the Lions.

“What a service club like the Lions can do is certainly augment the Breslau Rec. Association, support their programs, even raise money for their programming, but it also has a much larger reach beyond the association and it can extend beyond the community, even internationally.”

The new club would join District A-15, which already oversees 54 clubs in six different zones ranging from Marsville to Exeter, but in order to start a club in Breslau, several things need to happen.

First, Lougheed said he needs to determine whether or not there is enough interest in the community to form a branch club.

They would need about five people to do that, and the branch would need to be sponsored by a full club – a role Lougheed hopes the St. Jacobs club could fulfill given his connection with them.

The role of the sponsor club would be to guide the branch club until the new members became accustomed to their duties as Lions and until it grows enough to be recognized as a full club.

“They would function pretty much autonomously as the Breslau club, but bureaucratically they would be under the St. Jacobs club,” he explained.

“They would carry their own books, hold their own meetings and run their own programming as they see fit, with guidance from the host club and with support from the district.”

The club would also need to fill the key positions of president, treasurer and secretary, and those individuals would be paired up with an experienced member of another club to provide more guidance on the duties associated with that position.

Lougheed said he has heard back from about four people who have expressed an interest in joining the club, and he hopes that after the holiday rush he will hear from a few more.

From that small beginning, he is confident the club will gain traction in the community.

“You start slowly and with each little thing that you take on and that you have some success with breeds more interest in going a little further and trying a little more,” he said.

“Each program they get up and running will draw attention to them, and people in the community will take notice and then you grow the interest.”

For more information contact Lougheed at cs@a15lions.org or call (519) 213-1397.