Silver medals for Elmira siblings at Judo Championships

Olivia Leeman certainly doesn’t mind following in the footsteps of her older brother.

The Elmira teen, along with her brother Phil, recently returned from the 2012 International Judo Championships held Mar. 30 to Apr. 1 in Edmonton, where both fighters earned a silver medal.

The medal was the second straight silver for Olivia, 13, after a second-place finish at last month’s Ontario Winter Games in Collingwood. In both competitions she came out strong by winning her first two matches, but unfortunately she lost in the gold medal match in both Collingwood and Edmonton to Natasha Badowski of Hamilton.

“It was kind of frustrating,” said Olivia of the losses, considering she had beaten Badowski earlier in the year at a tournament in Cambridge. In both gold-medal fights Olivia was knocked back on her heels, which gave her opponent the opportunity to throw her to the mat and collect the win in the Youth 15 -57 kg category.

Phil entered the competition in Edmonton with a nagging wrist injury, but that still didn’t slow him down as he won his first two fights in the Under 20 -66 kg category before losing in the finals. He also entered the Senior Men’s -66 kg division and in spite of being one of the youngest competitors in the division finished with a record of 2-2.

Olivia has been training and competing in judo since she was five years old, and she said it was her brother’s involvement that initially drew her in. After taking the year off in 2011 to try synchronized swimming in Kitchener she returned to judo this year.

“What brought me back was that I love competing and I love the sport,” she said. In an ironic twist, after never suffering a serious injury through all her years of judo, she did get a concussion while synchronized swimming.

Her judo training regimen is intense, practicing five nights a week at the Kaizan judo club in Waterloo with her older brother as her coach, along with Bob Zettl. Currently a green belt, she is only three levels away from being a black belt like her brother, who earned the distinction of being the youngest black belt in the club at the age of 15 last February.

Her major strength is fighting on the ground, she said, while her weakness is her balance while fighting standing upright, but Phil knows how they can remedy that problem.

“Olivia fights with her feet flat, while most fighters fight on the balls of their feet,” said Phil. “Once we get her moving from her flat feet more to her toes, her balance will be more forwards rather than backwards, which was how she got thrown for a gold medal in Edmonton.”

Both siblings are currently training for the upcoming Youth National Championships to be held in Toronto on July 5 and 6, where Phil is the defending silver medalist after last year’s competition in the Under-17 category. This year he will be fighting in the Under-20 category.

While the competitive spirit runs high in their household, they do agree on one thing – that women tend to fight feistier and more intensely than men do.

“We pinch, pull hair, bite – well, I don’t bite – and they’ll yank your ponytail and dig in with their nails,” said Olivia.

And should she cross paths again with Badowski at the upcoming nationals?

“I’ll be ready. I’ve got her.”

Tags: James Jackson

Softball league opens registration in advance

With the hockey season winding down and what little snow we had now a distant memory, the Elmira Minor Softball Association is looking to put baseball on the minds of Elmira’s young athletes and their parents.
The group hopes to boost enrolment for its house league teams, and is searching for a few more sponsors, coaches, and a convener for the league.

“After we got all the warm weather earlier this year we did start to get a lot of calls, but now since it’s gotten colder things have quieted down,” said Cathy Mendler, one of the EMSA’s organizers.

House league softball is co-ed and has four separate divisions: t-ball, which is for players born in 2007 and 2008, rookie ball (2005-2006), junior ball (2002-2004), and senior ball (1999-2001). Teams play twice a week, except for t-ball, which is only on Tuesdays.

The EMSA also has a boys’ travelling rep team that plays in the North Waterloo Rural Minor Softball League comprised of peewee (1998-1999) and bantam (1996-1997) aged players.

The house league teams had about 85 players in all last season, but so far only about 45 have signed up for the 2012 season. The EMSA did have two signup days last month, Mar. 8 and 10, but Mendler said because the township spring information booklets didn’t hit the streets until after their signup days had passed, that may be why enrolment is down.

The league is also looking for a convener after long-time volunteer Greg Brubacher chose to step down this year because of family reasons, Mendler said.

“We want to thank Greg, who got things going again in house league three years ago, for all the hard work he’s done.”

The responsibilities of the convener range from dividing players into the different teams, to arranging the diamond times with township staff. Mendler said that she and her husband, Brian Blaxall, would help the new convener until they learned the ropes of the position, as he is the convener for the rep league.

“Some of the stuff is already basically in place it’s just a matter of making a few phone calls or emails,” Mendler said.

After a decade-long hiatus in Elmira due to low registration numbers, softball returned in 2009 thanks to the efforts of Brubacher in the form of the EMSA.

As Elmira began to grow, Brubacher noted an increasing interest in the renewal of a softball league for young players, and Mendler said this interest continues to this day and they’ve had some great success along the way, noting the midget rep team qualified for the Eastern Canadian Championships last year.

“Kids will gravitate back to a sport if that’s what they like. We’ve had kids play ball, go to soccer, and then they came back. It really depends on the kid.”

Anyone interested in enrolling their children in the Elmira Minor Softball Association, in becoming the league convener, or in sponsoring a team, contact Mendler at (519) 669-1377. The cost to register for a team is $70, or $80 after Apr. 18, and the season runs from the beginning of May to the middle of July.

Tags: James Jackson

Wellesley finds more than $100,000 in savings on roads

The Township of Wellesley has saved more than $100,000 through its competitive tendering process for 2012 paving and gravel maintenance projects.

In a report presented to councillors meeting Monday night, general manager of community services Kevin Beggs indicated that the asphalt tender, secured by Steed & Evans, came in at $396,206.50, more than $82,000 below budget.

In a separate report Beggs indicated that Joe Kerr Ltd. had won the tender for gravelling operations in 2012 by submitting a bid of $185,400.00, nearly $26,000 below budget.

Councillors praised the work of staff in their budgetary work this year to ensure cost estimates were kept reasonable.

“What I look at is staff being able to predict the approximate prices. You did a good job of following the costs,” said Mayor Ross Kelterborn to Beggs.

Coun. Jim Olender also indicated that other municipalities across the region that he had talked to are experiencing similar savings as construction companies have had to become more competitive now that the government stimulus funding has ceased.

“Some said they’ve had over a millions dollars in savings,” Olender indicated. “These companies are looking for work now, and we’re benefiting at this end, too.”

In both of his reports, Beggs indicated that prices are always the unknown factor when tendering work, and that the budget of $478,503.84 plus HST for the asphalt paving tender, and $211,293.00 plus HST for the gravel maintenance, were based on the best information available to him. The asphalt paving budget was included in the roads capital budget for 2012, and the gravel maintenance was included in the 2012 roads operating budget.

For the asphalt tender, four companies responded. Capital Paving Inc. tendered $499,185.45, Coco Paving Inc. submitted a bid of $455,005.59, The Murray Group Ltd. submitted $433,387.51, but Steed & Evans won the contract with their bid of $396,206.50.

For the gravel projects, Wellesley received three responses; Steed & Evans Ltd. for $272,100.00, Donegan’s Haulage Ltd. for $209,400.00, and the winning bid from Joe Kerr Ltd. for $185,400.00.

Asphalt paving in 2012 is planned for Greenwood Hill Road, Moser Young Road, and Willow Way in the rural areas, and in the urban areas of Edgewood Court, Village Place and Parkview Drive in Wellesley, and Isabella Street, Gordon Hain Street, Adelaide Street and the fire hall in Linwood.

The focus of gravelling operations this year will be Greenwood Hill Road and Hackbart Road, as well as Hutchison Road and Boomer Line, Moser Young Road, Empey Road, Temperance Road, Mallott Road, and Bricker School Line and approximately 30,000 tonnes of gravel will be used.

 

Tags: James Jackson

Federal budget something of a balancing act, says MP

The new federal budget is one that provides a long-term view for Canada which should help keep the country competitive in international markets and help reduce our deficit, according to Kitchener-Conestoga Conservative MP Harold Albrecht.

“[That is] the big thing that you’ll see different in this budget from a lot of budgets from the past, especially in minority years,” Albrecht said earlier this week of the budget that was presented on Mar. 29.

While Albrecht does admit that there is very little in the way of direct benefits to the residents of Kitchener-Conestoga, he did say that his constituents should feel the trickle-down effect of the overall strategies the government will take in terms job creation, the encouragement of innovation and investment and research.

For months speculation has run high over what the 2012 budget would present to Canadians, and while the budget contained fewer austerity measures than some pundits speculated it would, some notable measures were tabled by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

The federal government expects a deficit of more than $21 billion in 2012/2013, but has promised to balance the books and return Canada to a budget surplus by 2015 – the same year as the next scheduled election.

“It may be a coincidence, but it’s something that we’ve targeted whether we were a minority or a majority,” Albrecht said. “We’d like to eliminate it next year, but we can’t.”

To accomplish that goal, some 19,200 federal public sector jobs will be cut over three years, the age of eligibility for Old Age Security will gradually rise from 65 years to 67 beginning in 2023 while the retirement age for federal public servants will rise from 60 to 65 for people hired in 2013, Canada will review its participation in some international organizations, and the mint will stop issuing new pennies by the end of this year, saving some $11 million annually.

Federal officials have also said they would help mining and other developments by reducing the regulatory burden on them, such as capping the time for regulatory reviews at 24 months and by introducing a new “one-project, one-review” system for environmental assessments which would prevent dual federal and provincial reviews from occurring simultaneously.

While these review changes have drawn some criticism from environmental groups who are worried that the Harper government is looking to downplay the environmental review process, Albrecht said that Canada will continue to be good stewards of the environment.

“This is in no way undercutting the environment. I think in many ways you’ll see it improving it because you’ll have a more well-defined timeline,” he said. “You’ll have one review for the project [and] that review will be rigorous. There is definitely not a weakening of the environmental regulatory system.

“I think a key factor in not only the resource sector, but manufacturing, is getting rid of a lot of the red tape and the obstacles that are put in the way,” he added.

Albrecht also addressed the issue of Old Age Security, saying that the federal government was not balancing the books on the backs of seniors, as was suggested by new NDP leader Thomas Mulcair last week, but that the realities of Canada’s economic and demographic situation demands these changes in order to ensure that the OAS program is viable for future generations of Canadians.

“In 1970 we had roughly seven people working to support each person on OAS. Today it’s down to four. By 2030 it’s projected to be slightly over two people supporting every person on OAS,” Albrecth said.

“The other factor is that people are living longer and healthier. In 1970 the average age was 69, today it’s 79.”

He also stated that the OAS changes would not occur overnight starting in 2023, but rather be phased in gradually to allow workers the chance to adjust.

The MP was particularly pleased to find provisions in this year’s budget to deal with suicide prevention, a problem which Albrecht drew attention to last fall when he tabled Bill C-300 requesting support a national suicide prevention strategy.

The budget calls for the establishment of a new network of mental-health professionals, with a particular focus on suicide prevention and in identifying and treating post-traumatic stress disorder.

“As the minster was reading the budget I was flipping through. That was the first thing I was looking for, to see if there was anything in there. I’ve been championing that for a long time and I’ve spoken to him personally on a number of occasions.”

The unveiling of the federal budget was ill-timed for most Ontarians, who were subject to their own provincial budget just two days earlier, one that called for dramatic spending cuts and austerity measures to help tackle the projected $15 billion deficit that the province is facing this year.

Albrecht can sympathize with residents, saying that while to time of belt-tightening may be upon all of us, the situation could be much worse and we only have to look across the Atlantic Ocean to see how bad it could be.

“Greece, Italy, even Britain with their huge cuts to education. We’re going to experience some pain, but nowhere near the extent that many other G7 countries are going through.”

Tags: James Jackson

Wellesley shows some flexibility in fence bylaw

The Township of Wellesley demonstrated some flexibility within their fence bylaw earlier this week, permitting one exemption and rejecting another.

Council approved the fence proposal at the property owned by Dennis and Emily Schultz at 3634 Nafziger Rd., permitting them exemption from section 3.1(e) of the township’s fence bylaw, and rejected the proposal from Tyrone DeBrouwer at 2 Ferris Dr. seeking an exemption from section 3.1 (b) and 3.1(e) of the bylaw.

Section 3.1(b) states that no part of any fence shall be erected, nor any shrubs or foliage be planted or maintained that exceed 0.8 metres (2.6 feet) in height in a driveway daylight triangle or in a corner daylight triangle, and Section 3.1(e) states that no part of any fence located in a front yard or within 1.5 metres of an exterior side yard lot shall exceed 0.8 metres (2.6 feet) in height.

The two parties had appeared as delegations at the Mar. 20 council meeting, both stating that the “unique” conditions of their property, as well as their desire to protect their pets and children from traffic, should excuse them from the bylaw.

Council deferred a decision on both fences until a report could be completed by staff.

In the case of the Schulze’s property, the property owners argued the unique location and dimensions of their property made them exempt from the fence bylaw. Their property is situated between Nafziger Road and a township maintenance lane, and as a result of this configuration they have no usable backyard, meaning the only place for their children to play is in their side yard.

Their property is also located in what Dennis described as a “sink hole” and that the grade of the property drops down approximately two feet (0.6 metres) from street level into the yard, meaning a fence 0.8 metres in height would barely come up to the level of the sidewalk, affording virtually no privacy.

The couple proposed to council a plan to build a stepped-fence that would be 1.2 metres (3.9 feet) high at the southeast corner of the property, increasing to 2.0 metres (6.5 feet) at the centre of the property, step down to approximately 1.25 metres (4.1 feet) until it reached the northeast corner, where it would increase to 1.83 metres in height (6 feet).

In his report to council, chief building official Rik Louwagie indicated that the fence, as described by the Schultze’s, should have no negative impacts on visibility issues for pedestrians or vehicles, and that the sketches prepared by the home owners indicated the fence would be esthetically pleasing.

The neighbours on either side of the couple also indicated, in writing, their approval of the fence project.

While councillors allowed the exemption of the bylaw given the unique circumstances, they did express some trepidation that it would lead to a large influx of similar requests.

“Personally I have no problem with this is that I wouldn’t like to see this open up the flood gates,” said Coun. Jim Olender, a sentiment shared by Coun. Herb Neher.

“We need to outline some way for residents to get at this exemption, otherwise we’ll get people in off the street and we will say there is a process to follow, but we have no process,” Neher said.

Louwagie suggested that staff could devise a standardized method of appeal similar to a minor variance application, which would put the onus on property owners to make their case as to why they should be exempt in the future.

In the case of the DeBrouwer application, councillors immediately indicated that the property was a very different scenario than the one presented by the Schultze’s.

The property at 2 Ferris Dr. is a corner lot and DeBrouwer had proposed building a wrought-iron fence measuring 5 feet (1.5 meters) in height along his exterior side yard, exceeding the height restriction of 0.8 meters described in the bylaw.

DeBrouwer also wishes to continue the fence along the rear of his property, but there is neighbouring a driveway to the south which creates a driveway daylight lighting triangle, limiting the height of the fence at the rear of the property to 0.8 metres under the bylaw.

In his presentation to council on Mar. 20 DeBrouwer indicated that the presence of a 1.2 metre fence on his neighbour’s property to the south (erected prior to the implementation of the fence bylaw) should exempt him from the bylaw, and the fact that the wrought iron fence is see-through should alleviate the visibility issues.

In his report to council, however, Louwagie noted that the proposed fence could potentially pose visibility issues for pedestrians and traffic given that it would be higher than the existing fence, and the proposed location of the fence along the side property line could interfere with the growth of trees currently located on and adjacent to the property.

Councillors agreed that while they granted the exemption to the Schultze fence given its peculiar circumstances, the same could not be done for the DeBrouwer proposal.

“I’ve been out there and looked at it, and it’s certainly not the same situation. Not even close,” said Olender.

Council elected to enforce the height requirements of the fence bylaw and Louwagie informed council he would tell DeBrouwer of their decision over the phone the next day.

Tags: James Jackson

50,000 to 60,000 visit Elmira for sap festival

It’s never easy following up a record-setting performance, something that organizers of the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival discovered last Saturday.

Despite ideal temperatures and sunny skies, the estimated number of attendants to the festival is down compared to last year, with somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 people coming to Elmira – down from a historical best of 80,000 last year.

“I was a good year. A normal year,” said chairperson Cheryl Peterson. “People compare it to last year but that was just a phenomenal year.”

Peterson also said the slight drop in numbers was actually good for the crowds that did come because there were fewer people to contend with for space in the busy downtown streets, and she said that virtually all of the nearly 150 vendors were pleased with the turnout and with the day as a whole.

Explaining the drop in attendance is a complicated matter. Had it rained or snowed all day it would be easier to understand, but in an unfortunate twist, the warm weather the region experienced in mid- to late-March – with temperatures reaching summery 25 to 27 degrees – actually made the single-digit temperatures we had last Saturday morning feel downright chilly, and that may have played a small role in keeping some people away, Peterson said.

“Usually a six-degree weather day in March is great for people to get out,” she said.

She also noted that high gas prices and the still-struggling economy may have taken their toll as well, saying that many factors affect attendance each year.

While the day started slowly, it picked up by the early afternoon as the sun came out and raised temperatures up into the double-digits, and despite the drop in attendance there is not likely any threat to the town’s Guinness Book of World Record status as the world’s largest one-day maple syrup festival, established in 2000 when 66,529 people attended.

The organizing committee held a debriefing meeting this past week, and final numbers of pancakes sold and total attendance were not available for press, but Peterson said they did use more than 600 litres of maple syrup throughout the day.

Last year some 14,000 pancakes and 800 litres of syrup were consumed by the crowds.

Of course it’s impossible to forget that the EMSF is also a major fundraiser in the community, and last year 23 community groups received about $60,000 in grant money from the festival. While Peterson said that number will likely drop this year, it’s still a great cause, and the money will be distributed on June 13.

Peterson extends her thanks to the more than 2,000 volunteers who came out to make the day run smoothly.

The 2013 Elmira Maple Syrup Festival is set for Apr. 6, rain or shine, and planning for that will begin this fall. Visit www.elmiramaplesyrup.com for more information.

Tags: James Jackson

Part of New Hamburg Firebirds’ banner season

A trio of Woolwich residents and former Woolwich Minor Hockey players had a big role in the success of the New Hamburg Firebirds this season.

Matt Horst of St. Jacobs wore the captain’s ‘C’, while Nick Pope of St. Jacobs and Damien Parent of Winterbourne were both assistant captains on the Junior C hockey club that finished first in the league this year, and went on to win the Niagara West title on Mar. 12 before bowing out to Grimsby in the Schmalz Cup all-Ontario final in a four-game sweep.

“It was an awesome season,” said Horst, a defenceman who has played for the New Hamburg squad for the past three years. “We all knew that we have accomplished something amazing, but it’s frustrating because only one team in all of Ontario gets to finish the year with a win.

“It’s kind of bittersweet.”

The series against Grimsby could have gone either way, said Horst, and a bounce here or there – particularly in Game 2 which ended with a 4-3 loss and in Game 3, a 3-2 loss in double overtime – would have changed the outcome of their season.

That shouldn’t take away from the team’s overall success this year. They finished with a regular season record of 26-7-3 before sweeping their first-round series against Woodstock 3-0, beating Aylmer in the second round in six games, and then defeating Norwich in the finals in five games for the Niagara West division championship.

Parent, who has played for New Hamburg for four seasons, said it was particularly nice to finally beat their rivals from Norwich in the finals.

“Last year and the year before you knew you’d lose to them [Norwich], but this year we had a sense that we were going to beat them,” he said, adding that the atmosphere at the Wilmot Recreation Complex for the final game was unreal as more than 1,000 fans packed the stands.

The players agree that the reason for their success this year was a result of how tight-knit the team became over the course of the season.

“There was never anybody that was going against the grain. Everybody was going the same direction and we didn’t have any big obstacles all year long within the dressing room that we had to overcome, which is amazing,” said Horst.

For Pope, playing in his first season as a Firebird after playing Junior B in Owen Sound last year, the team readily accepted him into the fold and he responded by leading the team in scoring during the regular season with 15 goals and 44 points playing on the same line as Parent for most of the season.

“We stuck together through thick and thin to win the championship. Everyone sacrificed something; it wasn’t just one line going out, or just one guy.”

This season was a reunion of sorts for Pope and Parent. The wingers had played on the same line during their Midget hockey days in Woolwich, losing in the OMHA finals that year.

Parent and Horst also played minor hockey together in Woolwich for four years before Horst left to pursue minor hockey in Waterloo.

“It’s kind of neat how everyone got back together,” said Horst.

Looking forward to next season, both Parent and Horst have graduated from the junior hockey ranks as they both turn 22 this year, leaving Pope, who is finishing up his first year of business foundations at Conestoga College, to return to the Firebirds squad to hopefully lead a defence of their league title with other returning players.

Parent will wrap up his business and arts degree at the University of Waterloo this summer, while Horst will finish his kinesiology degree in December and may suit up for the Waterloo men’s hockey team, but said he has dreams of coaching minor hockey and possibly in the Junior ranks some day.

In the meantime the pair is still letting the end of their Junior hockey careers sink in.

“It was a nice way to end our career, but it’s still slightly emotional,” said Parent.

“We got off the ice and you can’t help the tears,” added Horst. “All we’ve known is playing hockey.”

Tags: James Jackson

Twin Centre goes 3-for-3 at OMHAs

It was a historic year for Twin Centre Stars minor hockey as all three teams in the finals captured the Ontario Minor Hockey Association title as the best team in the province, the first time that three teams from Twin Centre have won the Ontario title it in the same year.

The Novice Rep team (7-8 years old) wrapped up their series against South Huron on Mar. 31 to take the series in four games, the Atom AE team (10-11 years old) finished up their series on Mar. 23 with a 5-0 win over Centre Hastings, and the Bantam Rep club (13-14 years old) finished off Blenheim on Mar. 27.

“That’s just amazing,” said Steve Krulicki, head coach of the Atom team. “To have three teams win in one year was amazing. There was a lot of excitement and a lot of buzz and lets hope the success continues and the fun continues next year.”

For the Novice Rep team the win finishes off what head coach Jamie Hislop called “the triple crown” of achievements for the 2011/2012 season. The team won the regional silver stick tournament late in 2011 and captured the international silver stick title in January in Michigan with a 5-0 record. The final component was the OMHA title, which they secured in front of a jam packed and enthusiastic home crowd last weekend.

“We really focused on a team atmosphere,” said Hislop. “The listened to everything we taught them and just went out and executed.

“It was a total team effort.”

The Atom club also had the opportunity to finish its series on home ice to a crowded arena, and didn’t disappoint, capping off a successful season that saw them finish with a record of 17-4-1 in the regular season and a perfect 15-0-0 in the playoffs.

“It feels great, it’s amazing,” said Krulicki, who won an OMHA title 20 years ago while playing in Kitchener and whose team was allowed to use the Applejacks’ dressing room during the game.

“Winning it as a player is amazing. You kind of forget over 20 years, but it was great to be a part of this and help the kids grow and get better.”

The road to the OMHA title wasn’t an easy one for the Bantam club. In their 13 playoff games, the team was either losing or tied heading into the third period on eight occasions, but managed to battle back for a 7-0-1 record in those games.

Head coach Brock Gerber said the team’s “never say die” attitude was apparent nearly every night.

“It was a great year of hockey with a dedicated group of players,” he said. “You’d need some luck, but I think it was mostly hard work by the kids and determination.”

Tags: James Jackson

A story for our time

The debate of whether the human race is the result of God’s divine power (creationism) or of millions of years of change (evolution) is a heated one, and it’s the primary topic tackled in John Settle’s first novel, Time and Time Again, published earlier this year. As the son of an Anglican missionary and priest as well as a student of philosophy at the University of Guelph, it’s a  familiar debate for the Grade 5, 6 and 7 teacher at Wellesley Public School. The fictional story is aimed at young-adults and follows a pair of teenagers named Adam and Evelyn as they try to unravel the secrets of a mysterious group of men that are travelling through time.

While Settle admits he isn’t particularly a fan of traditional science fiction, the genre granted him some freedom in exploring his ideas for the story, which he’s been working on for nearly 20 years.
“I was playing with the ideas of evolution versus creationism, and the time travel gave me a way to discuss them in a unique way.”

The story’s main character is Adam, a 14-year-old boy living in the year 2040 where time travel has become so mundane it’s almost boring, and where people can travel back and forth in time at will using Time Taxis.
“Some people work in different time periods, but then some people just vacation,” explained Settle. “Evelyn finds that someone has done something wrong in the past. She doesn’t understand what it is, but she gets chased by the bad guys and Adam tries to help her and figure out what is really going on.”

Settle said that the book takes three perspectives on evolution and creationism. The first side argues for the sake of creationism and that God gave birth to the human race; the second argues for a purely evolutionary understanding of how humans became the dominant species on the plant; and the third view (expressed by Adam) is that it shouldn’t matter which side is right.

Throughout the book the first two factions begin to oppose the others’ ideals. Protests break out, and the conflict eventually escalates into nuclear war that the reader never experiences but the fallout of which is witnessed when Adam and Evelyn travel 2.5 million years into the future.

“There is no mention of who won the war,” said Settle.

The author said he drew inspiration from his daily life, in particular from his father, Tom, and their conversations about evolution and creationism.

Prior to becoming an Anglican minister and Archdeacon in Quebec, Settle’s father was a philosopher of science for many years and believes in the idea of evolution from a religious context.

“He believes that God needs to be taken into consideration when you consider evolution. He believes it was influenced by God,” said Settle.

“A few of those ideas sneak into the book.”

Settle’s upbringing spans nearly as far as the timelines in his book. Born in Hong Kong in 1960, he moved to England when he was five years old then to Guelph two years later. He studied at the University of Western Ontario, completed his degree at Guelph in 1984, and studied for one semester at the University of Florida in 1985.

He said it was his experience living in Florida, “in an apartment by myself in a strange country,” that really sparked his interest in writing.

That writing is also influenced by his experiences as a teacher, and as a father while raising his own two children, Jeremy and Stephanie, who are 16 and 18 years old respectively.

“I think it’s helped me understand a little bit about how to portray characters that are approximately their age. The kinds of things they think about and the way that they talk and things that they are interested in,” he said.

“I hope it has, anyway,” he added with a laugh.

While he didn’t write the story with the intention of having it act as a parable or a lesson for our time, he said it could certainly be perceived that way. Themes such as tolerance and violence in the name of religion are prevalent in thenovel.
One of the challenges he was faced with was keeping the scope of the story manageable, which was difficult given the fact that the story spans some five million years of human history. He noted, though, that the timelines gave him some creative freedom in interpreting the future, while using historical and archaeological records to remain faithful to the past.

“I could invent a lot of things,” he laughed. “So I did. I invented some means of travel, and not just time travel, but vehicular travel.”

He imagined a world where oil prices spiked so high that airline travel was no longer viable, and used other real-world scenarios we are witnessing today to influence his future in the book.

Like any good science fiction writing, the book contains a plot twist at the end that may surprise readers. Without giving it away, Settle tried to hint at the fact that the names of the main characters were not chosen at random.
“It’s not a coincidence. It’s intentional.”

Time and Time Again is available at three locations: The Bookshelf in Guelph, Upper Case Books in New Hamburg, and The Robins Nest café in Elmira. Settle will be holding a book signing in New Hamburg on May 5 at 3 p.m., and in Elmira on May 12 from 3-5 p.m.

Settle is working on an idea for another novel, as well as a trilogy of children’s picture books with Cambridge artist Mircea Gabor, the same artist who completed the cover art for Time and Time Again.

For more information, visit www.johnsettlebooks.com.

Tags: James Jackson

Wellesley PS second in national contest

Grade 8 students at Wellesley Public School have finished as runners-up in a national competition aimed at raising awareness about Canada’s first prime minister. The first annual Sir John A Day – named after Sir John A. Macdonald – was held on Jan. 12 at the school and the 53 students dressed in traditional gowns and suits worn during the mid-19th century, transformed the classroom into a ballroom, and students played live music and danced the minuet for the last two periods of the day.

They had another teacher, John Settle, come in and portray Sir John A to the class, served apple cider in plastic wine cups, and the class also enjoyed Sir John A’s favourite treat – homemade shortbread. The 197th birthday celebration was organized by the Historica Dominion Institute, a non-profit group aimed at increasing public knowledge, understanding and appreciation of Canadian history. “Initially, it’s Grade 8 and they think they should be first in everything,” said history teacher Joanne Aitken of the students’ response to finishing second. “They were a little disappointed, but when they saw the prize they received and understood the extent of this and how many schools entered, they knew they did very well.”
More than 200 schools across Canada were entered in the contest, and the winner – a Catholic elementary school in Richmond Hill – received an iPad for the classroom. The runners-up, however, received a two-volume history of Canada’s first prime minister written by Richard Gwyn, as well as a commemorative button and a certificate.

“We received a great prize, whereas the winner just got an iPad for the classroom,” laughed Aitken. “So we thought we did pretty well.”

Prizes aside, Aitken also said that the contest did a fantastic job of achieving what it set out to do, and that was to teach the public more about the life and times of Sir John A, and Wellesley students were immersed in the 19th century throughout the day, which provided a big boost to their understanding of the time period in which he lived.

“We created that atmosphere and that era,” she said. “Instead of just memorizing it for a test, they were there. And they’ll never forget that Jan. 11 was his birthday.”

The project also drew on students’ talents and passions that Aitken may not have otherwise gotten a chance to see; one student drew a sketch of Sir John A that was posted in the classroom, another built a wooden bar to serve the apple cider from, while a third played background music on the piano.

“It really engaged them,” Aitken said.

John Alexander Macdonald was born in Scotland on Jan. 11, 1815 and immigrated with his family to Kingston, Ontario at the age of five. He mastered Latin and French by the age of 12 and by 1836 he was a licensed lawyer.
On July 1, 1867 the British North America Act came into effect, giving birth to the country of Canada.

That same day he was knighted by Queen Victoria in recognition of his efforts and on Aug. 7 he became the nation’s first prime minister.
For more information on the Historica Dominion Institute or Sir John A Day, visit www.sirjohnaday.ca or www.historica-dominion.ca.

Tags: James Jackson