Surrounded by Christmas Spirit
It is not uncommon to see the changeover from hordes of Halloween decorations – ghouls, goblins and gravestones – to Christmas paraphernalia – Santas, snowmen and silver bells – happen almost instantaneously in shopping malls. Children have not yet finished sorting their trick-or-treating loot when the first Christmas tree is standing proudly in a store window.
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Home ice a boon as Kings make good after road loss
The Elmira Sugar Kings are sitting in the fourth place spot in the Midwestern Conference after an away-game loss and a home-game win this past week.
The team took to the road Dec. 1 to play against the Thorold Blackhawks, where they lost 4-3. They bounced back, however, to put on a show for the hometown fans with a 4-2 win against the Cambridge Winter Hawks.
The Dec. 1 game saw a feisty pair of teams match up against each other and wrack up quite a few penalties. The game was a close one as the points went evenly back and forth and the teams were tied up at three apiece at the end of the second period.
In the final frame however, Thorold played exceptionally, only letting the Kings get four shots on net while they managed to fire 10 – one of which was the game winner. Elmira’s Josh MacDonald had a strong game, scoring two of the Kings’ three goals. Both came on the powerplay.
The close game can be a credit to both squads’ special teams, as four of the seven goals scored were with the man-advantage, including the Blackhawks’ final goal.
“I thought we played really well in Thorold,” said Kings coach Geoff Haddaway. “They are one of the top teams in the province and they have an excellent record at home. I think our problem was that we didn’t have that killer instinct.
We were ahead there for a bit but if you don’t keep your foot on a team like Thorold in their own barn, it will come back to haunt you, and it did.”
ON THE MOVE Elmira Sugar King Jarred Parent heads up ice during last Sunday’s 4-2 home-ice win over the Cambridge Winter Hawks.
The Kings turned themselves around and were the dominant team at home last Sunday against Cambridge. It was simply a matter of time before they were able to pull ahead on the scoreboard. In the game that ended in a 4-2 win,
Elmira finished with almost 40 shots on net, a hefty margin over Cambridge’s 23.
The King’s success was a full-team affair with each goal scored by a different player and excellent goaltending by netminder Matthew Smith.
The game got off to a bit of a slow start with only one goal scored by Sugar King Clayton Greer just past the half-way point of the first frame. Both teams kept the period a clean one with only one penalty apiece.
In the second period, Elmira continued to be the better team, allowing for more scoring opportunities, more shots, more puck possession – yet they left the period with a one-goal difference. Elmira’s Andrew Smith scored the Kings’ second goal 10 minutes in with a shot from the slot, but his effort was followed shortly by a nice one-timer by Cambridge’s Jeff Howlett.
The third frame saw the Kings keep the pressure on, with great fore-checking and back-checking that led to a pair of goals. Both tallies came as a result of great effort to steal the puck, creating odd-man rushes the opposite way.
With clean stick-handling by Elmira goal scorers Ryan Clarkson and Brady Campbell, the home team was able to secure the W.
“I have said all along, we are a fore-checking team,” said Haddaway. “And when we do that well, we usually have success.”
The Kings were joined this week by a new player, Jordan Benton, who was recently acquired from the Cambridge Winter Hawks. The next home game for the is against the Listowel Cyclones tomorrow (Sunday) at the Dan Snyder Arena. The puck drops at 2 p.m. This game marks the third annual Teddy Bear Toss.
The colour of green
If Floradale Public School’s Grade 5 and 6 students had their way, their school’s parking lot would be covered in grass, there would be a solar panel covering the roof of the building, and the playground out back would be made of recycled materials. This is what the students proposed to a panel of judges last week at the wrap-up of Capital Paving’s ‘Greenest School’ competition, and the idea was met with enthusiasm – so much so that Floradale PS took home the title and the grand prize of $6,000. Read more
St. Jacobs’ Best Western changes hands
After 13 years of hosting visitors at the Best Western St. Jacobs Country Inn and the Destination Inn and Suites, company founder Larry Martin is on the lookout for new opportunities following an announcement this week that a hotel development and management company with offices in Toronto, India and the United Kingdom have purchased the two Woolwich hotels.
Palm Holdings bought the Best Western St. Jacobs Country Inn and the Destination Inn and Suites in a deal that closed in October, and Martin says the timing worked out just fine for him.
“I had quite a large investor group which was aging,” he said of his reason for selling. “We received an offer that was palatable and it was an opportunity for all of us to exit together.”
The group built the Best Western St. Jacobs Country Inn in 1998 and purchased and expanded the Destination Inn, an independent hotel, in 2005. The Best Western St. Jacobs was not a franchise, but was independently owned by St.
Jacobs Country Inn, which paid a licensing fee and dues to Best Western.
Palm Holdings is described by director Anil Taneja as a family-owned business that’s been in operation for three generations. Including the two local properties, it owns three hotels in Canada, two under construction in India and two in the U.K. It also renovates and manages hotels in the three countries.
“Waterloo has been on our hit list for a very long time,” said Taneja in an interview. “It’s a smaller market in terms of population, but it’s known on a global scale now, which excited us a lot.”
The Best Western St. Jacobs hotel, which has 188 rooms, is on Benjamin Road, near the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market.
The Destination Inn, with 104 rooms, is on King Street North near Conestoga Mall. The two hotels employ about 70 people in total.
Although plans aren’t final yet, Martin said he’s heard Palm intends to upgrade the St. Jacobs and Waterloo hotels into more luxurious establishments.
“I wish the new owners well,” said the former owner who is now looking to work in the alternative energy industry.
“It has been a good run for us and we have gotten to work with fantastic staff and guests. It’s been a privilege to be part of the community.”
Landing the big one
Elmira’s Kyle Uttley is a fishing fanatic.
“I wouldn’t want to say he’s obsessed, because it’s not an illness or anything,” said his father Steve with a laugh.
“But he is very … passionate.”
A member of the K-W Cambridge Bass Masters Club, Uttley subscribes to six different fishing magazines, he watches the World Fishing Network any chance he gets and his bookshelves are piled high with instructional fishing DVDs. He has been known to get up at two or three in the morning to get a start on a long day of fishing. Read more
Coach sees positives as Jacks split pair
A solid win and a near miss left Wellesley Applejacks coach Kevin Fitzpatrick with plenty to be happy about last weekend. A strong effort Dec. 3 in a 4-2 loss to Delhi was quickly followed by a convincing 6-2 victory over St. George. Read more
Elmira bowlers claim Zone C Triples crown
A team of local bowlers is off to the provincial five-pin championships next month following their tournament win last weekend.
The team – Tyler Button, Aaron Arbuckle, Ben Straus, and coach Karl Jordan – won the Zone C Triples playoffs hosted by Elmira Bowl last Sunday. Read more
Looking out for the EDSS lunch ladies
A change in policy at the school board level will mean the end of a long career for three women who work in the cafeteria at Elmira District Secondary School. Their abrupt dismissal has a number of students seeing red.
The school board has decided to make the switch from the independently-run cafeteria that has existed at EDSS for the past several decades to join other schools in the region that have hired a cafeteria services company, JC Vending. Along with the new menu items and equipment will come a new staff, leaving the three women who are currently employed there with the option of either transferring to another school farther away or retiring. Two of the three women have chosen to retire rather than make the long commute.
Senior students Emily Phillips and Sarah Charron got wind of the changes to be implemented in January when they overheard another student talking about the departure of the ladies from the cafeteria. They’ve decided to stand up against the plan to change to JC Vending.
A FIGHT ON THE MENU EDSS senior students Emily Phillips and Sarah Charron are gathering interest and petition signatures as they battle a plan to outsource the jobs of three longtime cafeteria workers.
“We started a student petition and we have 500 signatures so far,” said Charron. “If this goes through, three ladies will not be here and will be without jobs after the holiday. It’s not fair.”
The students have approached faculty and staff about the problem, receiving mixed responses.
“It’s kind of sad how it is working out,” said EDSS vice-principal Dave Conlon. “Cafeteria people become part of the family. I understand why the kids are upset.”
The Waterloo Region District School Board is one of the only school boards in the province which continues to operate their school cafeterias independently. Over the past few years, the school board has been gradually streamlining the cafeteria services into a more organized, efficient operation run by a single company, JC Vending. EDSS is one of only four schools in the region left to be changed over.
“We are in the business of education. We are not in the business of food services,” said Marilyn Marklevitz, Executive Superintendant of Business Services for the Waterloo Region District School Board. “We don’t have the expertise that people at cafeteria service companies have. With the new legal and health requirements being put in place, we thought it was a wise idea to go that route.”
The students however, do not see eye to eye with the school board on this issue. Their concerns range from doubting the quality of the food to worries about new pricing. Others are concerned with how the implementation of a new company will effect their food-related fundraisers.
“If we want to have a bake sale or a pizza day fundraiser, we are going to have to apply to the company and they will have to have it approved, every single time,” said Phillips. “And I have been talking to other students from other schools who use JC vending and they said that they absolutely hate the food. They said that on a scale of one to 10 for disgusting level, it’s an 11.”
Marklevitz said the ideas the students have about the company are just a misunderstanding.
“Other schools have continued to run things like pizza day and the money goes back to the school. The new company will actually help the school,” she said. “I think kids hear things from other students and rumours get going. Nobody has explained to them what is happening and it might just be a breakdown in communication.”
As far as the school is concerned, the case is as good as closed.
“In the end what it comes down to is that this is a structural change that is being made by the school board and it is about efficiency,” said Conlon. “New regulations are coming down from ministry about the quality of food in cafeterias and they have decided to regulate it across the board.”
Until new information or explanation is provided, the fight continues for the students and the number of signatures on the petition is climbing.
“These cafeteria ladies have been there for so long. They know everybody’s names and they always say something nice to you,” said Charron. “A lot of people have said that we can’t do much about this, but we figure if we do as much as we can, at least we can say we have tried.”
Lions look to help Sunbeam Centre
Dealing with a vehicle on its last legs is no easy task. Replacing one with very specialized features – one suitable to transport disabled residents, carry up to six wheelchairs and adapt for easy boarding – means a considerable amount of money will also be involved.
As the staff at the Sunbeam Residential Development Centre know, the cost of such a vehicle can be upwards of $70,000. That figure looms large for the organization looking to replace the van that has been in use for some 15 years at its St. Jacobs group home.
“The van has been good to us for a good number of years, but time and the elements have taken their toll and we will soon have to look into replacing it,” said Sunbeam executive director Shaune Lawton.
The St. Jacobs Sunbeam group home is home to six young residents with significant physical handicaps, four of whom require wheelchairs. The van is used frequently to take the residents on day trips away from the home.
To help cover some of the costs, the St. Jacobs Lions Club will be presenting Sunbeam with a cheque for $5,000 – just a small part of the contributions made to Sunbeam by the Lions over the years.
“We started contributing to the fund last year,” said Lion Dennis Lougheed. “But it’s not a cheap undertaking and it may take some time to raise the amount of money that they need.”
The group home opened in 1982 and the Lions have been one of their primary supporters throughout the years.
“The Lions Club sort of adopted us when we first began in St. Jacobs,” said Lawton. “They have provided donations, they have replaced a furnace for the home and every year at Christmas they make a visit to the house to share in fellowship. They are a great supporter to us.”
But despite the most recent gift from the Lions, merely a fraction of the money needed for the van has been raised to date. The St. Jacobs facility is one of 14 similar homes in the Waterloo Region, all of which have their own costs and projects.
“Fundraising is a work in progress,” said Lawton. “We have some money tucked away for this project but it could take several years to amass enough money to replace a van like that. Providing a working van is just part of the work that goes into giving young men and women quality of life that we think they deserve.”
The Lions plan to continue to support the residents as best they can and hope that members of the community will also pitch in to help out.
“We haven’t been able to make a long-term pledge,” said Lougheed. “But we will do what we can, when we can.”
For more information about the Sunbeam group home or to donate to one of their projects, visit www.sunbeamcentre.com or call (519) 893-6200.
Lifestyle may allow Mennonites to live longer
Old Order Mennonites have a significantly lower mortality rate by comparison to Ontario’s general population, according to preliminary results of a study into the group’s lifestyle habits.
Kathryn Fisher, a PhD candidate at McMaster University in Hamilton, is conducting the survey of Old Order Mennonite farmers in Waterloo Region. She hopes the data will help pin down the lifestyle causes behind afflictions such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, calling this finding a critical first step in the process.
“I have spent the past few months collecting the data, building up a picture of the population and analyzing what I am seeing. What we are finding now is that there is something in that lifestyle that is an advantage to them,” said Fisher. “When we look at the number of people who have died in each age group, the numbers for Old Order Mennonites are significantly lower than other people in Ontario.”
In April, Fisher sent out a 74-question survey to 2,000 Old Order Mennonites in the area. The questions cover topics such as health problems, work, stress, community, religion and healthcare. More than 1,200 completed questionnaires were returned, a response rate over 60 per cent and far more than Fisher was expecting.
The Old Order Mennonites offer a unique opportunity to study the social and environmental factors behind chronic illness, Fisher said, because their lifestyle has changed little over the past 75 or 100 years.
“What we have seen in past literature is indications that things like smoking and drinking contribute to chronic illness. There are indications that say that the more religious you are, the healthier you are, so we want to find out if that is in fact true,” said Fisher. “Chronic illness like heart disease, cancer, arthritis and those kinds of conditions are common in our population. With the Mennonites, we can see whether lifestyle makes a difference.
This is a group that doesn’t smoke and they don’t drink so these things should emerge as lower levels of chronic illness.”
Fisher has been working on the study for the better part of the past two years. Most of that time has been spent building a relationship with the Old Order Mennonites and designing the survey with the help of the bishops and members of the community.
Currently, she is in the process of collecting similar questionnaires she sent out to non-Mennonite farmers in the survey area who will serve as a control group. By surveying people who live and work in a similar environment but lead a modern lifestyle, Fisher will be able to gauge which factors contribute most to chronic illness.
After all the survey data has been entered into a database and analyzed, Fisher intends to interview some of the Old Order Mennonites to validate the survey responses.
“Now I would like to talk to Mennonite and non-Mennonite farmers and cross-check what I am seeing in the survey,” she said. “I need to make sure that I am interpreting results correctly, to make sure that what I am seeing I am really seeing. Then our next job is to understand why that is the case. It may be a long while before we can put all the pieces together, but we are getting there.”
Fisher held a draw to motivate people to participate in the study and will be contacting the winners next week. She expects that the study will wrap up in the spring or summer of 2011, and she plans to present her findings in a public meeting for anyone interested in the results.
