It came as no great surprise to see the Sydenham Junior Golden Eagles leading the Bayridge Blazers 41 to 0 with just four minutes left in the final quarter of the opening game at the Bubba Bowl last week. It has for years been the tradition of Sydenham's junior and senior teams to reign supreme at their hugely popular home football double header, which is played under the bright lights of the Point Park on Sydenham Lake. The annual event continues to draw thousands of fans, many of whom are former students and players at Sydenham.

The event was named for former grade 12 Sydenham high school student and football player Alex (Bubba) Turcotte, who passed away in his sleep 12 years ago. Bubba Bowl demonstrates how football players at Sydenham High School have flourished under the direction of a host of dedicated coaches.

I spoke with Jeff Ryan, educational assistant at SHS, now in his eleventh year of coaching football at the school. This year Ryan stepped in as the head coach of the Sydenham Junior Golden Eagles following an absence due to illness by long-time juniors' head coach Jim Latimer.

Following the juniors' win Ryan said that the final outcome of the game is one that is never completely predictable.

“We knew that our players had more experience playing the game because of the minor system that happens in this area through the Bulldog teams. Unfortunately for Bayridge, they don't have that feeder.” Ryan continued on to say that he “noticed that the Bayridge team has improved a lot this year and have become very physical.”

Following the game Ryan said that Latimer would be pleased to hear about the win, and that he would be sending him a text momentarily.

Limestone District School Board officials were being optimistic in July when they targeted a November opening for the new Granite Ridge Education Centre (GREC) in Sharbot Lake.

That would have required the building to be substantially complete by the end of September to allow six weeks to finish up and co-ordinate moving students into the new building.

As late September came and went it became clear that the building was taking longer to complete than had been hoped, and last week the board sent a letter home to parents informing them that the new target for move in is the first day of classes in January, 2014.

And even that target is now being called a hope rather than a firm move-in date.

In the newsletter that was released last week, the question on all parents’ and students’ minds of when GREC would be ready for students was answered with the following statement:

“We hope to have students and staff begin classes in the new building on January 6, 2014. We are still on track to get into the building in November but contractors and facilities services staff will need a few extra weeks for finishing touches, and to completely clean and equip the building before moving in furniture, equipment and resources, and eventually students and staff. We plan to complete the installation of these items in phases throughout early to mid-December. We then hope to have students and staff tour the new building before the December break.”

Initially, the plan had been to move the students in in stages, with the primary students remaining at their temporary quarters at the former Sharbot Lake Public School site until the existing Sharbot Lake High School is demolished and the necessary landscaping can be done in order to create outdoor recreation areas for the exclusive use of primary-aged students.

That plan has now been scrapped. If all goes according to the latest plan, all 400 students will move in to the completed Granite Ridge on January 6, but the existing Sharbot Lake High School will still be in place.

While the board has acknowledged that “not all elementary play areas can be finished until the demolition is complete … we have revised our plans so that elementary students will have access to the field/wooded area at the east of the school as well as the gym during inclement weather.”

The board now expects the demolition will take place sometime in the spring of 2014.

In a letter to parents, Granite Ridge Principal Heather Highet said the delayed opening came about because some phases of construction took longer than expected.”

The newsletter added a bit more detail, saying “A province-wide roofers' strike in early spring delayed our progress. Approvals for the new septic system also took longer than anticipated."

A poster taped to the front door of Harrowsmith Public School greeted author Kenneth Oppel with the words, “We love you Ken Oppel and your books!” As part of the Kingston Writers Festival, the famed Canadian children's author spoke to students at HPS about his books, what inspires them and how he goes about creating them. He spoke extensively about the first book in his trilogy titled Silverwing, which was written in 1997 and is still the best seller of the 28 books he has penned to date.

The book’s plot centers around a Canadian silver-haired insectivore bat named Shade, and the adventures he experiences with Marina, an eastern red bat who was booted out of her colony after being banded. The two experience many adventures as they try to reunite Shade with his mother and colony. The popularity of the trilogy eventually led to an animated TV series but Oppel explained that he had tried to make his bat characters as real as possible; he did not want them to seem like just cartoon creations. He pointed out some amazing bat facts, like the fact that there are1000 different species; how bats use echo location to find food; how some consume 1000 bugs in a single night and how they catch insects with their tails, then flip them into their wings, and from wing to mouth. He spoke of how he used real life locations as the backdrops in the trilogy, thus investing the books with real place facts and real life landmarks.

He spoke of his second trilogy of adventure stories called Airborn, set in an imaginary past about 100 years ago, which resembles earth prior to the First World War except that in the stories airplanes had not been invented. Instead people travel and live on huge air ships, which Oppel said were inspired by both the airships of the 1930s like the Hindenburg and huge cruise liners like the Titanic.

The ship is called Aurora and the hero is a 15-year-old cabin boy (Matt Cruse) who essentially lives in the sky. The stories are about his adventures with his friend, a ship passenger Kate de Vries. Together they explore desert islands, mysterious ghost airships carrying treasures and discover new species of animals.

One of Oppel’s more recent works is a book titled “Half Brother”, which was inspired by two experiments done on chimpanzees in the 1970s. Half Brother is about Ben Tomlin, a 13-year-old boy whose scientist parents adopt a nine-day-old chimpanzee named Zan. They bring Zan home as an experiment and undertake to teach him sign language while trying to raise him as a human child. Oppel explained that Ben is expected to be big brother to this baby chimp. The story is about their relationship, how Zan changes Ben's entire family and what happens when this very strange experiment starts to go "terribly, terribly wrong.”

Oppel said that he wrote two of his most recent works, “This Dark Endeavor” and “Such Wicked Intent” as prequels to one of his own most beloved novels, Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein”. The books tell of a teenage Victor Frankenstein, his weird, dangerous and appalling escapades and his sick twin brother Conrad. There are towers, dungeons and secret passages and of course the adventures as Victor tries to find the elixir of life.

HPS Principal Valerie Arsenault was thrilled to have Oppel visit. “It's great for the students here to have a chance to meet, listen to and ask questions of the author behind the books that they adore and have been reading for years.” Oppel's visit generated a lot of excitement and numerous questions from his young audience, who were captivated by his presentation. Oppel himself said that a personal visit from an author gives young readers “a chance to meet the person who thinks about these subjects and creates these stories. I believe it will further their interest in writing and reading and it also helps to generate interest in my work.”

Following his presentation students lined up with books, which Oppel graciously signed.

Students and staff at NAEC rose to a challenge this past week. The school learned in September that the shelves were nearly empty at the food bank. The Grade 10 Careers and Civics classes responded by organizing and promoting an elementary and secondary Thanksgiving food drive.

Elementary and secondary classes (and their teachers) competed over who could bring in the most items. Ms. Cuthill’s grade 6/7 class was the generous elementary winner, with Ms. Randle’s grade 10 English bringing in the most items in secondary.

A total of 500 items were collected. Cathy Ballar of the Land o’ Lakes Food Bank was there to accept the items, and expressed the overwhelming need that the food bank is experiencing.

Principal Angela Salmond was overwhelmed with the results. “Once again, I am proud of the North Addington community,” she remarked. “Students, staff, and families have worked together to demonstrate that when there is a need, we take care of each other.”

NAEC secondary students will be participating in the annual Trick or Eat event, in their Campbell’s soup costumes. Students will be canvassing Flinton, Northbrook, Cloyne, and as many back roads as possible, for non-perishable items on Hallowe’en night. The students will have NAEC identification tags and will be canvassing until approximately 8 p.m. Students will attempt to visit as many houses as possible, but if your house is overlooked, please drop the items off at NAEC, or have the items picked up (please call Candice Bovard at 613-336-8991). For families requiring assistance or more information about local services, please call Land o’ Lakes Community Services at 613-336-8934.

On Sept. 25, Caitlin Norwich-Stevenson of the Alzheimer’s Society gave a valuable seminar in Sharbot Lake on coping with the challenging behaviors that are sometimes exhibited by people with Alzheimer’s.

Although Alzheimer’s sufferers may look normal outwardly, dramatic changes and cell death have occurred in their brains. The disease is fatal, though its progression can be from 2 to 20 years (average 7 – 8 years), and people will often die from other causes.

The first thing Caitlin stressed is that all behavior has meaning. What caregivers see as random, irrational and confusing behavior usually has a cause - it can be from emotional or physical, internal or external causes, or is an attempt to communicate. She gave several examples of things that can be irritating to someone with Alzheimer’s, but which caregivers can be unaware of, such as the itching caused by tags on the back of clothes, or the flickering of fluorescent lights.

The person may also be suffering from fear or anxiety caused by something in their past. She told of a man who had been in a concentration camp, who freaked out whenever he saw someone in green scrubs, because that is what camp staff wore. Also, because the person is reverting to things from their youth, even their family can be unaware of the reasons for their behavior. She gave another example of a woman who when she became an adult had completely rejected her ethnicity, so much so that her family was astonished when their mother started to feel a strong need of certain cultural and religious traditions.

As people lose their language skills and ability to communicate, behavior is often the only way left to them to express their preferences and needs. For example, normally adults make their own decisions about eating and showering, but someone who is being cared for doesn’t have those options, and the only way they can express their feelings is by physically refusing to cooperate, which causes extreme frustration for caregivers.

The world of an Alzheimer’s sufferer is very confusing and if anxiety is not dealt with, it escalates into agitation, which can manifest itself as: hiding objects; inappropriate dressing or undressing; repetitive mannerisms or vocalization; or physical aggression, screaming, cursing, or violent outbursts.

Caitlin said that such catastrophic reactions can be anticipated when anxiety, agitation or misperceptions are not relieved. She called these behaviours “responsive” behaviors – meaning that they are in response to something.

The challenge for caregivers is how to respond to these behaviors and Caitlin outlined several strategies:

Caregivers must go slowly, as Alzheimer’s sufferers are surprised by every movement, often despite being told in advance. Redirection – giving the person something to do, eat or drink - is often all that needs to be done to relieve anxiety.

Caregivers need to constantly reassure the person that they are safe and that the caregivers are there to help them. They can also use the “out of sight, out of mind” tactic, such as removing shoes and clothes from view to help prevent wandering, and covering IVs with flesh-colored bandages to prevent patients from tearing them out. One creative approach that was employed by an institution was to cover an exit door with a mural to prevent assaults by patients on the door. Caregivers also need to be flexible – if there is resistance and a test can be run later or questions asked later, then they should wait.

Caregivers should not attempt to argue or drag Alzheimer’s patients back into the “real world”; it is not necessarily better unless the hallucination or delusion is causing the person to harm themselves or others.

Attempts to physically restrain the person should also be avoided unless they are in imminent physical danger, as this can lead to violent outbursts.

Caitlin summarized by stressing that each Alzheimer’s patient has unique physical, emotional and social needs that can only be met by an individualized approach. It is up to caregivers to gather as much information as they can to try to understand the behavior, and to use creative strategies – often by trial and error – to try to meet the person’s needs and calm them down.

It is exhausting and difficult in the extreme to cope with the challenging behaviors caused by Alzheimer’s disease, and caregivers often experience burnout, but the good news is that there are different strategies that can help.

The Alzheimer’s Society runs monthly support groups, in Sharbot Lake on the first Wednesday of each month from 1 to 3 p.m. at the United Church hall, and in Sydenham on the last Thursday of the month, 7-9 p.m. at the Grace Centre. Anyone who needs help in coping with a loved one, friend or family member with Alzheimer’s, please contact Caitlin at 613-544-3078, ext 202; toll free: 1-800-266-7516; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

While some people find math very difficult, Ms. Shepherd’s Grade 9 Applied Math class has been having fun. They used their math skills to design and construct some mini-putt holes. Each student designed a mini-putt hole, then the class voted on the five designs they wanted to make. Students worked as a classto construct their mini-putt holes. The whole process took five days, to the accompaniment of a lot of hammering, and by October 1, the students were ready to test their projects out. They laid them out on the playground, and took turns trying to sink a ball. The designs proved very challenging, and the chances of a hole-in-one seemed to be nil. Ms. Shepherd hopes to have the mini-putt course laid out for Parent’s Night on October 10, so that the students’ parents can admire the workmanship and try to sink a ball.

Over 250 young runners tested their mettle at the annual Timber Wolf Run at Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove on October 1. The event, which was founded by retired LOLPS French teacher Brian Robertson, was taken over by LOLPS grade one teacher Jen Meulenaar three years ago.

The run attracts students from grades 1 through 8 at other schools, including North Addington Education Centre, Clarendon Central, Granite Ridge and for their first year as participants, Prince Charles Public School. The students are invited to walk or run the race, which takes place through the woods around the school and the length of the race varies from 1-2.5km. The run is a fun event and gives the students in the northern schools a chance to get together outside for a bit of exercise and fun. The top three winners in each category received medals and ribbons were handed out to the fourth and fifth place finishers. The grade 7/8 top male and female finishers each received a trophy.

LOLPS principal Emily Yanch said her school looks forward to hosting the event every year. “It's a great opportunity to get all of our northern schools together, have a fun and healthy competition, and it's a great way to get outside and enjoy the beautiful fall weather.”

The Community Foundation of Kingston and Area (CFKA), in conjunction with community foundations from across the country, has prepared reports on the well being of Kingston and Frontenac County residents each year for the past five years.

This year, the CFKA has partnered with KFL&A (Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington) Public Health to prepare a survey of residents in the region. The survey was designed to determine where the region stand in terms of the well-being of the residents. For the purposes of the resulting report, titled Vital Signs, well-being is defined as “the presence of the highest possible quality of life in its full breadth of expression, focused on but not necessarily exclusive to, eight interconnected categories”.

Those categories are: community vitality, democratic engagement, education, environment, healthy populations, leisure and culture, living standard, and time use.

The Vital Signs report for 2013 was released at an event in Kingston on Tuesday, October 1

Among its highlights are the assertion that 94% (plus or minus 3%) of KFL&A residents say they are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their quality of life.

Among the other aspects of the results that contributed to that overall rating, almost 70% of KFL&A residents who responded to the survey feel that their current job adequately reflects their education and training. A majority agree that the quality of the natural environment is high. Over 90% would check up on their neighbours in an emergency; 90% feel that "getting out with friends" is the most important social activity; and almost 80% feel relatively safe when walking alone in their neighbourhood at night.

There are also a number of negative results, areas where things seem to be getting worse in the region rather than better.

Almost one in three of our young children are not developmentally ready for school by age 6. A size-able percentage of those in the workforce are struggling to balance work and non-work activities. Voter turnout is down in all levels of elections. Fewer than 20% of respondents (by age group) reported membership or participation in public interest groups serving the community within the last 12 months.

In presenting the report to the public, both Florence Campbell, one of the project leads from the CFKA, and Dr. Kieran Moore from KFL&A Public Health, focused on some of the areas of concern and talked about potential initiatives to address those concerns.

These proposals were included in a press release that accompanies the release of the report.

“As communities we have done well setting community standards on smoking by adopting healthy public policy such as prohibiting smoking in enclosed public places. We have other threats to community health that may benefit from the lessons learned from tobacco control. Too many are obese or overweight. Too many are not physically active. If we do not address these issues we will have higher rates of diabetes, arthritis and cardiovascular disease and hence health care costs. Our community partners have made significant strides to improve bicycle lanes and walking trails in our area. We must continue this work to make the healthy choice the first choice for our community whether it relates to food or being active,” said the release.

Other aspects of the report that are of interest is the fact that while the crime rate in Kingston is at the national average, the rate of sexual assault, 97 per 100,000 residents is 1/3 higher than the national average, which is 63.

People have difficulty, particularly those in the 25-44 age group, finding time to do everything they want to do, including sleep. Only 25% of respondents said they get enough. As well 22% of those in the same age group said that at some point in the last year they ate less because they were short of money for food.

On the Thanksgiving weekend, volunteers with the North Frontenac Food Bank will be working with Mike Dean’s Grocery Store and other local businesses for the first of what they hope will become an annual food drive.

Even the local school children are getting involved. Students from various junior classes at the Granite Ridge School are creating autographed autumn leaves which, over the next 2 weeks, Mike Dean’s Grocery Store will be displaying with each cash donation of more than $3. All proceeds will go to the food bank.

Food bank volunteers will also be at Mike Dean’s on Friday & Saturday, Oct 11 and 12 collecting cash, as well as your food donations. Food donations can also be dropped off any time at the Sharbot Lake Marina.

With the start of school this past month, the food bank is facing one of its busiest times and the cupboards are looking bare.

“We’re asking the community to help where it can” said the North Frontenac Food Bank’s new president, Kim Cucoch. Whether you donate food or make a cash donation, every little bit helps. And as you close up your cottage for the season, please keep the food bank in mind for any left over food products you might have.

Helping the food bank is a great way to help your neighbours and your community. Also, if you make a cash donation the food bank, upon request, can provide you with a charitable donation slip for your taxes.

There are also other ways to help. The food bank is in need of new volunteers. With the retirement of long-time president, Brenda Piat, the food bank is currently looking for a new coordinator who can work a few hours, one or two weeks per month, dealing with client intake and requests. The coordinator position requires discretion and confidentiality.

The food bank is also looking for people willing to volunteer an hour or so on a Tuesday and Friday morning, once every month or two. As some of the volunteers are retired and go away for the winter, the food bank will be short of volunteers to hand out food boxes on those morning and to repack the boxes. “The work is not difficult and it really feels good to help out” said local volunteer Tracy Bamford. “As my Nanny Mary said, many hands make light work.”

The North Frontenac Food Bank serves a wide region from north of Plevna to south of Parham, and east of Arden and west of Sharbot Lake. The food bank relies on your donations and is staffed by community volunteers. In 2012 the food bank provided food assistance for more than 650 people in our community, many of whom were children.

The septic system for the Granite Ridge Education Centre, currently under construction in Sharbot Lake, has been the subject of consultation between the Limestone District School Board and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for a year.

Because the school is located within 300 metres of the west basin of Shabot Lake, which has been identified as a Trout Sensitive Lake by the province, an environmental compliance approval from the ministry was needed before the septic system could be constructed.

On August 23, that approval was granted.

Sarah Dick, Senior Environmental Officer at the Kingston MoE office, said in an email: “On August 23, 2013, the Environmental Compliance Approval for the Granite Ridge Education Centre was issued. 
The approval permits the establishment of sewage works for the collection, transmission, treatment and subsurface disposal of domestic sewage, with a rated capacity of 17,000 litres per day. The new system is equipped with phosphorus treatment, which is a significant improvement to the previous system.”

The septic system will need to be constructed and approved before the new school will be able to receive an occupancy permit from the Central Frontenac building department.

The Limestone Board is aiming to have the building ready for students in early November.