For a family in South Frontenac, life is either a great adventure or nothing.

“We can stay and have a good life or go and have a great adventure,” says Vanessa Neven about moving her family from Canada to New Zealand.

Sitting beside her husband, Jeremy, in his parent’s house in Sharbot Lake on a rainy night in May, the mother of four doesn’t dwell on what she’s losing. She only sees what’s she’s gaining.

“I’m excited, happy and sad, all at the same time,” says the attractive 43-year-old about her departure in a few weeks.

“It’s taken us six months to get to this point. I’m happy we’re moving forward.”

For the family, the unknown is greater than the known.

They know they will be closer to Jeremy’s job as a Senior Building Surveyor with the Auckland government. His last day as Chief Building Official for Central Frontenac Township is May 12. He departs for New Zealand on May 25 and starts his new job in early June.

“It’s very freeing. I’m relieved,” says Jeremy about selling most of his possessions, including the family hobby farm.

Located in a remote part of South Frontenac Township, the family walked out of their custom-built house on April 28 with their dishes and furniture still inside. They have sold, or are selling, almost everything they own.

“I’m looking forward to going now. Everything is done,” says Jeremy, 44, who departs five weeks before his wife and children to give them time to finish the school year.

What they don’t know is what to expect when they get there.

They need to find a house and a school for their girls, ages 17, 15, 13 and 12. Vanessa also hopes to resume her career as a Registered Practical Nurse.

“All we know is, we have the capacity to figure it out while we’re there,” says Jeremy with confidence.

It’s not the first time the family has taken on a challenge.

In 2004, they moved into yurts located off-grid.

In 2014, they moved out of their yurts and into a house built by Jeremy and his father.

Now, they are leaving everything behind to start over in a new country.

“It’s not like we have to go, we have a great life here,” Vanessa explains. “But this is a great opportunity for the kids. The kids are growing up. This was a chance to give them an adventure. Also, I have a wanderlust. I love to travel. I like to see other cultures and be immersed in it, not just travel through it.”

Watching the hockey game out of the corner of his eye while listening to the conversation around him, Jeremy takes a minute to describe what he’ll miss in Canada.

“The outdoors,” he acknowledges solemnly.. “I’m going to miss the wildlife and the pristine lakes.”

“Our parents and friends,” adds Vanessa quickly. “Just losing those supports is hard.”

The family also had a hard time parting with their animals. Horses, pigs, cows and dogs were relocated to good homes.

Is it clear this family is following their dream and believes life is measured by experience, not money. But every venture has a risk, and they know they could experience hardship along the way.

“I worry most about losing my job. Everything hinges on my job,” says Jeremy, honestly.

“My biggest worry is damaging the kids. I worry they’ll hate it,” adds Vanessa.

“It’s a legitimate concern,” says Jeremy. “Are we doing the right thing for the children’s education and future?”

Pausing slightly, he sums up his feelings, “We worry about the old ones and the young ones.”

Listening quietly to the conversation, their eldest daughter Reilly, 17, remarks with a smile, “I worry about my luggage.”

“I worry about sharks,” adds their youngest daughter, Sydney, 12, with complete sincerity.

Just as the laughs outweigh tears in this family - dreams outweigh fears.

Auckland is a vibrant city with spectacular landscapes. Located in a country that takes a mere five hours to cross on foot, it boasts a sunny climate that is the background rhythm of a Polynesian culture. It is built on 48 volcanic cones that hold historical, spiritual and cultural significance.

“It’s a very demanding country to enter into,” explains Vanessa about the endless stream of forms they had to complete for visas and a work permit. “I think the biggest challenge has been the paperwork. It’s been an epic adventure.”

“We had to close everything here and start over again,” adds Jeremy about their bank accounts, investments, etc.

Once they arrive in New Zealand, the family will be non-residents. They have kept their Canadian citizenship.

“We’d never give that up. Not a chance,” says Jeremy with enthusiasm.

“The good news is, someone has done it before us and someone will do it after us,” adds Vanessa about the move that could be temporary or permanent.

“We’re not fearful of challenges,” she says wisely. “Challenges just make people more capable. We hope this adventure reinforces an ability in our children to figure things out.”

Geof and Amanda Hall are looking to their past to plan their future.

Married for three years, the couple has been quietly building an apple orchard in Battersea with the trees of their ancestors.

Often found working late into the night at their kitchen table or outside early in the morning with headlamps to guide them, the friendly pair dreamed big as they spent the last two years planting 500 trees of 37 varieties of heritage apples.

“It’s been an interesting experience for us,” says Amanda over a cup of tea on a wet spring afternoon in early May. “We learned of different varieties (of apples) we had never heard of before.”

“A lot of these are cherished varieties,” adds Geof.

Named Harvest Mill Farm after milestones in the couple’s life, the orchard started with a tree from Geof’s great grandfather’s farm located near Rideau Ferry.

“I started to get into this because I wanted to save the last tree that blew down (on the family farm) during a storm,” says Geog about his ancestor, a horticulturalist from Scotland.

“We started a nursery there to keep the line,” he notes. “That line was able to produce small trees.”

Using dwarf roots from British Columbia, the couple attached a branch to each root and placed it carefully in the ground.

“Each branch just needs a few buds,” explains Geof about the grafting process of attaching a branch to the root with tape, wax and a label.

Spread over approximately six acres, the trees are from Geof’s ancestor and fruit trees not commonly found anymore. The orchard is a mix of nature and nurture.

Last year, the trees were subjected to drought-like conditions. This year, they are enduring a historically wet spring. Through it all, the roots are mapped with precision, subjected to organic practices, and documented as they progress.

“The entire orchard is a grid,” confirms Amanda as she wraps her arms around her 18-month-old daughter, Lily.

Since starting the orchard in 2015, the couple has lost 70 of their 500 trees. The loss was anticipated.

“You always have some loss with brand-new roots,” says Geof, 41, a Water Researcher at Queen’s University.

Bright and kind, Geof is proud of the 143-acre farm he purchased in 2013 from Russell Clark. In time, he will use a flock of sheep to help manage the apple orchard. The animals will help with weed control and fertilization.

For now, he is building the orchard the way he is living his life: on a solid foundation that respects the past and anticipates the future.

Smiling at his young daughter, he notes wisely, “That’s important to us. This really is a family thing we’re doing here.”

“The neat part is, it’s a learning experience for us too,” adds Amanda, an Occupational Therapist at Providence Care in Kingston. “These are apples we have never had experience with. We’ll be trying the apples with everyone else.”

“Some of these varieties have amazing tastes,” she explains about the fruit that will be ready in three to four years. “For us, it’s bringing back our heritage.”

Originally from Barrie, Amanda talks about the farm and the community with the soft tones of a woman in love.

“We were looking for two years to find this farm,” says the 34-year-old. “We’re honoured to live here and carry-on the memories. We love it here. Everyone has been so welcoming. We have not come across someone who has not wanted to help us in one way or another. Battersea is a really special community.”

The couple continues to invest in their future by expanding the farm at a sustainable pace. Working at their kitchen table and investing what they can afford, they plan to add 70 new trees annually to the orchard until they reach 2,500. When the orchard is producing, they will advertise the operation as pick-your-own.

“This year, if we can have a non-drought summer, that would make us happy,” says Geof  about the challenges ahead of them. “Right now, we could also use a week a week of sun and no rain.”

“We’re really encouraged by what we’ve seen this year,” says Amanda  about their fledgling apple trees and small vineyard planted off to the side. A pumpkin patch will be added this summer.

Looking around the farm that is thriving thanks to careful planning, hard work and perseverance, Amanda seems pleased with the results.

“It’s more meaningful for us to do it this way,” she says about the orchard they are building, one branch at-a-time. “There’s something kind of neat about knowing you created that tree.”

To learn more about planting an apple orchard, please join Geof and Amanda Hall at their farm in Battersea on June 10. Details on this one-day course can be found at www.harvestmillfarm.ca or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The coroners inquest into the death of Robert Srigley took place two weeks ago  in Sharbot Lake. It finally revealing some of the details around the sequence of events that led to his death. The jury that heard all the evidence will be submitting its report, with recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths in the future.

At the time, I wrote that there are some unanswered questions about the case that the public has a right to know. One was what happened when the police arrived, and the second was why only uniformed police responded to what was clearly a mental health crisis for a man who was known to hate the police.

On the whole, the inquest answered those questions. Essentially, when police called out his name, Mr. Srigley ran out of his trailer, picked up what looked like a hunting rifle and aimed it at them. And they shot him. Did they need to shoot him as often as they did? Why did so many of the bullets hit him in the back? These questions were not completely answered, but it was clear the officers who shot him did so to protect each other from a viable threat to their lives. Police are trained to shoot until there is no more threat to themselves or the public, and in an incident that unfolded in seconds it is hard to sit in judgement of the police officer who was in that situation after the fact. And the police testimony at the hearing was credible, and at times poignant.

Police also answered the question about mental health workers, by saying that when there is an incident like this where there is a potential for danger, only they are trained to handle the situation. A mental health worker or team could have been with them as backup but not at the scene. Given the description of events, this is also a credible answer to that question.

From the testimony of Srigley's brother and the one officer on the scene who had met and dealt with him before, it was clear Mr. Srigley was known to social services and mental health services in the region, and going back many years in other locations. Much can be said about the inadequacies of the system, in relation to him, but on that day in July it was too late to address those problems. Mr. Srigley's circumstances had deteriorated to a point of no return and he met a tragic end at the hands of police officers who were doing their job.

But that does not mean that the coroner's inquest was a wholly satisfactory airing of the issues. The first thing I noticed about the inquest was the role of the counsel to the coroner. Since I have never covered an inquest before I can't say if this one was conducted in the normal way, but to my view the counsel, Peter Blaine, was framing a narrative about what happened right from the start and no one challenged that narrative. He had gone through all the reports, knew much of what each witness was going to say, and asked leading questions on a number of occasions, and seemed to be trying to do the jury’s work for them at times, even suggesting wording for the jury to consider in their report and recommendations.

For example, during the testimony of  one of the paramadics who attended at the scene shooting and remained with Srigley until they reached the hospital in Napanee, Blaine asked a leading question. “Did Mr. Srigley say anything about wanting to die during that time. The paramedic said “no, I did not hear him say anything about that” and then Blaine went further. He said that sometimes people who are involved in an intense effort such as attending to  gunshot wounds “are so fixated on what they are doing they don't see or hear anything else.”

“I did not hear him say anything about wanting to die” the Paramedic repeated. When the other paramedic, who drove the ambulance, took the stand, Blaine asked him if he heard Srigley say anything about wanting to die. He said he did not hear much, except “you guys are lousy shots”.

Later in the hearing, at least two of the police officers who testified recalled Srigley saying “just shoot me now” and “I want to die”. As I said before they were very credible witnesses whose accounts were pretty consistent with each others. But why did Mr. Blaine, whose job is to present the facts of the case to the jury, repeatedly push this line. Indeed, he seemed to be pushing pretty hard on a “suicide by police” theory.

Although the OPP  and the OPP Officers Association were represented by lawyers at the hearing, the Srigley family was not. There was no one trying to tease out any details to challenge the dominant narrative, no one poking at any of the loose ends in the testimony

This was not a criminal trial, and was not intended to be a confrontational process, but the supporting witnesses who were called in to explain OPP initiatives as regards mental health and the general tone of the questioning by Mr. Blaine suggested an attempt to make sure that, in the end, the entire matter can be filed away neatly in some cabinet somewhere, never to be referred to again.

After two days of testimony in the coroner’s inquest into the death of Robert (Bob) Srigley, who was shot by Ontario Provincial Police Officers (OPP) on July 25/2013 and died 3 days later at Kingston General Hospital, a picture has emerged. It is that of a severely troubled man whose ultimate end resulted from a series of actions and reactions by him, community members concerned about his well-being, and members of the Lanark detachment of the OPP.

Michael Blain, counsel to Coroner Dr. John Carlisle, said on Tuesday (April 25) that the inquest would be wrapping up the next morning, and after receiving instructions from the coroner, the five member jury would be heading to a jury room to confirm their findings and prepare a report on the death.

The testimony commenced on Monday with a detailed account of Mr. Srigley’s life and history of altercations with police from his brother Scott, a police officer himself, who serves with the Guelph police force.

He talked about his brother’s life, going back to childhood, and presented a sequence of events that explained the twists and turns of his brother’s life, and how he came to “hate the blue uniform”.

“I am here as a brother, not a police officer,” Scott Srigley said to the five member jury. “I can't comment on what happened that day. I wasn't there, but when you make your recommendations I think you should consider a few things”.

Srigley then said that his brother’s death, in his mind, came about as the result of a failure of the mental health and welfare systems in Ontario. The police response to the 911 call on July 25/2013 representing only the final moments of a life that had been deteriorating for years. He said that the fact that the Ontario Disability Support system pays a fixed amount of money to every recipient (about $1,000 a month for a single male) made it impossible for his brother to establish a safe living situation on the property he had purchased on the Arden Tamworth Road.

“Rob was living way, way below the poverty line,” he said,

He also said that in the name of protecting his brother’s civil rights, the mental health system made it impossible for his mother and him to get Robert the help he needed.

Finally, he questioned the decision to send a four member team of OPP officers to the 911 call on July 25th.

“If you send a brain surgeon to fix a car, or you send a mechanic into the operating room to do brain surgery, it will not go well,” he said. “For my brother, 4 blue uniforms arriving at that scene was the last thing he needed.”

Srigley went on to say that, at least in urban areas where it is practical, emergency mental health units should accompany police when they attend at mental health emergencies.

“I don't want more and more of these inquests to take place in more and more halls like this,” he said.

In the second day of the hearing, Scott Srigley’s comment about the appropriateness of the police to the 911 call was addressed in detail.

Each of the four officers who responded to the call that day, as well as both of the Paramedics who attended the scene, presented their own version of what transpired at the scene. The OPP officers are Constables Botham, Copp, and Niceliu and Sgt. Monker, all members of the Lanark detachment.

The four officers met up a short distance from Srigley’s property and formulated a plan. Constable Botham had been to the property before and had established a good, but inconsistant relationship with Srigley. He advised the others on the lay of the land at the property. At the inquest, each of the other officers said they had heard about Srigley and were aware that he could be co-operative at times but that he had a tendency toward violence and a hatred of police.

As a video from the scene showed, the property was in a bad state, with garbage strewn about and plastic pails and twisted metal poking out of the ground. Sgt. Monkers was in charge and he gave out the assignments. He was the only officer with the clearance to fire a taser so he carried one. Officer Botham had a rifle, and Officers Copp and Niceliu were carrying fire extinguishers. They all carried standard issue hand guns.

In calls about an hour earlier to his lawyer and to the Frontenac News, both of which resulted in 911 calls, Srigley said he was planning to get into his boat and set himself on fire.

As the officers made their way down the path to Srigley’s trailer, they were not sure if he was even home. They were greeted at first by his dogs, and when they got closer to the door Officer Botham, whose first name is Jody, called out, “Bob, its Jody, are you there, I want to talk to you.”

The door to the trailer opened and Bob Srigley, naked, burst out of the door and headed towards the water, or so it seemed to the officers at first. Officer Niceliu said that he started to head in the direction of Srigley to stop him from getting into his boat, but instead of heading towards the water, Srigley went to a picnic table, turned his back to police, and picked up what looked like a hunting rifle and turned to face the officers.

At that point each of the officers reacted in a different way. Copp, who was furthest away, made his way to a utility trailer near where he was standing, took cover behind it and pulled out his gun. Botham pulled out his police issue rifle, Monker pulled out his taser, and Niceliu dropped the fire extinguisher and pulled out his gun. They called to Srigley to drop the weapon, but Srigley pulled the rifle up and aimed it at the officers. Monkers said that he fired the taser even though he knew he was too far away for it to be of any use.

“I remember thinking, wrong weapon,” he said. Botham took aim with his rifle, and then Niceliu fired twice at Srigley’s upper body.

“From my viewpoint it appeared he was taking dead aim at Sgt. Monkers,” Niceliu said.

A police training officer who gave evidence on the first day of the hearing, explained that police officers in Ontario are trained to always fire at the chest area when they discharge a firearm because it is the easiest part of the body to hit and the most effective way to stop an assailant from being a danger to others.

Niceliu fired again and Srigley fell back and began to head back to his trailer, now pointing his gun to the side at Niceliu. Niceliu and Monkers both fired on him as he ran back to the trailer, hitting him on his side and back. Nine casings were recovered from the scene, and 6 of the bullets hit Srigley, two just grazing him and the other four causing various amounts of damage.

As Srigley fell headfirst on his front stoop, Sgt. Monkers approached, as did the others. Srigley’s hands were cuffed behind his back, and the rifle, which turned out to be a scoped pellet gun and not a hunting rifle, was found on the ground behind him. After searching the trailer and finding it was empty, Officer Niceliu held Bob Srigley’s head up because it was drooping to the side.

In his account, Officer Niceliu said that Srigley remained conscious and in the ten minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive on scene, “he asked me to take out my hand gun and shoot him in the head. He said ‘just kill me but take off the handcuffs first, I don’t want to die with hand cuffs on.’ He kept repeating that.”

Paramedics arrived and attended to the wounds as much as they could. Then with help from the officers they carried Srigley on a stretcher to the vehicle and headed towards Napanee hospital. Two of the officers, Copp and Botham, went in the ambulance with paramedics. Srigley remained conscious throughout the trip. He was transferred to Kingston afterwards and underwent surgery that night. The next day, as his mother and brother arrived, it appeared that he would make a recovery, but instead his condition deteriorated and he died on Sunday, July 28.

Michael Blain asked each of the officers if, in retrospect, they felt the situation could have been better handled by someone other than a police officer given Srigley’s history and state of mind, perhaps a mental health crisis team such as exist in larger centres.

Sgt. Monkers, who was the last to provide evidence, summed up what the others had all said in one way or another: “Only police have the training and the equipment to handle dangerous encounters. In this case there were way too many variables at play for someone without extensive training to deal with. Once we have secured a scene, sure a mental health crisis team can come it, but in this case we knew there was a potential for danger and we needed to try and get to Mr. Srigley before he caused damage to himself and we needed to secure our own safety if necessary, which is what happened. It was the correct response.”

Last week, a settlement was reached through mediation to end a defamation lawsuit that was launched in 2013 by former Frontenac County Warden Janet Gutowski against three former colleagues on County Council; David Jones, Dennis Doyle and John McDougall.

Terms of the agreement have not been released, and according to Gutowski details of the agreement are subject to a confidentiality clause.

“I thought it was over, and while the terms are confidential I can tell you that I was pleased it was settled and we can all move on,” she said when contacted on Tuesday, “but I just read an online article where Dennis Doyle and even John McDougall have made comments about the matter that I wonder about. I’m sending that article to my lawyer to see what he thinks. I think they are skating on thin ice to imply wrongdoing on my part, given the agreement that we reached.”

In the article, which appeared on the Whig Standard website on Tuesday afternoon, Dennis Doyle made comments about one of the underlying legal issues in the case, the idea that statements made by members of municipal councils at meetings should be considered “privileged communication” the way statements made in the federal and provincial legislature are, and thus not subject to defamation laws.

Lawyers representing the three men argued this point in the Ontario Court of Appeal in an attempt to have the law suit squashed, to no avail. An attempt to have the same matter considered by the Supreme Court of Canada was scuttled when the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case.

“We thought we should get the same privilege to speak openly in our council chamber just like they do in the province and federally,” Doyle told the Whig after the settlement, adding “are we not supposed to speak up when we see something is wrong? That’s what we are there for. That’s our job. It would be irresponsible if we felt something was wrong and we just sat there and said nothing.”

It was that final line in particular that led Gutowski to send the article to her lawyer.

In that same Whig article, John McDougall is quoted as saying, “It does seem strange to me that you can’t just speak your mind even when it’s at a time when you are a little more emotionally involved than you might want to be.”

The lawsuit itself was caused by some of the wording in a motion in May of 2013 that was put forward by former Frontenac County Councillor David Jones, which accused then Warden Gutowski of “influence peddling” over some of the negotiations that were taking place at the time between Gutowski and members of council aimed at breaking a deadlock over approving the annual county budget.

While Jones made the written statements in the motion and made other accusations of wrongdoing while speaking in favour of it before it was voted on, Doyle, McDougall and the late Bud Clayton were named in the lawsuit because they voted in favour of the motion, not necessarily for anything they said at the time. Bud Clayton’s name was pulled from the suit when he died in September of 2014.

John McDougall told the News on Tuesday that “in retrospect, if something like that ever happened again, I would probably be more careful about the wording of the motion.”

He was surprised to hear about Gutowski’s reaction to the comments in the Whig, however.

“When the lawyers asked us if we wanted to know the terms of the agreement, we said we did not want to know,  and we don’t know the terms. I’m not sure what this is all about. I do think that at some point the Supreme Court will look at absolute privilege, even if they didn’t in this case,” he said. “Personally I’d like to let this specific matter lie, and not discuss it any more,”

Dennis Doyle also was surprised when told that Gutowski thought his comments to the Whig Standard were problematic.

“Elliot [Whig reporter Elliot Ferguson] asked me some questions about the absolute privilege that provincial and federal politicians enjoy, and I said that we need to be able to speak freely at municipal council as well. Why would people put themselves on the line by running for council if they can get sued just for saying what they think.”

Legal fees for the three men facing the law suit were paid by Frontenac County, with those fees and settlement itself being covered by the county insurance policy, with a $10,000 deductible coming from county funds.

“I chose not to go that route”, Gutowski said. I felt it was a dispute between my colleagues and myself and did not want to involve the ratepayers.”

It’s been almost 4 years since Bob Srigley was shot by police on the porch of his trailer on Arden Road.

We know a few things about what happened, but only a few. He was armed with what the Special Investigations Unit report into his death described as a weapon that appeared to be a “scoped rifle” but turned out to be an air gun.
The report also says the following: “while still holding his rifle, which was pointed at the officers, the man turned around, began walking toward the front porch of his residence, and stopped at the porch stairway. The man did not heed repeated commands to drop his weapon.”

The report does not say what part of Srigley’s body the bullets hit.

While the The SIU report did not say where he was hit or whether his gun was still pointed at police when he was shot, it did say that Mr. Srigley’s actions as soon as police arrived at his house are what really precipitated his death.

“The moment the man ran naked screaming and yelling to the picnic table in his yard and picked up his air rifle - which appeared to be a lethal high powered scoped rifle with a flared barrel - and pointed it at the officers, he initiated the sequence of actions that led to his death,” it says.

A Coroners inquest into this matter will take place in Sharbot Lake starting next Monday. It will not deal with whether anyone should be held accountable for Mr. Srigley’s death. That matter was settled by the SIU and will not be revisited.  

The point of the inquest is to provide an opportunity for the public to learn more about what happened on that hot July afternoon in 2013, to provide clarity for members of the public.

Knowing where the bullets entered Mr. Srigley’s body is something that the public has a right to know.

Aside from that issue, another question arises. Should police have been the only first responders on the scene?

As the SIU report itself indicates, and more of this will hopefully come out during the inquest, Bob Srigley had major issues with the police. He had accused an OPP officer of beating him 18 months before his death, and after an investigation a police investigator from Kingston concluded there was no chance of conviction in the case.  He continued to battle with police, and his own personal demons, in the run up to the confrontation that led to his death.  

The call came in to police on that day because Srigley had threatened to kill himself. Everyone in the local OPP detachment knew Mr. Srigley had major issues, yet they did not call in his social worker or his mental health worker to come with them. That may not have been an option according to the OPP operational protocol of the time, but those protocol’s are changing as the result of investigations into a number of other incidents across the province.

Mr. Srigley was known to social and mental health workers in the area. He contacted this paper many times, often to talk about his issues with the OPP. If the inquiry can look at one issue alone, it would be the response to the 911.

In retrospect it is clear that sending in 6 officers put those officers at risk, and we know what the consequences ultimately were for Mr. Srigley.

We don’t know about the impacts on the officers who responded to the call, particularly to the two who discharged their firearms, but they have also paid and are still be paying a price for a decision to send in law enforcement to deal with the mental breakdown in a man who had professed a violent hatred on for police officers.

We will never know if the outcome of the Srigley case would have been different if a trained crisis worker had been working with the OPP on that day in the summer of 2013.

But we do know a 911 call was made because a man was in need of help, and instead of getting that help he ended up dead.

The matter is of particular interest to The Frontenac News because the 911 call was made from our office.

Ken Hook has been a pheasant farmer, the Reeve of Addington Highlands, Executive Director of Land O’Lakes Community Services, and he currently runs a videography company with his wife Kathy. He is also an athlete, and a pretty good one, it turns out. Recently, he had an unexpected win in the Hamilton Around the Bay 5K running race on March 26th where he placed 1st in the age 60-64 division in a field of 51 runners. Overall, Ken placed 172 in a field of 2385 runners.
Last summer, Ken qualified in Ottawa at the 2016 Canadian Triathlon Championships as one of the top 10 athletes in his age category which enables him to compete as part of Team Canada at the ITU World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, September 14-17, 2017.

Ken's event is the "Sprint Triathlon" which is a 750m swim, 20K bike and 5K run which takes under 2 hours to complete. Ken trains in the Cloyne area and swims in Skootamatta Lake. He will be competing in several running races and triathlons in Ontario prior to the Rotterdam event. (Information provided by Tracy Hook, a proud brother)

It was a sweet weekend last Saturday and Sunday as visitors from all over came to the Bell Line Road to visit the maple syrup operations of Oso Sweet Maple Farms (Mel & Joyce Conboy) and George and Darlene Conboy & Sons Maple Syrup.

“It’s been an average year,” said George Conboy. “It did start very early in February and we weren’t expecting that but then it got cold again.

“Still, it’s a very high quality syrup this year with very light colour (and) we haven’t made any of the lower grades.”

For the Conboys, maple syrup has been a family business for a long time.

“Our grandchildren will be the sixth generation,” George said. “The Conboys came from Ireland in 1876 and got a land grant.

“I remember going to Sharbot Lake with my father to send the syrup out on trains.”

It’s still a family operation. George and Darlene have sons Jason, Ryan and Devon around for much of the harvest (although Trevor does have to spend a lot of time in Ottawa in computers).

“We couldn’t do it without the kids,” George said.

But of course the nature of the business, being so dependent on weather and time of year, means that when you need help, that’s when you need it.

“It’s not something you can think about leaving until tomorrow,” he said. “When the sap gets running, you gotta do it right now!”

That never changes. Other things do, but then sometimes they change back again.

Originally, sap was boiled over wood fires. Then that changed to oil burners and also propane.

But George is back to wood.

“It just works the best,” he said. “And we only burn old dead wood.”

Despite some rather questionable weather Saturday, a steady stream of visitors kept showing up. Along with maple products, there was a bit of a festival atmosphere with the Frontenac Blades showing people how to throw tomahawks and knives and Cota’s Mobile Catering featured a maple theme with sausages and cornbread with syrup.

“I’m pleased with the turnout,” Darlene said. “I’m seeing a lot of old familiar faces and a lot of new ones too.

“Remember, you can use maple syrup for anything you would use sugar in.”

Central Frontenac Township’s plan, which is now under review, to licence pumper/haulers to do inspections on septic systems “won’t work,” says a long-time area pumper who does 30 per cent of his business in Central Frontenac.

“They’ve opened up a hornets’ nest,” said Dave Orser, who began helping his father with the family business in 1963 and took it over when his father retired. “South Frontenac tried this a few years ago and I was quite involved in it. It won’t work.”

Orser said he has two main concerns.

First, he’s concerned he’ll lose business if he’s put in the position of having to ‘fail’ a system.

“If I come to an area and turn down a system, I’ll never pump another system in that area again,” Orser said. “People will say ‘don’t get Dave, he’ll turn you in. Is the Township going to accept the liability for the pumper losing business?”

His second point is that the $20 fee the Township will pay for the inspection just isn’t enough.

“I’m not going to do inspections for $20, especially when you get $100 for a real estate inspection,” he said. “Inspections take time and that cuts into the number of pumpings I can do in a day.

“A good day now is about 10 tanks but depending on the distance I have to travel and the complexity of the inspection (like for example if a filter at the weeping bed has to be dug out and checked) that could be down to five.”

It’s not that Orser is being critical or that he doesn’t care about he environment. He considers all the lakes in this area as ‘my lakes’ and he’s been known to ‘recommend’ that a system owner take steps to correct problems.

“If I see something suspicious, I’ll say ‘you gotta do something’ and most people do,” he said. “If I see it a second time, then I’ll tell the Health Unit.

“They’re all my lakes.”

Orser also sees plenty of problems on the horizon if people are forced to replace aging systems.

“I’ve had a lot of calls and there are a lot of older people in a panic about this,” he said. “Just because a system is 40 years old, it doesn’t mean it’s not still working.

“I’m still pumping systems my dad put in.”

But he worries what will happen to seniors on fixed incomes, given that most new systems are in the $15,000-$20,000 range and newer technologies can cost even more if they use electricity to operate such as the Waterloo Biofilter.

“I know I’d be in trouble financially if I had to replace my system,” he said. “And what if you’re on an older 100 x 100 lot? There might not be room for one of the newer systems.”

He doesn’t think Township subsidies or 80-20 type loans will work either.

“You could have 600 people coming for help replacing their systems,” he said. “How is the Township going to pay 80 per cent of that? And let’s face it, for single seniors who only have their pension and a few dollars put away, they’re never going get $20,000 paid off.”

Orser said he thinks the best solution is for municipalities to hold off on making plans until the Province actually passes the legislation and then to lobby them for inspectors. “It is my one hundred per cent hope the township will hold off,” he said. “Then, if the province decides to pass this, the Province can hire the inspectors who will accompany the pumpers and to the inspections.”

Morgan Cowdy (14) and Austin Barker (8) are the bus monitors on a Martin’s bus that takes them to Land O’Lakes Public School (LOLPS) each day. On Monday (March 27) the bus was running late because of icy roads. It was almost at the end of the route at 8:30 in the morning when it crossed over Hwy 7 from the Frontenac Road to go  a short way up the Bell Line Road to pick up the last of its students before turning back and heading to the school.

As the bus was heading up a hill it hit glare ice and began to slide sideways and it eventually came to a stop, blocking the entire road. The driver, Joe Borg, told the two monitors to make sure everyone stayed in their seats, as he got off the bus to put out flares on the road to warn oncoming traffic about the hazard.

“Then he fell pretty hard on the ice,” said Morgan Cowdy when interviewed the next day.

It was clear that Borg was injured, as he did not move right away after falling, and then was struggling to get back to the bus.

“Morgan said she was going to help him get back and asked me to watch the kids on the bus and make sure no one came to the front,” said Austin Barker.

So, even though bus monitors are told not to leave the bus, Morgan Cowdy got off the bus to see if the driver needed assistance.

“I didn’t go far, because we are not supposed to leave the bus but he was looking pretty shaky,” she said.

In the end Joe Borg made it back to the bus on his own.

“Joe sat in the driver’s seat at first and then he  sat down on the floor because he was dizzy. He told us to use the radio to call for help, and I asked Austin to make the call because I was so nervous,” said Morgan.

Austin called the bus company on the radio, and was trying to explain what was going on, when he noticed a Central Frontenac sand truck headed towards them from the other end of the road. Morgan called her father, who works for the township roads department as well, and her father called the sand truck operator on the Bell Line Road just as he was reaching the bus and he was the first one to arrive and offer assistance.

“He asked Joe if he wanted to lay down, but he said he didn’t and he stayed there, leaning on my leg to keep his balance,” said Morgan

By now the school and emergency services had been notified, and Austin went over to help the rest of the kids on the bus, some of whom were visibly upset.

Emily Yanch, Principal of LOLPS, was the next on the scene,  followed by a backup driver.

“The kids had done a great job already and I did what I could. I don’t know how the bus even made it that far up that hill because it was glare ice. My car barely made it.

The ambulance arrived and made it to the scene. Joe Borg was taken to Perth hospital and was then transferred to Smiths Falls for a scan. He was released later but reportedly then returned to the hospital later on. There was no further word on his condition as of Tuesday afternoon.

“Two of the kids on the bus were crying because they were scared,” said Austin.

“We went to them and held them a bit, and they were ok after that,” said Morgan.

The students ended up staying on the bus, which did not turn around but traveled to the far end of Bell Line road where it meets Road 509, before taking 509 south and then Hwy 7 west from Sharbot Lake to Mountain Grove, not reaching the school until 10:10.

Morgan said she was feeling a bit “weird” for the rest of the day, and on the bus ride home. She said she was feeling better the next day, “but I am worried about how Joe is doing,” she said.

Austin also said he was worried about Joe.

“The kids came through, they did an amazing job yesterday. Some kids would not have the where with all to do what they did,” said Principal Yanch.

Cathy Borg, Joe’s wife, said that he is suffering from a severe concussion and deep bruising. She said that the children did very well on Monday to help him out, but that the accident should never have happened because the township should have ordered their road crews out before the buses were on the road.

“I hold the township responsible for this. Joe drives up and down the Frontenac Road and the Bell Line Road every day and we have asked many times this winter for crews to sand and salt and clear the roads before the bus goes out and they haven’t done it.”

She said that the road crew that came to help out after Joe fell should not have been sanding the road at 8:30, but should have been there a couple of hours earlier.

“It’s pretty basic to sand the roads before the school bus comes. We are lucky that none of the children were injured. I don’t know what Joe is going to do. He is pretty badly injured. Who knows when he will drive again,” she said. “It is time the township did something about this. The have been told about it again and again and now this happened. They are at fault.”