Back Kevin Hitchcock, Keighan Chadwick, Emma LeBlanc, Jamie Hitchcock, Erica Sortberg, Kelsey Player, Kayla Clinton, Brianna Blight, Buff Chadwick; Front Row: Lacey Henwood, Suzanne Allison, Nicole Hunter, Leah Quenneville

Congratulations to the Frontenac Fury Midget C Girls for taking home second place at the Pembroke Silver Stick, held in December. The girls played teams from South Dundas, Caster River and Kemptville, losing out to South Dundas in the final game of the tournament to take home 2nd place. The banner (seen in photo) will be raised at the North Frontenac Community Arena at a later date. The team will be competing in the Brockville Angels 41st Annual Freeze Tournament on February 19-21, and then preparing for Regional Playdowns for Provincial competition. “We are very proud of the team’s accomplishments this year”, says Kevin Hitchcock, head coach. “The girls enjoy playing together, and it shows through their success”.

On Sunday, January 24, the Frontenac Girl’s Hockey Association (Frontenac Fury) will be collecting a voluntary gate fee at all their games in support of the Haitian Relief Fund.

The puck drops at the North Frontenac Arena at 2:30 pm, when the Atom Fury hosts the Black Ice Wolves. The Bantam Fury will take on the White Ice Wolves beginning at 4:30 pm, followed by the Midget girls playing host to the Gananoque Royals, game time 5:30 pm. “We would like the public to come out and support our effort”, says Buff Chadwick, league president. “We need to look beyond our own borders when this type of devastation affects the lives of so many”. Join us at the North Frontenac Arena for some great girl’s hockey and help support the Haitian Relief Fund.

By Susan Irwin, Executive Director / Lawyer, Rural Legal Services

(Editor’s note – warning, this column contains some wishful thinking about the outcome of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament)

It’s the last period of Canada vs. the USA in the final Olympic hockey game and the telephone rings: “Are you interested in a new way to save money on …” You interrupt the caller and likely say some choice words and before slamming down the telephone advise the telemarketer to: “not call you again, EVER!”

Unfortunately the telemarketing firm does not have to take your request seriously unless you have also taken advantage of the “National Do Not Call List” started in 2008 by the Canadian Radio Television Commission (CRTC) to try to reduce your chances of receiving such unwanted calls. Once your name is on the List, telemarketers operating in Canada are required to ensure that they do not call you.

Getting on the List is very simple. You either call a toll free number, 1-866-580-3625, or go to www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca, and follow the instructions to register your home telephone number, as well as any mobile or fax numbers. Although your name is added to the List within 24 hours, it may take up to 31 days before the calls stop. The registration is good for five years.

If you still receive telemarketing calls after the 31 day update period, then you can call the same number used for registration, or go to the website, to file a complaint. To back up your complaint you must be able to provide the following information:

either the name of the organization that called you, or the number where that organization can be reached, the date of the call, and your telephone number.

Penalties for calling numbers on the List range from a maximum of $1,500 for individuals to $15,000 for corporations for each incident.

As mentioned earlier, though, the List will only reduce your chances of getting unwelcome telephone calls at inconvenient times. It is not the complete answer to such nuisance calls as there are exemptions for the following groups and organizations:

registered charities looking for donations,companies conducting polls or surveys,political parties,newspapers trying to get subscriptions, andcompanies with which you have conducted business in the last 18 months.

If you do receive calls from these groups or organizations, and you can keep your temper in check long enough, you can ask to be put on the internal “do not call list” that they are required to keep.

The List will reduce the number of calls you receive from legitimate telemarketers, but it does not reduce the risk of fraudulent telemarketer calls. If you receive a call and suspect that it is part of a fraud scheme (offers of “free” vacations are usually suspect), before giving out credit card or banking information you may wish to call “PhoneBusters”, a national anti-fraud call centre operated by the OPP and the RCMP at 1-888-495-8501.

And, of course, you could always just ignore the telephone until the end of the game!

Legalese is a column of general information and opinion on legal topics by the lawyers of Rural Legal Services, Box 359, Sharbot Lake, ON, K0H2P0, 613-279-3252, or 1-888-777-8916. This column is not intended to provide legal advice. You should contact a lawyer to determine your legal rights and obligations.

Throughout Central Frontenac, events are planned for the celebration of the past and the present that is the Frontenac Heritage Festival.

The fourth annual festival will include many of the features from previous years, and a few new events as well. Events will run for three days this year, between Friday, February 19 and Sunday the 21st.

One of the focal points of the festival will be the Crow Lake Schoolhouse, where interactive demonstrations about what life was like in rural Ontario about 200 years ago will take place on Friday and Saturday.

Inside the building up to 15 people will demonstrate traditional skills, including wool knotting, traditional foods and herbs, including some that were used as medicines. On Saturday, lunch in the form of goulash and pie will be available at reasonable prices.

Outside the schoolhouse, local residents Bob Miller and Mike Procter will be joined by a number of other people that have an interest in the way things were done in the era before machinery and electricity. “The skills that people needed to have in order to be able to survive interest those of us who get involved in this kind of activity,” Mike Procter said. “People needed to have a lot of ingenuity and self-reliance just to get by.”

Among the skills that will be demonstrated are: fire starting using flint and steel, the use of a variety of hand tools and tool-making equipment, and weaponry in the form of muskets. John DeWagner, who makes long bows, will also be on hand.

Bannock will be prepared, and for sweetening, Matthew Wheeler will be on hand to prepare maple taffy.

Mike Procter will have a busy day on Friday. Before demonstrating at Crow Lake, he will bring some of his passion for the past, along with some of his vision for tourism and perhaps an old joke or two, to the Sharbot Lake Legion. He will be the speaker at the kick-off event for the festival, a Business Over Breakfast on Friday morning at 8:30 am.

OTHER FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:

Photo Contest Extended! For those shutterbugs who have missed it thus far, entries can still be made for the photo contest because the deadline for entries has been extended. Entering the contest is easy. There are three categories, People – Nature – Recreation (action shots) and there is a special category for youth (16 and under) as well. Simply email a jpeg version of a digital photo to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., indicating which category it is to be judged in, by Monday, February 15 at 5 pm.

On Friday evening the Legion will also be hosting a Roast Beef Dinner, starting at 5:30 p.m., and at 7:00 p.m. at the Maples Restaurant the winners of the Heritage Festival Photo Contest and the Snow Sculpture contest will be announced, and a slide show of the entries will be shown.

Saturday

The feature day of the Heritage Festival starts off the way any cold winter day should start, with coffee at a country store, in this case at the Parham General Store, where in addition to coffee there will be a display of local photos.

In addition to the Crow Lake Schoolhouse events, which will continue on Saturday from 10am – 4pm, the Soldiers Memorial Hall (Oso Hall) in Sharbot Lake will be the site of displays from the railway committee, the heritage weavers, spinners, cheese making, and more.

At the beach in Sharbot Lake, a girls’ pond hockey tournament will get underway at 10 a.m., as well as horse-drawn wagon rides. At noon, also at the beach, frozen turkey curling gets underway (organizers note that no turkeys will be harmed during this event)

Meanwhile, in the village of Arden, the Skills and Thrills event will get underway at 11:00 a the rink. Participants will need to bring skates, a hockey stick and a helmet to participate.

The Tichborne rink will be hosting a 3 of 3 hockey tournament, starting at noon as well.

While all this outdoor activity is underway, the Sharbot Lake Legion will be hosting a Chilifest, with judging taking place after noon. A Jam Session and Hockey & Wing Night follows.

While in Sharbot Lake, there is one added event that people should go to. At the Seniors’ Centre (across from the Freshmart in the former United Church Manse) Northern Frontenac Community Services is sponsoring a Quilt Show And Sale, featuring a silent auction with reserve bids, between 12-4 pm on Friday, and 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday.

In the evening, Jim MacPherson will be hosting the annual Variety Show at the Sharbot Lake High School Cafetorium, and the day will be capped off with fireworks at the ball field next to the school.

Sunday -

Sunday is more of an informal day at the festival. It starts with a heritage breakfast, put on by the Sharbot Lake Anglican Church Women's Group. (Anglican Church Hall – $5)

There will also be a heritage snowmobile ride guided by Wayne Harris. A family skate and fun day will take place at the Tichborne rink, followed the playoffs from Saturday’s 3 on 3 hockey tournament. After the tournament, the closing ceremonies will take place.

Celebrate Valentine’s and Family Day in Sharbot Lake

A few years ago the Oso Recreation Committee put on Canada Day events and maybe one or two other events a year, but lately that has changed, and this weekend is a prime example of that.

The committee will be presenting two events: a Valentine’s Dance for the grownups and a fun day at Sharbot Lake Beach on Family Day.

The dance will be held on Saturday night, February 13 at the Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake. It is a licensed event, featuring the Cellar Hounds, who are brothers Joe and Tim Asselstine, Randy Kempe and Pete Davis. Tickets are $10 per person, and are available in advance at Fit Plus and the township office.

Tickets have been selling well, but there will be some available at the door. The hall only holds 120 people so people are advised to come early or buy their tickets beforehand.

Family Day activities – Spencer Robinson's zamboni has been spotted on the west basin of Sharbot Lake. The rink is ready for the broomball game, and the oval is ready for the skaters as the February holiday approaches.

Free events are all scheduled to start at 1 o'clock on the school holiday, Heritage Day, Monday, February 15. Smoosh races, skating, broomball, snow shoeing, horse-drawn carriage rides and snowmobile/trail safety are all featured events, and everything is free, including spider hot dogs, hot chocolate and snow taffy. The recreation committee is even providing equipment for people to use if they don't have their own.

Last Saturday, Land O' Lakes Public School held a 3-pitch tournament to raise some much-needed money for gym equipment, and, as usual, the community came through for us and had some fun to support our children.

The tournament, held at the Olden ball field, got underway at 8:30 am, and continued non-stop throughout the day until 8:30 that night. The weather couldn't have been better, and there was some great baseball to enjoy. In the end, Kelly Barr's team took first place, and very graciously donated their prize money back to the school, with many thanks. Our total for the day was $770, which will go a long way towards getting the equipment we really need.

Thanks also go out the Olden Rec. Committee who worked all day in the canteen, and to the many players who volunteered to umpire a game or two throughout the day. Very special thanks to Cory Thompson, for without him, this day would not have happened. Cory acted as a contact for teams, put his own team into the tournament, set up the canteen, raked and lined the field in the morning, and acted as an umpire when he had the time. No one worked harder than Cory to make this tournament happen, and we truly appreciate his effort to help our students.

The money we raised will be put to use right away, as we are ordering items like volleyballs, trainer volleyballs, basketballs, soccer balls, badminton raquets, birdies, floor hockey blades, floor hockey pads and stopwatches.

Once again, on behalf of all the staff and students at Land O' Lakes Public School, thank you to everyone who helped out and participated in what turned out to be a great day for us all.

The Frontenac Fury Bantam girls travelled to Kanata on March 26-28 to participate in the Kanata Girls House League Hockey Tournament. Twenty bantam house league teams took part in this tournament that included a total of 98 teams from Novice to Intermediate age players. The Bantam Fury won 2 games and tied 1 to advance to the semi-finals against the Kanata Krazies. A 5-1 victory allowed the Fury to move on to the finals and bring home the championship title with a 3-2 win against the Gananoque Royals. Spectators and fans were at the edge of their seat the entire weekend and were treated to really great hockey.

Congratulations, Girls! You deserve it.

Prince Charles Public School in Verona has embraced floor ball, the latest international fad in hockey, and judging by the students, it’s a big hit. Billed as “the world's most popular indoor hockey game", it is played by millions of people in over 50 countries world-wide and is also used by many European-born NHL hockey players for their dry land training.

Not only does the game have its own world championship, it is a provisional member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Its governing body, the International Floorball Federation, is hoping that it will become a sport in the Summer Olympics in 2020.

Regardless, students at PCPS are enjoying the fast-paced game, which closely resembles floor hockey and ball hockey but is designed as a safer, faster low-cost game. It is played with light-weight plastic sticks and an official hard plastic ball that is also light weight (23 grams to be exact) and similar to a whiffle ball. There is no special equipment required; players can dress in gym shoes, t-shirts and shorts and need wear no other protective clothing except for plastic glasses or goggles.

Photo:  Frontenac Islands Mayor and County councilor Dennis Doyle, County Warden Gary Davsion, and Frontenac Islands Township Clerk Terry O'Shea

Wolfe Island made it to the top five in the race to be crowned the 2011 Kraft Hockeyville and in doing so has been guaranteed $25,000 in upgrades to their hockey arena. The first place prize, which will be announced in the upcoming weeks, could win them $100,000 in upgrades as well as a chance to host a pre-season NHL game. The CBC will also broadcast a Hockey Night in Canada event in the winning community.

Frontenac Islands mayor and county councilor Dennis Doyle, and Frontenac Islands township clerk Terry O'Shea were in good spirits and sporting their red Hockeyville jerseys at county council’s last meeting on March 16 in Glenburnie. At that point in time Wolfe Island had just been voted in as one of the top 10 communities.

Doyle lives on Wolfe Island and was thrilled that his community had made it that far. “It's been tremendous fun and has created a lot excitement on the Island over the winter. We have held a number of games and had a big parade and many local residents have gotten involved.”

Residents in Frontenac County will be waiting with bated breath in hopes of seeing Wolfe Island crowned the reigning Kraft Hockeyville 2011 champs and no doubt countless fans of the game will be thrilled to have a chance to see two NHL teams face off right here in Frontenac County.