Something for everyone at 20th Williamsburg Fall Festival

 

The Right Reverend John H. Chapman, Bishop of Ottawa, has announced that the reverend Jonathon Martin has been named the new incumbent for the Morrisburg-Iroquois-Riverside Heights parish of the Anglican Church.

The appointment is effective June 1, 2015.

Jonathon Martin was ordained in 2006 by Bishop Peter Coffin, and has served as assistant curate at Christ Church, Bells Corners, and as incumbent at the parish of North Dundas, now known as St. Clare’s Church. He has also served as Regional Dean of Stormont, a facilitator for Fresh Start, a member of the Parish Growth & Renewal Consultants Advisor Panel and was instrumental in the development and building of St. Clare’s Church in Winchester.

Martin, who holds a B.A., M.P.Th, is currently completing his D.Min.

“Jonathon is a skilled and competent pastor, and I believe he will quickly gain your trust and love,” said Bishop Chapman in his letter to the South Dundas parish. 

The reverend Martin knows the Morrisburg-Iroquois-Riverside Heights parish well, as he grew up here. His mother, the reverend Pat Martin, was one of the parish’s previous curates.

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Your house is on fire and you’ve just called 911. How would you feel knowing that the dispatcher failed to “page out the call” to the fire department? This is just one of the issues with the current South Dundas township’s dispatch system.

At the October 4th meeting of the South Dundas council, South Dundas Fire Chief Chris McDonough reported on the state of the township’s dispatch system and recommended a solution to council.

According to McDonough, the fire department is “currently being dispatched by Christie Walther also know as Canpage Communications.” He provided a list of issues with the dispatch company that impacted the safety of South Dundas residents, including outdated equipment, unreliable personnel, and failure to follow procedures.

For these reasons, he did “joint research with South Glengarry and South Stormont” and it has been concluded that the city of Brockville is the answer.

He told council that the “cost is a little higher, but service is far better.”

McDonough explained that “the expedient and accurate handling of fire calls is a significant factor in the successful outcome of an incident.”

It was reported that “the Brockville Fire Department currently renovated their dispatch centre and purchased a new Crisys Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD).”

According to Crisys Limited, they were “created for the sole purpose of developing the most advanced decision-support systems possible for responding to urgent requests for assistance.”

McDonough recommended that the township “enter into a five year agreement with the City of Brockville to provide a 24/7 Professional Fire Dispatch system, including voice paging system, 2-way radio communications, computer automated dispatch and the Crisys electronic reporting system.”

The recommended system will cost $42,596.54 the first year, which includes $18,163.54 for dispatch, $13,333 for the wireless internet link, and $11,100 for the Crisys reporting system.

The wireless internet link, which costs a total of $40,000 per year, is being divided among the three townships of South Dundas, South Stormont, and South Glengarry for a total of $13,333 each.

The cost for the second year will be $36,236.54 with a 5 per cent increase for each of the following three years left in the contract.

Councillor Archie Mellan was impressed with how the new system would “greatly enhance response time.”

Councillor Evonne Delegarde commented that it seems like a “far superior system” and that it makes sense to “spend the extra money to have a better system.”

The chief agreed, adding that “they’re on top of everything” and “we’ll be able to predict our boundaries a lot sharper – right to the longitude and latitude – very specific.” 

Mayor Steven Byvelds remarked that “the thing this demonstrates is the cooperation of the municipalities.”

The council agreed with Chief McDonough’s recommendation and the current provider will be given a 90 day notice.

McDonough predicts that the “GPS and fire department data will be entered and the equipment installed and tested by December 1, 2011” and that “the system will go live January 2012.”

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It’s that time again!  The summer has flown by and the 2013-2014 school year is here!  Tuesday, September 3rd marked the first day of this school so hopefully everyone was prepared…staff, students and even the parents!

Hi, my name is Shannon van Moorsel, and I am a grade 12 student here at Seaway.  I love to be involved in things going on around the school such as the sports teams, activity days and Student Council.  I am a proud Spartan!!

Before school had officially started, there were already many exciting things going on at the school.  For the second year in a row, a group of grade 12 students, including myself, took part in a two-day training course to be Link Leaders for the upcoming school year. 

 Link leaders are the mentors for the grade 9 students joining our Seaway family.  Link leaders ran the grade 9 orientation day on Thursday, August 29th to welcome them and hopefully break the ice for their first day of high school.  

Many thanks to our great teacher supervisors of the Link leaders, Heather Thompson and Lilace McIntyre!

Along with the Link leaders, we also have a new group put together by Lindsay Waddell and Rodney Benton called WEB, “Where Everyone Belongs” consisting of grade 10 students who are mentors for the grade 7 students who are entering Seaway Intermediate.  They also had two days of training and ran grade 7 orientation on Wednesday, August 28th.

Seaway is a busy place and activities start right away.  The first sports to get underway are girls’ basketball, boys’ volleyball and cross country.  Sports teams are a great way to be involved with your school and are also a lot of fun!  Be sure to listen to announcements and make it to the tryouts!

I hope everyone enjoyed a fun, relaxing summer and are ready to get back into the swing of another school year!  

Now, how many days are there until the Christmas Break??!!

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