October 2012 – Page 10 – Morrisburg Leader

Funding cuts to put special needs families in crisis

October 3, 2012 Editor

Dear Editor,

I am writing this letter to inform your readers of an important issue regarding a population of individuals who are in crisis. Parents of special needs children have been able to apply for relief and developmental programming under a funding program called “Special Services at Home (SSAH)”. This funding comes from the Ministry of Community and Social Services. Approval for this funding program required that the child meet the criteria and an amount was given based on the level of need. Once the funding was approved the parents had to send in invoices with the signatures from the workers who provided the relief or implemented the developmental program.

The “Special Services at Home (SSAH) program gave funding to children and adults with special needs. Parents use this funding to have before and after school support, to take their other children to their extracurricular activities, to have a date night, to have therapy done at home with their child, to visit their aging parents, to go to work, etc.

This funding also allows to the child/adult with special needs to go to community events without mom and dad. This teaches independence and is a normal phase of life to do activities without their parents.

As of April 1, 2013, the Ministry of Community and Social Services is cutting this funding program once a child reaches 18 years old. The SSAH program will only be given to families with children under 18 years of age.

What does this mean to the families with a child over 18 years of age?

For some families there will not be the care before and after school. One parent will have to quit their job. It will mean that any extra therapy done at home will not occur and the child will regress. It will mean that there will not be supports so mom or dad can attend their other children’s activities or visit or take their aging parents to appointments. It will mean these parents who have devoted their entire life to their child with special needs will not go on a date, participate in community events together and even dream of a few days away alone. There will also not be outings in the community for their adult child and the hope of their child’s gaining independence will become impossible.

Parents with a child with special needs age just like everyone else. They will face medical challenges, just like you will as you age. They also support their other children through post secondary education, in finding a job, getting married, etc. Without the SSAH funding parents with a child with special needs will not be able to be a “normal” parent to their other immediate family members.

As a parent of a 25 year old child with special needs, I am proud of the job we have done caring for our daughter in our home. Having her in our lives is a blessing and a true joy.

I am also grateful I have been able to volunteer, support my two other children as they have grown up, had the privilege of travelling seven hours to be present at the birth of my grandson and been an active member in my mother’s life.

Our holidays consist of a few nights away each year. There is no hope of a seven day vacation and a spontaneous evening out. This is okay. We have accepted our lives as we age together caring for our daughter at home, BUT we cannot do this with the minimal funding we get.

The maximum SSAH gives is $10,000 per year. This means eight hours a week of help. The average SSAH amount given to families is $4,000.00. This means 3.5 hours per week of help.

Imagine you are told you will have an aging family member come to live with you next week. This family member requires 24 hour care. He/she cannot be left alone at all.

Your reaction is that you love your family member but you are not able to care for her/him because you work, you have activities at night, you volunteer, you help care for your grandchildren or aging mom/dad.

The response to you from the Ministry is “WE DO NOT CARE!”.

Try to imagine caring for an aging loved one for 30-60 years. This is what parents of a special needs child does and they are so proud of this special task.

The Ministry of Community and Social Services has decided that now there will not be relief funding for a parent with a special needs child turning 18 years old. As a result, some will lose their jobs, some will not be able to cope, many will no longer be able to attend functions as a couple, some will get depressed, and so much more.

I also have to add there is no new funding being provided by the Ontario government for adults with a developmental disability. The waiting lists are growing and growing. It is up to 30 years to receive a residential placement and this may not be the choice for everyone. The entire system to assist those with a developmental disability is in crisis.

Jim McDonell MPP will host an evening on Tuesday, October 9th at 6:30 p.m. at the North Stormont Place-Community Centre, 16299 Fairview Dr., Avonmore to hear from the families who are being affected by the cut of SSAH funding.

I encourage others to attend and hear the families’ stories. Please share this important family forum with those in your life who have a child/grandchild with special needs.

We need to come together to share, listen and state loudly that in Ontario we need to take care of our most vulnerable population and their families.

Sincerely,

Terry Boyd

[…]

Evan Mullin sees golf from the pro tee at the Great Waterway Classic

October 3, 2012 Editor

When Krista Boyce and Evan Mullin look back on their summer adventures for 2012, one item that will be on top of their list will be their experiences as volunteers at the Great Waterway Golf Classic, Canadian Tour event played at the Smuggler’s Glen Golf Course, September 3-9.

For Krista, who grew up around the Prescott Golf Course and who started the game as a junior player, the call for volunteers for the Classic gave her the opportunity to show her son Evan, 14, a different side of the game.

“He has always only golfed with us in fun stuff, so I wanted him to see what the game is about and what it can be at the competitive level. I wanted him to learn the etiquette of golf and how to behave on a golf course, to experience the gentleman part of the game.”

Although Krista had initially intended for Evan to apply to be a caddy, when he was accepted, she was approached to also volunteer and ended up working the leader board.

Although Evan is not a member of a golf club, Krista, a one-time, competitive 17 handicapper, has returned to play out of her hometown Prescott Club after taking time off with her young family and later playing briefly at the Morrisburg and Cedar Glen courses.

She says the experience at the Classic was great, for her and Evan and for her daughter, Jessica, 20, who volunteered in the hospitality side of the tournament.

“Evan is so excited about golf now,” says Krista. “The tournament was so well down. I can’t wait for it to come to Upper Canada next summer. They were the upcoming young golfers and people should go and watch them play.”

“It was just amazing. They came from everywhere across Canada and from universities in the United States.”

To be a caddy in the Great Waterway Classic, Evan was provided four hours of training and a tour around the beautiful 6,502 yard, Smuggler’s Glen layout. “He was basically taught to pick up, keep up and shut up,” says Krista with a laugh.

Evan was caddy for Matt Hoffman and although Hoffman, an amateur, did not make the cut, Evan thoroughly enjoyed his two days on the course with him. Hoffman did not mind talking during his round and gave Evan lots of tips and hints says Krista.

“It was quite a show. It was something just to be able to be involved in it. It was good for Evan. We talked about it all the way home, both days. I can’t wait for Upper Canada.”

The Great Waterway Classic, Canadian Tour event was new to the region and involved some 250 volunteers from across Ontario. The tournament was won by Eugene Wong of North Vancouver.

As a local component, a Chase the Dream series of qualifying events were played to enable golfers from the Waterway Region the opportunity to earn one of four exemptions. Although he did not earn a spot, Prescott golfer Phil Patterson had the best results locally.

The final domestic stop on the Canadian Tour, the Classic is scheduled for at Upper Canada Golf Course in 2013, the Loyalist Golf and Country Club at Bath in 2014, and the Black Bear Ridge Golf Course in Belleville in 2015.

The Great Waterway Tourism Region of Southeastern Ontario stretches from Belleville to Cornwall.

[…]

Family lucky to escape fire

October 3, 2012 Editor

A three year old, a lighter and disabled smoke alarms are a recipe for disaster, but luckily that disaster was averted by a local family this weekend.

Firefighters were called to the scene of a mattress fire, Saturday morning, shortly before 8 a.m. When they arrived, they found the occupants of 65 Augusta Street in Morrisburg, outside wrapped in blankets. The fire, located in the second floor bedroom, was extinguished and firefighters removed the burnt mattress and debris.

“I spoke with the tenants of the home and the grandmother said that she smelled smoke and discovered the second floor bedroom on fire,” said Chris McDonough, fire chief of South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services. “She woke her son and got her three year old grandson out of the bedroom.”

“As it turns out, the three year old boy had set fire to the bedroom with a lighter that was in his father’s pants next to the bed,” said McDonough. “This could very easily have been a fatality.”

According to McDonough, the smoke alarm on the second floor had been removed and the battery had been removed from the smoke alarm on the main floor of the home.

A $235 charge will be laid for not having working smoke alarms in the home.

“I would like to remind everyone that you must have a working smoke alarm on every storey of your home and that they should practice their home escape plans,” said McDonough.

[…]

Gladys Shaver

October 3, 2012 Editor

A lifelong resident of the community, Gladys Alice Shaver died peacefully at the Dundas Manor Nursing Home in Winchester on Friday, September 21, 2012, at the age of 85 years.

Gladys was born on July 29, 1927, in Williamsburg Township to Wilburn Hall and the former Minnie Robertson.

She was raised and educated in the Iroquois area and on June 22, 1945, in Iroquois, Gladys married Dwayne Shaver.

Together Gladys and Dwayne raised four children; Norma (Steve) McMillan of Morrisburg, Danny (Laura) of Brinston, Tim (Suzanne) of Cardinal and the late Larry Shaver.

Gladys was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother. She lived for her offspring. Her grandchildren were her pride and joy.

Gladys was an avid gardener, and she won a prize for the best garden in Iroquois. She loved to knit and made beautiful sweaters for her family. She was also a great cook and loved to bake.

Gladys and Dwayne loved to travel and they had a real fondness for Tim Horton’s where they spent many mornings for coffee.

Gladys is survived by her children Norma (Steve) McMillan of Morrisburg, Danny (Laura) of Brinston and Tim (Susan) of Cardinal.

She was dear sister of Eleanor Duff of Morrisburg, Lloyd (Jennie) Hall of Iroquois, Viola (Jim) Fawcett of Iroquois and Garry Hall of Morrisburg and she will be sadly missed by six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

She is also survived by many nieces and nephews.

Gladys was predeceased by her son Larry, her sister Doris Storey and her brothers Clifford and Clayton.

Friends called at the Marsden McLaughlin Funeral Home in Iroquois on Sunday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral service was at the funeral home on Monday, September 24, 2012, at 1:30 p.m.

Donations to the Alzheimer’s Society or the Dundas Manor in Winchester would be gratefully acknowledged by the family. Interment was at Spruce Haven in Brinston.

Online condolences may be made at marsdenmclaughlin.com.

[…]

Perspectives by Rev. Clarence Witten

October 3, 2012 Editor

Messing up on Thanksgiving Day

I have a confession to make. I really don’t do justice to some of our special holidays.

Take for example, Victoria Day. I love the day off, but sorry to say, I don’t do anything to celebrate the dead Queen who gave us the day. Or Boxing Day. It’s another great day. Who doesn’t like two days off in a row, but all my life I couldn’t tell you what that day commemorates.

To be honest I probably don’t do any better with Labour Day. Sure, I’m all for supporting ‘labourers’ and all the hard work they do (coming from blue collar stock myself), but I can’t say I celebrate ‘work’. Sheesh, what fun is that?

Likewise, if I’m really honest, I can even mess up on Thanksgiving Day. It’s a great day to enjoy fall colours, to pig out on turkey, and to enjoy family, but it’s pretty easy to do little by the way of being thankful. I suspect I’m not the only one who has this problem. Why is that?

Maybe it’s because celebrating thanksgiving isn’t that easy to do for a number of reasons.

The first reason is simply that we don’t naturally feel thankful for all we have. We just kind of get used to all the good things in our lives like our family, friends, health, jobs, or whatever. Or maybe we think we deserve them. We may appreciate these things, but this doesn’t necessarily translate into gratitude.

What’s the solution? I read somewhere that the words ‘think’ and ‘thank’ are related. Makes sense to me. Only when we really think about all the things that make our lives so rich and have a sense that they are gifts from God will we be thankful.

Of course that other thing that can get us to be grateful is to have these things taken away. Then we realize how wonderful it is to have them, and how grateful we should be for them.

I hate to say it, but another reason being thankful can be tough is because of our pride. We tend to think we have what we have because of us. We figure we are healthy because we look after ourselves. We think we’re well off because of our hard work. We see our success as being thanks to our smarts. It’s tough to admit that maybe somebody else has had something to do with keeping us healthy, or giving us our work ethic or the brains we have.

I read of an African tribe who have an odd way of saying thanks. To express thanks to someone they bow before that person, put their forehead on the ground and say, “My head is in the dirt.” Seems to me they understand that to really give thanks is humbling. And because of this, giving thanks can be difficult. We tend to be proud people.

Suffering can also make thanksgiving hard. Who feels grateful when they’re facing cancer, or are broke, or have lost a loved one? When we go through things like this griping comes a lot more easy.

Yet, the truth is even in life’s struggles, there is always still so much to be thankful for. The chances are good that the sun is still shining, that there are still a bunch of people around who love us, and that there’s still food on the table, to mention just a few things that we still have. So if we’d only think about these things, we really still could be thankful.

There was a guy once who after being robbed of his money wrote in his diary: “Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, although they took my (money), they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, and not someone else.” We could learn something from that guy.

I began by saying that I mess up in the way I celebrate some of the special holidays we have. Maybe you do to.

Yet, the more I think about it, the more I realize that Thanksgiving Day is a day I should take seriously. We are so incredibly fortunate in this country. So undeniably blessed by God. Seems to me he deserves some genuine thanks. For all his gifts, for all his love, and especially for his son sent to save us.

Pastor Clarence Witten

Community Christian

Reformed Church

Dixon’s Corners

[…]

Lions dethroned by Hawks, maul Glens at home, Sunday

October 3, 2012 Editor

Two games into the regular season, the Morrisburg Lions are holding the St. Lawrence Division’s third spot behind the first place Char-Lan Rebels who have collected 10 points and the Casselman Vikings in second with seven.

The Lions are holding third place with six points, two of which they posted this past weekend in Morrisburg, on Sunday, when they overwhelmed the Alexandria Glens, 6-0, in a shutout performance by goaltender Ryan Cooper.

The Glens felt the wrath of the Lions who were picking themselves up from a crushing 7-2 loss to the Winchester Hawks in their nest Friday night. While the Lions were out for revenge, and working hard, the Glens were unable to get much of anything together.

Of the six Lions goals, four were scored on their power play against Glen’s goaltender Anthony Vassall.

Lions veteran sharpshooter Michel Lefebvre counted three of the Lions goals and provided one assist. Single goals came from the sticks of Sylvester Bzdyl, Chris Rutley and Clarke Veenstra.

Grant Cooper had a good game providing two assists, while Dillon Lapier, Michael Poapst, Zach Seguin and Ty Hodgson all added single assists.

After a scoreless first period, the Lions built a 3-0 lead in the second period, all goals scored on their power play.

Michel Lefebvre got it rolling (from Cooper and Rutley) and then Sylvester Bzdyl (from Lefebvre and Hodgson) made it 2-0 on a nice play from a face off in the Glens end.

Goal number three, assisted by Michael Poapst and Zach Sequin, started with some tough work in the corner and resulted in a nice pass to the waiting stick of Clarke Veenstra at the corner of the Glens net.

The Lions kept it rolling in the third period when Lefebvre counted his second with help from Lapier.

At 10:45 Lefebvre struck again, this time with help from Hodgson and Bzdyl, and Chris Rutley polished it off when he picked up his own rebound and put it home to end the game in the Lions favour 6-0. Assists on the Rutley goal went to Lefebvre and Grant.

Ryan Cooper had a solid performance in the Lions net stopping all of the 26 Glens shots. The Glens’ Vassall gave up the six goals on 33 Lions shots.

The Lions handled nine minor penalties and a (checking from behind) game misconduct while Alexandria was assessed six minors and nabbed three times for checking from behind.

In Winchester on Friday night, it was a whole other game as the Hawks were out to revenge themselves for the 6-2 loss handed to them by the Lions on Morrisburg ice on Sunday, September 16.

And it was revenge they got, as they went to work for a 2-1 first period lead and stretched it to 4-1 after two.

Zach Sequin put the Lions on the scoreboard with help from Brent Snowboy and Sylvester Bzdyl at 18:33 of the first period.

That only served to spark the Hawks who counted a pair of goals against Lions goaltender Mikael Dion in a span of just 11 seconds in the last minute of the period.

Less than two minutes into the second period, Jamie Olivier scored unassisted for the Hawks and at 11:16 Josh Stubbings upped the Hawks advantage to 4-1.

Stubbings made it 5-1 early into the third period, before the Lions got one back from Eric Evans with help from Brandon Chaffe and Curtis Pilon.

The Hawks polished it off with two more from Christopher Rossi and Brandon Bourgeois (power play) for their 7-2 win.

In other action this week the Hawks lost 3-2 to Casselman on Thursday night.

They have edged to within one point of the third place Lions, while Alexandria is in fifth with four points and Akwesasne is in the basement with two.

Coming up this weekend, the Lions will host the Akwesasne Wolves on Friday night, October 5. Game time is 8:30 p.m. Then on Saturday night they are on the road to play the Char-Lan Rebels.

[…]

Crossing guard move raises concerns

October 3, 2012 Editor

Before the former Morrisburg Collegiate Institute is transformed into a new municipal and health centre, it and the surrounding area will become a construction zone.

In preparation for the upcoming construction, municipal officials have had to re-locate the crossing guard on Ottawa Street and divert those students who walk to school from the east, away from the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic parking lot.

“We don’t want the kids walking through a construction site,” said Stephen McDonald, South Dundas chief administrative officer. According to he and South Dundas clerk Brenda Brunt, the municipality has been trying to work with the school to choose the best route and to inform students and parents of the needed changes since about June.

The new route the municipality has chosen for students has gotten a lot of attention and raised concerns among some of the parents whose children are now crossing Ottawa Street at Second Street.

They are concerned with the danger of having the children walk along one of the town’s busiest roadways along a sidewalk that is nothing more than two painted lines from the corner to Trillium Street.

Second street is the street which includes the school bus loading zone for Morrisburg Public School, is used by many parents who drop their children off at school, and is also home to the Morrisburg arena, Dundas County Food Bank and the office of the South Dundas fire chief.

The painted lines that denote a sidewalk run between Second Street and the length of the Morrisburg Arena parking lot.

Parents are especially worried about how the new route will be maintained during the winter months.

According to Brunt, this route was not the municipality’s first choice, explaining that they wanted to leave the crossing guard where she was, at the intersection of Alice Street and Ottawa Street. Students would enter the school yard there, through a gate that is unlocked only during the time when the crossing guard is on duty.

However, the board would not agree with this walking route.

Brunt says the reason she was given by the board is that the board would be required to install a sidewalk for the students.

School board officials were contacted for comment on the matter but declined saying only that this entire matter is the municipality’s responsibility.

“This was all done in consultation with the Upper Canada District School Board and the school’s principal,” said Brunt.

Nevertheless, the municipality has implemented a number of changes to help ease the transition to a new walking route for area students.

A new cross walk has been painted on Ottawa Street, parking barriers have been installed in the arena parking lot, no parking signs have been painted along Second Street, which will soon have signs that limit the no parking regulations to school hours, and temporary road blocks have been set up at both ends of Clinic Road to eliminate any through traffic.

In an effort to help the children become familiar with the new route township staff were out over the last week guiding children along the route and keeping them from passing through areas that will become part of the construction site. They too were available to speak to the parents and explain the reasoning for the changes.

Asked if more crossing guards would help the situation Brunt said, “We believe we have sufficient crossing guards to get the children safely to school.”

“Construction will commence shortly and safety of the children is first and foremost,” reads a staff report to council.

[…]