October 2012 – Page 3 – Morrisburg Leader

Spikes Volleyball program setting up for grades 9-12 girls

October 24, 2012 Editor

It is just what the “volleyball” doctor ordered for girls in grades 9-12 interested in taking up volleyball or who are looking to improve their skills.

Meant to complement the successful volleyball programs at Seaway District High School, an Ontario Volleyball “Spikes” eight-week program will start Thursday, November 8. It is open to girls in grades 9-12 in South Dundas and the surrounding area, but will be limited to the first 32 girls who register.

“It is meant to provide fitness, skills and scrimmages as well as a couple of exhibition matches to interested participants,” says organizer Andy Lee. “No previous experience is necessary.”

The Spikes program, developed by the Ontario Volleyball Association, is meant to develop and interest players in the game. The drills and games are designed so that everyone has lots of fun and learns volleyball skills like never before.

All participants receive a Spikes® t-shirt.

“I would hope that this girls program could be extended into a boys program next year, and also involve younger ages, if someone would want to lead them,” says Lee. “We are relying on the knowledge of local persons to assist in the program as well as the Spikes program direction.”

The Spikes program will run on designated Thursday nights from 7-8:30 p.m. for eight weeks from November 8 to January 10 at Seaway District High School. The cost is $50 per player.

South Dundas Spikes Volleyball registration form can be found at www.ontariovolleyball.org. For more information players can contact Andy Lee at andylee1sympatico.ca or by calling 613-543-3649. Participants can register through Lindsay Waddell at Seaway District High School or through Andy Lee in Morrisburg.

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GT shoppers fulfilling food needs

October 24, 2012 Editor

Food bank usage in Dundas County continues to rise.

“Our usage is up 10 percent over last month,” said Brian Cox, a director with the Dundas County Food Bank who was at the Morrisburg location Friday morning to receive the large amount of food delivered by Ken Rundle, owner of the Morrisburg Giant Tiger store.

Cox thanked Rundle for the quantity of food and funds he delivered, courtesy of Giant Tiger shoppers. “This food is deeply required,” said Cox.

Giant Tiger recently wrapped up their food drive whereby the cashiers asked customers to make a donation to the food bank.

One of the donation options was to donate $5 for a whole bag of food which included canned tomatoes, canned beans, caned flaked tuna, canned flaked ham, can flaked turkey and canned beans.

These food bags were tailored to feed the specific needs of this food bank.

“These items collected are among those that the food bank distributes on a regular basis and are always needs,” noted Dundas County Food Bank administrator Donna Quesnel. “Ken made an excellent choice in selecting these items and we are grateful to the Giant Tiger customers who purchased this food.”

Donations made equated to 75 bags of food, including $450 worth of food product. Another $150 in cash donations was also collected.

Rundle credits the community with the success of the food drive, which he plans to do again next year. “The support of the community was great. They are the ones who made this happen, we just facilitated.”

In seeing the most recent statistics showing increased need, Cox is pleased to have this food drive and others taking place. While the DC Youth plan on collecting food on Halloween, Creepy Creek Camp is accepting food donations for the food bank and the OPP Auxiliary are also planning an upcoming food drive.

“These are all deeply needed and appreciated,” said Cox.

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Dundas Midgets collect two wins

October 24, 2012 Editor

The Dundas Midget House Lions put up, not one, but two big wins in Ontario Women’s Hockey Association play this past weekend.

The Lions kicked it off on the road Friday night, with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Outaouais, and then back home on Morrisburg ice on Sunday, they blanked the visiting Smiths Falls Bears 1-0.

Jessica Rutley led the Friday night effort scoring the two goals for the Lions in their 2-1 victory.

The first came late in the second period with help from Jodie Hall and Mackenzie Barkley.

Jessica Coti beat Lions’ goaltender Carman Stubbings with 5:30 remaining in the third period to tie the game 1-1.

That set the stage for the winner from Rutley, assisted by Amber Saddlemire.

Sunday in Morrisburg, Amber Moke, assisted by Melissa Stevens, put the Dundas Lions on the scoreboard late in the first period and that was it.

Goaltender Carman Stubbings was unbeatable throughout the remainder of the game, and the Lions held on for a 1-0 shutout win.

In their regular season, the Lions have played four games, won two, lost one and settled for one tie.

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Three alarm fire at Boucks Hill

October 24, 2012 Editor

Firefighters from all three South Dundas fire stations fought a fire on Pages Corners Road last Friday.

At 7:30 a.m., October 19, firefighters rushed to the scene of a structure fire at Xolanda Farms, where the large tarp building used for hay storage was fully engulfed in flames.

“Crews quickly extinguished the flames,” reported Chris McDonough, fire chief for South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services. “Then the long process of extinguishing the hot spots began,” he noted, adding that the rain made it difficult for the crews because it was forcing the smoke to stay at ground level. A contractor was called in with an excavator to separate the burning bales of hay. Crews remained on scene until about 5:30 p.m.

The fire was caused by a Bobcat loader’s exhaust igniting combustibles (possibly hay) in the coverall building.

A previous fire, in the same structure approximately three years ago, destroyed only the outer shell of the building, so the owners were able to use the same frame and replace only the tarp. The fire chief is awaiting an engineer’s report to determine if once again the steel structure is salvageable before making an estimate of damages.

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Dundas Lions pounce on Coyotes

October 24, 2012 Editor

Led by an outstanding offensive performance from Cassandra Young, the Dundas Bantam House Lions defeated the Russell Coyotes, 4-2, in Ontario Women’s Hockey Association action here Saturday.

Young struck for all four of the Lions counters. She counted three times in the first period and adding a single in the second, before the Coyotes were able to get on the scoreboard.

Adding their help on Young’s goals were Emma Barkley and Emily Byers on the first, Ally Weegar on the second and Sierra Swindells on the third.

Young counted her fourth goal unassisted.

Lions goaltender Taylor Van Allen gave up the two Coyote goals to Emily Laniel and Riley Beehler.

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Wastewater project behind schedule

October 24, 2012 Editor

A recent construction progress meeting regarding the construction of the Iroquois wastewater treatment plant has revealed that the project is presently about two weeks behind schedule.

At the October 16 council meeting South Dundas chief administrative officer Stephen McDonald reported that the project being behind schedule by two weeks has no impact on the funding for the project.

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Atom B Lions lose in tournament B final, split league games

October 24, 2012 Editor

The South Dundas “Pioneer Gas” Atom B Rep Lions completed a five game weekend with two wins and three losses.

Following league games Friday night in Long Sault and Saturday night in Morrisburg, the Lions travelled to Cobden on Sunday to play in the Muskrat Atom Tournament.

With the multiple game weekend the Lions were pushed to the limit and came up a little short in the finals.

In the Tournament “B” Final the Lions matched up against the Valley Storm in a rematch of one of their round robin games in which they lost 6-0.

The Lions started strong when Emytt Fetterly picked up a puck from behind his own net and passed it to Nolan Henry who quickly moved it out of the end zone and over to Ben Lapier who broke in on the Storm goalie and backhanded a shot home for the 1-0 Lions lead.

The Storm picked up the pace and took over the game, but Brendan Shaver was strong in the Lions net as he turned away shot after shot to hold the Lions 1-0 lead.

In the second period, the Storm scored on back-to-back plays, 21 seconds apart, to take the lead 2-1.

The Storm continued to get scoring chances against Lions game Brendan Shaver who was named the Lions MVP in the 5-1 B final loss.

In their round robin game earlier in the day, the Lions were flat in a 6-0 loss where Ban Lapier was named their game MVP.

In their opening game the Lions faced off against the Clarence-Rockland Castors and had their best offensive game of the year in the 8-3 win. Nolan Henry who led the way with three goals and two assists was named the game MVP.

Scoring the other goals were Ben Lapier with two, Duncan Hutt, Owen Fetterly and Joshua Broad.

In the skills competition, the Lions were represent by Ben Lapier in the Fastest Skater event, second place in his heat. Kieran Geurkink, Brody Fairbairn and Dana Domanko skated in the team event, again finishing second in their heat and then Jack Connors, Jaeden Phifer-Shaver and goaltender Brendan Shaver faced off in the shoot out event. Shaver allowed only one goal and was eliminated, as well as Phifer-Shaver with his two goals. Connors scored three times before advancing to the finals where he won the event in a lengthy final round.

In league action the Lions split the two games losing in Long Sault, 5-3 and defeating Cornwall, 3-1.

In the Cornwall game, the Lions were down 1-0 early but battled back with two first period goals.

Lapier opened the scoring after Broad battled for a puck off an offensive draw and got it over to Lapier who shot quickly to beat the Colts goaltender.

Jack Connors scored shortly on a break away when Owen Fetterly fed Connors the puck as he went in alone and out-skated the Colts defenders.

The Lions played well defensively through the second period as Dana Domanko and Kieran Guerkink continued to win one on one battles with Colts forwards and Shaver was solid in the Lions net. The Lions iced the game in the third when Domanko centred a pass to Lapier who started a two on one with Broad. Lapier skated into the Colts end and centred a pass to Broad who buried his shot on the ice through the five hole for the goal and the 3-1 win.

Friday night, the Lions gave up a 3-2 third period lead for a 5-3 loss to the Selects.

Lapier scored the lone first period Lions goal with Brody Fairbairn providing the assist. The Selects battled back in the second and took a 2-1 lead, but Broad and Lapier teamed up for a short handed goal to keep it even.

Later in the period on the power play Nolan Henry tipped the puck off a face-off to Jack Connors who wristed a shot off a defender’s stick into the back of the net.

The Selects scored three unanswered third period goals for their 5-3 win.

The South Dundas “Pioneer Gas” Atom B Rep Lions face the Alexandria Glens here on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

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Cruickshanks level best grades them amongst the 50 Best Employers in Canada

October 24, 2012 Editor

Cruickshank is proud to named one of the 50 Best Employers in Canada, ranking 38th, based on a study conducted by Aon Hewitt, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing solutions organization. The competitive study, now in its 14th year, measures employee engagement through employee surveys and attracted over 150 submissions from organizations across the country.

“I’m thrilled and proud of our employees, who are the reason we’ve been honoured with this recognition, says company CEO Steve Cruickshank. “Their dedication and drive are vital to our success, and they make our company a wonderful place to work.”

The Best Employers in Canada study recognizes companies who demonstrate their commitment to employees through a number of factors, including company environment, leadership qualities and opportunities for growth. Results of the survey are provided to each organization to help them continue to improve programs, recruit leaders and grow the company.

Steve Cruickshank notes that the Best Employers in Canada program offers an excellent opportunity to better understand what employees need to thrive. “Our success lies in our commitment to a safe, healthy work environment that allows our team to fully demonstrate their expertise,” he says. “The Best Employers program is a critical tool that helps us continue to develop that environment for mutual benefit and success.”

Founded in 1956, Cruickshank is a leading road, bridge and infrastructure construction services firm. The company, which operates in both Canada and the U.S., has significant experience in both the private and public sectors, and has developed a strong reputation for getting the job done right – every time.

Along with being ranked as one the Best Employers in Canada, Cruickshank is a 2011 winner of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies program, a national award that recognizes Canadian companies that have implemented world-class business practices and created value in innovative ways. Cruickshank has also been ranked on the top 50 Best Small and Medium Employers for the past three years and was named one of Canada’s Green 30 employers by Maclean’s magazine in 2011 and 2012.

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Novice B Lions are still looking for a win

October 24, 2012 Editor

Sunday, the South Dundas Novice B Lions hosted the Kemptville #1 Panthers in a rematch of the 3-3 season opener. This time they were looking to break into the win column for the first time this season, but came up short with a 2-1 loss.

The Lions opened the game with some aggressive forechecking and strong skating to take the play to the Panthers.

Spencer Barclay, Quade Mullin and Dryden Buter had the Panthers pinned in their end for the entire first shift and Sean Nicolaassen, Montgomery Dejong and Owen Paterson continued the theme on the next shift.

At the end of the first period, the Lions had a large advantage in time of possession and puck in the attacking zone, but unfortunately could not get one by the Panthers goalie.

They started out the second period with more of the same and their hard work was rewarded when Dejong redirected a shot from Nicolaassen, for a 1-0 lead.

Midway through the second period, the momentum changed as Kemptville started to out-hustle the Lions.

Despite some great defensive work by Jackson McCann, Sam Connors, Cameron Shaver, Stefan Kronstal and Nathan Paulino, the Panthers were able to get two goals to take the lead.

Goalie Brayden Lalonde-Thompson had a strong game as Kemptville increased their offensive chances through the third period. The Lions pulled their goalie for the extra attacker with one minute left in the game and pressed for the tying goal, but the Panthers prevailed for the 2-1 victory.

Spencer Barclay took the Big Stick honours for player of the game with his best skating game this year.

This Wednesday the Lions are in Kemptville against Kemptville #2. Sunday at 1 p.m. they are at home to North Dundas.

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Contractor on site soon to renovate former Morrisburg Collegiate Institute

October 24, 2012 Editor

Although the full contract is not yet in place, South Dundas council has signed a letter of intent with R.J. Bourgon to allow work to start on the renovation of the former Morrisburg Collegiate Institute.

The letter, approved by council at the Oct. 16 meeting, allows the contractor to start to mobilize on site, get their bonding in place and start the abatement process for the removal of the asbestos.

Council expects to have the contract ready for their approval at the next council meeting.

There have been a few changes to the scope of the $4 million project that are expected to result in some cost savings. They are now spelled out in an addendum being reviewed by the contractor. The addendum better defines the scope of the work to allow the contractor to better pinpoint the project cost and take into account any potential savings.

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