May 2015 – Page 3 – Morrisburg Leader

Upper Canada Village now open for 2015

May 13, 2015 Editor

Spring has finally arrived and Upper Canada Village has opened its gates to welcome visitors to an exciting, new season.

May will be a busy month and the Village will be alive with tradition over the Victoria Day weekend. Visitors can join in the Queen Victoria Birthday celebrations on Sunday, May 17 with patriotic speeches, grand military manoeuvres, a hand-pumped fire engine demonstration and enjoy a piece of birthday cake.

Without a doubt, one of the joys of Spring is watching the fields and gardens come back to life after a long winter. The Spring Planting weekend (May 30, 31) at Upper Canada Village is a great time to visit and see nature’s renewal.

The 2015 season will mark the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the Canadian Horse in Canada.

All season long visitors will be able to see the Canadian horses at work.

They are an integral part of daily life at Upper Canada Village performing tasks such as drawing the Tow Scow along the canal, pulling Carry-alls through the Village for tours and other farm related chores.

This season, Horse Lovers’ weekend will be a not-to-be-missed event on Labour Day weekend September 5-7.

Upper Canada Village offers a number of summer youth camps. Some spaces are still available.

“We have a great season of events, programs and summer camps at Upper Canada Village. Our summer youth camps are a great opportunity for young people to make new friends and have a completely unique experience. This season we have a full line-up of events planned with many returning favourites such as Medieval Festival, Food Lovers’ Field Days and the War of 1812 Military Re-enactment weekend. In July and August we will be bringing back the Haunted Walks and Murder Mystery Dinners that were very popular last year,” said Geoff Waycik, Manager of Historic Sites, St. Lawrence Parks Commission.

New this year is the ‘Breaking Down the Barriers to History’ weekend on June 20 and 21. While Upper Canada Village offers an excellent multisensory experience every day, this event will be further enhanced for those with sight loss, hearing loss and mobility challenges.

Other events coming up in June include Sheep Shearing Days – June 2-5 and Medieval Festival June 6-7.

Special education days include Monday, May 25, War of 1812 and Monday, June 8 for Medieval Festival. Students can also visit the Aultsville Train Station for the British Home Child Exhibit and Educational Program offered June 2 and 3.

Upper Canada Village will be open daily from May 6 to Labour Day and then Wednesdays to Sundays from September 9 to 20, 2015.

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Food drive filling plates

May 13, 2015 Editor

The Dundas County Food Bank’s Every Plate Full campaign wrapped-up with a final food drive at Riley’s Valu-mart in Morrisburg. Food donations totalled 351 pounds and $493.70 was collected.

Also contributing to the campaign were students at North Dundas District High School who collected 360 pounds of food from a food drive organized by the Futures class.

Empathy was the virtue of the month for students at Winchester Public School. Students collected 628 items totalling 571 pounds to show their empathy with people in need in the community. They easily surpassed their target of 455 items — the number of staff and students at the school.

The final totals for the Every Plate Full campaign was 2,806 pounds of food and $2,131.15 in cash donations.

Using information from Statistics Canada and the national Hunger Count survey, food banks are able to provide three meals to people in need for every dollar donated.

Based on this ‘meals measure’ the equivalent of 6,393 meals were donated during the campaign.

“I am very pleased with the results. This is the first time we have tried a county-wide food drive at various locations’ said Ian McKelve, Dundas County Food Bank Administrator. “Our community was once again very generous with their donations. Of course we couldn’t have done it without our volunteers who generously donated their time to gather and process the food we collected.”

Every Plate Full was a national campaign organized by Food Banks Canada to make sure none of our neighbours went hungry this summer.

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Vacant jobs descriptions to be reviewed by council

May 13, 2015 Editor

South Dundas council has asked staff to see the full job descriptions of two recently vacated positions.

The economic development officer and administrative assistant for planning/enforcement and public works have both moved on to new jobs elsewhere.

When a position becomes vacant, in accordance with the personnel policy, the CAO prepares a report to council outlining the recruitment process.

When council received this report at the May 5 meeting, they did not give it the expected approval, instead asking to see a report with the full job descriptions.

This request prompted the CAO to say to council, “If there’s a bigger picture that I’m not aware of, maybe we need a bigger more comprehensive review.”

Deputy mayor Jim Locke and councillor Archie Mellan, spoke about the need and importance of these positions, and suggested that the recruitment process move ahead as soon as possible.

However, the majority of council felt it was important to see these job descriptions, before moving forward in the process.
“This is the only time we have the opportunity for input,” said South Dundas mayor Evonne Delegarde.

“I don’t think waiting two weeks is a big deal,” said councillor Marc St. Pierre.

“The CAO will bring the report back to the next meeting (May 19), and we will act right away,” said Delegarde.

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Gerry Byvelds

May 6, 2015 Editor

A resident of Williamsburg for the past 63 years, Gerry Byvelds passed away suddenly at home on Wednesday, April 27, 2015. He was 86.

Gerry was born in Keldonk, The Netherlands, on April 10, 1929, one of 10 children born to his parents Johannus and Anna Byvelds (nee Vandommelen).

He worked from an early age on the family farm, other farms, and in the bush cutting lumber. At the age of 22 he came with brothers Bill and John to Canada, settling in New Brunswick for a while, earning money here and there and getting things started in the new country.

They eventually followed their hearts to Ontario and found a nice farm in Boucks Hill where the rest of the family could join them.

Gerry worked for many years as a bricklayer with his little brother Tony and brother in law Jack Van Hoof. When he retired from bricklaying he worked as a groundskeeper at the Morrisburg Golf Course for several years. During his time at the golf course, Gerry fine-tuned his lawn care skills for the house in Williamsburg.

Gerry married Nolda on September 30, 1983, 32 years ago. They soon became Opa and Oma, but for the rest of the family they were known as Uncle Gerry and Tante Nolda, and they were in charge of everything having to do with a Van Moorsel or a Byvelds.

Gerry worked hard. His hands belong in the Smithsonian as a testament to hard work… rugged, weathered, and absent of fingerprints from the years of bricklaying. Cuts on his hands and bruised fingernails were the norm. Vise grips were used to remove supersized slivers. There were never enough bandages in the house.

Ever busy, Gerry was constantly working on the house and the yard. If something was found in disrepair, it instantly called for a trip to the farm at Boucks Hill to see if there was some piece of used milking equipment that could fix it instead of the proper solution available at the store.

Gerry genuinely enjoyed the challenge of finding creative solutions to building and fixing things.

He had an extensive collection of power tools, and not one had the cord intact, severed by its own doing. Gerry would run to the breaker panel to see why the saw stopped, and later realize that he cut through the cord. This did not happen once. Looking now at his tool collection, it was routine.

In the moments between work and sleep, it was pretty much a guarantee that Gerry was in front of the TV watching sports.

Probably 100 baseball games in the summer and 80 hockey games in winter, but also soccer, curling and football. He would wear out his lazy boy chairs leaning over to help the home team score. His legs would almost reach the ceiling when there was a great play developing.

He cheered hardest for Canada in the Olympics, with The Netherlands running a distant second.

Gerry loved animals, keeping the local cats and bunnies fed and comfortable in re-purposed calf hutches and feeders. Family pets could count on him for treats from the table, a ball to throw and a lap to lay on.

For many of his later years, he loved to bike around the county, typically to his brothers’ farms in Boucks Hill, Chesterville and Brinston.

As enjoyable as this was in the moment, it likely also made him feel like a young boy back in the Old Country.

He adored his family and took great pride in his grandchildren and more recently his four great -grandchildren. Nothing got him out of his lazy boy faster than the arrival of a young family member.

All along, Gerry held Nolda high on a pedestal, doing everything he could to make sure she was comfortable and happy. Furniture, flower beds, whatever.

Gerry and Nolda also enjoyed playing cards together and bowling with their friends at the Chesterville Lanes. He was also blessed to have great neighbours always looking out for him.

Gerry always had cool cars and was everyone’s cool uncle. He will be sadly missed.

Gerry is survived by his wife Nolda; his stepchildren Pat (Christie) of Williamsburg, Margie Byvelds (Pete Wilson) of Listowel, Reta Byvelds of Stratford and Ed (Catherine) of San Francisco; his siblings his twin brother Martin (Johanna) of Boucks Hill, John A. (Toni) of Williamsburg, Anthony (Corrie) of Williamsburg, Toni Van Hoof of Morrisburg, and Catherine Van Moorsel of Williamsburg.

Opa will be fondly remembered by seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his brothers Arnold, Albert, Bill and Johannus. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews.

Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Morrisburg, on Friday, May 1st at 11:30 a.m., with Father Chisholm officiating. Interment followed at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Morrisburg.

Pallbearers were his nephews Peter Byvelds, Steven Byvelds, John Byvelds, Robert Byvelds, Mike Byvelds, David Van Moorsel, Jeff Van Moorsel and Donald Van Hoof.

Donations to Winchester Hospital would be gratefully acknowledged by the family.

Arrangements were entrusted to the Marsden and McLaughlin Funeral Home, Williamsburg. Online condolences may be made at marsdenmclaughlin.com.

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James Caldwell

May 6, 2015 Editor

A resident of Riverside Heights for the past 18 years, James Caldwell passed away suddenly at home on Thursday, April 21, 2015. He was 80.

Jim was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on May 27, 1934, to his parents Alexander and Margaret “Peggy” Caldwell (nee Alexander).

Jim lived his formative years in Glasgow, but in 1956, he decided to move to Toronto, Canada, in search of job opportunities and new adventures.

He had a long and successful career with the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), and retired from the MTO in 1990.

Post retirement, Jim enjoyed spending his winters in Davenport, Florida, and loved to challenge his fellow snowbirds to a round of golf. In more recent years, his deteriorating health prevented him from venturing onto the course but he was always keen to watch his beloved sport on television.

He also enjoyed watching old western movies and reading.

Jim is survived by his wife Doris Tallon (nee Cundell),and his children Maureen Mackay (Ian) of Aurora and Duncan Caldwell (Alison) of London.

He will be lovingly remembered by his grandchildren Shelby and Tom; Doris’s children Wayne Tallon (Susan) of Fredericton, Sharon Tallon-Goulet (Claude) of Orleans, Darlene Maxwell (Jim) of Stittsville and Angela Willows (Garry) of Orleans; and Doris’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his parents Alexander and Margaret “Peggy” Caldwell.

A Celebration of Jim’s life was held at the Marsden and McLaughlin Funeral Home, Williamsburg, on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, followed by interment at Our Lady of the Visitation Cemetery in Ottawa South.

Pallbearers were Ian Mackay, Andrew Maxwell, and Kevin and Spencer Willows.

Donations in Memoriam made to the Canadian Diabetes Society would be gratefully acknowledged by the family. Online condolences may be made at marsdenmclaughlin.com

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Perspectives with Pastor Sharon Bretz

May 6, 2015 Editor

A Lesson From My Horse

Over the years, I have learned many life lessons from my horse, specifically in the area of relationships. I have learned trust, communication, respect, teamwork, patience, and many other valuable character traits.

I realize this might sound a bit odd, and maybe even crazy, to those who aren’t familiar with horses but let me explain.

In a herd of horses, there is always a pecking order. The boss is always the dominate one and the rest follow his/her lead.

Once the pecking order is established, the horse at the top only needs to pin his ears against his neck and the others back off without a fight. They have their way of communicating with each other.

It is helpful to understand and use their language as much as possible when working with them. When I am walking towards my horse in the field, if I approach her head, chances are that she will walk away from me but if I approach her shoulder, she will probably stand still.

In both cases I am approaching her and both seem to be a reasonable option, but I get a different response to each one.

The same is true in human relationships. You can say the same thing in a million different ways using different words, body language and tone of voice and get different responses.

How you approach a conversation will often determine the response you get from a person even before they say anything. If you are blaming or accusing someone, their response will probably be defensive but if you are looking for understanding, the response will likely bring clarity.

Your approach and even your responses are key in effective communication. Proverbs 15:1 (MSG) states it so well, “A gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire.”

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Garry Banford Memorial ‘reels’ them in

May 6, 2015 Editor

The weather was just about perfect and the fish were definitely biting as 123 anglers took part in the 4th annual Garry Banford Memorial Fishing Derby. Fishing began just after midnight on May 3, with the final weigh-in at the Iroquois marina at 2 p.m.

The Pike and Pickerel Derby was organized by Bruce Mullin, with his wife Pam recording the vital stats. Fishermen had the opportunity to enjoy a hearty fish and chips, sausage and coleslaw dinner served up by Brian Dawley and Ronnie Baker and their helpers after a long day on the rivers and local creeks.

While a lot of fish stories were undoubtedly being exchanged at the dock, the fishermen, and this year, one fisherwoman, Heather Irvine, eagerly awaited final results as Bruce Mullin weighed each pike or walleye in.

Ernie Beckstead’s 13.95 pound pike came in first, with Tanner Hummel (9.10 lbs) second and Steve McMillan (8.97 lbs.) third.

Shawn Lapier took top honours with a 10.82 walleye, with Ron Baker’s 9.61 fish and Scott Cooke’s 9.39 walleye placing second and third.

The two first place winners each took home $500, while second place finishers each won $100. (Ron Baker turned his win back to the SDHS bursary fund.)

Cory Casselman had the Hidden Weight win, closest to 7.12 lbs pike.

The funds raised at the annual fishing derby go to support a bursary, in memory of Garry, at Seaway District High School.

Beckstead and Lapier shared some fishing tips.

“My secret?” Ernie said. “Live bait and Nash Creek in Morrisburg. My son Marc as my net man and wearing my lucky striped socks all day also contributed.”

“It’s all in the wrist action,” Shawn said. “You also have to have a good net man, and, for me, borrowed tackle works best.”

“I think this entire event is a wonderful tribute to Garry’s memory,” said Ann Banford, who took part in the derby along with several family members. “And I am proud that the money supports a bursary at the high school.”

She praised the hard work and dedication of Derby organizer, Bruce Mullin. “He did an outstanding job. And I also want to thank all the fishermen who supported us. We lucked out with the weather. Lots of friends came in to cook and help in any way: we didn’t have to ask anybody twice.

It was just a great day for everyone.”

“Any day with Garry was a great day,” added Danny McLaughlin who was helping barbecue.

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Seaway Spartans are solid in field events

May 6, 2015 Editor

It appears the Seaway District High School Track and Field team is back on track, with a good number of athletes at the midget and junior ages out working hard for the last two to three weeks.

And their work paid off at the annual TISS Track and Field Meet here Saturday, with two athletes, Kaitlyn Stewart and David Swerdfeger picking up first and seconds, Cassie Hummel winning one first, and Sid Sideratos and Shawn Dowson collecting second place finishes.

Several others were not far off the pace, and says Mark Lewis, who is co-coaching the Spartan team with Lindsay Waddell, “They are all improving. It is good. Our team number is better than it’s been in the past, and I would say, looking at the weekend, they are the best results we have had in years.”

The team is heavily weighted at the midget and junior levels, a good sign for the future. There are no athletes competing at the senior level this year.

Top performers Saturday were Stewart and Swerdfeger.

Stewart won the junior girls triple jump with a 10.45m jump, well ahead of the second place finisher at 9.72 m. She was just narrowly edged out of the long jump win with her jump of 4.67m. (The winner jumped just 4.68m). Stewart also ran the 100 meter dash, with a time of 14 seconds to qualify, but finished well back in the final.

David Swerdfeger had big results in the midget boys triple jump, with his winning jump of 12.12m. It was a new personal best, which shattered his previous PB of 11.81m. Swerdfeger, who has been competing since grade 7 and has been undefeated in all that time, said too that the extra pressure was that, “I scratched on my first two jumps.” He backed up his triple jump win with a second place long jump (5.42m). The event was won in 5.48m. Swerdfeger also ran the 100m hurdles and finished fourth with a time of 17.13 seconds.

Cassie Hummel was back in action in junior girls javelin, and absolutely demolished her previous best throw of 22.00m with a first place throw of 27.60m. She was clearly ahead of the pack with the second place competitor throwing 25.52 m. Hummel also threw discuss, but an 11.59m throw place her well back. She expects to concentrate on javelin this season.

Also at the midget age level, Sid Sideratos collected second place in shot put with a 12.14m throw, not far back of the 12.27 winning throw. He ran his 100m heat, in 13.71 seconds.

Shawn Dowson had solid performances in discus and high jump. He placed second in junior boys discus with a 31.30m throw and was fifth in high jump with a 1.50m jump. He finished well back in shot put at 9.30m.

Turning in a solid meet performance was Maggie Wells, who finished the 2014 season ranked sixth in Ontario in midget girls discus. Saturday, Wells threw a third place shot at 10.88m and was fourth in discus at 27.11m. “Maggie will get better as we go,” said Lewis of her early season start.

Finishing out the junior girl athletes are Quinn Horne and Holly Connolly-MacDonald, both of whom did not advance out of their 100m heats. Horne ran her heat at 14.72 and Connolly-MacDonald ran her’s in 18.33. She also ran the 200m in a time of 37.72.

Getting their feet wet at the midget are Kaeghan Lowson, Grant Wells, Jaycie Maville, Julenea Barnhartd, Kaileigh Vautour and Sydney Piquette.

Lowson, in his first time throwing Javelin, placed fifth with a throw of 32.45m. He ran the 400m, finishing well back in the pack at 1:03.27.

Distance runner, Grant Wells, who had some big results for the Spartans Cross-Country team last fall, was fifth in the 1500m (4:44.89) and sixth in the 3000 (10:16.56). He wasn’t far off in the winning mark of either race with the 1500m going in 4:30.95 and the 3000 in 10:00.13.

Maville and Vautour both ran the 100m but did not move out of their qualifiers with times of 15.25 and 15.30 respectively. Maville threw a seventh place finish in shot put with a 9.39m throw.

Barnhartd ran the 200m in 28.94 seconds and finished fourth in long jump with a jump of 4.39m.

Piquette ran the 800m with a time of 3:04.38

This Friday, the Spartans are in Ottawa and next Wednesday, May 13, they head to Cornwall for the SD&G championship. Qualifiers at the SD&G advance to the Eastern Ontario.

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Food bank almost ready for moving day

May 6, 2015 Editor

Moving day is approaching for the Dundas County Food Bank.

About 14 months after planning began to move the Morrisburg location of the Dundas County Food Bank into a new home just down the street, officials are happy to announce that the move will take place May 22 and 23. The Dundas County Food Bank will open in its new location May 25.

The new food bank will be in a portion of the fully renovated former library location at the Morrisburg arena.

The move won’t disrupt any food bank service, as the food bank closes at 3 p.m. on the Thursday in the old location and will open, no matter what, in the new location at 10 a.m. the following Monday.

A small group of volunteers has been working to assemble and arrange the shelving that will house donated food items.

Jim Millard, of the DCFB said that the location has more than enough shelving, as they had purchased some when Zellers was closing. In addition to that shelving, the library donated surplus shelving, tables and chairs to the food bank for its new home.

Millard estimates that about 30 to 40 people have made themselves available to help with the move. Those volunteers will include Royal Bank staffers, student volunteers and regular food bank volunteers.

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Brinston Road closure planned for 2016

May 6, 2015 Editor

The 2016 construction season is the season that 1,100 vehicles per day will be detoured around the County Road 16 (Brinston Road) 401 overpass.

Throughout the consultation process, the exact timing of the local project was not known, having been narrowed to either the 2015 or 2016 construction season.

Now, the MTO is now planning to replace both the Brinston Road and Aultsville Road underpasses in the same construction season, a revision from the plans presented at the last public information centre session last November.

“The contract is planned to be tendered later this summer, with some preliminary work expected in fall 2015,” said Mike Delugt, MTO spokesperson. “The bulk of the work is to be completed in 2016 with full closures of the municipal roads in the area of the bridges. Detours will be in place during the full closures.”

Both the Brinston Road and Aultsville Road overpasses will be demolished using a rapid demolition process. Rapid demolition minimizes the impact on 401 traffic, requiring the overnight closure of the eastbound and westbound lanes for 12-18 hours each.

Neither of these projects meets the criteria for rapid replacement, a process which is used in large cities.

The full closure season closure (April – December) 2016, reduces construction time, as opposed to using traditional on-lane closures, explains Delugt.

Brinston Road is a busy local roadway with annual average daily traffic of about 1,100 vehicles per day. During the road closure for the overpass replacement, traffic will be detoured to County Roads 40, 1 and 2.

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