Splash Pad formally dedicated.

The St. Lawrence Seaway closed for the season on December 30, 2011, with the westbound vessel Algoma Spirit reaching Lake Ontario at 7:54 a.m. after having transited the locks on the St. Lawrence River.  

The Seaway’s 53rd navigation season commenced on March 22nd, and the system remained open for a record 284 days, exceeding by one day the previous record set in 2006.

The tug / barge combination John Spence / Niagara Spirit was the last vessel to transit the Welland Canal, clearing Port Colborne December 30th at 8:26 p.m. on its way to Lake Erie.

The St. Lawrence Seaway’s positive momentum remained intact in 2011, with tonnage volumes rising by 2.5 per cent to reach an estimated 37.5 million tonnes.  

Trade patterns exhibited a number of changes, most notably with iron ore and coal becoming export commodities due to strong overseas demand. 

Grain volumes decreased overall by some 6.4 per cent due to a decrease in the amount of U.S. grain moving via the Seaway.  

Strong increases in the volume of bulk liquids, salt and scrap metal contributed to an overall cargo increase of 930,000 tonnes for the system’s 2011 season.

Terence Bowles, President and CEO of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, noted that the year brought about some significant progress on a number of fronts.  

“We recognize that while some of our core markets remain under pressure, work is progressing in terms of diversifying our market base, containing our costs, and increasing the system’s productivity,” said Bowles.  “Over the last four years, our market development efforts have generated $12.5 million in new business revenue.”

“In addition to advances in cargo volumes, we achieved a good deal of progress in 2011 on a number of other fronts. In October of 2011, a new three-year labour agreement was ratified, extending to March 31, 2014. We reached a fair settlement that controls our costs and ensures that our customers can continue to experience reliable service.”

“This is the second consecutive year of increases in Seaway traffic and tonnage, reflecting the resilience of the North American economy” said Collister Johnson, Jr., Administrator of the U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation.

A recently published economic impact study, commissioned by Marine Delivers, demonstrates the significant role that the Great Lakes / Seaway system plays in supporting the Canadian and U.S. economies.  

Some 227,000 jobs and $34 billion in economic activity are supported by the movement of goods within the Great Lakes / Seaway waterway. 

Since its inception in 1959, over 2.5 billion tonnes valued in excess of $375 billion has been transported via the Seaway. 

[…]

Children at Morrisburg Public School (MPS) will be seeing a new face in the hallways and around the schoolyard this year.

Beverley Bethune, MPS’s new principal, is making the 75km commute from South Lancaster, a town east of Cornwall.

The new principal at MPS brings a strong background in special education as well as in steering a school in a positive direction.

In 1975, Bethune received a Bachelor of Physical Education as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Geography, both from McMaster.

Bethune received her Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Ottawa in 1992, qualifying her to teach intermediate and secondary in the areas of physical education and geography.

Bethune added computers and special education to her teaching credentials in the 1990’s. Qualifications for junior division were added in 2005.

Also in 2005 Bethune also began  working to complete the requirements to become an Ontario school principal. This she achieved in 2006.

The position with MPS is Bethune’s first time serving as principal. To back her in her new position she brings extensive  experience as a vice-principal.

Bethune comes directly to MPS from her position as Vice-Principal of T. R. Leger’s Eastern Region where she worked with at risk students.

Prior to that Bethune served as Vice-Principal at Rothwell Osnabruck K-13 School in Ingleside.

Her first stint as a vice-principal lasted for five years at Cornwall’s General Vanier Intermediate School.

Before becoming a vice-principal, Bethune taught at General Vanier when it was a secondary school and continued to teach there when it became an Intermediate School in 2002.

Principal Bethune believes that  students are “all teachable” and she wants to see “that each individual student reach their own potential.”

In terms of plans for the school, Principal Bethune said that her “focus is [on] student learning.”

She went on to say that her “passion in education is the at risk student.”

When asked what she’d like to say to readers of the Leader, Bethune said that she is a “strong believer in community partnerships and community focus on schools.”

She ended the interview with an invitation to the community: “I welcome anyone who wants to volunteer.”

[…]

A farmer’s brush fire set Saturday, along Ridge Road at Dundela, got so out of control South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services had to call in help from above to extinguish the blaze.

The fire to dispose of brush left over from land clearing lit Monday morning was out of control by 1-2 p.m. Monday, when firefighters were called in to try and extinguish the blaze which was starting to spread.

Iroquois, Williamsburg and Morrisburg firefighters were all on scene fighting the blaze from the ground.

“We had 1,600 feet of hose on the ground and we couldn’t get it under control said Chris McDonough, fire chief of South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services, who also reported that it was difficult to access the fire.

“The situation got really dangerous,” said McDonough. “Four guys were caught in a vortex, where there was fire all around them,” he said, of the very dangerous situation, that they managed to escape. 

However at that point, McDonough knew that drastic measures were needed to avoid injuries to the firefighters and to keep the fire from spreading.

“We had depleted all our resources,” he said, “We only had one truck left in Morrisburg, in case of some other emergency.”

So, about three to four hours after they were called to the scene, McDonough called in the Ministry of Natural Resources with their water tanker and spotter airplanes to extinguish the blaze that was starting to spread into an adjacent tree line towards the east.

The water tanker from North Bay was able to extinguish the fire in about four passes dropping a fire suppressant foam. 

“We were really fortunate to get the tanker,” he said. “Their turn around time between loads was 7-8 minutes. They did a really good job.”

One firefighter was treated by EMS for heat exhaustion and breathing issues.

The landowner, Alfred Ettlin, did have a burn permit, however the brush was piled in very large wind rows rather than piles. McDonough says these huge wind rows are the main source of the problem. 

“He had six rows (of brush) about 15 feet high and 500 feet long, spaced about 50-75 feet apart, so what was happening was the first wind row would start the next one, making it a very intense fire,” explained McDonough.

According to McDonough the farmer who owns the property will be responsible for paying for the cost of fighting the fire including the services of the fire bomber. 

The MNR rate for the services of the water tanker is $3,657.49 per hour. The required spotter plane costs $1,244.77 per hour and each load of foam dropped by the plane is $135.

[…]