The Citizen, 2012-05-10, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2012. PAGE 9.
Continued from page 8
1980). Verification of the new
records are pending.
The team proved they can
persevere under adverse conditions.
As the day progressed the team
battled rain, cold, and strong winds.
Despite the weather, the Madill
athletes accumulated many
‘personal best’ performances.
The Senior Girls 4x100 metre
relay team, consisting of Christine
Petersen, Cook, Morrison and
Smith, and the Junior girls 4x100
metre relay team, consisting of
Holly Howson, VanStuyvenberg,
Michaela Tolton and Bird, both
blazed to gold medal finishes.
McKague won both the Midget
Boys triple jump with a final
distance of 11.73 metres and the
Midget Boys high jump with a
height of 1.68 metres.
Peters was also a double winner in
Junior boys with a first in the 200
metre race and high jump. Staelhi
also won both the Senior girls 400
metre and 800 metre races.
The team also travelled to Clinton
on May 8 to compete in the final
invitational meet of the season.
Final results were unavailable for
the meet at press time.
Also on the schedule is the Huron-
Perth Track and Field
Championships on May 15-16
which will provide F.E. Madill
athletes with the chance to defend
their title as overall team champions.
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Track & Field team tries to hold
overall champion honourific
Peters receives award, all-star nods in rookie yearBlyth native Anthony Peters wasrecently awarded three prestigious
awards for his performance in his
rookie year of goaltending for the
Saint Mary’s University Huskies in
Halifax.
Peters, brother of the NHL
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender
Justin and recently-drafted OHL
Plymouth Whaler goaltender Alex,
helped his team finish second in
their league for the 2011-12 season
and hopes to up that to a first place
championship for next year.
“We’ve got the same team with a
few new guys,” he said. “A couple
years ago we won the nationals soI’d like to aim for that again.”Peters was named to his team’sfirst all-star squad (composedentirely of rookies), named Rookie
Male Athlete of the Year at his
school and was named to the
Canadian Interuniversity Sport first
team.
“That’s for all of Canada,” he said.
Peters, who is studying business
commerce, said that the end of his
first year at school was more than he
expected.
“When I started I figured I would
just get my feet wet and get used to
things,” he said. “But I did well
personally and my team did well
finishing second.”
He said that he has plans to try andmake the jump to professionalhockey sometime during his up-tofive years at school.Peters, who has no specific
professional league in mind for his
aspirations, says that his family’s
success on the rink could be
something mystical or something far
more practical.
“I guess it’s just something in our
household or something in the water
in Blyth,” he said with a laugh,
adding more seriously that his
family helps each other out. “Justin
kind of paved the way for Alex and
me and now we’re all helping each
other as best we can. We don’t push
each other, but we’re there for each
other and we’re close.”He also said that growing up inBlyth had a part to play in his love ofthe game.“I remember playing road hockey
with the other kids in town,” he said.
“Everyone knew not to drive down
our street when the game was on.”
His accomplishments are made
even more impressive by the fact that
Peters suffered a compound fracture
to his left leg while in Windsor for a
hockey tournament in 2007.
Peters said that the experience
really changed his outlook.
“To say it was a life-altering
situation would be true,” he said. “It
was a rough time and a close call.
You know you can go cruising along
thinking you’re untouchable andthen something like [the injury]happens and you have a newperspective.”He said that the incident has taught
him not to take anything in his life
for granted.
Going from the injury back to
being a goaltender was a long road
but he said that his family and
friends as well as families in Blyth
played a part in that.
“Everyone helped out. Rick and
Anne Elliott were a big help and the
Kerr family helped,” he said. “It’s
amazing how bits and pieces of help
came from all over town to form the
support I had.”
By Denny ScottThe Citizen
Harkness found guilty despite showing of support
Despite dozens of supporters in the
courtroom Leland Harkness was
found guilty on two counts of assault
in Wingham court on April 19.
Harkness pled guilty to the
charges, but asked for an absolute
discharge. However, Judge R.G.E.
Hunter imposed a conditional
discharge with six months probation.
He also ordered that Harkness have
no further contact with the victims.
Harkness, of Clifford, operates a
farm and worked as a bus driver in
Howick for the Avon Maitland
District School Board. Harkness had
been driving a school bus for 24
years, 13 of those with the Avon
Maitland District School Board.
He was driving his normal route
on June 16, 2011 when two students,
ages seven and nine, became unruly,
according to Crown Laura Grant and
he threatened them.
Grant said that Harkness told the
students, who Grant said had been
suspended from riding the bus
before, to stay out of the aisle of the
bus while it was moving.
Harkness asked the students if they
had “anything hard” with them and
one of the students produced a metal
water bottle. Harkness then told the
students that if they returned to the
aisle of the bus while it was in
motion, he would hit both of them on
the head with the bottle.
Grant said the students made their
way into the aisle over the course of
the trip and Harkness asked them for
the bottle and asked who “wanted it
first”. One student volunteered and
received a hit on the head with the
bottle and the second student
received two hits because the first
“wasn’t hard enough”.
After entering the school crying,
Grant said, the second student was
eventually brought to a doctor after
complaining of a headache and
dizziness throughout the day. Grant
said the medical reports did not rule
out a mild concussion.
Harkness’s defense attorney said
that while Grant was correct that a
concussion had not been ruled out,
there was also nothing in the report
stating that a concussion was
suspected. In addition, she stated, the
student in question spent the entire
day on a field trip with his class.
Harkness’s attorney highlighted
the dozens of supporters in the
courtroom on behalf of Harkness,
stating that he is 56 years old and has
never been in trouble with the law. In
addition to his various volunteer
positions and letters of support from
parents and students alike, she said
Harkness has completed child
management courses in the past.
She said that regardless of the
outcome of the case, it was likely
that Harkness would never drive a
bus for the Avon Maitland District
School Board again.
Grant, however, disagreed, saying
that the two attorneys could not
reach a joint submission in the case
and that Harkness’s actions were not
appropriate and they should be
punished thusly.
“It is not appropriate to use objects
or slaps or blows to the head,” Grant
said. “He’s an adult and they are
children.”
Grant said the parents of students
in the Avon Maitland District School
Board system need to be able to
know their children will be safe on
the school bus, regardless of whether
they had been misbehaving or not.
Hunter imposed a conditional
discharge on Harkness with six
months of probation. He was also
instructed that if he is able to return
to driving bus for the school board,
that he is not to be driving a vehicle
with the two victims on it.
ASSAULT
McCalla Sturgeon of Listowel was
ordered to pay a $1,500 fine after an
August 20, 2011 fight with an
underage fellow partygoer got out of
control.
The 19-year-old Sturgeon was at a
party in Huron East with the 14-
year-old victim and both were
intoxicated, said Grant. Sturgeon
pled guilty to the charge of assault
causing bodily harm.
Grant said that Sturgeon, after an
argument, punched the victim in the
face, causing him to fall to the
ground.
Once the victim was on the
ground, Grant said, Sturgeon
climbed on top of the victim and
continued to strike the victim in the
face and head with a closed fist until
the victim lost consciousness.
Sturgeon then left the scene.
The victim was subsequently taken
to Wingham and District Hospital
where he was treated for severe
swelling and bruising to his face.
Grant said the victim had no
independent recollection of the event
and police were forced to rely on
witness interviews to piece together
the night’s events.
Sturgeon’s defense attorney Mike
Donnelly countered Grant’s
submission, saying that the victim
was actually the aggressor in the
fight, both verbally antagonizing
Sturgeon and eventually pushing him
in an effort to start a fight.
Donnelly said that while the victim
did suffer severe swelling and
bruising, there were no signs of a
concussion or any long-term damage
done to the victim’s brain, skull or
teeth.
Two weeks later when police
questioned Sturgeon about the event,
Donnelly said, Sturgeon was
remorseful and co-operative,
providing the police with a full,
recorded confession.
Grant suggested a 60-day jail term
for Sturgeon, however, Donnelly
said Sturgeon would be able to pay a
“substantial fine” if Hunter chose to
take that route when sentencing him.
Grant said that the fact remained
that the victim was 14 years old and
when the fight went to the ground,
Sturgeon continued to punch him.
She said that because Sturgeon
continued to punch the victim until
he lost consciousness and that he left
the scene of the crime, she would
certainly consider those aggravating
factors.
Sturgeon was ordered to pay a
$1,500 fine and was given 12 months
of probation. He was ordered to have
no further contact with the victim
and a five-year weapons prohibition
was also imposed. He was given 30
days to pay the fine.
IMPAIRED DRIVING
John Robinson of RR2, Gorrie
pled guilty to impaired driving,
receiving a $1,000 fine and a 12-
month driving prohibition, stemming
from an incident in Howick on Feb.
4.
Grant said police stopped a vehicle
being driven by Robinson around
2:40 a.m. that morning, alongside
another vehicle that was travelling
closely to Robinson’s on Perth Road
178.
Grant said Robinson attempted to
evade police, but was quickly
stopped before he could get too far.
Police said that upon speaking
with Robinson, the odour of freshly-
consumed alcohol was detected and
that Robinson’s eyes looked glassy,
his speech was slurred and he
seemed distant and unfocused during
the conversation.
Robinson was found guilty and
given 90 days to pay his $1,000 fine.
OVER 80
Geoffrey Lamon of RR2,
Teeswater was found not guilty of
operating a motor vehicle with over
80 milligrams of alcohol in 100
millilitres of blood, but was ordered
to enter into a peace bond that would
keep him off the road for the next six
months.
On July 2, 2011 in Wingham,
police observed a vehicle with its
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The Citizen
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