HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-01-07, Page 1Congrats
For the first time The Citizen has two nominees for Junior
Citizen of the Year awards from its readership area.
Brianne Wheeler, above, is from Brussels, while Teaghan
Coultes, who stands before her wall of honour at school, is
from East Wawanosh. There will be 12 chosen for the
honour from 130 entries this year. The winners will be
announced Jan. 22. (Bonnie Gropp photos)
For the first time ever The
Citizen’s readership area can boast
having two nominees for an
Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year
award.
Teaghan Coultes, a 10-year-old
student at East Wawanosh Central
School has Turner Syndrome, a
genetic condition that presents
physical and social challenges.
However, as one nominator noted
she “never focuses on her own
personal challenges or looks for
others to compensate for her.
Coultes’s main goal is to keep others
happy.”
Her outgoing and enthusiastic
personality is an inspiration to
others. Having been given a bear
during a hospital visit, Coultes
recently decided to ‘pay it forward”
and used her own money to ‘build’
nine bears for other children who
were ill.
Another nominator said that
Coultes has always looked to help
the underdog and make their life
easier.
“Teaghan does all of this, not for
recognition, but for a pure love of
reaching out to others to help make
their day, their life, just a little bit
better,” said a nominator.
Wheeler was acknowledged for
going far beyond what is expected of
someone her age. One of her
nominators stated that from a
young age she was passionate
about helping others and her
community.
She has volunteered in a variety of
ways for a number of different
causes.
This past summer she spent two
“life-changing” weeks at an
orphanage in Kenya and most
recently organized a very successful
hockey skills camp geared to young
females.
Wheeler exhibits strong leadership
abilities and as a nominator stated,
has been a role model for other
young people in the community.
Both girls expressed their
appreciation for the nomination
when presented with the certificate.
Wheeler said she was honoured to
have been nominated, while a visibly
delighted Coultes said she was
“overwhelmed”.
A total of 130 young people were
recognized as nominees this year for
their outstanding contributions to
their community.
A total of 12 are chosen as Junior
Citizens of the Year each year. The
announcement of the winners will be
Friday, Jan. 22. They will be guests
of honour at a special ceremony in
Toronto.
The contest is co-ordinated by the
Ontario Community Newspapers
Association (OCNA) as the
industry’s public service program.
Corporate sponsors are TD Canada
Trust and Direct Energy.
Quiet RIDE for local OPP officers
The Huron OPP brought in the New
Year without any serious events.
They did get involved with
numerous Liquor Licence Act
incidents over the course of the night
but there were no impaired drivers
charged and no serious collisions.
With numerous RIDE (Reduce
Impaired Driving Everywhere)
checkpoints set up across the county,
it would appear that most people
made alternate arrangements to get
home after their night of partying.
“We only wish people could do this
on a more regular basis,” said Const.
Joanna VanMierlo.
In the ongoing effort to educate the
motoring public about the dangers
associated to drinking and driving,
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)
officers were out in full force and
checked over 1,174,224 vehicles on
OPP patrolled roadways during this
year’s Festive RIDE initiative. In
Huron County, the number was
almost 28,000.
This year’s initiative was conducted
from Nov. 27 through to Jan. 4. In the
process, OPP officers issued 432
administrative driver’s licence
suspensions (ADLS) for drinking
related driving. 709 of those were for
a Blood Alcohol Concentration
(BAC) in the .05 and .08 range. The
remaining 277 were 90 day ADL
suspensions resulting from criminal
code drinking and driving offences.
OPP laid a total of 5,329 charges as
a result of this year’s initiative, 298 of
which were for impaired driving, over
.08 BAC or for refusal to comply with
a demand to provide a breath sample.
Of the 298 impaired driving
charges, only nine were in Huron
County. The remaining 4,733 charges
were for other Criminal Code,
Highway Traffic Act, or Liquor
Licence Act offences.
Comparatively, during the 2008
Festive RIDE, OPP officers checked
884,729 vehicles, made 319 arrests
for criminal code alcohol related
offences and issued 1,137 ADL
suspensions.
New to this year’s program was the
Ontario legislation which increased
driver’s licences suspension periods
issued for a BAC between .05 and .08.
Previously considered in the “warn
range”, the legislation introduced in
May 2009 prescribes that drivers now
subject to a licence suspension which
gradates from a minimum three to
seven then 30 days for that level of
BAC.
“While it appears that the message
is slowly getting across to drivers,
there are still people who think they
are sober enough to drive when they
aren’t”, said OPP Commissioner
Julian Fantino in response to the 2009
statistics, “the only truly safe level of
alcohol consumption for drivers is
none”.
While the Festive RIDE program is
over for another year, the OPP wants
to remind motorists that drinking and
driving is never a good mix. Regular
OPP RIDE programs continue
throughout the province all year long.
CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010
Volume 26 No. 1SPECIAL- Pg. 11Celebrating the babiesof 2009 HONOUR - Pg. 23 Ladies Auxiliary membergets special awardSPORTS- Pg. 960 hockey playing girls attendclinic in BrusselsPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 PAP Registration No. 09244 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Local girls Ontario Junior Citizen nominees
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
The time has come to spruce
Memorial Hall up a bit says Blyth
Festival general manager Deb
Sholdice, and the Ontario Trillium
Foundation seems to agree.
On Monday, Huron-Bruce MPP
Carol Mitchell was in Blyth to
deliver the good news. The Blyth
Centre for the Arts received $32,000
from the foundation and the
Heritage Culture Partnership
received $30,000.
Mitchell said that over her years in
Huron County politics, she has
become familiar with the Blyth
Festival and she was very happy to
announce this particular funding.
“Thank you for all of your work. I
have been to almost all of [the
festival’s] events,” she said. “Really
it is always my pleasure to support
such a strong and vibrant
community.”
With the grant, the Blyth Festival
will replace windows, repair
masonry and install power door
openers at Memorial Hall, which
will hopefully help the Festival out
in several ways, Sholdice said.
“This will improve accessibility,
energy efficiency and enhance
community usage,” she said. “The
Blyth Festival enjoys a joint use
agreement with the Twp. of North
Huron regarding Memorial Hall and
as the major tenant, we are
committed to ensuring its place as a
cultural icon in our region.”
Muriel Murphy, a volunteer with
the Ontario Trillium Foundation and
Blyth Festival gets Trillium funding
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 3