Catégorie : Tribune-Express (Hawkesbury)

Daryl, a 33-year-old father of two, said Poker Lotto is his favourite game and he’s been playing for at least a decade.

“I was at home when I scanned my ticket using the OLG App, and thought I won $100, which I was happy about. Then I took another look and realized there was a comma and I actually won $100,000!” he shared while at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto to pick up his winnings. “I showed my wife, but she didn’t believe me until I scanned it in front of her. She was ecstatic!”

Daryl said this is a wonderful experience that will allow him to be in a good place in the future. He plans to purchase a new pool, a trampoline for the kids, complete some home renovations and save for a rainy day.

 The winning ticket was purchased at Ultramar on County Road 4 in L’Orignal.

« Saturday night was a good game,” said Head Coach Franky Dopelhamer during a Monday phone interview, adding that the Cougars let their guard down on Sunday.

Dopelhamer admitted to surprise at the fan turnout for Sunday’s game. Even though it was Superbowl Sunday and many sports fans were home watching the Kansas City Chiefs take the trophy, there were still between 125 to 150 local fans sitting in the bleachers at the Robert Hartley Sports Complex in Hawkesbury to cheer on the Cougars.

The Cougars got on the scoreboard first Saturday night with a goal during the first two minutes of play from Joshua Desjardins, with help from John Mahoney and Sam Guay. Gatineau tied up the score at the end of the period and then took a one-point lead at the end of second with two more goals against one more for Vankleek Hill from Desjardins, aided by Mikael Bissonnette and Eric Skyba.

Skyba tied up the score with a power-play goal in the last three minutes of third period. Bissonnette and Brenden Easterbrook lent him a hand. The game went into overtime with Desjardins claiming the win for Vankleek Hill with a hat trick, aided by Bissonnette and Zachary Bigras.

Sunday’s home for the Cougars against the Castors ended in a 5-1 loss for Vankleek Hill. Bigras scored the lone Cougars goal in second period with help from Desjardins and Maxime Laliberté.

The Cougars are on the road for their next three games this week with a Valentine’s Day night match in St-Isidore, then Friday against South Grenville, and Saturday in Clarence Creek, before returning home to the Den Sunday evening to host the Westport Rideaus.

Hawkesbury Fire Department crews received a 911 call just after 4 p.m. about a commercial building fire on Main Street. Five trucks and crews from the local fire station arrived on the scene and began work to contain the fire to the commercial building. Part of the section of Main Street between the Hamilton Street and Hampden Street intersections was blocked off to traffic while firefighters dealt with the situation.

« It was a downtown fire situation, » said Hawkesbury Fire Chief Normand Beauchamps, during a later interview. « Lots of crowds, and we had to deal with traffic. But everyone cooperated. »

The building on fire used to be Depanneur Jo’s until the little groceteria closed last year. It later reopened as a combination e-bike shop and snack bar. There is a small second-floor apartment on top of the building and also a small multi-unit apartment building attached on the side of the building.

Firefighters wearing self-contained breathing apparatus did a suite-by-suite search of the upstairs of the building and the next-door apartment complex for anyone who might be inside. All occupants present were evacuated and there are no reports of anyone injured during the incident.

Support firefighter crews and units arrived from Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, the Village of Grenville, Brownsburg-Chatham and Lachute to help their Hawkesbury counterparts as part of mutual aid agreements. The East Hawkesbury Township fire department took on the task of dealing with any calls for those communities while their crews were in Hawkesbury.

While some firefighters continued to hose down the interior of the building, others went up onto the roof and used axes, prybars and a chainsaw to break open a hole in the roof to both vent the smoke from inside and allow access with a fire hose to deal with any flames or smouldering woodwork.

The various support fire crews left the scene at about 10 p.m. as the situation was deemed under control. Hawkesbury firefighters remained on site until 11 p.m. before heading back to the station. A skeleton crew of firefighters remained overnight on fire watch at the scene in case any remaining hot spots reignited into fullblown fires.

The cause of the fire and its exact point of origin are both unknown at present. Fire officials returned to the scene Wednesday to examine the building remains to try to determine the origin point and cause of the fire.

Chief Beauchamps noted the damage estimate for the fire is $1.2 million. He also noted that there were a number of e-bikes inside the building when it burned.

E-bikes run on lithium batteries. While they did not pose a hazardous material situation during the fire, investigators are trying to determine whether or not the presence of lithium batteries may have been a factor in the factor.

Updates will be provided when more information is known.

On February 10 the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in Hawkesbury executed a search warrant in conjunction with the Child Sexual Exploitation Unit and the Digital Forensics unit. Officers seized a quantity of suspected drugs and electronic devices, and as a result, they arrested 35-year-old Andrew Smith.

Following the investigation, Smith was charged with possession of child pornography, failure to comply with a release order, possession of a schedule III substance, and three counts of possession of a schedule I substance. He will remain in custody following a bail hearing and was scheduled to appear in L’Orignal court on February 14.

The OPP urge parents to take a proactive approach by speaking with their children regarding Internet safety and online exploitation. Crime Stoppers and Cybertip host resources to assist parents in educating their children, and the OPP urges anyone with information regarding a case of internet child exploitation to anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or ontariocrimestoppers.ca, or through cybertip.ca.

The OPP will continue to aggressively identify and pursue individuals who use technology to exploit children.

“I would like to see some (municipal) infrastructure money,” said Mayor Robert Kirby, during a phone interview.

He noted that small municipalities like East Hawkesbury always need senior government funding support for infrastructure projects like paving roads or rebuilding bridges. But Kirby has two particular local infrastructure needs in mind when he thinks about his wish list for the provincial and federal budgets.

“We need a fire station for St-Eugène,” he said. “It’s not big enough for all the vehicles. There’s no shower facility for the men when they come back from a call. It just doesn’t meet the (current) standards.”

Getting a new fire station for St-Eugène has been an ongoing issue for Mayor Kirby. But he’s had no success yet in convincing any senior government official of the need to support improvements to rural fire stations.

“There never seems to be money for that,” he said. “But it is an essential service.”

The other project Kirby would like to eligible for some kind of financial aid through either the provincial or federal budget is the new community centre now under construction in St-Eugène. The municipality has a fundraiser plan in place for the project and did receive some federal money to include in the municipal budget to help get the project started.

But, Kirby noted, inflation poses a threat to both this year’s municipal budget plan and future budget plans with increasing fuel costs for township vehicles, rising electricity costs for public buildings and other facilities, and other expenses.

The township has less room to allocate funds for the new community centre project and is relying on a public fundraiser to try and avoid having to take out an expensive loan for building the facility.

Last December Canadian author Lawrence Hill paid a virtual visit at Vankleek Collegiate Institute (VCI) to talk about his book, The Illegal, as the highlight of a classroom reading project on social justice issues. Hill and students discussed topics related to the book like racism and xenophobia.

Hill’s virtual visit is one of several special activities organized at schools in the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) either in advance of or as part of Black History Month celebrations in February. The UCDSB curriculum is expanding on the concept of Black History Month to cover all topics related to the issues of racism and stereotyping and the need to build inclusive communities.

“We need to ensure that all our students feel like they belong,” stated John McAllister, UCDSB board chair. “We need to give all students the opportunity to learn about themselves, their neighbours, and their friends. Our community is changing, and if we don’t change along with it, we won’t be serving our students or families well and that hurts us all. I’m proud we are celebrating Black History Month, but I’m also very proud that students are learning about culture, racism, and social justice issues all year long.”

During February the UCDSB classroom curriculum at all schools will feature books, graphic novels and poetry by Black authors, watching the Canadian Heritage Minute videos on Chloe Cooley, Jackie Shane, Richard Pierpoint, and others, and classroom discussions on race, culture, and other and other issues.

“The communities that we serve are more diverse than ever before,” stated Dan McRae, UCDSB principal of equity and inclusion, “and it is very important that all students, staff and families see themselves reflected in our schools and curriculum. I’m proud that our schools are celebrating Black History Month and that we have also made an everyday commitment to recognize, teach and celebrate members of the Black community who have made significant contributions to Canada and around the world, but who have historically not received the same recognition as their peers.”

Along with their virtual visit with author Lawrence Hill, VCI students took part in a joint project with their counterparts at Carleton Place High School, Perth & District Collegiate Institute, Tagwi Secondary School, and Thousand Islands Secondary School to create a Black History Month video available for viewing in UCDSB schools and by the general public. The video includes poetry, discussions, and other activities to promote black role models and the theme message of “educate to blast out hate.”

The video is available to view at: https://www.facebook.com/UCDSB/
videos/480522460414615/.

https://www.facebook.com/UCDSB/ videos/480522460414615/