The Westend WeeklyBringing Communities Together

Box 66, 303 Fifth St., Rainy River, ON P0W 1L0 Ph. 807-852-3815, Fax. 807-852-1863, Email. westendweekly@tbaytel.net Vol. 26, No. 38 Wednesday, January 18, 2017Serving the Rainy River District for 25 years! Read us on line at www.westendweekly.ca. Check out the pictures on line. They are so good!

Muskie Ski Team builds a new legacy for FFHS

by Melissa FriesenLast Wednesday, a brand

new FFHS Muskie NordicSki Team hosted competitorsfrom Dryden, Atikokan andBeaver Brae. The race tookplace at the Rainy Lake NordicSki Club's trails, where theFFHS team meets on theweekends. While regularlyopen to the public for a chanceto ski or snowshoe, the chaletand surrounding area waspacked with 50 or so studentsand coaches warming up fortheir big race.

The trails had been groomed,the bibs were assigned, and allthat was left to do was ski.Racers got in a line accordingto the numbers on their chest,starting with the Senior Girlsand ending with the SeniorBoys. Each division was on adifferent ski loop, either 2.8,3.9, or 5.6 kilometres long.

For most of the FFHS team,this was their first time com-peting on skis, most of whomhad never been on skate skisbefore the snow fell this win-ter. While the team was origi-nally started two years ago, theprogram didn't run last yearwhen one of the coaches wason maternity leave. Only oneof the current skiers is a re-turning student, now in 12th

grade, and before that, theredoesn't seem to have ever beena ski team at the high school.That's one of the striking ele-ments of this program - they'rebuilding a fresh legacy. Whileother competitive programshave an established system, orexpectation of performance,here the only expectation isthat you show up to practiceready to learn.

And they do. The teammeets three times a week,along with practices at RainyLake Nordic Ski Club on theweekends. As much as it is acompetitive team, it seems al-most equally a life skills class."Skiing is one of the only highschool sports that students canenjoy in their adult life," notesRebecca Himanen, one of thecoaches. It's likely that thesestudents are developing whatwill become a lifelong enjoy-ment of skiing that they other-wise might not haveexperienced. With a total offour coaches, some of whichare self taught, and others whohave competed at the univer-sity/provincial level, there's awell rounded learning envi-ronment. Rebecca Himanenand Ilka Milne, both FFHSstaff, are joined by communitycoaches Matt Chalmers and

Jordan Baird.After watching the meet on

Wednesday, I asked if I couldobserve a regular weekdaypractice. In the classroom, twostudents at a time were learn-ing the discipline of waxingskis. It appeared to be timeconsuming and meticulouswork, but every participant ap-peared eager to understand.Perhaps in part, because therest of the crew was doing apainful arrangement of sprints,lunges, mountain climbers,and planks along the hallways."Now that they've been in acouple races and done someskiing, they understand wherethey are lacking in terms ofconditioning. That helps themembrace the purpose of dryland training. Technique onlytakes you so far." Even still,I expected to hear a collectivedrone of complaints after thesecond round, but there wasnone. They entered the roomwith heavy breathing andsome pretended to faint, butafter studying the instructionswritten on the white board,off they went again - multipletimes.

Even if the practice wasphysically demanding, theprogram itself is more aboutthe development than the endresult. "It attracts kids whowouldn't necessarily do anyother sports, because it's indi-vidual and it's at their own

pace. It's not as daunting,maybe, as other sports. We re-ally emphasize that everyonelearns at their own pace andlooks at their own time. Youworry about improving yourtechnique." There are no cutsto make it on the ski team, andit creates an atmosphere withinthe team, and amongst others,that Rebecca says is, "verycollegial." I witnessed it my-self last week. Each and everyparticipant who crossed thefinish line (they all did, usuallybreathless) was cheered for byall teams and all coaches.Whoever wasn't racing up tothe chalet to grab a warm hotchocolate, was by the finishline. Regardless if it was alightning fast time, or a hum-ble attempt to just finish,everyone's effort was acknowl-edged and celebrated.

Another unique aspect of theteam is that it includes grade7/8 students from J W Walker.Because those students weregoing to be at the high schoolthis year anyway, it seemedlike a logical decision to in-clude them. "We're astoundedby the interest," enthused Re-becca. Because the team isnew, and because nearly all ofthe students are new to skateskiing, it somewhat eliminatesa hierarchy. There are no pro-fessionals on this team.Everyone seems to be learningtogether, and that creates for a

collaborative and welcomingenvironment. Rebecca adds,"When you get a group of peo-ple together and they have thatdetermination to get out in thecold, and they see each otherfalling down, it just seems tobond them together naturally."

The creation of the ski teamseemed to happen rather holis-tically. Rebecca and Ilka wereboth coaching cross countryrunning when the idea of intro-ducing a ski program was firstbrought up. After the enthusi-asm of one student (who over-heard the conversation) washard to ignore, they decided togo ahead with it. "It filled afew purposes. One of thosewas to bridge the gap in thewinter for training. A lot ofcross country runners havenothing in the winter and thenthey do track and field in thespring. It was also a good wayto get kids outside, and enjoybeing outside, in the winter. It'sso important for people andtheir mental health. Finally, it'sCanada, and people shouldknow how to ski because win-ter is part of our national iden-

tity," Rebecca says with asmile.

Even still coaching, espe-cially a new program, requiresa strong commitment. Anycoach of any sport has theirown reasons and hopefullytheir dedication is acknowl-edged. "Part of wanting tocoach this was a little selfishbecause it gives me more op-portunity get out and ski in thewinter, so in that sense, there'ssome reward," Rebecca laughsbefore continuing. "It is phe-nomenal to witness the kind ofprogress we get to see, to get towatch these kids develop somereally good technique and moreimportantly, to see them enjoythat. To see their faces whenthey cross the finish line, witha big smile, that's probably whya lot of us get into teaching."Rebecca hopes that this ski pro-gram will continue and growfor many years to come, so thatit might even be something heryoung girls can participate inone day.

Some of the Muskie Nordic Ski Team gather for a quick photo before getting in line to raceat last week's meet at their "home court" of Rainy Lake Nordic Ski Club's trails.

Emma Toriseva finished her race with a brand new set offrosted eyelashes. The chilly temperatures made for lessglide than usual, meaning everyone had to work extra hard.

Tori Toriseva, of the Junior Girls division, kept her headdown and her hair loose as she passed the finish line. Thoseorange pylons were a beacon of hope for everyone who spentthe last 20-60 minutes, depending on the loop, pushing them-selves up (and hopefully gliding down) hill after glorious hill.

Kenzie Begin, 7th grade, had a big smile across her facewhen she reached the finish line after half an hour of non-stop skiing.

Hannah Anderson finished her race in the Junior Girls divi-sion with a look of accomplishment. The grade 7/8 girls allseemed to have a "Hey, why not?" attitude when it came totrying and competing in the sport.

The only boy on the team, Caleb Dueck, has his own reasonsfor participating, and he's honest about it. "It was my lastchance to get a sport on my resume before applying to uni-versity." He thinks however, this might be the kind of thinghe enjoys long after high school.

Sara Selman, 12th grade, is the only returning skier fromthe program's first year. She fell in love with skiing after sheand a friend went for a casual glide through her field a fewyears ago. Here, she helps Emma Toriseva properly adminis-ter the wax to the bottom of the ski.

The team that planks together ranks together? The skiers buy into the importance of dryland training as well as team building, so they complete the workout together.

Page 2, The Westend Weekly, January 18, 2017

No Trail Permit?

No Problem.$35 Event Pass

available.

Coming up...Jan 21st

Fort Frances to Emo Club Ride• Fort Groomer Shack to Emo Inn (lunch) ending the

day at Carl’s Eatery.• Registration from 9 to 10 at 8th St. Groomer Shack.• CBC reporter will be at the event doing a story• Details on the Website• Free breakfast at registration

Jan 28thClub Road trip to Atikokan

• Details on the WebsiteFeb 11th

Club run Fort Frances to Perch Lake Resort• Day ride or option to stay overnight at the resort• Details on the website

www.borderlandsnowmobileclub.ca432 Scott St. Fort Frances www.wrightphysiotherapy.ca

Wright Physiotherapywill begin providing

Physiotherapy Servicesin Barwick

at theChapple Recreation

CentreTuesdays

Beginning Jan. 17th

Call 274-4222to book an appointment

PhysiotherapistsKelsey and Jeff

You do not require a doctor’s referral.

We can direct bill mostinsurance companies

directly.

Rainy River District School Board

invites applications for the position of:

1.0 FTE Teacher

Required Qualifications: • Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) Certificate• Transportation Technology and Construction

Technology qualifications; or TransportationTechnology and Design Technology qualifications

For more information regarding this position pleasevisit the Employment section of our website atwww.rrdsb.com

Heather CampbellDirector of Education

Annual MeetingThursday, January 19th

7:00 pm at Our Lady of the Way School in Stratton

Guest SpeakersUpdates from Commodity Groups

2017 Sale PlansCoffee Break Sponsored by: Stratton Service

We encourage everyone to attend as we want to hear from you to plan for the upcoming years!

Mary Kearneywill soon be celebrating

her 95th Birthday!

You are cordially invitedto join Mary Kearney, her family and friends,

for conversation, birthdaycake, tea or coffee on

Thursday, Jan. 19between 2 & 3:30 pm

in the front room of theRainy River Legion

229 Scott Street, Fort Frances 274-6688303 Fifth St., rear, Rainy River 852-4237

Causeway Insurance would like to remind allsnowmobilers to ride safe while out on the trails thiswinter. Make sure your registration, trail passes andinsurance are all up to date. If you are a client ofCauseway, please stop in to pick up your snowmobilesized first aid kit before hitting the trails.

Causeway Insurance is a proud supported of theBorderland Snowmobile Club. Check out the club websitewww.borderlandsnowmobile.ca for events and info.

Dine Daily ~ 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.www.thunderbirdrainylake.com

10 miles east of Int'l Falls on Hwy. 11218-286-3151

ON BEAUTIFUL RAINY LAKE

Our SpecialThis Friday & Saturday is

Steak Marsala8 oz. Sirloin topped with a marsala

cream sauce with tarragon,mushrooms, and green onion. Servedwith your choice of salad and side.

Make Your Reservation Today!

passings

With great sadness the fam-ily announces the passing ofRoss McLean 93, of RainyRiver, Ontario and formerly ofSpohn Twp (Harris Hill) On-tario on Tuesday January 10,2017 peacefully at the RainyRiver Hospital.

Ross was born on May 16,1923 to Sarah (nee Campbell)and John Francis “Frank”McLean in Lambton County,Brigden, Ontario, moving toRainy River in 1924 and thento Harris Hill in 1926. Hegrew up and lived all of his lifein Harris Hill until movinginto the LTC home in RainyRiver January of 2016. Hegrew up on the farm in a loghouse that was also the com-munity post office ran by hisparents. He attended the 1room schoolhouse in HarrisHill. Over the years he workedon the family farm raisingsheep, beef cattle and horses,logging, and was a commer-cial fisherman with his broth-ers Ken and Jim. He loved theoutdoors, the lake, but enjoyedfarming the best. He was pre-deceased by his siblings Hu-bert, Annabelle “Anne”(Albert) Kreger, James “Jim” (Ellen),Clarence “Ken”, and Violet(John) Nicholas.

He was united in marriage toRuth Schettler, the love of hislife and best friend, who sur-vives along with their threegirls Brenda(Greg) Sitarz,Shirley McLean,Laurie(Troy)Brown, Grand-children Adam(Kyla)Mackay,

Andrew Mackay, Madison,Katelyn and Wyatt Brown andGreat Grandchildren Brooklynand Lincoln Mackay, numer-ous nieces and nephews.

Ross was a generous, easygoing friendly person who wasa storyteller and enjoyed visit-ing with people. The McLeandoor was always open tofriends & neighbours to comein for a cup of tea. He alwaysmade time for people, this washis nature. He enjoyed readingabout World History, Geogra-phy, and politics, playingcards/cribbage, and watchinghockey on TV. He was a greatfather and grandfather and al-ways spent quality time withhis family. Ross was in greatphysical shape most of his lifeand loved playing sports with

the kids whether it was havinga foot race, baseball, soccer orplaying road hockey well intohis 80’s. We started losingpieces of him as Dementia set-tled in over time but there al-ways remained a sparkle in hiseye and glimpses of the manhe was. His family would liketo thank all of the staff of theRainy River Hospital that havetaken such loving care of himover the last year and havetreated him as family.

Family and friends will bereceived for visitation at theNorthridge Funeral Home,Emo, Ontario on Sunday Jan-uary 15, 2017 from 2:30 to4:30 p.m. A Celebration ofLife Funeral Service will beheld on Monday January 16that 1 p.m. at the Rainy RiverKnox United Church, Rev.Frances Flook officiating. In-terment will take place in For-est Lawn Cemetery RainyRiver at a later date.

The Active Pallbearers:Robert Kreger, Don Nicholas,Allen Olson, Doug Kreger,Allan Stone and Cam Hanson.

Honourary Pall bearers willbe all of Ross’s family andfriends.

If desired memorial dona-tions may be made in Ross’smemory to the Rainy RiverHospital c/o Northridge Fu-neral home, Box 89, Emo,ON, P0W 1E0.

Online condolences may beoffered at www.northridgefu-neralhome.com

Dougald Ross McLeanPeacefully, on January 8,

2017, Dorothy Leola Nor-lund, 93 years, passedaway at Birchwood Ter-race, Kenora, ON, withher family by her side.Dorothy was born August13, 1923 in Fort Francesto Harold and RosalieArmstrong, the 2nd eldestof 12 children. Dorothy ispredeceased by her hus-band Verner, her parents,and siblings (andspouses), Phoebe (Jergen)Mosley, Betty (George)Cawston, Sylvia(Dwayne) Batcher, andbrother Reginald Arm-strong; and by sisters &brothers-in-law, Elsa(Harold) Hanson, Elmer(Theresa) Norlund, Mary(Ralph) Fugate, Carl Norlundand Albert Hanson.

Dorothy was united in mar-riage to Verner Norlund, Janu-ary 25, 1945 in Fort Frances,ON. They resided in Toronto,ON for 13 years, where Vernerworked on the railroad andtheir first four daughters wereborn. In 1958, they moved toRainy River, owning and oper-ating Norlund’s Service, whereDorothy worked side by sidewith her husband for the next18 years. During this time,their youngest daughter Shel-ley was born.

Dorothy was an active mem-ber in Rainy River to the Lakeof the Woods Order of theEastern Star Chapter 244,Miriam Rebekah Lodge No.170, Red Cross Auxiliary,Ladies Auxiliary to the Royal

Canadian Legion Branch No.54, United Church Women(UCW) of Knox UnitedChurch, the hospital auxiliary,and Oak Harbour Golf andCountry Club in Baudette,MN. Dorothy was a busymodern day mother, having acareer, raising five activedaughters and being involvedin her community into her lateryears of life. Dorothy andVerner celebrated 66 wonder-ful years together beforeVerner passed in 2011.Dorothy, prided herself in herbeautiful flower gardens, en-joyed playing Canasta withher grandchildren, golfing, andshared her love of the Lordwith her family. She was adearly loved mother, grand-mother, and great grand-mother. Dorothy took part in

all aspects of her growingfamily’s lives and alwaysremembered them on spe-cial occasions. She will besadly missed by her family,friends, and former em-ployees who became partof her family.

Surviving her loss arefive daughters and sons-in-law: Carol (Dennis) Fraserof Winnipeg, Bonnie (War-ren) Toles of Emo, Debra(Gord) LeMaistre ofKenora, Susan (Mark)Douglas of Bonfield, Shel-ley Norlund of Winnipeg,ten grandchildren and tengreat grandchildren. Alsosurviving are four sisters:Pauline (Bill) Smith, Vi-vian (Don) Mulliken,Shirley (Max) Judd, and

Anita Rostie, along with threebrothers: Harold (Marlene)Armstrong, Glen Armstrong,and Roger Armstrong.

A memorial service isplanned for a later date, withinternment in McInnes CreekChapel Cemetery. Donations,if so desired, may be made tothe charity of your choice or toMcInnes Creek Chapel.

We will always remember theway you looked,

The way you smiled,All the things you did for us,You will be with us all the

while,You always did your best,Your heart was always true

and tender,You lived your life for those

you loved,And those you loved remem-

ber.

Dorothy Leola Norlund

Margaret passed away athome with her family, on Jan-uary 6 2017 in Nanaimo BC.Margaret was born on the fam-ily farm north of Barwick On-tario, to pioneeringhomesteaders, Jennie andWillard Canfield on August21, 1920. She lived most ofher 96 years on the same landwhere she was born, thenmoved to Fort Frances and fi-nally to Nanaimo to become a“BC Nut"! Margaret was mar-ried to Jack Rahn on Oct. 1,1941 in Truro, Nova Scotiawhere he was stationed duringWWII. They had two children,Lyndawn and Peggyann. After

the war, Margaretand Jack workedhard to build andmaintain the“Spruce ShadowFarm”. They werestrong believers inc o m m u n i t y ;Teaching 4-H,owning and oper-ating the Black-hawk Hall, andwere avid squaredancers. Margaretcontinued to enjoydancing well intoher nineties. She

was also a lifetime member ofthe Woman’s Institute.

Margaret was an enthusiasticand energetic person, alwaysbusy helping others, attendingmeetings and visiting familyand friends. She loved totravel, to see new sights and toconnect with others. She willbe remembered as someonewho loved life and lived it tothe fullest. She was dedicatedto always make every effort tokeep in touch with the manypeople she knew and con-nected with. Margaret'sAmway business provided heropportunities to travel, de-velop lasting friendships andshow her dedication to whatshe believed in. Margaretloved her family, always readyto share pictures of her grand-

children, great grandchildrenand even one great-greatgrandchild. She will be greatlymissed by her surviving fam-ily: sister, Helen Haney,daughter, Peggy; grandchil-dren, Cheri, Leisa & Pat,Jonathan, Emily & J.P, Alee-sha; her great grandchildren,Cherstin & Jonny, Mason &Jessica, Liam, Tomas, Aislyn;and great great granddaughter,Ember; sister in law, MargaretGosbee and her aunt LeonaGillies as well as numerousnieces, nephews and cousins.

When you think of Margaretremember, "Happiness issomething you decide onahead of time”.

Funeral Services for Mar-garet will be held on ThursdayJanuary 19th at 1pm. Therewill be an informal visitationfor those who wish to sharethis time with Margaret’s fam-ily on Wednesday, January18th from 6:30-8:00 pm.These celebrations will bothbe held at Northridge FuneralHome, Emo Ontario.

In lieu of flowers, memorialdonations may be made to TheHeart and Stroke Foundationc/o Northridge Funeral HomeP.O. Box 89, Emo OntarioP0W 1E0

Online condolences can bemade at www.northridgefuner-alhome.com

Margaret Grace Rahn (nee Canfield) 1920 – 2017The Fort Frances Legion Auxiliary NewsThe Fort Frances Ladies

Auxiliary to Branch #29 meton Jan 11th with 27 membersin attendance

The charter was draped inhonour of two recently de-ceased members: Irene Hunt-ley and Marlene Deschamps.Irene had 53 years of continu-

ous service with Marlene hav-ing 17 years.

Ashley Pierce was welcomedas our newest member byPresident Alfreda Easton.

Committee reports were readand dealt with.

Donations were approved forthe Royal Canadian LegionProvincial Council Scholar-ship fund and to theAlzheimer’s society in supportof the music project.

Tickets are now on sale forthe upcoming Pre-GrammyAwards Gala to be held onFebruary 11th. This is an ele-gant fundraiser featuring acocktail reception, dinner fea-turing chicken oscar/Gramm ,live entertainment, raffles anda silent auction. Come as youare or come as a star. Seatingis limited so get your ticketssoon. For more information orto purchase your tickets whichare $50.00 a person contactChristina McDougall at 271-4292 or Giselle Calder at 274-9346. Watch for updates onthis exciting event on theRoyal Canadian LegionLadies Auxiliary facebookpage.

The January monthly supperwill be January 27th. Pork cut-lets, dressing, gravy, salad,buns, potatoes, vegetables andhome baked pies on the menu,all for $15.00 a plate. Doorsopen at 4:30.Come out andenjoy or take outs are availablefor pick up, phone 274-3772.Let us cook for you!

The attendance draw waswon by Carol Alton and theBirthday draw winner wasSylvia Gunderson.

Danette Allan won the earlybird membership draw for De-cember.

The next meeting will beheld February 8th. At 7:00 inthe legion hall.

If you would like to find outmore about joining the Auxil-iary you can contact IreneLaing at 274-9560.

Carr’s Repairis pleased to announce

that they have a 12,000 lb.overhead hoist to service

your vehicles.Phone 487-2548

or see our website at:www.carrsrepairvintageparts.com

Page 3, The Westend Weekly, January 18, 2017

Shop our New Showroomand Save Save Save!!!

274-63112 Miles West of Fort Frances

Up to

60% OffOur Clothing Clearance Rack

15% Off All In-stock Clothing20% Off All In-stock Skidoo Pants

25% Off All In-stock Skidoo Jackets30% Off All In-stock

Skidoo Open-face Helmets

Come and enjoy goods and services from your local Independent Merchants

VALENTINE’SVENDOR BLENDER

GetReadyfor Spring!!

Saturday, February 4Devlin Hall from 10am to 3pm

There will be 22 Home Based Businesseswithin the Rainy River District including:

Tupperware Scentsy NorwexOh for Fudge Sakes Young Living Essential Oils

Baking Epicure Usborne BooksThirty-One Seacret Mary Kay Jamberry

Moos by Kim Jo Bliss

Ms. Winifred’s Giggles andPerfectly Proper Advice

Rusnak hears from seniors

Member of Parliament forThunder Bay—Rainy River,Don Rusnak, hosted a townhall discussion for seniorsWednesday evening at theWest Thunder CommunityCentre. Approximately 30people were in attendance todiscuss a range of issues thataffect seniors in the riding.

A large portion of the discus-sion focused on the recent in-troduction of Bill C-27, a billaimed at increasing pensionflexibility through Target Ben-efit Plans (TBP). Communitymembers expressed questionsand concerns regarding the im-pact such a bill would have ondirect benefit pension plans forpublic and private sector em-ployees and retirees.

Rusnak explained that mes-saging from the Finance Min-ister indicates that transferringbenefits from an existing planto a Target Benefit Plan (TBP)is optional and that the federalTBP framework requires indi-vidual informed consent fromplan members and retirees be-

fore their accrued defined ben-efit or defined contributionbenefits may be surrendered inexchange for TBP benefits.

The Minister further indi-cated to Rusnak that individu-als who do not consent willmaintain their benefits in theircurrent form. Additionally, inunionized environments, aunion will be able to consenton behalf of its membershipwhere authorized to do so, andfinally, the new TBP frame-work does not involve changesto federal public sector pen-sion plans, which are governedby other statutes.

Rusnak stated that he hasquestions about the bill andhas been in contact with theMinister’s office requestingfurther details. Rusnak alsonoted that any specific ques-tions from the group will bebrought to the Finance Minis-ter and answers will be pro-vided.

Other issues addressed dur-ing the discussion centred on

the Canadian Pension Plan,Guaranteed Income Supple-ment, and Old Age Security.Rusnak encouraged partici-pants to contact his ThunderBay office with any questionsregarding federal policies oraccessing the federal programsin place for seniors.

“I always encourage and ap-preciate community memberscoming out to these discus-sions and expressing their sup-port or concerns regardingnew legislation. Public feed-back is invaluable to me; con-necting with the people ofThunder Bay-Rainy River isessential to my work in theHouse of Commons. Tonightwe were able to get some im-portant information out to thepublic, address some con-cerns, and hear about areaswhere more work needs to bedone. Thank you to everyonethat took the time to share theirvoice so I can ensure I’m rep-resenting the needs of mycommunity in Ottawa."

Hello Hello Hello, I wouldlike to introduce myself. I amMs. Winifred and I am excitedand very pleased to find my-self with such a deliciously in-triguing opportunity. I findthat as of late, I have chewedthe ears off of anyone who willlisten and I am in dire need togive my eloquent advice to alland sundry!

There are so many wonderfulthings that we can chat about.

Just today I was asked avery suitable question. "Ms.Winifred" she asked, "how doI deal with a difficult client?"

I answered, "Very Carefullymy dear, very carefully.”

Where shall we begin? As of now, you may submit

all manner of questions to me,

Ms Winifred, care of The Wes-tend Weekly. By simply sub-mitting your questions, youwill benefit from my sage andlife-changing advice.

Mail to Box 66, Rainy River,ON P0W 1L0 or email towestendweekly@tbaytel.net.

Properly yours,Ms Winifred

It looks as though we aregoing to have a nice week ofweather. I am hoping that thecurrent prediction of rain forSaturday is wrong but I amcertain things will change bythen. It will be a great week totake down my Christmaslights but from the stuff that Ihave gathered up already mostof the extension cords willlikely have to stay until springnow since they are underabout 4 feet of snow. The yardwill be dark again and I amsure Hydro One will be disap-pointed.

I have been noticing ayounger cow that was as big asa house and told a few peopleI was concerned about her.For some reason sometimessomething catches your eyeand it gives you that feeling of“I don’t think things are right.”Friday she still seemed normalas I fed the cows but Saturdaywhen I walked up she wasaway from the cow herd lyingin the deep snow. Two abnor-mal things – cows stick to-gether and they don’t normallylay in the deepest snow. So we

brought her home. My vetcousin was here this weekendso I asked her to check her out.Turn out she has Hydrops.Google it. It isn’t good but ofcourse nothing you can doabout that. She isn’t due tocalve until the 1th of Februarybut the risk is that she will godown and not get back up sowe decided to induce her.Now we will wait for 24-72hours and hope that the calfand the extra fluid comes out.Not likely going to be able tokeep the cow but I’d rather gether healthy and feeling betterthan take her to the bush. Weseem to experience somethingnew every year in this business– good and bad.

I have to share a cute storyfrom the Florida trip… Onenight Marlee went out for sup-per with her Aunt, Uncle andcousins from Dryden. Theydecided on burgers. Marleefinished her burger and got asick look on her face. AuntieDor asked what was up? WellMarlee explained “I am onlysupposed to eat Canadian

Beef!” Auntie Dor explainedthat is hard to source CanadianBeef in the United States. It isjust amazing how much kidslisten and pick things up evenwhen you don’t know they are.

I am hoping that all myfarmer friends are planning toattend the Rainy River Cattle-men’s meeting this Thursdaynight at 7:00 p.m. at Our Ladyof the Way School in Stratton.We will have updates from ourcommodity groups and sharesome of the changes for theCattle Sales this year. GarySliworsky will have a few up-dates from OMAFRA andBarry Potter always has an ex-citing topic. Jason Reid fromThunder Bay – will give theBeef Farmers of Ontario up-date. It is always a great meet-ing and we enjoy hearing theopinions of our members.Please don’t stay at home justbecause you don’t want to siton the board – we understandthis and you are welcome tojust say “no!”

Get out and enjoy the niceweather this week!

Emo Health Centre X-Ray Services

Riverside Health Care(RHC) has completed its eval-uation and consultationprocess for X-Ray services atthe Emo Health Centre. Weappreciate the time and dedi-cation of those that sharedtheir perspectives with us.

Our Management Team,Board of Directors, and theMedical Advisory Committeerecognize that our health care

resources need to provide thebroadest range of services tothe residents of the RainyRiver District.

Emo residents requiring X-Ray services will be directedto LaVerendrye General Hos-pital where district services arealso provided for ultrasound,mammography, CT, echo-car-diograms, general surgery,emergency care, obstetrics, in-

termediate care, specialist careand chemotherapy. The NorthWest Local Health IntegrationNetwork has been informed ofthis change.

RHC will continue to pro-vide exceptional and compas-sionate health care, inspired bythe people we serve, valued byour communities.

Handout for Honda?The Canadian Taxpayers

Federation (CTF) Federal Di-rector Aaron Wudrick releasedthe following statement in re-sponse to today’s joint Fed-eral-Ontario announcementregarding Honda:

“This egregious example ofcorporate welfare is a massive

waste of taxpayer dollars.Honda turned a global profit ofUS$2.8 billion in 2015. If theywant Canadians’ money, theycan earn it by selling theirproducts – rather than usingthe federal and Ontario gov-ernments as their pawns to pil-fer it from taxpayers.

The federal and Ontario gov-ernments are both runninglarge deficits and saddling fu-ture generations with billionsin debt, yet they can still find$83 million to hand over tocorporate executives? Power-ful special interests appear tobe calling the shots, whileeveryday taxpayers end upstuck with the bill.”

Contractors!Truckers!Farmers!

Carr’s RepairFolks, Get rid of those

unwanted winter Christmaslights on your dash. Carr's

Repair is pleased toannounce that they have

new OEM Diagnostic Soft-ware to service your bigrigs, one tons, and cars.

Make an appointment todayby calling

487-2548or see our website at:

www.carrsrepairvintageparts.comNo Sunday calls please

Page 4, The Westend Weekly, January 18, 2017

ColorsHAIR & MAKEUP

Danielle IvallStylist/Owner

217 Sixth St., Rainy RiverCall today and bookyour appointment

NEW NUMBER807-276-1020

Classified AdsClassified Advertising Rules: Personal classified ads are a free service. They run for 2 weeksand must be resubmitted if you wish them to run again. We charge for business classifiedsat $8.75 per inch per week. Please do not phone in free classifieds. We accept them only byfax, email, mail, or drop off. We have a mail box next to the office door if we’re closed. We ask thatyou try to make ads no longer than 25 words. We do not accept clothing unless it is an expensiveitem. Please don’t use this free service for lists of items. We will not accept items repeated everytwo weeks over long periods of time. Please print or type submissions. Real Estate ads are notfree. $10.00 included with the ad of 25 words or less pays for a 4 week run. Over 25words will be billed at our regular classified advertising rate of $8.75 per inch perweek. Billing address must be included with the ad or it will not run.General Newspaper submissions and letters to the editor: This is an independant publicationsolely owned and edited by Jacquie Dufresne. I will not accept any submissions which are slander-ous or intended to malign any person, business or organization. I won’t print any letters to the editorwhich are written to anyone other than the editor of this paper unless the editor is addressed. Sub-mission of articles originating in other publications will be accepted providing proof of authorizationis provided.

LIDKEAOptometry ServicesDr. Robert E. LidkeaDr. Bruce A. Lidkea

221 Scott Street Fort Frances, Ontario

(807) 274-6655

NORTHERN SPORTS & MACHINE

Randy Orton • 651 Cty Rd 1SW, Baudette

3/4 mile S. of Baudette Motel

(218)634-1089

ATVs & Snowmobiles• We service & repair all

makes & models• Complete Automotive &

Diesel Machine Shop• Complete line of Sled

Bed Trailers

Polaris ATVs may not be ridden by anyone under 16and all riders should take a safety course. For safetyand training information see your dealer or call Po-laris at 1-800-342-2764. ATVs can be hazardous to op-erate. For your safety always wear a helmet, eyeprotection, protective clothing and never carry passen-gers. ©1998 Polaris Industries Inc.

Your outdoor furnace dealer!

•Stoves•Parts•Accessories•Installation

Mallard Creek Mechanicalmallardcreek@tbaytel.net - Daryl Meck

691 Barwick Road, Phone 487-1395 or 1-807-271-2201

Your local H&L Motors rep

See us for your farmequipment needs!

McCormick, Landini,Hesston, Valtra, Kuhn,

MacDon and FarmKing

Check out the website:www.hlmotors.ca

The UPS Store®

Wide Format Printing• Banners & Posters• Blue Prints & Maps

• Photographstheupsstore.ca/369

274-5444

Tire chains for skidders,loaders etc., ring andstudded, good quality andprices, call 807-599-2835. 39

cute & cuddly 7 wk oldBorder Collie puppies,asking $30 ph. 487-2381.

37

Shovel snow splittingwood cleaning or whatever you may need donecall 271-2758 or 274-7499 37

Will do interior painting.Call 271-2758. 38

Meals On Wheels is cur-rently needing volun-teers! Can you spare ahalf an hour once in awhile? Please considersigning up to ensure thisvaluable service contin-ues. Call 274-2244 tosign up on a day or weekof your choosing. s

Eliminate high heatingbills. Reduce your carbonfootprint. EPA Qualified.Over 85% Efficient. Cen-tral Boiler E-ClassicOUTDOOR WOODFURNACE. Call Today,Emo Feed Service Ltd.,Canning Lane, Emo, ON,482-2017. 36

Jigs! Glow jigs & spin-ners, Disco jigs, othercoloured jigs, red/greenspinners, custom orders,ph. 852-3669. s

One brand new hatchimalfor sale best offer. Phoneor text 512-568-6411.37

4 Winter tires on rims.215/70R16 WestlakeFrost Extreme. Rims areoff Mazda tribute but willfit Ford products (5x114.3 bolt pattern) Likenew. Used less than amonth, asking $700 obo.call or text 276-5802. 37

Sierra Three Wheel Elec-tric Scooter Has a carry-ing basket,charger andnew batteries. $700Phone 807-274-6746.37

Seasoned ash mixed fire-wood, ready for pickup,$95/1/2 ton load, callBrett 487-1437. 37

As new Canon EOSRebel P31 600 cameraand all access. can beseen on Kijiji or call 274-5083 $300 firm, greatXmas gift. 37

2 burner Colemanpropane stove; like new2-1500 watt oil filledelectric heaters, 3 heatsettings; 4 stainless steelmeat hooks $50 ea. ph.274-7402. 38

FARM ANDOTHER HEAVY

EQUIPMENT

LIVESTOCK/PETSFOR SALE

TO GIVE AWAY

SERVICES WANTEDOR AVAILABLE

WE NEEDVOLUNTEERS

MISC. FOR SALE

up Fort Frances. 39

Cherry finished Com-putor desk $50.00; Elec-tric Fireplace Franklinstyle, $50.00; Woods up-right freezer 10cf,$125.00; Solid Woodchina cabinet. glass doorson top with storage in bot-tom. $250.00, Call 274-9308 for Details. 39

Dry firewood for sale.Poplar $80 Ash $100 atruck load delivered infort frances area. 274-5974. 39

Homemade, wooden,kitchen play set with mi-crowave, fridge and stovePh. 274-6639. 37

Brown rocker reclinerchair approx. 4 years oldin very good cond.$200.00 ph. 274-6676.37

Porcelain Backsplash tilefrom the Tile Store. New,never used. Ph. 274-6639.

37

Two Hockey/Soccer nets;Two High Bucket Seatswith bases for Vehicle;Black TV stand with glassdoors, ph. 274-6639. 37

Dining room table 5chairs upholstered in blueand a hutch for sale.Tableis 60x40 and comes withtwo leafs one is handmade other isfactory.Hutch is69x30.All wood ispecan..pick up in FF.Ask-ing $900 obo. Call 274-7152. 37

wanted to buy 1940 to1972 Chevrolet or GMChalf ton with title in re-storable condition. call274-8315. 37

wanted-love seat in goodcondition call 852-3659.40

Looking for parts for anolder (80's) Snowflightsnowblower - call 486-3755. 39

Wanted, bath tub lift.Phone 274-9902. 39

Used lap top, Windows 7with HDMI capability,phone 486-0074. 38

Used large type woodchipper, possibly with 3pt. hitch. Phone 486-0074. 38

Firearms in any condition,need not be complete orworking. Also interestedin parts, scopes andsights, ammunition, re-loading components orany firearm related items.Fair prices paid. 274-0472. s

HOUSE FOR SALE INEMO 5 year old bi-level.24'x40' upper level 2 bed-room 2 bath. Lower level2 bedroom 1 Bath, recroom, laundry room.Close to the arena.$314,000.00. Call 807-482-3271 or 807-275-6656. 42

Hunting cabin for sale 85acres, 20 cleared Cabinwired and insulated Great

REAL ESTATEFOR SALE OR

RENT & MOBILEHOMES

WANTED

quiet serene spot Ontario,old homestead with min-eral rights, asking$95,000, contact meCarol Wardman 514-755-1009 s

For sale Estate sale twobedroom house largegarage electric forced airfurnace with air condi-tioning hot tub in base-ment asking $155000.Address is 916 VictoriaAve. N Fort Frances Call276-3828 41

Best deal in Rainy Riverat 212 Fifth St., newlyrenovated home, 2 bed-rooms, full bath on 2ndfloor, den with half bathon main, could be 3rdbedroom, main floorlaundry. New windows,siding, flooring, kitchenand more. Walking dis-tance to riverfront park,school, hospital etc.$87,000, owner may con-sider financing with$15,000 down. Phone807-271-2468. 38

There will be a "Men'sBreakfast" at the EmoLegion Saturday Jan. 21st@ 8:00. Local Gideon'swill be sharing their ex-perience of a mission tripto Brazil with SharewordGlobal. Cost is $12:00per person, men and boysof all ages are welcome.For more information callLarry @ 807 482 3104.36

RRHS Chem Free GradCash Calendar Jan. 1-15th winners are:$250.00: Kyle Kuzyk;$100.00: GeorginaJarvis, Archie Wiersema,Rick Boersema, HarryRomyn; $30.00: WayneWhite, Hannah Carter,Judy Storey, Michelle

NOTICES

Mosbeck, Allison Forster,Crystal Stamler, Kimber-ley Chorney, MartyKreger, Jordan Hansen,Billy Copenace. 36

2009 Polaris 800 IQ. Mintcondition. 3181 K.M.High and low windshield,drawbar & hitch,wind de-flectors, tunnel bag, hel-met plug in. Push buttonreverse. $5500.00 807-274-7066. 37

2009 Polaris 800 IQ mintcondition, 3187 K.M. Fac-tory hot grips & thumbwarmer, PERC reverse,tunnel bag, hi & low wind-shields, Draw bar andhitch, cover, visor plug in,handlebar wind deflectors,1&1/2 jugs of synthetic in-jection oil. 274-7066 or271-3908. 40

1997 Chevy extended cab4x4 truck. V6 auto 197000km's ,runs well. Rust oncab corners. Being sold asis. Needs little for safetyother then bodywork.$1500 276-0627. 39

2001 Chev Impala,94,000km, Good Mechan-ical Cond. Needs minorbody repairs. Sold as is for$1000. Call 274-9308.39

2008 Dodge Grand Cara-van. Stow and go seats,flex fuel, 3.3 L. New bat-tery. New front tires. Welllooked after. One owner.183,400 km. $6500.00OBO. call. 807-482-3271or 807-275-6656. 40

PLANES, BIKES& OTHERVEHICLES

RECREATIONALITEMS

Leather studded 3 pouchmotor cycle windshieldaccess. holder ph. 274-7402. 38

Like new ESP-LTDXtone, hand craftedmaple elec. accoustichollow body guitar withcase, 1/2 price of newphone 274-7402. 38

3 fender flares $25 tailgate $20 box liner $30 fora 03 dodge Dakota clubcab truck. 16 tire on a rimcame off a 99 dodge car-avan $40 call 271-2758.37

box rails for a 8 foot box$40 splitting axe $25rewind for a 640 rotaxmotor $30 track for a1978 skidoo Olympicsnowmobile size 15"x122 $50 vintage kitchenchair $15 rewind for a299 rotax single cylindermotor $25 call 274-7499. 38

One pair of Algonquinwooden snowshoes ingood condition, $ 50.00274-7056. 40

HAY, lots of 5x5 roundbales ph. 487-1623. 39

As new, Cannon EOSrebel, t31, 600 cameraand all access. can beseen on Kijiji or call 274-5083, $300 firm. 39

HAY for sale, 5x5 balesph. 807-486-3516. 39

t bay tel rocket hub, $50274-9902. 40

Ice fishing Equipmentused one time MarcumLX5 dual beam multi-color; sonar $475 Klimbibs & parka $225 eachPh 274-6389. 37

For Sale: PORK 1/2 orwhole, Government in-spected. Ph. 274-1207.40

Feed Barley. Good forbeef cattle. 274-2111. 40

FIREWOOD 1/2 tonloads of split seasonedmixed ash & birch fire-wood, for pickup or de-livery ph. 487-2274. 39

ski for a skidoo Olympicsnowmobile $20 vintagetin suitcase $20 vintagewooden shoe valet box$20 . 7 golf clubs $20two coils for a 340 to 440rotax motor $20 call 274-7499 or 271-2758. 37

Yellow nylon car coversuitable for a 4 door com-pact car. $ 20.00; Blueheavy duty tarpaulin forcovering a 16 foot boat.$45.00 ph. 274-7056.39

British Lee-Enfield rifle,Bolt Action with clip,bore slightly pitted.$500.00. Buyer mustprovide a valid acquisi-tion certificate. phone274-7056. 39

4 snow tires on rims,used one season.P215/60R17. 5-stud boltpattern. Off a 2014Chevy Impala. $500.00for the set. 807-483-5347. 37

Twin mattress, bed springand metal frame withwheels. Sears O Pedicbrand. Good conditionand clean. Price $190Bob 807-276-1512. Pick

Need used parts? Call or stop at

NORTH AUTOon the highway, west of Fort Frances 274-7243

NORTH AUTO for used parts!North Auto is your local recycler for used parts.

We can also find new after market parts at reasonable prices.

We are now scrapping for parts the following vehicles:2004 GMC Sierra 2500 2008 VW Rabbit 2013 Dodge Caravan

2005 Jeep Liberty 2008 Dodge Avenger 2013 Chevy Cruze2005 Chevy Colorado 2012 Nissan Versa 2014 Jeep Wrangler

2007 Ford F150 2011 Chevy Silverado 1500 2013 Mazda 3

emphillHeatingVance Hemphill

Natural Gas & Propane Appliances

Sales, Services & InstallationProfessional Duct Cleaninghome, commercial & cottage

maintenance available

807-271-3516vhemphill@live.com

Lorelei Locker

OPTOMETRIST314 Scott Street, Fort Frances

274-0510

Alcoholics AnonymousRainy River AA

Please call for meeting time and locationPh. 1-807-276-1074

808 Scott St., Fort Franceswww.drcousineau.com

274-8551

DR. THOMAS COUSINEAU- O P T O M E T R I S T -

Rainy River DistrictWomen’s Shelter of Hope

If you are a woman who has experienced violence or abuse,

staff at the Atikokan Crisis Centreare available 24 hours a day to

listen and provide support to you.Call

1-800-465-3348

We’re here tocover

ALL YourSharpening

Needs!!“Get Ready for Winter!”

We can fix up your dull ice augerblades, chain saws as well as wood-cutting tools, scissors, knives, etc.

Drop off locations at:

Great Bear, Busch’s Auto and Tompkins

Hardware plus pickup and delivery on

large orders.

807-707-0750 or 807-481-9980pjmatt@bell.net

Carr's Repairis a fully licensed truck,car, and Heavy Equip-

ment Repair shop.

We also have a servicetruck to meet your re-

pairs and welding inthe field.

Located 2 miles east ofBarwick on HWY 11

Phone 487-2548or see our website at

www.carrsrepairvintageparts.com

Office Space for rentFort Frances (Old CN Station)

• Multiple offices• Available immediately• Affordable pricing• Central location• Free parking• Hall access included

Call 274-9555for more information

• Home Renovations

• New Construction• Lake Work

Windows ~ Doors ~ DecksDocks ~ Drywall ~ Kitchens

Baths and more!Call Randy 807-276-0263

Finding, within ourselves, the power to forgiveBy Peter Stockland

Visiting Atlanta's MartinLuther King Jr. Center forNonviolent Social Change, Ionce overheard a black boyask his mother: "Why werewhite people so bad to us?"

The question was neither sur-prising nor unreasonable. TheKing Center's detailing ofracism's history makes it aplace - Yad Vashem memorialto Holocaust victims inJerusalem is another - wherethose within the sufferinggroup will feel righteousanger, and those outside it willwant to crawl out of their skinto evade suggestions of com-plicity.

The answer from his mothertranscended reason to becomebeauty.

"Some were bad to us," shesaid gently. "But not everyone.A lot helped us. Some foughtfor us."

Her voice held the perfectharmony between justice andcharity. She spoke justice intelling her son the truth, whichwas his due. She was under noobligation to go further. Char-ity, in its fullest form, bade hertell the fuller story.

The same virtue permeatesHidden Figures, a quiet moviereleased, fittingly, on Christ-mas Day and which has sur-prised by rivaling the latestStar Wars at the box office. It'sthe story of real-life star warsbetween the United States andRussia to launch mannedspace flight 55 years ago. Itdetails the lives of three blackwomen whose mathematicalgenius got John Glenn intoorbit and made the first moonlanding possible. Its beauty isit treats with unflinching jus-tice, yet authentic charity, the

appalling racism KatherineJohnson, Dorothy Vaughanand Mary Jackson sufferedwhile working for NASA inthe early 1960s, yet whichthey were able to overcomethrough unwavering faith.

Their faith is not merely intheir own abilities, thoughthey know how gifted they are.At age eight, Johnson wasidentified as a math prodigyand, in the heart of the segre-gated south, accepted at anelite school. Jackson fought incourt to be allowed to takenight school courses thathelped her become NASA'sfirst black woman engineer.Vaughan, we're told, wrote thecode for the space agency's in-augural IBM computer.

The three spend much ofHidden Figures in a basementroom crowded with other"coloured" female mathemati-cians. They are forbidden fromworking with their whitecounterparts. They are humanfigures hidden from the whitegaze pervading NASA. Evenwhen Johnson is brought up towork with whites, she mustrun a half-mile to use the"coloured" bathroom - in1961.

The faith at the heart of Hid-den Figures, however, is verymuch a gift of the blackchurch, of the Christianitytaught to and made infinitelyricher by black slaves and theirdescendants, of the Christianstruggle to inform justice withcharity that moved MartinLuther King Jr. to sacrifice hislife for non-violent socialchange.

Change - the pressing needfor it, the daily agonies of ob-taining it - is central to film.It's a centre that splits, how-

ever, on whether widespreadcivil change catalyzes individ-ual change or whether per-sonal conversion necessarilyprecedes the broadly political.Critics have faulted HiddenFigures for agreeing tooquickly with the latter, disre-garding the essential role ofthe civil rights movement.

But such criticism disregardsthe power of the quiet mo-ment, one that passes almostlike an eavesdropped conver-sation, when Vaughan's boss, awhite woman who viciouslyhumiliates and denies her un-derlings proper recognition,insists she truly has nothingagainst "coloured" people.

"I truly believe you believethat," Dorothy answers softlyand with the firmness of onetelling the truth in charity.

The language of belief, thejuxtaposition of true versusdistorted belief, shifts our per-ception of the conduct of thefemale boss, and the otherwhites in Hidden Figures, be-yond the skin-crawling con-structs of racist ideology. Itmoves us past the cringe-in-ducing patterns of institutionalpower politics. It opens us tothe human capacity to hear, toimitate and to repeat thewords: "Forgive them, for theyknow not what they do."

It doesn't deny the violentwrongs of those dehumanizingconstructs and patterns. But itfigures in, as an act of charity,the confusion, ignorance andblindness hidden in all humanhearts. It illuminates the pathof justice through faith in love.

Peter Stockland is seniorwriter with Cardus, and pub-lisher of www.Convivium.ca.

You can’t remember a thingthese days.

Whatchamacallit’s namedoesn’t come quite as easilyanymore. You can’t recall thetitle of that movie you used tolove. Thingamabobs are neverwhere you put them last, yourglasses are on top of your headand, as in the new novella,“And Every Morning the WayHome Gets Longer andLonger” by Fredrik Backman,your storage square shrinks.

Noah didn’t know where hewas, exactly.

Grandpa didn’t give him amap or compass. That was al-ways part of the game:Grandpa would take Noahsomewhere and Noah wouldfigure out how to get themhome. But this time, Grandpaforgot and now they were sit-ting in a round town square, ona bench, surrounded by things

that looked faintly familiar tothe boy.

The old man didn’t know forsure why his forehead wasbleeding, and he didn’t thinkNoah should be sitting next tohim on the bench. Everythinghad gotten smaller, veryquickly. It all seemed strange,until he saw the sixteen-year-old beauty he’d fallen for, fiftyyears before. He held her handagain, wondering why she leftand whether math could provethat he’d meet her in Heaven,just as he’d hoped.

And there they sat, boy andman, side by side in a roundtown square that smelled of hy-acinths – the kind that Noah’sGrandma used to grow. Noahhated seeing Grandpa so sad,but he knew everything wouldbe alright; he’d yelled for hisDad when Grandpa fell. In themeantime, he started anothergame, to distract Grandpa fromthe confusion.

Ted told his father not to takeNoah on that rickety old boat,but nobody could ever tell hisdad anything; his whole child-hood, Ted tried to explain howmuch words meant but his fa-ther insisted that math wasmore important. Ted supposedit was fitting that Noah lovednumbers. The old man alwaysgot his way.

And things kept getting

smaller. Soon, they’d be gone,fluttered and cluttered insidehis brain but Grandpa wantedto keep Noah from disappear-ing. To keep him for last. For-ever.

Oh, how Grandpa hatedgoodbyes…

Two words for you: Bring.Tissues. Bring a carton of them.That might be enough whenyou’re reading “And EveryMorning the Way Home GetsLonger and Longer.”

And yet, here’s the thing: thisbook isn’t going to make anysense for you the first time,maybe not even the second butyou’ll cry just the same. It’s solightly nuanced, so subtly toldin wispy bits of memory that itfeels too dream-like to makesense. It’s not clear at firstwho’s even who here, but whenyou’ve finished this book anddried your tears, give it anothergo. Author Fredrik Backmanhas another phenomenal storyfor you – you just have to let itsink in.

At under 100 pages, this bookwon’t take long to finish, and itwon’t take long to want toshare. “And Every Morning theWay Home Gets Longer andLonger” is a thing you’ll re-member.

c.2016, Atria Books$18.00 / higher in Canada76 pages

The Bookworm Sez by Terri Schlichenmeyer

“And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer” by Fredrik Backman

Page 5, The Westend Weekly, January 18, 2017

WEST END MOTORS(807) 274-7751 • 1-800-465-7763

www.westendmotors.ca email: westendmotors@jam21.net“Proudly serving the district for over 70 years”

Many Previously Driven Vehiclesin-stock to choose from!

No Gimmicks, Just Great Pricing!!

LOW RATEFINANCING AVAILABLE o.a.c.

Great pricing on previously driven Minivansand far more seating than a Viper!

2016 Dodge Grand Caravan CVP 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT30th Anniversary

Loaded, 7 passenger, rear stow-n-go, low km, stk#161481 Loaded, 7 passenger stow-n-go seating, rear heat and a/c, alloy wheels, second row power win-dows, power drivers seat, stk#162231

2013 Dodge Grand Caravan CVP

2012 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT

2012 Dodge Grand Caravan Crew Plus

2011 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT

2010 Chrysler Town & Country Limited

2010 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT

Loaded, 7 passenger, rear stow-n-go, stk#161211 Loaded, 7 passenger, stow-n-go seating, rear heat and a/c,stk#170151

Loaded, 7 passenger, stow-n-go seating, leather power heatedseats, power sliding doors, power liftgate, remote start, dual dvd

entertainment system, Uconnect touchscreen stereo, backupcamera, GPS Navigation, stk#161981

Loaded, 7 passenger, stow-n-go seating, rear heat and a/c, dvdentertainment system, Uconnect touchscreen stereo, backup

camera, stk#141051

Loaded, 7 passenter, stow-n-go seating, leather power heatedseats, memory drivers seat, Uconnect touchscreen stereo, GPSnavigation, backup camera, power sliding doors, power liftgate,

dual dvde entertainment system, remote start, stk#162671

Loaded, 7 passenger, stow-n-go seating, rear heat and a/c,power sliding doors, power liftgate, remote start, stk#162131

*taxes and license extra

Now Only $19,970* Now Only $22,970*

Now Only $15,970* Now Only $13,970* Now Only $13,970*

Now Only $14,970* Now Only $15,970* Now Only $13,970*

Beautiful crossbills highlight ofRainy River bird count

by Michael Dawber, CEORainy River Public Library

A flock of beautiful White-winged Crossbills were thestar attraction on the RainyRiver Library’s ChristmasBird Count.

Eight volunteers helpedcount the birds on December17.

It was a tough slog. The mer-cury barely nudged above -25degrees Celsius!

The count covered a 24-kilo-metre circle stretching from

Rainy River up to Storkson’sCorner.

This year’s count was thesecond included in the officialChristmas Bird Count pro-gram run by the Audubon So-ciety and Bird Studies Canada.

The final tally was 23 speciesand 449 individual birds.

The White-winged Crossbilland its relative, the Red Cross-bill, are nomads of the BorealForest. The Crossbills arenamed because their billscriss-cross at the end. The

birds slide these remarkablebills sideways to pry openpinecones. The birds can theneat the seeds hidden inside thecones. Crossbill numberschange a lot. Some years, thereare large flocks, while otheryears there may be none.

The final tally for the Countwas:

American Crow 71Bald Eagle 3Black-billed Magpie 3Black-capped Chickadee 45Blue Jay 16Boreal Chickadee 2Canada Goose 1Common Raven 197Common Repoll 12Downy Woodpecker 3European Starling 20Hairy Woodpecker 6House Sparrow 1Northern Shrike 1Pileated Woodpecker 1Pine Grosbeak 16Purple Finch 5Red-bellied Woodpecker 1Rock Pigeon 4Sharp-tailed Grouse 18Snow Bunting 11White-breasted Nuthatch 6White-winged Crossbill 6This is the 117th year for the

Audubon Christmas BirdCount program. Thousands ofvolunteers around the worldhelp count the birds betweenDecember 14 and January 5.

The Library would like tothank everyone who partici-pated in the Rainy RiverCount!

A colorful White-winged Crossbill seen north of Gamelandon the Rainy River Christmas Bird Count December 17.

Photo by Michael Dawber.

For a couple of years in theearly ‘70s personal financesdictated that I should have twojobs, so I delivered propanepart-time. My main job usedup 37.5 hours per week of mytime – the “part-time” oftenexceeded 60 hours per week.The driving was simple – asingle axle with two-speed – itwas staying awake that wasdifficult. During that time, On-tario brought in class licencingand I was “grandfathered” re-ceiving a class distinctionwhich I had not earned and didnot deserve.

In 1979 I hit the Peace Riveroil patch and drove a bulk ce-ment truck, sometimes pullinga pintle-hitched wagon (hencethe 40 acre reference.) I hungin for six weeks before foldingmy air seat, having come closeto upsetting the truck andsome people.

It came to pass that in 1981 Iwas living in Winnipeg andneed a vehicle upgrade. Mybrother in Alberta had boughta new car. The dealership of-fered him zilch on his seven-year-old high-miler butrust-free station wagon and hedecided to give it to me insteadof to them.

My old friend Alan Don-nelly, who had prospectedwith me at Flin Flon ten yearsago was now a long-haultrucker. I called him up and

got a free ride to Edmonton. We overnighted at North

Battleford and because we had20 years of BS saved, and be-cause we were both faithfulfollowers of Canadian culturehabits, we partied up, return-ing to the rig in the wee hours.Alan slept in the bunk – I gotthe doghouse.

Morning came far too early.I crawled out into a mistydawn, yawned, scratchedsome itchy parts and Alanstuck his arm through the bunkcurtain holding the keys.“Your turn to drive,” he said.

Talk about stress! With adeath grip on the steeringwheel I somehow made it outof the truck stop without inci-dent and hit the road west –450 Caterpillar horses, 18speeds and a “B” train load ofdrywall to deal with. To add to

my enjoyment, that part of theYellowhead had 20-foot pave-ment back then, and I used itall.

In downtown Lloydminster,I stopped at a red light. Mylight turned green, a pretty girlin her own pretty 18-wheelerstopped at her red light andflashed me a pretty smile. Mr.Cool-hand Long-haul Truckerreturned the smile and stalledhis Western Star in the middleof the intersection! The smileygirl was now laughing, Alanpried my fingers from thewheel and I sulked the rest ofthe way to Edmonton.

Eight years later I was theworld’s worst waiter at ourrestaurant in Mine Centre, On-tario. M.L. Judson had a sandtruck on the Turtle River Roadand I thought I might take acrack at it, figuring I couldmake a decent dollar while mywife paid a smaller wage tosomeone who would handlemy restaurant duties far betterthan I.

So I had a chat with M.L.who thought maybe he’d tryme but I gave him a heads up.“I’m not much of a truckdriver,” said I.

“Well, then,” replied M.L,“You’ll fit right in.”

We both laughed like crazy,and right then and there I de-cided it was time to turn in mysteering ticket.

From the mind of Bob Durnin, co-author of the “I Call Myself a Prospector” books availableat amazon.com

Give me 40 acres and I’llturn this rig around

Page 6, The Westend Weekly, January 18, 2017

January 30th - February 3rd, 201777

Schools of Hope Nurturing the spirit of faith and learning! Rick Boisvert, Director of Education David Sharp, Board Chair

Offering Kindergarten Registration in English and French Immersion

To be eligible to register; students must meet the following requirements.

� Year 1—attain the age of 4 years before December 31, 2017

� Year 2—attain the age of 5 years before December 31, 2017

Please bring proof of age in the form of a birth or baptismal certificate at the time of registration.

French Immersion registration will be available for students registering in Year 1 Kindergarten at

St. Michael’s School only.

A Registration Lunch will be held on Wednesday, February 1st at Our Lady of the Way School and Thursday, February 2nd, at St. Michael’s school.

We welcome all new families and look forward to collaborating with you as partners in the education

and development of your child.

Check out our school’s Facebook page for more events and activities. www.facebook.com/St-

Michaels-School-170835280042379/

www.facebook.com/ourladyofthewayschool

St. Michael’s School 820 Fifth Street East

Fort Frances, ON 807-274-9232

Mrs. Kim Anderson, Principal http://stmichaels.tncdsb.on.ca

Our Lady of the Way School Boucherville Road

Stratton, ON 807-483-5477

Ms. Colette Fafard, Acting VP http://olow.tncdsb.on.ca/

A new look and name for Chapple Fire and Emergency Service

by Melissa FriesenChapple's fire fighting team

is working on changing theirname from Chapple Fire De-partment to Chapple Fire andEmergency Service. And withthat come a few other changes.A brand new 2017 fire truck isone of them.

I spoke with Chapple's FireChief Joshua Colling (alsoChief of Emo and La Vallee'sdepartments) to get an ideaabout all the improvementsand upgrades taking place.Along with the fire truck,they've purchased a usedpickup truck and the most upto date personal protectiveequipment for all their fire-fighters. It took about a yearof budget planning and re-search to find and acquire theright purchases for the fire de-partment's needs.

The new firetruck is a 2017Freightliner pumper/tanker. Ithas a 2500 gallon tank, with a500 gallon permanent pump,as well as a 500 gallonportable pump that can bepulled off the truck. It's a crewcab which seats five, and ithas some other neat features.It's enabled with somethingcalled "pump and roll," whichallows the truck to continuepumping while moving at 10kilometres per hour. "It's ex-cellent for brush and fuel fires.A lot of trucks have to be sta-tionary to pump, but this truckhas the advantage of alwaysbeing able to move," saidJoshua. "It's great for rural mu-nicipalities where you havefew resources," and it's a firstfor the Chapple Township, andperhaps the district. "Therearen't a lot of them in the dis-trict, if any." Furthermore, sev-eral additional safety featureswere added to the truck suchas an automatic loader for theportable pump. "What we didwas take the capacity of threesmaller trucks and combinethem into one."

In keeping with that theme,one of the other purchaseswas a 2005 GMC pickup truckfor Chapple's North Fire Hall.It's equipped with new andused Wildland FirefightingEquipment. "It actually workspretty good for us. Althoughwe've upgraded equipment,one of our biggest savings isgoing from five to three firetrucks over the last couple ofyears." The hope is that the de-partment will continue to savemoney by focusing on qualityresources over quantity. Inturn, they hope to reducemaintenance and safety costs,as part of a plan to keep taxdollars working as effectivelyas possible. There were plentyof sets of up-to-date personalprotective equipment pur-chased for the firefighters aswell. "A lot of our bunkergear was not serviceable, buteveryone now has currentPPE; their gear, their gloves,everything is current," saysJoshua.

So how much of the work isactually about fighting fires?Chapple Township had sevenbrush and grass fires this lastyear, along with other types offires, which is part of a de-clining trend. "That's a really

good year for us, and that's thekind of thing we want to see.We don't want these numbersto be going up at all, becauseif they are, that's a sign that ourpublic education plans aren'tworking." That, Joshua says, isthe number one priority. "Themost prominent thing we seeare false alarms or generalalarms, and a few motor vehic-ular collisions, or other haz-ardous calls. Thankfully,house fires are few and far be-tween."

In fact, the role of firefightersmay be quite different than thepublic perception of them,which is why the name changeis so important. They are a fireservice, but also deal with avariety of other emergencies."It's more encompassing ofwhat firefighters actually donow. It's a modernization ofthe role." Beyond the varietyof their work, their main goalis to train the public about firesafety. "People think firefight-ers fight fires, but most ofwhat they do is spending theirtime at schools, educating thepublic, going to events, pro-viding fire extinguisher train-ing. Public education andprevention are number one

and two for a fire department."So even though the prospect ofusing the fancy new truck isexciting, Joshua hopes theynever have to. "The last thingwe want to do is emergencyresponse. When the first twofail, that's what we do."

Just as the firefighters mustadapt their equipment and pro-cedures, the public must beprepared to change their ownpractices when it comes to firesafety. Chapple Townshipalso has a new open air burn-ing by-law that was justpassed. "It's much longer thanthe one previous," warnsJoshua, but only that's becauseit includes a lot more userfriendly information abouthow to safely burn. The by-law will be up on Chapple'swebsite soon, but for anyoneinterested there are copiesavailable for pick up at theMunicipal office. The Chap-ple Fire and Emergency Serv-ice hopes to have a open housefor the community before theend of winter.

For anyone interested in firesafety and fire fighting, theyare welcome to see what beinga "paid on call" firefighter isall about. Practices happen

twice a month, while specialtyteams or joint station trainingand practices, such as HazMattraining, require additionalmeetings. Furthermore, everyfirefighter is required to put indrive time behind the wheel ofthe apparatus, and be signedoff for competency before en-tering the service. A typicalevening practice in the wintermight be a practical runthrough and training of differ-ent tactics to fight fires. Thegroup would run through vari-ous scenarios involving differ-ent types of fires, or otheremergency situations, to deter-mine the best actions and pos-sible safety concerns. This pastweekend however, in additionto practices, firefighters inChapple spent severalevenings as well as a full dayon Saturday training on thenew truck to learn the specificsof its capabilities.

While Joshua is responsiblefor providing the training, hemakes a point to seek out ex-pertise within the group of fire-fighters. "You pull a lot ofskills from your volunteers. Ifwe're doing training on a recip-rocating saw, for example, I'm

going to get input on the train-ing from the carpenters. That'sthe nice part about having oncall firefighters. You get somany different types of knowl-edge and skills within yourgroup." Within his four fire sta-tions, he works alongsidewelders, mechanics, propanetechnicians, carpenters, truckand coach mechanics, smallengine mechanics, farmers, and

people who work at Tompkins. The groups of firefighters in-

volved are dedicated, butthey're not always able to an-swer every call for assistance.More people means more avail-ability. "We're always lookingfor more people to come outand join us," Joshua says.Specifically, there are 8 open-ing for recruitments in Chap-ple.

The truck is parked outside of Chapple's South Hall where it will stay when not in service.

Left to Right: Jonathan Steiner, Galen Brubacher, Donald Martin, Allan Elias, LaverneMartin (Captain/Training officer), Rod Cupp, Paul Eberly (Captain), Abram Eberly (Sta-tion Chief), Joshua Colling (Fire Chief) stand proudly in front of their new truck along withBrent Scherza, a representative from Fort Garry Fire Trucks. Missing from this photo wereMike Gallagher, Ashley Siemens, Adam Degrechie, Dave McKelvie, and Matt Loughrey(Captain/Alt. CEMC).

The new name "Chapple Fire and Emergency Service" isdisplayed on the new truck in bold letters.

The UPS Store®

Business Printing• Cheques

• Forms• Stationery

theupsstore.ca/369274-5444