EMC News – The Carleton Place and District Memorial Hospital (CPDMH) Foundation has received a gift of $160 from Ana and Dean Antonakos. The sister and brother team, with the help of their parents, Louis and Melanie Antonakos, operated a lemonade stand during the Bridge Street Bazaar and decided to donate the proceed of their sales to the Foundation.

Ana and Dean Antonakos know firsthand what the saying, ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,’ means. The siblings however, took it even a notch higher.

The brother and sister duo, along with some help from their parents, Louis and Melanie Antonakos, opened up a lemonade stand during the Bridge Street Bazaar, where they earned quite a bit of money—$160 in fact.

But instead of buying something with their earnings, the siblings opted instead to donate the $160 to the Carleton Place and District Memorial Hospital Foundation.

According to Ana Antonakos, when their grandfather Papou was confined at the hospital for lengthy period of time, every at CPDMH took great care of him. She and her brother though it would be a great idea to donate their earnings at the bazaar as a way of thanking the hospital’s staff for their superb services.

She adds that coming up with the $160 amount wasn’t as tough as they had originally thought—in fact the folks at the bazaar were very friendly.

CPDMH CEO Toni Surko was happy to express the hospital’s gratitude at the touching gesture of the brother and sister team. He adds that the Antonakos family’s generosity is a fine example of community spirit.

With election day just around the corner, the race for the Mayor’s seat here in Carleton Place is heating up, and things got even hotter and spicier over the weekend.

The two candidates running for mayor, challenger Wendy LeBlanc and incumbent Mayor Paul Dulmage, participated in an all chili battle royale on Saturday, the 11^th of September, at the Carleton Place Farmer’s Market’s chili contest.

While the Carleton Place’s mayoralty race has been pretty friendly so far, it was obvious that things at the contest turned up a notch higher, mainly because of the spicy food served courtesy of Tijuana Tilly’s Mexican restaurant.

Earlier this month, Dulmage announced his plans to run for a third term 24 hours before the closing of nominations, this after receiving the blessings of his family and close friends. The incumbent mayor looks to continue his vision of growth and progress for the community.

Opponent Councillor Wendy LeBlanc on the other hand, formally kicked off her campaign for mayor on the 24^th of June.

Though the candidates certainly made their delicious choices of chili known, Carleton Place’s voters will have to wait until the 25^th of October to vote for who they want as mayor.

With the resounding success of the first phase of the Carleton Place-Comrie ‘Sister Cities Student Exchange,’ the contingent from Carleton Place is gearing up to play host to their Scottish counterparts when they come on over for a two-week stay next month.

Three female students from Carleton Place High School (CPHS), together with six female students from Notre Dame Catholic High School, were selected to be part of a contingent that got to enjoy a 10-day tour of Scotland. The students visited the country from the 20^th to the 30^th of August, and were joined by 5 adult members and guardians who made up the Carleton Place Sister City Committee.

These were committee chairman Jeff Maguire and his wife, councilor Wendy LeBlanc and husband Frank, and Debbie Burn. Together, these adults were in charge of being chaperones throughout the students’ Scotland visit.

The contingent had the opportunity to visit Comrie, a quaint village in the highlands of Scotlands, also recognized as Carleton Place’s twin community since 1992. The link between the two communities was made official in simultaneous ceremonies held in July 2007.

With the success of the trip, plans of sending another contingent for the 20^th anniversary of the “twins” in 2012 are already shaping up.

Ontario’s finest were pretty busy last Friday, but they weren’t chasing criminals. Instead, they were on a merry chase in Carleton Place, tracking down a black bear cub, and successfully sedating it thanks to the officers from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

The chase first began at 11 in the morning on that fateful day, on the streets situated near the northern bank of the Mississippi, and finally ending in an old neighborhood on the south side of town. The bear cub climbed up a tree in the residential area, allowing policemen to corner the animal and keep an eye on it while waiting for personnel from the MNR to arrive on the scene. According to Carleton Place Police Constable Sean Trahan, the incident finally ended on a relieving note at around mid-afternoon.

While the cub was hiding up the tree, residents in the area couldn’t help but be curious, but policemen were quick to warn them to stay inside their homes. Children were also advised to stay in school and keep away from the area.

When a wildlife officer finally shot the bear cub with a tranquilizer dart, it seemed like ages before the drugs took effect – at least that’s what some eyewitness report.

The bear then tumbled into a tarpaulin and was safely released back into the wilderness.

A young girl from Carleton Place, Eastern Ontario recently received a bravery award along with 47 other people. Kelsea Roy saved her mother’s life when she was still 8 years old. Her mother fell through the ice into the freezing water while she was having a winter getaway with her daughter, Kelsea. She yelled at Kelsea emphatically, telling her to leave, fearing that she might also fall into the water, but Kelsea instead slithered along the dangerously thin ice, pulled he mother out and saved her life.

Governor General Michaelle Jean was the one who gave Kelsea the bravery decoration last Thursday along with 47 other brave and heroic people — 3 of which were Regina men who yanked a woman out of a burning vehicle just seconds before it exploded.

The bravery awards are intended to recognize acts of selflessness and heroics that rescued lives and sometimes sacrificing the rescuers own. 46 of the awardees received Medals of Bravery whilst 1 U.S. Coast Guard officer received the Star of Courage.

Some of the awards were given to people who have already died. The recipients who attended the ceremony which was held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa were composed of police officers, electricians, elevator repairman, soldiers, volunteer firefighters, and even children.

Tom Bonhomme of Almonte, together with 5 other residents, has packed up his bags and left for to India on account of the Rotary Group Study Exchange Program.

The Rotary team is composed of Kemptvilles’ Anna Van Adrichem-Rochon as leader, Kingston’s Marie-Claude Vallee, and Jessica Brown and Lianne Kay of Ottawa. They left on January 29 in order to arrive at New Delhi on January 30. Their itinerary officially began on February 1. This trip, which will last for four weeks, is for the group to experience India’s customs and culture, discuss ideas and build personal and professional relationships, and see the landmarks. The group members shall meet with the Indians who took part of a Group Study Exchange Program last fall in Kemptville.

According to Van Adrichem-Rochon, the essential features of a GSE is for the visiting group to meet, talk, and dwell with the Rotarians and their respective families in the spirit of hospitality and friendship. She said that their team will act as the ambassadors of goodwill.

Van Andrichem-Rochon is the only Rotarian of the team. The others are not Rotary members, but only sponsored by the clubs in their respective districts. Bonhomme is sponsored by the Carleton Place and District Rotary Club. Nevertheless, the airline tickets are covered by the Rotary Foundation.

For more information, the team’s blog can be visited at http://gseindia2010.blogspot.com . The blog shall be updated throughout the extent of their trip.

The councillors of Carleton Place are so determined to provide the town a local post-secondary education that they are willing to put their own money to fund it. The town concurred on January 26 that it will donate $10,000 in 5 years to Algonquin College’s expansion of its campus in Perth. In the last days of January, representatives from the college came to the Town of Carleton Place looking for financial support for its expansion project.

MP Scott Reid and Jim Watson last year announced that they will contribute to the project under the Knowledge Infrastructure Program.

The estimated cost of the project is $10 million. $4.8 million of which will be from the provincial government, and $4.2 million will be from the federal government. Algonquin College is now processing the remaining $1 million.

Situated at Craig Street in Perth, A new edifice is being constructed on a 12 acre property where the existing building is located. According to statistics, Algonquin College has 13 students from Carleton Place out of its 250 students. 4 staff members are also from Carleton Place.

In order to raise the $1 million, the college’s representatives are soliciting from municipalities whom they feel would benefit greatly from having the campus nearby. They hope that each town would contribute $10,000.

Carleton Place Mayor Paul Dulmage contributed an additional $10,000 from his own pocket on top of the town’s contribution. He believes that education is any community’s foundation.

Members of the Carleton Place legion are planning to renovate a local monument. The President of the Legion Branch 192, Ian Davidson, said that, through the Department of Veteran Affairs, they are appealing for the finance of the Cenotaph Restoration Program.

According to Davidson, the application process started midway through summer, and, the Royal Canadian Legion’s Provincial Vice Chairman, Ron Goebel, discussed the possibility of the monuments reconditioning.

The process would start by cleaning up the monument from years and years of vandalism. Landscaping made molds and mildew form at the base of the monument. To prevent the shrubs from overtaking the Cenotaph, the town has already removed the plants that are growing too close to it.

According to Davidson, the Legion also plans to replace the cenotaph’s walkway with gray paving stones that extend beyond the flag poles in order to make the poles part of the monument. They hope that the gray bricks would improve the monument’s appearance, giving it a more impressive look. By extending the stones, people can also be more visible from the street.

The application for the funding has already been completed by the Legion. They have also already received financial and verbal support from the town, but the Legion has to wait until March for the Veteran Affairs’ decision over the matter.

The Smith Falls Bears might have won the first game last weekend, but the Canadians were able to avenge that defeat in their subsequent game at Carleton Place, splitting the back-to-back face off against the Bears.

In the second game with the Bears last Sunday, the first goal was scored by Ryan Lowe from Carleton Place in the first period, but Eric Carlson from the bears quickly answered with a short-handed goal, evening the game 1-1.

Before the period ended, the Canadians reclaimed the lead when Donovan Gardiner scored a power play goal.

After that goal, the Bears almost made another equalizer, but their breakaway was disrupted by Carleton Place when Smith Falls Greg Magalhaes was pulled down. A penalty shot was given to Smith Falls, but Magalhaes failed to score against the Canadians Goalie, Scott Shackell.

In the second period, both teams were able to score against one another with powerplay goals. The first one was by Carleton Place. Rusty Hafner patiently waited for the encumbering crowd in front of the net to clear before shooting the goal. Four minutes later, Smith Falls Olivier Charette scored thanks to the assists by Trevor Packard and Matt Burns.

Both teams failed to score in the third period. In the fourth, the Bears had to pull their goalie in the last minute attempting to tie the game. They failed, giving the game to Carleton Place. The Bears were outshoot 34-28.

A nasty fire in Mississipi Mills has exemplified the advantages of having a fire detector at home. Last January 27, Wednesday, John Willard of Almonte called the fire department regarding a fire on his own home. Williard’s home is situated at a small island at Carleton Street near the Textile Museum of Mississippi Valley; the fire was able to inflict massive damage to it. Although the house is still standing, according to Fire Chief Art Brown, he doesn’t know if much can be saved from it. He said that the fire was quite stubborn to control in the large house.

John Willard and his son were staying on the basement when the sound of the smoke detectors caught their attention and prompted them to go upstairs. When Willard’s son saw the house getting filled with smoke, the two immediately abandoned it.

Art Brown said that if it weren’t for the smoke detectors, Willard and his son would have been dead.

The fire department had a difficult time getting near the house because it was located at an island which is only accessible by a narrow bridge. It took them until 6 am in the morning to douse the flames with the help of the fire departments from Beckwith, Pakenham, and Carleton Place.

The cause of the fire is still unknown at this point.