Joel Plaskett

CAPTION: Joel Plaskett rocked the crowd at the Harbourfront Concert series Saturday night at Credit Union Place.

Evangeline Grad

CAPTION: From left, Gilles Arsenault, Principal, Krista Gallant, Governor General winner, Sarah Martel, class validictorian and Jeannita Bernard, guest speaker and school graduate in 1969, in the hallway Sunday night for the École Évangéline 2011 graduation.

Highland Gathering in Summerside

CAPTION: The Dartmouth and District grade three pipe band come out onto the field with drummers twirling their sticks Sunday at the Highland Gathering in Summerside at the College of Piping. 

Olde Carnival

CAPTION: Daena Brooks, left, Erika Brooks, centre and Maggie Livingstone, right, all try their hand at the Wishing Well fishing game at the Wyatt Heritage Properties’ Olde Fashioned Carnival Friday in Lefurgey Cultural Centre Friday afternoon.

Bruins Party in the Streets

Ben Cooke holds the cup over his head in celebration at the Bruins parade in Summerside on Saturday.

By Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

The streets of Summerside were coloured black, gold and silver on Saturday as Boston Bruins fans took to the streets to celebrate the Stanley Cup victory as National Hockey League champions.

Dozens of fans in jerseys ranging from former Bruins great Bobby Orr to current captain Zdeno Chara met at the harbourfront celebrating with each other, showing off cars sporting Bruins memorabilia.

At about 4 p.m., Roger Ahern, the event’s organizer, led the crowd of Bruins fans down Granville street to the Maid Marian’s restaurant.

The die-hard Bruins fans were treated to a rendition of the Dropkick Murphy’s song “Shipping up to Boston” with the lyrics “Bring the Cup Home to Boston” instead, while the play-by-play of some of the Bruins’ goals could be heard in the background.

Adam MacQuaid, defenseman for the Boston Bruins and a Prince Edward Island native, was unable to make the parade but spoke to the fans via a phone call with Ahern

“Thank you so much for being Bruins fans,” said MacQuaid.

A Milan Lucic Winter-Classic jersey was then given away by Ahern.

Ahern said that after the idea came when the Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, in the Eastern Conference Final, and the Bruins went to the Stanley Cup final.

“I said, ‘If we got a chance to win the Stanley Cup, I’m organizing a parade,” he said. “A lot of us have been around for a real long time and can’t go to Boston so I said, ‘We’ll have our own here and it’ll be the same except we won’t have the real Stanley Cup.”

He said he had no idea that so many Bruins fans would show up.

“I’m really ecstatic, this is more than I thought,” he said. “I just thought it was a great way for all of us to get together to celebrate probably the neatest victory in a long time.”

Ahern said the emotions were so up and down throughout the playoffs but after a 39-year wait he was happy the Bruins won Lord Stanley’s mug.

“As a fan, it’s as high as it can get,” he said. “(During the game 7 victory) My grandson was with me, my son was with me, my wife was with me as they counted down we just hugged each other and just high-fiving and screaming.”

Chris Ahern, son of Roger, put the music together for the event. He said he was impressed with how well it went.

“Dad put a lot of work into it,” he said. “I’m just glad it all worked out okay. I mean we had a lot of people come out and the weather was great. It was really neat to drive up the street and see people out there supporting it.”

Chris said it was special for him to see everyone who participated come out.

“To be honest you never know what’s going to take place whether it would just be two cars, Dad in one and me in the other beeping the horn and everyone looking at us funny.”

SEGWAY TOUR

By Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Tour Guide Charmaine Comeau stands outside P.E.I. Segway tours moments before giving me a tour.

SUMMERISDE- It was cold as I stepped outside of the P.E.I. Segway Tours storefront after enjoying a safety video. Owner Greg Weeks and tour guide Charmaine Comeau escorted me to my ride, the Segway Personal Transporter assuring me that it was a safe experience. My nerves made it hard to believe them.

As I walked up to Elroy, the name of the Segway Person Transporter that I was going to share my first ride with, I grew more nervous, even after having a helmet properly secured to my head. Two adjacent wheels plus an uncoordinated man never usually equals a successful venture.

Comeau, my tour guide on my maiden voyage, stood in front of the biped device and grasped the two handlebars at the top of the slender pole connecting it to the platform, checked to make sure it was in beginner mode and then urged me to step on.
“Step onto the letters of Segway on the platform,” she instructed.

 I slowly stepped on, anticipating the impending fall I believed to be coming. It didn’t come.

As I balanced on the device a smiled cracked my face.

After some positive reinforcement from Comeau, it was time for my hands on training before the real tour began. Before they take you out and about, you have to be able to complete an obstacle course.

Comeau never let go of the handlebars, urging me to lean forward and to inch ahead, progressively letting each distance get further between her and I.

My first few attempts at movement were much like the movies depict, and sometimes reality, someone’s first car drive. There was a lot of starting and just as quickly stopping as my nerves tried to wear themselves out.

After at least two minutes of awkward movements, I was loosening up. I was able to begin moving back and forth, finally able to move.

It began to feel natural as I glided around corners and leaned back to stop.

After a few more laps Comeau and Weeks were assured I was ready to go. We began weave around the city’s boardwalk, Comeau stopping at landmarks and educating me on their history, such as the Eptek Centre, the old Railway Harbour, the Coast Guard station where a certain Prince and Princess will be and more.

The bumps and cracks we met along the way were easily navigated. When we reached the halfway point of our ride and I was feeling very confident, she took beginner mode off.

“I am a natural,” I thought.

As we arrived back at the lighthouse I came to a stop, safe and sound. After we discussed the pricing of a tour, which is $39 for half an hour and $69 for an hour, Comeau told me about her first time on the Segway PT.

“There’s a bit of nervousness of course, but that fades away very quickly within a minute or so and you’re just excited.”

With five Personal Transporters total, each with a different name, they take four people at a time and also plan on catering to business functions with team building exercises based around the PTs said Weeks.

“We would cater it to each (business). There are different obstacle courses or games that we do that, for small teams in a team based work environment, it encourages them to assist or rely on one another.”

From One Island to Another: From Elm Street with love

CAPTION:  Marlene Dorey, left, accepts a cheque from Brett Gallant, centre and Garrett Reid, right, on behalf of Elm Street Elementary School for the Red Cross to help in Japan on Thursday afternoon at Elm Street Elementary in Summerside.

Elm Street Elementary School donates cheque to Red Cross Japan effort

By Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Warren Burrell, grade six teacher at Elm Street elementary, lived in Yokohama, Japan where he taught for six and a half years, before moving here in January.

His wife, Asami Burrell, grew up there and her parents still lived there, about 800 kilometres from the area most devastated when the tsunami shook Japan, leaving it in the tragic circumstances that it still struggles with today.

“My parents in-law’s house shook pretty good during the earthquake.”

After news came of the predicament Japan was in, Burrell and his grade six class began organizing a donation drive for the whole school to participate in.

After months of selling candy grams, recycling bottles, collecting donations at a Summerside Western Capital’s game, collecting donations from businesses and from a bake sale held by Elizabeth Trenholm, they presented the donation to Marlene Dorey, Fund Development Association with the Red Cross, in the amount of $1610.

“It just warms my heart and I really feel our young people are our future and for them to work so hard to help people across the world is just absolutely inspiring,” said Dorey.

She said the she was surprised when she was told how much the school was able to donate.

“It’s overwhelming,” she said. “I think they have raised a significant amount. It takes your breath away to come here today and see the students, hear the thought they put into this presentation.”

Two students who worked on the project, Garrett Reid and Brett Gallant, said they were very proud of the effort the class put in.

“We just wanted to raise some money and help them out,” Reid said. “It feels good helping out everyone else.”

“It feels really good because we got to help people out on the other side of the planet that we didn’t know that were affected by this,” said Gallant.

During the ceremony a letter was read from Burrell’s father in-law, Yasunori Yamamoto, thanking the students for their efforts. Burrell said his father in-law was happy to hear about the initiative.

“He’s not totally surprised we were able to do this. He was surprised it was led by the kids,” said Burrell. “When he heard the amount of community involvement there was he was pretty emotional about and that reflected in his speech today.”

Burrell said he was impressed with the amount of support they recieved from businesses’ and the community.

“Overall I’m just extremely appreciative that everyone put their energies together to make this work.”

Burrell said he was very proud of his class and the school’s efforts.

“It was easy to get them on board, to buy in to what we needed and they were very interested in taking ownership and doing this themselves,” he said. “Someday this world is going to be there’s, so it’s better at a young age to get them to take on that responsibility.”

Island Star Athlete to meet Star Couple

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Heather Moyse was excited to learn that she will be meeting the Royal Newlyweds William and Kate in Dalvay during their visit on July 4^th.

As the Duke and Duchess complete their dragon boat race across the Dalvay lake on competing teams, they will be greeted at the end by the Island native and Olympic gold medalist Moyse who will present the winner with an award.

Moyse said she felt a wealth of emotions from being asked to participate.

“I feel excited, honoured and privileged. I think it’s going to be a really great experience.”

Though she was asked of her availability about four weeks ago, Moyse only officially found out Tuesday night that she would be taking part.

“Well officially I didn’t find out until (Tuesday) night, because my mom didn’t tell me until then,” she said. “I said, Mom you mean it’s good? It’s on? And she said, oh yes, did I not tell you?”

It was hard for Moyse to describe the feeling she had after getting the confirmation from her mother.

“How do you describe something like that? I just thought, wow, this is pretty cool, this is the chance of a lifetime,” she said. “I’ve always been interested to meet people or celebrities on a public basis to see what they’re really like when the spotlights not on them.”

Moyse admitted her and a friend watched the Royal wedding on their personal video recorder instead of watching it live but still had a favourite moment from the event.

“I think when Prince William looked over and Kate looked super nervous when she first got to the very front of the church and he just looked down and just told her she looked beautiful and then made a joke and they started laughing,” she said. “I thought that was a really special moment.”

She said that if she got the chance to ask a question to the couple she would just like to know what their like out of the spotlight.

“That’s probably not an answer he or she would just readily tell anyone,” she said. “I think that people carry themselves well and usually that reflects well what they’re like behind closed door. But I mean what is there favourite thing to do when nobody’s around?”

Sommerset get's award for Student Body

CAPTION: Brycen Lefurgey moves under the parachute quickly as “the mouse” trying to avoid the “cat” during the Mrs. Albrecht’s Grade two gym class Thursday morning at Somerset school in Kinkora. The school won a recognition award for their Physical Education program.

By Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Somerset school has been awarded the Quality Daily Physical Education Program Diamond school recognition award from Physical Education Health Canada.

The award is given to excellence in Physical Education programs across the country, with three different levels of recognition, diamond the highest, platinum and gold.

Somerset has been encouraging teachers to take time to lead or have a child lead stretches in the morning and having physical activities in the day to encourage healthy living along with after school and morning sports.

The schools have to apply for the award to be eligible.

Somerset Physical Education teacher, Cheryl Tanton said the school’s staff were more than willing to help make their school a more physically active place.

“Our school went above and beyond what is mandated provincially for our school to do for physical education and we deemed it as an important piece to our students day,” she said. “This program is going on even when I’m not here.”

Recent numbers from the Canadian Institute for Health Information and the Public Health Agency of Canada’s recent numbers show that of 135 health regions in Canada, King’s County ranks fourth with a 30.6 per cent self reported obesity, while Prince County is 31^st with 24.5 per cent.

Somerset’s program is promoting active living to counter these numbers.

Tanton said the program has been a hit with the pupils, when the announcement comes on for the morning stretches the student body are keen to do them.

“They love it. They take it seriously too,” she said. “They just know it’s part of our day.”

Tanton said the award was a big honour for both her and the school.

“It’s huge for me cause it’s a national award. It’s huge for the school because they embrace physical activity, they embrace physical education and in my world there’s a difference,” she said. “Our school, like I said, went above and beyond and embraced the notion kids need to be active every day.”

She said she the goal for Somerset’s program will help students become what she calls, “physically literate” and continue them to be active.

“(The goal of the program) For me? To realize the students understand and value physical education, which they do.”

Tanton said they plan to continue the program next year.

“We got the diamond award so it’s the standard we hopefully can achieve (every year),”

she said. “It’s a whole community effort and (Kinkora) supports physical education.”

Three Oaks has Grad Donation

CAPTION: Shelby Russell, left, gives two grocery bags filled with donations to Marj Montgomery of the Salvation Army, right, at the Three Oaks Senior High Graduation ceremony Wednesday night at Credit Union Place. Russell organized a food drive for the Salvation Army food bank urging those attending the graduation to donate items.

CAPTION: Mitchell MacNevin, left, presented a $100 donation to Marj Montgomery, right, of the Salvation Army to help with the food shortages the organization has been having on Tuesday at the Salvation Army store on the All Weather Highway. MacNevin collected recyclables since December and chose to donate the money after hearing of the Salvation Army’s struggles. PHOTO Ryan Quigley/ Journal Pioneer

New YMCA CEO makes goal to promote services

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Working on promotion and expansion of services to outside of Summerside will be big goals for the YMCA, said its newly named chief executive officer Rick Cuttell.

Cuttell, who is a former Olympian and Pan American games competitor for both high jump and long jump, was recently chosen to be the organizations new C.E.O. for P.E.I. He has held executive director positions with organizations such as Wheelchair Sports Association (Saskatchewan), the British Columbia Soccer Associations, the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons, the B.C. division of the MS Society and most recently the Military Family Resource Centre of Saskatchewan.

Cuttell said right now they are focusing on promoting the YMCA around the province.

“We’re probably one of the best kept secrets the Island has,” he said. “Everybody in Summerside seems to know the YMCA and where we’re located and that’s fantastic. However when you go to some of the other parts of the province we’re not as well known.”

Cuttell said they have been working on assessing the needs of those in the province in order for the YMCA to serve the community better.

“So we want to not only to go and improve what we are currently doing in Summerside but get out to some of the outlying areas. It’s called our Outreach program and that would extend right into Charlottetown,” he said. “We’ve now changed our name from the Summerside YMCA to actually P.E.I. So now we’re a provincial organization so our mandate has changed to take a look at all communities, not just the one community.”

He said one of the things they do well right now is the Childcare centres and he wants to expand the option to other communities for disadvantaged families.

“One of the other areas we want to get into is the fitness type programs that are out there,” he said. “Obesity in our children is a huge, huge problem.”

Cuttell said the YMCA is currently seeking out partners in the communities and for facilities to use.

“I want to have another half a dozen partnerships come out and do a barbeque and support our Y kid’s Equip to Learn program as well as some of the other after school programs.”

Highland Storm to perform for their Highness

By Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

The College of Piping’s Highland Storm will be performing for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to Dalvay by the Sea on July 4^th.

The group, which consists of 30 performers, about 75 per cent of which are from Prince County, will be performing their show of dancing, drumming and bagpiping for the Royal Couple one day before they were scheduled to have their first official performance.

The Highland Storm are part of several acts performing at Dalvay by the Sea, starting at 2:25 p.m. they will span from Celtic, Aboriginal and Acadian acts.

The opportunity to have the group’s first performance is very exciting, said executive director Karen Hatcher.

“The first public appearance of our new show will be for the Royal couple which is pretty exciting,” she said. “What an absolute privilege it is to be selected to participate.”

The cast and crew for the Storm were only informed about the performance Tuesday afternoon.

“Of course I’ve known they were coming since March and it wasn’t until the last few hours that everything’s been confirmed,” she said. “It came together very quickly.”

The Celtic performance will be rehearsed almost every day in the lead up to the performance while working on a new routine, said Hatcher.

“We actually just started rehearsal for our 2011 production,” she said. “We’ll be keeping the royal visit in mind as we’re doing our choreography.”

The opportunity to take the stage in one of the biggest media the Island has ever seen will be great publicity for the Highland Storm, she said.

“It will give us some nice exposure. We’ve increased our number of performances to 33 in total so it gives more people a greater opportunity to see our show,” she said. “I think this is a great opportunity for us to showcase the talent that is right here in Summerside.”

Cash, Cans and Cows

Cash, Cans and Cows all part of the show at Credit Union Place in July

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Red Dirt Cattle Penning is hosting the 2011 Cash, Cans and Cows challenge at Credit Union Place on July 8 – 10.

The Triple C challenge is a rodeo-type show that will include barrel races, a horse pull, Cattle Penning competitions, an Extreme Cowboy competition, a dog show and the RCMP Musical Ride among other things.

The three-day event will see the inside of Credit Union Place transform into a stage for the competitions going from ice to clay. The event was held outside last year.

Danny Richard, the event organizer, said holding the event inside this year should be a big advantage for them.

“It’s hard to get a hold of people to watch something like that when it is out in the open. This year since the RCMP ride is coming we decided to do it inside the rink.”

Richard hopes to draw enough attention to the event to expand it for next year.

“I’d like to grow it to a week show,” he said. “I’m looking into Quebec and different places where they have other acts that could come here.”

Richard said the Cattle Penning competition is one of their big draws.

“We go to Old Home Week we usually end up with 2,000 in the crowd,” he said. “It’s an exciting sport to watch.”

Richard said last year for them was a learning curve.

“We learnt a lot about it last year. Personally I think this is going to go off a lot better this year.”

Richard said a family pass for the weekend, including the Musical Ride, would be $25.

“We’re not trying to get rich doing this. What were trying to do is get people interested in coming to watch,” he said. “I’d like to see between 1500 to 2500 people in the rink.”

Powering Through

CAPTION: Matthew Dehmel squats 405 lbs while Matthew Rice, left, and coach Richard Caron, right, spot him Friday afternoon at the Three Oaks Senior High school gym. Dehmel and Rice will be competing in the International Powerlifting Federation’s World Junior and Sub Junior Competition in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan in August. Photo Ryan Quigley / Journal Pioneer

Two Three Oaks men are going to the powerlifting world juniors.

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Lifting 450 lbs with two people is a daunting task for most people.

For two Three Oaks Senior High students it would be a walk in the park.

Matt Rice, 17, and Matt Dehmel, 16, are part of the Three Oaks powerlifting team. The teammates both won gold medals at the Canadian Powerlifting Union National Junior and Sub Junior championships in Charlottetown earlier this year and are heading to Moosejaw, Saskatchewan for the International Powerlifting Federation’s World Junior and Sub Junior championships in August.

Rice competes in the 205 lbs weight class and has deadlift 575 lbs and has squat 530 lbs.

Dehmel competes in the 264 lbs weight class and has deadlift 465 lbs and has squat 502 lbs.

Rice and Dehmel both remember where they started to get to this point.

“I was just in the gym working out, trying to get ready for football and rugby. Mr. Caron was there just training with some of the other lifters and he just kind of recruited me and kind of said you’ll put on a lot of muscle and get a lot of strength and that interested me now it’s just kind of gone from there.”

“My dad suggested it. Around Grade 9, he said I heard there’s a powerlifting team in Three Oaks and you should probably join it and I did.”

Both boys said it was the rush they felt when they were competing that made them fall in love with the sport.

“All the people in the lifting, everybody’s supportive and the adrenaline that goes through you at a meet, there’s just no other sport like it. Like you just can’t get that kind of a rush in anything,” said Rice.

“It’s so fun when you get up there and get 400 lbs, 500lbs on your back and everybody’s watching you, staring at you it’s pretty fun.”

Rice and Dehmel said they were excited to win Nationals and to be representing their country but were now focused on competing against the world.

“I don’t know what the competition is going to be like, I don’t know what the lifts are like, especially in the Worlds but I know in Europe, especially in Eastern Europe, I hear it’s pretty big down there,” said Dehmel. “I’ve never seen a Russian before,” he joked.

“I just want to go down there and do everything I can,” said Rice. “If we train hard and just go out there and do our best we have a shot at it.”

Caron said he is proud of what his athletes have accomplished so far.

“I have huge expectations for Matt Rice’s deadlifting and Matt Dehmel’s squatting. I’m excited cause I know what they’re capable of.”

Caron said they don’t plan on changing any of their training or routines for the worlds.

“We’ve done well so far, we’ve done something right since they’re both national gold medalists,” he said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

The team is hosting a concert on June 25^th called Rock the Worlds at the Ecole Sur Mer to support their trip as they are receiving no government funding.

From One Island to Another

From one Island to another

Rotary club accepting applicants study exchange program with Taiwan

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

The Rotary Club of Summerside is looking for applicants to participate in the foundations Group Study Exchange in March and April of 2012.

The foundation will be sending the accepted applicant to Taiwan, where they will be working in their field in a different time zone, country and culture.

The Rotary club is looking for candidates that are young in their careers but with at least two years experience, between the ages of 25 and 40 and reside in Summerside.

Rotary International is covering the cost of the trip, which will be from four to six weeks long. Participants will live with Rotary members in the country they visit.

Last year there was five representatives of the Atlantic region that went to Australia, including Cora Lee Dunbar, owner of ABI Business Services and Summerside resident.

Dunbar said she had a fantastic experience with the program last year.

“What we were to do was to go down and experience life from the Australian point of view,” she said. “I have a bookkeeping business, so I went to different accounting and bookkeeping firms in Australia.”

She said she also had time to experience other aspects of Australia.

“We’d start off doing something from a business perspective, then later in the day I did something from a vocational. We went to a local beach, we did the bridge climb in Sydney and we went to the Opera house.”

Dunbar said it changed her life by giving her a whole new perspective.

“I guess it just got me to see life from another perspective. They do a lot of things similar, but at the same time I was able to appreciate the differences as well,” she said. “It just kind of opened my world up more and it makes me want to travel more and more for sure.”

Bill Kendrick, a Rotary member, said he thinks the program is beneficial for growth in a profession experiencing it in a different culture and country.

“I know that when I led the team to Australia, each of them really benefited from meeting other people who do the kind of work they do, but do it under different government regulations, under different business situations and so the opportunity to explore that with other people who have, in many cases a lot more experience in their profession than the young professionals that go on this is a great learning opportunity.”

He said Taiwan was chosen after the Rotary’s director in Atlantic Canada and the director from Taiwan had a good relationship at their annual meetings in California.

“I think to go to Taiwan, which is such a different culture than ours’, is just an incredible opportunity.”

Kendrick said the program is important to the Rotary because it helps make the world a smaller place.

“It helps to break down stereotypes and prejudices, and we think that it could have an impact on, it sounds to suggest this, but on world peace. A lot of the problems that exist in the world today come as a result of lack of communication, lack of understanding of others and stereotypes and prejudices that get developed.”

Post Lockout

CAPTION: Summerside’s Canadian postal workers picketed outside of the Post Office after Canada Post put lockouts into effect this morning. From left, Lois McAndrew, Dave Kirkpatrick and Gordon Perry.

Postal Lockouts changing billing systems

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

SUMMERSIDE- The city will be using different methods to ensure residents receive their utility bills after Canada Post implemented a lock out of their employees Wednesday.

Currently about one-third of the city’s residents are paying their bill automatically either through credit card or automatic withdrawal but for those without the option the city is currently looking at a delivery service, either an existing service or someone hired by the city, to mail the bills.

The city would then deliver the bills directly to the service address of the inhabitant.

The city is also looking at electronic options to get people their utility bills such as email.

After strikes from Canada Post Union employees recently, Canada Post initiated a national lock out early Monday morning.

Malcolm Millar, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer said that residents would also be able to call in and pay their bill over the phone or come into city hall to pay it.

“People can also call in for the information,” he said. “We take payments over the phone using credit cards.”

Millar said the city is can email the bill at this moment, but does not have an automated service set up.

“Right now we can make an electronic copy of the bill and attach it to an email if we have someone’s email address,” he said. “We suspect we will perhaps be able to do some of those, especially if there’s people who get their bills out of town.”

He said the way the city wants to go with the bill is to put it on the website in the future.

“We want to eventually build it into the city’s website that customers can access and go and get their billing information directly if and when they want to go get it,” he said. “That’s probably a two month process to get the programs up and running.”

Millar said in the future they were heading towards electronic billing as another form of billing anyway.

“So then this will accelerate those considerations.”

He said the city won’t be starting with any of the resolutions until at earliest Monday.

“We’ll wait for a few days to see if anything changes in the situation with Canada Post before Sunday, but we’ll start planning as though we’re starting on Monday.”

Millar said the city is going to continue to use Canada Post once the lockout is finished.

“Canada Post provides a good service and we like using their service. If it wasn’t the best service for us to be using we wouldn’t be using it anyway,” he said. “I don’t expect this to go on for the long term, if it does, the whole country’s going to change isn’t it?”

Like the city, both Eastlink and Maritime Electric will have their billing systems affected by the lockout.

Both companies are urging customers to call their customer service lines for assistance to pay their bills.

Representing Canada

CAPTION: The four Prince County men that will be representing Canada in the Special Olympic games in Greece this year. From left: Lew Champion, Mark Ramsay, Glendon Arsenault and Travis Perry.

Representing Canada

Four Prince County men head to Greece to represent Canada in Special Olympics in Greece.

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Four Prince County men are going to compete in the Special Olympics softball event in Athens, Greece at the end of June.

Travis Perry of Miscouche, Glendon Arsenault of Traveler’s Rest and Mark Ramsay of Summerside are three of the men on the P.E.I. softball team that is going to represent Canada at the Special Olympic games this summer.

The fourth is associate coach Lew Champion. They will be one of two teams representing Canada, the other from Kelowna, British Columbia. The other teams competing in the tournament are Australia, Dominican Republic, Greece, Russia and the United States.

The 14-player team, all of them from the Island, are coached by Richard Douilette, Judy Gallant and Champion.

Champion said when they went to the National Summer Olympic games in Ontario last July there was always the hope they would move on to the games in Athens.

“There was always that little hope in the back of your mind. At the three other Canadian games they were at they won bronze, bronze, bronze and this time they won gold,” he said. “I’m still pinching myself, it’s a big deal.”

He said their biggest strength is the easiest thing to pick out.

“Hitting. Without a doubt they can hit anything.”

Champion said although winning a medal would be great, he hopes the team has fun.

“I just hope the players will meet a lot of people from other countries and make friends,” he said. “Everybody wants to win, but they taught me winning is a bonus.”

He said the team and himself are honoured to be representing Canada at the games.

“It’s probably the biggest honour I’ve ever had. Seriously. For any athlete or coach in any age bracket or classification, this is as good as it’s ever going to get, to represent your country.”

The three Summerside athletes, Arsenault, Ramsay and Perry weren’t shy about sharing how good it felt to be apart of one of the Nation’s team.

“Great. It’s a dream come true,” said Arsenault.

“I’m really excited. It’s my first time representing this country and I’m really pumped for it,” said Ramsay.

“I feel proud of this team,” said Perry. “We’re going to have fun and win.”

The teammates all had ideas on how to be successful in the tournament.

“We have to listen to our coach and keep our eye on the ball and focus on where the ball is going,” said Perry.

“We got to work hard, play hard and see where those things bring us,” said Ramsay.

“(Things that have to be done well) Hitting, pitching and catching,” said Arsenault. 

Tick Pop

Island vets not worried about tick populations

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Prince Edward Island veterinarians should not be worried about Tick population growth this year more than any other, said Atlantic Veterinarian College associate professor Barbara Horney.

Recently Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have seen growth in the area and population where ticks are habiting.

Blacklegged ticks (also known as deer ticks), most common for carrying Lyme disease, have been the main concern and people have been urged to check their pets and themselves for ticks to remove them after walks in wooded areas.

Ticks usually inhabit humid places such as grassy and wooded areas. They feed off the blood of living mammals, birds or reptiles and amphibians.

Horney said that as far as she knows, ticks haven’t sustained an ecosystem here or laid any eggs on P.E.I.

“We’ve never seen anything but an adult on P.E.I. that we know of,” said Horney. “The assumption is that it’s migrating birds that are dropping the adults off.”

Horney said one reason they believe the ticks aren’t lying eggs on the Island is because their preferred host, the white tailed deer, isn’t native to the province.

“Now that doesn’t mean they can’t use another small mammal like a fox or a coyote or some other dog,” she said. “It might be some environment things too.”

Horney said there have been no comprehensive studies on tick populations done either.

“Nobody’s really looked extensively so I can’t say there aren’t any endemic populations but at this point we haven’t identified any.”

She said if someone should find a tick it can be brought to the Atlantic Veterinary College. They identify the tick in the diagnostics lab for free and then send it to Winnipeg for testing on Lyme disease.

“We know that 10 to 20 per cent, sometimes a little higher, of the ticks we get submitted from P.E.I. carry Borrelia which is the Lyme agent.”

Horney said even though there is not any large population issues here, people should stick be checking their pets and selves after being out in a wooded area.

“We know you never have to leave P.E.I. and a dog or a human could still pick up Lyme disease here,” she said. “Is it important to know whether the ticks are actually reproducing, lying eggs and having larval forms here? It might be but I think people need to be cautious anyway.”

Heather Morrison, Chief Health officer for the department of Health and Wellness, said no one had received Lyme disease after being bitten by a tick on P.E.I.

“There have been a total of five cases in the last 15 years of people diagnosed with Lyme disease on P.E.I. but all of them had received their tick bites outside the province.”

Morrison said the department sends out information to physicians on the Island on how to remove the ticks.

“You don’t want to squeeze the head of it, you want to take it off very carefully,” she said. “There’s usually some blood work that is done if they are concerned it’s Lyme disease as well as some antibiotics that are given.”

High Hopes for Flag Football

Summerside NFL/CFL Flag Football league got underway Monday. Alex Rose of the Ravens chases down James Dalton of the Chargers trying to steal his flag. 

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

SUMMERSIDE- The Summerside NFL/CFL Flag Football league is under way for it’s fifth season in the city.

The league is made up of six teams and about 60 kids from grade’s seven, eight and nine. It includes four boy’s teams, the Chargers, the Ravens, the Raiders and the Jets, and two girl’s teams, the Chiefs and the Giants. The league was originally coed until a change came this year when Football Canada changed their rules in an attempt to be included in the 2017 Canada games.

The games will include a round robin and playoffs with all games taking place at the S.I.S. football field, with the winner’s of both the boy’s and girl’s playoffs will go to represent the Island at the under-16 National championships for the league in Halifax from July 22-25.

Last year’s tournament seen the Island’s representative win their first game on the national stage against the team from New Brunswick. They were stopped in the Quarterfinals in a close game with Alberta.

The league organizer, John Turner, said he expects an improved standing in the national tournament this year.

“Both teams should do pretty good I think, they’re a pretty high skilled group,” he said. “It’s really competitive.”

Turner said he expects the league to be as competitive as ever this year.

“It’s very competitive, all of the teams have really improved.”

Turner said the league has become really popular since he decided to “take the bull by the horns” and start the league, some of the graduates going on to play for him on the Bantam football team.

“We’re trying to build that culture here, right. Football is another option for kids to play especially in the spring or fall,” he said. “They take these skills they learn in flag and move them to the next level in tackle.”

Turner coaches the Giants team in the league and thinks his team has a good chance to make Nationals.

“If we win our playoffs, I would think we could win a couple games at the National’s this year.”

Brain Injury Awareness Month

CAPTION: Members of the Brain Injury Association were at City Hall in Summerside Monday as Mayor Basil Stewart signs a proclamation to make June Brain Injury Awareness month. Back from left: Harry Zarins, executive director of the Brain Injury Association of Canada, Barb Butler, Vice President of the Brain Injury Association of Canada, Patty Nispel, Vice President of the Brain Awareness Association of P.E.I. Front from left, Mayor Basil Stewart and Kenneth Murnaghan, President of the Brain Injury Association of P.E.I.

June declared Brain Injury Awareness month in Summerside

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

June was officially declared Brain Injury Awareness month in Summerside, as Mayor Basil Stewart signed the proclamation Monday afternoon at City Hall.

Members of the Brain Injury Association of Canada, executive director Harry Zarins and vice president Barb Butler, were there to support the event as well as members of the Brain Injury Association of Prince Edward Island, president Kenneth Murnaghan and vice president Patty Nispel.

Prince Edward Island’s provincial government had signed a Proclamation to make June Brain Injury Awareness month in the later part of May.

Stewart said he appreciates the effort of the association and their work and hopes this helps those in Summerside suffering brain injuries.

“(For helping those suffering brain injuries) We certainly hope it is to the positive, the more information that can be provided, the better. There’s a lot of information that was left here today that will be distributed to each department in the city.”

Stewart said it is important Summerside residents be careful when dealing in situations that could cause brain injury.

“I think it’s very important everyone should be careful, care for one another, watch out for one another.”

Zarins, Executive said the organization is trying to create awareness for what he calls a “silent epidemic”.

“People don’t realize that we have 1.4 million people in Canada have an acquired brain injury and we figure that on the Island of P.E.I. we have about 300 occur every year, from mild to serious brain injuries and people should be aware of it.”

Zarins said the goal is to get volunteers to help out with the Brain Injury Association of P.E.I. and to create awareness for those struggling with a Brain Injury.

“Creating awareness in terms of looking at some type of support services on the Island for those who have a brain injury and also prevention. Certainly one way to cure brain injury is through prevention.”

Murnaghan said this event is important to him because he had suffered a brain injury about 40 years ago.

“This is another big milestone. Certainly getting word out about the brain injury association,” he said. “People are out there, people with brain injuries, and they’re just sitting at home because they don’t know what to do.”

Murnaghan said people’s thoughts on brain injuries have been getting more progressive in the last couple of years.

“Brain injuries use to be a stigma, from my point of view, nobody would come out and say anything. Now over the past few years people are starting to come around.”

The Brain Injury Association of Canada plans to hold their national conference at the University of Prince Edward Island from August 24-26.

Fact Box:

-About 175,000 people in Canada suffer a brain injury a year

-Traumatic Brain Injury is more common than breast cancer, spinal cord injury, HIV and multiple sclerosis combined.

- The most common cause of a brain injury is falls (37.5 per cent) followed by motor-vehicle accident (17.3 per cent), struck by / against events (16.5 per cent) assaults (10 per cent) and unknown / other incidents at (21 per cent).

-  Males are 59 per cent of those diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.

Source: Brain Injury Association of Canada

Student Strives through adversity

Showing Heart

Summerside girl going to university after going through diversity

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

It was only a year ago Karen Curtis would get up in the morning and not know how much longer she had left to live.

Now, after having a heart transplant in October, Curtis is getting ready to graduate from Three Oaks Senior High school and move on to UPEI to start on her dream of studying Pediatric Cardiology so she can help someone like herself some day.

“The people from the cardiologist’s gave to me,” she said. “I feel like when I was in my spot, no one knew how I was. So it would be nice if I was a nurse and people were going for heart transplants I can say that I went through it and tell them everything and just give back to them what they gave to me.”

Curtis’ natural mother Sheila Perry, two brothers Robert and Matthew and her grandmother had all passed away due to the same genetic heart defect she had.

“When I went for my first surgery I was terrified because they told me after my brother died I was close behind him.”

On her quest to study medicine, she was recently aided by the Rotary Club of Summerside.

Curtis was one of the three recipients of the Strive scholarship from the Rotary Club of Summerside. The two other recipients were Jelisa Gallant of Wellington and Beonicia Shaw of Summerside.

The scholarship is awarded to those who have kept up academic standards through rough personal times in their life. The recipient receives a $1000 scholarship to go to post-secondary schools.

Vance Bridges, Chairperson of the Strive committee, said all three girls shared the same characteristics and that’s why they were chosen.

“The qualities that identified those that should be recognized in this way are primarily personal challenges they’ve had,” said Bridges. “They’ve all had some challenging adversities and things they’ve had to overcome and in spite of that they have striven under the Strive program to improve their academic standing.”

Bridges said the adversity that had to be overcome by Curtis was a big one.

“Karen Curtis for instance, she’s had a heart transplant in the last year. I mean if that’s not a challenge, I don’t know what is.”

Curtis said the award meant a lot to her and was happy to have won it.

“I got to share my story with them and I feel like I am an inspiration to a lot of people so I was kind of happy they felt that I deserved it.”

Curtis still has to do one year of study in Arts before she can go into her program of choice but she is just happy to be going to University.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d see the day I’d be going to university, I thought I was going to die,” she said. “I’m just excited to start my life I didn’t think I’d ever have.”

Retirement Tea.

CAPTION: From left teacher Marilyn MacQuaid, janitor Layton Sonier and principal Duncan McKillop celebrate their retirement tea party at Three Oaks Senior High school in Summerside, P.E.I. on Thursday night. PHOTO Ryan Quigley / JOURNAL PIONEER

Island Veterinarians not worried about tick populations

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Prince Edward Island veterinarians are not any more worried about tick populations than any other year, said Atlantic Veterinarian College associate professor Barbara Horney.

Recently Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have seen growth in the area and population of ticks.

Blacklegged ticks, most common for carrying Lyme disease have been the main concern and people have been urged to check their pets for ticks to remove them.

Ticks usual inhabit humid places such as grassy and wooded areas. They feed off the blood of living mammals, birds or reptiles and amphibians.

Horney said that as far as she knows, ticks haven’t sustained an ecosystem here or laid any eggs.

“We’ve never seen anything but an adult on P.E.I. that we know of,” said Horney. “The assumption is that it’s migrating birds that are dropping the adults off.”

Horney said one reason they believe they aren’t lying eggs on the Island is because we don’t have their preferred host, the white tailed deer.

“Now that doesn’t mean they can’t use another small mammal like a fox or a coyote or some other dog,” she said. “It might be some environment things too.”

Horney said there have been no comprehensive studies on tick populations done either.

“Nobody’s really looked extensively so I can’t say there aren’t any epidemic populations but at this point we haven’t identified any.”

She said if someone should find a tick, they will identify the tick in the diagnostics lab for free and then send it to Winnipeg for testing on Lyme disease.

“We know that 10 to 20 per cent, sometimes a little higher, of the ticks we get submitted from P.E.I. carry Borrelia which is the Lyme agent.”

Horney said even though there aren’t any large population issues here, people should stick be checking their pets and selves after being out in a wooded area.

“We know you never have to leave P.E.I. and a dog or a human could still pick up Lyme disease here,” she said. “Is it important to know whether the ticks are actually reproducing, lying eggs and having larval forms here? It might be but I think people need to be cautious anyway.”

Field of Dreams

Local men to host baseball camp in Lennox Island

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Many people have fond memories of their time on the baseball field. Whether it be chasing down a fly ball to the center field wall or the sweet small of freshly cut grass just before the game, a smile comes to those remembering childhoods spent running the bases or hitting the game winning home run.

Blair Creelman wants to bring that to the Island’s Aboriginal you.

On Saturday Creelman, child and wellness family coordinator for Lennox Island, with the help of Mike Cameron, a teach at Summerside Intermediate School, are holding a baseball camp for aboriginal children ages seven to 12 on Saturday at the Lennox Island baseball field.

The camp, which is sponsored by the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I., is the first of its kind for Aboriginal youth. Attendees will run through drills on hitting, running the bases, throwing the ball correctly and catching the ball correctly. They will be having another camp on June 18.

Creelman said he has been drawing a lot of interest from kids in the community and hopes it translates into starting a minor baseball team.

“There’s a lot of younger kids in the community now so hopefully we’ll get enough to field our own team eventually,” he said. “We have a beautiful facility up here, a beautiful ball field with lights and stuff so we got to use that more too.”

He said though they will be focusing on the mechanics of playing baseball they will be doing some fun activities for the kids too.

“We’re going to implement a lot of fun games as well. With the kids, at the end of the day, we’ll have a fun ball game, we call this game the Tater Cup,” he said. “Our major focus is just making it fun for the kids.”

Creelman said he feels the camp will be successful because of the support they get in the community and expects 15-25 kids.

“Every program we run with the kids up here, we get all the kids.”

Even though one of their goals is to see the program become a long term one, they never lose site of the number one goal, said Creelman.

“Just to see them enjoy themselves, that’s our number one goal,” he said. “Mike Cameron and I, we’ve been doing Mosquito and Peewee camps indoors for years and that’s always been our major goal.” 

Contact East Showcase

Canada East Arts Trade show coming to P.E.I.

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Canada East’s Atlantic Canada’s Performing Arts Trade Show is coming to Summerside September 28 to October 2.

The show, which is presented by the Atlantic Presenter’s Association and Canada East organizers, showcases talent in full shows from around the world for venue managers world wide to look at for future booking.

The performances are going to be opened to the public with a ticket price to be determined later.

The artists are given a chance to meet with the managers in a contact room after their performances.

Professional development days will also be put on for venue owners or presenters looking to better their craft.

The event was last held in Summerside in 2005 and was staged at the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club, Harbour Front Theatre, the Shipyard Market and St. Mary’s Church in Indian River. The event is held once every two years.

Andrea Ellis, outreach and membership development manager for the Atlantic Presenter’s Association, said Summerside’s size and the addition of the Credit Union place made it attractive.

“It’s a nice little town for people to be able to walk to locations. We were there in 2005 and it worked really well.”

Ellis said they will be organizing a field trip all across the Island for the people involved to see the province.

“We’re just trying to make it a little bit of an event where it’s not so much focus just in the conference area but the whole Island.”

She said the goal of the showcase is to develop art in the communities.

“That’s the bottom line. It’s helping presenters learn about programming and finding quality performers they can bring back to their communities,” she said. “Our tag line is cultivating cultural communities.”

Gordon MacFarlane, Human Resources and Legal director for the city, said it will be fantastic for the city of Summerside.

“This is similar to the ECMA’s except it’s more artist and association driven. There’s going to be 125 industry delegates in the community for the weekend and over 100 performers.”

MacFarlane said Credit Union place will be the main facility with the Harbourfront theatre and various other places in the city also holding events.

“I think our facilities that we have in place certainly speak for themselves. The Credit Union Place is a wonderful place to hold an event like this.”

MacFarlane said they have been working for months to get the event to come to Summerside.

“As a community we’ve been trying to build on kind of the cultural and musical product in the community for a while now. We’ve done a lot of sporting events in the past, and we continue to do those, but as a community service department we’re trying to branch out.”

KISH celebrates clubs and athletes

CAPTION: Kensington Intermediate Senior High school’s major award sports awards winners cherish their hardware Wednesday night after the KISH Awards ceremony. From Left, John Bowness Achievement award winner Jordan Snively, acting Athletic Director Faro Halupa, Female Athlete of the Year Malary Schurman and Male Athlete of the Year Jared Oatway.

 

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Kensington Intermediate Senior High school’s Athletes and clubs were front and center Wednesday night for their annual awards banquet in the school’s cafeteria.

Grade 12 seniors Jared Oatway and Malary Schurman took home the awards for Athletes of the Year at the top honour’s celebration.

Schurman, an 18-year-old from Stanley Bride and daughter of Bonnie and Isaac Schurman, played many sports for the school including volleyball, basketball and rugby.

Schurman earned the Coaches’ Choice award for volleyball, was the Most Dedicated Player on her rugby team and was the Most Valuable Player for the basketball team.

She plans on going to Saint Mary’s University next year, where she will try out for their varsity rugby team.

Schurman said that winning the award was a “Super honour” for her.

“There’s been a lot of hard work and dedication put into my sports, so it’s awesome.”

She said the trophy was important to her after the work she put into her sports.

“It’s like good payback for all the hard work and dedication that I put into my sports. It’s just a great honour.”

Oatway, 18-year old male athlete of the year, is from Kensington and is the son of Mark and Darlene Oatway. He played soccer, basketball and track and field, winning the Douglas Ramsay Most sportmanlike player on the soccer team.

Oatway said he plans to move on to UPEI and begin training with the soccer team there.

“I probably won’t play next year, but it’ll be nice to play with them a bit and practice with them.”

He said he was surprised that he won the Male Athlete of the Year award.

“I thought a buddy of mine was going to win it but I guess not,” he said. “(From winning the trophy) I’m happy and excited.”

Richard Younker, girl’s volleyball coach and one of those involved in voting for Athlete of the Year, said Schurman was a team leader and a valuable part of every team she played on.

“You look at the all-stars that she won, the awards that she won (Wednesday night) like most dedicated, most valuable for every team she was on. She was clearly the choice for Female Athlete of the Year.”

Younker said Oatway is a prototypical coach’s athlete and that’s why he won the male athlete of the year.

“He works hard, he’s dedicated, he may not be the most skilled player on each team, that’s for sure, but he certainly played every sport dedicated,” he said. “I think he was a good choice.”

KISH gets Medieval

CAPTION: Kelly Gallant’s History Class at Kensington Intermediate Senior High school had a Medieval Faire on Tuesday in front of the school. From back left Benjamin McKenna, Johanna Reid, Nathan Evans, Phillip Mulligan, Devon Boucher, JohnDonald MacLean. Middle left Ruth Ganga, Tala Boone, Deanna Kerry, King Dakota Bonnell, Sabrina MacKay, Queen Emily McDermott, Emily Blackett and Kassia Curley. Front Mikayla Gallant. PHOTO Ryan Quigley/ Journal Pioneer

Fitness Festival starting in Summerside

CAPTION: Organizer Corey Arsenault stands next to a poster promoting the Summerside Fitness Festival in July, at his Stretch Fitness facility in the Waterfront Mall Tuesday afternoon.

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

The Summerside Fitness Festival, which will be held on July 15-17 hopes to be an annual event, says organizer Corey Arsenault.

The festival, which is teaming with the Lobster Carnival, includes seven events, a Fit Chic fitness class, an Atlantic Police Academy Fitness Class, a Fitness trade show, a Summerside Bark Park dog walk, a Keeping Fit fitness class and the signature event a weekend with Ava Cowan, third place finisher at the International Federation of Body Builders’ Ms. Figure competition.

The festival will take place for the most part at Credit Union Place and the events range from free to $5, with the exception of the Weekend with Ava, which will cost $99.

The events are drawing people from around the Maritimes, especially the Weekend with Ava.

Arsenault says his hope is to have all the festival’s events filled to capacity.

“I’m hoping we pull this weekend off well and it shows up next year as a bigger event that draws in more from off Island.”

Arsenault said Cowan is their biggest draw because of her fame with from her Ms. Figure finish.

“She’d be like if Wayne Gretzky put on a hockey camp, kids would pay whatever to go be with him. She’s it for women’s fitness.”

The idea came from an event Arsenault attended in Las Vegas called Total Fitness weekend.

“I’ve always wanted to do one, so I thought why not do one small here using local groups and just doing different events.”

He said he hopes to have the event turn into a bigger one in years to come and draw more tourism to Summerside.

“What I’d eventually like to have is a big fitness weekend, like a National event. It’s the first year, I’d like to make it an annual event where we draw in bigger events, bigger names to have bigger crowds.”

Arsenault said he hopes the festival will inspire some residents to pick up healthier lifestyles.

“People should care about their health and wellness, and being part of their community.”

Fair Way of Treatment

Summerside Golf Course manager fights for fair taxing for golf

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Tax rules for golf need to be changed for businesses, says Summerside golf course general manager Dallas Desjardins.

Desjardins was part of the National Allied Golf Association’s journey to Ottawa, representing the Atlantic golf courses, to lobby for changes to the Canada Revenue Agency’s rule that golf can’t be used as a tax deduction for businesses.

Currently a business could claim most other expenses for entertainment including hockey games but due to a tax reform in 1971 golf expenses are not allowed to be claimed in their taxes.

Desjardins said this leaves his business with a disadvantage when it comes to choices for spots a business will bring a client.

“Golf and yachting back in ’71 were singled out as not being tax deductible for businesses,” he said. “If you bring a business person to a hockey game or anything you can claim 50 per cent tax deduction on those.”

Desjardins said he was picked as the Atlantic representative because of the work he did as Chairperson at Golf Awareness day on P.E.I. and Tuesday’s visit to Parliament was just a starting block.

“This was the first time the seven golf associations got together like this and what were trying to do is start a dialogue with the Federal government.”

Desjardins said the group met with over 30 different Members of Parliament and Senators and the meetings went well.

“We had a small, minor ask and every MP we talked to was surprised at the little bit of a loophole that seems to be in the tax code. So I think it is something that they’re going to look into if there’s a possibility of changing it,” he said. “Realistically there is a possibility, albeit slight, that we might be able to get it changed for the 2012 season.”

Desjardins said they are only looking for the deduction off green fees and not on memberships.

“We’re really not a healthy industry on the Island right now, which is unfortunate. Especially for what we contribute for the Island as far as employment and tourism dollars.”

Island Comic writer hopes Internet gives him success

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Canadian comic writers have been blowing up in the last few years.

Whether it is Bryan Lee O’Malley, of Ontario, taking on the world with his Scott Pilgrim books or Kate Beaton, of Cape Breton, going from her webcomic series to contributing a few comics for the New Yorker, Canadian artists are hitting it big.

Troy Little, of Kensington, hopes to become the next name to walk the path from obscurity to Hollywood, as he is putting up pages from his comic “Angora Napkin” online over the next few months.

The book, which was already released by IDW Publishing and won Little the Eisner award last year, will be put on the Angora Napkin website in build up to the follow up which he plans to release in the next year.

The “Angora Napkin” series follows the misadventures of Beatrice, Molly and Mallory, who form the bubblegum pop band Angora Napkin. The first book finds the girls trying to thwart a zombie apocalypse.

The graphic novel also seen Little produce a one-night TV show for Teletoon about the band. It debuted on Halloween night and can be found online also on the website.

The website will be updated three times a week with a new page going up every time. Monday is the first day of posts and he plans to continue through with the second one going online also.

Little said the idea was originally for the second book to be put online.

“When I was thinking about it I was like, well you know not everybody has seen the first book,” he said. “So I thought for the people who haven’t picked it up or come across it, cause it’s still a pretty peripheral read, let’s just start with the first book and try to get everybody up to speed.”

He said the opportunity the Internet presents is great for Canadian artists trying to get their comics out.

“With the (TV episode) online now I haven’t had a day go by where someone hasn’t watched it,” he said. “It’s kind of like screaming away in the forest until someone pays attention to me.”

He said the Internet levels the playing field for the independent comic book artist.

“I love the internet because it levels the playing field. As much as Marvel and DC can dominate the world of comic books, its just a dot com away from any other site.”

Little said he hopes the website generates enough interest and income to become self-sustaining so he can produce a book a year.

“It’s a bit of a gamble just to see what happens,” he said. “(IDW) were a great publisher but it kind of gets lost in the shuffle of their bigger titles, like G.I. Joe and Transformers, so I was trying to find a grass roots way to get around it.”

The comic can be found at www.angoranapkin.com

Raiders’ take women’s AAA gold

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

The Charlottetown Rural Raiders defeated the Bluefield Bobcats 12-5 to take the Prince Edward Island School Athletic Association’s Women’s AAA Rugby provincial championship at Bluefield Monday night.

The Raiders were led by Maggie Grimmer and Lauren Matheson who each scored a try in the win, while Katherine Drake had the conversion.

The Bobcats lone try came from Alyson Condon in the losing effort.

The Raiders’ coach, Shannon Atkins said it felt good to win the game after the hard work put in by her team this year.

“It feels great. The girls have worked all year and this is a very talented team, one of the best I’ve had in the last 18 years.”

She said the whole game her team had to fight hard for the victory and stamina was a key to the victory.

“A lot of talent on the team, great skills and hard work. Bluefield is a tough, tough team,” she said. “It was fighting to the teeth the whole time.”

She said the game started out tough and admitted her team wasn’t ready for them.

“The second half we came out and we were ready. We decided to keep the ball moving as fast as we could and that was to our advantage. Once we got it outside we scored a couple tries and lucked out.”

Bronze Medal Game

The Colonel Gray Colonels shut out the Three Oaks Senior High school Axewomen in the Bronze medal game 22-0 Monday afternoon at Bluefield high school.

Colonel Gray was led by two tries from Taylor McKenzie and Hannah Dawson with Kendra Holroyd scoring the team’s lone conversion.

Three Oaks was held off the scoreboard.

Axemen cut through competition to win AAA Rugby Gold

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

The Three Oaks Senior High school Axemen cut-down the Bluefield Bobcats 15-0 on their way to win their third Prince Edward Island School Athletic Association gold medal in the last four years Monday night at Bluefield high school.

The Three Oaks squad was led by tries from Tyler Bernard in the first half and Dexter Coughlin and Kris Rice in the second half while Bluefield was held scoreless in the match.

Three Oaks coach James Voye said they knew Bluefield were going to come out hard, especially on their home pitch.

“They defended really well, I feel like we put a lot of pressure on them early in the game and we were lucky enough to score a try before half time. We had beaten them fairly handily in the regular season and I made sure that we weren’t overconfident today.”

Voye said the win was a more blue-collar effort than the other years they won.

“We won two in a row three years ago and it was a much different team, very, very skilled, not that this team isn’t, this team just had to work for it more.”

He said the program’s success mostly be attributed to the strong athletes that have played for them.

“When you get the strong athletes come out and play sports that makes a big difference.”

Bluefield coach Darryl Boudreau said he liked the fact that his team didn’t give up in the game.

“Our season was up and down but at the same time we managed to put things together at the end of the season to give us some success and give us the chance to be in the championship game.”

Boudreau said he was happy with the way his team played, some of which played with only four weeks rugby experience.

“There’s always things you can improve on as a group,” he said. “It was a much better game than 15-0.”

The Axemen and Bobcats were deadlock until late in the half when Bernard was able to get past the defense and score the try. After half time, Kris Rice got free from a scramble and ran down to complete the second try. Dexter Coughlin scored the third try to put the game away for the Axemen.

Bronze Medal Game

The Charlottetown Rural Raiders blanked the Colonel Gray Colonels 15-0 in the Men’s AAA rugby final Monday night at Bluefield high school.

The Raiders were led by two tries from Brandon Cameron and James Mallars scored a conversion and a penalty kick.

The Colonels were held scoreless in the match.