Bike Helmets donated to children's camp

CAPTION:  The Brain Injury Association of Prince Edward Island donated bikes helmets today for the bikes Tim Horton’s in Summerside are donating to the Tim Horton’s camp this summer. Modeling the bikes and helmets (left to right) Jared Morrow, Meghan Morrow, Patty Nispel, Vice President and Secretary for the Brain Injury Association of P.E.I., Noah Nispel, Katana Blacquiere, Lorena (Lou) Taylor, Division manager with D.P. Murphy and Kayla Morrow.

Booking a Future

Island woman holds book auction for Slave Lake library

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Colleen McKie is a book blogger and writer. So when she learned that Slave Lake’s library, less than 2-years old, had burned in the wildfires experienced by the town, she decided she wanted to do something to help.

After seeing several book auctions for relief of other tragedies, McKie decided that was what she would do.

Almost immediately Alaskan writer Don Rearden offered a signed copy of one his books for her to auction. From there she’s had generous donations from authors such as Kelley Armstrong, Angie Abdou and Kathy Reichs while authors such as Jo Ann Yhard are offering to critique 20 pages of an unpublished manuscript.

McKie is using social network sites such as twitter and facebook to get her website out in the public eye, even getting TV star Jim Beaver, who stars in the series Supernatural, to post a link to her website on his twitter account after her friend Jody Bernard asked him to.

Since starting the site Monday, McKie has received over 2,000 hits and made over $500. McKie has been approached by people looking to donate art and sea glass jewelry to the auction.

She said she has been overwhelmed with the success of the website and from the donations from writers.

“I’ve been pleasantly surprised,” she said. “I’m not really anybody and a lot of the other ones have been a joint effort or it’s been a bigger named author that’s done it.”

She said at this moment auctions items are up for five days, though she would like to cut it down to three.

“I’m going to shorten that time to where they run for three days or else I’m going to end up running the auction all summer,” she said. “I’d like to wrap it up in two or three weeks.”

She did add that if there is a lot of success she would extend it.

McKie said that she owes a lot of her success to social networking, especially twitter, which has given her the ability to spread her auction.

“I really, seriously believe that if it wasn’t for twitter I would not have been able to do this and if I did do it, it would not be near as successful as it’s been.”

McKie has never been to Alberta, let alone Slave Lake but said she has received thank you messages from people who contacted her from the area.

“I’ve been in contact with the library and I’ve had other people in Slave Lake get a hold of me,” she said. “It makes them feel good to know there’s people in P.E.I. that have never been to Alberta that are willing to help do something.” 

Mucking It Up

Summerside Muck Raker mountain bike race to be held Sunday

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

The Summerside Muck Raker mountain bike race will be making its return to Summerside Rotary Friendship Park on Sunday.

The bike race is the first of four races in the Citizen Mountain Bike series, which will take place in Brookvale.

The race will close down the park from 8:30 am to 2 pm with eight different categories for racing including men and women’s under 13, under 15, under 17, adult sport, adult expert and 50 plus. There will be door prizes for those competing donated by sponsors including Sporting Intentions. There will also be medals for first, second and third in each of the categories.

Registration prices for the event are $20 before the event and $25 the day of the event. The track is 3 km, with laps varying on the category the racer would take part in.

Before the bigger events are held, there will be an event held called Riders of Tomorrow. This is geared towards kids 12-years-old and younger. It’s a free event that will be a five-minute race, parents are encouraged to ride with their children.

The Citizen Mountain Bike series has three other events based in Brookvale which are the Tour De Pants on July 10, Red Mud Mountain Mayhem on August 21 and closed out with the 8 Hour Grunt on September 10.

Billy MacDonald, event coordinator for Cycling P.E.I., said the organization has a clear mission statement that drives these events.

“Cycling P.E.I. is a non-profit organization and the mission statement is to promote healthier lifestyles and also to encourage children to be active through sport,” he said. “We’re looking on growing it, but we’re just planting seeds right now.”

Macdonald said the event isn’t just exclusive for Islanders to participate.

“There is a few people registered coming over from New Brunswick,” he said. “We’re hoping to have 50 or so participants so that should make for a good outing.”

Three Oak's captures Women's A Rugby Crown

CAPTION: Three Oaks’ Erica Gillis tries to pass the ball as she’s tackled by Colonel Gray’s Hannah Dykerman in the Gold Medal game Wednesday night at Three Oaks Senior High School. Photo Quigley / Journal Pioneer

Three Oak’s captures Women’s A Rugby Crown

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Becky Clark scored a try for the Three Oaks Senior High school Women’s A Rugby team as they won provincial gold in overtime against the Colonel Gray A squad 27-24 Wednesday at Three Oaks school.

Clark led the Three Oaks team with three tries while Alya Praught scored two tries and Erica Gillis had one conversion combining for the 27-points that won the game.

Colonel Gray was led by Emma Martin and Kalie MacKinnon each with two tries, while Ashley Smith had two conversions in the losing effort.

Three Oaks played Bluefield in the semi-final game, as Clark scored two ties and Gillis got one try and a conversion in a 17-0 win to advance to the finals. Colonel Gray defeated Charlottetown Rural in their semi-final match-up with Martin scoring three tries for Gray, while Charlottetown Rural was led by Sidney Corrigan with one try and Sydney Stavert with on convert.

Both Bluefield and Rural met in the bronze medal game with Bluefield winning 12-5. The team was led by Amy Dawson with one try and one convert and Lorena Dawson with one try. Leah Corrigan had the lone try for the Charlottetown Rural team.

Three Oaks coach Garth Turtle said that everything went right for his team and they played a good game.

“We needed to really, really dig deep cause Colonel Gray just played a tremendous game today and we obviously played well when we really had too.”

Turtle said though he wished the defense had played better the offensive came through for them in the end.

“It feels good anytime you win, but to win with this group of kids because they worked so hard was very important.”

Colonel Gray coach Hannah Austin said she thought both teams were evenly matched in a very good game.

“They had speed and strength and all over us and our girls were doing the same thing. It was just a very evenly matched game, great game.”

Austin said there wasn’t a single thing she would change about the way her team played.

“I can’t even say anything bad about the way our girls played. I think I would play exactly the same way we played today, and just continue and fight to the end like our girls did today.”

Charlottetown Rural win Men’s A Rugby Provincial Gold

CAPTION: Three Oaks Andrew Rafuse tries to take down Charlottetown Rural’s Zach Tweel in the Men’s A Rugby Final on Wednesday night at Three Oaks Senior High. Photo Quigley / Journal Pioneer

Charlottetown Rural win Men’s A Rugby Provincial Gold

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Charlottetown Rural’s A Men’s Rugby team got off to a quick start and never let go as they defeated the Three Oaks Men’s team 26-14 in the A Men’s Provincial gold medal game on Wednesday night at Three Oaks Senior High.

Charlottetown Rural were led by Matt Derry who scored two tries for the team while Cullen Mullally one tri and three conversions and Zach Tweel one try.Three Oaks was led by Andrew Rafuse with two tries and two conversions.

Three Oaks came within a try before Charlottetown Rural bulled away to take the game by 12-points.

Both teams played semi final games in the afternoon with Three Oaks Senior high defeating Bluefield 32-0 with Rafuse leading the scoring for Three Oaks with two tries and a conversion followed by Andrew Braun with two tries, Matt Oran with one try and Riley Cameron with one try.

Charlottetown Rural defeated Colonel Gray 7-5 with Mullally scoring the try and Zach Tweel with a conversion for Rural and Jackson Donovan getting the lone try for Colonel Gray.

Colonel Gray and Charlottetown Rural met in the bronze medal game, with Colonel Gray winning 27-0 led by one try from Alex Ellsworth, Andrew Jackman, Josh Loveless, Donovan and Chris Farrell who also scored a conversion.

Charlottetown Rural coach Ryan Lloyd said a great start and a lucky break lead to the win for their team.

“Got a lucky break where one of our players got on a breakaway and then we were able to keep the momentum and not let them back into the game.”

Lloyd said he was really happy to win, attributing preparation and a well executed game plan to their success in the game.

“It’s great, it’s really great and I hope all the guys feel great about it too. It’s a great accomplishment,” he said. “I don’t know, it’s pretty tough to improve on (this season).”

Three Oak’s coach Tyler Kowalski said they knew the Charlottetown Rural team was going to be a tough team and he is happy with how his team played.

“The boys gave it their all and I can’t say really too many complaints,” he said. “Maybe we missed a few tackles other than that I can’t see really anymore changes so it was just a good game.”

Kowalski said a slow start and lucky breaks were what he would attribute the loss to and he doesn’t see any big changes to his approach next year.

“I have no really big complaints, we seem to be doing really good,” he said. “Just in the end it didn’t turn out well.”

Breakfast at Samuel's

 Summerside to get new coffee shop

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Caption: Mona Matheson stands inside the doors of Samuel’s Coffee Shop on Harbour Drive. She plans to open up for business in July. Photo Quigley / Journal Pioneer

SUMMERSIDE- Mona Matheson has had a twenty-year dream.

After hearing stories from her grandfather, who owned two businesses in downtown Summerside, about how busy and vibrant it used to be, she wanted to open a café in the area.

Sometimes dreams do come true. Matheson is preparing to open “Samuel’s Coffee Shop” on Harbour Drive in July.

The coffee shop, named after one of her ancestors Samuel Holland, will serve coffee roasted in Halifax, specialty coffees, specialty teas, baked goods and more. Matheson also plans to have historical memorabilia on the walls relating to Summerside in the past.

Matheson said she believes downtown Summerside is having a resurgence and that she wants to be part of it.

“So then it was just trying to come up with a concept that would contribute to the downtown and contribute to the community.”

Matheson said that her vision is to have her coffee shop be a welcoming spot for things from business meetings to families.

“I think everybody has products, whether your product is coffee or specialty tea, I think ours’ is going to be serving people, providing an environment for people to go spend time with colleagues or friends or families,” she said. “So that’s the void we’re looking to fill.”

Matheson said she believes history in Summerside is important as to why she is going to decorate with the past.

“We’re going to be selling coffee and tea but we’re providing an experience and so the historical component fills that experience,” said Matheson. “I feel we should draw on it as much as we can. Its a vocal point not just for ourselves to understand the history that’s there, but for visitors.”

She said that she would like to collaborate with people in the community as much as she can.

“I see just a vision down the road of this being a coffee house people will want to gather and share stories in, or someone will want to put their art on the wall or somebody might say I do local pottery and I’d like your coffee to be served in this.”

Matheson said she hopes that her business matches the demands of Summerside and that it’s around for a long time.

“I feel that the community together can predetermine the destiny of what our community is and I think it’s just to look for things we would like in the city and create them.”

Counterfeit bills found in Kensington

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

Kensington Police confiscated two $100 bills from Kensington area businesses this morning.

The counterfeit currency has the identifiable characteristics of the serial number BKL5515912 and the silver vertical strips had been cut from $10 bills and glued onto the $100.

The person who handed in the bills was taken in for questioning but Police were satisfied he did not know the bills were counterfeit at the time and didn’t produce them.

Kensington Police chief Lewie Sutherland said he expects there to be more than just the two bills in circulation.

“I expect there’s more than two but I would say sometimes it takes a while for these to show up depending where they came from.”

Sutherland said the best thing store owners can do is make their employees aware the bills are circulating and to be attentive.

“It’s obvious if you took two seconds to look at this bill it’s got a $10 stripe on it not a $100 stripe,” he said. “Although on first glance it looks good, when you look at it a second time it doesn’t.”

He said the investigation is ongoing and urges any stores to call their local police department with counterfeit bills.