Recent hospital funding respects dual-site reality

Mindemoya, Little Current projects will both be able to proceed

by Lindsay Kelly

MANITOULIN-A funding grant worth more than $350,000 will allow each site of the Manitoulin Health Centre to take on renewal projects that will enhance and improve infrastructure.

The two-site hospital has received $353,049 in funding through the Health Infrastructure Renewal Fund (HIRF). An initiative of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC), the fund is designed to annually help fund renewal projects such as the replacement of roofing systems, boilers, and windows.

Under the program, hospitals are not required to provide a share of the cost and can use up to 100 percent of the funding towards renewal projects. Projects are chosen based on the level of priority given to them by the hospitals, although to be approved they must meet requirements set out by the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN)-typically projects that extend the life of hospital facilities but don't increase the operating funding from the ministry-through which the funds are funnelled.

Hospital CEO Derek Graham was pleased with the grant, which he said is one of the few funding grants the hospital has received that has recognized the MHC as a two-site hospital with unique needs.

"We're appreciative of it," he said of the funds, when contacted last week. "This is the largest outlay we've had in recent memory, and the outlay we've had over the last couple of years has been dwindling."

Last year the hospital received $290,000, while in 2007 it received $320,000. Hospital administration expected to get about $250,000 so a boost this year was an unexpected, but welcome, surprise. "It's great, because we have a lot of projects waiting to go forward," he added.

Many of the projects will now move ahead quickly, since they had to be moved forward before the hospital finished its fiscal year on March 31, Mr. Graham said, noting that both sites will receive upgrades because of the funds.

At the Mindemoya site, the emergency room area will receive renovations to create a separate room for triaging patients-triage occurs when patients are assessed and given priority of care based on the severity of their case.

"This will actually create a process to allow us to be in line with our accreditation status for quality," Mr. Graham noted. "It's something we've wanted to do for the last few years, but we haven't had the funds to do it."

There will also be the addition of a waiting area for the X-ray department. Currently there is no place for patients to sit while waiting to go in for X-rays, other than the main waiting room, which is at some distance from the X-ray department.

At the Little Current site, the helipad's concrete surface, which is crumbling around the edges, will be replaced at the behest of the Ministry of Transportation. The safety netting that surrounds the helipad, and works to prevent the helicopter from moving off the pad, will also be replaced.

In addition, the two large steam boilers will be taken out of circulation, which will result in some energy efficiencies for the hospital, Mr. Graham noted. The boilers burn vast quantities of oil, which is costly to the hospital, but over time, there should be a savings with the new system in place.

The air conditioning system will also be improved so that it better serves the cardiac rehabilitation area.

Finally, security at both sites will be improved to enhance the hospital's safety and security measures.

"Currently, the system has no recording capabilities," Mr. Graham noted. "The new system will give us better coverage of remote areas in the building and high-traffic areas."

Like many aging hospitals built in the 1960s and 1970s during a wave of hospital construction initiated by the government, the MHC is constantly in need of upgrades and improvements, so the MHC had its priority list ready in anticipation of the funding announcement, Mr. Graham noted. But as a small hospital with limited resources, it couldn't go ahead with any of the projects until the funding was confirmed.

A start date hasn't yet been confirmed, as many of the projects will depend on when the successful tender bidders are available for work; however, Mr. Graham said certain projects, such as the X-ray waiting room renovation in Mindemoya, have to be coordinated carefully, so as not to affect the flow of traffic.

This is the sole infrastructure funding allotment the hospital expects to receive this year; the HIRF has been in place for about four years now, and there's no indication of the government's long-term plans for the fund. However, a new facility assessment process being introduced by the MOHLTC should provide the government with a better indication of which hospitals need work and may affect the funding packages they receive.

"It will involve an on-site visit with a building consultant who will look at the age and condition of the facility and get a bit of a picture as to the condition of hospitals across Ontario and determine replacement and improvement strategies," Mr. Graham explained.

While there may not be any more infrastructure funding coming their way, Mr. Graham was buoyed by the inclusion in the April 1 Ontario Budget of a 2.1 percent increase for hospital operational funding. The Ontario Hospital Association has indicated it believes Ontario hospitals will see the money as promised, something the CEO calls "particularly good news."

With costs associated with unionized workers and pharmaceuticals rising, operational costs at the MHC are rising between 3 and 3.5 percent. The 2.1 percent promised by the government won't entirely cover those rising costs, but Mr. Graham is hopeful that there will be an additional adjustment to compensate for the increase.

In the meantime, the hospital is being proactive in prioritizing projects and aiming to work within the parameters laid out by the ministry.

"We're able to make the operating plan this year, and at this point, with 2.1 percent, we're trying to fit our budget within those parameters," Mr. Graham said. "If the funding goes forward, it's needed and welcome."

Manitowaning welcomes new MD to round out Family Health Team

by Heather Pennie

MANITOWANING-The doctor is in. And those who use the services of the Assiginack Medical Clinic will be breathing a sigh of relief now that they will once again have a family doctor.

Doctor Leigh Davis, who has been the practising physician one day per week at the Assiginack clinic since October of 2008, has signed a one-year contract with the clinic. Dr. Davis will now be working in Manitowaning four days per week, with one day per week allocated to serving in the emergency room, which will allow her to maintain connections with other Island doctors.

Although patients of the clinic have had their health needs met on an ongoing basis by a registered nurse and nurse practitioner, the community has been without a full-time doctor since the resignation of Dr. Marlene Spruyt in late summer of 2008.

According to Dr. Davis, she did not end up in Manitowaning by chance. "I was working in Little Current as a locum-the community (Assiginack) needed a family doctor, and I was recruited," she said, emphasizing that there was some very "active recruitment" that led her to enlist with the Assiginack team.

The Assiginack Family Health Team, which includes administrator Sandra Pennie, Mary Sutherland as office staff, nurse practitioner Joanne Mellan, and registered nurse Lianne Hovingh, is delighted to welcome Dr. Davis aboard. Having a full-time doctor will allow the clinic to maintain a broader scope of practice, including the prescribing of a greater number of medications and minor in-office medical procedures.

Dr. Davis elucidated upon the importance of having a doctor in the clinic. "After working here, I know that the community needs a physician-there is a need," she affirmed.

The physician went on to identify the current Health Canada initiative, which is prevention. "Having a physician on staff allows us to do a lot of preventative care and be proactive," she said.

Further benefits of a staff physician are the ability to roster more patients, and shorter wait times. The team noted that children are definitely a priority for the clinic, and often parents can get their children in to see someone quite quickly at the clinic, rather than having to wait in emergency at the hospital.

Parent Christina Balfe, a regular clinic patron, concurs, and is excited to hear that there will be the addition of one late clinic per week. This will allow those with hectic work schedules easier access to the clinic's services.

"It's wonderful to be able to book appointments at later times in the day, especially when you work and have small children," she said.

Previously, Dr. Davis was practising medicine in an urban centre, and decided that rural medicine was what she wanted to undertake. The calibre of medical care on Manitoulin is a real positive for Dr. Davis, and part of the attraction for her.

"I like working here because the health care is so good, and so many services are offered," she said. "That's why I decided to come."

Reeve Leslie Fields expressed her pleasure with Dr. Davis's decision: "The town is very fortunate that Dr. Davis agreed to come here for a year...and now we have a year to convince her to stay!"

Health team offers space for methadone clinic as

alternative to location in downtown Little Current

by Jim Moodie

LITTLE CURRENT-While members of both the health sector and the broader community seem to agree that a Manitoulin-based methadone practice is needed to address opiate-dependency issues among the Island populace, the question of where this clinic should be located is creating some debate.

Judy Miller, director of the Northeast Manitoulin Family Health Team in Little Current, said her clinic has offered space to the Espanola physician who is planning to expand his addiction-treatment program to the Island, but the plan as of last week was still to incorporate this service into a local pharmacy.

That setting, in the view of Ms. Miller, is not ideal, particularly if it means clients will utilize a separate entrance to access treatment in a definable area of the facility.

"With a hospital, you go into a building where the treatment you're getting is irrelevant unless you share it with someone in the waiting room," she noted. "If this service is being offered, I would personally try to piggyback it on a generalized service, so you aren't identified going into a one-location site."

The health-team director welcomes the idea of a methadone program being made more readily available to Island patients, and wouldn't oppose a clinic being located on a commercial street, as long as the venue was appropriate. "The whole idea of where you house the program is to create improved access," she said. "It doesn't bother me that it might be downtown."

In this case, though, she worries that client dignity might be compromised, since those visiting a pharmacy-based service would likely be funneled through a separate area of the store, potentially stigmatizing them as a specific type of customer.

"I personally don't think that's in the best interest of the patients," she said. "I think you have to make sure that the access you're offering isn't illness- or treatment-specific."

Ms. Miller spoke with both the physician and the pharmacist who have been developing a plan for the methadone site two weeks ago, via a conference call, to reiterate her clinic's offer of space for the program and her position on the matter, but as of late last week had not heard a definitive answer to her proposal.

Earlier this spring the proponents of the methadone clinic for Little Current were invited by the town's Business Improvement Area (BIA) to explain how the service would operate, with a half-dozen downtown merchants in attendance for the meeting.

Those present "were generally supportive of the concept," said BIA chair Rick McCutcheon. "However, there was a mixture of concerns about the location."

A couple of the downtown store owners "were unequivocally supportive" of the clinic being housed in the chosen locale, he said, while others felt a front-street location would be a deterrent to those seeking treatment. One storekeeper was strongly opposed to the idea, feeling such a service would jar with the atmosphere of the commercial strip.

The Expositor has made attempts to speak with both the doctor and the owner of the drugstore, but calls were not returned.

Methadone is already being dispensed on Manitoulin, and consumed in the presence of health professionals at pharmacy outlets, so the issue is not about providing the substance to those approved for the treatment.

The problem is that clients also need to see a doctor who specializes in addictions, along with support staff, on a regular basis for ongoing assessment and urine tests, and to date they have had to travel to Espanola, or Sudbury, to fulfill such requirements. Were a physician licensed to oversee methadone treatment to set up a clinic on the Island, this would meet a local need for more timely and affordable care.

Ms. Miller said the health-team facility attached to the Manitoulin Health Centre has a vacant office, with attached washroom, that could be utilized, free of charge, one day per week to provide such a service. And additional resources could be supplied by a social worker affiliated with the health team, along with counselling support through staff of the withdrawal management program operated through the health centre.

The physician would have to provide some staffing of his own, such as a registered practical nurse, but Ms. Miller feels the option remains quite workable and appropriate, plus would fit into a broader mandate of the health team.

"We at this clinic believe we have to develop a chronic pain management program, and we're hoping that methadone could be a part of that cluster," she said.

Methadone is a synthetic analgesic, generally consumed in a liquid form, which eases withdrawal symptoms among addicts of opiates-a family that includes prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet-and acts as a bridge to becoming drug-free. It has its critics, but is generally seen to be an effective treatment for such addictions, and is fully sanctioned by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Manitoulin counts a disproportionate number of people struggling with painkiller dependencies, enough so that all of the Island's physicians convened last week to discuss how medication of this type might be prescribed in a more effective way.

The meeting was spurred by the tragedy that occurred in Wikwemikong in late January, which is presumed to have had a drug-related cause.

"It all stems around the shooting in Wiky two months ago," said Little Current physician Stephen Cooper. "Chief and council started approaching physicians to see what we could do to reduce abuse."

That misuse of painkillers was prevalent on Manitoulin was not a surprise to either community leaders or physicians. Dr. Cooper noted that, "even prior to that, health-care providers were concerned about an inappropriate use of pain medications." But the fatal event in Wiky brought the concern to a head for many people.

The meeting of Manitoulin doctors was initiated by Mindemoya physician Kevin O'Connor, who worked previously in an Aboriginal health clinic in Toronto that had some success in curbing prescription-drug abuse by employing different prescription protocols.

No decisions were made at the Manitoulin meeting of medical staff last week, said Dr. Cooper, but generally the group came away with a goal to "prescribe medication better, so there are less mistakes and less inappropriate uses of the medication."

In his own view, simply prescribing less won't solve the problem, as many patients legitimately require the medication, and the potential for misuse of these opiate-based drugs won't go away simply because there are fewer pills floating around.

"You can reduce the supply, but that doesn't change the demand," he said. "It's a community issue that drives the demand."

Solving the root problems of opiate abuse will involve a broader strategy involving not just doctors but social workers, law enforcers, educators-a whole spectrum of Island society, he suggested.

"The hard part for me is that it's not like we're idiots, and just give people drugs," said Dr. Cooper. "Clearly there are problems. But if nobody wanted to buy prescription drugs, there would be no demand, and (any surplus pills) would just get flushed away like antibiotics."

Island doctors welcome the idea of a methadone program being based on Manitoulin, and those in Little Current have endorsed the concept of it being operated through the health-team venue. "The physicians feel it would be a great marriage," said Ms. Miller.

A clinic for methadone patients could also be set up "in Wikwemikong or some other location," she suggested, with clients in this outlying area attended to in the morning, and others accommodated at the Little Current site in the afternoon and evening.

"Our preference is that it would be on one day, but it might grow bigger than one day a week in the future," she said.

Hosting the methadone service at the health-team facility would "allow the patient some level of confidentiality," she said. "I have a personal problem if it's an alleyway entrance because I don't think you should isolate someone because of an illness."

Ms. Miller stressed that she welcomes the extension of the service. "I totally support it coming here," she said. "And the feedback I've gotten is that (this doctor) really advocates well for his patients and is very qualified in what he provides."

But the location of the service should be given careful consideration, in her view, not so much because of how that might impact the business community, or others in the community with a possible aversion to recovering addicts in their midst, but how it will affect the clients themselves.

"I think a great start would be to ask the patients where they would feel most comfortable going," said Ms. Miller.

Recently explored Lake Huron sinkholes host ancient life

by Jim Moodie

LAKE HURON-In the whimsical ditty "There's A Hole In The Bottom Of The Sea," a frog on a log turns out to inhabit a suboceanic nook, but researchers are finding even weirder stuff in a real hole at the bottom of Lake Huron.

In late February, scientists studying unique depressions in the lake floor near Alpena, Michigan, revealed that these sinkholes, as they're called, contain mats of brilliant purple bacteria and other types of ancient microbial life that hark back to the very dawn of the planet, and were never thought to exist in the Great Lakes.

They do exist elsewhere, but nowhere similar, being otherwise confined to such disparate and extreme environments as the frozen lakes of Antarctica and the vents and seeps found at the very bottom of oceans-places where no light penetrates at all, and life thrives independent of photosynthesis.

That sinkholes might occur in this part of Lake Huron wasn't a huge surprise in itself, given the surrounding landscape, said Bopaiah Biddanda, an aquatic microbial ecologist with Grand Valley State University, and one of the leading sinkhole studiers. "The Alpena area has a tremendous amount of Karst limestone (as occurs on Manitoulin), and there are many on-land sinkholes and shallow coastal sinkholes," he told The Expositor.

But the location of these particular holes, and the life forms they are now known to accommodate, did come as a shock to researchers. "Active, submerged sinkholes in deep water are a recent discovery," said Dr. Biddanda. "And no-one had studied and described the brilliant life hiding in these areas of low oxygen and high sulfate."

The ecologist, along with other scientists funded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association in the US, has been plumbing these strange depths over the past few years. And a recent paper on their findings, published in Eos, the journal of the American Geophysical Union, evokes a biological netherworld that had previously gone unremarked in the Great Lakes.

The purple micro-organisms found here, called cyanobacteria, "grow like a carpet on the lake floor," said Dr. Biddanda, spreading their vivid tendrils over areas that range "from room-sized to the size of a football field." In the deeper sinkholes, the life forms are less colourful, but just as unusual. "We are finding white mats of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, where organic matter is produced without sunlight, similar to what you might see on ocean bottoms where there are geothermal vents."

Such organisms relate "to the ancient shallow seas where life originated," said the scientist, and carry a primordial stamp. "It's really providing a window into the past."

The sinkholes were discovered in 2001 by scientists looking for shipwrecks in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, an area off the coast of Michigan that is about 100 kilometres southwest of Manitoulin.

"While mapping the shipwrecks they accidentally ran into these deep-water holes," said Dr. Biddanda. "They were using a gauge that tests for depth, temperature and conductivity, and noticed a very high conductivity near the bottom, which could only be an indication of groundwater."

The presence of such aquifer-fed caverns caught the attention of Dr. Biddanda and other aquatic scientists, who began exploring the pits themselves, using their own divers and submersibles. If you visit the website of the Annis Water Resources Institute, a research organization operating under the auspices of Grand Valley State University, you can even watch a video of "a remote-operated vehicle moving through the cloudy layer above the microbial mats" of one of these holes, found 93 metres below the surface.

The flow of groundwater is palpable for those who descend into these chasms. "You can sense it," said Dr. Biddanda. "You can see filaments wafting in the current, and at one site our students surfed down what we are calling an underwater waterfall, where water is filling a rocky bowl and spilling out into the larger lake."

The sinkholes support few fish species, being almost entirely deprived of oxygen (or anoxic, in science speak), but do host species that tolerate salt, a substance that occurs in strange abundance in these underwater caves.

Saltwater in Lake Huron? We can hear Samuel De Champlain, who dubbed Huron a "sweetwater sea," rolling over in his grave. But it's true: this freshwater lake has some briny holes at its bottom.

The researchers don't entirely understand how these salty pockets formed, but believe that water bubbling up from below and passing through the ancient sea floor underlying Lake Huron-originally, this whole area was covered by ocean, after all-has picked up some residual minerals along the way.

"The bedrock is 400 million years old, of the paleozoic time," noted Dr. Biddanda. "When the seabed dried up it left salt behind, and the groundwater here is coming up through this ancient limestone bedrock, so it's high in sulfates, chlorides and carbonates. It's carrying the signature of the ancient sea."

These unusual ecosystems are so far the only ones to be found in the Great Lakes, but the hunch is that more likely exist, particularly in the middle and lower lakes, where a limestone bed, with aquifers beneath, allow for the possibility of holes being bored from below.

Locating them, on the other hand, would be difficult. "It's nearly impossible," said Dr. Biddanda. "It's like looking for a needle in a haystack."

In the meantime, the team assigned to the study of Lake Huron's known sinkholes will be continuing their investigations over the summer, keeping a sharp eye out for any microbe or species that has eluded Great Lakes researchers to date.

While fish "can't make it in there, and try to get out," and imported round gobies seem be the only invertebrate with any tolerance for the dense, anoxic water, "there seem to be small insects and worms that have incorporated the pigment of the mats, and we're interested in studying those," said Dr. Biddanda. "They could be whole new organisms or known organisms that have found a way to work themselves into the ecosystem and acquire a symbiotic relationship with the mats."

Further study of these environments could also yield useful information about carbon capture, which has become an increasingly pertinent issue as our atmosphere deteriorates from man-made emissions.

The rug-like stuff that grows in these deep-water holes does so in surprising volume and with great resilience-if disturbed, it will grow back in a couple of months-and in the process acts as a carbon sink, transferring carbon down into the murky lakebed below.

The mats "are really effective at storing carbon in the sediments," said Dr. Biddanda. "So we may have something to learn from how efficient they are at sequestering carbon."

EDITORIAL

Methadone an issue that belongs in medical setting

The news that Manitoulin Island should soon have its own methadone clinic-where a medical specialist will be able to meet with clients who have developed a dependency on opiates, including prescription drugs like Percocet, OxyContin and the more potent varieties of over-the-counter painkillers-is welcome. People suffering chronic pain may opt directly for a methadone program and the practice will accommodate these clients as well.

The alleged murder of Clarence Lewis in Wikwemikong in the late winter has been associated by police officials with the desperate measures-and tragic consequences-that some drug-dependent individuals feel they must risk in order to satisfy their bodies' cravings.

People with these needs may instead use methadone, a controlled legal drug, to replace the wide range of opium-based drugs that many people obtain on the street at prices at or even above what the underground market will bear, based on supply and demand.

Individuals who opt for the methadone treatment remain addicted, but they will no longer need to be anxious about where or when they will obtain their street drugs (and how they will pay for them, as the methadone program is paid for by Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care) and, since they are on a methadone specialist's roster, they can also begin a controlled, supervised weaning from their dependencies.

A local, Manitoulin methadone referral centre means that those people referred to this program by their local doctors, helping agencies or themselves, will no longer be required to travel to Espanola or to Sudbury for consultation (the Northern Ontario Medical Travel Grant does not apply to methadone clients).

Methadone is already dispensed, and has been for some time, with the required supervision at one of the pharmacies in each of Little Current and Gore Bay, but now clients will be able to visit a physician for mandatory follow-up and screenings at a local treatment office.

All of this is good news that should help more people who have tragically become addicted to some form of opium-based drug to at least manage their problems, and to even mitigate them, in a socially responsible way. It is also good news for people suffering from chronic pain who need ongoing relief.

There remains, however, the question of the location of the clinic where methadone patients and potential methadone patients would meet with the medical specialist, Dr. Brian Dressler, or with his staff for the initial and ongoing assessments and consultations that are part of this treatment.

Dr. Dressler has been offered free office space in the new Northeastern Manitoulin Family Health Team offices adjacent to the Manitoulin Health Centre in Little Current. But he is also considering office space in downtown Little Current that clients would access directly from the town's front street.

We would not presume to comment on a particular business's decision to create commercial office space. Business is business and an entrepreneur takes advantage of opportunities when they arise.

But the decision is Dr. Dressler's to make and, since he has a clear choice, it would make sense to opt for the location that, everything else being equal, offers the most comfortable environment for his clients and their families.

Many of these clients are already under a great deal of stress because of their addictions and/or the chronic pain for which the addicting medication was prescribed in the first place, and it would make far more sense for them to simply be part of the general population in the busy waiting room of the Family Health Team where they could be on their way to see anyone associated with the various medical disciplines there.

In addition, the Family Health Team also includes a social worker and the Manitoulin Health Centre's Community Withdrawl Management Service is a related resource that already works closely with the Family Health Team. A methadone clinic operating as part of the Family Health Team would be able to offer its clients the advantages of these wraparound services.

In contrast, locating a methadone clinic in Little Current's downtown business core would appear to offer primarily disadvantages to its clients.

In a world obsessed with privacy, such a location would offer a comparative lack of privacy to methadone clients as the community sees who is entering or leaving a particular storefront location whose function will quickly become well known.

Most, if not all, of the clientele of a methadone clinic-especially, one can imagine, first-time, self-referral visitors-will not want to share the burden of this particular problem with the world.

If their option is to access this service in a fishbowl, they may easily perceive they are being shamed, even humiliated, in the process.

And shame is a particularly potent emotion that, in this case, could easily lead to much less use of the facility than has been anticipated.

In Espanola, Dr. Dressler has a similar outreach practice. It is located at Espanola's Family Health Team offices and, according to a letter sent by Espanola Family Health Team manager Charlene Smith to members of the Little Current Business Improvement Area when they met with Dr. Dressler to hear about his plans should he opt for a downtown location, his Espanola practice blends seamlessly with the rest of the activity at the Family Health Team there.

Dr. Dressler's useful service to Manitoulin Island should similarly be headquartered at the Northeastern Manitoulin Family Health Team offices, in a medical environment, if it is to be viewed as the benign and client-friendly operation that it is clearly meant to be.

To render these clients, at least in their own minds, as something of a public spectacle should a downtown location be chosen for the clinic's location is counterintuitive and, predictably, will also be counterproductive.

The notion of a methadone practice on Manitoulin Island must be viewed as a humanitarian venture. Sadly, the positive vision of such an undertaking will be sullied if its clients are required to run the gauntlet of public scrutiny in order to meet the terms of the treatment regimen.

Letters to the Editor

Island retains high awareness across globe

Marketing plan needs unified voice to succeed

To the Expositor:

Re the April 8 article entitled "Unified marketing voice recommended for Island."

For over 35 years I've had the good fortune to work with many of the world's most prominent brands, and the advertising agencies that help promote them. Household names like Kraft, Colgate, McDonald's, Tim Hortons, Labatt's, and even The Olympic Games. One thing I've learned is that success is most often a consequence of high awareness and a very clear USP (unique selling proposition).

My business practice regularly takes me from my Providence Bay/Toronto homes to the four corners of the globe and I'm always pleasantly surprised at the high awareness that Manitoulin Island enjoys. However, rarely is there clarity about what the Island offers.

The group, association or committee that is eventually tasked with the job of promoting Manitoulin Island must, in my experience, do so with a unified voice.

Barry Snetsinger

Providence Bay and Toronto

Congratulations to Cecil King, education award recipient

Brother has been excellent example for siblings to follow

To the Expositor:

The following is an open letter of congratulations to former Wikwemikong resident Cecil King, a recent recipient of the 2009 Aboriginal Achievement Award in Education.

Congratulations to the great achiever, our brother.

Cecil, we would like to say, from your brother Don and your sisters Loretta and I (Elizabeth), our profound and warmest congratulations on your recognition and achievement of having received the 2009 Aboriginal Achievement Award in Education. You deserve it.

You are a tireless worker, always willing to help others, and you have a reservoir of knowledge you are ever willing to share. You excelled at a very early age, right from our little one-room Buzwah Indian Day School. You could even draw a better Robin Hood than any of us, you were always a leader. Our mom would have been really proud of you, thinking that at last you would be getting a job.

You have been a great inspiration, counsellor, and educator and have a very generous mind and are always willing to help. We thank you for helping us and for your genuine interest in our endeavours, our jobs, and in furthering our education since Buzwah school. We are like three little bears groping at your feet and now that we have our own children and grandchildren, you seem to have the same keen interest in them. Your work is not done-you have these little creatures to counsel and educate. Education is your forte, which is good as you have taught so many over the years.

I remember "Pa," our grandfather, once asking you how you were doing when you first started to teach and you said you really enjoyed it and there is so much to learn. Pa then said, "Cecil don't ever let the stream run dry." You have certainly heeded his advice.

Cecil, once again, congratulations and we wish you our very best. You are the ideal of a big brother.

Donald, Loretta and Elizabeth

Mr. King's siblings

Island wreck better case for Griffon than Michigan find

Stick in mud could just as easily be piece of Noah's Ark

To the Expositor:

RE: "Mystery of LaSalle's Griffon protracted by legal wrangling over Michigan Wreck" (March 25), and "Michigan now talking with France over title to historic shipwreck" (April 8).

Poor old Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle, usually called just plain "LaSalle," is about to turn over in his grave for the umpteenth time. Both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron have claimed his ill-fated pride and joy-this his beaver skin-laden ship bound for fame and fortune. The Griffon was the first commercial sailboat to sail the Great Lakes in 1679. Books have been written, dozens of wrecks have been claimed to be the Griffon, and the true mystery of the ship still remains. Even LaSalle never knew for sure just what happened to his courageous adventure in the lucrative fur industry with France that lasted 200 years.

I read with renewed interest the accounting of Steve Libert, in The Detroit Free Press and The Manitoulin Expositor, regarding his face mask encountering a "stick in the mud" somewhere in the expanse of Lake Michigan. After serious deliberating, he declared it must be the bowsprit of the ill-fated Griffon. With no disrespect intended, I can remain silent no longer.

Leaving the French government, Michigan jurisdiction rights, The Detroit Free Press and recently founded Great Lakes Exploration interests out of the equation, this "stick in the mud," for lack of sufficient evidence, could just as easily be a remnant of Noah's Ark. Literally hundreds of wrecks adorn the shores of the Great Lakes, some new, some old, all fascinating.

Among numerous others, my father, Richard P. Tappenden, and Frank Myers-both deceased, and formerly of Cleveland, Ohio-spent over 40 years investigating the wreck site on the West End of Manitoulin Island, along with Jesuit records in France, as did Commander McDonald, president of Zenith Radio, and the Historical Journal of Inland Seas. All concluded the numerous remains, including the skeletons at the scene of the wreck, were that of the Griffon and its crew. The only evidence lacking-then, and still-are the cannons the Griffon was reported to have had aboard.

At the time my picture was taken-around 1935, when I was seven-sitting on a significant portion of the wreck, it was quite difficult to remove any large portion of this artifact. The distance along the shore from the wreck to the Mississagi Lighthouse was about a mile. Only a mere vestige of a road connected the lighthouse to what is now Highway 540. There was, and still is, a rugged, boulder-strewn beach between the wreck site and the lighthouse. Strips of lead caulking, long iron bolts and a small portion of massive timbers were recovered and brought back to our camp near Gore Bay. Most timbers at the wreck were at least 10-feet long and roughly eight-inches square. Photographs of the wreck will confirm this. Tales of fishermen recovering quantities of lead strips that had been used for caulking timbers were used again on their fishing nets. Handmade steel nuts and bolts were traced back to a unique smeltering process in France. These were on the beach for the taking in 1935.

I was there, on two occasions with my father, and helped search for artifacts. As mentioned, the Inland Seas Journal had several articles describing the find. Commander McDonald, the president of Zenith Radio at the time, and the only person to take his own private yacht to both the North Pole and the South Pole with Byrd and Perry, tried to recover the remains of the wreck. At that time, significant portions of the timbers had been blown off the shore of Manitoulin. In 1939 a violent storm blew the remaining wreckage off shore into the turbulent waters, 200-feet deep or more, of the Mississagi Strait.

Photographs were made of these artifacts by Mr. Myers, my father, and others investigating the wreck, in a serious effort to disclose its true identity. The skeletons from the caves nearby had been kicked off the dock at the lighthouse in deep water. They were in too deep to be recovered at the time. A gold watch was recovered, by the lighthouse keeper of the day, near the wreck, that had origin back to France. Mystery, intrigue and speculation still adorn the real wreck of the Griffon. Find the brass cannons the Griffon had aboard, and the mystery will come to a logical conclusion.

Lacking the brass cannons, I recently, on March 31, sent a piece of the timber I have from the wreck to be carbon dated. The laboratory I selected is the only professional radiocarbon-dating laboratory that is "QA qualified" for work at sensitive United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Department of Energy (DOE) sites. This laboratory participates in all recognized international radiocarbon intercalibration studies, such as IAEA, TIRI, FIRI and VIRI.

I look for the results of their findings, sometime in May of this year. I look forward to their findings and trust the results will help shed light on the authenticity of the wreck and crew that met their fate on perhaps the West End of Manitoulin Island.

Dick Tappenden, Sr.

Hudson, Ohio