Foiled truck heist ends when Little Current man stabbed by

teenage girl, police allege

Three female youth face weapon charges

by Jim Moodie

LITTLE CURRENT-A Little Current man is recovering from stab wounds and three female youth face weapon-related charges after a truck theft was thwarted on Sunday night.

Around 8 pm, the individual's wife noticed three young women in the couple's backyard on Campbell Street East. The trio proceeded to climb into the man's truck, in which the keys had been left, and steer the vehicle into the garage.

The owner confronted the driver as she was about to reverse the truck and told her to stop, according to police. At this point, one of the other youth began striking him from behind and slashing him on the hand and back with a sharp instrument. He also received stabs to his arm and head.

"His wife had called 911 as he went out to investigate, and by the time police arrived, he was still apprehending the one youth," said Constable Al Boyd, communications officer with the Manitoulin OPP. The other two fled on foot, but "were apprehended shortly thereafter."

During the altercation, the homeowner managed to radio the Little Current  Fire Department, of which he's a member, to request assistance.

He was treated in hospital for his wounds, which required stitches, but were not life threatening.

Found at his home on Monday, sporting a bandage on his right arm and a nasty-looking gash on the finger of his left hand, the stabbing victim cautiously shared a few details about the experience but said he would prefer not to be identified or quoted.

As of press time, police couldn't specify the exact type of weapon used. "What I can say is that an edged instrument was used, and there were stab wounds and cuts," said Constable Boyd.

Three female youth, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were taken into custody by police and appeared in youth bail court in Gore Bay on Monday. Constable Boyd said that none of the girls is from Manitoulin Island originally.

A 14-year-old female has been charged with assault and robbery with a weapon, while the two other youths have been charged with robbery with a weapon.

On Monday, police learned that another vehicle on Campbell Street had been been entered on Sunday. Constable Boyd believes the incidents are linked, and that the youth may have checked a number of vehicles in the area before finding one with keys in it.

"We've been saying for years, people need to lock vehicles and not leave their keys in the vehicle," stressed Constable Boyd. "While Manitoulin is a relatively safe community, an incident like this is fairly serious, so for safety concerns, people really have to be more cautious."

He added that homeowners should resist the urge to confront thieves. "It's not worth putting your life on the line to do it," he said. "A vehicle can be recovered. In this case luckily the wounds were superficial, but when there's a weapon like this, an artery could be cut or someone could lose an eye."

$2.5 million to region's hospital should free up acute-care beds

by Jim Moodie

SUDBURY-Sudbury Regional Hospital was awarded 24 additional beds last week as part of a new provincial commitment to help hospitals dealing with a surplus of alternative level of care (ALC) patients.

"These are transitional beds to relieve the situation we have now in Sudbury," said Mathilde Gravelle-Bazinet, chair of the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) for the northeast region, while adding that Sudbury will not be the only hospital to receive such assistance. "There's a special program being finalized in Toronto to provide funding to 30 hospitals, including the four in our district, for transitional beds and services in the community."

Sudbury received its portion of this outlay first, said Ms. Gravelle-Bazinet, because "this hospital is in the most critical situation." But North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins also face challenges in reducing the number of ALC patients taking up spaces, often at the expense of people requiring acute care and surgery, in their hospitals.

"Our four hospitals in the northeast have been identified as having the highest number of ALC patients, because we don't have enough long-term care beds," said the LHIN chair.

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) has pledged to provide "up to $2.5 million" for Sudbury's transitional beds, said Ms. Gravelle-Bazinet, qualifying that the spaces are considered interim and the dollar figure isn't firm because "it will depend on how long those beds have to stay open."

Her organization is pleased that the MOHLTC has responded to their call for immediate help. "We had been discussing this problem with the ministry for some time," she noted. "Three weeks ago the minister came to our region, and I discussed with him the seriousness of the situation."

At the same time, Ms. Gravelle-Bazinet argues that "the solution is not to keep pumping money into hospitals, but to provide services in the community."

Keeping older patients in hospitals is far from cost-effective, she pointed out. "It's about $600 a day to fund a bed in a hospital, compared to maybe $60 a day for a personal service worker to provide a couple of hours of care in someone's home."

It's also unfair to the patients, she added, as a hospital is "not the right setting" for those who fall into the ALC category. "Most of them are seniors, and it's not pleasant for them to be moved from one bed to another. They would be better served going back into an apartment with homecare services, or to a retirement home or assisted-living facility."

The funding for transitional spaces comes on the heels of an earlier announcement that $288,000 would be provided to Sudbury Regional to implement a "wraparound" approach to ALC discharge plans, similar to a model that has proven effective in Timmins.

"Timmins looked at the patients they had in ALC beds and they were able to decrease their ALC occupancy by 40 percent," said the LHIN board chair. "This success story shows that there are solutions in the community if the hospital is willing to work in collaborative ways with its community partners, including the Community Care Access Centre, support services and personal support workers."

Sudbury Regional had the opportunity to apply for wraparound funding last spring, noted Ms. Gravelle-Bazinet, through what is called a Flow Collaborative program, but opted not to at that time. "Now they've seen what happened in Timmins," she said.

The backlog of ALC patients in Sudbury reached a crisis point earlier this month, with over 120 beds being taken up by people who didn't really require hospitalization, but couldn't find appropriate accommodation elsewhere. With its emergency room overflowing and surgeries being cancelled for lack of bed space, the hospital took the drastic moving of closing its doors to regional referrals.

Derek Graham, CEO of the Manitoulin Health Centre (MHC), said this resulted in a scramble at first for staff of the two Island hospitals, and inconvenience for some patients and their families, but the situation has improved of late.

"There was a period of five to six days when it was quite difficult, and we did have one case where we had to transfer someone right out of the region," he said. "But certainly over the last week we've experienced a lessening of issues from our end with arranging transfers."

While the restriction on regional patients hasn't been entirely lifted, the Sudbury hospital is taking in those who require urgent care, and Mr. Graham anticipates the crunch will ease as time goes by. "These things do ebb and flow," he said.

Vickie Kaminski, CEO of Sudbury Regional, welcomed last week's announcement concerning transitional-bed funding. "This is good and encouraging news for patients, staff and physicians," she said in a release. "We are working together, and we are building momentum among our partners to find the solutions our system requires."

The hospital's chief of staff, Dr. Chris McKibbon, said Sudbury Regional's physicians are committed to "remain at the table and continue to offer our input," but warned that "there remains much work to be done in ensuring an effective and sustainable solution."

The pitch to the province for transitional-bed funding was made by the northeast LHIN, but based on a recommendation from board members and medical staff at the Sudbury hospital. "It's what the hospital told us was the capacity at Sudbury Regional," said Ms. Gravelle-Bazinet.

Speaking last Friday, she said it was her understanding that the new spaces "could be open in a matter of a couple of days," meaning the beds are likely operational by now.

"We've had full collaboration from the province, and we're pleased to see that Sudbury Regional will be working with community agencies," said the LHIN board chair. "They realize they can't solve the problem on their own."

Little Current site of rut battle during hunt week

Passing on young bucks will lead to healthier gender ratio, argues deer-management rep

by Jim Moodie

MANITOULIN-If you've been on a deer hunt, you've probably seen someone with a pair of antlers draped around their neck, or been that person yourself. It isn't some kind of bush-chic fashion statement or pre-Christmas Rudolph impersonation: the idea is that, if you clap these bony castanets together, the sound will approximate that of a pair of bucks doing combat, and lure another rack-bearing beast into range.

It's all about the rut, which happens to coincide each year with the November gun hunt. At this time, "you'll see a lot more movement of deer looking for mates," notes Jamie Stewart, a wildlife biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). "Bucks will mark their territories by rubbing trees and scraping the ground, because they want to entice does into that area, and they will also fight and spar with each other."

Hunters know this, and indeed count on the more randy behaviour of bucks to translate into sporting success-if their antler-tapping inducement doesn't work, there's always a chance that one of these doe-crazed studs will stray into their sights-yet it's rare for a hunter to actually see a couple of bucks duking it out over turf and tending (as we say, in hunter parlance, to mean inseminating) rights.

Remarkably, one such ritual was played out last Monday-the opening day of deer season-on the edge of Little Current. A motorist just happened to be driving along Highway 6 near the hydro building when he saw a big, 10-point buck moving with purpose through an adjacent field. Moments later, another 10-point buck appeared, and the two, oblivious to the observer's presence, crashed together in a blur of grunts and antlers.

The tussle lasted 20 minutes, long enough for the watcher and a colleague to grab a camera each and record it both through still images (like the ones illustrating this story) and video (which is rather shaky, but interesting because you can hear the noise of the racks clashing together and even the snorting exhalations). The bucks were a mere 50 yards away, but didn't seem too concerned about the human spectators: these big ungulates were focussed entirely on asserting their rung on the reproductive ladder.

"They're showing dominance, who's the boss," says Rob Seifried, a Kagawong hunter and representative of the local Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) chapter. "There's probably a doe there somewhere, so they will basically fight for her."

The irony is that the fight itself will often result in the combatants missing out on the love action. "The big guys are so concerned about their territory that a younger guy will often sneak in and breed the doe while the other guys are fighting," notes Mr. Seifried.

While the rut seems to be connected to the onset of cold weather, it's actually a shift in daylight that sets the breeding season in motion. "As the daylight decreases, this change in the photoperiod (the length of a day) triggers something in deer," explains Mr. Stewart. "There may be variations with cold and snow, but the breeding period itself is pretty consistent, and it usually does fall in November."

The waning light stirs a sexual drive in bucks, but also a corresponding fertility in does, who simultaneously go into heat. The females may be ready for a breeding partner, but they're pretty picky about which fella they'll accept. "They'll be looking for the most suitable mate," says Mr. Stewart. "It's a clichZ, but they want the biggest and strongest."

Mr. Seifried has observed a lot of ruts over the years, and can date the one on Manitoulin quite accurately. "It's around November 1 that they really get going," he says. "About this time (i.e., the week of the hunt), it will be at its peak, and then dwindle off." The whole thing, he says, "lasts about five weeks."

Throughout the summer months, bucks "will run in bachelor groups," the hunter says, which we're picturing as a kind of cervine equivalent to those groups of high-school buddies who aren't quite ready to find a girlfriend, let alone fight over her.

That all changes, for deer, anyway, when the photo period shrinks and hormones kick into high gear. During the pre-rut phase in September and October, the bachelor groups begin to break up, and by November these bucks are in full-on solo mode, charging around and hoping to score with a willing doe. And, from time to time, locking horns with another suitor.

The scraps themselves are infrequently glimpsed. "If you're lucky at that time of year, you will hear the sound off in the distance," says Mr. Stewart. "It's rare to see it close up."

Mr. Seifried has seen a few of these buck brawls-one has even occurred right in front of his hunt camp-but admits he's been lucky in this regard. "Not that many get to witness it," he says. For those who do, "it's a pretty awesome battle."

The deer generally don't hurt one another too badly. "It would be uncommon for one to be severely or mortally wounded," says Mr. Stewart. "Typically one will realize it's beat and move on, because it's in its interest to conserve energy and survive."

It's even rarer for two to get their racks tangled up to the point that they can't extricate themselves and one, or both, perish, the MNR biologist says.

That said, "antlers can be pretty sharp," he notes, and it's not unusual to encounter a buck-particularly an old veteran of numerous breeding seasons-whose forehead and flanks are nicked with numerous scrapes and scars.

The pair photographed on the edge of Little Current parted ways without appreciable limps but it was clear from the pictures that blood had been drawn-a red stain was visible near the groin of one of the combatants. Talk about a low blow.

Mr. Seifried says that a second rut will sometimes occur, well into December, but if so, that's a bad sign, as it means that "does are not being bred and the bucks are running too hard." The males expend so much energy attempting to find does and fight off competitors that, if the mating period is protracted, "they'll be the first to die off in a hard winter."

It's also hard on the mothers and offspring, as ideally conception would occur before the end of November, with the fawns born early in the spring. The gestation period for an expectant doe, according to Mr. Stewart, is "six to seven months."

Generally speaking, "each buck should breed five does," Mr. Seifried notes. "People think they can breed 12, but that's not really possible, because the rut is only five weeks and it takes a week to find a doe and breed her."

Come spring, a doe will give birth to one or two, occasionally three, fawns. By fall, "the fawns of that year are not yet sexually mature," so won't be involved in the mating period, notes Mr. Stewart. Bucks born the previous spring and referred to as yearlings-although technically they're now a year-and-a-half old-"may be ready to breed, but it's unlikely," the MNR biologist says. "Once they get to be a couple of years old, though, they're by all means in the mix."

While these young bucks may be potential breeders, Mr. Seifried believes they should not be viewed as potential prizes. "If it's two to three years old, I pass on it myself," he says. "I want the age class to get older."

According to QDMA principles, it's better to spare the spike bucks and adolescent males (even if they have a few points on the rack) in the interest of evening out the ratio of does to bucks, and allow for these still-growing guys to grow bigger. "You'll hear on the Island that deer are getting runty," says Mr. Seifried. "The reason they're small is that they're not surviving enough to get old and reach their full potential."

Hunters generally prefer to bag a buck, but that doesn't help the general health of the herd, according to Mr. Seifried. While the ratio between females and males is difficult to firmly state, the hunter believes that does still outnumber bucks by a significant margin on the Island-anywhere from 3:1 to 10:1-and the ideal scenario is to have two does for every buck.

Were that balance to be achieved, the population would be better served in terms of reproduction and weight gain, he says. At the same time, "you would see more of the fighting and vocalization" that comes with the rut, as more bucks would be competing for fewer does. As it stands, the ratio is so lopsided, in his estimation, that males rarely have to fight for the right to sire a female, because there are simply so many does to choose from.

Bucks fixated on sex can be an easy target, or hard target, depending on the circumstance and your perspective. In Mr. Seifried's opinion, "it's generally a little easier" to shoot a buck in this state, "because they're a little more stupid." A love-struck, turf-defending male "is so into what they're doing, they don't care what's around them-they're in their own world," he says.

A contrary argument can be made, however, that a rutting buck is so wound up that their senses are particularly attuned-not only to the scent of a doe, or the threat of a competitor, but to hunters as well. "They're secretive, alert, travelling alone," notes Mr. Stewart. "A lot of hunters will tell you that bucks are much harder to find and get during deer season."

For those of us who aren't necessarily hunters but might happen to encounter a male duo engaged in a turf war, as a pair of Little Current residents did last week, "the standard messages apply," says the MNR's Mr. Stewart. "With wild animals, it's best to observe them from a distance."

Realistically, though, the chances of being trampled, or gored, by a rutting deer are minimal to non-existent. "Nine out of 10 times they're gone before you ever see them," notes Mr. Stewart.

Cases have occurred where a deer has crashed through the window of a person's house, but that's been mostly confined to the southern US, and can be attributed most often to confusion, as opposed to some urge to invade homes or harm humans. "It's tied to a buck seeing its own reflection," says Mr. Stewart. "Even in those instances, it's not an attack on people."

As for the technique of rattling antlers to provoke a curious, hormone-charged buck (hunters will also make grunting noises to add to their impression of cervine combat), by all means go for it, but don't necessarily expect it to pay immediate dividends.

"You can do that 10 times before you get a buck to buy into it," says Mr. Seifried.

EDITORIAL

Buying locally can help Manitoulin weather recession

This past weekend, speaking from an international meeting dealing with the growing global financial crisis, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made it official. Canada will slip into a recession by year's end.

A recession is defined as a significant decline in economic growth that lasts six months or longer and that six month-period will be shortly upon us.

The last recessionary time for Canadians was officially between 1990 and 1993, although its effects were felt for a couple of years after that.

The recession before that one was in the early 1980s and, for anyone borrowing money, interest rates touched 20 percent. It was a troubling time.

This time, we are facing the pressures of this decade: a collapsing domestic automobile industry, and large American and European banks in disarray due to, in large measure, a degradation of the value of real estate in which these banks had too large a stake.

There is a great deal more at play that is both a cause and an effect of the recession that, by now, most people knew was imminent.

And now the announcement has been made.

Manitoulin Island is by no means insulated from recessionary trends. We are, however, in a unique, self-contained market where at least some of the effects of a recession can be mitigated by co-operative thinking_-and with the corresponding co-operative doing.

This newspaper is forever urging Manitoulin citizens to shop at home, to buy locally, whenever possible.

Well, here it is Christmastime. Presents will be purchased. It's a busy time of the year for the local retail community, and that includes a lot of employees who work in retail.

It's also a busy time of the year for Christmas craft fairs and while several of these annual events have taken place over the past couple of weekends, still others are scheduled for this coming weekend and the one following that.

A glance through this paper's classified 'coming events' section will give details of where and when these are taking place.

Whether it's local retail or home-based crafters, sewers and bakers, the notion of Christmas shopping at home will be a boost to the local economy as it enters troubling times.

It is also, in fact, a way of helping to keep one's neighbours, friends, and relatives employed, as any local shopping means that much more business for our small local stores and home-based operators. And that, in turn, means that employers can afford to keep their workforces.

Christmas is an apt time to point this out because of the amount of gift shopping that people plan to do at this time of the year.

It's also a model: a way of perhaps changing our way of thinking about the effect that local dollars spent locally can, directly and indirectly, help people to pay their taxes, put food on their tables and clothe their children.

On the other side of the equation, local retailers must and should do everything that they can to convince their neighbours to do business with them rather than in more-distant retail communities or via the plethora of catalogues that find their way to many people's mailboxes in October and November.

That means good and fair pricing, windows decorated to please, and staff greeting the public with smiles.

It means good retail sense.

If we can put together this package of ideas-if retailers and shoppers can each think about and respect each other's needs and limitations; if Manitoulin people can view this as an opportunity to co-operate for the common good-it will most certainly lessen the effects of whatever the promised recession brings us.

Letters to the Editor

Time to let go of animosity against labour movement

Letter writer should give new MP a chance

To the Expositor:

This letter to the editor is in response to a letter written by Joe Chapman in which he criticized Carol Hughes and the NDP in the November 19, 2008 edition of The Expositor ("New MP criticized for lack of organization, FedNor stance").

Upon hearing that Carol Hughes had won the federal seat for the NDP in our riding of AMK, I knew that it would not be long before she would come under attack from traditional opposition to her party, but I certainly did not expect someone to try and bash her using her career and, previously, her position with the Canadian Labour Congress as a reason!

It is obvious that Mr. Chapman, for whatever reason, seems to hold animosity toward the labour movement and anyone who is involved in it. Could it be that Mr. Chapman just hasn't let it go yet? And in that I am referring to the not-too-distant past when 'a small band of brothers and sisters' proved to Joe what democracy was really all about.

All Canadians have the constitutional right to be affiliated with whatever political party they choose to. Sometimes your choice of party isn't always inclusive of all aspects that you would like to see. This is my personal situation and I am very open about it. I have been a NDPer for many, many years and was quite active in Ms. Hughes's campaign in the federal election previous to this last election. I have since stepped back from party activities, partly due to the fact that I had a problem with the party's federal leader Jack Layton's vocal opinions on the war in Afghanistan at a time when this country should be non-partisan and 100 percent behind Canadian combat troops until their mission is complete. Just ask any soldier, they will explain it to you! With that said and even though I am up front with my thoughts about Mr. Layton, I am a big fan of Carol Hughes and what she believes in and the values she lives by, and I truly know that she feels for the ordinary Canadian and the struggle we have to keep putting the food on the kitchen table.

Carol Hughes has renewed my faith in the federal NDP!

Most people know that I am a union activist and my belief that the wages of union workers bargained for them by their unions is a very good thing for the economy of this Island and I'll always stand by that statement, but that is not always why I chose the political party that I did; why I did is because I am a husband, father and a worker and I have always worried about keeping the bread and butter on the kitchen table.

So let's give Carol Hughes a chance. She knows well that she is accountable to all her constituents and her fight for the rights of Northerners in this province will not be any smooth road. One thing I know for sure, Carol Hughes is not a quitter-three election campaigns proved that.

Sometimes it is better if folks just learn from the past and move forward in a positive manner.

So, just let it go, Joe!

Greg Young

Sunsite Estates

Ignoring input from experienced Liberals a missed opportunity

Meeting for leadership hopefuls should be open to all

To the Expositor:

Regarding the November 19 editorial, "Liberal leadership contenders miss opportunity to inspire," sadly, your points on this topic ring much too true!

I am a former riding president for the Ontario Liberal Party in southern Ontario and have had my share of experiencing "unheld" ridings.

I moved to Manitoulin two years ago. Prior to the election, I contacted Brent St. Denis's office (and the riding president of record) offering any help, citing the type of experience I could bring to bear. No-one got back to me!

Following the election, I and a large number of concerned parties started a Facebook group supporting StZphane Dion and advocating against an unseemly move to push him out.

When Mr. Dion conceded his image had been fatally wounded-and proposed to stay on as transitional leader-the group changed its focus to pushing for fundamental changes to the Liberal Party and even serious examination of what can be done to unite the centre/left.

I contacted Mr. St. Denis's office again, along with that of the riding president and MPP Mike Brown (in case Brent's Parliament Hill office email had been discontinued), summarizing what we were doing, and asking if they wanted to be kept informed or indeed had any input to this initiative.

To date I have heard nothing back! Yet we have several newly minted and experienced Liberal MPs in our ranks-we have the ear of Doug Ferguson, Liberal Party president, and we have Janine Kreiber (StZphane Dion's spouse) as a member of the group-so clearly, some are taking us seriously!

When the debacle of whether the leadership hopefuls meeting in Mississauga with Ontario riding presidents should be in camera or open to the media arose-the question raised in our ranks was why just the riding presidents-many of them appeared to have fumbled the ball this last time, and many are holdovers from the internecine days of the ChrZtien-Martin squabbles. Shouldn't this meeting be open to all members, including ones with new ideas to reunite the party and move forward? Missed opportunity indeed!

Paul Darlaston

Kagawong

Expositor reader enjoys seeing story about Little Norisle

Rescued cat a refreshing read during hunting season

To the Expositor:

It was so nice to read in The Expositor (especially during hunting week) the story about saving an animal's life ("Ship backers embrace orphaned kitten," November 19) instead of reading about the slaughter of thousands of deer on Manitoulin.

Claire Cline

Spring Bay