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

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

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

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

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

Food bank staff and volunteers congratulated themselves and each other on January 24 as the Build a Mountain Food Campaign for 2009 proved to be a remarkable success.

At the thank-you celebration at Farrell Hall in Perth Hugh Colton of Town and Country Chrysler, also a co-sponsor of the food campaign together with Lake 88.1, the staff announced that this year’s campaign will be huger than last year. The organizers plan to include two areas this year: Merrickville and Seeley’s Bay, increasing the total number of the community participants to 10.

The 2009 campaign gathered a total 20,090 lbs. of food which is comparable to a third of the entire amount of food collected from the city of Ottawa that year. According to Colton, the campaign was a “tremendous” success, and he wants to thank the people who supported it. Furthermore, Colton said that the communities that work together will stay together. He thanked each of those who made the campaign possible.

2009 was indeed full of success for Build a Mountain. Another successful endeavor of theirs was the Build a Mountain of Food Christmas Parade float which participated in parades in Perth, Carleton Place, and Smith Falls, winning the best overall entry in Smith Falls and Perth.

Since 1979, Bowl for Kids, formerly known as Bowl for Millions, still continues as a tradition: celebrating its 30th anniversary this coming February 27. The organization is the biggest and most important fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lanark County. The fun, camaraderie, music, and prizes just keep the people coming back.

Bowl for Kids this year is scheduled to take place in Smith Falls, Perth, and Carleton Place.

According to Jennifer Miller, the agency’s executive director, the event isn’t really about the game. She laughed as she talked about how every ball goes to the gutter. “No one really cares,” she added.

The first-ever event of Bowl for Kids, then Bowl for Millions, happened in 1979 at Perth and Smith Falls under the direction of its leader, agency president Paul Howard. Back then, there were 10 contestants from each town intending to raise the fund of $10,000. Throughout the years, both the target money and the agency have grown considerably. On 2009, Bowl for Kids raised $50,000, attracting 485 participants.

In 1999, Bowl for Millions changed its name to Bowl for Kids. At the same year, the agency also expanded into Carleton Place which will once again open its doors for the event at Carleton Place Vision Lanes this February 27.

The 20-year-old Central Junior Hockey League player Sam Coyne scored two goals last January 23 against his former Carleton Place Canadian teammates. Coyne lead his new team, the Gloucester Rangers, into victory against Carleton Place at its District Community Center. The win by the Rangers ended Carleton Place’s 2-game winning streak preventing the Canadians from securing the 8th and final place for the league’s playoffs.

With just 3:55 into the game, Coyne scored his first vengeful goal. His second goal was made 39 seconds into the third period burying the Canadians 5-1. Coyne has made 4 goals since joining the Rangers.

In spite of scoring consecutive goals in 10 minutes and 35 seconds during the final frame, Carleton Place failed to deliver the game’s equalizer — outshooting the Rangers 31-30 overall wasn’t enough.

Coyne, the 20-year-old native of Perth, played a total of 39 games for Carleton Place before being traded at the Central Junior Hockey League deadline last January 10 despite being the Canadians’ third leading scorer. The Rangers will be Coyne’s fourth team for this season. He was traded for Gloucester’s goalie Francis Dupuis who contributed 25 futile saves during the game.

The game’s referee, Patrick Brown, made only 7 penalty calls in the game. 5 of which belonged to Carleton Place.

There will be a first-ever ‘Valley Fishing Boat Show’ this coming Saturday and Sunday, February 6 and 7. It will be held at the new Beckwith Recreational Complex situated south of Carleton Place at the rural Beckwith Township.

This event will provide Ottawa residents the chance to take their minds off the freezing winter snow by making them aspire for the warm and lazy rivers and lakes of Eastern Ontario.

The show is not only intended for those who use boats to fish in waterways, according to the chief organizer; those who are planning to buy new-generation small crafts are also encouraged to attend.

Valley Outdoors Promotions representative, Dave Arbour, stresses that the venture is not a fishing show, but a fishing boat show. Arbour is also the organizer and operator of Carp’s ‘Valley Fishing and Outdoor show’ and ‘Valley Gun and Hunting Show’ which occur every spring and fall respectively.

Additionally, Arbour said that the show will feature smaller crafts instead of 24-foot boats. Arbour is confident that the planned location and timing for the event is perfect. He hopes that the event would become a success since he has put a lot of effort into it, and if it would succeed, he plans to expand the venture in the future.

Attendants will be charged $5 per person. However, children can come free of charge if accompanied by an adult.

With the support of Carleton Place’s IDA drug mart, the World Partnership Walk (WPW) continue its role in building solutions to alleviate worldwide poverty by reaching a 25-year milestone.

The World Partnership Walk is a project by the Ottawa-based Aga Khan Foundation Canada. It is the largest event of its kind in Canada attracting tens of thousands of contestants and making millions of dollars.

The owners of IDA, Aziz Dhalla and Ezmail Merani, have participated and supported the walk for years. Last January 14, the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, represented by its director of operations Shakeel Hirji and Zahed Lalani, has finally acknowledged the duo’s commitment for the event.

According to Lalani, the IDA has been a supporter of the World Partnership Walk since its conception. Furthermore, since its 20th year, they have donated $25,000 annually as a silver level sponsor. The drug mart has always had a corporate team assigned for the World Partnership Walk whereby the entire IDA staff comes together to spread awareness and acquire funds for global development.

In the IDA’s pharmacy and retail outlet situated in Lansdowne Avenue, a plaque shall be displayed honoring them for their contributions to the World Partnership Walk.

This year’s 5-kilometer walk will take place on the 13th of June at Ottawa’s Major Hills park.

The 2nd district Police Services Board, which covers all of eastern Ontario, has elected the Carleton Place councillor, Dennis Burn, as its new head last January 15. Burn, who recently filed his nomination papers for the Deputy Mayor seat, was given the job during the board’s annual meeting which was held in Carleton Place.

Burn shall replace Hilda Docker, also from Carleton Place, whose current 3-year term as provincial appointee of the Carleton Place Police Services Board is coming to an end. There are 36 separate police services boards which fall under the District 2 committee and the local committee is only one of them.

As the current longest serving member of the Carleton Place council, in which he shall complete his 3rd term this October, Burn is very pleased that he would chair the Police Services Board. He said in an interview that it is an honor, in his point of view, to accept such challenge. The board, according to Burn, shall act as the voice of all the boards in the whole region when it comes to consulting the provincial ministry.

In addition, Burn said that Hilda Docker has done great work in her 6-year tenure in the office. He is pleased to know that there is someone with such experience whom he can draw knowledge from.

Burn shall replace Docker in June when her term as provincial appointee in the office will officially end.

The Business Improvement Association Board (BIA) of Carleton Place will have its annual General meeting this Thursday, January 28, 2010. Every business owner and estate owner in town is encouraged to join the activity. The meeting will be held at the Carleton Heritage Inn situated at Bridge Street. Registration will start at 6 pm.

After the dinner, which will start at 6:30 pm and will cost $10 for each BIA member, the association’s proposed budget for the year 2010 shall be presented to its members for their approval.

The Business Improvement Association stresses that those who are planning to attend the meeting should make their reservations for the dinner and pay for the fees in advanced. Guests were encouraged to RSVP before last Friday, January 21.

Guests who paid for the dinner can come and win two sets of tickets for Ottawa Senators Hockey games. These tickets are sponsored by The Record News EMC and Tomahawk Technologies.

For those non-members who want to attend the meeting, the dinner will cost $25.

The Business Improvement Association of Carleton Place started in 1979. Carelton Place’s business community appealed that the downtown area be made an improvement area by the use of provincial legislations and municipal bylaws. Thus, the BIA was organized.

The town of Carleton Place, for the first time ever, plans to conduct a student exchange program with its original partner community in Perthshire, Scotland: the scenic little town of Comrie. The program will be sponsored by the Carleton Place Sister City Committee.

According to the committee’s chair, Ron Goebel, he expects a large number of applicants because when they (the committee) visited the participating schools last year before Christmas, there was a huge positive response from its students. They now have a few forms in hand from the interested applicants and they expect to receive more this week.

The applications shall be screened by the Carleton Place Sister City Committee who will base their decisions on how the Carleton Place students match to the 5 already chosen students from Scotland. Ultimately, in August, the chosen Carleton contingent will travel to Comrie and stay there for ten days. The students from Carleton Place shall merge themselves to students in Scotland and their respective families. In turn, in October, the group from Scotland shall do the same when they travel to Carleton Place.

Goebel said that the purpose of this whole program is to give a cultural and, most importantly, an educational experience to the students.

The committee in charge of planning the future Aviation Museum is in search of volunteers who will gather data and artifacts about Captain Arthur Roy Brown — Carleton Place’s World War I ace. The reason for this is that the aviation museum is planned to center around the famous RAF pilot.

In a ‘Roy Brown society’ meeting last Thursday held at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 192, society member Jerry Flynn said that the plans to renovate the Moore House are moving forward. He said that he would be meeting the contractors later on that week to discuss the plans.

Moore House has been the designated home for the aviation museum in the meantime, but the town council and the society ultimately aim to establish an interpretative center and museum in Roy Brown Park. Although, they admit that the process will not be a short one since they are still waiting to acquire the necessary funding.

2008 Carleton Place Citizen of the Year Rob Probert who was present at last Thursday’s meeting, being the society’s chair, said that the organization’s priority at this time is the gathering of information. He said that although they have amassed a huge amount of information about Roy Brown, there are still a lot of stories about him out there that they need to look closer into and develop.

The current board of directors pledged to gather information and help collect materials that are worthy to be displayed in the future museum. They will also seek the aid of history buffs, authors, and anyone who could contribute something to their plan.