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2018 Year in Review – April

January 7, 2019   ·   0 Comments

April 5

• Dufferin County is mourning the loss of one of its former wardens and Melancthon Mayor, Bill Hill, after a brief battle with cancer.

Mr. Hill served on Shelburne, Melancthon and Dufferin County councils. Also sitting on the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB), he was first elected as a councillor in Shelburne back in 1983. After six years, he moved to Melancthon, where he was elected as a councillor in 1998. He served as the township’s deputy mayor in 2008 prior to being elected mayor in 2010. He then served as Dufferin County’s warden in 2014 before retiring from politics.

• Mike Schreiner, leader of the Green Party of Ontario, made Orangeville the final stop on his week-long, province-wide tour last week, telling local residents they can make a “real difference” by voting Green in the upcoming provincial election.

Party leader Mike Schreiner was joined by local Green candidate Laura Campbell at Pia’s on Broadway last Thursday, where he shared details of his party’s platform ahead of the June 7 vote. As a part of his ‘Green Vision’ tour, Mr. Schreiner spent time in 20 communities over a nine-day period discussing such issues as the well-documented minimum wage increase, affordable housing and the future of fossil fuels in Ontario.

• The search for Kaden Young is now entering its seventh week.

Day after day, volunteers meet then go to assigned locations along the Grand River to search for the missing three year-old who was swept into the raging river on February 21.

While the number of volunteer searchers has fluctuated, there has been a daily presence on the river since the accident occurred including members of the public and OPP search teams.

April 12

• After having seen the matter brought forward and discussed at several council meetings, Orangeville council has approved the purchase and installation of a level-2 electric vehicle charger in a downtown parking lot.

The dual charging station will be installed in the parking lot at 86 Broadway, beside Mortgage Architects, potentially by the end of June. The fee the town will charge is per kilowatt hour of consumption, though council still has to approve a rate.

• The sudden passing of veteran newsman Bill Rea has sent shockwaves across Caledon and much of Dufferin County. 

Serving as editor of the Caledon Citizen for more than 30 years, Mr. Rea was a true journalistic pillar of the community.

News first broke of Mr. Rea’s death on Sunday (April 8) morning. His wife, Beth, found him unresponsive at their Bolton-area home. It was suspected he had suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep. 

April 19

• Keith Palmer, Dufferin County’s director of community services, is moving up to Ontario’s Ministry of Community and Social Services, leaving an invaluable mark that has seen increased awareness and solutions to poverty in the county.

He held the post for the last nine years, and come May will be the Director of Social Assistance, for the ministry’s central operation division. 

After nine years, Mr. Palmer said, he realized he took the slow and smooth path, “and I think it worked well.” 

He will now be responsible for 14 million people, instead of just 61,000.

• With the assistance of Orangeville’s 101.5 my FM, Headwaters Health Care Foundation,(HHCF) reached its goal of $20,000 in its second annual Radiothon, and having achieved that, has a clearer picture of where this fundraiser will go in the future.

The radiothon was held on Wednesday, April 11th, from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Tim Hortons at 46 Broadway. During those 12 hours, on-air personalities talked with patients, hospital staff, sponsors, and physicians on the benefits to patients of having up-to-date technology.

April 26

• The search for a missing three-year-old Waldemar boy who was swept into the fast-flowing Grand River back in February, has ended. 

Kaden Young was lost after the van driven by his mother, Michelle Hanson, was pulled into the raging river on Feb. 21. Despite managing to escape the vehicle, Kaden was torn from his mother’s arms and into the icy depths of the river.

A man fishing the Grand found the body of a young child approximately 14 kilometres south of where Kaden was last seen. It was two months to the day since he disappeared. 

Police and a forensic team arrived on the scene to remove the body from the water.

Following an autopsy on Monday, OPP confirmed the body was that of three-year-old Kaden.


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