The Peterborough Police Service’s K9 Unit had three top five finishes in the 2023 National Police Dog Competition held last week in Barrie.

Presented by the Canadian Police Canine Association and hosted by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Barrie Police Service, the five-day event held from September 5 to 9 featured 39 canine teams competing from police and government agencies across the country including the RCMP, the OPP, the Canada Border Services Agency, and many more.

Police constables Bob Cowie and Dillon Wentworth and police service dogs Isaac and Gryphon represented Peterborough in the competition. Cowie and Isaac placed fourth in drug detection while Wentworth and Gryphon placed fifth in drug detection and fourth in building searches.

“Without a doubt the residents of Peterborough, Lakefield, and Cavan-Monaghan can rest assured that their K9 officers are some of the best in the country and we are proud of their hard work and accomplishments,” says Peterborough police chief Stuart Betts in a media release.

It was the first time the competition has been held in Ontario and the first time the Peterborough Police Service has participated.

“There is a considerable amount of training that goes into ensuring Isaac and Gryphon are ready to serve the community,” Cowie says. “It was a great experience to be able to learn and compete with the best in the country.”

VIDEO: Peterborough Police Service K9 Unit at 2023 National Police Dog Competition

“We would like to thank all of the supporters of the unit for their kind words,” Wentworth adds. “It was wonderful to know that the community was cheering us on throughout the week.”

Isaac, a German Shepherd and Belgian Malinois mix who specializes in drug detection, joined the canine unit in 2019. Gryphon, a Dutch Shepherd who joined the canine unit in 2022, is trained in human scent detection and location, suspect apprehension, article detection, handler protection, and narcotics detection.

“I am impressed with the handlers’ dedication to public safety and using the police service dogs as an appropriate tool in that endeavour,” Betts says. “Congratulations to PCs Cowie and Wentworth and PSDs Isaac and Gryphon on their success and representing Peterborough at such a high level.”

A 31-year-old man has been seriously injured in a single all-terrain vehicle (ATV) crash in North Kawartha Township on Saturday afternoon (September 9)

Peterborough County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say the man was driving his ATV on Jack Lake Road at around 4:55 p.m. when he failed to negotiate a curve in the road and struck a rock face.

He was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening and life-altering injuries, and was later airlifted to a Toronto trauma centre.

Peterborough County OPP are continuing to investigate the collision.

Anyone who may have witnessed the collision, or has surveillance video or dash-cam footage from this date and time on Jack Lake Road who has not spoken with police, is asked to contact Peterborough County OPP at 1-888-310-1122.

Peterborough County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are warning Havelock residents about a door-to-door scam operating in the area.

On Tuesday (September 12), police received a call from Community Care Havelock advising the non-profit organization had received reports of three people selling raffle tickets, claiming to be doing so on behalf of Community Care Havelock.

Community Care Havelock has advised police they are not doing any kind of ticket sales and they do not go door to door to collect money. Community Care Havelock is in no way affiliated with these ticket sales and are warning the public not to fall victim to this scam.

According to the initial reports, two men and a woman had been been travelling through the area in a small blue sedan, going door to door selling 50/50 tickets and advising homeowners that proceeds from the sales go to Community Care Havelock to provide support for seniors.

After further investigation, police have determined two separate and unrelated collections have been made — one that was legitimate and one that was not. A man and woman had been selling 50/50 raffle tickets for the Havelock Seniors Club. Police have contacted the Seniors Club, who confirm they had been selling raffle tickets but advised they were no longer going door to door.

In a separate incident, an older man with a grey beard had been going door to door asking for contributions on behalf of Community Care Havelock. Community Care Havelock have confirmed that they have no known affiliation with this individual.

For information on ongoing scams in Canada and to report fraud, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or visit www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca.

If you believe you have been a victim of fraud, contact your local police service.

The original story has been updated with additional clarification and information provided by police.

This past summer, Kawartha Lakes Food Source received an award from Food Banks Canada, an organization representing 4,750 food banks and community agencies supporting food security across Canada.

The Excellence in Food Banking Award honours affiliate food banks in the Food Banks Canada network that go above and beyond the core mission of providing food to those needing help. Award recipients play an instrumental role in improving the communities they serve through creative, efficient and successful programs and services and exemplify the highest standards of operation.

Kawartha Lakes Food Source received the award for a medium-size organization, with North York Harvest Food Bank receiving the award for a large organization and Helping Hands Family Aid Food Bank in Marystown, Newfoundland and Labrador receiving the award for a small organization.

The award was presented to Kawartha Lakes Food Source executive director Heather Kirby at Food Banks Canada’s 2023 National Conference in Edmonton, Alberta on June 27.

“It is an honour to be recognized by our national peers for the work we do to reduce food insecurity,” says Kirby in a media release. “We work diligently to build and sustain confidence in our agency, have expanded to deliver our own programs that directly serve the community, and provide employment readiness opportunities to build essential skills in those entering the workforce.”

For 21 years, Kawartha Lakes Food Source has been serving the community as a central distribution centre that provides food to their own food bank and seven member food bank, 24 schools, and six social service agencies. The organization has a staff of five with more than 100 volunteers who provide support to all aspects of operations including sorting donations, warehouse, food bank, gardening, driving, office support, food drives, and more.

As well as educating the community about hunger and advocating for positive change through partnerships, Kawartha Lakes Food Source has also developed its own programming over the past six years, including raised garden beds and a take-home meal box project to get client households cooking together more as a family.

Through funding from Food Banks Canada, Kawartha Lakes Food Source has partnered with the local municipal housing corporation to provide single-serve frozen meals to tenants.

For more information about Kawartha Lakes Food Source or to volunteer or donate, call 705-324-0707 or visit www.kawarthalakesfoodsource.com.

At 3 a.m. last Thursday morning (September 7), the Personal Care Bank located at 14 Alexander Avenue was taken off its post and thrown at the windshield of the car parked in the driveway.

The Personal Care Bank is a community-run initiative that places cabinets (called “banks”) around cities, with the primary mission of providing personal care items to those who need them for free. There are Personal Care Banks in Toronto, Peterborough, and Vancouver.

Coralee Leroux and Blake Sproule, who host the Alexander Avenue bank, woke with a start by the sound of the damage. By the time the husband-and-wife couple looked around inside their house and realized the noise had come from outside, the vandal was long gone. The couple has since filed a police report, though they were told it would be unlikely to find the culprit without hard evidence.

Looking at the damage caused on Thursday morning, Leroux says she and her husband were in “disbelief” and confused by what had happened.

“You feel a lot of things,” Leroux explains. “You feel confused about why someone would do that, and you feel hurt that someone decided to do that with something that’s meant for the community. And there’s a part that feels a little angry, too, because someone’s done that to your property.”

The couple has seen a lot of use and support of the Personal Care Bank since they first built it and put it on their property last November. It was the second to be erected in Peterborough following the first at 509 Gilchrist Street, which has now been standing more than a year.

With donations from community members, the banks provide access to personal care and hygiene supplies — like toothpaste, menstrual products, deodorant, tissues, sunscreen, and more — to those who may otherwise face barriers in getting them.

“It just felt like the manageable thing that our family could do to help contribute to the community,” recalls Leroux, adding that the bank is emptied nearly every day and she and her husband have to replace it daily with products donated by businesses and individuals.

Leroux explains that the bank itself is “banged up” following the vandalism, with one piece of wood completely split, but is salvageable. The couple are working to put it back on the post, though they first want to add metal pieces of support on the bottom to make it more difficult to pull off the stand again.

The reinforcement is necessary, unfortunately, since it’s not the first time the couple has had their box vandalized. This past June, the couple woke up to find the box had been ripped from the post, and prior to that, the plywood panel in the door had been kicked in one night.

“We had a sense (when we built it) that we should be prepared for some vandalism,” Leroux says. “We thought someone might write on it or something like that. But throwing it into our car windshield was beyond what we had ever imagined could happen.”

The damage to the Alexander bank location does not stand alone, as over the weekend, the Gilchrist Street bank was also vandalized. At some point in the night, all of its contents were pulled out and completely stomped on, including the flowers that typically sit in a box at the front of the bank.

“It’s not anything that we can’t clean up and put back in, but it’s just disappointing,” says Leroux of the damage to their bank.

While she says she has no idea whether the events are related and deliberate or completely coincidental, she can’t think of anyone who would want to protest against the banks.

“We can only speculate,” she explains. “We have no idea, because we haven’t had anyone express to us that they’re angry. If there are any people in our neighbourhoods that don’t like (the banks_, they’ve never come to talk to us or indicated that in any way. So when this happens, all those thoughts go through your mind — is it someone local who just doesn’t want this here?”

As Leroux and Sproule work to put their bank back on its stand, the couple just wish they knew more about who had done the vandalism and why.

“We just don’t know and that’s the hardest part,” she explains. “If you knew why someone did it, at least you would understand. But because we don’t know what the circumstances were of what was going through their mind at the time, it just leaves you guessing.”

Written in chalk on the sidewalk in front of the vandalized bank are the phrases “Love is better than hate” and “Hope is better than fear.”

"Love is better than hate"

On Aleaxander Avenue (near #PRHC) the street's toiletries/sanitary donation box was damaged/ripped off.

I'm hoping to see more local media coverage of this story.@GermainMa1 @TrentArthur @kawarthaNOW pic.twitter.com/akFHrYJzCd

— Lyle Saunders (he/him) (@Saunders4M) September 11, 2023

To support the Personal Care Bank initiative, donations can be made at www.tpcb.ca, with all donations made from Peterborough going directly to the banks in the community.

To keep up to date on when the banks need filling, follow the Peterborough Personal Care Banks @tpcb_ptbo on Instagram.

You can also donate needed items by visiting the Peterborough Personal Care Bank’s wish list on Amazon.

The Rotary Club of Peterborough is just $25,000 away from completing its $100,000 multi-year pledge to Camp Kawartha in support of the not-for-profit organization’s new Rotary Health Centre.

On Monday (September 11), Rotary delivered another $25,000 donation to Camp Kawartha, bringing the total contribution to date to $75,000.

“Rotary has always been involved with programming to develop the youth of today to be the leaders of tomorrow and that is what Camp Kawartha programming is all about,” says Rotarian Jim Coyle, past president of the Rotary Club of Peterborough, in a media release.

“This new Rotary Health Centre is not only a necessary component of the camp infrastructure, but it is a shining example of construction methodology that is mindful of the environment that it is situated on,” Coyle adds.

Replacing the decades-old health centre at Camp Kawartha’s outdoor education centre, located on the shores of Clear Lake off Birchview Road in Douro-Dummer, the Rotary Health Centre was officially opened in October 2021. Designed by Straworks, a leader in high performance natural building construction, the centre is used to look after the health needs of campers, students, and visitors.

Straw-bale constructed with net zero utility costs, zero toxins, zero fossil fuel use, zero waste output, and a zero-carbon footprint, the 1,200-square-foot structure showcases the use of natural building materials — the majority of them local — and incorporates elements such as a living roof, energy efficient radiant heat, and super-insulated walls that sequester carbon.

“The Rotary Health Centre is an inspiring example of sustainable design in action,” says Camp Kawartha executive director Jacob Rodenburg. “It shows campers, students, and even health professionals what a healthy health centre can look like. We are enormously grateful to the Rotary Club of Peterborough for making this project possible.”

Rotary made the $100,000 multi-year pledge to Camp Kawartha in 2021, in recognition of both Rotary’s 100-year anniversary and the club’s original founding of Camp Kawartha in 1921.

Among the first Rotary Clubs in Canada, the Rotary Club of Peterborough was formed in 1921, with one of its first projects that year to purchase land for the creation of a summer camp that would provide underprivileged boys with an opportunity to experience the outdoors, to build skills, and develop character. It operated as both a Rotary camp and a YMCA camp until 1985, when a group of Rotarians negotiated the purchase of the camp from the YMCA to form the non-for-profit organization Camp Kawartha Inc.