The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

stouffville suntributie thursday aug 18 2005 19 walkers carry parachutes to support staff photostan howe melanie tetlock whose brother gareth rodgers was killed skydiving in georgina three years ago trains for a walk from barrie through ballantrae to georgina to gather support for new regulations on the sport event held in memory of stouffville skydiver gareth rodgers was a perfectionist and according to a military parachute expert called during the inquest into his death a man who did everything that he possibly could to save his own fife mr rodgers a 38yearold sutton resident and father of three fell 3200 feet to his death just outside baldwin aug 25 2002 after his main and reserve parachutes malfunctioned in an attempt to make the sport safer mr rodgers sister melanie tetlock said she is determined to main tain the governments attention and to bring a stronger public awareness for the serious risks associated with para chuting most of us limit our consideration of risk within this sport to the sole act of jumping from an airplane without reg ulation it is absolutely conceivable that a parachute rig may in fact be improp erly maintained it is also an alarmingly real possibility that some of those with whom the students entrust their very lives may exhibit questionable behav iour as was suggested during my broth ers case she said ms tetlock an innisfil resident has walked hundreds of kilometres between barrie and innisfil in preparation for the grasp walk to remember having founded the gareth rodgers act for sport parachuting in 2004 she dons a partially active parachute as part ofher daily personal training regimen with the main canopy removed the container unit and reserve chute weigh just under 20 pounds she carries it 10 to 20 kilometres a day former canadian sport parachute association cspa magazine editor allen roulston currently practices a similar training schedule from his home town of ottawa as he prepares to sup port this latest grasp initiative the 735kilometre walk is intended to get the government to move more quickly to regulate sport parachuting walkers will also invite additional signatures on their petition supporting barriesimcoebradford mpp joe tasconas grasp bill 87 introduced by mr tascona in june 2004 the bill would regulate freefalling in ontario inquest mr rodgers inquest suggested sys temic inadequacies and lack of accountability or an adequate means of enforcing rules and regulations within the sport parachuting industry mr roulston who holds numerous skydiving certifications alleges unpro fessional conduct within various drop zones skydiving centres he ended his association with the cspa after repeat ed attempts to rectify safety issues fell on deaf ears the cspa has compiled documen tation outlining the best parachuting practices however cspa does not in any way attempt to ensure that its member drop zones follow these prac tices despite the fact that cspa is aware its member drop zones often deviated from cspa rules cspa has refused to accept the role of compli ance monitoring and enforcement mr roulston said the trip will begin at 730 am aug 23 and move south from big bay point road and yonge street in barrie under police escort the advocates for skydiv ing safety will be followed for three con secutive days by mr rodgers widow lisa encouraging supporters to stop them along the way their itinerary will also include a one- hour rest stop and petition signing in the parking lot of newmarkets upper canada mall resuming their trek east on davis drive to hwy 48 the pair will then head north and arrive at their final destina tion just north of old homestead road in the baldwin hayfield where mr rodgers plunged to his death as former stouffville residents ms tetlock and ms rodgers will detour slightly south on hwy 48 where they will be met at the country stop in ballantrae by whitchurchstouffville mayor sue sherban they are also expecting a show of support from area residents with whom they and gareth once lived and went to school mr tascona has extended a formal invitation to all mayors bordering this journey to participate georgina mayor rob grossi has confirmed he will be joining donations in support of future grasp initiatives can be made at any scotiabank branch to melanie tetlock in trust transit 00292 acct no 5102785 for more on the proposed legislation see vmwgraspontariocom ho contracts 1 frk nstauaton wrnm high definition channels gift gy pjm no additional cost est aaata mm