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i4jt n QDwsanabiann QLja pî0î M tns CommutyNwpprSne16 R EA L ES TA T E See what's on the market inside S PO0R TS Teague beits way to Canadian titie mw.nitotncanadiancharpion com GRAHAM PAINE / C ANADIAN LHAMM1UN -READY FOR SCHOOL Three-year-old Curtis Gaetan and mom Tracy proudly show their school bus safe- ty certificate f rom Saturdayls annual School Bus Orientation Day at Bishup Redrmg Secondary School. Curtis wiII be off to school - junior kindergarten - for the first timne next Tuesday. C O M M U N I T Y Teams get ready to walk for a cure For all your jewellery needs... 10K, 14K & 18K GoId, Diamonds & Geins! Repain AbmAvaSMS. A MetolandPubliation Vol. 47 No 49 Tesday Augut 29,2006 8 Pag s ,.0(nd ... Thief steals the few belongings man had Ieft after house fire By Stephanie Thiessen CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF Just one montb after 22-year-old Matthew Grant narrowly escaped desth in an esrly morming blaze, he awoke to a second nightmare. Fniday morming, he discovered what few belongings he had been able to sal- vage from the fire had been stolen in an overnigbt car theft. "Wbatever hittle possessions i had left, they1re stolen. Now I have noth- ing," an emotional Grant told The Champion Friday "I went from. almnost not waking up three weeks ago (in the fire) to this." He explained he bas been living in and out of a rentai car between stays witb relatives and friends after a fire gutted bis parents' WVhite Drive home and he was rescued in the nick of time from the bascment where be was sleep- ing. Clotbing taken He kept what few items be still had - including a backpack carrying ail bis clothes - in the rentaI vebicle, wbicb was parked outside bis cousins bouse on Morley Avenue wben the theft occurred. His own Jeep was destroyed in tbe [ire. Grant said be tbougbt be had locked the car door, but apparently hadn't. Besides bis knapsack, bis walîet, a CD case witb CDs, an MP3 player and custom skateboard wortb $250 were stolen. But Grant knows ai that can be replaced. What cuis deep is tbe knowî- edge that precious memories were also stolen - letters from bis girlfniend and photograpbs he had tucked into bis CD case. 'AIl I want back are tbe pictures and letters. 1 don't care about tbe other stuff," he said. Grant is pleading wîth the thieves to retumn the property, no questions asked. it can be dropped off at 892 Morley Ave. "if you can find it in yourselves to please return my stuif... Ifs the only stuif i have Ieft after the t.ragedy," he said. Grant bas been staying with bis par- ents for the summer, home from Lakehead University where he's study- ing environentai sciences. The day of the fire, July 27, Grant said he awoke at about 4:30 arn. and, smnce he couldn't see the hiilowmng smoke because it was dark, thought he was baving an sthina attack. His first thougbt was to go outside for some fresh air, be said. se. HOUSE on page AZ5 Today's Champion OPINION A6 BUSINESS A7_ CHMPION couNTRY M DATKINÎE AIO CLASSIFIK A19 www.mùwtncanadiancharmpion.com www.mlltontoyota.com AUTO www.gorwucautogroujp.corn -0 FILOWERS &BASKETS I SHRUBS & TREES W S0115, MULCH & AGGREGATES ,_GARDEN DECOR & COLLECTIBLES *Right at the east end of Main St. _729 Fifth Line, Milton 905-876-4100 e-M lvve Jack VanderBreggen 905-878-8101 ËËýýË]