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The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday January 23, 2002 - AS Wendy B. has left Oakville By Howard Mozel O A K V IL L E B E A V E R S T A F F Police need help solving arsons Another was on Dec. 26 at a park just south of the Halton Regional Police are investigating sever Town of Oakville offices at 4:45 am . al arson incidents. The most recent Another arson was at 1 p.m. on April was on May 5 at St. John School. 27 at a Sixth Line baseball field. The complainant returned home Information that leads to an arrest from work and noticed the wooden is eligible for a cash reward. You will garbage shed was on fire at the school. It's believed a paper recy never have to give your name or testi Cd cling bin was torched then caught the fy. Crime Stoppers of Halton does not 8 2 5 -T IP Sor 1-80W 68-51 5 1 use call display. shed on fire. Call 1-800-222-TIPS or 905-825-TIPS (905Another arson was on Jan. 3 at 8:30 p.m. when a bush fire was lit behind a Queen's Avenue residence. 825-8477) Two local institutions will be absent from Oakville's har bours this summer after a freak accident left the skipper of the tug Wendy B. with a broken neck. On May 11, J. Gordon Bennett. 73. slipped on some oil inside the vessel and struck his head on the floor, fracturing his neck. An agreement with the Town precludes his large vessel from mooring in the harbour unless it is staffed at all times. With its captain laid up in hospital that's impossible so the Wendy B. is now docked in Toronto. Currently undergoing reha bilitation. Bennett doesn't know if he will ever be back -- a shame for all concerned since the Wendy B. has been a fixture in the Oakville and Bronte Harbour landscapes for 16 years and provided an ideal subject for countless artists. "I'm afraid that era's over," said Bennett from his bed in Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH). "I can't even get aboard my boat." Wendy B. was built in 1940. the same year it was leased from a Toronto towing company by the Royal Canadian Navy to open and close convoy gates in Halifax Harbour to prevent enemy submarines entry. Returning to towing duties after the war, Lynn B. as it was known sank in Lake St. Louis in 1951 then was salvaged 10 years later. Renamed Wendy B,, the boat was sold to a Quebec dredging company then bought by Bennett in 1986. The boat was refurbished, diesel power was installed and it was accepted as a rescue ves sel by the Canadian Coast Guard. Wendy B. was retired from active duty in 1998 and contin ued to be Bennett's home until that day in May when he was injured. It was around 10 p.m. when Bennett slipped, fell and passed out, He laid helpless on the floor for 12 hours until Bill McGrath, the boat's fire captain, found him the next morning. Since then. Bennett has lived at Hamilton General Hospital, where his five-hour surgery was performed, and at OTMH. Upon his discharge, Bennett plans to live on The Still watch, a boat moored in Toronto only 500 metres from where Wendy B. is now Clearance Sale MEN'S SUITS 1 2 9 " J. Gordon Bennett, 73, in better Wendy B. docked at Pier 35. "I'm looking forward to the day I can go aboard." says Bennett who. when his health improves, can act as re lie f captain for The Sti/lwatch. The reason Wendy B. had to move is largely its size. At 70-plus feet and 125 tons, it's simply too large for a normal berthing arrangement in either Oakville or Bronte Harbours. As a result, Bennett made a pact with the Town to maintain a 24-hour presence on board the boat in the event of severe weather or vandalism. It would be a disaster, says Bennett, if a vessel the size davs with his beloved boat, the of Wendy B. was cut loose unattended in a crowded har bour. As a result, the captain con tacted the Port of Toronto har bourmaster who agreed to take Wendy B n r ---"Under the circumstances it was a charitable thing to do and most appreciated," said Bennett, whose beloved dog is also now living with a new family. Oakville, though, will never be far from Bennett's heart. "I'd like to thank Oakville for the wonderful times I've had here responding to the people and talking to the artists," he said. D R E S S S H O E S C A S U A L P A N T S D R E S S S/in S P O R T QC S H IR IS 't U S H IR T S'"OO 4 9 " S W 9 2 9 ® S K 3 9 ® _ _ _ _ _ A m SHORT SLEEVE O V E R S IZ E E X TR A C H A R G E W E A R«JU0 F F o u ter cfl% SPRING & SUMMER _ Moores C L O TH IN G FOR MEN -- For a lo catio n n e a r e s t you call: 1-877-MOORES-6 Hatton Region is testing water at local beaches Halton regional staff are hitting the beach -- making sure the water is safe. Weekly water sampling has started in anticipation of the summer. "What we're really looking for is E. coli. That's the indicator of the fecal content," said Dave Stronach of the Halton Region Health Department. Water fowl and their feces are the main cause of beach closures in Halton, Stronach said, adding Lake Ontario pol lution also has an effect. "It's really intermittent." he said of poor water samples. "Sometimes when the water fowl are there it would be a problem, sometimes it wouldn't. But real ly we just have to say it (beach) is closed. You can't sample every 10 minutes." Water samples which indicate more than 100 E. coli per 100 ml are consid ered unacceptable for swimming. "One hundred E. coli is not a huge number. You don't need much in the way of feces to do that," Stronach said. · Last year, Burlington's Beachway Park closed for 28 non-consecutive days. Boathouse Beach and Old Beach in Halton Hills also saw 42 and 35 fullday closures, respectively. Oakville beaches posted signs indicat ing the water was unfit for swimming. Kelso Conservation Area is the only beach which proved safe. In fact, it has n't been closed due to E. coli since 1996. Credit for the good Kelso water belongs to two projects, said Stronach. A Ministry of Environment grant in 1996 saw improvements to surrounding septic systems thought to be contami nating the beaches. The strongest impact came from the installation of a bird screen in 1997. To find out the status of Halton beaches call the Beach Hotline at 905825-6111 or 1-866-442-5866, ext. 6111. C a ra va n up t0 ^ mth5 3 0 0 /H up to 60 mths FINANCING up to 60 months o r - C vn ccrd up to 60 mths up to 60 mths $3,000 Rebate . . . f f o tp fa r # f a f f w Speers R d. E D o v alD f. Dodge OAKVILLE DODGE CHRYSLER JEEP 6 4 6 4 t h L in e , S p e e r s R o a d , O a k v ille w w w .o a k v i l l e d o d g e .c o m C H R Y S L E RI /o n ^ \ f M R - 4 9 1 1 \5fUOJ £ I & §