It is held annually on May 17th.

The event is a rally offering an opportunity for people to get together and reach out to one another.

The Chatham Pride group are hosting a Pride Flag Raising ceremony today at the Civic Centre at Noon.

Check out the website here: http://www.homophobiaday.org/

Here’s a video froma group in the U.S., but it seems to capture the essence of the event:

Shortly after midnight on this date, officers from the OPP and the Chatham-Kent Police Service responded to a call of a suspected stolen vehicle travelling at a high rate of speed eastbound on Highway 401. Between Bloomfield Road and Highway 40, the driver of the vehicle drove around a cruiser and rolled into a ditch. He was taken to Chatham-Kent Health Alliance for treatment.

Four investigators and two forensic investigators from the SIU probed the circumstances surrounding this incident. The preliminary investigation determined that the complainant had not sustained any serious injuries.

Given the Unit’s mandate, which is limited to serious injuries and deaths that may have resulted from criminal offences committed by police officers, there is nothing further to investigate. Accordingly, the SIU investigation has been terminated.

The SIU is an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault. Under the Police Services Act, the Director of the SIU must:

• consider whether an officer has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
• depending on the evidence, lay a criminal charge against the officer if appropriate or close the file without any charges being laid
• report the results of any investigations to the Attorney General.

On May 19th, the Chatham-Kent Sexual Assault Crisis Centre, in partnership with Anne Coulter, will be hosting an event at the Chatham-Kent Peace Garden Park located at the Maple Leaf Cemetery.

Starting at 10AM, everyone is invited to share in planting annuals, perennials and more. And all you need to bring are your own garden tools, gloves and a lawn chair.

And then, at 12PM, there will be a brief ceremony by the Monument of Remembrance and hope at the park and everyone who is pre-registered is invited to enjoy a picnic lunch at no cost. After the lunch, they will resume their planting.

But time is running out for registration.

Everyone must register by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 17^th by calling the CKSACC at 519-354-8908.

Today’s ride will start with registration at 6PM at the Union Gas Head Office parking lot before the riders head out at 7PM.

The riders have some very specific goals in mind and they are as follows: to mourn cyclists who were already killed by motorists, to raise awareness of cyclists on the road, to have motorists know that cyclists only want to share the road, and to show that cyclists are not going away.

The ride in Chatham is going on in conjunction with a worldwide ride around the world where cyclists are staging a silent protest of the carnage taking place on the streets.

The event was sparked by Chris Phelan who organized the first Ride of Silence in Dallas, Texas in 2003 after endurance cyclist Larry Schwartz was killed by a passing bus mirror on an empty road.

Participants may wear black or red arm bands, but only if you have had a bike/motor vehicle accident.

Helmets are mandatory for all riders and bright clothing and lights are recommended.

There is no cost associated with the ride. Last year there were over 319 locations that hosted rides of silence in 24 different countries.

Photo by Jonekw13

A team from C-K is set to receive some royal treatment.

Or least be in the presence of some royalty.

Kyra Knapp, The War of 1812 Project Facilitator, Charlene Houle, of Chatham-Kent Tourism and Lisa and Jim Gilbert of the Friends of the Tecumseh Monument committee were invited by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to meet Prince Charles and his wife Camilla at the upcoming Military Muster.

Knapp says she received the message on her phone, but didn’t believe it.

“It’s actually a funny story, I was out of the country and I had my Blackberry turned off,” she said. “So I got back into the country around midnight and turned my Blackberry back on… it was the first time I had been without it. I said oh my goodness this must be a joke, but it wasn’t.”

Knapp said she believes this invite shows how important South Western Ontario is to the history of the War of 1812.

“I encourage everyone to come out to the events we have this summer commemorating the war,” she said.

The prestigious event on May 22nd is part of a Royal Tour commemorating the War of 1812 on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

The Walpole Island First Nation Lower Indian Reserve Specific Claim Negotiation Team says they have received a $28 million dollar offer.

“The negotiation team feels very strongly that this is a fair offer and recommends that it be accepted,” the team stated. “The Chief and Council have accepted the offer, which requires that it now be forwarded for the approval of the community through a voting process.”

The group has launched a website, where a large amount of detail regarding the offer and claim is posted.

“There are a number of activities underway in preparation for this vote,” the team stated. “These include community information sessions, communications, website updates, and the drafting of a settlement agreement and trust agreement. In order for this claim amount to be accepted by the First Nation, the majority of our eligible voters will need to turn out and vote, and the majority of those who vote will need to vote in favour of the settlement. It is important to note that this settlement will not involve a surrender of land. It is based simply on money that is owed to our First Nation.”

The negotiation team states the Lower Indian Reserve was a 2,675 acre tract of land along the St. Clair River in Moore Township, one of four reserves created by a treaty signed on July 10, 1827.

Walpole Island first submitted this claim in 1986, with the Federal Government accepting it for negotiation in 2008.

The team states that more information will be provided in the weeks and months ahead.

Ontario Dock Dogs was the first Canadian DockDogs club in Canada and was started in 2006. It has grown from a club that started off with just a few members to a club that last year had 70 plus members of all ages. This sport isn’t just for the young but also the young at heart with members ranging from 7 to 70+.

The great thing about it is that anyone can do this – all you need is a dog and a floatable toy! Since the clubs inception, the sport has spread throughout Canada. We are proud to say that we were the first.

DockDogs is also extremely popular in the United States where the sport was first born – there are events held all over and we have people travelling many miles fuelling their addiction to this crazy and fun sport.

We aren’t your typical dog show which is what makes us so unique! Kids love to stand by the side of the pool and watch the dogs fly – but watch out you may just end up in the splash zone.

We have been featured at many great events like Woofstock, Cottage Life Show and The All About Pets Show just to name a few. Last year the sport was featured on the Rick Mercer show. We had a great time filming with him and in Rick Mercer style he took the sport to a whole new level by jumping off the dock himself.

What is Dock Dogs/Dock Diving you may ask? Dock Dogs is a dog sport that consists of three disciplines:

BIG AIR, EXTREME VERTICAL AND SPEED RETRIEVE.

BIG AIR is the original and most popular Dock Dogs competition. Each dog and handler team is allowed 90 seconds to get their dog down the 40 foot dock and into the water, usually by throwing the dog’s favourite toy. See dogs of all breeds and sizes jump distances anywhere from six inches to over 25 feet! Judges will evaluate all jumps with the top five jumping dogs in each division getting a chance to jump in the finals on Sunday, the final day of competition.

Just as BIG AIR is equivalent to a “long jump” for dogs”, EXTREME VERTICAL is the equivalent to a “high jump” for dogs. A retrieving object called a “bumper” is hung from a specially designed Extender Arm and placed eight feet from the edge of the dock at the chosen starting height for each team. Each team is allowed to use a maximum of 20 feet of the dock surface and is allotted 60 seconds to jump in the air while attempting to remove the bumper from the Extender Arm. Rounds will continue with the bumper being raised in two inch increments per round
until the dog that jumps the highest takes home the prize.

SPEED RETRIEVE is the newest discipline to come to Dock Dogs and is like drag racing for dogs – fastest dog wins! Each team starts from the starting block at the 20 foot mark on the dock. The time starts from the moment when the dog leaves the starting block and they must run and jump off the dock and retrieve an object at the end of the 40 foot pool (a total retrieve distance of 58 feet) Each dog gets two retrieves to try to get the fastest time.

The Subway Cardio Challenge will get under way at Noon, with Subway spokesperson Jared Fogel set to be on hand.

The walk will begin at 12 p.m. at the Subway on St. Clair Street in Chatham (Nortown Plaza) and continue down the sidewalk to Kingston Park.

People are being encouraged to come walk with Jared and members of the Chatham-Kent Police Service in support of healthy living and child obesity.

Edge EDM is moving into the former 1 Source Plastics facility - Photo from Google Maps

A Sombra-based tool and dye business is expanding into Wallaceburg.

Edge EDM is setting up shop at the former 1 Source Plastics facility at 21 Elm Street, after the purchasing of the property was finalized.

Sources say the owner Scott Jeffrey has “big plans for the future”, with upwards to 25 jobs set to be created.

Our sources told us about 11 or 12 people will be on board initially, with the potential of more jobs.

Jeffrey apparently “out-grew” the spot he was located at 769 Wilkesport Line in Sombra, and the operations “needed to get bigger”, sources said.

Negotiations have been in the works since September.

Watch for more on this story.

And this year, organizers are promising that it will be even bigger and better than it has been in the past.

Kris Stocking, one of the organizers of the derby, says they expect to have a large number of competitors and significantly more hardware for the winners to take home.

“We’ve got prizes for hardest hit, which we’ve never had before,” said Stocking, “We usually give out about 4 trophies at the Derby and we’ve got 28 to give out this year.”

And if the lure of a trophy isn’t enough to get people to come out, maybe the increased number of classes will.

“We got pro-mods, straight stocks, little cars, mini-vans, half-ton pickups, and powder puffs, which is also a straight stock for the girls,” Stocking told CKDP.

And the competitors are as diverse as the vehicles they drive. Stocking said he is expecting drivers from all over Ontario and possibly a couple of teams from Quebec as well.

The Demolition Derby is set to start at at 1 pm at the Dresden Raceway and Slots. Admission is $10 at the gate.

Tyler White, one of the events organizers says the event will take place Friday through Sunday, with grand entry taking place Saturday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday again at 1 p.m.

White says the weekend event features tons of signings and dancing, as well as food vendors and vendors offering various native crafts, such as dream catchers – there will eve be a baby contest.

“It is the biggest cultural event that we have each year,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for people that dance to come on out and show off what they’ve got… all the stuff they work on, the regalia, the bead work. t’s a great celebration. A great chance for the community to get together.”

White added the Pow wow is always a great celebration.

“It’s definitely just a social gathering for everyone to come out and enjoy the day,” he said. “It’s suppose to be nice the whole weekend. We’re looking forward to that.”

Lighthouse burst on the scene in 1969 with a unique blend of rock, jazz and classical influences that defied all conventions. They took Canada by storm, receiving four successive Group of the Year Junos and an Outstanding Male Performance Juno for Bob McBride. Fans responded by buying nine gold and platinum albums with international hits such as One Fine Morning, Sunny Days, Hats Off to the Stranger, 1849 and Pretty Lady.

Always innovative, Lighthouse collaborated and toured across the country with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company; wrote and performed the score for a CBC production of Prometheus Bound with Shakespearean actress Irene Worth; were the first rock band to headline the Newport, Monterey, and Boston Globe Jazz Festivals and the first to perform with a symphony orchestra.

Lighthouse was the only act other than Jimi Hendrix asked to perform a second night among groups that included The Who, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, The Doors and Chicago.

Lighthouse represented Canada at Expo ’70 in Japan and their performance caused a near riot. In 1972 they performed for 98,000 people at Toronto’s City Hall and their weekend reunion at Ontario Place in 1982 drew an audience of 50,000.

Today Lighthouse is creating the same magic with an extraordinary group of ten musicians featuring the original nucleus of Skip Prokop, Ralph Cole and Paul Hoffert, an all-star horn section with originals Russ Little and Steve Kennedy and dynamic lead vocalist Dan Clancy.

Tickets go on sale Monday, May 14, 2012 at 10:00 am. Prices range from $30-$40 inclusive. To buy tickets, call 519-354-8338 locally or 1-866-807-7770 toll-free, visit the Box Office at 75 William St. N., Chatham or online at www.cktickets.com or www.chathamcapitoltheatre.com.

Joel Plaskett

Culture Factory in partnership with St. Clair College are pleased to present The Joel Plaskett Emergency Saturday August 25th at the Capitol Theatre in Chatham. The Joel Plaskett Emergency is part of Culture Factory’s Indie Weekend, a two-day event that will feature multiple music showcases throughout downtown Chatham. Musicians from both Chatham and the surrounding areas of Windsor, London, Detroit and Toronto will be performing at the event.

Tickets to The Joel Plaskett Emergency show will be available for $30 (including fees). An Indie Weekend festival wristbands that give its holder access to all shows during Indie Weekend including The Joel Plaskett Emergency will be available for $40. Tickets will be on sale May 16th and will be available at the Box Office or online at www.culturefactory.ca.

Joel Plaskett

It’s been a manic few months for Joel Plaskett, and anybody who’s been following along already knows the reason why. Out of the doldrums of another long Canadian winter, Joel and The Emergency (Dave Marsh and Chris Pennell) have been working round the clock, sending weekly volleys to fight off the seasonal blues: a brand new song – recorded, mixed, mastered, and released – every single week for the past ten weeks, accompanied by snippets of video documenting the process in-studio. It has been an epic undertaking, which now comes together in the physical release of Scrappy Happiness on cd and vinyl.

Not that Plaskett is any stranger to monumental endeavors: his last trip into the studio yielded the triple triumph, Three, for which he received a Juno Award and a Polaris Prize nomination. Scrappy Happiness is an eclectic display of Plaskett’s continued songwriting prowess and playful lyricism. While many of the songs tap bittersweet emotions hidden in the fuzzy details of the past, it is the present where this record resides. It is a fascinating experiment, which pays homage to an older mode of record production while forging ahead to new ways of engaging listeners.

But none of this would matter if it weren’t also, in the end, another compelling record from one of Canada’s leading musical voices.

Jim Brown, co-owner/publisher of Ridgetown Independent News, says the proposed BIA would not replace the Chamber of Commerce, but it will take some weight off their shoulders.

“Hopefully this will assist them with carrying on with a lot of their facilities,” said Brown, “And then they can concentrate more on what the Chamber was supposed to, and that is downtown and commerce.”

Brown says part of the reason they want to form a BIA is because they are not currently receiving enough money to do some community projects that they would like to get into.

“It’s difficult to get the money up to even apply for partnerships and grants because a lot of the time you need 50% up front and the Chamber is just not ready for that,” Brown said.

Brown added that he expects there will be some hard questions to answer at the upcoming meeting, but says he has received some excellent feedback up to this point.

A meeting will be held on Wednesday May 16th at 7.00pm at the Ridgetown Legion to decide whether or not a BIA will be formed in Ridgetown.

But according to the public information officer, Constable Renee Cowell, they will also be doing a bit of show and tell.

“We will have emergency vehicles on display each night throughout the municpality,” said Cowell.

There will also be some prizes that will be handed out to some participants.

“One Kobo e-reader will be given away each night during our police week events,” Cowell told CKDP.

And that’s not all police are doing this week to promote awareness and safety.

This week is also Canada Road Safety Week, which is a national campaign to make Canada’s roads the safest in the world.

The week has been strategically chosen because it is the first ‘summer’ long weekend. According to police reports, more people are also travelling and traffic collisions are more frequent.

The focus of Canada Road Safety Week will be on promoting behaviours that reduce risks for motorists including sober and alert driving, seat belt use and refraining from all aspects of aggressive driving.

Motorists should also expect to see more officers engaged in traffic enforcement of bad driving habits.

The Chatham-Kent Police Service will also be increasing their RIDE spot checks and regular patrols in support of this week.

Michael Raffery was found guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault of the 8-year-old girl, as the jury brought their decision forward late Friday evening in London.

Rafferty will automatically serve life in prison, and victim impact statements will be read during his sentencing tomorrow.

Reports are saying that Rafferty is set to appeal all three guilty verdictsl.

A candlelight vigil is set to be held in Woodstock in honour of the little girl.

Ever since news broke back in April of 2009, the entire case has touched the hearts of Canadians, and right here in Chatham-Kent.

Back when the case was a missing person investigation, Wallaceburg resident Patrick Wilbur created an Editorial Cartoon dedicated to the the missing 8-year-old girl.

When the case was shifted into a murder investigation, when Rafferty and Terri-Lynne McClintic were brought into custody, Chatham-Kent residents sounded off about what they thought of the case. Check out the video here.

The case had more of a local angle as well, as at one point while Rafferty was in custody, in October of 2009, he was transported to the Chatham jail.

The reasoning for the move was never officially disclosed by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, but he did appear in Woodstock court via video from the Chatham location.

For a full recount of the Rafferty trial, check out the coverage from the London Free Press here.

Let us know your thoughts in a comment below.

Hub Creative Group gathered community input, and after 122 naming contest submissions were gathered, they made their recommendations to Council.

Freedom Hall is deemed the most suitable selection as freedom is what led people to live in Chatham-Kent from our forefathers to C-K’s newest immigrants.

A report to Council further states that the name is easy to spell, easy to “Google”, to pronounce and is not offensive to any community.

Council will be voting on the recommendation at tonight’s planning meeting at the Civic Centre.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m.

Photo from Google Maps

Members of Walpole Island have a big decision to make.

A $28 million decision to be exact.

The Canadian Government has offered the First Nation reserve a $28 million dollar settlement for a strip of local land, a 2,600 acre stretch of land running along the St. Clair River in Moore Township.

The original land settlement dates back to treaties from the 1820’s.

The Chatham Daily News were the first to report on the story.

Watch for more.

The idea of a cash mob was first started last year in Buffalo, and since then they have spread throughout the USA and Canada. Ca$h Mobs have been held recently in Windsor, Sarnia, and Chatham.

In our case, we will be proceeding to one locally owned business, with the idea that each participant should spend at least $10 at that store. The store to be mobbed will be chosen by ballet on May 18th and announced to local media and on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/404267009585485/

Wallaceburg Ca$h Mob is an initiative of SydenhamCAT who bring you the 4th Friday Culture Crawl. Please come and join us, and don’t forget that the first 4th Friday of the season is on Friday May 25th.

“Going local does not mean walling off the outside world. It means nurturing locally owned businesses which use local resources sustainably, employ local workers at decent wages and serve primarily local consumers. It means becoming more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports. Control moves from the boardrooms of distant corporations and back into the community where it belongs.”

- Michael H. Shuman, author of the book Going Local.

A van is packed with items for the Wallaceburg food bank - Aaron Hall Photo

Hunger awareness was brought forward through burpees this morning in downtown Wallaceburg.

Members of the Ballistic Bootcamp in Wallaceburg executed the cardio/strength exercise each time someone dropped off a food item.

When it was all said and done, a van load of items were gathered for the Salvation Army food bank.

Rod Langstaff, the lead instructor at Ballistic, said the morning drive went well.

““We did very good, we have a van out there squatting it has so much weight in it,” he said. “We were sweating our butts off.”

Langstaff said he was approached by the local Salvation Army to raise some awareness in a unique, fitness related way.

Knowing the importance, Langstaff did a food drive at his boot camps during the week, and also the hour-long drive this morning.

“It’s super important,” he said. “Different people have told me stories about people that have went to the food bank, just hoping like crazy to get coffee, and sometimes its not there. Some people just really need that stuff.”

Check out this story with comments from Captain Stephanie Watkinson, talking more about Hunger Awareness Week.