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01 | 11 | 2014 VOLUME 19 | ISSUE 02
MERGER FOR PAIR OF WOOLWICH BUSINESSES VENTURE PAGE 12
COMMENT PAGE 6
WMC INCIDENT REVEALS PERIL OF LACK OF OVERSIGHT
www.OBSERVERXTRA.com
Lack of security system prompts township review
Blast of winter brings frost quakes, bus cancellations and school closures
Restoration efforts ahead of accountability at this point, with questions still to be answered
ELENA MAYSTRUK “I was sitting in my family room – it was 3:45 a.m., I had fallen asleep on the couch – when suddenly, I was awoken as the whole house shook, along with a loud booming, cracking noise. About 10 minutes later, the same thing happened again!” Carla Muller bundled up and stepped out of her Conestogo home and into Tuesday’s snowstorm to see the damage. “After checking that our house had not been hit by a fallen tree, and that our deck wasn’t falling off of the house, I was actually wondering if the house had cracked somehow with the extreme cold, or if there was an earthquake that could have been caused by the same.” What Muller heard was a frost quake or cryoseism, a phenomenon reported across Waterloo Region, Wellington County and other parts of southern Ontario as a result of water in the ground freezing and forming cracks in the soil and rock. It’s the same harsh weather that’s kept Muller’s daughter and kids from across the region home from school on Tuesday, the second
STEVE KANNON
Sleeping in then bundling up, Conestogo’s Charlotte Muller, 6, spent a day with mom during the region-wide snow day on Tuesday. Inset: Kayla (right), Carolyn and Rylan Bearinger do some digging in Elmira. [ELENA MAYSTRUK / THE OBSERVER]
FREEZE | 5
With the WMC almost back to its pre-vandalized state, the question now turns to how a $23-million facility didn’t have an alarm system. The township says it’s reviewing the situation, but officials appear reluctant to outline the sequence of events that led to a system being omitted when the building opened in 2009, or detail why there’s been no action subsequently. Nor are they eager to point a finger at those involved in the decision to forgo a security system. “I respect the fact that people have questions about the lack of a security system,” said Woolwich chief administrative officer David Brenneman this week, adding the circumstances are “under review right now.” It’s too soon, he argued, to piece together why the building had no alarm
system. The focus since the New Year’s break-in and vandalism spree that caused some $100,000 in damage has been on the restoration, not finding blame. Mayor Todd Cowan held to much the same line, saying Wednesday the township needs to make the repairs and move forward, including discussing an alarm system as part of this year’s budget. “I’m more focussing on the here and now,” he said. “We’ve got an issue, we’re going to deal with it.” The construction and opening of the Woolwich Memorial Centre predate Cowan’s time as mayor. The only current member of council involved in the project was Mark Bauman, who declined to comment on the alarm system. “At this point, I will not comment on any questions. There are many more WMC | 4
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NOTE TO PUB: Legal to be placed on
Date: AD #: Client:
2013 Dec 13 14001TSBC SUBARU
Production Mgr: REM
2013-12-20 11:51 AM Studio Revisions 26 Manitou Drive, Kitchener, ON Tel: (519) 894-2050 | www.geminimotors.com
REV. # 1
IMPORTANT: This art has been checked and proofed for accuracy by all signed. PROOFREADER
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