Surviving 9-11: 'I felt terrorism."

Winner of Metroland Media Editorial Award for best feature story.  
By Erika Engel
Published in the Collingwood Connection


That day was like the end of the world, and Brian Clark was caught in the apocalypse.
Clark, a Canadian, was at work on the 84th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, and he made it home that day.

To hear him tell his tale is a heart wrenching, edge-of-your-seat, hand wringing, shivers-down-your spine experience.

Clark was in Collingwood on Thursday, September 20 at a meeting of the Probus Club of Blue Mountain to share his incredible story of near misses and a miraculous escape as one of the few survivors who were above the impact zone for the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

The Day of Infamy - as it was called in The Globe and Mail - claimed 61 employees of Euro Brokers, the international firm for which Brian Clark worked. Nobody above the impact zone of the North Tower survived; four people who were above the impact zone in the South Tower survived. Clark was among them, and he rescued Stanley Praimnath.

Clark was an executive for Euro Brokers working at the New York branch, which occupied the entire 84th floor of the south tower - an identical replica of the North Tower; both having 107 stories each and occupying a space 208 feet by 208 feet square.

He commuted to work from Hoboken, New Jersey - it was a 70-minute journey one way. He arrived to work at 7:25 a.m. on September 11, 2001. The south tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., four minutes after Brian Clark and Stanley Praimnath ran from the tower's exit dodging falling debris to safety at Trinity Church.

Clark's day was typical until 8:46 a.m. when a plane crashed into the North Tower's 93rd floor. He heard a double bang, and the lights in the Euro Brokers office flickered. Clark saw swirling flames sweep across his office window, and watched singed papers float through the air, slowly making their way to the ground.

His first thought was that a welder had hit a pipe on a floor above, and there was a fire. He was one of several fire safety wardens for his office, so he grabbed his vest, whistle and flashlight. Clark advised his colleagues to head for the centre core and await further instruction.

Brokers walked to the north wall of the tower, and, for the first time, saw the north tower's upper floors engulfed in a ring of fire.

"As I walked to the windows, I heard people were jumping," said Clark in his presentation to the Probus Club of Blue Mountain.

"I called my wife ... I said, 'we're okay, something's happened at the north tower.'"

A voice over the main speakers explained the south tower was secure, and there was no need to evacuate, although 200 from Euro Brokers left along with hundreds more from other floors who joined the mass exodus. They would never again return to work at the World Trade Centre.

Minutes later, the second plane slammed into the 78th, 79th, 80th and 81st floor of the south tower.
At 9:03 a.m., Clark heard another double bang, this time it was louder.

"In those 10 seconds, I did know terrorism," said Clark. "The room fell apart. Things fell out of the ceiling; a chalky dust filled the air. The wall tore apart, and the door collapsed. For five seconds the building swayed toward the Hudson River."

But those seconds of paralyzing fear came to an end for Clark right there, and he knew a peace beyond understanding.

"A strange, almost spiritual feeling washed over me," he said. "I heard, 'Brian, you'll be okay.'"
He took his flashlight from his pocket and led the way to the hallway, with a small group of survivors from his office.

There were three stairwells running from the bottom to the top of the building. Though Clark was intending to take a staircase on the right of the hallway, he felt a "push" to turn left. The push didn't come from anyone in the group, but it made Clark take Stairwell A. There are no stories of people getting down stairwells B and C, anyone who might have tried came upon impassable paths and died in the collapse or the fires.

Digging through rubble and climbing over obstacles, the small group made it as far as the 81st floor before coming upon other people, a woman and a man, who were heading up the same stairwell.
The woman stood in their way, yelling that the way down was not safe and they all had to head to the roof.

In the ruckus, Clark heard a small voice calling for help.

"Help, help. Is anyone there?" called the voice. "I can't breathe."

Clark couldn't move on, the voice compelled him - he pushed through a doorframe and into the offices of the 81st floor. A coworker, Don DiFrancesco, followed him to help search for the source of the voice.

"I have a distinct and sad memory of my coworkers and that lady ascending the stairs. They all died," said Clark.

He dug deeper into the collapsed office looking for the voice, all the while feeling as though a "bubble of fresh air" surrounded him. He was breathing normally on the floor in flames.
Almost immediately, DiFrancesco was overcome with smoke, and had to leave the collapsed office - the site where the second plane hit.

He too ascended the stairs, but eventually turned back. He would become the last person to make it out of the South Tower before it collapsed and killed everyone who was left. At the exit, he was hit with a fireball and thrown across Church Street. He suffered severe burns and broken vertebrae. He returned to work for Euro Brokers six months later.

Clark finally found Stanley Praimnath - the source of the desperate voice calling for help, in impact zone on the 81st floor.

Praimnath was stuck behind a chunk of the false ceiling that had fallen. He was the only person from the impact zone who survived. He watched from his desk as the plane, aimed directly at his window, approached. He hid under his desk for the collision, and miraculously his desk was intact. The wing of the plane lay broken and blocking his office door.

Praimnath escaped thanks to Clark's help, but both suffered puncture wounds on their palms. They shook hands, declaring they would be "blood" brothers for life. The two continued the descent in Stairwell A.

They passed flames, but none that had consumed the stairwell. An inch of water cascaded down the concrete steps with them, evidence of broken pipes.

By the 74th floor, conditions in the stairwell were almost normal. At 68, they passed Clark's coworker José Marrero carrying a walkie-talkie. He said he was on his way upstairs to help the other survivors.
He died in the collapse.

At the 44th floor Clark and Praimnath discovered a security guard standing over a man with head and spinal injuries. The guard insisted he would stay until a paramedic could come, and asked the two men to call for help when they could.

At 31 they stopped again to call 9-1-1 for the guard and the man they found on 44. They also called their wives. It was 9:35 a.m.

The tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m.

The rest of their descent took another 20 minutes. Finally at the exit, Clark and Praimnath passed firefighters entering the building with their gear. Their advice to the two men was to "go for it," and not to look up.

They did just that, running and jumping over fallen debris, dodging the debris falling from the top of the tower.

When they finally turned to look at the tower they had just escaped from, they watched it sway and collapse.

Trinity church protected them from the resulting wave of ash and dust, and they ducked into the lobby of 42 Broadway.

The two were separated on their treks home, but not before exchanging cards. They have been fast-friends since that Day of Infamy.

Through a series of perfectly (near miraculously) timed arrivals and departures, Clark made it home to Hoboken at 1:15 p.m. that day.

In the weeks that followed, Clark had a dream in which José Marrero appeared.

The message he absorbed was one of peace, and it reinforced his own faith.

"With the fullness of time, you'll all be fine," he said. "I've concluded there are thousands of unanswerable questions. But they're unanswerable. I've let them go."

He attended 61 funerals for his colleagues lost that day. It was months of memorials.

"Beyond the sadness I carry from that day, I live in the present," he said. "Everyday is a great day."
He carries no thoughts of revenge, instead he quietly honours the fallen with a bracelet bearing the name of José Marrero.

He travels and tells his story often, and he is grateful for the peace he knows, because it allows him to share the story without breaking down.

He does it, he says, because he is asked to do it.

"It's a small price to pay for being alive," he said. "It's an assumed obligation."

He was named head of a relief fund established by Euro Brokers for the families of 9-11 victims.
He holds no thoughts of revenge in his heart, and he was disappointed by the celebration and bragging that came along with the death of Osama Bin Laden.

There's no anger anymore, but he carries sadness from the memories of that day.

"There's sadness because of the senselessness of that day," he said. "There were 2,800 people killed - 2,200 in the north tower and 600 in the south."

He knows countless stories of death at the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. One of his colleagues re-entered the building to help firefighters find survivors. On his way back out, he was struck and killed by a falling metal beam.

"Was he a hero? Was he a victim? He was just a great guy who got caught. That's the senselessness of it," said Clark. "The world changed."

Clark and his wife, Dianne, have lived in the same house in Mahwah, New Jersey for 38 years. He retired six years ago.

Traning Day

By Erika Engel
For The Blue Mountains Courier-Herald and the Meaford Express
Metroland Editorial Award winner for best layout in 2010.
Published May, 2010

Tails with Tales

By Erika Engel
From The Collingwood Connection and Sideroads magazine
Spring/Summer 2011

At the Elliott home, there's an adage that goes "what is in the basement, stays in the basement."

At the dining room table, enjoying a coffee and morning toast, Chuck Elliott says the main floor of his custom built home is for entertaining, the basement is for his wife's collection.

"My kids tell me I'm on the verge of becoming a hoarder," said Dianna Elliott, Chuck's wife.

But the Elliott's basement is less like a hoarder's den and more like a carefully organized treasure trove of fashion bounty spanning decades.

Dianna Elliot is a collector of garments and steward of memories.

Her basement is filled - every closet, every bedroom and every spot on the floor that will hold a rack of clothes - with vintage clothing from World War I to the 1980s, and even a few pieces from the Victorian era.

There's a closet for army uniforms, including a full white Naval uniform from WWI.

There's a closet of hats, a closet of shoes, a rack of gloves, a rack for purses. There are drawers and drawers of jewelry arranged by colour, black, silver, gold and red.

There's a rack for prom dresses, a rack for lingerie, a rack for the black dresses, for the print dresses and for the fur coats.

There's a closet full of menswear and a closet for the 1980s - Elliott's least favourite clothes, but an important, albeit gawdy part of her collection.

Elliott's mother, Aniela Spacca, encouraged Elliott to keep the clothes she loved. In fact, Spacca, herself, didn't often purge her wardrobe.

"I still have all my poodle skirts, and my mother's dress from 1948," said Elliott. "My mom encouraged me to keep the things I wanted."

Elliott and her husband, Chuck, spent their careers in corrections. Elliott took night courses in textiles, couture, clothing design and fashion.

All the while, she added to her collections. She'd scope out items at thrift stores, or through friends and acquaintances.

As a corrections worker, one of her jobs was to escort inmates to their volunteer jobs at the St. Vincent DePaul Society (similar to a Salvation Army). There, she had a lot of access to vintage clothing collectables.

She's become an expert in the industry, she knows the gems from the imitations, and she knows the rarest items.

"Wedding dresses are the easiest vintage to find," said Elliott. Most brides keep their dresses, and they are typically well cared for.

The second easiest item to find is a black dress, but to find a vintage piece in a colour is much more difficult.

Elliott also fixes items that come torn or worn out. She uses traditional materials from other vintage pieces like steel zippers and feathers, and mends the pieces she collects.

When she buys or receives a piece from someone, she asks for a photo of the original owner in the piece and for the story behind it.

She keeps the photo and story with the piece.

There's a long pink gown on the prom dress rack that was worn by Dr. David Ripley's wife at their prom.

There's a sheer purple dress with a frilly collar, worn by local, Verna Kennedy, as a bridesmaid in the 1950s.

And of course, there's a black, silk dress from 1948 that belonged to Elliott's mother. It's kept with a photograph of Elliott, her mother in the dress and her sister.

"Everything has a story," said Elliott. "I feel so attached to the clothes people have given me ... I'm a custodian."

There's a whole rack of men's jackets. One set of tails from the 1930s, a tweed jacket in chocolate brown with braided trim from 1954. A suit like that would have cost two months wages.

"I have special affection for the garments in my collection, since the majority of items do not come from the upscale designer wearing clientele, but from women [and men] who had a loved garment and kept it for the memories it held for them."

Elliott does put her collection on display, but only for a good cause.

She lent the use of her clothes for a fashion show first in 2009 as a fundraiser for the Collingwood G&M Hospital. Earlier this year, she worked with Diana Dolmer to arrange a vintage fashion show in Meaford to benefit the Guatemala Stove Project.

Elliott likes to arrange the shows by decade.

"I try to create an era," said Elliott. She will only lend her collection and arrange a "The Way We Wore" fashion show for charitable fundraisers.

She has two shows coming up in the Spring, the first will be an evening affair for Flesherton's new library on April 14. The second show will be and afternoon high tea for the Simcoe County Museum on Sunday, May 15, and will include a vintage fur silent auction.

Elliott is always looking for pieces to add to her collection. To contact her for a fashion show or otherwise, call 705-445-1061 or email vintagecollector@sympatico.ca.

The Elliott's are retired and living in their home in Collingwood.

Long Road to a New Beginning

By Erika Engel
From The Blue Mountains Courier-Herald
August 2011

In their first moments in Canada, Omar, Israa and their three children, all refugees from Iraq, went through a lengthy visit with immigration, lost a suitcase, and suffered flight delays.
Still, the family smiled brightly when they came through the double doors marked "Arrivals" at Pearson International Airport.
I was privileged to be part of the welcoming committee that travelled to Toronto to welcome the new refugee family to Thornbury.
Though the logistics and purpose were the same as the last time, we had no idea what to expect.
The refugee sponsorship process provides few details about the families on their way to Canada. We had a flight number, names and ages for the refugees and a country of origin.
About a dozen of us rode a school bus to the airport, all a-flutter with anticipation.
We didn't know if we'd be able to communicate. One of the Beaver Valley Open Door board members had a connection to an Arabic speaking man in Barrie. He and a friend met us at the airport, and that detail proved to be most important.
We all waited at the arrivals door watching families re-united and excited hugs all around us. It was a long time before our party came through the doors.
David Morgan, one of the Beaver Valley Open Door volunteers, had prepared a sign to read "Welcome to Canada" in Arabic. He also included the names of each of the family members.
The family smiled and hurried over to our group; shaking hands and nodding their heads to their welcoming party.
A wave of excitement had everybody talking at once. Soon it was clear that the family knew very little English.
Our translator, Khaled Seaydoun, happily stepped in to greet the family.
He arrived to Canada just three years before from Lebanon as an immigrant. He lives in the Barrie area.
He welcomed them, and told them we were here on behalf of the sponsors to bring them to their new home.
He broke the bad news about the two-hour bus ride ahead, and made sure they were comfortable. He passed along his contact information, and promised to be available to help us communicate.
He found out one of their suitcases was missing, and made sure Beaver Valley Open Door volunteers knew what to do to retrieve it later.
Eventually, we piled back into the yellow school bus.
It was dark while we drove home, still I and others found ourselves wondering what it would be like to see Canada for the first time - even if only by streetlights.
The travel had proven exhausting and most of the family slept while we drove home.
At the refugee's new home in Thornbury, there were still more Beaver Valley Open Door volunteers waiting to greet the new family.
The family received a tour of their new home, and volunteers promised to return the next afternoon to help them settle in.
There are many things to overcome, not the least of which will be a harsh language barrier.
But the family is safe. They have a home, and there is a caring community surrounding them and willing them to succeed.
From Iraq to Thornbury, the family of Omar, Israa, Abdullah, Jaafar and Balqees have finally arrived to begin a new life as part of our community, and as Canadians.

Remembering Canadians at war

Six faces will be on one local soldier's mind this Remembrance Day when he, in his black boots and green beret, observes a moment's silence with the nation.
Sergeant William Molloy will always remember April 8, 2007 - Easter Sunday.
He was crew commander in his platoon, when he watched the armored vehicle in front of his hit an Improvised Explosive Device. It marked the worst single-day loss of life for the Canadian army in Afghanistan to the date.
Sgt. Molloy says in that moment he focused on staying calm, on carrying out the standard operations procedure that fit the situation. His training, which he calls "outstanding," taught him to be prepared. "Be vigilant and always expect the unexpected," he recited from his office at the Land Forces Central Area Training Centre where he works as a training sergeant for the bravo company.
Today, November 11, 2009, he will remember them and think about their families,.
Sergeant Molloy will be thinking about the people who have given their lives for freedom, like his six comrades.
He will be thinking about the men and women who choose to don a uniform to protect this county, people like his grandfather, his uncle and his wife who is in Afghanistan right now.
"Without heroes that have given their lives for our country, we wouldn't be the country we are today," he said.

Duncan's World War II veteran
On a hill in the hamlet of Duncan in The Blue Mountains, a miniature Canadian flag marks the mailbox of a World War II veteran who dressed the wounds of his comrades and his enemies.
Ken Weller joined the army in 1942 and left his farm job in Stayner for training at Borden. He was trained as a medic and orderly.
After some months training out west, Weller joined 1,200 Canadians and even more Americans in the fight at the Aleutian Islands.
His outfit occupied Kiska after American bombs had forced the Japanese army to retreat. When exploring the terrain, Weller and a few others followed their Commanding Officer to a Japanese fortress dug into the side of a hill. He thought to skip the first step going in, but forgot to skip it on his way out and he was blown apart. No more soldiers bothered to explore the rest of the caves on the island.
Images of such intense trauma followed Weller across the Atlantic Ocean and into France shortly after the allies' victory at D-Day in Normandy.
When he and his outfit arrived at the beach they stayed the night in the boats - 200 soldiers on each made for a crowded ship.
In the morning German U-boats and aircrafts attacked the boats. Bullets hit the metal roof of Weller's boat - the sound of near misses. And when the air was clear, Weller's first glance outside was to see the boat next to his destroyed by a torpedo.
Weller, who was part of the 9th Field Dressing Station (9th FDS), would set up stations in the field behind the front lines. Wounded soldiers would come to the station, be dressed and return to the fight. If the wounds were more serious they were sent further back to the hospital. Later, Weller was transferred to the hospital where he earned a certificate as a nursing orderly.
One particular day, following a long and gruesome battle, the medics came over a hill to see a parking lot full of stretchers carrying wounded soldiers - many already dead.
He remembers a few patients. One man lost his arms at the elbows and legs at the knees. One had shell shock so severe he refused to remove his metal helmet and he jumped out of bed and hid under it at any loud noise.
There were some German soldiers taken to Weller's hospital. He says they were all very nice men, except for one.
He remembers a broad shouldered, angry SS soldier, one of Hitler's special Nazis.
"They hated us something awful," said Weller.
He was shot in the chest and brought in for care. Even as nurses and doctors dressed his wounds, he stared at them with eyes like daggers.
Weller was assigned to watch him while the doctor tended to the others. The SS soldier sat unmoving in his bed until finally pushing himself up, flopping out of bed and dying.
Weller and the 9th FDS followed the Canadians, Brits, Americans and others through France with a quick break in Paris, then onto Belgium and Holland where he celebrated the end of the war with the liberated Dutch.
Weller returned home some time after the war and bought the farm in Duncan across from the farm where he was born.
On a recent trip to Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto, he walked past a patient in a wheelchair who lost his arms at the elbows and his legs at the knees. He still wonders if it was the same chap he cared for overseas.
All this week and today at the cenotaph, he's thinking about what went on in France and Belgium and back in that hospital.
"I can't help but think about those guys," he said.
On November 11, he hopes that all those at the cenotaph next to him remember their free country.
"Just be thinking about those guys who lost their lives and the badly wounded," he said. "We could be in someone else's hands right now and who knows what we'd be doing."

Meaford's Veterans from wars past
A friend at Auschwitz
Three veterans, strangers in the morning, instant comrades at noon, drinking coffee together in a small café in Meaford remember terrifying scenes, heart wrenching loss and days as long as weeks - memories they say they would never trade.
Today, November 11, 2009, they will silently replay those memories; they will see the faces of their fallen chums and, as they do everyday, thank God for another day.
Jack Patterson, now 94 and a retired TD bank manager living in Meaford, was a navigator in the Air Force.
When he bows his head for a moment of silence he thinks of Franz Irving, the Jewish man he met at a concentration camp.
Patterson wore a British uniform the day he and the others in his plane were shot down over Germany.
He and another bailed out and evaded capture for ten days, calling on Dutch households at nighttime for food and drink.
Eventually, Patterson was sent by railway boxcar to a Prisoner of War camp near Breslau. For two years he stayed there with two other "air force chaps" and together they plotted escape. The three traded identities with others slated to be taken out of the camp to work at another. Patterson became Sammy Chrichton and headed for what is now known as Auschwitz.
During a lunch break, while taking cover in a shelter while Italian based U.S. bombers targeted Auschwitz area, Patterson met Franz Irving, a Jewish schoolteacher from Berlin. Patterson soon learned that Irving was taken from his wife and two young children by Nazi's and brought to the concentration camp. He hadn't heard any news of his family since, but didn't dare hope for their survival.
For a while Patterson and Irving met up regularly. Irving taught the soldier German and Patterson brought the Jewish prisoner any food that he could spare.
"I like to think that, perhaps these meetings helped to make his hard struggle to exist a little more bearable," wrote Patterson, several years after the war.
In January1945 the evacuation of Auschwitz was accompanied by the sound of Russian Artillery not far away.
While marching a long hard road from Auschwitz to Germany, Patterson saw the bodies of Jews and others, emaciated and clad in striped uniforms with a shaved head and a beret lying in the ditch along the road where they marched. Whether or not Irving was among the dead, Patterson can't say. He wrote to him after the war at an address where Irving's Uncle lived in Australia. He didn't hear back.

In dangerous waters
Meaford resident and World War II veteran Naval soldier, William "Bill" Payie says he touches his toes 30 times every morning and if he feels especially good he does it 40 times. When he goes to sleep at night, he thanks God for another day.
As a naval communications petty officer in the war making $31 a month at the beginning he remembers a battle off the coast of France during one of the 1,615 days he spent in dangerous waters, according to his decommission slip.
This particular day, his ship had contact with a submarine, but was on standby while a British ship was supposed to engage in combat.
Not 15 minutes went by and a torpedo blew off the ship's stern, killing 60 men.
Payie's ship had to leave the battle scene, but returned six hours later to pick up survivors.
Payie and the crew picked 32 survivors from the water and he gave his bed to a man whose legs had been nearly torn off in the blast. Payie knew the fate of the man in his bed could easily have been his own.
"I guess I hit it lucky in my life," he said.
Payie remembers his brother, an airman shot down on November 22 1942.
"He was 25 and I was 22," said Payie, wiping a tear from his blue eyes.
Payie says November 11 is special to him because it is so close to the day his brother died. That's the first face he sees during the moment of silence.

Digging a deeper trench
Billy Williams ran away from home in Nova Scotia and lied about his age to enlist in the Canadian Army at the age of 15.
He remembers knowing only one thing - how to shoot. As a child he shot squirrels in the eye and traded their skins for a nickel. He thought he could use that skill in the army.
He was fighting in Korea at age 16.
"The trenches weren't deep enough," he said. Williams remembers digging into a hill with a valley in front and no man's land surrounding them. There wasn't room to move, and the fighting was unceasing.
"I always dug my trench a little deeper," he said to the two World War II veterans sitting with him at the table. "I was terrified."
A day in Korea was like a week - noon marked the regular rocket shower from the enemy.
"We lost a lot of guys we shouldn't have... it was a losing battle" he said. "But it was nothing to be ashamed of, we were just trying to be helpful."
The 75-year-old former Land Sergeant now works at Binkley Apples in Thornbury. He lives in Meaford and never buys green bananas. He counts each day a blessing, knowing he could have met a fate the same as those he fought beside.
Though he was terrified and young he has good and bad recollections of Korea, Williams says memories are something he'll never lose.
"I wouldn't trade my memories for nothing," he said.
Observing his moment of silence today, Billy Williams will be thinking of "all the ones that we've lost and the ones we're losing today."

Nuclear shipment runs aground on opposition

By Erika Engel

GEORGIAN BAY - A plan by Bruce Power to transport 16 steam generators containing radioactive waste by ship to Sweden for recycling is being met with opposition from The Blue Mountains and abroad.

The plan is drawing fire from cross-border coalition, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, The Town of The Blue Mountains, United States Senators, members of the public and anti-nuclear groups.

Many members of the opposition presented at a recent public meeting held in Ottawa in front of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), which is ultimately responsible for granting or not granting permission to Bruce Power to transport the generators across the water to Sweden.

Bruce Power, the company that operates the Bruce Nuclear Power Generating Station, is in the midst of a multi-billion dollar refurbishing project to return two nuclear units to service, according to company spokesman, John Peevers.

That project includes replacing several steam generators.

These generators weigh 100 tonnes each, and are 40 feet long and eight feet wide. They have been compared to a school bus.

Peevers said the steam generators are like large kettles that make steam to spin the turbines that make electricity.

Inside the generators, there is a maze of tubes with one entry point and one exit point, similar to the idea of a radiator. Water heated by the nuclear reactors (called heavy water because it is contaminated) travels through the tubes to heat the clean water in the generator. That water turns to steam to power the turbines.

Peevers said Bruce Power was planning to put the generators, as they are, into long-term storage. However, the company discovered Studsvik, a company in Sweden that separates small amounts of radioactive material from clean steel to be recycled and sold.

Studsvik then returns the radioactive material to its place of origin, in this case Bruce Power, for long-term storage.

The generators would be trucked from Kincardine to Owen Sound, then loaded onto a ship at the harbour. The ship would travel Georgian Bay to the St. Lawrence Seaway and then the Atlantic Ocean to Sweden.

Peevers said the generators could be in Sweden for up to three years before the radioactive material would be shipped back in approved containers.

The plan is drawing significant attention, both positive and negative, according to Peevers.

"Nuclear does attract a certain amount of controversy," he said. "There are people who will never support nuclear power. People have to look at the plan and look at the facts, they will see that this is the right thing to do."

The Blue Mountains Mayor Ellen Anderson is opposed to the transport of the radioactive material by water to Sweden.

"I can't understand how [the CNSC] would approve," said Anderson. "Water isn't a good place to be shipping this stuff. We don't have enough information."

She says the problem with the transport is that it might set a precedent for further shipping of radioactive materials on the Great Lakes or the St. Lawrence Seaway.

She argues that a land spill can be contained, but a spill in the water will affect drinking water forever.

"I'm thinking about the generations to come," said Anderson. "My personal feeling is, if I don't do the right thing now, I'd be responsible for the future accidents."

The Blue Mountains council voted in September to send a letter to the CNSC to oppose the proposed shipment. The town sent CAO, Paul Graham to the public hearing in front of the commission to make a presentation.

"I do not accept, nor does The Blue Mountains' Council accept that there are no risks with the proposed shipment of this radioactive material," said Graham at the hearing. "We are particularly concerned about the precedent set by the approval of this application and that the shipping of radioactive materials will become normal accepted business in Canada ... It is because of the past we know not to rely on the phrase, 'It will never happen.' History shows us that accidents will happen."

Graham said there needed to be transparency during the process so the public can trust the Commission.

"In the case of transporting radioactive material, we should leave no stone unturned when we are working on contingency plans to deal with the potential release of these radioactive materials into our natural environment," said Graham.

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a bi-national coalition of over 70 mayors, opposed the proposed shipment in a presentation at the public hearing.

"The Cities Initiative is concerned about the risk this proposed shipment presents to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence," said Mayor Denis Lapoint of Quebec, chair of the initiative. "We have identified several information gaps and concerns with the materials shared with the public date. We are concerned that the environmental review rests on best case rather than worst case assumptions."

A news release from the Cities Initiative indicated the group was opposed to the shipment also because they claim the review of the proposed shipment, answers to questions and information to the public has been inadequate.

Lastly, the coalition is opposed to setting a precedent for the nature of the shipment and the amount of radioactive waste.

Seven U.S. Senators including Robert Casey, Russell Feingold, Kirsten Gillibrand, Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow, Richard Durbin and Charles Schumer.

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission staff backed Bruce Power's proposal, concluding that the transport plan is safe.

Staff told the Commission at the hearing that there is "no impact on the health and safety of the public and the environment." Staff recommended that the commission accept staff's conclusion and grant permission to Bruce Nuclear to ship the generators to Sweden.

No decision has been made by the Commission yet.

Duncan Hawthorne, president and CEO of Bruce Power, made a presentation at the Commission's public hearing. He maintained that the shipment is safe and explained that the quantity of radioactive material being taken out of the 100 ton generators is about 4 grams, in total from 16 generators, there will be 64 grams of radioactive material embedded in the tubes that are crushed down and contained in Commission approved containers.

"There are thousands of these radioactive shipments each year; medical, nuclear and industrial," said Hawthorne.

John Peevers said that the radioactive material isn't something that will just spill out.

He said that even if there was an accident and the ship sank and the generators were broken open, radioactive waste wouldn't get into the water until the pipes started rusting decades later.

He said Bruce Power has a plan to fetch the generators should they sink during transport.

The contract between Studsvik and Bruce Power is worth $37 million, but Peevers said it is a revenue neutral deal. The cost of storing the full-size steam generators would be about the same as the cost of sending the generators to Sweden so the radioactive materials can be removed and returned.

WIFi in schools: What's good, what's bad?

By Erika Engel
Published in the Meaford Express

MEAFORD - A group of parents with children attending St. Vincent Euphrasia Elementary School in Meaford want to ban wireless Internet access from the classroom.

SVE parent council sent out 210 copies of what it called a "consent form" asking parents if they thought WiFi at SVE should be shut down or if they thought the wireless internet was safe enough to leave running.

The form was intended to garner parent support for the parent council's decision to have the WiFi system turned off at the school.

"Some Ontario parents are reporting their children have become ill since their schools installed WiFi microwave transmitters [for wireless internet service]," stated the form sent home to SVE parents.

The form went on to state that the biological effects as reported by the Royal Society of Canada to Health Canada include weakening of the blood-brain barrier, increased enzymes known to promote cancer in humans, a disruption in calcium regulation, behavioural and biochemical changes.

Andrew Couper, a member of the SVE parent's council, said that 70 consent forms were returned, and of those, 62 (88 per cent) showed support for the council's campaign to shut off the wireless Internet transmitters in the school.

Parent council wants the school to use wires to connect to the Internet instead of the WiFi system currently used.

"After learning the whole story about risks for their children, the parents voted to protect their children's health," said Couper in a news release from the SVE parent's council.

The release explained that parents across Canada are reporting an assortment of symptoms in their children since their schools have been using WiFi Internet service. Those symptoms include headaches, nausea, and Tachycardia (sudden, racing heart beats). Those same parents are reporting that those symptoms go away on the weekends and during summer vacation while their child is away from school.

"Once parents realized that the computers still connect to the internet with hardwires and that turning off WiFi transmitters won't change the way their kids connect at school, they decided it's not worth the risk," said Couper. "Parents don't want to wonder whether those headaches, or that nausea, or that racing heart rate is being caused by the WiFi system in their child's school."

Former SVE parent, Angela Klein, removed her daughter from the school this year because she doesn't want to risk health effects relating to microwave radio frequency exposure from WiFi transmitters.

The SVE parent council has asked the Bluewater District School Board twice this year to have the WiFi transmitters shut down at SVE - once in May and once in September. Couper said the parent council was advised to get support from other parents. He said that's why the council sent out the consent form. Now the results of the survey have been sent to all members of the parent council and once again the parent council, unanimously, support a petition to the school board to shut down WiFi transmitters at SVE.

"The board has heard the will of the parents," said Klein in the parent council news release. "We understand this is an unnecessary risk and we want it off. I hope the board does the right thing now and turns it off."

Couper has given the information from the survey to local trustee, Paul Wehrle.

Werhle said his hands are tied until he receives a motion - or formal decision - from parent council to the board asking to remove WiFi from SVE and return to a hard-wired Internet access system.

"I expect [a motion] will come forward," said Werhle. "And I am prepared to take the issue forward to the board."

Werhle said he will be talking to the new Bluewater Director of Education about the issue.

Bluewater District School Board : The Health and Safety response

Health and Safety Officer for Bluewater District School Board, Ron Motz, said WiFi in schools is safe.

Motz said the WiFi transmitters use radio frequency levels that are within the standards set in Health Canada's Safety Code 6, which is a federal government document used as a guideline for devices, which produce radio frequency fields.

Essentially, Safety Code 6 uses information from tests done to measure the amount of microwave radiation required to increase the internal temperature of a person or their organs. The standards set in Safety Code 6, a Health Canada document, are supposed to protect against this type of thermal effect.

Motz said thermal exposure is "the only known and proven hazard of radio frequency exposure" and that there are no other "proven mechanism's of damage."

Regarding the symptoms that parents claim their children are suffering since WiFi has become widely distributed in Canadian schools, Motz said they are "very general," and "can be caused by a number of things."

"Wireless Internet isn't the first place I'd look for those symptoms," said Motz.

The Bluewater District School Board hired an independent lab, LEX Scientific Inc, to measure radio frequency levels at St. Vincent school and at Ripley-Huron Community School.

The board claimed those two schools were representative of the other elementary schools in the district and have the same WiFi infrastructure as the rest of the schools in Bluewater.

According to a news release sent out by the school board, the tests were conducted in different areas throughout the school while all computers were running and using the WiFi system at the same time.

Safety Code 6 allows for a maximum exposure limit of 1,000 microwatts per square centimetre for general, everyday environments like homes, offices, schools and street. Tests conducted at SVE revealed the peak exposure in the school was 0.23 mircowatts per square centimetre.

The school board's news release on the results of the testing concluded that the radio frequency levels of the WiFi systems in Bluewater schools is more than a hundred times below the Safety Code 6 requirements. The news release also said that the LEX report concludes there is no health and safety reason to discontinue the use of WiFi in Bluewater District schools.

A copy of the report was not available for review by the Meaford Express. Motz said the report was not for mass distribution. Arrangements to view the report at a Bluewater location could not be made before press time.

Health Canada and the local health unit

Dr. Hazel Lynn, the medical officer of health for the Grey-Bruce Public Health Unit, said she supports Health Canada's Safety Code 6.

"Number one, with environmental exposures it's really difficult to quantify exposure," said Lynn. "The symptoms are vague, and it's hard to say what's the source ... The numbers would suggest that we're getting way more exposure with cell phones than with WiFi. If you have symptoms, I can't argue with that."

Lynn said that there's been no evidence to link illnesses to radio frequency exposure within Safety Code 6 limits.

She admits that WiFi is new technology and says experts are taking a look at it. "We don't know yet," she said. "I'm not about to say they don't cause any problems."

Lynn said that ultimately, WiFi in schools is a decision that should be made in consultation with a parent's advisory group.

Health Canada released a statement regarding the use of WiFi and published it to its website.

"Based on scientific evidence, Health Canada has determined that exposure to low-level radio frequency energy, such a that from WiFi equipment, is not dangerous to the public," read the statement.

According to Health Canada, exposure that falls below the limits set in Safety Code 6 is not dangerous to school children or to Canadians in general.

"Health Canada scientists continually review new scientific studies in this area to ensure safety guidelines are sufficient for the protection of the health and safety of Canadians," read the statement on Health Canada's website.

According to the statement, Health Canada is also participating in international standards development and advisory bodies.

A 1999 report by the Royal Society of Canada, requested by Health Canada, looks at research done on the effects of human exposure to radio frequency fields and the merits of the standards in Safety Code 6.

In general the report agrees that Safety Code 6 will protect the general public from thermal effects (internal body or organs heating). However, the report mentions that it is clear there are observed non-thermal biological effects that will result in exposure to radio frequency levels deemed safe in Safety Code 6.

The report states that "there is a growing body of scientific evidence which suggests that exposure to radio frequency fields at intensities far less than levels required to produce measurable heating can cause effects in cells and tissues."

The report explains that there are "documented effects" of radio frequency fields, event at low, non-thermal exposure levels below Safety Code 6 exposure limits.

The effects include alterations in the activity of the enzyme ornithine decarboxylase, in calcium regulation and in the permeability of the blood brain barrier.

The report concluded that existing scientific evidence is incomplete and inadequate to rule out the possibility that the non-thermal biological effects could lead to adverse health affects. The panel supported additional research in the area of non-thermal effects from exposure to radio frequency fields.

Gary Holub, a spokesman for Health Canada, said Health Canada doesn't consider WiFi to be a health risk, and said there is no conclusive evidence of any long-term or cumulative health risks from exposure to low-intensity radio frequency energy.

"It is important to point out that the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on Radio frequency Fields conducted their review of the science in 1998 and published their report in 1999," said Holeb in an email. "At that time, only a very limited number of studies had been completed in this field of research and many of the studies were of questionable quality due to inadequate exposure conditions and equipment. Many original studies finding biological effects at low levels of RF energy were of poor scientific quality, lacked proper dosimetry which could lead to sample over-exposure and/or thermal effects, and were subsequently not reproducible in other laboratories."

Holeb said studies done since then have been "much better" and Health Canada scientists are "continually reviewing new scientific studies" to ensure safety guidelines are sufficient.

"Health Canada will take immediate action to revise the guidelines should new convincing evidence arise."

On the Health Canada website, in a list of research done on radio frequency energy and health, the 1999 Royal Society of Canada report Holeb refers to is included in the list with an explanation saying the conclusion of the report was: "Because of the low field strengths associated with public exposure to radio frequency fields from wireless telecommunications base station transmitters, neither biological nor adverse health effects are likely to occur."

A challenge to Safety Code 6

Dr. Magda Havas is an associate professor of Environmental and Resource Studies at Trent University where she teaches and studies biological effects of environmental contaminants.

She's challenging standards contained in Health Canada's Safety Code 6.

"I'm concerned with exposure," said Dr. Havas. "I don't think it's a good thing."

She said there have been virtually no studies done on the effects of long-term exposure to WiFi microwave radiation.

"How can we be using the technology when we haven't studied the effects?" she asks. "Why expose our most vulnerable? The government assumes it is safe."

She said there has been research into the effects of exposure to microwave radiation from cell phones and cell phone towers, and uses that information to form her opinion on WiFi in schools.

She said that a study on rats exposing them to a frequency similar to WiFi showed an increase in tumours and interference with the immune system.

"In Safety Code 6, all they can state is that [exposure to low-level microwave radiation] will not heat your body," said Dr. Havas. "Even that is coming under question."

She said there are some cell phones that meet Safety Code 6 requirements that are causing heads to heat up.

The United States and Canada use the same standards, but European countries have much stricter guidelines for exposure levels.

In Switzerland, China, Russia, Poland and Hungary, according to Havas, the acceptable levels of radiation are about one per cent of Canada's standards.

In Canada, the acceptable level of exposure for a regular, everyday environment is 1,000 microwatts per square centimetre. In Europe, some countries limit that exposure to 10 microwatts per square centimetre. There are some countries with an acceptable level of exposure set at 0.1 microwatts per square centimetres.

Dr. Havas said that the measured levels at St. Vincent Euphrasia School are "quite low", but noted that exposure to the radiation would increase if a student was touching a computer.

She said there is scientific evidence, which is included in the Royal Society of Canada's expert panel review of Safety Code 6, that there may be an effect on the permeability of the blood brain barrier, which filters the blood that goes to the brain.

There also is evidence in the panel review to suggest that exposure within the limits set in Safety Code 6 can cause changes to how calcium moves through the body, can increase enzymes associated with cancer and can damage DNA cells as they are produced in the body.

The physics behind WiFi

Susan Clarke, director of the Environmental Health Advocacy league, of the United States was in The Blue Mountains this summer speaking at the L.E. Shore Memorial Library. She's been studying microwave radiation such as the type used in WiFi transmitters and believes Canada's standards aren't strict enough.

Clarke's area of expertise is radio frequency radiation, and she's been doing quantitative literature review in that field since 1997. She's working out of Boston currently, but travels a lot to present to groups such as the one that gathered at the L.E. Shore library this summer.

According to Clarke, there are three things to measure when looking at exposure to microwave radiation.

Firstly, Clarke said one must measure the intensity at which the waves are flowing, which is measured in Gigahertz.

A typical WiFi transmitter deploys waves at a rate of approximately 2.4 Gigahertz, or 2.4 billion cycles pas through a point in one second. Essentially, that's how fast the waves are travelling.

Second, Clark said a microwave must be measured for its wavelength. She said a WiFi wavelength is about 12-centimetres long from start to finish. This is important for a process called resonance. Simply put, an object that is the same size as that wavelength will maximally absorb that wave. This includes objects such as a child's brain.

This process can be illustrated with tuning forks. One tuning fork once hit and will emit sound waves that will cause another tuning fork to vibrate and emit the same tone because it maximally absorbs the sound waves emitted from the first fork.

Thirdly, a wave can be measured in power density, which is the familiar microwatts per square centimetre measurements that were used to measure WiFi in schools.

In the case of St. Vincent Euphrasia school, the WiFi system peaks at 0.23 microwatts per centimetre.

To hell and back: The Kemu's are home

At home in Thornbury, finally, the Kemu's sleep peacefully for the first time in more than three years.

Gustave, Arlette, Landry, Audrey, Vanessa and Benitta Kemu arrived at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on a cold but sunny afternoon, Thursday, February 11. Refugees from the turmoil plaguing their home country - the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Gustave, the father, said he knew nothing of Canada before arriving - just that it was cold. That wasn't going to deter them from coming. They spent the past three years facing the unknown - three years of unpredictable horror. Canada, whatever it held, had to be exponentially better than the hell they survived in Africa.

The Kemus had a home in DR Congo - perhaps not as modern as a North American family enjoys, but they had clean water, ample food and a bed for each of their five children - all of whom, were able to go to school when they reached the right age.

Baby Benitta was born and instead of celebrating another child, the Kemu's life, like so many others in DR Congo, was ripped apart.

Gustave says most of the conflict in DR Congo is tribal - not unlike the genocides in Rwanda more than a decade ago. In fact, some of the invaders have even come from Rwanda - that's where the weapons are from.

The Kemu's were first split up, Gustave fled the town to find a safe place for the family to flee to.

Then the worst came true.

Arlette and her five children were singled out by evil men who violated and murdered 16 year-old Jacquie Kemu in front of her mother and siblings.

Gustave lost contact with his family, not knowing the fate of his firstborn daughter, not knowing the fate of any of his children or his wife. He assumed them dead.

Arlette assumed her husband, the father of her four remaining children, was dead.

The Kemu children and their mother fled Congo, first they took a ship south down Lake Tanganyika. From there they rode a truck - but without any idea of a destination. They knew only that they needed to flee Congo. The exodus was massive.

"If you could only see the thousands of people walking hundreds of kilometres with their children," said Arlette.

"We were just going," said Landry. "I didn't know where we were."

They were dropped off in Zimbabwe and told to continue walking until they found a camp.

Gustave tried to stay in Zambia, but was warned not to. He made his way to Zimbabwe to a United Nations protected refugee camp. He spent one year without word from his family. One year believing they were dead.

Gustave thought his family gone, in desperation, he wrote a letter to Red Cross containing the names of his lost wife and children. They were registered at the camp.

All but one of the Kemu's were reunited at the refugee camp in Zimbabwe.

Gustave then learned of his daughter's murder.

"That is life," he said, not fighting a single tear running down his cheek, then wiping away the others that followed.

Zimbabwe may seem a poor alternative given the turmoil in the country, but a pocket of the land is protected by the United Nations, and that's where the refugees live. Families fleeing for their lives from evil in their own countries - Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Berundi, Somalia.

The Kemu's shared a shelter with a hundred others. There was no clean drinking water and food was scarce. There were small houses, but they were full long before the Kemu's arrived. The six of them, even two-year-old Benitta, lived on beans and rice.

They usually slept on the ground with only a blanket. Illness was rampant. Arlette spent nearly every moment crying - tragedy encamped all around them, encroaching on their hope, overwhelming their peace.

"Horrible. Horrible," said Gustave.

The Kemu's lived in the camp in Zimbabwe for two years as they waited to come to Canada. Finally they were brought to the airport.

Arlette remembers thinking their journey would not happen. That it was only a joke. Then, on the plane to Frankfurt, Germany - the stopover before Canada - she began to believe she and her family were leaving their hell.

They landed in Toronto and Landry said he had to pinch himself to believe it.

"I could not believe it was me in Toronto," he said.

They passed through one final smoked glass door to see a crowd waiting for them, cheering at their arrival. Arlette says she will remember that surprise - that day - for the rest of her life.

"I had deep joy," said Gustave. "I said, 'I'm abandoning the old, this is the new life. Thank God for everything."

The family, together around their kitchen table, Audrey serving tea and Benitta drinking milk - her favourite - tries to explain the best thing about Canada.

"There is peace," said Audrey, quietly and with a smile.

"Peace of mind," said Arlette, her head bowed. "In the camp, I spent all of the time crying, now I sleep well, I can eat something. I can see my children go school."

"Tranquility," said Landry. He motions across his face with his hands, "no more nightmares."

"Everything," said Gustave.

TBM new home for refugees

The Kemu family has finally arrived.

I was one of about a dozen, who travelled by school bus to Toronto to meet the Congolese refugees. The yellow bus was brimming with anticipation and unanswerable questions.

On Thursday, Feb. 11, the bus left the parking lot at Beaver Valley Community Centre at noon, packed with winter coats, hats, mitts and boots for a family of six. Also on board were three ladies representing Beaver Valley Outreach - Mary Johnston, Mary Jane McCrea and Lynda Burns; three students from Beaver Valley Community School - Erin Hogan, Madison Pearson and Elora Tarlo; and members of the Beaver Valley Open Door - Sharon Chapman, Richard Griffith, David Morgan, Adrienne Corti, Carol Solursh and Bill Morris.

The sun shone brightly for the trip to the airport. On board the bus, we all started with a moment of silence to think about the Kemu family traveling to Canada, and praying for their safe arrival.

Later, we started to wonder what the rest of the day would hold.

How long would they be in immigration before they could exit the gates to see us? Would they know we were there waiting for them? What would they be wearing? What would they look like? What language would they speak?

Finally at the airport, we arrived at the same time as the Kemu's flight, but we knew we still had to wait for them to finish their paperwork at Canada's immigration office.

Jessica Jackel, a York University student and resident of The Blue Mountains who spent time in Africa and learned Swahili, met us at the airport. We also met Dr. Rob Patterson, a translator who lived in Kenya and worked with Refugees to send them to Canada. He brought two Congolese friends who came to Canada as refugees eight years before.

Two hours passed while we waited at the arrivals gate, holding posters that said Karibu Kemu (Welcome). Some of the group rehearsed a song - "Karibu, tu-na-pend." (Welcome, we love you.)

At last, a family of six Congolese, dressed in new sweaters and new shoes, came quietly out of the sliding doors, scanning the crowd of people waiting to welcome their parties. They smiled at the sight of our signs and grinned wide as they greeted us all with hugs and hand shakes. We managed, Karibu, and heard "hello" back. Anyone watching our group would never have believed we were strangers meeting for the first time.

Conversations erupted between the new family and each member of the group. Quickly we learned that the Kemus spoke fluent French in addition to Swahili, and they had picked up some English along the way. They're flight was long, but without complications. They were happy to be in Canada.

Arlette Cinde Kemu, the mother, told me she tried not to spend too much time with her community before she left so that she would have to learn English.

The BVO volunteers quickly outfitted the family in winter clothes, with a simple explanation "it's cold out there."

We said goodbye to Dr. Patterson and his two friends, and brought the family back to the bus. Jessica came back with us, translating Swahili whenever she was needed.

The ride home was quieter. All three young girls fell almost immediately to sleep.

Landry, the oldest child and only boy, and his father Gustave watched the countryside fly by in the window.

Landry said he and his family were living in a refugee camp in Zimbabwe. That's where they learned English - and his is very good. He said they didn't know the language spoken in Zimbabwe, but mostly everyone knew a little English.

He said they have waited two years to come to Canada.

Finally, the school bus pulled up to the Kemu's new home on Bruce Street; the one that Open Door volunteers have been getting ready for a couple months.

A crowd of residents lined the sidewalks with welcome cheers and signs. More hugs and smiles and the family made a beeline to their home.

Inside the young lady, Audrey, the beaming Vanessa and little, shy Benitta were shown their new room full of clothes and toys. They darted from corner to corner and in and out of the closet, discovering new things. All the while, smiling brightly.

Downstairs, Gustave, Landry and Arlette, were given the keys to their new home in Thornbury, Ontario, Canada.

Grey Skies for Ontario Apples

A veteran local apple grower is chopping down his trees and going into the insurance business.

Rob Gardner has gone from 400 acres of organic apple orchard to 20 acres this year.

Most of his employees have been laid off. He's trying to help them find placements at other orchards in the area.

The downsizing is mostly a result of the state of orchard economics, according to Gardner.

He's hired a heavy machine to rip 150 acres of 43-year old trees out of the ground this year. His father, Tony Gardner, planted those trees along Highway 26 on the West side of Meaford in 1967. Rob has been an apple grower for 37 years.

The troubling reality facing Ontario's apple growers is this: the cost of production is going up, and the price that farmers receive for their produce, has stayed the same for at least a decade.

Gardner says there's been a 35 per cent drop in price for product on the way for next year.

"It's not even worthwhile," said Gardner, who now sells commercial insurance in The Blue Mountains, Meaford and Collingwood area. "Nobody can stand that in any business."

Particularly in a risky business like farming, where half a crop can be destroyed by a late frost, by hail or, as happened last year, a tornado.

Gardner said the trees he's taken out were old and at the end of their life, but instead of replanting orchard, the land will be used for cash crops like beans and grains.

Gardner's situation isn't unique, according to Brian Gilroy, a local apple grower and chair of the Ontario Apple Grower's Association.

Acres of orchards have been disappearing since the 1990s.

According to Gilroy, there were 34,000 acres of apple orchard in Ontario in 1994.

Today there are 12,500 acres.

Much of the land that was once apple orchard is still agricultural land, mostly used for cash crops.

Grey County is home to 4,000 acres of apple orchards, more than any other county in Canada.

A lot of apples now come from Asia - in fact, most concentrate used in juices sold all over the world including Canada, is juice made from Fuji apples and exported from China.

The cost of production is up, but the price per bushel hasn't changed much over the years.

"We've had to become more efficient," said Gilroy.

There are now 75 apple growers in the Georgian Bay area including Collingwood, The Blue Mountains and Meaford - less than half of what it was 20 years ago.

Gilroy and Shane Ardiel, chair of the Georgian Bay Fruit Grower's Association, are working to promote Georgian Bay apples.

On Thursday, May 6, Gilroy and Ardiel along with Faye Clack Communications of Mississauga invited several GTA journalists to tour Ardiel's orchard and Bay Growers Cooperative. The goal was promoting Ontario apples.

"We're in trouble," said Gilroy, while walking through Ardiel's orchard.

Again it came down to economics.

The cost of production is high and getting higher. The price for product is low and staying there.

Even at Ardiel's successful orchard, there is evidence of changing economics. He's going high density, getting rid of standard trees and opting for smaller, closer trees and more per acre.

A big part of the solution, according to Gilroy, Gardner and Ardiel, is Canadians buying local produce.

The rest is economics.