But, said Chris Beveridge on Friday, they would prefer to conduct further investigations before revealing what it is.

In updating the outbreak, Beveridge did say that a pair of stool samples tested have been positively identified as carrying Norovirus, a disease that’s usually passed on through contaminated food or water and spread from person to person with fecally contaminated hands of a victim or by contact with fecally contaminated objects, with the person subsequently touching their mouth before properly washing their hands.

It will take a few days before the exact cause of the outbreak is known, Beveridge said.

“We haven’t really been able to pinpoint a particular source to date,” he said. “We do have a good lead we’re following up on. We do have 141 people who have reported ill. We’ve contacted the majority of people who were at the event and the public have actually been quite helpful.”

The good news, he added, is the people who were hospitalized have been discharged and no serious cases of illness developed as a result of the contamination.

“Calls to the health unit are starting to decline, so I’m hoping the number of ill are starting to plateau and will stop by this afternoon,” he said, noting the disease usually runs its course in a couple of days or more.

The restaurant, which sat 256 people over the weekend, remains closed indefinitely.

“He has an order to close which he is complying with. He’ll be closed until the investigation is complete and we identify a source and that he’s meeting our requirements based on the findings that we have,” Beveridge said.

E.coli has not been eliminated as the cause of the illness. Heavy rainfall last Friday could have led to contaminated well water. He’s also not ruling out the possibility of a perfect storm, in which both diseases were present at the same time.

“We’re keeping our options open,” Beveridge said.

“If we can pinpoint Norovirus in stool with a food item, then we’ve got a match. If we pinpoint E.coli, which we have in the water, then we can do further tests to determine the type of E.coli with the stool sample, then we’ll have a match for E.coli.

“We still haven’t made those matches yet.”

There have been previous E.coli diagnoses in the well water used by the restaurant, but Beveridge said there have been no cases of food contamination, adding the restaurant has a clean bill of health from a food inspection standpoint.

“The operator has been a historically good operator and we’ve never had any issues or complaints or anything. So this is a bit of a surprise from this particular premise.”

Stool samples from infected patients have been sent to labs in Thunder Bay, Toronto and to the Health Canada laboratory in Ottawa for diagnosis, a process Beveridge suspects will take a few days.

Beveridge said this is only the third case of this magnitude of gastrointestinal illness at a Thunder Bay-area restaurant in 15 years.

 
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Faced with the loss of perennial stalwarts like Brandon Swartzendruber, Gustavo Oliveira. Wilson Neto and Nolan Intermoia, players who helped turn the franchise from pretenders into national champions, Colistro had plenty of holes to fill this offseason.

He may have found a gem in Sullivan Silva, a 22-year-old Brazilian who spent the 2010 season with the Austin Aztex of the USL First Division, one rung below Major League Soccer.

On the wish list of most teams in the PDL, Silva, the cousin of former Chill player Marcos Silva, had 15 goals last season with the Capital City Football Club of the Canadian Soccer League. When Capital City decided not to rejoin the CSL, Sullivan Silva was without a home and Colistro didn’t hesitate to contact the 6-foot-1 forward.

“That just happened a couple of weeks ago,” Colistro said Saturday, watching 20 of the 30 players invited to camp start an intense two-week evaluation process at Chapples Field.

“Sullivan Silva is a player we’ve tried to get for the last few years and we were successful this year.”

No stranger to the Premier Development League, Silva spent the 2006 season with the Vermont Voltage, failing to score in a dozen appearances.

The Goiania, Brazil native is the guy Colistro is counting on to fill Swartzendruber’s shoes and replace some of the 57 goals the Colorado native scored in four seasons in Thunder Bay.

Though Swartzendruber won’t be easy to replace, Silva has the pedigree to do it, Colistro said.

“We think Sullivan Silva is going to be that player,” Colistro said.

Silva, who arrived in Thunder Bay too late to make Saturday’s morning practice, won’t be alone out there. Colistro also has high hopes for import Juan Velez.

“He’s played at a high level in Spain, where he scored a lot of goals. So we’re hoping to see that contribution from them.”

But if there are questions on offence, it’s the defence where Colistro expects the 2012 edition of the Chill to make their mark.

Anchored by veteran goalie Stephen Paterson of Thunder Bay and defenders Zetroy Robertson and Sicielio Buthelezi, the Chill are a team that might not need a lot of offence to survive.

Robertson, a Jamaican native, said there are a lot of new faces in camp, but he’s excited to take on the challenge of living up to the expectations the Chill have set for themselves, with three Final Four appearances and one PDL championship since 2008.

Robertson, who wintered in Thunder Bay, said having experience in the back end is always a good place to start building for success.

“Coach (Colistro) always says that a good defensive team is a strong team and he always tries to recruit the best defenders. This year he kept most of his strong defenders, so that will be a plus for us this season,” Robertson said.

The offence should be a little more spread out, he added.

“Last year we had Brandon, but we didn’t have enough attacking push. Brandon scored the goals, but this year hopefully we have a good set of strikers coming in who can find the back of the net just like Brandon used to. He found those goals, but he’s not here anymore so we have to work with what we have.”

Working with each other will be the key to any success the Chill experiences this summer, he added.

“It’s just that simple. If we start and we’re not a team at the start, it’s going to be hard for us as we progress during the season.”

One of the newcomers who has little time to adapt is South African Jarryd Phillips, who most recently suited up for the University of Maine-Fort Kent.

The midfielder says it’s clear there are a lot of opportunities with the Chill and said the recruits will have to work hard to fill the void left by the departing players.

He knows the expectations are high.

“Tony actually made the clear to me on the phone,” Phillips said. “He said we’re going for another championship and that’s the bottom line. You can see the seriousness of it, so it’s nothing to joke about it when you get here. Hopefully we can push for another title this year.”

Chill chatter: Intermoia has hung up his cleats, but is still with the team as an assistant … Oliveira is now a financial consultant in Oklahoma … The Chill will play a pair of friendlies next weekend against the Winnipeg Lions on Saturday (7:30 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.). They open the regular season at home on May 25 at home against the WSA Winnipeg.
 
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Markham-based Easton’s Group of Hotels received approval to build a 142-room Marriott Town Place Suites hotel on land near the Real Canadian Superstore earlier this year. But an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board from Superstore owner Loblaws Properties West threatened to halt the development, which would also include two restaurants and a retail store.

But as of Friday, Easton CEO Steve Gupta said Loblaw’s has dropped its appeal.

“That situation is resolved hopefully. There will be a couple of minor issues but I’m confident they’ll be resolved. I’m really pleased Loblaws took that stand and have withdrawn their appeal, which is good news for everybody because litigation doesn’t help anyone,” Gupta said.

Gupta said the appeal has delayed the project by three months but construction should now begin within 45 days.

Speculation that a Harvey's would be attached to this development has also ended. 

Thompson Centre's Inc says they've decided to go forward with an A& W restaurant. Negotiations continue for the addition of a sit-down restaurant
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The 22-year-old Thunder Bay man was convicted of armed robbery, wearing a disguise and three firearms offences Friday at the Superior Court of Justice.

The robbery occurred at the credit union on Rosslyn Road and Highway 130 around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2011. A masked man entered the bank with a sawed-off shotgun and fled with more than $3,000 in cash.

Two credit union employees both independently thought the robber was Tomeck, as he was a regular customer at that credit union.

The Crown’s case was largely circumstantial with Tomeck’s DNA found on a balaclava that was retrieved in a duffel bag with a sawed-off shotgun in a trailer park near the credit union.

Despite the testimony of Tomeck’s grandfather said he saw the accused outside of his home at the time of the robbery and a neighbour testifying that Tomeck’s truck was in the driveway, Justice John Wright said the circumstantial evidence was far too overwhelming to accept the alibi information.

Wright said he accepts the grandfather and neighbour are decent people and did not willingly mislead the court.

Tomeck’s lawyer Gil Labine said the decision was not unexpected because the case was largely circumstantial and the evidence against Tomeck was somewhat overwhelming.

“There were some holes the Crown had some difficulty with, but by in large I thought Justice Wright’s decision was fair and hit all the key points in the evidence,” he said outside of the courthouse Friday.
Labine said Tomeck is considering whether or not he’ll appeal the decision and his client still professes his innocence.

Other than the testimony of the two credit union employees who said the robber looked like Tomeck, there is no direct evidence that he actually committed the crime.

A sentencing date will be set for Tomeck on May 28.

In this type of case where a firearm is used in a robbery, specifically a restricted firearm, there is a five-year minimum sentence, said Labine.

“We may challenge the constitutional validity of that legislation as it applies to him, but we may not,” he said.

Labine said Tomeck’s age and that he had no prior criminal record should be taken into consideration for sentencing.

“It is odd behaviour if in fact he’s the person that committed this crime,” said Labine, adding that before this his client led an exemplary life in Thunder Bay.

 
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That’s because she’s been helping train Prospective, one of 20 thoroughbreds racing in the 138th annual Kentucky Derby. Holding onto his side, Powell will walk with the horse as more than 50,000 fans hold their breath at Churchill Downs.

“Nobody else really gets that view of the grandstand and all the fans unless you’re walking from the backstretch across the track,” Powell said on the phone from Louisville where a two-week festival is raging before the weekend’s main event.

But as assistant trainer to Mark Casse, Powell has been too busy getting Prospective, who’s running out of the 12 spot, ready for the most important 1 1/4 mile of his three-year-old life to enjoy the festivities. Although the horse has 30-1 odds, Powell said he’s been turning heads at the track.

“We’re going to go off on a long shot but long shots win the Kentucky derby all the time… I know the size of his heart he’s going to run the race of his life on Saturday, I guarantee it,” said Powell who speaks of the horse she’s spent the last year-and-a-half of her life with as if he’s human.

“He looks fantastic. I like the way he's training, and he certainly looks the part (of a champion)."

Powell, who now lives in Florida, started her career in Thunder Bay although she didn’t know it at the time. She spent more than 15 years riding horses just outside of the city before moving to Southern Ontario for university. Although she said her academic career didn’t turn out too well, she lucked her way into a job at Windfields Farm.

The home of Northern Dancer, the most famous and successful sire in horse racing, Powell said she was amazed that people were willing to teach her everything about horses from training them to helping them give birth.

“It’s just crazy that people pay you good money to do what you love,” she said.

Windfields led her to Woodbine Racetrack, where she met her current boss Mark Casse. And that’s how she met Prospective.

Because he’s been running so well with Powell’s help, including two first place finishes in the past year, the crew doesn’t want to change anything in Prospective’s routine before a race. That means she’ll be right beside him on race day. Powell said she’s just happy her boss has the chance to get a horse he’s trained into the most famous of the Triple Crown races.

“The Kentucky derby to a horse trainer who’s done nothing but train horses his entire life is the Stanley Cup. There’s no greater race in the world,” she said.

Powell is also grateful to Prospective himself.

“He’s the one that’s gotten us this far and let us experience the Kentucky Derby on a level where we’re participating and not just spectators.”

So how do you prepare a horse for the biggest race of his life? Powell said the key is to stay calm yourself and pretend it’s just another race. For Prospective, he likes to eat a bit and have a nap before getting his shot of Lasix, which reduces the chance a horse will bleed when running at such high speeds.

“You have to stay calm for the horse. We can’t get nervous or he’ll get nervous,” she said.

The Kentucky Derby runs Saturday at 6:24 p.m.

 
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“There is far more going on in this city than the four people just arrested,” said police chief J.P. Levesque at a Thunder Bay Police Service media conference Friday afternoon.

“The numbers are quite significant and frankly, very disturbing,” he said, adding online child exploitation has become so prolific, it’s becoming difficult to stay on top of it with the resources the police have for it.

The arrests are the result of a recent online investigation by the OPP’s child sexual exploitation section and the TBPS’s cyber crime unit.

There is no indication at this time the four individuals are connected, said Levesque.

Story continues after video …

The amount of pictures and videos found in the investigation is significant, said OPP Insp. Scott Naylor, the child sexual exploitation unit manager in Orillia.

However, the exact amount won’t be known until the police finish the forensics on the seized hardware. Police also haven’t identified any victims on the pornography found yet.

All of the arrests were made without incident and all of the search warrants were successful, Naylor said.

“We found exactly what we were looking for,” he said.

The Thunder Bay police are one of 18 municipalities involved in the provincial strategy to tackle child exploitation and abuse; through the strategy, the province funded 56 positions to work on the problem.

However, Naylor said this type of work is labour-intensive and costly.

It’s not a problem the police can arrest their way out of, he said.

“This is a societal problem,” he said. “If we can stop the proliferation of child pornography at the front end where it makes it inaccessible for these like-minded people that do this, it would help us out a lot.”

The OPP conducted a large takedown earlier this year in child pornography, but most of the arrests were in southern Ontario. Naylor said there were some targets in Thunder Bay so they came to help the local police.

“There are people trading child pornography and doing online luring on a daily basis in pretty much every city in Ontario,” he said.

“For us to come up and help out Thunder Bay and acquire four bodies in a short period of time li ke this, we consider this a success for one week.”

But it’s a job police could do 24/7.

“People are trading files on a constant basis,” Naylor said. “We’re bound by the limitations of the resources we have.”

The following people were arrested and charged:

26 year old Allan Wilbur Burkhart- Syndicate Avenue North, Thunder Bay
. Accessing Child Pornography C.C. 163.1 (4.1)
. Possessing Child Pornography (2 Counts) C.C. 163.1 (4)
. Distributing Child Pornography C.C. 163.1 (3)

25 year old Justin David William Chabot – Athabasca Street, Thunder Bay
. Accessing Child Pornography C.C. 163.1 (4.1)
. Possessing Child Pornography (2 Counts) C.C. 163.1 (4)
. Distributing Child Pornography C.C. 163.1 (3)

42 year old George Albert Korkola – Bernard Street, Thunder Bay
. Accessing Child Pornography C.C. 163.1 (4.1)
. Possessing Child Pornography (2 Counts) C.C. 163.1 (4)

19 year old Michael William Brown – Simpson Street, Thunder Bay
. Accessing Child Pornography C.C. 163.1 (4.1)
. Possessing Child Pornography (2 Counts) C.C. 163.1 (4)

On Twitter: @JodiL_reporter

 
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The former Clarkson University goaltender on Friday inked a two-year, two-way contract with the Blues, who are set to take on the Los Angeles Kings in Round 2 of the NHL playoffs.

Originally drafted by the Blues in 2008 in the seventh round, the 6-foot-2 Karopwich compiled a 16-15-2 record with Clarkson in 2012, posting a 2.46 goals against average and a .921 save percentage.

He joined the Blues in St. Louis on Friday.
 
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Five years ago, suffering from depression, his marriage recently ended, then 38-year-old Michael Bailey disappeared, last seen headed westward down Broadway Avenue after police asked him to move on from private property on Bowkler Road.

Two weeks prior to that was the last time his family heard from their reclusive brother and son, leaving them to wonder daily what happened to him.

Did his mental illness force him into hiding or has he met a more sinister fate?

“It’s been difficult,” said Gail Bailey on Thursday, a day shy of the fifth anniversary of his disappearance. “Every time you go out you’re constantly looking for him.

“It’s stressful not knowing where he is.”

They’ve looked everywhere, stretching their search as far as Toronto, where someone recently reported seeing Michael Bailey, who is described as being 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, with blond hair, hazel eyes and burn scars on his left arm and ankle.

Lakehead Search and Rescue spent a day several years ago combing the woods surrounding their rural Norkooli Road home, and Rogers Television featured him on a recent documentary. Michael’s face is splashed all over Facebook and has a profile on MissingAdults.ca.

Gail Bailey says she and her husband Norm did everything they could to get their son to deal with his depression before he dropped out of sight.

“He came out here to see us. We walked up and down the road together. We were trying to get him some help. He didn’t want the help and he literally took off and disappeared.”

His parents and sister thought nothing of it, but after a couple of weeks, they began to worry.

“He always called,” Gail recalled, noting once they began their search she spotted wrappers from candy bars she’d given him and assumed he was somewhere in the area.

Sister Patti Pella, whose four children want to get to know their missing uncle, says Michael’s whereabouts are always in the back of her mind, no matter where she is.
“Does he need us? Is he somewhere hurt and he needs help? Is he trying to get home and he just doesn’t know how to get home? You just don’t know.  I feel like he’s out there somewhere and I have hope, because if you don’t have hope, then what do you have?” she said.
Police say they investigated Michael’s disappearance for nearly a year-and-a-half, but have come up empty.

Staff Sgt. Don Lewis of the Thunder Bay Police Service said on April 20, 2007 officers asked Michael to leave the private property where he was camping off Bowkler Road; when he complied, there was little more police could do.

They offered to take him to a shelter, but he refused, and went on his way, the last time anyone knows for certain he was seen.
Lewis said despite the five-year gap, there’s a possibility Michael Bailey is still alive.

“It depends. Michael is a reclusive type of individual and doesn’t enjoy the company of other people,” Lewis said.

Mother Gail has a simple message for her now 43-year-old son.

“If he’s out there watching, we just want him to know we love him very much. We want him to come home. No matter what, we just want him to come home. He has a family here who loves him and wants to know where he is,”
 
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 684-1200 or 623-8477.
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MUST: Have Own vehicle, Be a non-smoker, be female, be flexible, teachable, kind, caring, understanding, be bondable and able to follow detailed direction and have the physical ability to move, bend and reach and be 19 years or older.

DUTIES:
To assist me with all aspects of running a household including providing personal care assistance for me.

PAY AND HOURS:
$15.55 an hour and the shifts are prescheduled 1-2 hour shifts. The hours per week, vary depending on the applicant’s availability from other commitments like school or jobs.
Average hours can be anywhere from 4- 25 per week.

Please email Anita at abergiecreation@gmail.com send a cover letter about themselves, with a resume and three references.

The cyclist was traveling south on the sidewalk adjacent to the busy thoroughfare when he was struck crossing Central Avenue.
He was taken to hospital by ambulance and later released.

Police, who have not indicated whether charges will be laid or not, said in a release their investigation continues.
 
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