Mauro family issues statement

Posted February 16, 2012 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in News | No comments yet

The family of Thunder Bay Police Sgt. Jim Mauro blames the “absolute power” of the police chief position for the situation Mauro is facing.

The suspended officer was a no-show on Wednesday at the opening day of a hearing looking into allegations of misconduct , stemming from a letter he allegedly signed and sent on then Thunder Bay Police Association president Keith Hobbs, now the city’s mayor.

Mauro’s family issued a statement on Thursday questioning the process that led to Mauro’s predicament.

“He can charge any officer and then he can hand-pick the prosecutor and the hearing officer,” the statement reads.

“It has been confirmed again that the letter in question is truthful, factual and accurate. This is really about an abuse of power and what happens to any police officer in Ontario who may choose to challenge the decisions of a chief on behalf or in his capacity as a union officer.”

The family said they will have more to say at a later date.

Mauro failed to appear again on Thursday for the second day of the three-day tribunal. Officials decided to proceed without him. 

Hobbs, who testified Thursday, called it a witch-hunt.

Follow Leith Dunick on Twitter: @LeithDunick 
View full post on Tbnewswatch.com – News

Friends and family affair

Posted March 5, 2011 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Sports | No comments yet

It was a family and friends sweep of the marquee race at Saturday’s Sleeping Giant Loppett. In unprecedented fashion in the men’s 50-kilometre race, Americans Brian Gregg and CXC teammate and long-time friend Matt Liebsch crossed the finish line arm in arm, becoming the first dual winners in the event’s lengthy history. Not to be outdone, Minneapolis’s Caitlin Compton, who skied for the U.S. Olympic team at last year’s Vancouver Games and happens to be Gregg’s fiancee, took the women’s 50-kilometre free skate title. The 31-year-old Compton, who finished sixth in the Olympic team sprint competition, said the double victory for her and her fiancé was a great way to justify the trip north. How Gregg was doing was on her mind the entire race, up until she crossed the finish line ahead of the pack and he rushed to greet her with the good news. “I didn’t know how he did, so I was a little nervous out there thinking I wonder what’s happening out there in the boys race, we can’t see anything,” said Compton, fresh off her recent win at the American Bierkenbeiner What was happening had apparently been pre-determined earlier in the day. “It was fun. We sort of talked it over this morning to work together to see if we could take the win together. We’ve both ski for CXS. It’s a team based out of the Midwest, so we thought we’d work together and split the prize money,” Gregg said. The duo spent the entire race skiing together, he added, breaking away from the pack just after the 20-kilometre mark. “It was down to four of us, a couple of Thunder Bay boys, Stephen Hart and Adam Kates … Matt did the majority of the work. He skied with the backpack with the water bottles, so he was the workhorse today,” Gregg said. Liebsch said it was an easy decision to go for the tie. “We’re really good friends and good teammates, so there was no sense in trying to bash each other’s brains in. We’ve still got some racing to do this season and Brian wants to peak for Sun Valley end of the season races in the U.S. If we blow each other out in a 50-K, it’s not good. “So we just worked together to try to strategically get away and we toe it up at the line and just split it up.” The pair crossed the finish line in identical 2:09.19 times, just 0.19 seconds ahead of Hart, the top local finisher. Compton, who finished in 2:27.06, good for 13th overall, said she had no complaints about the race, which started out in chilly temperatures but saw the day warm up as the competition got heated. “It was fantastic out there today,” she said. The course was in perfect shape. The trails are just gorgeous, the terrain. You couldn’t have asked for a better technique trail. “We came up here because we heard it was a great event. And it’s not too far away. It’s definitely something we’re going to recommend to others in the future.” That should be music to the ears of race co-ordinator Peter Gallagher, who once again saw the pre-race goal of 1,000 entrants fall short. “We got about 800,” he said. “We set a goal and tried to get 1,000. We were well ahead of that during early registration, but I think we convinced everyone to early register this year and they didn’t late register. But I’m still happy with 800 skiers. It’s a great number of participants.” Also on hand was two-time Olympic medallist and current International Olympic Committee member Beckie Scott, who in 2002 became the first North American skier to win a cross country medal. Scott, who said her first taste of elite-level cross country skiing came in Thunder Bay, is in town to speak at a loppet banquet Saturday night. “I just thought I’d come out and see the races and take in a little bit of the atmosphere here,” she said. “It’s a beautiful day for a ski race. You see great spirit and atmosphere around this loppet.” Scott, 36, who arrived with son Teo in tow, handed out the medals during the post-race award ceremony. Thunder Bay’s Timo Puiras took the 50-kilometre classic men’s race, while Grand Marais’ Kerrie Fabius was the first woman to cross the line. In the 35-kilometre event, Ham Lake, Minn.’s Chris Hecker won top spot in a time of 1:44.10, about 12 minutes faster than Frank Luckai, the No. 1 local finisher. Thunder Bay’s Britt Bailey, a member of the Lakehead Thunderwolves squad, was the top female in the category, crossing the line in 1:59.10. In the 20-kilometre race, Brantford, Ont.’s Mary Henry took top spot in a time of 2:14.18, while Chris Bailey was first for the men at 2:15.04. Thunder Bay’s Emile Hamm won the eight-kilometre event in 24:41, while Susan Takahashi was the top female at 30:39. Wolfie, the LU mascot, timed in at 35:04, while Rock 94 morning show co-host Dee Jaroway was 114th overall in 1:08:01. View full post on Tbnewswatch.com – Sports

Dog stolen: family

Posted January 25, 2011 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in News | No comments yet

A mother and her children say they feel as though they’ve lost a member of the family after their dog was taken from their backyard last week. Rachel Kakegamic let her three-month-old miniature pinscher-chihuahua mix onto the back deck of her Huron Crescent home on Friday, Jan. 14. When Kakegamic returned to let her dog Daisy inside, she was gone and there were footprints leading from the back gate to the deck and back out again. Kakegamic said Daisy she believes it was obvious that someone had taken her dog. “It’s really unsettling and it’s really scary. Having kids in the house and especially the idea that my backdoor was open,” she said. “You don’t expect something like that to happen.” Kakegamic filed a police report with the Thunder Bay Police Service, called the Thunder Bay Humane Society, the city’s animal services and provided local vets with photos of the dog. She even posted a listing on Kijiji, but so far she’s only received messages of support without any real leads. “Other than that, now we just have to wait,” Kakegamic said. With more than 1,700 views on Kijiji so far, Kakegamic said the level of support she’s received is more than she expected. But with three small children, Kakegamic said the loss has been tough for her family. “It’s hard because the kids shouldn’t have to lose something like that,” she said. “We’d like to have our dog back, it’s our pet. She’s come to be part of our family and that was taken away from us.” Kakegamic said the family also lost a cat earlier this summer, which was since returned to them. View full post on Tbnewswatch.com – News

Family traditions

Posted November 29, 2010 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Sports | 1 comment

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Austin Adduono had every right to be nervous on Saturday
night.

The 17-year-old doesn’t get to play that often in front
of friends and family any more. Add to that the fact he was in a mini-slump
heading into a Fort William Gardens battle against the Thunder Bay North Stars,
having been held off the score sheet for a pair of games, and it’s no wonder he
got off to a slow start.

But the Wisconsin Wilderness rookie made up for it when
it mattered, drawing a pair of assists in the third period, the first coming on
Derek Tylka’s equalizer at 11:27 of the third, the second on Wilson Housley’s
power-play winner with 3:25 to go in regulation.

Adduono was named to the Thunder Bay Major Midget
Kings roster in June, but chose to try out with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the
United States Hockey League, which ultimately led him to Spooner, Wis. and the
expansion Wilderness. He has plenty to celebrate these days.

On Friday he was the sole Superior International Junior
Hockey League player named to the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s annual
prospects game in Dauphin, Man. on Dec. 7 and 8, a showcase for the top 40
Junior A players in Canada (or in Adduono’s case, the United States).

The enormity of the honour isn’t lost on the peach-fuzzed
teen, though a product of his generation, he found out about it in a
not-so-traditional way.

“I actually read about it at school, on the computer. I
was looking at the CJHL site, checking up on how our team was doing in the
league standings. Then my coach called me two nights ago and told I was going
to be given the opportunity to play there. I was pretty excited to do that,”
Adduono said after Saturday’s 3-2, come-from-behind win.

“It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. How many kids get
the chance to play in that game? I’m pretty fortunate and lucky to be able to
go there. Hopefully I do well.”

Wisconsin is coached by Rod Aldoff, a Lethbridge, Alta. native
whose 15-year-journey through the minor hockey trenches took him to outposts as
remote as Vipiteno, Italy, Talahassee, Fla. and Amarillo, Texas before he hung
up the blades last season.

One of those stops, in 2002-03, was Greensboro, S.C.,
where the defenceman put up 32 points in 54 games.

There he was mentored by none other than Fort William’s
own Rick Adduono, Austin’s uncle, a former NHler – albeit briefly – who played
four games with Boston and Atlanta in the 1970s.

The Adduono name is one Aldoff never forgot, and when the
chance to recruit the latest generation of a family that also sent Rick’s
brother Ray to the WHA and more recently Jeremy Adduono to the American Hockey
League and later Europe.

When he saw Austin Adduono’s name on the Waterloo roster –
the two clubs share the same ownership group – he was bound and determined to
bring him to Spooner should the opportunity arise. USHL team’s are only allowed
two imports, and though he originally made the team, when a higher-profile NHL
draft pick returned to the squad, Adduono was the odd man out.

Aldoff knows his stay with the Wilderness might be
short-lived. But Adduono is second in the SIJHL in scoring, with 12 goals and
17 assists, so the first-year coach will take what he can get.

“He’s one of those kids that the puck kind of sticks with
him. When he doesn’t have the puck and he’s grinding it out, he gives it
everything he’s got. He has to get the puck back,” Aldoff said. “He’s a tough
one-on-one player down in the corners.

“He’s not a big guy, but he plays with a lot of grit and
a lot of heart. That’s a big asset to him.”

Adduono hopes the opportunity to play in front of all
nature of scouts in Dauphin furthers his dream of playing U.S. college hockey
next year.

“I haven’t really narrowed it down to anything yet. I’ve talked
to Bowling Green and the University of Minnesota-Duluth,” he said.

But he tries not to think too far into the future, his
immediate goal at hand making the first-place Wilderness into the title
contenders, a tough task in a league where first and fourth place are separated
by a single point.

He has thought a little about the prospects game, and is
pretty sure he knows what he needs to do to stand out among the crowd, as he tries to live up to the family name. 

“Just work hard all the time, always be moving. Every
shift you’ve got to try to win the battle and try to win every shift. It’s
basically all you can do and hope for the best.”

Notes : Four
Prospects Game alumni have been selected in the first round of the NHL draft:
Riley Nash (Edmonton, 2007); Dylan Olsen (Chicago, 2009); Joe Colborne (Boston,
2008) and the most highly-touted of them all, Kyle Turris (Phoenix, 2006).

First period Scoring : 1.
Thunder Bay, Howarth 2 (K. Hamel, Hogan) 8:08. Penalties : Valley TB (boarding) 3:22, Adduono WIS (hooking) 9:46,
Belobaba WIS (illegal equipment) 13:30, Cisco TB (high sticking) 16:04. Second period Scoring : 2.
Thunder Bay, Forbes 10 (Valley, Marostica) 1:18. Penalties : Usiski TB (slashing) 2:12, K. Hamel TB (unsportsmanlike
conduct, Holmes WIS (fighting major, game misconduct), C. Hamel TB (fighting
major, game misconduct) 4:42, Dubinsky TB (slashing), Hendrickson WIS (cross
checking) 6:52, Bentzen WIS (high sticking double minor) 15:44.

Third period Scoring : 3.
Wisconsin, B. Anderson 4 (Adduono) 4:29. 4. Wisconsin, Tylka 7 (Adduono, B.
Anderson) 11:27. 5. Wisconsin, Housley (Kline, Hendrickson) 16:35 pp. Penalties : A. Anderson WIS (unsportsmanlike
conduct) 1:41, Valley TB (slashing) 6:45 Betzen WIS (misconduct) 12:26, Usiski
TB (roughing) 14:44, Brule TB (boarding) 16:49.

Game Data – SOG – Wisconsin 9-10-17-36, Thunder Bay
10-17-10-37; Power plays (goals-chances)
– Wisconsin (1-6), Thunder Bay (0-4); Goaltenders
– Wisconsin: John McLean, Thunder Bay: Guillaume Piche; A : 200 (estimated).

View full post on Tbnewswatch.com – Sports

Graduation ceremony a family affair

Posted June 5, 2010 by admin in Thunder Bay News | No comments yet

When Laurie Niskanen started taking Confederation College’s human resources management program part-time in 2004, she never imagined she’d be collecting her diploma in the same graduation ceremony as her daughter Maija Zucchiatti. While the two never took a class together, they both crossed the finish line beaming with pride and family, friends and co-workers cheering them on. “I’m very proud for both of us and probably more proud for her than myself,” said Zucchiatti. “She’s been at this for a few more years than I have but I’m very excited and proud.” For Niskanen, graduation has been a long time coming. “I started in 2004, so taking 13 courses one-at-a-time seemed like it was going to last forever but I’m here now and I’m really happy about it,” she said. The mother-daughter team were just two of this year’s class of 1,440 students, the largest graduation class the college has ever had. President Pat Lang attributes the record size to an increase in enrolment; Confederation College witnessed a 14 per cent increase in students last fall and expects classes to keep growing. They have an eight per cent increase in applications for the upcoming fall school year. And with so many students graduating, Lang isn’t worried if there are enough jobs in the workforce. “Many of the graduates do have jobs,” she said. “Other graduates are going off to university to pursue a degree and there are others still looking, but everybody was filled with hope and aspiration today that they were going to be successful in the job market.” And while she’s attended a number of convocations, Lang said each one is special. “Every class is different,” she said. “They all have a different story to tell. It’s being able to share that day with them that makes it special. We saw a lot of mature graduates today who had surprised themselves, who never dreamt they’d cross a post-secondary stage in their lives … It’s those very special moments that make each and every graduation special.”

View full post on Tbnewswatch.com – Frontpage Headlines