Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Wednesday morning.
Levack woman celebrates 105th birthday with a glass of whisky
She is a quiet older lady who still lives by herself in Levack, but there's something particularly special about Angeline Charlebois. And it has nothing to do with the fact that she still does her banking and up until recently was hanging laundry on the clothesline outside. Charlebois left the house Monday to go over to the Onaping Falls Golden Age Club, where she met up with friends and family members to celebrate her 105th birthday. She was born December 18, 1918 in Oklee, Minnesota, and in her lifetime she has survived two international pandemics. The first was the Spanish Flu that took the life of her father, who died two months before she was born. Then there was COVID-19. "I’m lucky I’m able to do things and that I’m in my house, and not in a (retirement) home,” she said in a previous interview, in Cottage Life magazine, referring to the long list of Ontario retirement homes who have been hit hardest by COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths.
Staff at The Spot say they won’t give up on funding, clients
In a move that has left staff at the Spot “despondent,” Greater Sudbury city council members voted 9-2 against continued municipal funding for The Spot, Sudbury’s supervised consumption site. During a 2024/25 municipal budget meeting Dec. 18, Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc tabled a motion asking the city to provide $450,000 to keep the supervised consumption site open until the end of July 2024. Only Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann supported his effort. The expenditure would have included a net 2024 tax levy impact of $194,500, with the balance taken from an anticipated year-end surplus from the 2023 amount budgeted for the facility. And though Amber Fritz, manager of supervised consumption services told Sudbury.com they would not be backing down, she said the lack of municipal funding is a “huge letdown.”
Four additional full-time firefighters greenlit for hire
The city’s complement of career firefighters is slated to grow by four members next year, with the city’s elected officials greenlighting the expense during their Dec. 18 budget meeting. Staff had requested eight, but an amendment by Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre cut it in half, punting the four-member balance for consideration during 2026 budget deliberations. Lapierre clarified his key motivation in approving additional firefighters was to help lessen overtime hours and keep staff safe. “We have a concern with the amount of overtime hours we have and only having a few people taking on overtime,” he said, noting that the lion’s share of overtime is being done by 35 per cent of career firefighters. The city spent approximately $2.4 million on firefighters’ overtime last year, which exceeded their budget by $1.4 million.
Pursuit: The many football talents of Owen Willis
It’s one thing to establish yourself as the most dominant high school football lineman in the city, walking away with the Mike Derks Award in back-to-back-to-back years. It’s a whole other thing to get the opportunity to spend some time with the former CFL lineman and Grey Cup champion (1986) for whom the honour is named. Owen Willis can now relate to both. The 18-year-old, four-year veteran of the Lively Hawks recently had the chance to spend some time with Derks, the long-time physical educator and football coach at Lasalle Secondary who was tackling (pun very much intended) a supply teaching assignment at LDSS recently. “I just wanted to congratulate Owen on his very distinguished accomplishments,” said Derks, a graduate of the Cincinnati Bearcats NCAA program who went on to play six years with the Hamilton Tiger Cats, hoisting the hardware as CFL champions in 1986. “Most players don’t even start three years in a row.”
St. Charles food drive raises $18K, collects 111K cans
After over a month of fundraising, St. Charles College has announced it raised $18,104 and 111,089 cans for the Sudbury Food Bank during its 2023 Canned Food Drive. This annual fundraiser, organized by staff and students at St. Charles College, supports the Sudbury Food Bank's mission of "reaching out to those in need with tangible food and support and ensuring that every person in the City of Greater Sudbury has enough to eat." Throughout this fundraising campaign, St. Charles College students engaged in community service activities such as canvassing neighbourhoods, bagging groceries, and organizing in-school fundraisers. These initiatives not only significantly contributed to the Canned Food Drive's overall success but also fostered a sense of community and shared purpose among students and staff. Principal Aaron Barry emphasizes the crucial role of the Sudbury Food Bank in the community, expressing immense pride in the dedication and passion demonstrated by the St. Charles College school community.
Dreaming of a white Christmas? Keep dreaming …
Unseasonably warm temperatures have gripped the Greater Sudbury area, resulting in a forecast which includes a rarely seen green Christmas. Drawing from 59 years of weather data, Environment Canada meteorologist Peter Kimbell told Sudbury.com that 94 per cent of Christmases have been white in Greater Sudbury. With no additional snow forecast between Tuesday and Christmas, Greater Sudburians are in the store for a green Christmas. “At best, a patchy white Christmas,” Kimbell added in conversation with Sudbury.com on Monday. “After today, just basically clear skies, or a mix of sun and cloud most days, temperatures warmer than average.” Seasonal averages for this time of year include daily highs of -6 C and lows of -15 C, and this week’s temperatures are averaging around 0 C.
