More than 20,000 festival-goers helped Beau’s Brewery set a new record for fundraising at the ninth annual Beau’s Oktoberfest in Vankleek Hill.

A sum of $100,205 was collected for projects and charities, surpassing the $75,000 goal, and bringing the nine-year total to $616,889. “This is amazing!” says Beau’s co-founder Steve Beauchesne. “This Oktoberfest was definitely warmer than we’re used to, and the spirit of generosity was just as strong as the sunshine. I love seeing Vankleek Hill come to life with such a vibrant, welcoming atmosphere every year we do this.”

The United Way Charity Bike Ride took place again this year, raising more than $35,000 for an initiative called “All That Kids Can Be.”

Among the beneficiaries are the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital Foundation and the Vankleek Hill Agricultural Society,which will each receive $10,000.

Beau’s Oktoberfest 2017 - By the Numbers*

 * Funds raised: $100,205
 * 2017 attendance: 20,515
 * Litres of beer and cider served: 31,570
 * People who took bus shuttles to get home safely: 3,741
 * Portions of food prepared: 46,400
 * Litres of local spring water served: 3,780
 * Beers entered in Homebrew Competition: 477
 * Number of festival volunteers: 785 plus 130 Beau’s staff
 * Total artists/performers: 162
 * Keg-toss event participants: 169
 * Pieces of dishes & cutlery washed to reduce waste: 38,000
 * Sunday “Beer Brunches” served: 277
 * Total RVs and tents in camping area: 524
 * Ferris Wheel rides: 1,017

A  70-year-old pilot was seriously injured when the plane he was flying crashed Monday at about 6 p.m. near Airport Road in South Glengarry.

The lone occupant of the C-Plane "Buckeneer" was located about four hours later in a wooded area southwest of the Cornwall Regional Airport.

Ontario Provincial Police officers and emergency medical services personnel were exposed to aviation fuel and fumes and were subsequently sent to hospital where they were treated and later released.

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) and Ministry of Environment (MOE) were notified and will be involved in the fuel clean-up.

This incident prompted a massive search involving various law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border. The Joint Rescue Coordinator Center (JRCC) at 8-Wing CFB Trenton, three marine units from the RCMP, OPP and the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, as well as a helicopter from the New York State Police, searched the area.

Unseasonably hot temperatures prompted soldiers and civilians alike to seek shelter from the sun during the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s eighth annual Battle of Glengarry/War of 1812 Re-Enactment Weekend. Among the weekend warriors was John Robertson who along with Mohawk comrades fired a volley at the retreating infantry. More coverage in the September 27 edition of The News.

Several oxygen tanks were stolen from a shed at an Elgin Street West, Alexandria residence on the night of September 20-21.

John Cameron, Associate Director of Education with the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario, will succeed William Gartland as Director of Education when the 32-year veteran educator formally retires in January.

The Ontario government continues to offer a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the death of Jessica Godin, 18, whose body was found in a ditch on Du Parc Street in Fournier September 24, 2011.

Further details on this investigation can be viewed at www.opp.ca under “What We Do,” scroll to the bottom to “Investigations,” click on “OPP Rewards,” and scroll to “current investigations.”

The post-mortem examination indicated that the injuries she sustained and the location where her body was found were consistent with being struck by an eastbound vehicle which would have been travelling on Du Parc Street in Fournier.

Replacement of two 1960s-era Highway 401 bridges in South Glengarry will take place between 2018 and 2020.

“Bainsville (Third Line) Road, we’re proposing for Year 1 and 2, so 2018 and 2019, and then Westley (Second Line) Road will follow in 2019 and 2020,” Nathan Bakker, project manager at engineering and consulting firm WSP, told council during a presentation at the September 18 regular meeting.

Details in the September 27 edition of The News.

The Hôpital Glengarry Memorial Hospital Foundation is hoping the community’s overwhelming generosity continues as it wraps up an important leg of a half-million dollar fundraising campaign.

“Back in the latter part of June, we had someone, a local patron, who told that us that whatever we could raise during those last two weeks (of the month), and in July, August and September, he would match...up to a maximum of $100,000,” HGHM Foundation Board chairman Barry MacDonald told The News this week.

“So we’re trying to get the word out that this is the last couple of weeks to get those matching donations, so any contributions made by the end of September will be doubled.”

To date, the matching donations have totalled $79,000.

The Editor,

Building Common Security for a Post-Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) World will be discussed at a conference in Ottawa this Friday evening and all day Saturday (Sept. 22-23).

Titled “Getting to Nuclear Zero,” the conference will take place at the Cartier Place Hotel, 180 Cooper St., just east of Elgin Street.

The organizers are group78.org in cooperation with seven peace active organizations. Reception and registration are at 5:30 p.m. Friday at 7:30 p.m. The keynote speaker, Tariq Rauf, will identify key questions and issues in nuclear disarmament and an alternative security system.

Tariq Rauf was from 2002-2011 head of Verification and Security Policy Co-ordination and the Alternate Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Non-Proliferation Treaty Delegation.

Saturday opens at 9 a.m. with introductory remarks by Douglas Roche, former Canadian MP, Senator and Disarmament Ambassador. He will speak on the Prohibition Treaty: A New Political Movement.”

At 9:30 a.m. on panel one, the Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Ireland in Ottawa, Michael Hurley and the Executive Director of Canada’s Project Ploughshares, Cesar Jaramillo will examine the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons supported by 122 UN member states on July 7. The moderator will be Bev Delong from the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and CNANW.

Recently, the Prime Minister of Ireland came to Canada to talk with our PM. Prior to that our PM went to Ireland to meet with their PM. Did Ireland’s PM urge Canada to sign and ratify the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty which Ireland helped to put together at the UN?

On panel two at 11 a.m., a former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament, Marius Grinius and a director of the U.S.A. Ploughshares Fund Tom Collina will analyze impediments to international cooperation toward common security and what could be done to overcome them. Metta Spencer, the editor of the quarterly peace magazine and a member of Science for Peace at the University of Toronto will be the moderator.

After lunch, panel three at 1:15 p.m. will talk of elements of common security. Panelists will be Peter Langille, Paul Mayer, a senior fellow of the Simons Foundation Security Without Nuclear Weapons and Branka Marijan from Project Ploughshares. The moderator will be Tamara Lorincz from the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace.

On the fourth and last panel at 3:05 p.m., Tariq Rauf will again speak as well as Peggy Mason head of the Rideau Institute, Ottawa and a former Canadian Ambassador of Disarmament. Ernie Regehr, a senior fellow at the Simons Foundation and a co-founder of Project Ploughshares in 1976 will moderate. They will explore the role Canada might play for common security.

Don’t miss this event this weekend for the survival of the planet.

Now that Parliament resumed on Sept. 18, one of our MPs should formally ask in the House of Commons that our PM say that he is planning to attend the UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament in 2018.

– Gerard Daechsel, Alexandria

This photo on a GoFundMe page shows a fire that destroyed a Glen Walter home Friday afternoon. The blaze began with an electrical fire in a garage. If you want to help the victims go to https://www.gofundme.com/genevieves-fire-fund

Here's this week's front page.

While they cannot do anything about the weather, area farmers will be able to better prepare for heavy rain falls thanks to a $1 million contribution from the federal government. 

Ottawa is investing $997,654 so the South Nation Conservation Authority can develop “a hydrologic model that will provide farmers with real-time weather and water information to help inform water management decisions.”

The 15-month project will construct an integrated groundwater – surface water forecasting model for the South Nation Watershed using HydroGeoSphere, which is a Canadian hydrologic simulator that predicts water movement on and through the ground.

The platform will help predict “water events” and provide an array of potential mitigation practices.

“Our government recognizes that Canadian farmers face risk every day in managing their businesses,” says Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Druouin. “This investment is all about giving farmers the tools they need to adjust their farms to a changing climate. Helping farmers be better informed in making their water management decisions is good for the sector's sustainable growth, good for farmers' bottom lines, and good for the Canadian economy,” adds Mr. Drouin who announced the contribution on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lawrence MacAulay.

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) is confirming the summer’s second human case of West Nile virus in the region. Mosquitoes in the area served by the health unit tested positive for the virus in July, and a first human case was confirmed earlier in August.

“West Nile virus remains a concern in our area,” says Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, Medical Officer of Health at the EOHU, adding that “residents should be aware and take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their families, particularly for the next six to eight weeks while mosquitoes are still active.”