Category Ycmftcz

Alliston hospital’s ex-communications manager enters guilty plea for child luring

A former corporate communications manager for Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston has entered a guilty plea for child luring, according to media reports.

Alliston resident Jared Nolan made the plea today (July 13) at the Ontario Court of Justice in Bradford.

In November 2016, Nolan, then 34, was arrested and charged with a number of criminal offences following a six-week OPP investigation into Internet luring and child pornography.

Police started the investigation in September 2016 after receiving a complaint about a man communicating with a young female in a sexual manner over the Internet.

Nolan, who started working at the hospital in April 2015, allegedly used his position at the hospital to gain the victim’s contact information.

He was charged with three counts of Internet luring, one count of transmitting sexually explicit material to a person under 18 years old, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

He was released on $150,000 bail in November 2016.

Further details will be posted once available.

What Barrie firefighters are learning about you during their ongoing safety blitz

They’re still into the early days of their inaugural door-to-door safety campaign, but Barrie firefighters are already learning a good deal about the residents they serve.

Barrie Fire and Emergency Service staff have visited more than 3,000 homes since launching the blitz in May. Much of the data they’ve collected through at-the-door surveys has helped support the department’s hypothesis that many residents simply do not know their smoke alarms expire.

“We knew the rate of compliance was low,” Deputy Chief Jeff Weber said. “Now that we’re actually seeing that, we can start to direct our programs (accordingly).”

Barrie Fire estimates 70 per cent of residential properties in the city do not meet current fire safety rules.

The campaign will run until Fire Prevention Week in October; crews will visit about 11,500 homes by that time. Barrie Fire plans to make this an annual blitz and expects crews will visit every home in the city within the next few years.

This year, firefighters will target neighbourhoods with homes primarily built between eight and 18 years ago. Those properties should have smoke alarms on every floor.

“Over a number of years of doing this, we will get to see a really dynamic view of what our city looks like, from a fire safety perspective,” Weber said. “People are aware they have smoke alarms. They are aware they are interconnected. But they are not aware they expire.”

Smoke alarms expire within 10 years of the date they were manufactured. If purchased and installed in 2006 or later, an expiry date will be visible on the alarm.

About 15 per cent of survey respondents are tenants. Most respondents also say they test their alarms regularly. 

Surprisingly, firefighters are running into a language barrier at several homes, Weber said.

“That makes it difficult to communicate our public safety message,” he said. “We need to start looking at other avenues for providing that public safety message.”

The department may need to consider translating its literature into languages other than French and English, and getting specialized community groups to assist in the dissemination of fire safety information, he said.

For more information on the campaign, visit .

Harold Dougall — Orillia Ward 2

I was born and raised in Hamilton.

In 1960, at age 11, I was placed at the Huronia Regional Centre.

I was 18 when I moved out of there to Edgar. In 1975, I moved into Orillia.

I want to join council to help the people in the community.

If I win, that would be lucky.

If they want to vote for me, fine.

Right now, some of the issues that are important to me include accessibility.

By 2025, everywhere in this city has to have wheelchair accessibility.

I’ve been in a wheelchair; trying to open a door in a wheelchair? No way.

If those push buttons are there, it is easy for people to go into stores.

I would also like the city to get a medical centre in Orillia because you wait a long time to get into the emergency department at the hospital.

I know the wetlands were blocked off on the other side of HRC, and I’d like to see them get animals in there, like turtles and birds.

It’s a wetland, you can’t build on it.

If you build on them, there go all of your animals and you will be having floods all of the time.

I’d also like council to look into Orillia Transit.

In the wintertime, they have bus shelters on Mississaga Street, but they don’t have one on West Street on the far side.

In the winter we have cold weather and you can’t stay out in the snow and cold air.

I know people feel it if they don’t have bus shelters.

About me, I’m kind, I’m happy and any questions that they want to ask, they can ask me. I’ll try to answer them.

I volunteer for Mariposa Folk Festival, and most of the time I volunteer with the jazz festival and the blues festival.

I want them back here.

A lot of people ask me why the blues festival quit.

I’m a paper carrier and I like to meet people, a lot of people. They like the way I do the papers.

I can be reached at or on Facebook.

Collingwood staff recommend tax increases to fund capital projects

Collingwood staff is recommending tax increases in order to fund capital projects over the next several years.

Treasurer Marjory Leonard presented the five-year capital plan at the July 9 Strategic Initiatives Committee meeting.

She recommended an annual one per cent tax increase to fund $309,000 in capital projects.

The plan also calls for a one per cent levy to fund the Waterfront Master Plan.

The town has several large projects it will have to pay for over the next several years, including repairing the terminals ($8 million) and the waterfront plan ($15.4 million).

Leonard said by 2022, water and wastewater reserves will be overdrawn by more than $13 million.

The report was received by council.


Collingwood Museum gets a facelift

The Collingwood Museum is in the midst of a facelift.

The organization has completed the first phase of a three-phase re-design project.

Melissa Shaw, museum assistant, said the first phase is a boat made by the Watts family in 1937 as well as backdrop with floor-to-ceiling photographs of the harbour.

Shaw said the second phase will focus on the history of the museum, which started as the Huron Institute, and the Indigenous history of Collingwood.

She expects this phase to be completed by the end of 2019.

Next year, the final phase will focus on the significant rail history of Collingwood and the legacy of the shipbuilding industry and the Collingwood Shipyards.

She said the themes of the exhibits will be permanent but the artifacts will rotate.

“We have a pretty large Indigenous collection,” Shaw said.  “We’re working with the collections that we have.”

Shaw said the displays have also been spruced up and they will include a variety of items from Collingwood’s history.

She said they are looking to get feedback from residents that will help develop the next two phases.

“We want to know what people like about it and if there is things they don’t like, we’d like to know what those are,” she said.

Alliston’s Jared Nolan enters plea

The former manager of corporate communications at Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston has pleaded guilty to luring a child over the internet in a Bradford court Friday July 13.

Jared Nolan, 36, of Alliston stood dressed in a suit and tie in front of the judge and pleaded guilty to one count of luring a child over the internet for the purposes of obtaining child pornography.

Nolan was arrested Nov. 16, 2016, after the father of a high school girl noticed his daughter was engaged in online sexual conversations with Nolan.

The teen was 16 when she applied for a high school co-op position at the hospital and said she was planning to take nursing in college.

She did not hear back from the hospital, but Nolan, who held his position at the hospital for two years, messaged her privately on Facebook and told her he could help her, court heard.

Over months their conversations became more friendly and eventually became sexual, court heard. Nolan sent her $250 in gift cards for her 17th birthday. Later he offered her money to send him nude pictures of herself. She did, but he then refused to pay her. He also sent her a photo of his penis.

After her father called police. A search of Nolan’s computer turned up 50 images and five videos of child pornography, showing young teens in various sexual acts, court heard.

Through their investigation, police uncovered further computer evidence and allege Nolan had been similarly involved with at least three other teens – one in Ireland, one in England and one in Waterloo, Ont. Those charges are expected to be dropped at the sentencing hearing which is set for December.