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Independent & Free Press, Wednesday, October 11, 2006 3 Police blotter Georgetown man injured when tree topples in yard A 49-year-old Ann St. man relaxing in a hammock in his backyard Sunday afternoon received lifethreatening injuries when a tree broke and fell on top of him. Police report the hammock fell to the ground when the tree it was attached to broke. The man managed to push the tree off himself, however, he had sustained significant internal injuries. The victim's wife had been out for a walk and when she got back she found her husband lying beside the hammock. He was rushed to Georgetown Hospital with life-threatening back and neck injuries and was later transferred to Sunnybrook Hospital. His condition has since been upgraded to stable. Halton Police say the tree showed obvious signs of being dead and seems to have collapsed from the weight of the hammock. ··· A 46-year-old Georgetown man suffered head and spinal injuries when he fell nine feet from the ceiling of the Georgetown Wal-Mart store onto a photo-processing machine Monday afternoon. Halton Police report the man, an independent contractor, fell through the ceiling tiles at approximately 4:20 p.m. After hitting the machine he landed on the floor where another person in the store, who heard a crash, found him lying unconscious. He was airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital and at press time police did not have an update on his condition. The Ministry of Labour is investigating the incident. ··· Three Excell saddles, valued at $5,500, were taken during a break and enter from an unlocked barn on a Winston Churchill Blvd. farm sometime between last Sunday and Tuesday. ··· An air conditioner unit was damaged when it was knocked off its bracket at a James St. home sometime late Friday or early Saturday. Damage is estimated at $3,000. Limehouse bridge reopens The Limehouse Conservation Area bridge was recently reopened and on hand for the ribboncutting were, from left, Rae Horst, general manager of Credit Valley Conservation, Susan Cox from the Limehouse Kilns Society, Ward 2 Councillor Joan Robson, Dave Tyson, President of the Toronto Bruce Trail Club and James Knight, from James Knight and Associates. Photo by Sabrina Byrnes Meads followed in tradition of `home-grown' chiefs Continued from pg. 1 Getting Meads to talk about his accomplishments during his tenure as chief is not an easy task. "I don't say that I have accomplished anything. It's what everyone else has done. I've just been one piece of the puzzle," he says. Harry Olivieri, Chief Officer, Prevention and Public Education, credits Meads with many achievements, including the service's move to Inspection Response Teams. The teams are routinely out in the field doing inspections and fire code compliance enforcement and are also the first crews to respond in the event of an emergency. Other achievements of Meads Olivieri says include the purchase of squad trucks, making prevention and public education a priority, the purchase of a new dispatch system and the hiring of additional staff to meet the growing needs of the municipality. The number of full-time staff has doubled at the department since Meads took over the job. Olivieri also says Meads was responsible for having the department designated as achieving the tanker shuttle "Bob's accreditation. unsurpassed That accredita`I'm glad for Bob dedication to tion is achieved by meeting a the fire departbecause he has standard set by ment and his been planning to appreciation of the Insurers' staff has A d v i s o r y retire, on the other inspired many Organization hand (there is) for transportindividuals to i n g w a t e r f o r regret because he seek a career in the fire serfires to rural has been a tremenvice," says Oliareas. vieri. "His unHe also says dous employee for TOWN CAO Meads was insique approach DENNIS PERLIN the town.' to service deltrumental in creating the ivery has created a cost effecTown's first Fire Master Plan, something Meads says tive and reliable fire service in the he is proud of and developed with the Town of Halton Hills that citizens can Town's Fire Service and Emergency be proud of." Olivieri says Meads' "shoes will be Plan Committee. Meads joined the fire department as a hard to fill," and that staff wish him the v o l u n t e e r f i r e f i g h t e r i n 1 9 7 8 a n d best. Town CAO Denis Perlin says he feels became full-time in October 1981. He started his full-time career with a " m i x t u r e o f j o y a n d r e g r e t " t h a t the service as a fire prevention officer Meads is retiring. "I'm glad for Bob because he has and eventually became a training officer, a position he held for about seven been planning to retire, on the other years, before becoming assistant deputy hand (there is) regret because he has been a tremendous employee for the chief. H e b e c a m e t h e f i r e c h i e f i n M a y town," says Perlin. 2001. Meads has been "miles ahead in his thinking" regarding provision of the fire service and the fact full-time firefighters with the Halton Hills service work in both suppression and emergency response as well as fire prevention and education is unique, says Perlin. "It's a tribute to him and the staff that work for him," says Perlin. Mayor Rick Bonnette says Meads will definitely be missed. "He's a very unassuming person. But he advocated for his fire department very well," says Bonnette. "He has been creative in the fire department to bring services out to the people of Halton Hills." Bonnette says when Meads leaves he will definitely have "left his mark. He says he followed in the tradition of "homegrown" Halton Hills fire chiefs. Meads and the two previous chiefs of the department, Bill Cunningham and Mick Holmes, were all local residents who worked their way up the ranks of the department. Perlin says the Town will be recruiting both internally and externally for a new fire chief. He says John Martin, chief of operations for the fire department, will serve as acting chief when Meads leaves until a new chief is appointed. (Lisa Tallyn can be reached at ltallyn@independentfreepress.com)