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A8 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday March 14, 2001 B e a t in g th e o d d s He's suffered frostbite, was struck by car...but through it all Peter Frank still smiles B y H o w a rd M ozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Peter Frank has more lives than a cat. At least it sure looks that way, considering the strange luck that's follow ed the O akville retiree his whole life during innumerable situa tions that have proven injurious, almost tragic and very nearly fatal. Frank has been struck by cars, nearly washed overboard in the Navy and frozen to a fence when only three years old. It was this last incident that prompted him to call the Beaver in the wake of recent news stories about children nearly perishing from the cold. After all, Frank says, his story should be a warning to parents and youngsters alike that winter must never be taken lightly. Frank was three years old in 1938 and living on a Depression-era farm near Grayson, Saskatchewan when he wandered away one day with his sleigh. An adventurous tyke even then, young Frank set off through the fields, but upon his return he tried to climb through a barbed wire fence. Hopelessly entangled, his mitts came off ju st as a blizzard cam e up. Fortunately, F rank's grandfather heard his cries on the wind and locat ed the boy and found him, tears frozen to his face. "By the time they did find me I was unconscious and my hands were frozen to the barbed w ire," said Frank, who explained that his grand father used wire cutters to sever the offending length of fence. With no car in the family, a horsedrawn sleigh took them to Grayson where the grocery store owner drove them to the hospital in M elville. There, the first doctor who saw Frank thought his young patient's frostbit ten and blistered hands had to be amputated. Fortunately, the appropri ately named Dr. Louis Angel decided such drastic measures weren't neces sary. Frank's memories of the nearly horrific incident are limited to wak ing up in hospital with bandaged hands. His fingers did not develop normally after that, though, and for the rest of his life Frank had his m is shapen digits as reminders. Other children weren't about to let him for get either and routinely called him "Stubs." "Growing up I was always con scious o f my hands and I'd always curl my fingers under for pictures," said Frank. "I'm 65 now and I'm still conscious of them ." F rank's parents blam ed them selves for their son's suffering and didn't talk much about that fateful day. In 1957, how ever, Liberty Magazine published a story written by Frank's mother about the incident, a story that helped fill in the blanks for him. At the time, Frank was 21 and a radio operator in the Navy. Recent stories about children nearly freezing to death resurrected old memories so Frank wants all par ents and their children to take cold temperatures seriously. "I have two daughters and a son and I 've warned them all that if you don't want your fingers to look like your dad's, put your gloves on," he said. Now you might think that Frank who has worked in a CBC new s room, decoded messages for External Affairs and travelled extensively would have learned that icy lesson in spades. Not quite: at age seven he froze his tongue to a brass doorknob and at age 15 he almost froze while he and another inappropriately dressed friend were skiing. Frank has also brushed shoulders with fate of less frigid varieties: he has been struck by a car, been involved in tw o auto crashes, fell on his head during gymnastics class, fell out o f a tree and got a hand caught in a car door only a year after his frozen fence mishap. In the Navy, he was very nearly swept overboard during a raging storm. Frank's brother, however, was not so fortunate: at age 16 while diving into a gravel pit swimming hole, he broke his neck and died. Photo by Riziero Vertolli These supporters of the Oakville atom AA team brought their own noisemakers to the Saturday game between the home team and Burlington at Oakville Arena. But it wasn't enough to spur Oakville on to victory. The game ended in an overtime tie but Oakville had to win to advance. MARACA MOMS: All-way Stop sign for Glenashton Dr. & Grenville Dr. B y A n g e la B la c k b u rn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakville town council erred on the side o f caution by giving the green light to yet another "p o litical" all-w ay stop sign. T his tim e it's for G lenashton Drive at G renville Drive. "If w e're going to err on the side o f caution, I'll do it," said M ayor Ann M ulvale, though she cringed at the term "political" stop sign coined by W ard 2 C ouncillor Fred Oliver. "This would be a political stop sign if it goes in and there are too m any in this com m u n ity now. Som etim es we lead w ith our heart instead o f our head," said Oliver. He was am ong a trio o f council lors (W ard 1 C o u n cillo r K evin Flynn and W ard 3 C ouncillor K eith Bird were the other tw o) to oppose the stop sign. The official provincial criteria designed to flag the need for a stop sign is called a w arrant. However, TVT G lenashton and G renville m et only 19% o f the warrant. The T ow n's ow n Traffic A dvisory C om m ittee advised against the sign -- based on the cri teria. H ow ever, W ard 6 C o u ncillor K urt Franklin pointed out the w ar rant would never be m et because the construction o f G lenashton would never allow it to attract enough traf fic. "We should not penalize a neigh bourhood because o f the construc tion o f a street," said Franklin. However, he noted that 80% of the cars on G lenashton are exceed ing the 50 km/hr. speed limit. "Speeding is the problem on that street and this stop sign is not going to stop that speeding pro b lem ," charged Flynn. At a previous com m ittee level m eeting, Trevor W hiffen, who has lived at the corner in question for a decade, said the area has changed from a "lightly traveled" roadway to a "drag strip." M any believe the all-way stop sign w ould have helped reduce speed. "Stop signs are not m eant to slow traffic down. They do, but th at's not their intent," said Oliver. Ward 3 C ouncillor Keith Bird said traffic calm ing m easures need ed, not more stop signs. He called the all-w ay stop a "cheap way out." M ulvale said the debate about all-w ay stop signs has been going on for 20 years. "iTV Fibromyalgia group meets tonight The Oakville Fibromyalgia Support Group is holding a meeting tonight at Alternatives, 579 Kerr Street. The session runs from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Guest speaker for the evening is nutritionist Cheryl Brown. For more information, cally Linda at 842-0561 or Cathy at 827-0243. *1 i · Need a diversion? igton P o st * · R a s s b o ro u g i S te p p in g News ictosy » O nline the. 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