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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, September 13, 2013 | 10 Berrigan children give Dad a birthday blast by John Bkila Oakville Beaver Staff to unveil the present. A love of outer space "John's a space nut and has an interest in everything to do with space in general," said Joanne. "Every morning, he wakes up and checks the NASA and other space news websites... so, the kids wanted to make something for dad for his birthday." After a suggestion to make an adult-sized rocket, the Berrigans compromised and decided to create a miniature replica of the passenger capsule of the Dragon spacecraft What do you give the dad who has a deep love of the galaxy and everything local? A space capsule made from old Oakville Beaver newspapers, of course. The three-foot-tall paper maché creation was the brainchild of nineyear-old Andrew and six-year-old Angela Berrigan, who, along with mom, Joanne, helped construct the homemade gift for their dad John's 50th birthday on Sept. 6 -- a celebration was planned for the next day developed by SpaceX, a U.S.-based space transportation company. Using watered-down glue and a lot of cut strips of old Oakville Beaver newspapers, Joanne and her children covered a base made from a hula-hoop and chicken wire to recreate the top part of the Dragon rocket -- Andrew and Angela painted the capsule white and its distinctive blue dragon logo as well. "We decided we would stock pile the Oakville Beaver (issues) after we'd read them since we get it regularly and dad has a love of Oakville -- he grew up here -- so we decided why not keep it close to home," Joanne explained of the reasoning to use the Beaver as the craft's material. John has lived in Oakville since 1968, when he was five years old, and is currently a physics teacher at Oakville Trafalgar High School. A present under wraps Keeping dad's gift idea a secret, however, was a task made much easier thanks to John himself, admits Joanne. "The kids told him he couldn't go into the garage (during the gift's construction)," she said. "He knew something odd was going on, but I simply told him there's a project in there and he'd find out what it was on his birthday. He was really good about it and said he'd just `wait and see.'" Joanne says her husband isn't the curious type and although he "played it cool," he was getting excited as the big day approached. John says he was delighted with the gift his family made for him. "It shows that they understand my passion for space and science," he said. "I really enjoy astronomy and space flight -- having watched, as a child, the early rocket launches in the late 1960s and early '70s. This is what ignited my passion in science and what spurred me on to getting a degree in physics. "I think that if I show my kids what can come out of having a passion, then that gives them a strong starting point for them to identify their own passions in life." T Criminal defence lawyer turned best-selling author to visit Oakville he Oakville Public Library is excited to welcome Robert Rotenberg -- one of Canada's premier criminal defence lawyers and bestselling authors -- for a visit on Oct. 10. Rotenberg will take the stage at the Oakville Conference Centre just three weeks after the library's Evening for Book Lovers event (Sept. 23) to speak about his career and writing. Rotenberg's professional history is an interesting one. He first earned a degree in English literature from the University of Toronto and took one year off after graduation to drive a taxi and save money. He went on to complete his masters degree in International Law in England and briefly worked as editor of the English-language Parisian magazine, Passion. Rotenberg has used his extensive experience practising criminal law when writing his critically-acclaimed work. Stranglehold, his fourth novel, features the same cast of characters as the first three, each of which explores people and parts of Toronto not normally visited by tourists. In Stranglehold, for instance, part of the plot involves two detectives investigating the murder of a Crown prosecutor off Kingston Road in Scarborough. For lovers of suspense, thrillers and `whodunit?' plots, An Evening with Robert Rotenberg is one not to miss. Tickets are currently available online and in all library branches. Want to stay connected with your library? Visit www.opl.on.ca, or follow Oakville Public Library on its Facebook and Twitter pages at www.facebook. com/oakvillepubliclibrary and www.twitter.com/ oakvillelibrary, respectively. -- Submitted by the Oakville Public Library