Monday, June 2, 2003

TWO SAULT YOUTHS DIE IN CANOEING ACCIDENT
Thessalon, Ont.

Two 11-year-old girls involved in a canoeing mishap on Lake Huron on Saturday have died.

Erica Auclair, 11, of Blake Street and Meghan Mitchell, 11, of Franklin Street were two of nine people who were involved in a canoeing mishap on Lake Huron on Saturday morning.

The group had set out for a canoe adventure from Camp McDougall in Thessalon. When they did not return at the expected time, a search was initiated. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter had located and flew Auclair and Mitchell to the Sault Area Hospital but despite all efforts, they succumbed to their injuries.

The other people involved were all treated and released from hospital.

The investigation continues.



IGNORED A STOP SIGN-DRIVER WAS IMPAIRED
Goulais River, Ont

A motorist who failed to stop for a stop sign turned out to be impaired by alcohol.

On Saturday morning at about 12:30 a.m. a man driving a pick-up truck failed to stop for the stop sign at the intersection of Hwy 17 and Hwy 552 in Goulais River.

An officer with the O.P.P. Traffic and Marine Unit pulled the truck over and quickly determined that the driver was impaired by alcohol. He was arrested and returned to the Sault Ste. Marie OPP office were he failed the Breathalyzer tests.

Forty-one-year-old Perry McCabe of Havilland Shores Drive in Goulais River has been charged with Impaired Driving. Mr. McCabe was also given a ticket for driving with open alcohol in the truck.

He was also given a 90 (ninety) day automatic drivers licence suspension. He will appear in court in the first week of July to answer to the charges.


INJURIES IN TWO VEHICLE COLLISION
Garden River First Nation, Ont.,

Two women were sent to Sault Area Hospital with minor injuries Saturday afternoon after a two-vehicle collision at the intersection of Hwy 17 and Echo River Road on the Garden River First Nation.

Members of the Sault Ste Marie O.P.P. and the Anishinabek Police Service arrived at the scene to find that a car drove into the back of a pick-up truck trying to make a left turn.

Investigation has revealed that the pick-up was stopped on Hwy 17 waiting for traffic to clear so they could make a left turn onto Echo River Road. An eastbound car was traveling along Hwy 17 and did not see the truck stopped at the intersection.

The car drove into the back of the pick-up. The female driver of the truck was taken to Sault Area Hospital by ambulance with back and neck injuries. A female passenger of the car was taken to hospital with chest injuries.

Police are crediting the use of seat belts by all parties involved in this collision for keeping the injuries minimal.