Vol. 44 · Issue #10

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011Loyalist College · Belleville, ON · Canada

Rooted in tradition · Exploring the future

Dax Melmer

Lancer Averil Luck digs the ball out against the Seneca Sting during the last match of the regular season at Loyalist College on Wednesday. The Lancers defeated the Sting 3-1. For story, see page 4.

Hadas Parush

Johnny Wilson is locally known as the Cymbal Man. Wilson was voted as the best fan of the year last year. For more on the Bulls, see page 3.

By Karla Kenny

Sometimes life throws you a fastball and you find yourself in a position you never thought you would be in.

For 43-year-old Jim McGuigan that position was parked in back lots of businesses or parks, sleeping in his car.

Growing up in the Trenton area, McGuigan worked primarily as a cook most of his life, had attended college in Kingston and had been married for 16 years. He was di-vorced but in a new relationship.

Life was rolling along just fine.A couple of years ago, after some

medical complications, doctors in-formed him that he could not work on his feet for any longer than two hours at a time. Not wanting to stop working, but knowing that the job of a cook would no longer be possible, he started working for Teleperfor-mance.

After some time, because of com-pany changes, McGuigan was laid

off. His relationship was ending and he needed to get out of the situation he was in but had nowhere to go.

The only option for the time being was his car.

“I had a house, I had been mar-ried, everything in my life was the furthest from having to worry about a place to live,” he said. “Nobody ex-pects something like that’s going to happen to them.”

With the fall ending and winter fast approaching, he knew this could not continue for much longer.

“I was flipping through phone-books and then I remembered seeing a sign at a library about if you were homeless, or at risk of it, and that’s where I got the number to call,” he said.

Within hours of a phone call to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), McGuigan went through an intake process. He had a bed in one of the three transitional homes that same night.

“At that point I knew anything was going to be great,” he said.

Joan Gauthier, housing casework-er for CMHAs transitional homes said, “the house can go from almost empty to full within days and it’s be-cause of the nature of the house, it’s only transitional. You’re only sup-

posed to stay there for three months and the makeup of the house is al-ways changing with people coming in and out.”

The homes, which are available for people who are either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, are operational year round. With mixed gender spaces available for families, as well as couples or singles, it pro-vides people with the opportunity to move on to something more stable of their own.

“Sometimes people need it only for the weekend, some need it for a week or two between going to an-other place and some need to stay until they can make a nest egg and save first and last month’s rent,” said Gauthier.

“We’ve had people who have had their own businesses and come from fairly wealthy backgrounds and stuff happened, their life changed, sometimes it’s just the economy and they’ve lost everything.

“We’ve had people as young as 16 as old as the early 70s. Employed, unemployed, Ontario Works, disabil-ity, people who’ve just come from jail, rehab or off the street. People who had been living in storage units, tents, cars, from the John Howard Society, you name it, every walk of

life that you can possibly imagine has been through the house.”

The rooms, which are available on vacancy, are rented based on income. Food is not supplied, there is no full time staffing and there are rules to follow and expectations to be met. Because of this, those living there must be able to live indepen-dently.

McGuigan said, “ It’s like communi-ty living on a month-to-month basis without the worrying about leases and first and last month, when you don’t have that type of money right away. You get to share a kitchen and living space but you have your own space.”

“For me it worked good. I met people and could build friendships. They’re all in the same circumstance so you have a lot in common right off the get go. Everybody has their differences, but there’s a neutral ground that you’re all there for the same reason- you’re out of a house.”

Information is available at each home listing resources for assis-tance, information about Gleaners and places to go in the city for free or cheap meals and other things. When income is so limited, money saved on simple things help make the saving a little easier and quicker.

“For me at that time, I was apply-ing for disability so I was given a lot of advice on what to do, who to con-tact,” said McGuigan. “Also, knowing where to go for food and how to find cheaper food even, helped me put more money away.

“They suggest you speak to a counselor, talk about where you’re at in your life and where you want to be and they give you suggestions how to get there. I took opportuni-ties to talk to people on how things were going. That’s one of the re-sources and the doors always open.”

McGuigan took advantage of the help and the programs that were available for him, and was able to move from one transition home to another to give him a little more time to get on his feet.

“Jim progressed but he did what he needed to do to move on in his life,” said Gauthier. “He has some physical limitations of course, but he saw a counselor in the beginning as asked, he had house meetings he attended, got along with the other people who live, there paid rent on time and was responsible.”

...See Homeless, page 2

Transitional homes available for people at riskAfter spending yearson the street, local man gets the help he needs

By Hadas Parush

Win or lose, the fans stand by their Belleville Bulls.

The Yardmen Arena was full to capacity with cheering fans Wednesday night, when the Bulls played their 1,000th home game.

Tim Ruttan, 15, of Bayside, has been a Bulls’ fan for five years.

“I’m kind of disappointed that they lost, but they had a good game,” Ruttan said, while waiting for autographs outside the Bulls’ locker room.

“The 1,000th game means quite a bit. There have been many different teams, players and styles. It’s quite great to see them hit their 1,000th game milestone.”

Luke Judson, right wing for the Bulls, stepped out of the locker room to give devot-ed fans his autograph.

“It’s exciting. I’ve only been doing this for four years but it definitely brings back memo-ries of my first years,” said Judson. “A lot of other people I know have a lot of memories of this team too.”

Some of the Bulls fans have known and sup-ported the team longer than the current play-ers themselves.

Johnny Wilson, better known as the Cym-bal Man, comes to almost every Bulls game to play marching band cymbals every time they score a goal.

“And that’s a lot of goals!” Wilson said. Last year, Wilson was voted the best fan

of the year by other fans who come to the games year in and year out.

“I really appreciate the support from the fans who I see at every game,” he said.

Wilson wears a different costume for every game, and never repeats a costume in a given hockey season. He has about 60-70 different costumes, which he finds at auctions, Hallow-een stores, or on the Internet where he stud-ies different characters.

“The Pirates of the Caribbean Johnny Depp

costume took me about six months to get,” Wilson said.

Wilson is a semi-retired residential counsel-lor at the Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf.

“My parents were deaf. I get to meet a lot of young people that I know from the school and most of them, in fact, all of them are here tonight,” Wilson said.

“I just think it’s great that I get an opportu-nity to come out and have fun and cheer on my own team in my own little way. And my family are my biggest fans.”

Wilson’s wife helps him arrange some of his costumes and makes sure he is colour co-ordinated.

“She is always anxious to tell everyone that her husband is the Cymbal Man. That’s what my licence plate says, which she bought me many years ago.”

For Wednesday’s game, Wilson rocked what he called a Mr. Manhattan costume. Vest, top hat, and shoes all in red, matching red glasses, white pants, a sparkly silver shirt, a necklace thick with red heart shapes, and the usual big smile were this evening’s attire.

Wilson has been wearing different cos-tumes for the last 10 of the 21 years he has been leading the fans with his cymbals. Be-fore then, he would wear different team sweaters.

“I thought that there must be something I can do to cheer that would be different, and I know they appreciate it because they tell me,” Wilson said.

Wilson said it is an honour to be there for the 1,000th home game. It would have been even better if the Bulls had won, he said.

“It’s a milestone for the team and the fans and I’m just glad that I can participate with my marching band cymbals.”

The Cymbal Man doesn’t have a minute to even go to the washroom. People always want to say hi, shake his hand, or exchange a cheer for their favourite hockey team.

“Hey Mr. sparkly Cymbal Man!” called a young girl walking by during the intermission.

“I try to be as positive as I can whenever I see the players. I encourage them to do the best they can, and I also tell them– win or lose, I’m behind them.

Fans loyal to their Belleville Bulls1,000th game meant a great dealto those sitting in the standseven with a loss to Ottawa