These were the top stories, according to readership numbers, in the seventh week of 2015:
5. A long road: Despite being in ICU, crash victim’s charity bottle drive to go ahead
A woman involved in a crash on Arthur Street Thursday morning is stable in intensive care after a lengthy surgery, say members of her family.
They're also hoping the community will support a charity event she organized while she's recovering.
Ashley Hill, 24, suffered broken bones and a severe leg injury that needed around nine hours of surgery Thursday, involved in a two-vehicle collision that closed Arthur Street near Mapleward Road.
Cousin Stacey Voss credited surgeons at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre for the work they did.
"It was really hard to hear she was in an accident," Voss said. "She's like my kid. She's going to be OK, but it's going to be a long, long, long road."
Voss said Hill is an athletic, conscientious woman always there to coach and mentor youth. Her love of children is the reason Hill went into Confederation College's child and youth program, now in her last semester. As part of her class work, Hill had to organize a charity event.
She decided to host Show the Love, a way to support Grace Place by having people drop off alcohol bottles and cans Saturday morning at Confederation College. The material will then be taken to The Beer Store to collect deposits.
4 Enough is Enough: Mayor to fight online hate with libel notices
Mayor Keith Hobbs says enough is enough.
Tired of constant online attacks against himself and his wife, Marissa, Hobbs says he’s angling to take an unidentified individual to court to face libel and slander charges.
“I’ve seen some absolutely horrendous posts,” Hobbs said on Friday. “I Googled the other day and found some disgusting stuff about my wife and that’s over the top and I can’t even mention what it says.
“So it’s time to get tough now.”
Hobbs, who abandoned both his Twitter and Facebook pages after a barrage of angry and insulting criticisms questioning his decisions and positions, said it’s time to get tough with at least one individual and perhaps more.
“I’m hoping that person is prosecuted in court for libelous slander because what that person said is totally untrue and it’s just over the top and disgusting and vile,” Hobbs said.
The mayor said he’s OK with criticism and people taking jabs at him. He’s a public official and it comes with the territory.
Much of it he’s able to laugh at, including Thursday’s vandalism of his Wikipedia entry, which was altered to suggest he had a role in the assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy over a disagreement about Thunder Bay’s proposed event centre plan.
That’s all in jest, Hobbs said.
“I don’t care. There’s some fun stuff on there. There’s a picture of myself and (city manager) Tim Commisso and (Coun.) Joe Virdiramo and it was Larry, Curly and Moe from the Three Stooges. And I laughed at it,” Hobbs said.
3 Driver charged in Sunday rollover crash
Police have laid charges stemming from a two-vehicle collision Sunday at the intersection of the Thunder Bay Expressway and Dawson Road.
OPP said the 57-year-old female driver of a white SUV has been charged with failing to stop at a red light.
She had to be transported to hospital with non life-threatening injuries after being extricated from her overturned vehicle by firefighters using the jaws of life.
The driver of the other vehicle involved, who was making a left turn onto the highway, was not injured.
2 Police arrest several in city's latest armed robbery
A north side pharmacy was robbed Saturday night by a woman brandishing what appeared to be a semi-automatic pistol.
Thunder Bay police say the suspect entered the Shopper’s Drug Mart on Red River Road just before 9 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, demanded cash and made off with an undisclosed amount of money. She was last seen getting into the passenger side of a van, which fled the scene.
Police quickly located the vehicle at a north side residence and arrested several people. A replica firearm was recovered. There were no injuries in the incident and police say the investigation is ongoing.
1 Firefighters use jaws of life to extricate female driver from SUV
Firefighters had to use the jaws of life on Sunday afternoon to extricate a woman involved in a two-vehicle collision on Thunder Bay’s north side.
Capt. Dirk Stadey of Thunder Bay Fire Rescue said it was difficult situation.
“It was a very serious two-car collision. The driver was trapped. We had to use the jaws and the cutters to remove her,” Stadey said.
“The vehicle was damaged to such an extent we had to use these type of tools to get her out.”
The vehicle was flipped on its side, coming to rest down the centre of the Expressway. Police directed traffic for about half an hour or more in all four directions while emergency crews attended the scene.
Stadey said the white SUV was designed to crumple and it did, further complicating matters.
“She was trapped right in the steel of the car. Also these newer vehicles have hardened steel rods in them to reinforce them and that makes cutting them very difficult.”
