Latest news with #Rodney
CTV News
10-08-2025
- CTV News
Fatal fire destroys home and kills one man
Fatal fire destroys home and kills one man A fire near Rodney left one person dead and destroyed a single-home residence.
CTV News
10-08-2025
- CTV News
One person dead after house fire in West Elgin, police remain on scene
OPP remain on scene at 21467 Pioneer Line in Rodney on Sunday Aug 10, after a single residence went up in flames on Friday Aug 8, 2025. A 54-year old man was found deceased on scene. (Brent Lale/CTV News London) A house fire on Pioneer Line near Rodney resulted in the death of a 54-year-old male, who police say was pronounced dead on scene. Emergency responders arrived on scene at approximately 10:53 p.m. on Friday. The single-residence in the 21000 block, which police say was fully engulfed, has been destroyed. 081025 - Rodney fire OPP remain on scene at 21467 Pioneer Line in Rodney on Sunday Aug 10, after a single residence went up in flames on Friday Aug 8, 2025. A 54-year old man was found deceased on scene. (Brent Lale/CTV News London) The fire closed Pioneer Line between Furnival Road and Blacks Road for an investigation, but has since reopened. Police remain on scene.
The Guardian
10-08-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Rodney didn't bother with temporary housing – then a three-year program with a 90% success rate changed his life
If you ask Rodney, he will tell you that life is for living. He's been to the edge of it – homeless, depressed, stuck in a broken system. He has spent years on the street. The signs of it show – the 57-year-old is missing teeth, uses a cane to walk, his body is failing. But out of the big, burly former rugby player comes a voice soft with gratitude. A voice that trembles when it recounts getting beaten up on the streets by men coming out of pubs, a voice that lifts when he talks about how to win a ruck. A voice that knows if it wasn't for a rare housing program, he would still be out there. 'Nine years I was on the street,' Rodney says. 'I'd resigned myself to the fact that it's going to be years before I can get a public housing spot. 'I was on the Gold Coast. I was at Byron. I went to Canberra. It just got to the point where I couldn't find anywhere safe, where I felt safe.' Sitting in his kitchen, he has stories to tell. He's got stories about how he played professional rugby here and in Ireland, getting 11 concussions on the field, being knocked out four times. He's got stories about how he would 'be hit' with the smelling salts and get straight back on the ground. About one time he was bleeding from his ears and they still sent him back on. How now he forgets things. He's got stories about how, after that, he went into security – working for Kings of Leon and Park Life and Big Day Out. How he saw a face in the street one day and was hit by a flood of memories from when he was 13. How a friend had to tell him he wasn't a victim but a survivor. Rodney was part of a growing cohort – those who have been persistently homeless – sleeping on a couch or in a car, tucked into doorways, for more than a total of seven months over a 24-month period. Sign up: AU Breaking News email This cohort has grown from 29,500 in 2018–19 to 36,600 in 2022–23, data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows. And this cohort would be described by social workers as complex. Some have psychosocial disabilities, cognitive impairment or compounding issues. Many of them have fled violent homes. Of all clients experiencing persistent homelessness in 2022–23, more than two in five (42%) were women and children affected by family and domestic violence. Often they cycle through the system – in and out of temporary accommodation, in and out of overstretched hospitals. Running out of options and burning out from the daily exhaustion of working out where to sleep night after night. Homelessness advocates say there is an easy fix – a program that is having success overseas. Getting people into homes, but more importantly helping them to stay there. Julia Derham works on Journey to Social Inclusion – a unique housing program she co-manages that has a 90% success rate. Since 2009, the program has been run by Sacred Heart, but is now being managed by a consortium of providers. Social workers spend three years with rough sleepers, getting them into homes and helping rehabilitate them into society, with 640 people placed into homes since it began. It's a rare success story from the frontlines. 'It's mind-boggling for me, that perspective of you give someone a house and everything's sorted,' she says of other programs. There are eligibility rules, however. People have had to be rough sleeping for 12 months or have had multiple episodes of homelessness over three years. They also have to be on the Victorian Housing register – in the line of 55,024 applicants for social housing. If they are successful, a person is referred to the J2SI program through frontline services. Then a social worker will make contact with them in the next 90 days – to make sure they're interested and open to the program. Then they are tied to a case manager for the next three years. And the challenges come early. If someone is rough sleeping, J2SI social workers will try to refer them to emergency accommodation – but with beds in high demand it can be hard. Getting to the end of a 10-minute appointment without an exhausted client losing it can also be hard. Tracking down someone who might not own a phone or a charger can be harder again. 'Consistency is a big key part of the engagement phase – and rocking up,' Sacred Heart co-manager Eloise Torpy says. 'And even if it is someone who can only handle [a meeting for] five minutes, we rock on for five minutes. That's not a waste of time.' The program's distinctive three-year term is broken up into three parts: getting a person engaged with services, getting a person settled into a house and making sure a person is connected to society – referred to as 'consolidation', she says. Some clients move into a home but sleep in their lounge room because they are not used to a bedroom. Some put mattresses in front of their doors and windows. The social workers work with them while they adjust. Eloise tells a story. A client in his late 40s, who had become homeless when his mother died, had never had a home as an adult. She took the client three property options, and he was so enthused talking about which one he should choose, he independently ordered their coffees himself – something she hadn't seen him do before. 'It's just those little things that are just such a wonderful part of being on a three-year journey with someone. He's still successfully housed; it's been around three years now.' Every day in Australia, a vast amount of resources, both financial and human, are spent trying to get people housing. But advocates say the effort will be wasted until we move from an emergency response system to a prevention-focused system. The proof is in the numbers – Finland has almost ended homelessness through a similar strategy. There has been a 68% reduction in long-term homelessness since 2007 through national strategy Housing First. Tenants are given unconditional housing and social workers help integrate them into the community, treat their mental health issues, link them with services and jobs. The Finnish government did this by building social homes and purchasing apartments from the private market. It turned hostels and shelters that house rough sleepers for a few nights into independent apartments for people to live in. Short-term Band-Aids became long-term solutions. Michael Fotheringham, from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, says Australia already has a Housing First approach. But there just isn't enough housing to give, and there isn't often help for people once they do get it. 'The basic principles of Housing First is … first you house them, then you resolve their other problems with wraparound services and supports. 'One of the traps that some services get into is they do the housing part and don't really follow through on the wraparound services. 'That's not Housing First. That's just housing.' Fotheringham says Australia mostly relies on crisis accommodation to plug holes in the severe end of the housing crisis, which only offers temporary relief. 'Two weeks, for example, is not enough time for people to actually address the range of challenges that they're dealing with, to get themselves back on their feet.' So if there is a housing solution that works – why isn't it Australia's national strategy? 'For the same reason that we've got a waiting list in the tens of thousands in each state,' Fotheringham says. 'We don't have enough accommodation for this. There is simply a big supply problem.' On the other end of the line, Homelessness Australia CEO, Kate Colvin, sounds exasperated. She's banged this drum before. Colvin says Australia's homelessness service system must focus on finding people more permanent housing, to end the exhausting cycle of a temporary roof over one's head. When he was on the street, Rodney didn't bother with temporary accommodation; a night here or there wouldn't help him, he says. After he came to Melbourne, Rodney was in a swag, then a men's shelter, then a private rental he couldn't afford and then a mental health facility. Then, J2SI found him his home. They set him up with furniture, a real bed, a TV, and a tricycle so he could get around. He rides to the cafe to see friends and in summer, down along the foreshore. He's on the right medication. In July, Rodney finished his three years in the program. 'I'm happy with where I am, and I'm more happy with who I am. I've kind of found myself again. 'Something's got to change, and it's got to change quick. And the only way we'll get change is when state and federal governments realise the system's broken, and there's no use trying to stick your fingers in the pipe, because the walls are breaking. 'It has to be stripped down to bare bones and start it again.'
CTV News
09-08-2025
- CTV News
Structure fire in West Elgin results in road closure
A structure fire has closed Pioneer Line near Rodney. The road is closed between Furnival Road and Blacks Road for a fire investigation. Police say the fire involves a structure which was fully engulfed. There is no information on injuries, as the investigation remains ongoing.
Agriland
06-08-2025
- Business
- Agriland
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Farming in the townland of Kiffagh between Ballyjamesduff and Kilnaleck, Co. Cavan, is Rodney Wilton, a name well-known and respected in the waste recycling industry as well as Irish rallying. On Thursday, July 17, the Wilton beef farm opened its gates to Liffey Meats suppliers for a farm walk and Agriland was in attendance on the day also. A newly built state of the art cattle shed on the farm attracted significant attention from the farm-walk attendees. Nathan Galligan from Liffey Meats welcomed the farmers to the event and gave an overview of the system. He explained that the farm enterprise finishes predominantly dairy-beef animals as heifers and steers with a smaller number of bulls also finished on the farm. There is 250ac of owned land with additional land leased for silage production. There is shed space for approximately 700 cattle and approximately 150 cattle are on grass for the grazing season. The farm has a big emphasis on efficiency, and making top-quality silage and managing soil fertility plays a key role in this. A broad range of new technologies are being used on the farm to help maximise livestock comfort and performance. Rodney gave an overview of the new shed and outlined some of the key features. The pens are back-to-back and there is a slatted centre passage in the shed for taking cattle in and out of pens. Cattle are fed along the two outer sides of the shed. There are concrete feed troughs down each of the outer sides of the shed, and the feed rail is a horizontal bar that rolls up, "allowing big and small animals to feed unrestricted". The drinkers are fast-fill and fed by a pump. The farm originally used tip-out drinkers but when cattle were drinking after feeding, meal would fall into drinkers and was being wasted. Rodney said: "The fast-fill drinkers can be emptied in a minute. The fresh water coming in agitates meal and the cattle consume this with the water so there is less meal wasted." All rainwater can be harvested off the new shed and this is used for washing on the farm. "At the four points of the shed, water can be directed to storm water or into a slurry tank," Rodney explained. "Coming up to February, rather than draw water, the rainwater can also be directed to the slurry tank to help mix the slurry." There is also an aeration system in slurry tanks which means agitated slurry is available at all times. "We can go with slurry any time be it after grazing on paddocks or after silage to go out with the pipe system," Rodney said. "We kept the roof of the shed high for ventilation and there is a longer roof overhang out each side of the shed if we ever need to close down the sides to prevent birds getting into the feed area. We will still have space for the diet feeder." "There is good airflow through the shed, and the concrete troughs down each side prevent draughts when the cattle are lying. Thankfully, we have had no issues with pneumonia so far in the new shed." There are three-separate underground slurry tanks below the shed - each running the length of the shed. There is a tank running down each side of the shed below the cattle and another running down the centre of the shed below the centre passage. Slurry tanks are 11ft in depth, allowing for ample slurry storage on the farm and leaving no pressure on the slurry storage capacity in the spring time. The shed has a built-in slurry separator, which leaves the solids in one pile and pumps the liquids into the centre tank. This separated liquid is applied on grazing ground and has allowed the farm to drop a round of chemical nitrogen (N) application in the grazing season. Rodney said: "We went for a three-phase separator. We have bedded pens and the idea is to cut down on sawdust bedding. "Once the separated slurry is dried, we put it in as base layer with sawdust bedding on top." There is also a sprinkler system fitted in the shed. There was previously pigs kept on the farm and this sprinkler system was taken from the pig shed and is mainly used to soak pens before washing after a batch of cattle leave the shed. It is also used during high temperatures helping to keep cattle cool in the shed. Harvested rainwater is used for the system. "The centre passage was slatted for the simple reason of less washing," Rodney told the crowd. "We designed everything to be as labour-friendly as possible. Since the new shed was built, we have the same amount of staff handling almost twice the amount of cattle." "We decided not to put a handling unit in the new shed, as we got advice that this can disturb the other cattle in the shed." When leaving the shed, cattle walk down the centre passage and over to a separate handling facility. Rodney said: "Before building the shed, we looked at different sheds around the country to see what they had implemented and how we could use it to our advantage. "Some of it we came up with ourselves and other ideas we got from other people. It was quite a large investment so we wanted to get it as good as we could." Conor Craig from Alltech and Adam Smyth from Keenan discussed the feeding system and diet feeder used on the farm and also outlined some of the feeding solutions offered by Alltech. David Magee from Kiernan Milling discussed animal nutrition on the farm and outlined the two-main diets fed to the cattle that are housed for finishing. The two main diets used on the farm are as follows: Starter diet Finisher diet 16kg silage 12kg silage 0.2kg straw 6kg meal 3kg meal 4kg bread 1.5kg brewers 6kg brewers 1.4kg syrup 1.4kg syrup 27.1kg fresh (10.67kg dry matter) 29.4kg fresh (13.63kg dry matter) The average weight gain on the starter diet is 1.45-1.5kg/day, with an average kill-out percentage of 49%. On the finisher diet, the average weight gain is 1.7kg/day, with an average kill-out percentage of 51%. The finisher diet provides 90g acid buff, 24g Mycosorb, 1,800mg Zinc, and 900mg Copper. Magee emphasised the importance of a consistent diet when feeding total mixed ration (TMR), avoiding cattle sorting the feeds in the diet. Kiernan Milling's David Magee He said that cattle have been achieving as high as 1.65kg/day on the growing diet and added that whilst compensatory growth is part of this, good silage quality is key to achieving good performance. L-R: Teagasc's Katie Kilmartin; Liffey Meats procurement manager Sean O'Beirne; and Liffey Meats sustainability officer, Nathan Galligan Katie Kilmartin from Teagasc discussed the importance of maintaining good soil fertility, as well as the value of high-quality silage and good grassland management. The event drew to a close with refreshments provided by way of Karen Wilton's artisan food service 'The Pigs Tale'.
