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           U L T I M A T E   H A P P E N I N G S           
               Issue 280 - October 3, 2003                 

******************* 2319 players served ********************

      OCUA - The largest ultimate league in the world!
            (328 teams and 3800 members in 2002)

                    http://www.ocua.ca/

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CONTENTS:

- Letter To OCUA
- Ridgemont Ultimate Tournament
- OCUA Volunteer Opportunities
- Calendar Of Events

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LETTER TO OCUA

October 1, 2003

Nick Roberts
General Manager
Ottawa-Carleton Ultimate Association

Dear Nick:

I thoroughly enjoyed our recent meeting, along with Ken 
Lange and Hollie Last. I appreciated the opportunity to hear
more about the OCUA and what are your priorities and 
concerns.

As a former OCUA member, I wanted to let you know that I am 
presenting myself as a candidate for City Council in the 
Somerset Ward. I wanted to reiterate that I also have a 
background in amateur sport having worked in marketing for 
the University of Ottawa Sports Services for 4 years, so I 
am well aware of the challenges faced by sporting 
organizations such as the OCUA. I am confident that my 
background will provide the OCUA with good representation 
on city council.

I understand that while the City of Ottawa has rezoned your 
fields at the Sod Farm and committed to replacing them by 
giving you access to other City-owned fields, to date this 
has not happened to the degree that they promised. Further, 
while you have applied for a 2 year temporary extension to 
use your current fields, the City has not yet processed your
request, despite the fact that your current permit expires
within a few short months. The City needs to take your 
concerns and requests more seriously.

Ultimate is a growing sport and the OCUA is the largest 
Ultimate organization in the world. Clearly there is an 
unfair distribution of City-owned recreational facilities in
Ottawa and if elected I will work to ensure that the City 
redistributes this space in a fair and equitable way. This 
should be based on the needs and demands of the various 
recreational groups in Ottawa, including the OCUA.

The OCUA and its priorities reflect many of my own 
priorities and beliefs. In particular, I am committed to:

 - Finding proactive solutions to ongoing problems through 
   the consideration of public-private partnerships. The 
   fact that OCUA has proactively gone out and built as well
   as financed its own facilities says to me that it is an 
   organization that could assist the City in finding more 
   of these solutions, and should be rewarded for its 
   innovative thinking.
 - Strengthening the Neighbourhood of Somerset Ward and 
   promoting a sense of community throughout Ottawa. The 
   OCUA already does this by making the communities where it
   plays useful, cleaner and more environmentally friendly. 
   It also gives back to the community by raising money for 
   other causes such as cancer research, mental health 
   charities and many others. Finally, the OCUA can play an
   important role in mentoring young people by providing 
   them with opportunities to keep active, learn fair play
   and the importance of giving back to your community.
 - Smart Money Fiscal accountability and no tax increases. 
   Be smarter with taxpayers' money by investing in the most
   important priorities. The OCUA understands this concept 
   and is strategic about where it puts its money and which 
   projects it prioritizes. It is accountable to its 4,000
   members and members are so committed that they assist the
   association in making key financial decisions. Our City 
   needs to spend more time prioritizing its projects to 
   ensure that we spend within our means and have long-term
   plans for the more costly projects.

For further details on my campaign and what I stand for, I 
encourage all members of the OCUA to visit my web site at: 
www.dawnpickering.ca or to e-mail me or call me with their 
questions.

Most importantly, I would ask that each of the members of 
the OCUA get out and vote on November 10th. Traditionally 
only about 30% of possible votes are cast in municipal 
elections. Municipal government is the level at which we are
all most affected on a daily basis. It is essential that we 
all exercise our right to vote.

I wish the OCUA and its members the very best in all of its 
endeavours and encourage your members to find out more about
the other candidates running in this municipal election. I 
will continue to be a proponent of Ultimate and look forward
providing you with better representation on city council.

Sincerely,

Dawn Pickering
Candidate for Somerset Ward
Municipal Vote   November 10th, 2003

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RIDGEMONT ULTIMATE TOURNAMENT

Get into the R.U.T.

Who: Ridgemont HS is hosting a Fall Ultimate Tournament 
(High Schools only).

When:  Friday October 24 (roughly 8:30 to 4:30).
Where:  Brewer Sports Park  (across from Carleton U).
How:  Cost is yet to be determined (roughly $100/team)
Why:  To scratch that ultimate itch, get out of that funk, 
      or should I say R.U.T

*Tournament format will depend on the number of teams, and 
 how soon schools get back to me.  
*All schools are required to have a teacher present.  
*There will be scouts for the Ottawa Area Junior team 
 present.  (team travels and competes at Nationals)
*There will be food to purchase.

So far the teams that have RSVP'd are:
        Earl of March
        Osgoode
        Us: Ridgemont (2 teams)

You can enter more than 1 team, as long as you pay, you 
play.

So please get back to me ASAP to reserve your spot and 
send it to a coach at another school.

Danny Leeson (Danny_Leeson@ocdsb.edu.on.ca)
Ridgemont HS

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OCUA VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

OCUA is run by volunteers. Without the time put in by many
people, this league wouldn't exist. A couple hours of your
time, could make a huge difference. The following is a list
of current volunteer openings. Please refer to
http://www.ocua.ca/ocua/volunteer.html for details about
volunteer openings.

Current Volunteer Opportunities:

- Field Cell Volunteers
- Media Watchers

Please email volunteer@ocua.ca if you have any questions, or
if you are interested in helping out.

Thanks,
Julie Thompson
OCUA Volunteer Coordinator

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

Oct.  4     : Layout For Life
Oct. 26     : Ottawa Plaid Jacket Open DG Tourney (JCPark)

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Ultimate Happenings is an e-mail newsletter for the
Ottawa-Carleton Ultimate Association (http://www.ocua.ca).

To unsubscribe, email uh@ocua.ca with subject "Unsubscribe".

To advertise in this newsletter, please email uh@ocua.ca for
pricing and guidelines.

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