Waterloo priest suspended due to professional misconduct allegation, diocese says
A Waterloo priest has been suspended because of a substantiated allegation of professional misconduct, according to the Diocese of Hamilton. Father Frank Freitas was suspended on July 13. The diocese hasn't provided any more details about the circumstances leading to the suspension.
The parish's YouTube channel showed Father Freitas leading online services on July 12, the day before his suspension came into effect.
The statement from the diocese said Monsignor Earl Talbot will be the administrator of St. Michael Parish and the St. John Paul II Student Centre starting Monday until a new pastor is assigned to the parish in the fall.
"We ask for prayers for Father Freitas and for those who have been harmed by his actions," Monsignor Kroetsch's statement added.
Meet the Waterloo COVID-19 patient who was hospitalized for 107 days
Tom Langan of Waterloo is home after spending 107 days in the hospital fighting and beating COVID-19.
“It’s incredible,” he says. “I can’t describe the feeling.”
The 58-year-old contracted the virus back in March and was admitted to Grand River Hospital’s ICU shortly after.
“When he was on the ventilator in the ICU, there were so many ups and downs,” remembers his wife, Jackie Langan. “You never knew one day to the next, then it got to the point, one hour to the next.”
COVID-19 by the numbers (as of July 25):
- Waterloo Region: 1,378 cases, 119 deaths, 1,207 resolved
- Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 520 cases, 37 deaths, 456 resolved
- Brant County: 137 cases, 4 deaths, 130 resolved
- Haldimand-Norfolk: 451 cases, 32 deaths, 395 resolved
- Huron Perth: 63 cases, 5 deaths, 57 recovered
Cambridge MPP kicked out of Progressive Conservative caucus
Cambridge MPP Belinda Karahalios has been removed from the Progressive Conservative caucus. In a Tuesday news release, Karahalios said she voted against Bill 195, calling it an “unnecessary overreach” when it comes to allowing Ontario to make decisions about COVID-19 relief efforts.
When asked about it during a media briefing on Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford did not mince words when it came to the decision.
"You need to vote on an important piece of legislation like this," he said, but insisted that there were no hard feelings and that he had a "phenomenal relationship" with her.
People living on Erinbrook Drive said a crash on their street over the weekend is just another example of people driving dangerously outside their doors.
Waterloo regional police were called to a crash in the area of Erinbrook Drive and Hedgestone Court in Kitchener around 1:40 a.m. Saturday. According to police, a man driving a black Nissan lost control of his vehicle, hit the curb and sidewalk, hit a landscaping stone, and crashed into two parked vehicles in a driveway.
A 19-year-old Kitchener man, was charged with impaired driving, driving with a blood alcohol concentration over .08 and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
"Even the police, when they were here on the scene, were shocked by the amount of speeders going by, even at 1:30 in the morning," said resident Breanne Hunter.
Mother-daughter duo wins $1,000 a week for life, opts to take the cash
A mother-daughter team plan on buying houses near one another after they won Cash for Life with a ticket purchased in Cambridge. Amanda McInnis said she was at the store when the clerk suggested she buy the ticket.
She got home and scratched the ticket, which is when she saw the LIFE symbol three times. She said she thought she was "hallucinating" or "dreaming" when she saw them. She called her 23-year-old daughter, Jennifer Kemp, on Facetime and asked her to help verify the win.
