NEWS photo Paul McGrath Mome’.............. Tamara _ Oncupation ........... tourism Favourite actor . . . Freddie Prinze ir. Activities... . snowboarding, beating Travelled... . . Guadeloupe, Jamaica likes ............... fast cors Reaitor rolis for spinai re PARAPLEGIC John Ryan is rolling into town this week on the fast leg of his four-month-long cross- Canada hand-cycling tour to raise awareness and money for spinal cord regeneration rescarch. The Whistler realtor severed his spinal cord in a car accident five years ago and spent several months in hospital recovering. Although he lost the use of his legs, he still considers himself fortunate to be alive. “T could have walked away from my accident. | could have become a quadriplegic or I could have died. It was just 2 matter of millimetres,” Ryan said. Every year, 41,000 Canadians suffer serious spinat cord and brain injuries ~- 45% of them from car accidents. _ So far, researchers have dis- “covered ways to lessen the ‘degree of daniage to the spinal cord by cecreasing swelling near the injury, but they have search not discovered how to generate new neural tissue around the spinal cord. Scientists hope that by regenerating severed nerves, commands could once again flow from the brain to long- inactive muscles. Ryan wants to mise 35 mil- lion tor research and has so far cellected almost $800,000. He started the 8,688 kilo- metre (5,398 mile) journey on May 1 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. On his three- wheeled hand-cyele, he trav- elled 96 kilometres (60 miles} per day. He will depart from the Park Royal Shopping Centre at 8 am. on Sept. 10 and will wheel to Horseshoe Bay along Marine Drive. Donatiens to the John Ryan Regeneration Tour can be made at the Royal Bank, Eddie Bauer stores, by phoning 1-800-570-3222 or on the Web at www.regeneration- tourorg. — Michel Comte FOR an August feature on Rhonda Lenair, a Newbury, Mapss., “medical intuitive,” a BRastou Globe editor con- firmed that Lenair had dis- cerned the editor's various body problems with “°75- SO%” accuracy on the basis of a mere telephone call. Lenair (fee: $275) said she is like an) ultrasound machine in that she can men- tally scans the body and tap into the patient's cnergy field, and sometimes can even feel the patient's pain by transference. Said one fawning Harvard-clinic psychiatrist, “Sitting in front of her is like being in front of an X-ray machine,” thar it was “almost: embarrassing” how well she could read him. aqua Among the men's fash- ions introduced in Paris in july were a crocheted face mask (reminiscent or Hannibal Lecter} and a flower-print jacket and matching head scarf, from Belgian designer Waiter Van Bierendonck; a white full skirt for men to wear over bluc jeans, from Dutcit designer Dries Van Noten; and, also to be worn with blue jeans and a white shirt: a formal black dorsal) wing extending five feet our on each side (by a designer unidentified in an Associated Press dispatch). “og Debtors Norman and Melissa Cameron said in court documents that God told them they didn’t have to pay their mortgage (Hartford, Conn., August). Dean William Trammel, 2, charged with assaulting a flight attendant, said in court that God told him he didn’t have to remain seated during the Janding (Baltimore, January). Donald RK. Delgade, 37, arrested for driving through the front door of the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago, said God told him to (June). Priscilla Lee Jansma, 44, arrested for killing her hus- band, told police, “Jesus tald me it was OK to do it” (Aurora, Colo., June). Qo00 Driver Lamarn Williams, 27, and his three passengers were arrested in August near Washington, Pa., by a state trooper who had intended only to warn Williams for driving too fast. However, when — the trooper asked the obligatory question about whether the car contained any guns or drugs, passenger Marlon Martez Lee’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he tainted. The trooper called for drug-suiffing dogs, and about 10 kg of cocaine (value: $2 million) was found in the trunk. oe ee The “ugly robber” plagu- ing the Phoenix area was arrested in’ July in’ Peoria, Ariz. Karen Marie Tribby, 33, reportedly confessed to 12 robberies in which police bulletins afterward in’ cach case described the robber as a “very ugly woman.” A police spokesman justi- fied that description by pointing out that “every vie- tim whe: has seen her” has described her as “very ugly.” ooo From the Police Blotter column of the State Journal- Register, Springtield, HI, July 29: A 41-year-old man reported that another man Wednesday, September 8, 1999 — North Shore News - 14 ved woman feeis pain who dives at the same resi: dence on East Adams Street may have stolen his glass eve. Both men have glass eves, but the alleged victim) said his was missing from his pocket. He said that another one was left in its place. The victim admitted he “did noc see the exchange.” a Ee Ex- Marine Stanley Heiserman, 41, pleaded guilty in Allentown, Pa., in Mav to six convenicnce-store robberies, four of which he pulled of f while naked. 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