A transient, frequently-jailed alcoholic, who became known as the “Homeless Hero” after saving two people from drowning, battled his demons right up until his death in the same river where he made his rescues.
Faron Hall of Winnipeg gained fame and civic honours in 2009 for putting his own life on the line when he dove into the Red River on two separate occasions to pull people out.
His body was recovered from the water by police on Sunday.
“I spoke with him about six weeks ago and he was asking me to help him get into … a treatment centre near Kenora, Ont.,” Marion Willis said Tuesday.
Willis opened her home to Hall, who was 49, after his first rescue in 2009. In the ensuing years, he would bounce between her home, a girlfriend’s apartment and the streets.
Willis believes Hall did not commit suicide. His friends told her he had removed his shoes and most of his clothes and laid them carefully by the riverbank last Friday, one of the hottest days of the summer.
“He likely decided to take a dip to cool off and then found himself in trouble.”
Hall’s life had more than its share of trouble.
He was the child of parents raised in residential schools. His mother was killed when he was a young boy and he was raised in foster care. He became an alcoholic as a young adult and fathered children, but had little contact with them.
He was thrust into the spotlight in May 2009 when he plucked a teenage boy from the frigid Red River. Hall had been sitting on the riverbank with a friend and heard the boy fall into the water. He went in and dragged the boy to safety.
Four months later, he came to the rescue of a woman who had fallen in from the shore.
For his efforts, Hall was given recognition and gifts.
Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz gave him season tickets to the minor-league baseball team Katz owns and a personalized jacket.
But the publicity made it harder for Hall to keep his battles with alcohol private. He was jailed for assault and was once beaten up by people who he said recognized him from media coverage.
He was repeatedly jailed for breaking court orders not to be intoxicated in public. He sought out and entered rehabilitation programs, which Willis said lasted 28 days and were too short to do any real good.
“There was never really any solid, well-thought out treatment programs for Faron Hall. Nor is there for any of the street people out there,” she said. “So if you’re without those types of social supports, you’re pretty much doomed.”
Willis allowed Hall to stay with her as long as he stayed sober. He inevitably started drinking again and headed back to the street.
“Faron did his own thing and he was stubborn in his own way,” said Eric Robinson, Manitoba’s deputy premier, who spoke with Hall in June.
“In spite of his intoxication — whatever level of intoxication he was at — he was a very kind soul.”
Hall’s family is no stranger to tragedy.
His sister Kristi was stabbed to death in 2006. His brother Wilson, who was also homeless, died last year and was buried in a pauper’s grave four months before the family found out. About two weeks ago, Hall’s father died in western Manitoba.
“He had just come back from that and I think he was having a very hard time,” Patrick Hall said.
“Our family has suffered so much through deaths, violent deaths, and alcohol.”
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/winnipeg-s-homeless-hero-dies-after-alcoholism-jail-attempts-at-help-1.1966778
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Now that we have everyone thoroughly depressed, does anyone remember when they built Mirabel Airport outside Montreal?
Well guess what kids?
This disaster from the “get-go” is finally going to be put to rest!
Yup, they’re tearing it down!
Almost four decades ago, Mirabel International Airport was Montreal’s gateway to the world for the Olympic Games. Now it is a decaying, abandoned wasteland facing demolition, after the city failed to come up with a reasonable plan to repurpose the facility.
Mirabel still runs cargo flights, but it hasn’t hosted a passenger plane in 10 years. As the airport’s maintenance costs pile up and its structure begins to collapse, facility owner Aeroport de Montreal says it’s just not feasible to spend tens of millions of dollars to rebuild and repurpose the airport. Instead, the company’s board will meet in September to award the contract for its demolition.
Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/montreal-airport-too-costly-to-repurpose-1.1967712#ixzz3AwdZfwXD
Now, a couple of motorcycle accidents that look like they’re right out of the movies!
First this guy walks away from a crash:
And then this guy who runs into the back of a car at 80 kmh, flips onto the car and lands – standing up – on the roof!
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One final note for today kids, all these guys that want to go over to the Middle-East and become terrorists ………………….., why would we ever allow them back in this country again?
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