A Tiny Township councillor and a Christian Island man walk into a bar.
But no, this isn’t some sort of joke, but a seemingly serious matter that apparently ended with both men calling the police on one another.
The troubles appear to stem from a photo taken at the Balm Beach Bar & Smokehouse earlier this month. And while they say a picture is worth a thousand words, both men involved have quite a bit to say about an incident that seems to centre around the accompanying photo.
Christian Island resident Johnny Hawke, who is well known in the area for his activism, says he hadn’t been out for a while and was taking selfies “throughout the day of me getting out” following his brother’s death.
“When I arrived I was greeted by (Tiny) Mayor Dave Evans,” Hawke says, noting Evans knows him from his activism activities, in particular, working alongside Beach Rights (Facebook group) mutual friends Rob Johnston and Sean Miskimins, when he set up a tipi at Thunder Beach in the “Morneau Compound” and in front of the Surf and on a “private beach" in 2022.
“I’ve always got along friendly (with Evans) and he always says ‘hi’ to me in the community,” Hawke says. “I sat down, they acknowledged me and he (Evans) said ‘hello.’”
Hawke says it wasn’t his intention to have Evans, another man he would later learn was Coun. Kelly Helowka and a third person in the background when he took the selfie at the seaside establishment.
About 40 minutes after Evans and the other person left the table, Hawke says he got up to check out the jukebox when the man he notes he would later learn was Helowka called him over and asked: “‘Why are you taking pictures of me? Earlier I noticed you took a photo of me,’” Hawke says.
“I responded, ‘I don’t even know who you are or what you’re talking about.’ He responded with ‘I am a retired RCMP. I can make you disappear.’
“I was like WTF? I took out my phone and video recorded him and told him to tell me what he just said. He got up and ran to the bar and sat down. I followed him and was upset.”
However, Helowka tells a very different story about the encounter.
“At no time did I ever threaten him,” Helowka tells Village Media. “For the record, I did not invite him over to my table. After the mayor and his friend left our table, which was outside on the terrace, this individual just walked over and sat down.
“I had minimal conversation with him, just asking him to leave me alone. I had never met this person before that evening. He was very intoxicated and was babbling about the RCMP.”
Helowka, who was in the RCMP for 36 years, says Hawke followed him when he went to the bar to pay his bill.
“He followed me into the bar, trying to video me,” he says. “I put my hands up to discourage his filming and told him to leave me alone. He was yelling and causing a disturbance.”
Hawke says he wasn’t intoxicated and didn’t go there to cause a disturbance, but that staff asked him to leave after confronting Helowka.
“I told them this f*****g guy just said he was gonna make me disappear,” Hawke says, noting he had one pitcher of beer that evening.
“I often play jukebox and spend lots. I was playing songs. He called me over. I thought this random guy didn’t like my song choices. I had no reason to be in his space or walk to his table.”
Evans says he and Helowka went to the Smokehouse at about 6:30 p.m. that night, following a public planning meeting.
“I did hear after the fact that there were some issues going on with himself (Hawke) and Coun. Helowka,” says Evans, who describes Hawke as “one of those characters in your community you get to know.”
But beyond the fact he heard there were “some issues,” Evans says he can’t add much more than that.
“Frankly, I was surprised the next day when I heard about it,” he says. “As far as what went on between the two of them, I wasn’t there, so I don’t know."
Helowka says he reported Hawke to the OPP upon arrival at his residence a short time later.
“I received a phone call from a female officer and told her what had happened,” says Helowka. “At approximately 9 p.m., friends at the bar called me to tell me that the cab driver had a very difficult time getting him into the taxi so he could make the ferry back to Christian Island.”
Hawke says he also called police.
“Right after this happened, I went to my friends’ and called the Southern Georgian Bay OPP to make the complaint,” Hawke says, adding he told the officer there could be video evidence from cameras at the Smokehouse backing up his assertion.
“I did a search (later) and found out it was Tiny Coun. Kelly Peter Helowka.”
An OPP spokesperson says the detachment has “no comment” about the alleged encounter at this time.
Like Helowka, Hawke says he hasn’t received any kind of response from the OPP officer who took his complaint.
“I called twice to seek what remedy and if he has been charged,” he says. “Nothing. I just made a complaint to the OPP for lack of followup by the officer and also this week to the Tiny Township code of conduct integrity commissioner.”
