E-I Fine

A hefty fine for a Lunenburg man who defrauded Employment Insurance over a 20 month period. Thirty-nine year old Leonard Clarke pleaded guilty to 39 counts of EI fraud between October 2004 and May 2006. He was fined $200 on each count for a total of $7,800. Clarke was also placed on house arrest for 6 months as part of a conditional sentence. Authorities say Clarke also received Workers Compensation benefits and was working some of the time he filed for unemployment. EI is recovering the fraudulent payments internally, and Clarke has already repaid more than $6,000.

Parking Review

Bridgewater Council has decided to review parking all over town since councillors couldn't come to a consensus on Glen Allan. Mayor Carroll Publicover strongly feels if people won't pay to use the hospital parking lot, they should be forced to pay to park on the surrounding streets. Publicover says staff has been asked to bring back a report on options which could include revamping some parking meters to raise the parking fees.

False Alarms

The Municipality of Lunenburg along with the RCMP will develop and implement an education program on the issues and impact of false alarms. Mayor Don Downe says they're trying that approach before implementing a by-law. Downe says there has to be accountability. The education program will be reassessed at the end of a one year period to see if there has been a decrease in false alarms.