Baby Death Charges

A Queens County couple will be back in court this morning facing charges in relation to the death of their newborn child are back in Liverpool court today. Twenty-five year old Amanda Lynn Oickle is charged with failing to obtain assistance in childbirth and hiding the body of a child. Thirty-one year old Andrew Gary Cunningham is charged with concealing the body of a child and breaching his conditional sentence. The pair were arrested hours after bringing the remains of a baby boy into Queens General Hospital last October. It's alleged that
Oickle gave birth in her apartment, and the baby either died in childbirth or shortly after. It was also alleged the couple hid the body in the oven in their apartment for five days, before bringing it to the hospital.

Town Vehicle Policy

The Town of Bridgewater making some changes that will affect employees using their personal vehicles. Mayor Carroll Publicover says there seemed to be some inconsistencies and the Town has adopted the provincial kilometre rate for daily use. Employees travelling a distance of 250 kilometres or greater will be encouraged to rent a vehicle. If they choose to use their own the reimbursement rate will be the same as a rental rate. As well the Town will eliminate monthly car allowances. The current employees will be grandfathered. When those positions change, the allowance will disappear.

Residents to Pay for LCLC

Bridgewater Residents will be asked to help pay for the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre through a special purpose tax. Bridgewater Mayor Carroll Publicover says the Town is following the lead of its partner in implementing the special tax. Property owners will be able to see how much the Lifestyle Centre will be costing on their property tax bills. Publicover says they still have to decide how much residential and how much commercial and whether it will be all one or the other or a blend. He says the facts and figures still have to be worked out. The tax will not be implemented until the 2011/12 fiscal year.
The Town along with the Municipality of Lunenburg have committed to funding totalling one third of the complex previously estimated at 31.5 million. However, the cost has now risen to 42 million if all the preferred components of 2 ice rinks, a pool and library are included.

Transportation Services for Residents of Chester

A new accessible bus for residents of the Municipality of Chester was announced this morning.

Both levels of government represented by South Shore St. Margaret's MP Gerald Keddy, and Community Services Minister and area MLA Denise Peterson-Rafuse was on hand for the announcement.

Minister Keddy says “This new bus will provide safe, reliable and inclusive transportation services for residents of the Municipality of the District of Chester.”

Growing Tourism Together workshop

In a effort to support tourism within the area a workshop will be held tomorrow at the Best Western Hotel in Liverpool.

Chair of the Tourism committee Donna Hatt, says they need to engage more of the tourism and related businesses and organizations within our communities to strengthen and grow tourism.

The free Growing Tourism Together workshop is being held tomorrow March, 23rd, from 9:30 am - 12 noon.

The upcoming workshop is open to everyone in Queens County and organizer are delighted to be working with tourism operators from Port Medway, Caledonia, Port Mouton, Greenfield as well as Liverpool and everywhere in between.

There is no fee to attend and those attending are invited to bring along their brochures and related promotional materials for exchanging with others. To RSVP, phone Amanda Wambolt at 354.2377 or email her at amanda.wamboldt@bwliverpool.ca by March 19th.

RCMP Files

Chester RCMP are asking for the public's help involving cases of vandalism. Two windows at Chester District School were broken sometime overnight Thursday, March 18th. As well a number of mailboxes were damaged along Highway 329 from Blandford to Fox Point overnight Thursday into Friday morning. Meantime Lunenburg County RCMP are investigating the theft of a trailer from a residence in Parkdale. Sometime between 12:30 and 3:30 pm on March 11th, a black 16 foot long deck 2007 Rainbow Utility Trailer was was removed from the driveway of a residence on the Farmington Road.

Gold River Assault

RCMP are continuing their investigation into an assault with a weapon in Gold River over the weekend. The incident happened Sunday morning. There were several victims involved in the incident. A suspect was arrested and charged and will be appearing in Bridgewater Provincial court today.

Transit Event

An important transit event for the Municipality of Chester will be unveiled this morning. Both levels of government represented by South Shore St. Margaret's MP Gerald Keddy, and Community Services Minister and area MLA Denise Peterson-Rafuse will be on hand for the announcement. ; David Outhouse, Managing Director of South Shore Community Association; and Michael Graves, Coordinator, United Way of Lunenburg County will also be in attendance at the announcement slated for 9 o'clock this morning at the South Shore Work Activity Program, 23 Collicutt Road.