Tuesday, October 11, 2011

SMU Observatory Director quashes South Shore meteor rumour


The observatory director at Saint Mary's University says its highly doubtful people on the South Shore seen a meteor or fireball over the weekend. Phone calls to our newsroom and messages on facebook from residents in Lunenburg, Queens and Shelburne Counties suggest people may have seen something in the sky Saturday night. David Lane says he hasn't heard any buzz about any potential sightings.
"I haven't had any reports at all here at the observatory, so, that tends to make me believe it was something local, rather than something, you know, far up above the Earth, such as a meteor."
Lane says the 'Draconid Meteor Shower' happened over the weekend but wouldn't be noticeable to the untrained eye. He says although the description sounds like a fireball, he believes it wasn't of astronomical nature.

Premier making Aerospace and Defence announcement in Lunenburg


The Premier is visiting the South Shore Wednesday afternoon. Darrell Dexter will make an announcement about aerospace and defence at 1pm. The event will take place at Composites Atlantic, 71 Hall Street in Lunenburg.

South Shore Health releases Public Flu Clinic Schedule


South Shore Health has released its public flu clinic schedule for people looking to get vaccinated. People are encouraged to get the flu vaccine including the elderly, babies aged six to 23 months, pregnant women and anyone with chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, asthma, and diabetes. Flu shots are free of charge for all Nova Scotians and are considered the most important type of prevention.


Fall 2011 Public Flu Clinic Schedule

Bridgewater - October 24 from 1-7pm and November 28 from 2-6pm at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 78 Alexander Avenue.

Caledonia - October 18 from 1-4pm, October 20 from 1-4pm & 6-8pm, October 25 from 1-4pm and October 27 from 1-4pm & 6-8pm at North Queens Health Centre, 9698 Highway 8.

Chester - October 21 from 9am-Noon at Chester Community Clinic, 17 Shoreham Village.

Liverpool - November 7 from 2-8 at the Liverpool Family Resource Center, 108 Collage Street.

Lunenburg - October 27 from 1-4pm at the United Church Hall, 283 Lincoln Street.

New Germany - November 1 from 9am-5pm, November 23 from 3-7pm at Rosedale New Horizon's Club, Highway 10.

New Ross - October 18 from 6:30-8:30pm, October 25 from 6:30-8:30pm at the New Ross Family Resource Centre, 4689 Highway 12.

Tancook Island - October 20 from 11:30am-1pm at the Recreation Centre.

VIC Extension


The Municipality of Lunenburg has approved a lease extension to allow for a temporary Visitor Information Centre at Exit 12. The Municipality formed a partnership with the Town of Bridgewater to operate a temporary VIC in Cookville while seeking a permanent long term location. An Expression of Interest had been issued, but Deputy Mayor Lee Nauss says the proposals did not come in on time to make a decision for next season. In the meantime, Council voted to extend the lease with SmartCentres till November 2012 to allow the VIC to open next spring and summer. The approval is subject to an equal financial contribution from the Town of Bridgewater for 15 thousand dollars.

Tires and RimsTaken


These thieves went to a lot of trouble to take some tires.  Sometime over the holiday weekend between 11:45 pm Sunday October 9th and Monday noon October 10th a vehicle on Elm Street was placed on blocks and the tires and rims were removed. The rims are 15 inch grey aluminium Mag wheels, four bolt pattern, and the tires are WAHL winter tires, 195/65/15/. Also on Saturday overnight, October 8th, a vehicle parked on Season's Drive had its tire slashed. Anyone with information is asked to contact Bridgewater Police.

Taxpayer Group Calls For Probe Of Tax-Free Cigarettes On Reserves

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling for an investigation into the sale of tobacco products on native reserves on the South Shore and elsewhere in the province.

The CTF has collected figures from a freedom of information request showing an 83% loss in tax revenue due to exempt tobacco sales and an increase of 8% in the total number of cigarettes sold on reserves from 2001 to 2010.
The federation's Atlantic director Kevin Lacey says if you consider the size of the native population and if the increased sales are to natives only, that would mean every man, woman and child on every reserve would be smoking at least one pack a day.
He suspects a lot of tobacco products are ending up on the black market and an investigation is needed.
Given that almost all tax-exempt tobacco is sold on Nova Scotia’s native reserves, the CTF made a freedom of information request (FOIPOP) to better understand why so much tobacco is being sold on Nova Scotia’s native reserves, and why it’s increasing.

The FOIPOP shows that tobacco wholesalers sold the equivalent of about 130 million tax-free cigarettes to reserves in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Lacey says this number becomes even more staggering when you consider there are only approximately 14,330 status Indians in Nova Scotia who are eligible to purchase tax free smokes.
Lacey says there are two reasons why the Nova Scotia government should proceed with an investigation into tax-free tobacco sales.

One interpretation is that the numbers point to a potential health crisis among status Indians in Nova Scotia. If a significant portion of the tax exempt tobacco is actually being consumed by status Indians, their intake is extremely high and it could lead to serious health problems.
Second, given the numbers, its frankly almost impossible to believe that on a per-capita basis every man, woman and youth can consume 33 cigarettes a day or to think about it a different way, that every single Indian home is consuming 3 packs a day.
Lacey says given these numbers there’s potentially a significant portion of the tax-free tobacco bound for status Indians is actually being sold on the black market to non-Indians. The RCMP, in a 2008 study of contraband cigarettes, found that the Maritimes is the second largest consumer of contraband cigarettes in Canada.
Lacey asks: Why is this important?
He says the numbers suggest that the system designed to respect the rights of status Indians to obtain tax-exempt tobacco could be being abused. The lost revenue is then made up from other sources – ultimately, taxpayers! The province is running a huge deficit of over $300 million -- each and every dollar counts. This is an area that warrants investigation and reform, and the payoff could be huge.

Route 332 in East LaHave and Green Bay Road re-opened


A pair of Lunenburg County roads have re-opened. Route 332 in East LaHave and Green Bay Road in Petite Riviére were closed last week after huge amounts of rain fell on the South Shore. Route 332 had been closed between Grimm Road and Indian Path Road because of a culvert washout. Green Bay Road had been closed due to flooding.

Bayview Community School closed October 12

Bayview Community School

Students at Bayview Community School are getting an extra day off this week. The Town of Mahone Bay is shutting off its water Wednesday, forcing the school to close for the day. The South Shore Regional School Board expects the school to re-open Thursday.

Fashion Show for Bleacher Seating

Bluenose Academy

An upcoming fundraiser is helping Bluenose Academy get bleacher seating for the school's gym. The Sea of Colours Fall Fashions will be held Thursday at 7pm in the Lunenburg Community Centre. Early Literacy Leader Gretchen Gerhardt says the seating is important because it allows people to sit down while watching activities in the gym. Tickets cost $5 for children, $10 for adults or $25 for a family of four. They're available for purchase at Kinley's Drug Store, Centre Consolidated and Lunenburg Academy.