Accused In Chain's Case To Appear In Bridgewater Court

Mounties say a man facing charges of sexually assaulting and confining a teenage boy will return to later this afterrnoon. Sergeant Alain LeBlanc says 47-year-old David James Leblanc will be returned to the province from Ontario sometime after 5 o'clock via a police airplane. He says Leblanc will appear in court in Bridgewater on Tuesday. Leblanc was arrested Sunday in northern Ontario and was reported to be suffering from frostbite. Police confirmed yesterday that the body of his co-accused, 31-year-old Wayne Alan Cunningham, was found in a wooded area close to where he was arrested. Mounties launched an investigation last week after a woman reported that a partially naked boy showed up at her doorstep in Upper Chelsea with his wrists and ankles bound.

Lunenburg: No Doctors Force Weekend ER Closure

The emergency department will be temporarily closed over the Thanksgiving long-weekend. Officials says the closure will begin on Saturday afternoon at 2:30PM. The ER will remain closed until Monday morning at 7:30AM. The closure is due to a lack of physicians. Anyone requiring emergency services is advised to call 911 or visit the South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater. Patients with non-emergencies should contact their family physician or call Health Link 811 for medical advice.

Yarmouth Man Faces Child Porn Charges

A Yarmouth man is facing child porn charges after police raided a home earlier this week. Mounties seized five computers, two cameras, two cell phones, a video camera, floppy disks and USB drives after they conducted a search of a home on Thursday. Police say 53 year-old James Gordon McRae has been charged with possession of child pornography. He's due in court next April. The RCMP encouraging members of the public to report any suspected child sexual exploitation to local police or cybertip.ca.

Loss Of Full Time Jobs, Worrisome Signals: NS Liberal Leader

Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil

It's a jobs report that was full of surprises. Statistic Canada says an eye-popping 52,100 jobs were added last month -- five times more than economists expected. But in another surprise, the unemployment rate inched up a tenth of a point to 7.4 because more than 72,000 people joined the work force. Here in this province, the jobless rate is down about one percentage point from August. However, Liberal leader Stephen McNeil says the numbers were buoyed a bit by part- time and seasonal jobs that came along midway through the summer. He says close to 9,000 jobs have been lost province-wide in the past year, several thousand of them on the South Shore, and many of them, young people. McNeil says there's a tidal wave of young people leaving to go elsewhere to find work.



McNeil predicts the loss of so many full-time jobs will accelerate. He says that, combined with the employment troubles facing youth, are worrying economic signals.

Four Hurricane Players Named To Team NS

Four Western Hurricane hockey players have been selected to represent Nova Scotia at the Atlantic Challenge Cup this weekend in Moncton. The event features the top players from New Brunswick, PEI, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia for a weekend of competition at the Under-14 and Under-15 age groups. Chester's Jacob Myra made the Under-14 squad. Yarmouth's Colby Muise, Barrington's Christopher Goreham and Bridgewater's Keith Getson cracked the under-15 roster.

No Date Yet For Suspect's Return To NS

Police say they are still trying to determine when a man wanted in connection with an alleged sexual assault and confinement case in Lunenburg County will be returned to the province from northern Ontario. Sgt. Alain LeBlanc of the RCMP says David Leblanc will be returned when he is medically fit following his arrest Sunday. He says the body of Wayne Cunningham -- a co-accused in the case -- was identified yesterday.



Foul play is not suspected in Cunningham's death.  His body was discovered Wednesday night along a logging road in northern Ontario. Police allege Cunningham and Leblanc held a 16-year-old boy against his will and sexually assaulted him over several days in a house in Upper Chelsea before fleeing to Ontario.

Gasoline Prices Rise Again!

Its no huge surprise that gasoline prices are up today along the South Shore.  However. the increase is not as dramatic as in New Brunswick yesterday when prices there were hiked by almost 7 cents a litre. Today in our area, regular self serve gas is selling for $1.41.7 a litre ... thats a 4 cent increase from yesterday's price. Diesel is also up by 3 cents at $1.35.4 per litre. High test gas and home heating oil are also up a bit today.

Clippers Welcome Fundy For Home Opener

The Chester Clippers open defence of their league title tonight at home against the Fundy Phantoms. The Clippers are coming off an undefeated regular season and a year where they went 49-1-1 overall. They also won the Atlantic Canadian Championship. Captain Mathieu Bourgeois says expectations remain high for this year's club.


Chester has 13 players returning from last year's squad, but lost four players including Corey Young who led the Clippers with 45 goals. The game starts at 6:30 tonight at the Eleanor Pew Morris Memorial Arena in Chester.