A candidate for mayor in the Town of Shelburne is making economic growth a keystone of her campaign. Karen Mattatall is a veteran of the Tri-County School Board and a member of town council. She says the area economy is in bad shape with too many young people moving away for jobs when they should be able to get one locally.
Mattatall says she wants to have an open approach to the mayor's office with public consultations in the decision-making process. Also running for mayor in the October 20th elections are incumbent Al Delaney, former mayor Parker Comeau and town councillor Bob Sinden.
There's some controversy over a decision by the hosts of last night's mayoral debate at Park View Education Centre. Kirk Meisner is seeking the mayor's chair in the Municipality of Lunenburg but wasn't able to attend last night's debate because he had a campaign fundraiser on the same night. Instead, it was agreed Meisner's campaign manager - Lydia Early - would take his place but a last minute decision from the Bridgewater and Area Chamber of Commerce nixed that from happening. Early says she was blind sided by the move because the two parties had agreed to have a substitute represent the Meisner camp.
Early wants an apology from the BACC. She feel the chamber was pressured into making the decision. Meisner is taking on Don Downe for the position - who was allowed to participate in the debate. Mayoral candidates for the Town of Bridgewater - David Walker and Gary MacNeil - also squared off at the event.
Close to 2,000 people are without power in the Bridgewater-area at this time. Nova Scotia Power is reporting outages in New Germany, East Dalhousie, Springfield, Lower Cornwall and West Northfield. The outage happened just before 11am this morning. NSP is currently investigating the matter. They expect power to be restored by 1pm this afternoon. New Germany schools will be dismissing at noon due to the power outage.
The South Shore could soon lose its lone bus service connecting it to the HRM. Trius Tours has submitted an application to abandon its service between Yarmouth and Halifax. A Utility and Review Board Hearing will be held in Bridgewater tonight to discuss the issue and focus on a new regional service. Municipality of Lunenburg Mayor Don Downe says they're opposed to the change.
Phone calls from our newsroom to reach Trius Tours owner Mike Cassidy have been unsuccessful. The hearing will be held at 7pm this evening at Bridgewater town hall.
This may bode well for gasoline prices on the South Shore come tomorrow morning. In New Brunswick today, gas prices there are "down" considerably. The cost of regular self-serve dropped overnight by more than five cents, to just over a-dollar-35 a litre. That's after an increase last week of more than six cents a litre. Prices here on the South Shore also jumped last week by more than 4 cents a litre.
Shelburne County RCMP have played a helping hand in seizing a large quantity of contraband cigarettes. Local members along with Colchester County RCMP apprehended more than 138,000 cigarettes after stopping a vehicle outside Truro late Tuesday night. Police also seized a 2007 Chevy Impala. Two men have been arrested and are scheduled to appear in Shelburne Provincial Court January 16, 2013.
Queens County school board candidates voiced their opinions on several issues during a candidates forum Wednesday night at Liverpool High School. Four of the five candidates showed up to meet members of the public while Butch MacLeod was unavailable due to illness. The role of the school board, school review and school start times were some of the topics being talked about. Elliott Payzant says schools could open later.
Another candidate, Allan Foster, agrees.
The four candidates were also greeted with questions about representing the county, the idea of school board being televised and thoughts on in-camera sessions. Karen Ohrt says she wouldn't have a problem with meetings being video-taped or streamed online.
Another candidate, Courtney Wentzell, agrees.
Roughly 20 people showed up to hear what the candidates had to say. School board elections will be held October 20.
