Lunenburg: Reduced ER Hours At Fishermen's

The emergency department at Fishermen's will be operating on reduced hours over the Holiday. Officials say emergency services will be available between 7:30am and 2:30pm on December 27, 30, 31 and January 1. So, that means there will not be a doctor after 2:30pm on those days mentioned. This closure is temporary. The Emergency Department is expected to resume normal 16-hour coverage on January 2. Area residents requiring emergency services are advised to call 911 or visit South Shore Regional in Bridgewater. Patients with non-emergencies should contact their family physician or Health Link 811 for medical advice.

Mustangs Preparing To Bid For 2016 Telus Cup

The Charlie's Pizza South Shore Mustangs have their eyes on hosting a national championship. The club, along with its host committee, are preparing to submit a bid for the 2016 Telus Cup. The event features the best boys major midget hockey teams from across the country. Committee Chair, Michael Belliveau, says there looking for letters of support and endorsements from local groups and businesses. He says they're also hoping for people to commit to the event.



Belliveau says they aren't collecting money right now, just asking for groups to commit to tournament packages. It's Nova Scotia's turn to host the event, and Belliveau says no other teams showed interest at a recent meeting. Their bid is due to Hockey Nova Scotia by January 24. If successful, it will then be forwarded to Hockey Canada by January 31 for final approval.

Youth With Cerebral Palsy Benefits From Sledge Hockey

The first sledge hockey event in Bridgewater is being dubbed a success. The Charlie's Pizza South Shore Mustangs hosted the event Saturday evening at the Clearwater Seafoods Arena and roughly 30 people came out to give it a try. One of those people was 10-year-old Erik Vuille of Dayspring, who was born with a type of cerebral palsy. Vuille says he had a blast in his first time ever on ice.



Erik's mother, Olivia, is hoping to make sledge hockey a regular activity in hopes of giving her son and other kids with disabilities an opportunity to be physically active. Erik Vuille lives with spastic diaplegia, which limits the use of his lower body and forces him to use walking sticks. His mother plans to ask for support from her son's school, Centre scolaire de la Rive-Sud in Cookville, to bring the activity back to Bridgewater.

Bridgewater: Major Upgrades Coming To Park View

It's an early Christmas gift for the largest high school in Bridgewater. Park View Education Centre will see major renovations in the near future which will help extend the life of the school by roughly 20 years. The school is home to more than 800 students and was built in 1978. The Nova Scotia Government listed Park View among several schools which will see upgrades under the province's education capital plan. The province-wide plan will invest $94.6 million building of 10 new schools, renovating 18 others, purchasing 70 new buses and reducing energy use in schools. The exact dollar figure for Park View has not been announced. The South Shore Regional School Board says more information on the upgrades will be available in the coming months.

NS Gov't Announces Holiday Closures

The holidays are rapidly approaching - here's a quick look at what will be open. All provincial government offices will close at noon on Christmas Eve. They will re-open on December 27. In addition, Registry of Motor Vehicle Offices in Windsor, Shelburne, Liverpool, Sheet Harbour and Guysborough will be closed all day tomorrow. Liquor stores will close at 5 o'clock on Christmas Eve and 6 o'clock on New Year's Eve. All NSLC stores will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

Bridgewater Mayor: Exciting Times Ahead In 2014

The mayor of Bridgewater says he's proud of town council for the steps they've taken in their first term. Five new councillors and a new deputy mayor were elected to council last October in the municipal elections. David Walker was also elected as the town's new mayor. He's been involved with council for nearly 20 years. Walker says he's happy with how things have worked with the group.



Walker says his highlight of the year was the opening of the LCLC. He says its an issue that dates back to 1988 when council first had studies done on the potential for a multi-purpose centre. Walker points to renovations at the mall, the new collaborative health centre, the new marina and the downtown and waterfront master plan as some of the exciting things to look forward to in 2014.

Two South Shore Wind Projects Approved For Next Steps

Two wind projects along the South Shore have got the green light to move forward. The province approved 14 community Feed-In Tariff, or COMFIT program projects to help communities generate renewable electricity. A 0.8-megawatt project in West Green Harbour and a 1.99-megawatt project in the Yarmouth area can proceed to the next phase of development. Energy Minister Andrew Younger says it may include environmental assessments, an impact assessment or an ecological study. He says communities, families and businesses in the province will benefit from the projects.

South Shore Sports Wrap

Lumberjacks

The CIBC Wood Gundy Lumberjacks wrapped up 2013 with a 4-3 loss on the road to the Valley Wildcats. The Lumberjacks also fell 6-4 to the Amherst Ramblers Friday night. Billy Clarke got the win in goal for Amherst, after being traded by the Lumberjacks recently. The Jacks are now on holiday break until January 3 when they host Woodstock.

Mooseheads

Lunenburg's Brennan Bailey had an assist as the Halifax Mooseheads fell 5-4 to the Moncton Wildcats on Friday night. Bailey, who was called up for the weekend, was also named the game's second star. The two teams also met in Halifax Saturday night. Moncton won that game as well, 2-1. The Mooseheads are now off until December 28th.when they take on the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in game one of the Battle of Nova Scotia.

High School Hockey

The Park View Panthers boys team demolished Middleton 15-2 Saturday night. Leading scorers for Park View were Dyson Wood with a hat-trick and Wesley Demone with four goals, three which were scored within 55 seconds. Meanwhile, Friday night the Panthers defeated Horton 3-2. Jake Key was the winning goaltender in both games.

Basketball

The Park View Panther boys won the Holiday Hoopfest tournament. They defeated Harrison Trimble of New Brunswick 67-55 in the final.

Curling

The final two Provincial Scotties tickets were claimed this weekend at the Highlander Curling Club in Antigonish. Mayflower's Heather Smith earned the last spot with a 5-4 win over clubmate Marg Cutcliffe.
The Smith rink, which includes South Shore natives Jill Brothers and Blisse Joyce, stole the winning point in the tenth end. Kelly MacIntosh of Dartmouth also moved on. The Provincial Women's curling championship opens in Sydney on January 7th.

Slow Down: Highways Treacherous

The highways are very slippery this morning and an example of this is Highway 210 in Bangs Falls near Greenfield. A tractor trailer slid across the road and stalled and the highway was closed for an hour or so.
The driver wasn't hurt. The RCMP advise all drivers to slow down this morning... the driving is treacherous in many areas. Highway 103 between Hubbards and Halifax is very dangerous this morning with lots of slippery patches. Meanwhile, depending on where you live, the weather through yesterday and into this morning has ranged across the region from heavy snow, to rain and freezing rain and high winds. Along the South Shore, we escaped much of the snow and most of the freezing rain too. New Brunswick and Northern Nova Scotia received up to 25 centimeters of snow. There's been freezing rain in southern New Brunswick and power outages there as a result. Dozens of flights at airports across the region were delayed or cancelled on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. Further west in Quebec and Ontario, a massive freezing rain storm downed trees and power lines knocking the power out to hundreds of thousands of residents. It could be days before the power's back on for many people and the mess of downed branches and trees is cleaned up.