Class Afloat Students Return to Academy

Class Afloat students will be returning to the Lunenburg Academy to finish out their school year after their vessel, the Concordia sank off the coast of Brazil.February 17th. Trish Smith, Communications Manager with the South Shore Regional School Board says an arrangement has been worked out to expand their current rental to allow for classroom space. Class Afloat rents office and classroom space from the School Board at the Lunenburg Academy where students spend class time at the beginning of their year before heading out to sea. Students will be returning to class later this month . Class Afloat will be holding a "Welcome Back" reception at the Lunenburg Academy on Sunday, March 14th.

Bluenose II Restoration

A consortium of Nova Scotia shipbuilders has been selected to restore the Bluenose II. The Lunenburg Shipyard Alliance was the successful respondent to a request for interest issued in December. The consortium includes Snyder's Shipyard of Dayspring, Lunenburg Industrial Foundry and Engineering and Covey Island Boatworks. The province will issue a request for proposals shortly that will be the basis a contract with the Lunenburg Shipyard Alliance. The restoration of Bluenose II expected to begin later this year is being jointly funded by the province and federal governments. The project must be completed by March 31, 2011

Traffic Enforcement for Lunenburg County

Residents of Lunenburg should make sure they are prepared before they get behind the wheel again. During the month of March Lunenburg County RCMP will be setting up random check points to ensure everyone has driver and vehicle documents. When drivers change their address they have 30 days before it must be reflected or a ticket could be issued. As well the first offence for not having insurance, including expired insurance is in excess of $1200.

School buses effected by spring weight restrictions

The Communications Manager for the South Shore Regional School Board is reminding you that their school buses cannot travel on a number of routes. Trish Smith says the school buses cannot travel on certain roads due to the Department of Highways' "Spring Weight Restrictions." Those restrictions came into effect on Monday.The school-bus restrictions affect routes in Queens and Lunenburg Counties. Smith asks you to visit the school board website at www.ssrsb.ca for a complete list of roads.

Tour for the Cure

The Canadian Breast Cancer Tour for the Cure bus will be making a stop at the South Shore Regional Hospital today. The big pink bus will allow people to view interactive displays and learn about breast health as it relates to breast screening and breast cancer. A Visit takes about 10 to 15 minutes and all are welcome. The bus will be there from 3pm until 6pm today (March 3rd).

Gunshots FIred

A Mahone Bay man facing a number of charges in connection with gunshots fired outside a home early Tuesday morning will have a bail hearing this afternoon. (Wed.) Twenty-seven year old Justin Arthur Piercy was arrested after RCMP responded to a 9-1-1 call shortly after midnight Tuesday,
of gunshots being fired in the vicinity of a residence on Fauxburg Road.
Piercy faces a dozen charges relating to the incident including various firearms offences, impaired driving, and breaching previous court orders. Piercy is known by the occupants of the residence

Bridgewater High School Back Yard Project

More details on the 'Back Yard Project' for the Bridgewater High School have been released. The project was founded two years ago and is now in the process of finding funding to go through with construction. Principal Chuck McLellan, says they are looking at a potential price tag of around 350 thousand dollars. Plans for the new Back yard project include developing some seated areas, refurbish the existing basketball court, and build a couple of out door classrooms for students.

Increased Real Estate in the South Shore

The South Shore is reported as the one of the top regions that experienced increased sales to real estate over this time last year. The number of residential units sold across Nova Scotia, through the Multiple Listing Service system from November to January was up 27 per cent, compared to the same three months last year. Along with the South Shore was Halifax-Dartmouth that were listed as the two largest areas that experienced increase in sales.

Lobster Crates Stolen

RCMP are investigating the theft of 150 lobster crates in Shelburne County. Sometime over the weekend the crates were taken from a fish plant in Lower Clark's Harbour. The crates were blue in colour,and were empty at the time of the theft. The value of the stolen crates is around 5 thousand dollars. Police say a large truck would have been needed to take all of the crates at one time.

It's a win-win situation where members receive on the job training skills in return for assistance for not-for profit groups. Major James Fera recently addressed Bridgewater Town Council with an update on the activities of 143 Construction Engineering Flight. The Squadron, located on the Harold Whynot Road has been around since September 1994. It's main mission is to to recruit, train and deploy reserve construction engineers. Some of the projects assisted by 14 CES include the Habitat for Humanity build in Bridgewater, construction of the firemen's bandstand at Shipyard Landing and an outdoor relaxation garden at Hillside Pines.

It's back to the drawing board for further refinements to a proposed Street Encroachment By-law for the Town of Lunenburg. Mayor Laurence Mawhinney suggested attention be focused only on access and entrance points to buildings including steps and ramps. He says other items in the by-law could be dealt with at a later time. Council has been reviewing the matter for a lengthy period of time and after numerous drafts the document has become too complex and cumbersome. The Town's Solicitor has been instructed to re-draft the by-law dealing only with the one component and to add a "purpose" statement at the beginning of the document.

Naming process of new Lunenburg P-9 School

The name of the new Lunenburg primary-to-grade 9 school will soon be unveiled. Nancy Pynch-Worhtylake, Superintendent of Schools says the public naming process was put in place so they can hear from different groups, including students. The School Steering Committee will create a shortlist of 5 names and bring them to students from the four schools to be voted on, and the top 3 chosen will be taken to the School Board for consideration and approval. Students from Riverport, Lunenburg Academy, Lunenburg Junior high and Centre Consolidated will all be involved in the process.

Storm leaves Four Homeless

Four people are temporarily homeless as a result of storm damage that tore part of the roof off a Bridgewater building Friday evening. The building at 740 King Street housed the Oddfellows Lodge, a ground floor hair salon and two second storey apartments. The Canadian Red Cross arranged emergency lodging and meals for all four adults. It's not known when they'll be able to return to their apartments because of structural damage and flooding from the heavy rain and high winds.

Flooding Forces out Family

A Lunenburg County family had to be rescued by boat over the weekend after their home near Barrs Corner was surrounded by water. Heavy flooding in the area Saturday forced the family to evacuate their residence on the Haines Road, about 30 kilometres northwest of Bridgewater. The house was surrounded by water from the overflowing Lake William. Officials were concerned the roadbed could also be washed out. The Canadian Red Cross arranged emergency lodging and food for the couple and their three children ages 2, 3 and 4.

Shoreham Health Centre Funding

Chester Council is providing 10 thousand dollars in funding to the Shoreham Health Resources Centre upon completion of the project. Warden Alan Webber says Council originally wanted to lend Shoreham 25 thousand dollars to be repaid over 5 years but legally were not able to do so. He says Council then had to make a decision. Council reached a compromise giving the Centre 10 thousand dollars. Webber says Council agrees it's a good project butone where the Municipality doesn't want to get too deeply involved in the Health care issue, but Webber says no one else is stepping up to the plate.
The Health Resource Centre is undergoing a 90 thousand dollar expansion to make room for a doctor. It's part of a larger picture expansion over the next 5 to 10 years which would eventually see the centre turn into a community health complex.

LCLC Concept Plan Unveiled

Some hard decisions will have to be made to determine the components of the proposed Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre. The architects unveiled conceptual plans to both councils this afternoon with a price tag for the full meal deal almost 11 million more than the original cost of 31.5 million dollars. LCLC Chair Paul Belliveau says the key to remember is this is a concept only. He says it's a working document and details still have to be worked out . Belliveau says budgets will be done once they know what they're building, because they have to know what
their programming will be in the building.
The architects have suggested cutting the second ice surface and phasing it in over five years. A public meeting has been slated for March 10th at a site yet to be determined to gather input before the joint councils make any decision .

Counterfeit Currency

It appears that bogus bills are still being passed in our area. To date 3 men and 1 woman are facing charges of possessing and passing counterfeit currency. Court dates have been set in March, April and May. Bridgewater Police and Lunenburg Country RCMP continue to investigate and expect to lay more charges.

Current power outages

POWER OUTAGES:

Old Town Lunenburg: expects to be back on at 3:30pm today

Areas of Bridgewater, Caledonia, Liverpool, Chester: expects to be back on at 4:30pm today

Caused by high winds and rain.

Lunenburg Softball field funding

An investment has been made for upgrades for the Town of Lunenburg's main softball field. MP for South Shore-St. Margarets, Gerald Keddy made the announcement today of $6,333 from the federal government's Recreational Infrastructure Canada program. This investment will support the installation of permanent fencing, dugouts and new ground material for the ball field.

South Shore donations to Haiti Relief fund

People of the South Shore were very generous in making donations to the Haiti relief fund. A total of 64 thousand dollars was received at the Bridgewater Red Cross office since the devastating earthquake that happened on January 12th. The money is mainly being used in Haiti for medical care and setting up field hospitals in the Capital of Port au Prince to help out injured victims. Donations to the relief fund are still being taken at all Red Cross locations.

To make a donation to the Red Cross you can visit their Bridgewater office or at www.RedCross.ca/Donate