Baillie Troubled By Local Candidate Harris' Remarks

The leader of the Nova Scotia PC party is calling on the Liberal candidate in Chester-St. Margaret's to apologize following remarks at a forum in Sir John A MacDonald High School in Upper Tantallon. Tim Harris told another media outlet that candidate participation was "a lot of effort for only three votes", after three students raised there hands that were eligible to vote. Jamie Baillie says he's disappointed in the comments and feels they will discourage young people from the political process. He says the Harris' comments are troubling.



A call to Harris wasn't returned. Baillie also wants Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil to address the comments and provide an apology as well.

RCMP: Grow Operation Dismantled In Shelburne County

Police arrested a man after finding a marihauna grow operation inside a home in Shelburne County. RCMP dismantled the grow-op on Birchtown Road around 5pm yesterday evening, seizing 17 marihuana plants. A 46-year-old man was arrested and later released. He's been charged with production of marihuana and will appear in Shelburne court December 4th.

Soft Opening For LCLC Arena

The arena at the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre is open for public use. General Manager Kevin Benjamin says its a soft opening, but the public are allowed to view or use the ice surface between 1pm and 11pm daily. The arena officially opened for use last Saturday. Benjamin says there's still minor work to be done.



Benjamin says the work includes touch-ups for painting, and finishing up storage and mechanical rooms. He expects the work to take another 3-4 weeks before the arena opens at full capacity.

High Liner Acquires American Pride Seafoods

A Lunenburg-based seafood company is expanding its portfolio. High Liner Foods has acquired the east coast processing operations of American Seafoods Group. The company shelled out US$34.5-million for the New Bedford, Massachusetts whitefish and scallop processing plant American Pride Seafoods. American Pride distributes frozen products to restaurants, health care and education markets in the U.S. High Liner says in a release, it will delay integrating American Pride into its U.S. operations to allow them to realize benefits from its 2011 acquisition of Icelandic USA. High Liner expects most of the cost-savings from acquiring American Pride won't be realized until 2015.

Two More Debates Set In Chester-St.Margaret's Riding

Two more debates will be held in the riding of Chester-St. Margaret's before voters head to the polls on October 8th. The first will be hosted by the Hubbards Area Business Association tonight (Tuesday). It gets underway at the Shore Club at 7 o'clock. The candidates are Tim Harris of the Liberals, incumbent Denise Peterson-Rafuse of the NDP and PC candidate Janet Irwin. Another forum will be hosted by the Chester and Area Chamber of Commerce Wednesday night - that event will be held at the Chester Legion. Start time is also 7 o'clock.

Chester: Council Decides Against Night Meetings

The Municipality of Chester is moving away from holding night meetings. An online poll has been held for months, asking respondents if they wanted night meetings. Warden Allen Webber says 110 people voted. Fifty-nine people said 'no', 43 voted 'yes' and eight voters said they did not care. Webber says the poll shows there was a lack of interest from the public.



The move means the municipality will hold all council meetings during the day. Webber says he's not opposed to having council meetings at night, but he needs to hear more from the public.

MODL: Street Light Ownership Decision Rescinded

A change of heart from the Municipality of Lunenburg. Council decided in June to take over ownership of non-high mast street lights in the municipality, excluding Riverport. However, that decision has been overturned. Council has instead, reverted back to lease street lights from Nova Scotia Power. Residents will continue to pay an area rate, depending on where they live. The municipality is sending letters to the Minister of Energy and Nova Scotia Power to let them know of their decision.

ATV Meeting Held In Bridgewater

A public meeting will be held Monday night to discuss ATV use on the Centennial Trail in Bridgewater. The Central Nova ATV group is looking to be able to use the vehicles on portions of the trail. Representatives from the town of Bridgewater and the Municipality of Lunenburg are hosting the meeting. It gets underway at 6:30pm this evening at Park View Education Centre.

New Development Officer Hired In Queens

The Region of Queens has hired a new economic development officer. Richard Lane has been hired to fill the role designed to help target new business opportunities and grow the economy. The Caledonia native has owned and operated his own web development business since 1996. He is also serving as a director of the North Queens Board of Trade. Lane says there is a growing sense of opportunity and renewal in the county and he's looking forward to working with council on new initiatives.

South Shore Sports: Weekend Wrap Up

In Nova Scotia Major Midget Hockey League action Sunday at the LCLC, the Cape Breton West Islanders dumped the South Shore Mustangs 4-1. Keith Getson had the Stangs' lone marker. The two teams split the weekend series, as the Stangs won the opener Saturday night 3-0. Goals by Jered Scott, Ty Duffus and Scott Perry.  The locals next contest is Wednesday night when they travel to Halifax to face the unbeaten McDonalds.
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The Halifax Mooseheads got some good news Sunday. The Tampa Bay Lightning announced that they are sending forward Jonathan Drouin back to Halifax. The Herd have struggled offensively this season with only 17 goals in seven games. Their record dropped to 3-4 on Sunday when they lost 2-1 to visiting Sherbrooke.
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The early season troubles continued last Friday night for the CIBC Wood Gundy Lumberjacks as they fell 5-2 to the visiting Valley Wildcats. The clubs were tied at two early in the third before the Cats scored three unanswered goals. Ryan Daley and Jesse McInnis scored for the Jacks who are now winless in six starts. The team is on the road this weekend in New Brunswick with stops in Dieppe Friday night and Miramichi Saturday.

Photo: Puck Drops At Lifestyle Centre

Here's a shot of the inaugural puck drop on Saturday at the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre. The first game at Clearwater Seafood Arena featured the South Shore Mustangs and Cape Breton West Islanders. The Mustangs dropped the Islanders 3-0.

Lunenburg: Candidates Forum Set For Wednesday

There will be an all candidates forum in the riding of Lunenburg later this week. The debate is being organized by the Riverport District Board of Trade and Mahone Bay and Area Chamber of Commerce. The candidates in the riding include incumbent Pam Birdsall of the NDP, Suzanne Lohnes-Croft for the Liberals and Brian Pickings of the Progressive Conservatives. The event will be held on Wednesday at the Riverport Community Centre. It gets underway at 7 o'clock.

Pain Killers Seized During Traffic Stop

A pair of Shelburne County residents are facing charges after police seized dozens of pain killers during a weekend traffic stop. Police made the find when they pulled over a car on Saturday afternoon on Highway 103. RCMP say they seized 60 hydromorphone capsules, marihuana and cash. A 21 year-old woman and 37 year-old man were arrested and taken into custody. They both face possession and trafficking charges.

Faulty Wiring Behind Fire In Lunenburg

It appears faulty wiring may have caused a large fire along the Lunenburg waterfront on Friday night. The fire at the Scotia Trawler building was reported around 7 o'clock. Roughly 16 fire departments attended the fire and were on scene throughout the night. Crews from Bridgewater to the Annapolis Valley helped with the fire.  The blaze isn't considered suspicious. No injuries were reported but the 80 year-old building was heavily damaged.

Bridgewater: Temporary Skate Park Approved Near LCLC

A temporary skate park will be constructed on site of the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre. The town of Bridgewater along with the LCLC board have agreed to the initiative. The town has signed a lease for a permanent structure, but the new facility is still in the design phase. Mayor David Walker feels a temporary park shows their behind the project.



Walker says the temporary location will be in the LCLC parking lot to Cook Road. The park will be available for use beginning in April.

Queens: Planned Power Outage At Hospital

A planned power outage will cause some service disruptions at Queens General Hospital this weekend. The outage will last for roughly an hour between 8am and 9am o'clock on Sunday morning.
South Shore Health says some services such as the X-ray unit will be affected. However, the emergency department will remain open and the inpatient medical unit will not be impacted. The power outage is part of electrical work associated with the hospital construction project. Electrical work is expected to continue throughout the day which will impact some services including X-ray.

Fire Crews Battle Lunenburg Waterfront Blaze

Sixteen Fire Departments were needed after a fire on Montague Street in Lunenburg Friday night. The blaze reportedly broke out in a three-storey building that RCMP identified as the Scotia Trawler Building near Foodland. The structure was completely engulfed in flames when emergency responders reached the scene just before 7pm. There are no injuries known at this time.

Fire officials on scene included members from Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Riverport, Blockhouse, Dayspring, Bridgewater, Oak Hill, Conquerall Bank, Chester, Northfield and Cornwall.

South Shore Mustangs Host Cape Breton West

The South Shore Mustangs host the Cape Breton West Islanders for a pair of games this weekend. The Mustangs sit at 3-1 on the young season, while the Islanders are searching for their first win. The opening game will be held Saturday evening at 8pm. The second contest is scheduled for Sunday at noon in Bridgewater.

Chester: Fundraiser Supporting PRO Kids And Junior Golfers

Two Chester groups are benefiting from a local artist's paintbrush. Sharon Boyd painted four different views around Chester Golf Club. There are 250 of each print available, with money raised going towards Chester PRO Kids and Chester Golf Club's junior programs. One of the people involved, Steve Foran, says the prints highlight some of the best views on the golf course.



Individual prints are professionally printed and pre-matted and can be purchased at the Chester Golf Club. Foran says if each print is sold, over $60,000 could be raised for the charities. More details are available here .

Lower Gasoline Prices

For the 4th week in a row, good news from the South Shore gas pumps. Prices are down again today.
Regular self serve is 2.5 cents lower, selling for $1.25.9 per litre. High test is also down by the same amount to $1.34.8. Diesel is also down to $1.30.8 per litre. The utility and review board set the new prices at midnight last night.