International Theatre Festival

The 10th Annual Liverpool International Theatre Festival kicks off today with a stellar line up of performances. Along with four outstanding Nova Scotian troupes, amateur theatre groups from around the globe will converge on Liverpool to compete at the festival. Along with the lineup of five days of play LITF invites the public to attend one of the many theatre craft workshops being offered between shows, Coffee Critique" discussions of the previous days performances, nightly entertainment and the opening and closing ceremonies. For more information at the International Theatre Festival visit the website at www.litf.ca .

NGRHS Students to Receive Lt.Gov. Medals

Two Grade 11 students at New Germany Rural High School will be presented with the 2010 Lieutenant Governor's Education Medal on Wednesday, May 26th. The medals are presented to one boy and one girl from Grade 11 in each school who have demonstrated leadership and service in their school and community while maintaining their academic standing. Students are nominated by their school annually. Lieutenant Governor Mayann Francis traditionally visits two school board districts in the province to present the awards, with the remaining awards being presented by their school administration.

**Photo, courtesy of Gov't.of Nova Scotia**

LCLC Operating Budget

A draft three year budget for the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre will be unveiled this week. A special joint council meeting of Bridgewater and the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg will be held Thursday afternoon at 1:30 in the Municipal Council Chambers on Aberdeen Road. Both councils will conduct separate meetings to receive a recommendation from the Joint Councils regarding the proposed budget.
The meetings are open to the general public. The 32 million dollar Lifestyle Centre will include a library, indoor pool and single ice surface. Site work will start later this fall with a target completion date in late 2012.

Bridgewater Legion Gets Federal Funding

Ottawa is contributing close to 23 thousand dollars for improvements to the Bridgewater Royal Canadian Legion- Branch 24. The improvements to the facility will benefit seniors in the community.The capital funding is being provided from the federal governments New Horizons for Seniors Program. South Shore-St. Margaret's M-P Gerald Keddy will present the funding during a ceremony at the Legion on Churchill Street at 1 o'clock Wednesday.May 19th. The Maitland and District Community Recreation Centre is also receiving 9 thousand 900 dollars in federal funding from the program for facility renovations

Lunenburg Jr. High School

The public can find out more about the new Lunenburg Jr. High School at a public information session this evening. The South Shore Regional School Board will host a presentation regarding the new Bluenose Academy in Lunenburg. Architects will be on hand to share details of the new school design and will answer questions from the public. The information session is set for 7pm, this evening at the Lunenburg Community Centre.

Bridgewater post-office opened

The new post-office in Bridgewater had its official opening today. The ribbon cutting ceremony took place this morning to open the new facility located at 135 north street, that will take place of the old post office that was located on King Street. Mayor Carroll Publicover was on hand for the event and says the building on King Street is an iconic building and will never be forgotten. The Bridgewater Heritage and Historical Society was on the scene at the opening to recognize over 100-years of Canada-Post service to the town.

Mahone Bay Assault

Two Mahone Bay men are scheduled to appear in Bridgewater court next month after allegedly assaulting a man over the weekend.

The two were arrested after they broke a window at the residence of the complainant, then assaulted him when he came outside.

June 30th is when the two are scheduled to appear in court.

Court date for Truro man

A Truro man will appear in Bridgewater court today after allegedly stealing cheques from a church in Liverpool and attempting to cash them in Bridgewater.

William Lewis will appear on charges of Uttering a Forged Document, Possession of Stolen Property and Breach of Probation.

Lewis was wanted by other police agencies in Nova Scotia and will answer to those charges today.

St.Phillips Street Broken Water Main

Some residents on Saint Phillip's Street have to do without water during most of the day.

The loss of water-pressure lies between the Centennial Trail and Victoria Road.

S spokesman for the "Bridgewater Public-Works Department" says they hope to have the water-service restored by 2:00 o'clock this afternoon.

Official Opening of New Bwtr Post Office

Official ceremonies are set for this morning for the grand-opening of the new Bridgewater post-office.

The Bridgewater Heritage and Historical Society will be on the scene to recognize over 100-years of postal services to the town.

The official Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony is set for 11:00 o'clock this morning at the new Canada Post site at 135 north Street in Bridgewater.

U-S Man Faces Assault Charges in Lower Clark Harbour Incident

An American man appears in court today to face charges stemming from an alleged assault in Shelburne County.

The Barrington RCMP responded on Friday morning to a call to a residence in Lower Clark's Harbor.

The Mounties were told that an argument on Thursday night between a U-S couple visiting their seasonal-residence in Lower Clark's Harbor had turned physical.

The 66-year-old woman was transported by neighbors to the Yarmouth Regional Hospital, where medical-pesonell determined that the woman had suffered a broken arm during the incident.

A 65-year-old man remains in custody and will face a charge of "assault causing bodily harm" when he appears today at Provincial Court in Yarmouth.

Earth Day challenge results

Everything from coffee cups with coffee still in them to pop bottles that were twenty years old were picked up on Earth Day this year.

Over 2500 people were involved in this year's Earth Day Challenge in the Province.

Every year Region 6 Solid Waste Management in Liverpool and the Earth Day Planning Committee teams up with Clean Nova Scotia and their The Great Nova Scotia Pick-Me-Up program.

Emergency room closures first annual report

Fisherman's memorial hospital is working to enhance collaborative practice to reduce emergency room closures.

Approximately 19-thousand hours was the results of emergency room closures in the Province last year.

With Fisherman's having 158 hours of unscheduled closure.

Vice President in medicine for the health authority and the acting CEO, Dr Peter Vaughan, says they're working with physicians, nurse practitioner and other help care providers to enhance collaborative practice.

Three people apprehended after 1250 lbs of gaspereau found

Three people were apprehended last night after fisheries officers caught them with illegal gaspereau.

Bridgewater Fisheries officers seized around one-thousand, 250 pounds of gaspereau.

The officers found the three on the Gaspereau Lake system in Kings County.

The investigation is ongoing as officers continue to gather evidence.

Municipality of Shelburne involved in wind energy plan

One of the South Shore Municipalities has been chosen to be involved in a unique pilot project involving wind energy.

The Municipality of the District of Shelburne wants to develop a wind energy plan and bylaw to help the province reach its sustainability measures by 2020.

Shelburne's Chief Administrative Officer, Kirk Cox says this project allows the Municipality of Shelburne to take the first step to facilitate development that is in the best interests of residents and involves them in the process.

The project will run from now until December.

Oceans Wild comes to Lunenburg

Students at Centre Consolidated School in Lunenburg will be getting up close and personal with marine life today.

Oceans Wild Educational Entertainment will be visiting the school to teach students about marine conservation issues.

Students will have the opportunity to walk through a 65 - foot life size fin whale model, see a variety of real shark specimens and a number of other ocean creatures.

The Oceans Wild Team will be on site from 9:00am – 3:00pm.

For more information go to: http://www.oceanswild.com

Lunenburg Preliminary Budgets

The town of Lunenburg has received many of the preliminary budgets for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The mayor says that they have not yet begun the process of reviewing those budgets. Lawrence Mawhinney says however they plan to begin that process on the 20th of this month. At that time, the council is inviting submissions on those budgets, which are now available at the Lunenburg town hall.Mayor Mawhinney says the council wants to hold the line on expenditures. He says preliminary indications are that they may be able to do that while maintaining previous tax-rates and levels of service.

Upgrade town's infrastructure

The mayor of Bridgewater says his council continues to upgrade the town's infrastructure through capital investment.

Mayor Carroll Publicover says the new budget they approved last night shows they have stood by their intention to maintain current levels of service to town residents.

He says the council also wants to upgrade the town's infrastructure.

Mayor Publicover says the main one is the "Lunenburg County Lifestyle Center" that replaces three aging capital investments -- the arena, the pool and the library.

He says their five-million-dollar investment takes advantage of the fact that the provincial and federal governments pay the rest of the proposed facility's price-tag.

Budget has been set

Bridgewater has set its budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

Town councillors approved the new budget last night by a vote of six-to-one.

The total "Operating Budget" came in at 17-million, 254-thousand, 515-dollars, with a "Capital Budget" of 5.8-million-dollars.

Tax rates are up 2.5-per-cent over last year.

In direct terms, that is up 4.1-cents.

Tax Rates

Bridgewater Town Council hopes to be able to set the tax rates at tonight's council meeting. In the draft version Council had proposed a 2 and a-half percent increase. The residential rate currently sets at
$1.62 per 100 dollars of assessment while the commercial rate is
$3.72 per 100 dollars. Council is looking at a 17 million dollar budget with 6.7 million of that for capital expenditures. Six engineering items include sanitary and storm sewer projects totalling a million dollars.