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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Duck Poacher Pinched

A 32-year-old Fredericton man pleading guilty in a Burton court for hunting too close to migratory birds.

Sameul Keith F. Drummond given a $1000 fine for hunting migratory game birds within 400 metres of where bait was placed and he is also suspended from hunting for a year or being near anyone hunting the birds.
Drummond also had to surrender all hunting bait along with the birds he hunted and killed to the Court.

Unionized Workers At Airport and Air Canada Call Centre Back To Work

The Canadian Auto Worker's Union and Air Canada have reached a tentative agreement, meaning unionized employees at the call centre in Millidgeville and at the Saint John Airport will be going back to work.

Local union rep Cheryl Robinson tells CHSJ News everyone is happy the ordeal is over.

She says employees will be going back to work as soon as tonight.

The deal comes after the federal government introduced back-to-work legislation seeking to force the customer service agents back to their posts.

Community Groups Get Major Funding

160-thousand dollars worth of cheques being handed out to eight priority neighbourhood organizations.

The money is part of the city's Neighbourhood Development Stimulation Grant Program.

Tammy Calvin of ONE Change receiving a cheque for over 22-thousand dollars and she tells CHSJ News the money will go towards paying for their full-time staff member, who plays a pivotal role in their group.

Other groups receiving funding include Vibrant Communities, the Teen Resource Centre, and the Crescent Valley Resource Centre.

Commercial Development By Airport Not A Priority

Agree to disagree -- the city's planning department isn't seeing eye to eye with the Saint John Airport with regards to future development of land around the airport.

Saint John Airport President Bernie LeBlanc says commercial and retail space needs to be grown around the airport as it can't live on passenger fares alone.

But Ken Forrest with the city's planning department tells CHSJ News it's more of a priority to encourage that kind of growth in the uptown and surrounding areas.

He says the city does support the growth for air-related business out by the airport, like cargo or exporting.

Prison Term for First Time Offender Who Robbed

A 23 year old man from Baxter's Corner who, on the spur of the moment, after having an argument with his parents and drinking a pint of Fireball whisky, robbed the Dolan Road Circle "K" has been sentenced to 2 years and one month in prison.

David Ryan Chamberlain's lawyer, David Rogers,  argued for a conditional sentence, which would mean no jail time at all, saying he had never been in trouble before, is not a danger to others and has fantastic support from both family and respected members of the community including Mayor Ivan Court's Executive Assistant Al Rouse.

Judge Bill McCarroll agreed Chamberlain doesn't pose a danger but determined a conditional sentence, under the Court of Appeal guidelines, would not be appropriate.

Chamberlain had been out of work and still had not received his first E-I cheque when the blowup occurred.

The judge also went out of his way to tell the parents they shouldn't beat themselves up over what happened.

Rothesay High Students Study The Stonehammer Geopark

Students at Rothesay High taking part in a variety of projects relating to the Stonehammer Geopark.
Teacher Jayne Kingston tells CHSJ News it was linked with the physcial geography curriculum.
She says they looked at rocks and how they impact our lives and the kids could do their project on anything related to the geopark. The student projects include a movie and many power point presentations.
You can tour the Stonehammer Geopark exhibit tonight at the New Brunswick Museum. The event runs from 5-7 tonight at Market Square.

Arrests In Saint John After Break And Enter In Hampton

Three people, two men and a woman arrested at a house on Thornborough in the North End arising from a break and enter that occurred in Hampton.

The investigation hasn't concluded yet and Police are on the lookout for more suspects.

A Small Increase In Gas Prices

A slight rise in gas prices after the weekly setting with self serve regular now at $1.24.5 in the city and diesel is being sold for an even $1.31 a litre.

 There's no change with propane which remains at $1.13.2.

Chief City Planner Optimistic City's Population Will Grow

City planner Ken Forrest says all of this development planning for the city will not be in vain as it is anticipating a population boom in the coming years.

He tells CHSJ News there will be an influx of people when the baby boomers retire because they'll likely remain in the city and their jobs will have to be filled by new people. Forrest predicts the influx will begin around 2017.

He says the city can attract workers because it has large industries that aren't easy to move like the pulp mill and the refinery.

According to studies done by the city as part of the development of the new municipal plan, the city's population will surge by about 10-thousand over the next 25 years.

Saint Johnners Appear To Like New Direction In Future Development

Plan SJ hosting an open house where the draft municipal plan was presented to the public.

About 80 people coming out to view the plan, which outlines the growth strategy of the city over the 25 years, and it was met with positive praise.

Lyn Van Tassel lives by Treadwell Lake and she tells CHSJ News she likes the focus on uptown growth and less on rural development. Dee Stubbs-Lee of Germain Street listened to the summary by city planner Ken Forrest and she tells CHSJ News she likes the future direction for the uptown. Sean Gillis of Orange Street likes the plan but he hopes people don't see it as a magic bullet for the city's future.

The city is taking public input on the draft for the next 4 weeks and will present a final version of the plan to Common Council by the end of the year.