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Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Swagerman Wins Hospital Home Lottery Showhome

Say 'congrats!" to Nancy Swagerman of Saint John the next time you see her. She is the winner of the grand prize show home in the Hospital Home Lottery.

Robert and Roxanne Harris of Hampton win the winnebago or 80 thousand dollars and Lucille Roy of Dieppe gets her choice of a 2014 Toyota 4Runner or Lexus IS250.

Shelley Skidd of Hanwell wins more than $246 000 in the 50/50 draw.

All 1503 prize winners have been notified and all proceeds from the lottery support programs and equipment for the New Brunswick Heart Centre, Mindcare NB and the Regional Hospital.

Shared Risk Pension Model Getting The Thumbs Up

New Brunswick is ground zero in the pension crisis. So says Jim Leech, the C-E-O of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. 

He tells CHSJ News the shared risk model that was adopted by the city and is being embraced by the Alward Government is the right thing to do. He says it is the only solution to the demographic time bomb with public pension plans that have defined benefits.


Leech says to exclude retirees and put the entire risk on current provincial government employees is unfair. 

Leech has praise for Premier David Alward and those labour leaders in the province who realised the seriousness of the problem.

Mental Health First Aid Offered In Saint John

You can take advantage of another kind of first aid that's available in the port city. Mental Health First Aid courses are being offered in Saint John.
 

The courses are part of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. The training offers techniques to help people dealing with mental health problems such as anxiety disorders, mood, psychotic, and substance-related disorders. There are also specific classes offered for adults who interact with youth.

A panic attack is an example of a mental health problem, emerging as a crisis. In that instance, crisis first aid skills are taught, to provide effective first aid to somebody having a panic attack.

Sjors Reijers is manager of national program promotions and business development at the Mental Health Commission of Canada. He tells CHSJ news, the courses are intended to start a conversation about mental health.


"The real challenge is being aware and tuned in to changes in behavior. It's not to assume that every change in behavior is because of an emerging mental health problem, but rather to be able to start a conversation about mental health."



To find out how to get involved with Mental Health First Aid courses check out the course listing at www.mentalhealthfirstaid.ca

Liberals Call For Review After Grow-Op At Senior's Home

The Opposition Liberals calling on the Province to review special care homes following the discovery of a grow-op in Clark's Corner last week.
 

Victor Boudreau asking the Minister of Social Development Madeleine Dube when the home in question was last inspected.

Dube says the government does have a program of inspection in place across the province.

She says the province has about 400 care home in the province where they do annual inspections and spotchecks. 


 Dube adds Public Health and Public Safety are also involved with these homes as well.

After a fire in the Clark's Corner senior care home, a grow-op was discovered where police seized 550 pot plants.  


Boudreau says 6 seniors were displaced because of the fire and bust so he questions why Dube can't speak about this case since it's been widely reported in the media.

Cold Temperatures Dangerous For The Homeless

For most of us it's hard to imagine sleeping on the street in sub-zero temperatures......but there's one local shelter that caters to people who are in exactly that unfortunate position. 

Tony Dickinson has been volunteering with the Out of the Cold shelter at Grace Presbyterian for the past several years and he tells CHSJ News as the temperatures drop it starts to get really dangerous for people to sleep outside.

The Out of the Cold shelter can sleep about 15 people and 67 different men used the shelter last winter. They're in need of both men and women to help out. There is an information session for men and women who might be interested in volunteering coming up this Saturday at Grace Presbyterian Church, which is right across the street from St. Joseph's Hospital at 10am.

Man Runs After Being Found With Large Knife And Crack

A foot chase on the east side in the early morning hours has resulted in criminal charges for one young man.

Sergeant Jay Henderson of the Saint John Police Department explains they got a 911 hang up call shortly before 5 in the morning from an address off Golden Grove Road, where a 25 year old man on a court order to keep the peace and stay off drugs was found to be in possession of what looked like crack, as well as a large knife.

The man tried to make a run for it while police took him into custody but was soon found in the nearby woods.

He's now facing criminal charges including possession and escaping custody.

Gallant & Alward Tangle In The Leg

Some lively debates in the legislature on changes to employment insurance. 

Liberal Leader Brian Gallant asking the Premier again if the government to going to release a completed report from last June on EI changes.

Gallant says the report is on their own civil service speaking to what impact employment insurance changes might have.

Premier Alward rose to say he is confident the work will get done on the goverment side of the house.

He attacked Gallant and the oppostion calling them a moratorium party and a do-nothing party.

Police Release Names Of Those Wanted On Warrants

The Rothesay Regional Police looking for the public's help finding 9 men and 1 woman wanted on warrants for a variety of offenses from suspending driving to fraud, and break and enter.

The Kennebecasis Crime Stoppers have pre-approved rewards of $500 for any information that leads to the arrest of any of the wanted individuals.


Paul Thomas Romanoff, age 50       (Pre-Approved Reward $500)
Warrant of arrest for fraud and failure to appear


Phillip Anthony CURTIS, age 39       (Pre-Approved Reward $500)

 Warrant of arrest for breaking & entering


Jordan Stephen Paul ROWE, age 20

    Warrant of arrest for breaking & entering  (Pre-Approved Reward $500)
 Warrant of committal for suspended driving, $960 or 23 days
Warrant of committal for suspended driving, $600 or 15 days


William Henry MARTIN, age 42

 Warrant of committal for driving while suspended, $1200 or 27 days
 Warrant of committal for driving while suspended, $500 or 13 days


Ernest William ANDREWS, age 39

Warrant of arrest for Impaired Driving


Kevin Stanley SAUNDERS, age 33

Warrant of committal for driving while suspended, $1200 or 27 days


Kyle Anthony SMITH, age 21

  Warrant of committal for driving while suspended, $510 or 27 days 


Stephen Joseph MATTSON, age 32

 Warrant of committal for driving while suspended, $1001 or 24 days


Tara Alexandra HICKS, age 24

Warrant of committal for driving while suspended, $560 or 15 days


Shawn Adam DAY, age 36

Warrant of committal for driving while prohibited, $500 or 6 days
Warrant of committal for theft under $5000, $250 or 3 days

Snook Is Considering An Appeal

Former Common Councillor Donnie Snook reportedly has filed a notice of appeal, saying the 18 year sentence he received for more than 40 charges of child abuse and exploitation is unreasonable. 

At the time, his lawyer Dennis Boyle called the sentence approriate. Prosecutor Karen Lee Lamrock told the court if you were looking at sentencing on each individual charge, you would be talking about 75 years in prison. 

Snook is expected to plead guilty to four more sex charges on November 28th from his time in Newfoundland before coming to Saint John.

Stolen Car Rammed Into Pole

A crash last night along Prince Edward Street. 

City Police say a stolen car was smashed into a pole. The car, described to us as brand new, sustained a lot of damage. 

Police also telling us two teens took off from the collision.

Speculation Rages With Demolition Of Old Zellers Store

Lots of speculation in the North End about what's going to fill the gap after the demolition of the old Zellers in Lansdowne Plaza.

There are rumours of a new Sobey's being built with the liquor store and Lawton's moving into the building where Sobeys is now.
 

No building permit application has been filed for the site so far with the city's planning department. 

Marcelle Saulnier of NB Liquor has heard the talk but tells us it's all rumour at this point although options are being looked at. 

Shauna Selig of Sobeys telling CHSJ News they're always in talks with developers but there are no concrete plans.

(Photo courtesy of Doug Epton)

Innov8 Awards Presented To Local Companies

A high-energy crowd celebrating innovation in the province with an awards ceremony. Eight New Brunswick companies getting awards for their work in one of the province's six strategic sectors at the Innov8 Awards.

Economic Development Minister Bruce Fitch making a speech at the event and presenting the winning companies with their hardware. He tells CHSJ News innovation is one of the areas that's very important to the province and the government has committed $80-million over the next five years towards innovation as part of a bigger plan to grow the province's economy.

The winners:
-Innovation Excellence in Aerospace and Defence: FFG Canada
-Innovation Excellence in Biosciences: LuminUltra Technologies
-Innovation in Industrial Fabrication: Sunny Corner Enterprises
-Innovation Excellence in Info and Communications Technology: Introhive Services 
-Innovation Excellence in Value-Added Food: Atlantic Potato Distributors
-Innovation Excellence in Value-Added Wood:  Los Cabos
-Most Innovative Start-Up 2013: Mycodev Group
-Excellence in Fostering Innovation: Propel ICT

Commission Sets Safety & Efficiency As High Priorities

The importance of safety and building on the success of the methadone program and the intelligence-led policing model are just a few of the priorities of the Saint John Police Commission.

6 members of the board including Mayor Mel Norton and Chair Chris Waldschutz participating in a brain-storming session to help identify the board's future focus.
 

Board chair Chris Waldschutz says their strength is providing strong and sound advice to the City police force.

He says the huge objective is to efficiently provide a safe community where people are safe and feel safe.

There was discussion about how to involve members of the public that are itching to help and one area might be through community policing.