Don't Jump From The Green Bridge in Hampton

A warning today from Hampton RCMP about jumping off the green bridge in Hampton.
Officers tell us they have received several calls about children leaping into the water of the Kennebecasis River to get cooled down, but there is shifting sand dunes which makes this very dangerous.
Officers also point out jumping from the East Side of the bridge is dangerous for vehicles as well.

Trying To Get Power Re-Stored

Over 20 of Saint John Energy's transformers were affected during last night's thunder and lightning storm.


That knocked close to 500 of the utilities customers off the grid with crews still working in some area's to get power re-stored.
President Eric Marr tells CHSJ News, the storm didn't play favourites but the North End-Millidgeville area's certainly didn't feel the brunt of the storm.

Marr says crews hope to have everyone back on line by the end of the day and crews from NB Power have been brought in to help with the situation.

Home Sales Are Down in Greater Saint John

Home sales are down both in Saint John and around the Province according to the latest numbers from the Saint John Real Estate Board.

232 listings traded hands which is down one per cent from the same time last year.


Sales around the Province for last month are down as well.....eight per cent. President Jason Stephen tells CHSJ News, there is concern about the trend but no reason to panic.


The overall number of homes for sale on the market has stopped climbing after two consecutive years of increases with 1600 active residential listings.

The average price for a home sold last month is just over $175,000 dollars.

Action Plan On Water Approved By Common Council

(Municipal Works Commissioner Paul Groody)
                (Photo by Brian McLain)

Common Council has unanimously approved the action plan on safe, clean drinking water after hearing an impassioned presentation by the head of Municipal Operations, Paul Groody who says the way Saint John treats its water hasn't changed since the time of the Great Depression in the dirty 30's and the city can't guarantee Saint Johnners that their drinkinhg water is safe to consume on a day to day basis.
The big challenge, according to Groody, is finding the money to pay for it. Common Councillor Peter McGuire says M-P Rodney Weston will have a huge role to play for this to happen and he has to be brought on board. Groody also told Council, Saint Johnners use too much water and part of the plan, that was approved, is universal metering so Saint Johnners would pay for what they use.
The revised plan calls for just one water treatment plant to be built, instead of two, at a cost of between 90 and 130 million dollars and the preferred location is at the Little River Resevoir on the east side. The total cost of all the water improvements is estimated at 260 million dollars and if it's a three way split, the city would have to come up with 86 million dollars.

Emotions Running High On Rockwood Park

(Saint John Common Councillor Patty Higgins)
                    (File Photo)

Common Council has been told by the City Solicitor there is no precise border to Rockwood Park and there are city owned lands within the park that have no restrictions on how they can be used. Councillor Patty Higgins is charging there are plans in the works to sell one-quarter of the land traditionally known as Rockwood Park to ease the city's financial crunch that lies ahead. City Manaager Pat Woods says he doesn't know where that's coming from. He maintains no decisidons have been made and it will be up to Common Council to have the final say. A study is underway to determine what sort of development should be allowed along Sandy Point Road adjacent to the park.
Councillor Carl Killen says he doesn't think anyone on Council wants to decimate Rockwood Park .

Recreation Fees In The City Rising

(Saint John Common Councillor Bruce Court)
                     (File Photo)

Common Council has made a commitment to cap any spending increases in the overall city budget to 3 per cent over the next two years. In the meantime, recreation fees are going up by ten percent. Councillor Chris Titus has no problem with that. Councillor Bruce Court spoke out against the increase arguing there are too many obese kids in the city as is even though he doesn't object to raising the user fees for the so-called weekend warriors.
Council was told only about one-third of the cost is recovered through the user fees that are charged.

Saint John Economy To Get Financial Boost From Fastpitch Tournament

(Saint John Harbour M-L-A Ed Doherty)
                  (File Photo)

Providing a one million dollar boost to the local economy, Saint John is playing host to the Canadian Midget Girls Fastpitch Championship August.1st through the 8th. Barry Freeze is co-chair of the event and Memorial Softball Field is one of three venues that will be used along with St. Rose Field and Market-place for a total of eight games. There are 18 teams from across the country going for top spot.
Saint John Harbour MLA Ed Doherty will present a cheque for $25,000 dollars to the event on behalf of the province tomorrow. For more information about the tournament, you can go to www.midgetgirlsfastpitch.ca.

Official Start Of Highway One Twinning

Today marks the beginning of one of the most expensive highway projects in the Province.
A sod-turning ceremony will be held for the Route 1 Gateway project in St. George. The province says the project will deliver jobs and lasting infrstructure that supports economic growth in the region. The ceremonial shovel will go in the ground this morning at 9 in St. George.

"Go Riding" TV Show Is In Province

The "Go Riding" TV show and magazine are touring ATV trails in the Province starting today in Moncton.
The tour with the Province's A-T-V Federation also includes stop in Sussex this week and in Fredericton.
Jacques Poirier of the A-T-V Federation tells CHSJ News in 2005, a national survey found the A-T-V industry in the Province brings in 50 million dollars a year.

Blueberry Hill To Be Preserved

(Roberta Dugas of WorkSafe NB says Blueberry Hill needs to be preserved)
(Photo By Sherry Aske)

Fifty acres of land in Grand Bay-Westfield are being transferred to the Nature Trust of New Brunswick.

Don Dennison is President of the Nature trust and says WorkSafe NB is handing over the property known as Blueberry Hill so it can be preserved.

Dennison says there is less and less undeveloped shoreline along the province's rivers every year so it's important that properties like this are set aside.

He says they will be working to finish walking trails on the property and to restore Henderson Brook.

Defibrillators Save Lives

(Health Minister Mary Schryer and Mayor Ivan Court are shown how to use a defibrillator)
(Photo By Sherry Aske)

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is getting $100,000 dollars from the province to buy 25 new defibrillators.

The Foundation's Chief Executive Officer Dan Connolly says defibrillators should be as common as fire extinguishers, and they want to have 200 in place across the province by 2011.

Connolly says of the 1200 people in the province who experience heart failure outside a hospital each year, 95 per cent die as a result.

He says with defibrillators in place they can save 70 per cent of people instead of just five per cent.

Mayor Ivan Court says while defibrillators are already in every rink in the Greater Saint John Area, he'd like to see one in all of our ball parks, malls, and hotels.

Another Man Killed On A Motorcycle

With the summer only half over, the death toll for motorcycle riders in this Province continues to rise.

The latest person to be killed is a 61-year old man yesterday afternoon on Highway 105 in Whites Cove just after 12:30pm.

A bike travelling eastbound hit the back end of a pick up truck, lost control and hit two other bikes that were travelling west-bound.
The man from Whites Cove has not been identified and RCMP say alcohol and speed are believed to be factors in the crash.

Delay In The Opening Of The Q-Plex

(Mayor Murray Driscoll Speaking At A Recent Function)
                        (File Photo)

The opening of the Q-Plex, scheduled for mid-September, is now delayed by two months.

The ribbon cutting of the multi-million dollar facility now won't be until mid-November.

Mayor Murray Driscoll tells CHSJ News, even with the delay, the site is a bee-hive of activity as the town patiently awaits for the facility to be up and running.


Driscoll adds there are a few reasons for the delay including finding equipment for the Gold LEED standards building and available trades-people.

Midget Fast-Ptich Torunament Coming To Saint John

Providing a one million dollar boost to the local economy, Saint John is playing host to the Canadian Midget Girls Fast-Pitch Championship August.1st through the 8th.

Barry Freeze is co-chair of the event and Memorial Softball Field is one of three venues that will be used along with St. Rose Field and Market-place for a total of eight games.


Saint John Harbour MLA Ed Doherty will present a cheque for $25,000 dollars to the event on behalf of the province tomorrow. For more information about the tournament, you can go to www.midgetgirlsfastpitch.ca.

Provincial Funding For A Pair of Announcements

Fredericton is focused on recreation with a pair of funding announcements today.

The Province is investing $67,000 dollars in a skateboard park for St. George.

Also, new children's play equipment is being installed at Pearson Park in Sussex.


Total cost is $15,000 dollars.

Three People Who Died In Long Point Fire Identified

A weekend house fire in Belleisle has taken the lives of a couple in their 60s and a woman in her 80s, all from the Halifax area. The have been identified by the RCMP as 69 year old Graham Lunn, 66 year old Launa Lunn and her mother, 83 year old Florence Roberts. Fire crews arrived at one o'clock on Rogers Road in Long Point Saturday morning to find the home engulfed in flames. A 46-year-old man and his young daughter managed to get out with the father sustaining just minor burns. Investigators continue to comb through the rubble of the home to try and figure out what started the fire. The house did not have any electricity as it was used just in the summer but no foul play is suspected.

NDP Select Candidate To Run In West Saint John

There's another candidate running in the fall election for the riding of Saint John Lancaster. Habib Kilisli of the NDP was nominated by acclamation yesterday afternoon and will be running against incumbant Liberal Abel LeBlanc and Conservative candidate Dorothy Shepard.

Common Council Warned About Its Spending

              (City Manager Pat Woods)
                           (File Photo)

A stark warning delivered to Common Council by City Manager Pat Woods..........You're going to have to rein in your spending in next year's budget because the year to year increase that has been occurring over the past couple of years is unsustainable.
Deputy Mayor Stephen Chase claims the city tax rate could be lowered to $1.51. For that to happen, according to Woods, the city would need six per cent growth compounded yearly with just a two per cent increase in spending and no Peel Plaza. Chase is expressing doubts whether Council has the fiscal discipline to cut back on spending next year. Over the past couple of years, growth in spending by the city has been in the range of 7 per cent annually.






      

Blueberry Hill In Grand Bay-Westfield To Be Preserved

(Grand Bay-Westfield Mayor Grace Losier)
                  (File Photo)

50 acres of land that borders Grand Bay-Westfield and Saint that's known as "Blueberry Hill" will become part of the Nature Trust of New Brunswick today.
WorkSafe NB acquired the property in 1975 and it was transferred to the Town of Grand Bay-Westfield to grant the Nature Trust access.
Grand Bay Westfield Mayor Grace Losier tells CHSJ News there is local committee looking at future use for the land. She concedes some work will have to be done to return the land to its natural state.
Mayor Losier and Mayor Ivan Court will be on hand at 3 this afternoon when the deed for the property is transferred to the Nature Trust.

Heart And Stroke Foundation To Get Major Funding Boost From Province

(Provincial Health Minister Mary Schryer)
                      (File Photo)

$100,000 dollars from the Province will help the Heart and Stroke Foundation buy 25 automated external defibrillators.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation will also use the money to cover training costs for public facilities and high schools in the province over the next year as part of their Restart a Heart - Restart a Life Campaign.
The Heart and Stroke's Provincial C-E-O Daniel Connolly, Health Minister Mary Schryer and Nagesh Jammula from the Provincail E-M-S service will all be on hand for the announcement at 10 this morning at the L.B.R.