A Cousteau Is Coming To Saint John To See Marsh Creek

(Alexandra Cousteau's boat The Bounty)

(photo by Lisa Gullison)

Jacques Cousteau's grandaughter will tour Marsh Creek last this month.
Alexandra Cousteau is bringing her 2010 Expedition Blue Planet tour, a 23,000 kilometre treak across North America to the Port City on the 23rd.

ACAP Saint John's Tim Vickers the day starts with a lunch and learn to go over the vision of the Marsh Creek Restoration Initiative.

The day also includes a 90-minute bus trip around Marsh creek and a canoe trip to shows off some of the scenic vistas and wildlife.

For more info on the ACAP events with Alexandra Cousteau, click on the link.
http://www.acapsj.com/MCRI_Dinner.html

Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation Honours Donors

A ceremony and dinner to say...thanks!

The Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation hosting its annual donor awards and dinner last night to honour those who contribute to the facility.

The event recognizing those who make significant contributions as regular donors, also those who are increasing their giving and those on the donor wall.

This year, the foundation made special mention of Irving Oil's "Fuel the Care" program which help families offset transportation costs when they have a sick child in hospital and the Knights of Columbus 6770 .

Mock Emergencies Rolled Out At Saint John Airport

Saint John Airport officials are feeling good after going through a pair of exercise drills.
A mock hostage taking and airline crash have been played out which is required to test the facilities services every four years by Transport Canada.
Spokesperson Judith Brown she is pleased with how things went but is anxious to get some feed-back.
Brown adds these scenarios can't be rolled out over-night and couldn't happen with-out the help of over 100 hundred volunteers.

New Moosehead Product Launching Next Week

Moosehead breweries will be revealing a new product next week.


The brewery's Vice-President of Public Affairs Joel Levesque tells CHSJ News it's an exclusive product with the Saint John Ale House that will bring the company back to its roots.

This new Moosehead product will only be available at the Saint John Ale House on tap, it's a draught beer.  Levesque tells us the official launch is coming up next Thursday.

Dehexanizer Sets Up At The Irving Oil Refinery

Refinery Installs New Piece of Equipment

(Refinery Workers Put In Place Dehexanizer)
          (Photo By Jim Hennessy)

Weighing 317 metric tons and coming in at close to 20 stories high, it is hard to miss a new piece of equipment at the Irving Oil Refinery.
It's called a Dehexanizer will isolate components of gasoline that produce benzene to cut content by 30%.
Spokes-person Glen Kettlewell tells CHSJ News, this unit is state of the art and a further committment to both the area and the industry to make high quality products.
Kettlewell says the unit is scheduled to go on-line by the end of June and comes from Korea where it took a year to build.

Uptown Fire An Example Of What Not To Do During Fire Prevention Week

(District Fire Chief Gerry Morris)
            (File Photo)

City Fire Crews were called last night to an apartment house fire at Castle and Waterloo Street.

District Chief Gerry Morris says the fire points out the need for more people to be aware of fire prevention with a man attempting to cook french fries without using an approved fryer. Morris says when the smoke alarm started sounding, he removed the battery and then fell asleep on his couch. With all the smoke in the building, another tenent tried to waken him.

The building sustained smoke damage and had to be ventilated before everyone was allowed to return. Ironically, this is Fire Prevention Week with the theme being " Know The Risks, Watch What You Heat".

It's Finally Official In Saint John More Than A Week After Provincial Vote

(Saint John Harbour Conservative M-L-A Elect Carl Killen)
                    (Photo by Jim Hennessy)

After four days of going over the numbers, the decision in the riding of Saint John Harbour is now official.

Conservative Carl Killen has defeated incumbent Liberal Ed Dhoerty by seven votes. the numbers on election night showed a victory for Killen by a margin of nine votes which is an automatic re-count under the rules set out by Elections NB.

Killen tells CHSJ News, he feels very content and gives plenty of praise to Justice High MacLellen who oversaw the entire process guaranteeing both Killen and Doherty that no stone would be left unturned.

Killen along with 41 other members of the Conservative Party will be sworn in as the new government Tuesday at the Legislature in Fredericton. Killen says he is looking to set up a constituency office and already has heard from people on a couple of issues.

Milestone Today for Cruise Ships Visiting Saint John

Saint John will welome it's 1.5 millionth cruise ship guest when the Norwegian Dawn calls today.

The lucky passenger will be treated to a private guided limousine tour of Saint John and surrounding areas including lunch in St. Martin’s. They also get a gift basket of Saint John momentos and visit Mayor Ivan Court in the Red Room at City Hall.

It's been a great cruise ship season with 77 vessel calls scheduled and over 200,000 guests.

Six more vessels will visit Saint John before the cruise ship seaon finishes including the Queen Mary 2 on October 29th.

To see the full schedule, go to www.cruisesaintjohn.ca.

Police Commission And Mayor React To Vital Signs Report

(Police Commission Chair Chris Waldshutz)
         (Photo by Brian McLain)

The chair of the Police Commission Chris Waldshutz concedes, according to the Vital Signs report, the police department could be doing better in a couple of areas of public safety but Mayor Ivan Court says the fact more crimes are being reported is open to interpretation.

The Mayor argues if people didn't have confidence in the Police Department to set things right, they wouldn't even bother to report crime.
 
Court concedes more work has to be done, however, to reduce poverty and narrow the gap between rich and poor which is described in the report as "significant". The poverty rate in Saint John remains above 20 per cent.

A Changing Of The Guard Taking Place At Saint John Police Department

(Police Chief Bill Reid)

      (File Photo)

The Saint John Police Department is in a state of transition with alot of knowledge and experience leaving through retirements and new officers coming on board. That message was delivered to the Police Commission which heard a presentation on training.

 Police Chief Bill Reid tells CHSJ News the new officers are now being trained on recognising the signs of mental illness. The Chief says this type of training should have been implemented a long time ago because, more and more, officers are dealing with people who are suffering from mental illness and need help rather than incarceration.

The Police Commission also heard the police department is under budget as of the end of August to the tune of more than 398 thousand dollars but was told the cost of D-N-A testing averages 40 thousand dollars a year but is escalating which is a worry. The province does not help out with any funding to offset the cost.

Kindergarten Registration Coming Up In School District 8

Kindergarten registration begins across the province next week and District 8 is hoping to improve the numbers. Special events will take place at every elementary schools to make the process go smoothly for kids.

Transition to School Coordinator Mary-Therese Davis tells CHSJ News the numbers of children who register on time is low.

Kindergarten registration starts next Tuesday and continues until the 15th.

An evening registration session will be between 4 and 8 at the School District 8 offices at 490 Woodward Avenue in Millidgeville.

Police Dispatch Centre Headed For Regionalisation

(Quispamsis Mayor Murray Driscoll At Podium Speaking)
                             (File Photo)

The paper-work is now in place for the Rothesay Regional Joint Board of Police Commissioners to open up talks with the Saint John Board of Police Commissioners.

The goal is to consolidate the Kennebecasis Valley dispatch center with Saint John's with
Quispamsis Mayor Murray Driscoll saying there are a number of benefits to doing this.

Right now, 9-1-1 calls from the Valley go directly to Saint John and then are sent back to the KV center after the fact.

The Saint John Police Commission last night, in closed session, talked about developing a policy on regionalisation.

New Building Bylaw In Quispamsis Described As Win-Win For Homeowners And Developers

After months of going over the wording, the Town of Quispamsis has a new building bylaw.

Director of Engineering Gary Losier says one of the main changes to the set-up is making sure a developer provides as much information as possible to protect prospective homeowners.

Losier adds the new bylaw also increases the number of inspections and puts in place a maximum $2000 dollar refundable deposit to make sure the terms and conditions of the bylaw are upheld.

Round-Ups A Success For Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission

A series of round-up's hosted by the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission are being hailed a success.
Staff from the facility set-up in neighbourhood parking lots around Greater Saint John over a span of eight days to take old paint, batteries, motor oil and aerosols.


Spokes-person Brenda MacCallum tells CHSJ News, the response was phenominal especially in the Kennebecasis Valley where 4340 vehicles were serviced with many leaving because of the two hour wait.
MacCallum says over the eight day period there were 1200 vehicles in total, 35,000 litres of paint, 6000 litres of motor oil and more than 400 old computers just to name a few.


The round-ups will return next fall.

Brief Court Appearance For Saint John Man

A very brief court appearance for a 30-year old man accused in the brutal stabbing death of his estranged wife.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Jason Getson but he waived it and will remain locked up until his next court appearance.

That is scheduled for November.1st when a date will be set for the beginning of his trial.

Getson is facing a charge of first degree murder in the killing of 28 year old Melanie Getson of Douglas Avenue in the parking lot of a business on Rothesay Avenue May 10th.

2010 Vital Signs Report Is Out

(Chair Of Vital Signs Report Sarah Mudge)
         (Photo By Jim Hennessy)

A wide range of topics have been covered in this years Vital Signs report.

It goes over everything from Health and Wellness, Housing and Transportation and the gap between the rich and poor.


Chair Sarah Mudge says steady progress is being made in every category with no one-star priorities since the first report back in 2003.

Mudge says they hope to expand the numbers of categories in the survey but the problem is they have to have the statistics.

Keeping An Eye On Poverty Rates

One of the closely watched surveys in the vital signs report is poverty rates.


It shows the over-all poverty rate in Saint John fell from 23.3% to 21.7%.

Randy Hatfield is Executive Director of the Human Development Council and tells CHSJ News, of the over 300 people asked about the topic, the survey is meant to reflect a person's gut feeling.

Hatfield says his group will dig deeper once the next cencus is complete but it's no secret Saint John has neighbourhoods that are under seige.

Pair Of Assualts Being Investigated

Not alot of details but Hampton RCMP are investigating an alleged assualt that took place on-board a scallop boat in the Bay of Fundy.
Officers tell us a 46-year old woman from Gardner Creek claims the assualt happened at the hands of her former boyfriend.
Officers are also looking into an incident where two 36 year old Kingston women say they were assualted outside a night-club in Hampton.
The women say they were trying to stop another woman, who they felt was drunk, from driving.
A 53-year old man from Saint John reportedly got out of the vehicle and assualted both of the women.

Conflicting Opinions on Where Marco Polo Tall Ship Is Headed

(Replica Of Marco Polo Tall Ship Under Construction At Storage Shed)
                            (Photo by Barry Ogden)

It was only going to be a temporary home but along with no permanent berth, the replica of the Marco Polo still has no place to go.

The Saint John Theatre Company citing unresolved engineering questions and a lack of logistical certainty, the musical on the 23rd at Harbour Station will not be using the replica. Barry Ogden, who started the project 25 years ago, says it will still be moved over the Harbour Bridge on the 19th.

Ogden says they are still looking for a location uptown to dock the Marco Polo.

Ogden tells us it's a huge undertaking moving the vessel across the bridge and as far as he's concerned, it's not confirmed that it won't be moved into Harbour Station. Right now, the vessel is docked in a port storage shed on the lower west side.