Saint John Building Reaches 105th Birthday

[The Carnegie Building Birthday Cake----Photo By Dave Briggs]

The home of the Saint John Arts Centre is celebrating it's 105th birthday.The Carnegie Building originally opened in the city as a public library in 1904, and Ian Wilson began working there in 1961. He tells CHSJ News, the renovations done in the 1980's really improved the building but was able to keep it's original charm.
The location on Hazen Avenue is the only Carnegie Building still standing on the East Coast.Over the years the building has been occupied by a number of tenants, beginning with the library, and in '85 it became the Aitken Exhibition Centre, and finally in 2002 the Arts Centre moved in.

Canada Games Stadium Makeover Awaiting Word From Province

Saint John Conservative M-P Rodney Weston remains hopeful the province will be onboard with funding for the upgrade of the Canada Games Stadium.
Weston says the project is his number one recreational priority -- a view shared by the city.
The total cost of upgrading the stadium and track facilities is in the six million dollar range -- the city has already committed funds -- so has U-N-B -- and -- the private sector.
There are growing concerns if the funding isn't in place soon -- the upgrades won't be completed in time to host the Acadien Games next summer.

Feds Kick In Cash For KV Sports Fields

If all goes according to plan -- K-V High teams and soccer leagues could be playing on a new artificial turf sports field behind the school next spring.
The federal government has committed 250-thousand dollars while the province is onboard for 300-thousand -- that's on top of a million dollar donation by the late Arthur Miller.
K-V High principal Bob Munroe says the funding should at least provide one artificial turf field and an upgraded grass field complete with lighting -- and -- it should be ready by next spring.
Munroe says the plan also calls for a second artificial turf field -- total cost of the project is 2.7-million dollars -- and -- Monroe says a public fundraising campaign will be launched shortly while corporate donors are being sought to help with the goal of the second field.

RCMP Release Name of Boy Killed in Crash

RCMP have released the name of a young boy killed on Monday in an off road vehicle collision in Sainte-Anne-de-Madawaska. 10 year old Scott Paul Ouellette from Rivière-Verte passed away at the Edmundston hospital as a result of his injuries. Sgt. Marc Violette tells CHSJ news there were three other children on the vehicle--including the driver-- when it overturned.

The driver suffered a broken leg. Violette says the five-wheeled off-road vehicle belonged to a relative of the boy who was killed and no one was supervising at the time of the crash. No word on whether charges will be laid.

Man Charged in Death of Young Woman

A 23 year old Alberta man is facing charges of Criminal Negligence causing death and alcohol related offences in the death of a young woman from Belleisle Creek. 20 year old Shana Lee Berryman died at the scene of a single-vehicle crash that took place in June, 2008 in Wards Creek. She was the passenger in a car that left the road.

The man, formerly from Sussex, is due in Sussex court on July 16th.

UNB to Research Storing Carbon Dioxide in the Province

Researchers at the University of New Brunswick will begin a new study this summer for reducing the province's industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Geology Professor, David Keighley, says they will look into the potential for permanently storing large volumes of carbon dioxide in deep saline reservoirs. He tells CHSJ news the reservoirs are more a kilometer deep in rocks containing salt water.


Keighley says they must determine if the province is geologically viable, if it's environmentally safe and if it's affordable. Researches have received 71 thousand dollars from the New Brunswick Climate Change Secretariat and Irving Oil to conduct the study.

Report Shows High University Participation

A new report shows universities in the Maritime region are attracting high numbers of students from both within and outside the Maritimes. The Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission says overall participation in Maritime universities has more than doubled to 34 per cent during the past 25 years. That's eight points greater than the national average.

28 per cent of people in this province attended university--compared to 39 per cent in Nova Scotia and 25 per cent in Prince Edward Island.

City Hires Consultants to Review Fire Services

City politicians are still hoping to cut costs for fire service. Common council has approved hiring consultants, Risk Management Services, to conduct a baseline assessment of the fire protection needs in Saint John and options to reduce the cost. The fire department's budget is 20.3 million dollars--the highest in the province.

Council had originally asked the Fire Chief to conduct a comprehensive Review of Fire Service-- but-- Chief Rob Simonds says he and his staff don't have time for that, while carrying out their regular duties. The city will pay the consultants 40 thousand dollars for the review.

City Councilor Puts Pressure on MP to Deliver Water Funding

Councilor Peter McGuire is still waiting for a federal cheque to be cut for Saint John's clean drinking water projects. A recent report by the Conference Board of Canada shows Saint John will be the only small to medium sized city in the country that will grow in GDP next year. McGuire says Saint John's economy is booming--but--will do even better once water projects get federal backing.

The Conference Board of Canada says Saint John's growth can be attributed to provincial infrastructure investments and tax cuts.

Fundy National Park to Receive Funding

Fundy National Park is getting some more federal cash.
Fundy Royal M-P Rob Moore announced today the feds are making a $12.2 million dollar investment in Fundy Park.
$8.8 million is for improving a 4.1 kilometre span of Highway 114---$2.9 million is for replacing the Bennett Lake Dam, and half a million will help repair bridges and culverts.
Moore says in addition to benefiting the Park, these projects will benefit the local economy, create jobs and increase tourism.

New Deputy Chief Medical Officer

This Province has a new deputy chief medical officer of health. Dr. Paul Van Buynder takes over his new gig today, relocating from Australia. During the past 20 years, Dr. Van Buynder has worked in a number of Australian jurisdictions as well as at the Centre for Infections in the United Kingdom Health Protection Agency.
He is a graduate of the University of Melbourne medical school and the University of Sydney.

The Province Continues to Grow

They have been working on it since their mandate began three years ago and results are showing for the Graham Liberals on boosting the Province's population. The numbers are up for the ninth straight quarter, with the largest growth since 1992. The latest figures from Stats Canada shows this Province led Atlantic Canada in population growth, gaining a net 547 new residents between Jan. 1 and April 1 of this year.
Since January 2007, 4000 people have moved to New Brunswick.

Hampton RCMP Round Up

We have an update on the RCMP investigation at the Hidden Valley Campground on the Kingston Peninsula. RCMP want to stress there is no danger what-so-ever to the public. Campers are still camping and any word about this investigation being linked to what happened with the Noel Winters murderer's are nothing but rumors. Officers do tell us this is a criminal investigation based on information they received a few days ago into some activity at the camp ground. An excavator is on site but officer's won't indicate what they are looking for.
Also, Hampton RCMP have one man in custody after a vehicle was stolen and held for ransom. It was stolen from a home in Willow Grove when the owner left the keys in the ignition. A short time later, the vehicle's owner received a phone call from a man saying they could have their vehicle back for $800 dollars. No word on charges or a court date at this point.

Ottawa to make Funding Announcement

Ottawa appears poised to come on board with the KV Fields Project. Saint John and Fundy Royal MPs Rob Moore and Rodney Weston will make an announcement concerning the project in the gymnasium of Kennebecasis Valley High School. Just last weekend, the province came on board with $300,000 dollars for the project which hopes to upgrade the current sports fields with artificial turf, expand their parking lot and put in more lights.

Fund-raising for the project has been on-going for the past three years. Today's new conference gets started at 1:30pm.

Another Busy Night for City Police

Plenty of calls for City Police to deal with this morning and last night. Some of the highlight reel includes a call just after midnight about a man chasing another man on Winter Street swinging a machette. Ironically, the man with the machette ended up being hurt and taken to the Regional to get looked over. He is going to be fine and remains locked up until he goes before the judge later today.

It was also a trip to the Regional for one man just after 2:30am this morning. This after he was punched in the head by another man at a bar on King Street. The man who threw the punch ran back into the club when police arrived but was quickly taken into custody. The man who was hit was taken to hospital to get his head checked and is going to be fine. The man who threw the punch faces a charge of assualt casuing bodily harm.