Big Crowds for Balloon Fiesta

(One of the balloons takes flight in Sussex - photo by Jim Hennessy)

The 24th Annual Sussex Balloon Fiesta wraps up Sunday with 30 of the hot air giants on display. George Horton is the organizer and tells CHSJ News, the owners of the balloons come from a variety of places and this year's crowds are some of the largest he has even seen.


Horton says the weather has been fantastic and they are already making plans for next years event which will mark the 25th anniversary. Things wrap up Sunday evening between six and seven o'clock.

Family Fun Day

Saint John MP Rodney Weston is inviting Greater Saint John to a family fun day tomorrow. It's to celebrate his first year in office with food, enertainment and music. Weston tells CHSJ News, he usually sets aside Sunday as time with his family.

Weston says there will be no speeches.......this is just time to have some fun. Things get started at one o'clock.

Harvesting Arts Festival

King's Square will be filled with the sights, sounds and smells of local artists, musicians and international food vendors today for the 5th annual Harvesting the Arts Festival.
Nearly two thousand people are expected to pass through the uptown square during the free day-long event where artists of pottery, painting and jewelery set up shop.
Co-organizer Jennifer Waldschutz tells CHSJ news the festival helps get the ball rolling for budding artists.
The festival runs from ten until five today.

Fire Cuts

It has to be tense times for staff at the City Fire Department. This as a consultant conducts a study of the service to see what can be cut from the budget. The job was first thrown to Chief Rob Simonds but then turned over to the consultantat a cost of $40,000 dollars. Former Fire Chief Glen Tait tells CHSJ News, he understands first hand what the chief and firefighters are going through.
Tait adds money is always a problem for City Hall because the population cannot support the funding to meet all of the needs and services.

Grade 9 Hazing

There are disturbing reports of the initiation rituals for some Grade 9 students at Saint John high schools.
Some students have been "rookied" in their first week by older students where they are held down and write on their face and body. Some of the words include "sodomy" and "penetration".
District 8 Superintendent Susan Tipper says they deal harshly with the students they can catch doing this.
Tipper says the Grade 9 students who get "rookied" should report it because teachers want their high school experience to be great and not anything they feel bad about it.

Ferries

Conservative M-L-A Bev Harrison is sounding the alarm about government plans to reduce the number of workers on river ferries -- Harrison says it's risky business especially when there are ice conditions in the river.

Harrison tells CHSJ News the only exception will be the Gondola Point crossing:

Premier Graham tells us nothing will change until federal approval is given -- but -- he says the feds have already approved a similar move for river ferries in B-C.

Graham says it's one of the recommendations coming from a citizens committee report which suggested ways to keep the Belleisle and Gagetown ferries afloat.