Vets Will Remember Tomorrow

Young and old will remember the efforts of many to secure the freedoms Canadians enjoy in many services throughout Greater Saint John tomorrow.
The Harbour Station service begins tomorrow morning at 10:30am.
Randall Hope of the Merchant Navy says you share a bond with your shipmates that never leaves you.

He says sometimes you have a convoy and it gets torpedoed and the guys are on lifeboats and you have to run over your own men.

Hope joined the Merchant Navy in 1944 when he was working at sugar refinery.
For more information on the service, click here

Wastewater Treatment Facility Opens In Red Head

The Harbour Clean-Up Project is that much closer to finally being complete as the Eastern Wastewater Treatment Facility in Red Head is now officially open.

Director of Municipal Operations Paul Groody says the 100 million dollar clean up project is about three-quarters complete and everything should be finished by the end of 2012.

The 57 million dollar plant will collect all of the wastewater in East Saint John, the south central peninsula, the Chesley Drive/Douglas Avenue, and some spots north of the throughway, which makes up about 40-45 percent of the sewerage flowing into the harbour.

Consultant Says The City Was Boxed In

A labour consultant with the police union is putting the additional pension reductions on the shoulders of the province.

Bob Davidson says the first reform package agreed upon by everybody was sound but because the province felt it was too risky, the employees and retirees had to pay the price.

He says that manifested into the retirees having their indexing suspended and he's not sure the MLA's know that because they won't talk to the media or the council.

He says you can't put the blame on the city as they were boxed in and forced into approving the new reforms.

Court Says The Province Must Justify A Second No

The Mayor of Saint John says with the pension changes passed this week, they have taken the necessary steps and it will soon be across the Premier's desk.
 
Ivan Court tells CHSJ News should the province says no again they will have to justify that position adding they spent a lot of time working with the government officials assigned to them to come up with a plan and they now have that.

Court says they can't see how the province won't support this.

City Police And School District 8 Differ on Bullying

The goal is the same but City Police and School District 8 don't necessarily agree on what is the best approach to bullying.

Police would like schools to be more consistent in how they deal with it but the new superintendent in School District 8 Micheal Butler says schools can differ in their makeup and therefore so does the response so a cookie cutter approach he doesn't believe would work. 

The school district says the number of reported incidents of bullying is down and it's happy with the way the staggered start to the school year went with the grade nine students, many of whom are subjected to hazing.
 

A new programme has been introduced in elementary schools called WITS which is about walking away and talking it out but it's too soon to say how it's working out.

Conservation Council Worried Over Cuts At Environment Canada

There will be cutbacks to Environment Canada and the Provincial Conservation Council is wondering what sort of effect there will be on the oversight of fish farms in the Bay of Fundy.

Despite recent charges initiated by Environment Canada over illegal pesticides, Fundy Baykeeper Matthew Abbott tells CHSJ News the monitoring that goes on now leaves much to be desired with the industry pretty much self regulating.

Abbott says by the time you get into enforcement then something has gone wrong.

He adds Environment Canada is the only agency that doesn't have a mixed agenda with Fisheries and Oceans along with the province promoting aquaculture as well as monitoring it.

Satisfaction With Latest Student Scores In District 8

Judging by the latest assessments, School District 8 is moving in the right direction with gains in literacy. 

Reading, writing and math scores were higher than the provincial average with the exception of reading in grade 2. 

District 8 Superintendent Micheal Butler says you can never be totally satisfied.
 
The big area of concern is french immersion where reading and writing were well below the provincial average. No reason has been determined for that. 

The assessments have also shown there has been a decline in writing among grade 10 students over the last couple of years both in Saint John and provincially.

School District 8 Hears From Police On Bullying

The number of reported cases of bullying in School District 8 is down. 

The District Education Council heard from Community Policing officer Sergeant David Hartley-Brown who says schools are still a bit inconsistent in how they deal with such incidents.

He believes a more consistent approach among the schools would reduce the number even more.

Hartley-Brown also reminded members of the District Education Council bullying can be a criminal offense if the perpetrator is over the age of 12.

It's More Expensive To Buy Gas

Gas prices are on the rise after the weekly setting.

The price for self serve regular has risen by almost 2 cents a litre and is being sold this morning in the city for $1.24.1 while diesel went up by 3 cents and is going for an even $1.38 a litre around town. 

Heating oil is almost 2 cents a litre more expensive at $1.19.6 while propane is virtually unchanged at $1.15.8.