Rothesay Byelection

Shotguns And Rifles Stolen

Nine rifles and two shotguns getting stolen out of a home and garage in Upper Loch Lomond. RCMP say a military-style rifle that can be altered into a fully automatic assault rifle is among the missing weapons.

The theft was noticed by a man who looks after the property along Highway 820 when the owners are away.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the police or Crime Stoppers. District 3 RCMP can be reached at 506-832-5566 or Crime Stoppers NB, who can be found online at www.crimenb.ca or by phone at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Millrats Reach Fundraising Goal To Help Player's Family

The Saint John Millrats raising over 15,000 dollars to help one of their players bring his wife and child here from Africa.
Modibo Diarra went to Mali in April after a coup in the country trapped his wife Mariam and daughter Cindy.
Millrats General Manager Ian McCarthy tells CHSJ News the paperwork has been filed to bring them all here.

He says they hired Lee Cohen, an immigration lawyer in Halifax, and they are waiting for the visas to come from the Federal government.

The Millrats also announcing today a new location in Brunswick Square to buy tickets and merchandise next to the Tim Horton's on Level 2.

Judge Determines Pension Board Did Not Act Outrageously

The legal costs to be awarded from the defamation lawsuit against former Common Councillor John Ferguson by the Pension Board will not be as high as previous estimates. 

Mr. Justice William Grant has determined the Pension Board did not act in a vexatious, frivolous, repugnant or outrageous way by bringing the lawsuit and, it appears to him, Ferguson saw the trial as a public inquiry into the Pension Board. 

Ferguson's lawyer Rod Gillis had previous estimated his legal costs at 2 and a half million dollars to be on the low side but the final figure will be a fraction of that.

The judge also ruled the Pension Board did not silence Ferguson.......It was the lack of support from his fellow Councillors that did that. 

The jury had recommended contemptuous damages of 100 dollars.

There will be a new hearing on July 11th.

MBS Employees Hit The Bricks

7 employees of Maritime Broadcasting says they are looking for a fair deal and that's why they are picketing today.

A union spokesperson says $10.58 an hour to start is not a living wage.

After 10 months of negotiating, they have not been able to get their first collective agreement.   

CHSJ News has learned management is doing one show at their three local stations, a replacement worker is training to possibly take over another and one is being operated remotely from Halifax.    No new talks are planned between the union and management.

Traffic Disrupted For Next Couple Of Days

Both westbound lanes at Hilyard Street will be closed to traffic until Wednesday afternoon, June 27th.

Drivers heading from the west side should use the Harbour bridge or Douglas Avenue. If you do go west on Hilyard Street, you'll be detoured along Simonds Street to Main Street North.

This work is part of the Harbour Clean-up project and includes the construction of a new lift station on Chesley Drive and sewer installation on Chesley Drive and Hilyard Street.

Don't Throw Out School Supplies

Schools out for the summer but don't throw away those school supplies because your local food bank could use them. Saint John High Teacher Barry Ogden tells CHSJ news pens, pencils and paper are needed.
 

"There's a supply and a demand, so if people have them at home or their work place, perhaps they can just take them to their food banks."

Ogden adds unused office supplies can also be donated to any of the 12 regional food banks.

Rothesay Votes Today

It may feel like a bit of a deja-vu, just a few weeks after the municipal election but there is another vote in the region today.     It's by-election day in Rothesay.

5 people are running to replace former provincial MLA Margaret Ann Blaney who resigned her post in May.

The candidates are Dominic Cardy of the NDP, Sharon Murphy of the Greens, Independent candidate Marjorie MacMurray, Liberal John Wilcox and Conservative Ted Flemming.

The polls are open from 10am to 8pm today.

Live coverage begins here after the polls close tonight.

Potential Of Partridge Island Downplayed

The estimate of 100 to 150 thousand people a year visiting Partridge Island if it's developed is low balling the potential which the General Manager of Saint John Waterfront Development Kent McIntyre calls huge considering from where all the immigrants came from before going elsewhere.

McIntyre believes the descendents, who have dispersed throughout Atlantic Canada and all down the U.S. Eastern Seaborad, would be interested in seeing where their ancestors landed. 

Besides Ireland, McIntyre says the immigrants passed through Partridge Island from Belgium, Germany, France and England.

Finance Commissioner Refutes Claim City Is Broke

Common Councillor Susan Fullerton has said the city is flat broke but that's a misperception according to Finance Commissioner Greg Yeomans. 

He says the city has more than enough assets to meet all of its financial obligations and it's debt ratio is well below what the provincial government considers precarious.
 
Nevertheless, Fullerton says the city should be looking for small efficiencies wherever they can be found because they all add up.

Yeomans does concede Saint John, like every other city, has an infrastructure deficit on such things as streets, water and sewage but points out has to maintain twice as much road as anyone else. He also complains the city is not getting as high a share of the tax pie as it should.
 
Common Council has been told by Yeomans had Saint John hosted the Memorial Cup at Harbour Station, the city would have had to pay as much as half a million dollars on chillers so ice could be made in May.

Common Council Warned About Plan SJ

A warning for the new Common Council from Chief City Planner Ken Forrest........Your feet will be held to the fire to stay the course with the new direction in development. 

Forrest tells CHSJ News there will be proposals put forward to bend the rules and Councillors will have to make some tough decisions.
 
He says the rural development that took place in the city in the 1990's in an effort to compete with what was happening in the Valley did not turn out to be good for Saint John because it's more expensive to service those areas where there are fewer people. He calls it "scatteration". 

Forrest says there was a forecast, way back when, that the population o the city would grow to a quarter of a million.