Heavy Rain Causes Drivers To Lose Control

A couple of Saint Johnners were injured after single vehicle crashes in the Sussex area. A 19 year old woman from Saint John lost control of her vehicle on Rte. 1 at Four Corners striking the guardrail and rolling over onto it's roof. She was wearing her seatbelt and suffered just minor injuries. Heavy rain and wet road conditions contributed to the accident.

A 51 year old man from Saint John went off the road on Rte. 710 at Codys landing in a ditch. The driver and a 22 year old passenger, also from Saint John, were taken to hospital, treated for facial injuries and then released. Neither person was wearing a seatbelt.

Earlier today during the heavy rain, at least two cars left Highway one near the Fox Farm Road and at Foster Thurston after hydroplaneing.

New Theory On Why Boats Have Sunk Off St. Martin's

A Saint John man has a theory on why two boats, one from Grand Manan and the other from Digby, disappeared in the Bay of Fundy off St. Martin's in the last year.

"The Whole Family", a scallop dragger went down in February and the boat and the fisherman on it, Harold and Corey Cossaboom, were never found.

Gary Austin tells CHSJ News he believes it's possible that both boats got caught on a plane that went down in the area in the mid-90's.

Mirjam Cossaboom, Corey's mother, spoke with Gary Austin and tells CHSJ News she thinks it's possible that is where the "Whole Family" is.

Cossaboom tells she is going to request the federal government do another search looking for this plane and the two missing scallop draggers.

Our newsroom sent an email to Transport Canada asking them if they know of any planes that went down in that area.

They have yet to respond.

Change Of Command Ceremonies This Weekend

The 8th Canadian Hussars Regiment is holding a Change of Command Ceremony this afternoon at the Sussex Armouries. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Nielsen, who has been in charge of the regiment since 2007, will handover command to Lieutenant Colonel Donald Bourque.

 The ceremony gets started at 2:00 p.m and anyone showing is asked to be in their seat by 1:45pm.

There will also be a change of command ceremony at the Brunswicker on Chesley Drive. Commander Elizabeth Syvertsen-Bitten will accept command from departing Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Commander Shane Robinson.

That ceremony gets started at 11am.

Saint John Harbour The Scene Of Coast Guard Training Exercise

You can expect to see a lot of activity near Saint John Harbour all day today.

The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary is holding a training exercise today featuring a group of 70 fishermen and fellow mariners.

The event features eight stations where auxiliary members will work on things like first aid, boat handling and radio use. Members will also take tours on a Comorant helicopter.

The exercise runs from 8:30 this morning until 4 this afternoon.

New Playground To Be Installed At Hampton School Today

By the end of the day, Hampton will be sporting a new state of the art playground.

In conjunction with the ""Let The Be Kids"" organization, the Dr. A.T. Leatherbarrow school will be home to the new set up.

Principal Lisa Jardine tells CHSJ News, this is for the entire community. Planning for the project began back in May and her school is the first in the Province to be awarded the project.

To this point, there has been over 1500 hours in community planning. With community in kind and actual contributions, over $145,000 dollars has been raised which wll be matched by the Let Them Be Kids organization.

The old play-ground was demolished back in the summer after long passing it's expired date:

Simonds High Offering Big Incentive Not To Miss Any Time At School

Stay in school.....win a brand new vehicle. It's that simple for students at Simonds High School who are taking part in campaign to bump up attendance numbers.

Vice-Principal Erika Brown tells CHSJ News, the spirit committee and Saint John Mitsubishi came up with the idea and the students love it.

Up for grabs is a 2010 Mitsubishi Eclipse Convertible for the person who misses the least amount of class time.

Students with less than five absences will qualify for the draw which will take place at the end of the first semester.
 
The student whose name is drawn then has to shoot a basket from half court in the gymnasium.

Another Scam On The Move

Home-owners in the Kennebecasis Valley being warned about another phone scam making the rounds.
Rothesay Regional Police say it is looking into an incident where someone called a home in the Kennebecasis Valley and said they were a representative of Microsoft.
They then asked the home-owner to go to their computer as there was a problem with their Windows support system.

The questions then got more personal and the home-owner asked for a phone number to call them back.


The number was bogus and the home-owner then called police.
Rothesay Regional Police remind everyone to NEVER give out personal information over the phone.

Boil Water Order For Beaver Harbour

In an e-mail from the company, “Connors Bros is advising residents of Beaver Harbour that as a precautionary measure, a Voluntary Boil Water Order is in effect.

This order only applies to residents of Beaver Harbour that are connected to Connors Bros water supply.

Our news-room has sent an e-mail to the company asking why the order has been put in place, but we are still waiting to hear back.

Fire In The North End

(Fire Crews On The Scene Of Vacant North End Building)
            (Photo Courtesy Of A Listener)

Work Underway For Second Water Tower

If you've noticed some clear cutting in a wooded area along the McKay Highway west-bound, so have we and here is what we can tell you.

It is prep work to clear the right of way for the Town of Rothesays new water tower.

Town Manager John Jarvie tells CHSJ News, there is some soil testing going on and a portion of this area will be a service road.

Jarvie adds there have been some environmental issues that have slowed down the process of the project but it is full steam ahead.

The deadline to spend the stimulus project funding is the end of March or the municipality is on the hook for the costs.


The towns second water tower will be set-up south of the Riverside golf course on the opposite side of the McKay Highway.

Two Men Sought In North End Holdup

More details released by City Police about that robbery last night in the north end.

Sergeant Pat Bonner says it happened shortly after 10:00 at 153 Main Street North when a 44 year old man opened the door to his apartment and was accosted by two men.
 

Police say they were wearing halloween masks and got away with some cash.  A weapon was brandished but the victim was not seriously injured.

Common Council Criticised For Not Rescheduling Monday Meeting

The decision by Common Council to go ahead with its meeting the other night regardless of the fact it fell on the same night as the provincial election is getting some flak.

A Saint Johnner who tries to keep abreast of what's happening in the city, Scott Waddell calls it a lack of leadership and tells CHSJ news he doesn't buy the argument that the business of the city had to go on and was too important to delay, even for one night.

Coverage of the meeting was diminished considerably because attention was focused on the provincial election.

Waddell says its not as if the business carried out was routine considering Council approved a 145 thousand dollar payout in tax dollars to a former employee who had sued the city and zoning approval was given for the proposed parking garage at Peel Plaza.

Re-Count In Saint John Harbour Is Official

The re-count in Saint John Harbour is officially underway.

Elections NB tells CHSJ News, Conservative candidate Carl Killen won the seat on Monday night by nine votes over Liberal Ed Doherty but the rules state a victory by that margin means the ballots have to be re-counted.


Doherty tells CHSJ News, he didn't expect the race to be this close but of course was hoping for a victory to continue serving constituents in the riding.

Killen tells CHSJ News, this has certainly made for some anxious times and he knew the race would be close but never expected it to be this tight.

The ballot counting will take place at the Court of Queens bench starting tomorrow morning at nine under the guidance of Justice Hugh McLellen.


No word on how long it will take.

Dopes And Guns Found In Home

The dope supply in Penobsquis is a little thinner today after a raid by Sussex RCMP.

Officers got into a home on the Back Road and found over four pounds of marijuana packaged for sale, drug paraphernalia along with five rifles and ammunition which were unsafely stored.

A marijuana grow op at the home was also taken apart.

A 53-year old woman and 44-year old man will appear in court answering to drug and firearms charges.

New Signage Up Along The McKay Highway

There is a new road sign on the McKay Highway which reads 5-1-1.

In case you don't remember, this is the Provinces new travel information service that was unveiled back in December.

Department of Transportation spokes-person Andrew Holland tells CHSJ News, it has become very popular in a short span of time and provides you with construction area updates, ferry schedules and road conditions from the DOT's web-cams.


To get a look at the set-up, just click on this link.

Update On Home Explosion In Sussex Corner

Plenty of questions and still waiting for answers after a house exploded in Sussex Corner almost two months ago.

One man was killed and a 51-year old woman suffered injuries when their home on the Post Road was ripped apart by an explosion early in the evening of August.14th.


RCMP Sargeant Bruce Reid tells CHSJ News, he is still waiting for a pair of tests to be returned from the lab and hopes to have some answers in two weeks.

53-year old James Harvey Goddard has been identified as the man killed. He did work with explosives at the mine in Sussex.

More Voting On The Way

Nominations are open today for 11 municipal by-elections and the first ever election in the newly created Campobello Island community.
The window to get your name in is open until the 22nd at two in the afternoon.
If you have a change of heart, you have until the 25th to get out.
Some of the communities and positions up for grabs include a councillor at large in Blacks Harbour and Gagetown, a mayor in Harvey and councillors at large in Sussex Corner and Stanley.

For Campobello Island, the search is on for a mayor and three ward councillors.


The byelections will be held if more candidates are nominated than can be elected to fill the vacant positions.

Runaway Trailer In Hampton

Luckily no one was hurt after a close call yesterday afternoon in Hampton.


RCMP were called to the Kiersteadville Road at 1:30pm after a dump truck, that was hauling an excavator lost the trailer which flipped into a parked utility truck on the side of the road.

No one was in the truck which suffered heavy damage.


Commercial Vehicle Enforcement is looking into what happened.

Election Result In Saint John Harbour To Be Finalised Today

(Saint John Conservative Candidate Carl Killen On Election Night)

 (Photo by Jim Hennessy)

  

Some clarity will be provided for Saint John Harbour Conservative candidate Carl Killen and Liberal Ed Doherty by this afternoon. Monday night's election results will become official by two o'clock and we will then be one step closer to finding out who the MLA-Elect is.

After all the votes were counted, Killen was declared the winner by nine votes over Doherty but the rules state that if the margin of victory is with-in 25 votes of the winner, Doherty can apply for a recount within four days.

In this case, it is less than 25 and that means the recount is automatic within four days as well. If Killen is declared the winner, he will have to resign his seat on Common Council but a byelection to fill it won't happen until May.

Robbery In North End And Drug Seizure In Sussex Area

Major Crime is investigating after a 46 year old man was assaulted and robbed at his Main Street North apartment. City Police believe it is an isolated incident. The victim suffering just minor injuries.

Meantime, the RCMP in Sussex seized over four pounds of marijuana already packaged in baggies and ready for sale from a home on Back Road.

 
Five long guns along with ammunition were also confiscated. A 44 year old man and 53 year old woman were arrested. They will appear in court at a later date on drug and firearm charges.