Fundraiser launched to support family following Memramcook house fire
A fundraiser has been launched to help a family in Memramcook affected by a house fire that took place over the long weekend.
Shirleyann Mowforth aims to raise $10,000 through the online platform GoFundMe for the affected family.
She said the family’s “possessions were not covered by insurance but thankfully their house was.”
The blaze destroyed two vacant homes on Route La Vallée in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to Memramcook fire chief Gerald Boudreau.
The response also involved firefighters from Dorchester, Dieppe and Sackville. No injuries were reported.
You can donate to the fundraiser here.… Continue
From the archives: Thousands of solar panels installed at Amherst ‘garden’ for renewable energy pilot program
Listen to Tantramar Report for Tuesday, August 2, 2022:
‘I don’t think that we’ll be getting on a ferry for a while’: Former Sackville resident describes fiery crossing
A former Sackville resident was among the passengers aboard the MV Holiday Island last week, when the ferry from Nova Scotia to P.E.I. caught fire.
“I don’t think that we’ll be getting on a ferry for a while,” Hayden Nurse said in an interview with CHMA.
Now based in Halifax, Nurse is a carpenter who plays drums in the band West Ave., named after the Sackville street where they used to practice. (Nurse also has a CHMA connection: he used to host a sports show called Triple Play.)
The band had a gig lined up on the Island at Spud Fest, which is billed as a “shoestring, DIY, backyard music festival” near the Town of Souris.
But the trip to P.E.I. took an odd twist when a fire broke out in the engine room of the ferry.
More than 200 people had to evacuate the MV Holiday Island, near the ferry terminal at Wood Islands, P.E.I. The Transportation Safety Board is investigating, and no serious injuries have been reported.
CHMA caught up with Nurse to get his first-hand account of the experience.
‘I wasn’t a big fan of being on a boat that was on fire’: Former Sackville resident recounts voyage aboard MV Holiday Island
Listen to Tantramar Report for Friday, July 29, 2022:
Rural postal workers paying out-of-pocket for fuel, says union
The union representing postal workers says the high cost of gas is hurting mail carriers in rural and suburban areas.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers held a protest outside the office of Liberal MP and federal cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc in Shediac on Wednesday afternoon.
“Rural delivery workers are sick and tired of using money out of their pockets for work reasons,” Line Blanchard Doucet, president of CUPW’s Moncton region local, said in an email.
Rural and suburban mail carriers use their own vehicles to deliver the mail, getting reimbursed up to a limit set by the Canada Revenue Agency, according to CUPW.
But the feds determined the cap back in December, based on figures from the previous month, meaning postal workers are effectively subsidizing Canada Post at the pump, the union says.
“Fuel prices are in unprecedented territory and have impacted the entire industry,” Canada Post spokesperson Phil Legault said in an email.
“Canada Post is adapting to increased costs across many aspects of our operations.”
He added that Canada Post has “discussed the matter of fluctuating fuel prices with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers with a review and examination of elements of the [rural and suburban mail carriers’] collective agreement.”
A spokesperson for Minister LeBlanc declined to comment.
LeBlanc is the longtime MP for the Beauséjour riding, which includes Sackville, and is Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities.… Continue
‘I don’t agree with the sanction’: Fundraiser to cover lost pay following reprimand against town councillor
A fundraiser has collected more than $1,400 for a Sackville town councillor.
“I don’t agree with the sanction,” said Wendy Alder, who launched the campaign.
“I don’t know the rules… But I know, for example, in the normal workplace, you couldn’t suspend somebody and then still expect them to work, which is what they’ve done.”
Alder launched the GoFundMe after town council voted to sanction Councillor Bruce Phinney earlier this month over code of conduct violations.
The reprimand includes a two-month suspension of Phinney’s salary.
Town council hasn’t disclosed the nature of the code of conduct violation, or the identity of the complainant, but CHMA has attempted to piece together the story in this report.
Water and sewer shut-off notices sent to 100 accounts for outstanding debts
Shut-off notices for unpaid water and sewer bills have increased in 2022 compared to last year.
But the overall figure is lower now than before the pandemic, according to data from the Town of Sackville.
“In June a review of outstanding water and sewer accounts were completed, and we have begun the process of issuing shut-off notices to accounts with overdue balances,” says a staff report to council from the latest public meeting.
That includes 100 water and sewer accounts, which together owe roughly $59,260.
That’s an increase compared to last year, when the shut-off list included 92 accounts worth a total of about $54,400.
Shut-off notices are issued for any account owing at least $250 more than 90 days past due, according to town treasurer Michael Beal.
In response to queries from CHMA, he noted there were no shut-off notices issued in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit New Brunswick.
In 2019, shut-off notices were issued to 130 accounts totalling more than $69,000; the previous year there were 131 accounts that received shut-off notices for debts worth about $96,000.
Beal couldn’t immediately confirm how many water and sewer accounts have actually been shut off due to outstanding debts. However, he could only recall one recent example, which he said involved a vacant property.… Continue
Sackville man gets four years for cocaine and meth trafficking, assault and other charges
A 27-year-old Sackville man has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of charges stemming from an interprovincial drug trafficking investigation.
Taylor Allen Cole appeared in Moncton Law Courts for sentencing on Wednesday afternoon.
He previously pleaded guilty to multiple charges that included possession of cocaine and crystal meth for the purposes of trafficking, and assaulting a man by striking him with a shovel.
His sentencing follows what the RCMP called a “months-long inter-provincial drug trafficking investigation” in March.
That’s when police announced charges against Cole and seven other people from Sackville, Grande-Digue, Memramcook, and Amherst.
On Wednesday, provincial and federal crown prosecutors went over an agreed statement of facts about the case.
Cole sold cocaine by the ounce to undercover police on three occasions before a search warrant was executed on his home on Stephens Drive in Sackville.
Police found 80 grams of crystal meth, 26 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, more than $8,000 in cash, and items that included scales, baggies, eight cellphones, a cocaine press and a money counter.
They also found a .22 calibre handgun and two silencers, at a time when he was under a release order not to own or possess any firearms. … Continue
Sackville man sentenced in drug trafficking case
Listen to Tantramar Report for Thursday, July 14, 2022.
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Online ‘inventory’ takes stock of natural features in Sackville and its watersheds
Sackville and its two main watersheds, Carters Brook and Joe Brook, boast nearly 71,000 “natural assets” covering more than 12,000 hectares, according to a new online dashboard.
Natural assets include everything from wetlands, lakes and rivers to forests, fields and soil. Over the past year, staff at the Town of Sackville have been working with the not-for-profit Municipal Natural Assets Initiative on the so-called natural assets inventory.
Town councillors saw the results of that work at last week’s public meeting of council, during a presentation by Amy Taylor, CEO of Green Analytics, a company that provides technical support to MNAI.
Speaking at Sackville Town Council on Tuesday, July 5, Taylor explained that natural assets can help mitigate the effects of climate change.