Fundraiser launched to support family following Memramcook house fire

A blaze destroyed two houses in Memramcook in the early hours of Sunday, July 31, 2022. Photo courtesy Code 3 News

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

‘I don’t agree with the sanction’: Fundraiser to cover lost pay following reprimand against town councillor

Wendy Alder, pictured here, launched a fundraiser for Sackville town councillor Bruce Phinney after he was sanctioned for code of conduct violations. Photo: Submitted

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.

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Water and sewer shut-off notices sent to 100 accounts for outstanding debts

Sackville town hall. Photo: Erica Butler

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. 

Town treasurer Michael Beal is pictured in a file photo at council on Monday, October 4, 2021.

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

Moncton Law Courts, pictured July 13, 2022. Photo: David Gordon Koch

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