Revenge of the Nerds: NB Geeks Unite in SJ

If you see a posse of strangely-dressed young people roaming around town, Halloween hasn't come early. Saint John is catching on to an international fad known as cosplay--or costume play, in which folks dress up as their favourite characters from comic books, films, or anime. In case you haven't heard, that's another term for Japanese animation.

To some, it seems strange pastime, but it's one a lot of people seem to enjoy. So much so, in fact, that there's a whole convention dedicated to nerdy pursuits coming up this summer. Organizer Jessica Milne tells CHSJ News the event, called Harbour Con-Fusion, is a place for fans of sci-fi, horror and fantasy to meet and talk about their favourite works of geeky art--and wear their crazy costumes, of course.

 Harbour Con-Fusion will be held at the Holiday Inn Express in Saint John, NB, on Saturday July 28th and Sunday July 29th, 2012.In the meantime, the group will be holding smaller, geeky get-togethers and raising money for the Animal Rescue league.

Winter's Not Over Yet: Snow Expected This Weekend

After an unseasonably warm winter, New Brunswick getting a reminder that this is still a regular Canadian March.

 Meteorologist Claude Cote with Environment Canada tells CHSJ news there's a storm system developing south of Sable Island and curving toward Cape Breton. It's going to hit the Saint John area with 5-10 centimetres of snow beginning late this evening. Charlotte County will get hit as well, but with considerably less white stuff: 4-6 centimtres are expected over the weekend.

Moncton and Bathurst are expected to get 15-20 centimetres. Cote says things will have mainly calmed down by Sun

Rising Gas Prices Won't Last

A prediction from someone who should know that gas prices might still go up a bit before going down in Atlantic Canada. So says Dave Collins of Wilson Fuel.

He says speculators are driving up gas prices at the moment but a look at the futures market for gasoline shows a drop coming with the August price expected to be seven cents lower.

Gas prices are at a six year high.

Regional Hospital Hoping To Get Advanced M-R-I Machine

The Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation is pretty excited to hear the province is looking at 3T MRI's possibly for Saint John.

The Foundation's President and CEO Tim Cameron says there is a case for the technology at the Regional hospital because it's a tertiary care centre.Cameron tells CHSJ News says they had fears along the way that the government might ask them to contribute more than a million the foundation had offered to help defray the cost.

Cameron says the 3T MRI is a highly advanced machine used for tertiary care hospitals while he describes the 1.5T MRI unit as the workhorse used in most MRI scanning.
 
The Department of Health telling CHSJ News that Saint John will be receiving a 1.5T MRI. 
 
The 3T MRI is a highly advanced machine mainly used for neuro surgery.

Saint John City Solicitor Clashes With John Ferguson's Lawyer

City Solicitor John Nugent continuing his testimony at the defamation trial of former Common Council and St. Stephen Town Administrator John Ferguson.
Defense lawyer Rod Gillis tried to get Nugent to agree that Ferguson's presentation to Common Council about alleged wrongdoing was not defamatory but Nugent maintained when taken as a whole, he found the it "outrageously defamatory."

Nugent would also not agree with Gillis that the "sweeping things under the carpet" comment was about the city and not the Pension Board.
Nugent also vehemently denied that he kept a log or diary of all of Ferguson's comments and, if anyone did, he had no knowledge of it.

Gillis also asked Nugent if he planned on suing Provincial Finance Minister Blaine Higgs for his recent gambling analogy when describing the city's investment strategy as double or nothing. Nugent told the court he was no longer on the board.

The trial resumes on Wednesday and Ferguson is expected to take the witness stand at that time.

Proposed Inter City Shuttle Bus Service Bites The Dust

A Prince Edward Island company has failed to get approval to start a door to door van shuttle service in the province.

Advanced Shuttle Services proposed to set up a reservations only shuttle service using 15-seat passenger vans but the Energy and Utilities Board rejected the application ruling the proposed service isn't covered under the province's Motor Carrier Act and didn't include a regular route.

The company was looking to run two shuttles which would make stops at the Regional Hospital and U-N-B Saint John. There also would have been stops in Fredericton, Moncton and Port Elgin.

Blacks Harbour Water OK says Health Department

Blacks Harbour Mayor,  Terry James tells Tide News the Do Not Consume Order has been lifted by the Department of Health.

Residents of Blacks Harour are encouraged to resume their water consumption as per normal.

Blow to Development as Immigration Center Shut

An alarm being sounded about the closure of the federal immigration office in our city – councilor at large candidate John Campbell tells CHSJ News it’s a blow to our future development:

He says with the Port and UNBSJ trying to attract foreign students and new immigrants, the center is particularly important.

Immigration services are apparently being consolidated in Moncton – a move Campbell says should be meeting with solid opposition from the community and Common Council.

Candidate For Council Gives Opinion On Garcelon

Stand Up, Shout Loud, and Be Heard.


That from Patrick Cummins, while announcing his offer for St. Stephen Town Councillor.

He tells Tide News his opinion on the future Garcelon Civic Center. Cummins says he wishes he could go back 2 years and give the Town of St. Stephen a different plan.

Cummins thinks St. Stephen could have made a different deal with the province by amalgamating St. Stephen Elementary School with Milltown Elementary, put a cap on the MES pool, and build an arena between the pool and MES.

He says it would have saved a lot of money for the province and town, had it been done that way, or a little differently and more efficiently.

Cummins says St. Stephen needs to prioritize on the tourism industry, if it wants to grow economically.

The municipal elections are coming up in May.

Nugent Says Ferguson Wouldn't Share Information On Pension

The defamation trial of former Common Councillor - and current St. Stephen Town anager - John Ferguson hearing more testimony from Saint John City Solicitor and Pension Board trustee John Nugent.


Nugent has told the court Ferguson would not spell out or share with his colleagues on Council any information he claimed to have about the city's pension plan when he had a duty to do so.

That, according to Nugent, cast the Pension Board in a bad light leaving the impression of misdeeds and misconduct.

When asked about Ferguson's reference to a desperate gambler, Nugent testified he thought that referred to the city's early retirement programme which transferred costs on to the pension plan.

Balancing Act In Car Accident

A car accident in St. Stephen, could have ended tragically.

The St. Stephen Fire Department tells Tide News, a car hit the guardrail on the Route 3 overpass by the St. Stephen High School , Saturday afternoon.

Officials say the car went on its side and was very close to rolling down the embankment, and onto the highway below.

2 dogs remained inside, until a crane was able to move the car to safety.

The driver was taken to hospital and released.

( Photo By Kendra Madsen )

Tinker For Mayor

It seems the new fad for the municipal elections -- is Facebook!


Town Councillor Robert Tinker announcing to the internet world today, he is running for Mayor of St. Stephen.

Tinker tells Tide News he believes in the future of St. Stephen, wanting to make it a better place to live with decent, well-paying jobs, as well as finding a team of people who can find where the best opportunities are to bring them to our town.
Blacks Harbour Mayor Terry James also announcing first to Facebook of her re-offer.

Do Not Drink The Water!

Do Not Drink The Water!


All residents of Blacks Harbour are being warned not to consume any water until further notice.

Mayor Terry James tells Tide News, significantly discolored water brought concern for health this morning.
James says it will be at least 24-48 hours before the water is drinkable.

Blacks Harbour Bad Water

Residents of Blacks Harbour are being warned to lower their water consumption, ASAP.


Mayor Terry James tells Tide News, significantly discolored water in the area has caused a concern for health.

She says Connors Bros. and the Village of Blacks Harbour are working to fix the problem through an aggressive flushing program.

James adds, there is no boil order as of now, but that may change after direction from the Department of Health.

More details on the situation coming this afternoon.

Saint John Completes Harbour Cleanup

A huge milestone is approaching for the city -- with the recent approval of the 2012 Capital Utility Budget, City Manager Pat Woods says Harbour Clean-Up will be complete by the end of the year.

Mayor Ivan Court says it took 10 years to get the funding for the project but less than 4 years to complete it.

The 2012 Utility Budget comes in at almost 20 million dollars with almost 40 million dollars in carry-over projects.

The price tag for Harbour Clean-up is about 87 million dollars.

Farren Re-Offering in Saint John

On the heels of public criticism from Mayor Ivan Court regarding his constant questioning of pension issues, Councillor Bill Farren says he wants another chance to address what he calls the city's Achilles heel.

Councillor Farren tells CHSJ News that he is re-offering for common council, but he won't be joining the pension board---because as he puts it, its operations are currently clouded with "shenanigans."

Farren says he hopes the electorate will support him in his bid to tackle the issues and help the city move forward.

Drugs and Ruckus in Rothesay

A quantity of marijuana was seized after a traffic stop on the Gondola Point arterial. The Rothesay Police pulled over a man driving with a female passenger, and noticed there appeared to be marijuana laying on the floor of the car. Both were arrested and the car was searched. The woman admitted to owning the drugs and was booked for possession of a controlled substance, then released.

Police also responded to a call from the McDonald's on Hampton Road, where some young men were causing a ruckus by screaming and swearing inside the restaurant. They were trespassed from the restaurant and taken home to be dealt with by their parents.

MP Gives Kudos to Federal Budget

The federal budget is in line with protecting social programs, balancing the budget, finding efficiencies in government, and boosting the economy--that from John Williamson, the MP for Southwest New Brunswick. He says the best way to achieve those mandates is to keep taxes low and debt down.

CHSJ News asked Williamson if he's heard any concerns over changes to the age requirements for Old Age Security. He tells us its such a long-range time-frame that a lot of the backlash has quieted down. The changes won't be phased in until 2023-2029--and the demographic who was most concerned were people currently on the edge of retirement.
 

Regarding another high-profile decision--to phase out the penny--Williamson said he's heard mostly positive feedback.

Nugent Says Ferguson Compared Him To Martha Stewart

The defamation trial of former Common Councillor - and current St. Stephen Town Manager - John Ferguson hears how angry and outraged City Solicitor John Nugent was at what he calls sensational assertions that were left hanging without any proof being offered to back them up.


Nugent testifies his anger was ratcheted up when Ferguson compared accepting legal advice from him to Martha Stewart whom everyone knew had been charged with illegal insider stock trading. He was already incredibly offended at Ferguson claiming senior city staff were blocking him from getting outside advice on the pension plan which Nugent maintains was not the case. Nugent also telling the jury he found it puzzling Ferguson would not identify who was giving him legal advice.

The Pros & Cons Of East-West Corridor On Milltown Blvd

 The East-West Corridor being the big topic in St. Stephen.


President and CEO of Cianbro Corporation Peter Vigue tells Tide News the proposed highway will connect Calais to Coburn Gore -- another border town -- making travel more covenient between here, and big cities like Montreal, Chicago and Detroit.

Meanwhile...


Not everyone is happy about the East-West Corridor Project.

Sidney Mitchell, seen protesting on Milltown Blvd in St. Stephen tells Tide News she is with the group "Friends of Piscadaquis Valley".

She says they are concerned about the possible pipelines and trucking routes disrupting rivers, watersheds, and wildlife.

Mitchell adds Maine has the means to become an eco-tourist area, and the East-West corridor will ruin that opportunity.