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Thursday, January 6, 2011

About 80 Sobey's Employees Off The Job In St. Stephen

The clean up continues at the Sobey's store in St. Stephen after last month's severe flooding. 80 employees are off the job while work continues to prepare the store for re-opening. Cynthia Thompson of Sobey's corporate office tells CHSJ News the damage to the store is extensive.
She says one point there was between one to two feet of water in the store and now they are looking at a refurbishment and clean-up that will require some time.
Thompson says they expect it will take six to eight weeks for the work to be completed.

Driver Dristraction May Be A Factor In Pennfield Man's Death

RCMP continue to look into the circumstances of a two vehicle collision on Highway 1 at Bethel on Tuesday that killed a Pennfield man.
The investigation showing the 19-year-old Jeremy Kenneth Dougan was texting just prior to the crash which may have distracted him while driving.
He was not wearing a seatbelt and partially ejected from the vehicle suffering serious head injuries.
Two women from St. Andrews in the second vehicle were also hurt and taken to hospital.

Bathurst Mom Angry No Charges Will Be Laid Against Bus Company

The provincial government is coming under criticism on bus safety for students.

Isabelle Hains, whose son was one of the students who died in a bus crash almost 3 years ago outside Bathurst, is angry a Sackville bus company will not be charged for taking students to Nova Scotia on a charter with bald tires.

Hains also wants Provincial Education Minister Jody Carr to ensure the drivers who are taking students around to various events are professional drivers and not just volunteers.

Hains is complaining laws, policies, rules and regulations can be violated and no one is held accountable.

Teen Dies In Workplace Accident

An investigation is underway into the death of a teenager at a Wal-Mart in Grand Falls.

Police Chief Real Michaud says it appears the 17-year-old boy was killed by an electrical shock from an extension cord.


The teen was buffing the floor in the automotive department at the time of the incident.
Police say they are investigating the death along with health and safety officials.
An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow in Saint John.

Fire Destroys Business Outside Sussex

A machine shop in Penobsquis has been gutted by fire.

The RCMP in Sussex say they don't suspect foul play. The fire began in the rear of Sussex Electric Motor Service.

The fire marshall will investigate to determine a cause.
 
The business was owned by Carl and Sharon Graham and its loss is being described as a big blow to the community.

Gas Prices Down A Bit

Drivers around town will be getting a bit of a price break if you have to fill up today.

Gas prices have fallen a bit after the weekly setting. Self serve regular is going for $1.09.5 in the city, a decrease of a cent a litre.

Diesel is at $1.15.5. That's a drop of almost 2 cents a litre and heating oil is also cheaper at $1.01.5 a litre.

Good Response From People In Province On How To Tackle Deficit

New Brunswickers apparently have something to say about how to deal with the province's gloomy financial picture.

Finance Minister Blaine Higgs tells CHSJ News response to his department's web survey has been strong with over a thousand responses.

Higgs says a number of people are in favor of cuts to spending while just under half of respondents indicate they believe it will be necessary for a combination of spending cuts and increased taxes to deal with the deficit.

A series of public consultations is also set to begin later this month. Higgs is scheduled to deliver his first budget in late March.

NDP Leadership Candidate Makes His Pitch In Saint John

A leadership candidate for the provincial N-D-P Pierre Cyr making Saint John the first stop in his tour of the province.

Cyr tells CHSJ News former leader Roger Duguay did a great job putting the New Democrats back on track but there's still a lot of work to be done with better organisation and more riding associations.

He expects the party will win more than one seat in the 2014 provincial election.

Dominic Cardy, who was the N-D-P campaign director in the September election, is also running for leadership.

The party will select a new leader on April 16th.

Chief Says Five New Officers Won't Break Police Budget

Some people, including Common Councillor Bruce Court, are wondering how the Saint John Police Department can afford to hire the 5 new officers sworn in this week.

The city force has been asked by Common Council to hold its budget increases to 1 per cent this year and next.

Chief Bill Reid says the spending for the new recruits is already built in.

Reid says they have be aware of the budget constraints bu, they will be doing more hiring as older officers retire.