Category: News 2018

New Web site Helps Fill News Gap

John Draper

On March 20, a Town Hall meeting was held to get input on what should be done to meet the needs of people in Northumberland for Local News. (See links below for more on this meeting).  Led by John Miller with significant help from Rob Washburn, a small committee was formed to do something.  It adopted the name Local News Northumberland and decided that an online comprehensive daily guide to local news was needed.  At Cobourg Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting tonight, Rob explained how a “Hub” or “signpost” web site is being provided to point to where News stories can be found.  Fifteen news sources have been identified and each day the headlines and lead photo from new… Read complete articleNew Web site Helps Fill News Gap

Lots of Historical Entertainment

John Draper

Starting September 21 and continuing to November 11, Cobourg will be treated to entertainment based on the anniversaries of two events: the end of World War 1 and the birth of Cobourg’s star comedienne Marie Dressler.  The events billed as Armistice 18 commemorate the 100th anniversary of the WWI Armistice and consist of a musical Gala, two plays, a play reading, three speakers and a special exhibit at the Art Gallery of Northumberland (AGN).  Not all the original plans came to fruition but most have (see link below).  Around the same time, Marie Dressler Foundation is celebrating Marie’s 150th birthday with speakers, a gala dinner, a public birthday celebration and an exhibit at the Art Gallery.  Chair Rick Miller has… Read complete articleLots of Historical Entertainment

Federal Election Race has Started

John Draper

Incumbent MP Kim Rudd yesterday announced that she is withdrawing her name from consideration as a Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources.  She wants to focus her energies on her riding and “on the important issues that matter to my constituents”.  The timing is interesting – it was on the day that the federal Appeal Court disallowed Justin Trudeau’s approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline.  The ramifications of this would no doubt would have kept her very busy and away from the Riding.  But a Federal Election is just over a year away and the Conservatives are gearing up with three candidates indicating they are vying for the nomination.  One candidate is a lawyer from Orono and the… Read complete articleFederal Election Race has Started

Nominations open for Cobourg and District Sports Hall of Fame

John Draper

In May 2016, Ross Quigley formed a committee to document the history of local sports and this included preserving local sports memorabilia and honouring local sports “athletes and builders”.  Since then over 500 items of memorabilia have been donated and the histories of some 80 local sports are in the process of being documented.  But now they are inviting nominations for candidates for “election into the Cobourg and District Sports Hall of Fame”. Chair Ross Quigley said that “Election is restricted to athletes and builders of sport having a direct connection to the Cobourg and District area.”  Ross defines “District” to include Hamilton, Cramahe and Alnwick/Haldimand and he defines which athletes are eligible and what the committee means by “builders”…. Read complete articleNominations open for Cobourg and District Sports Hall of Fame

Major Upgrades Planned for Mall

John Draper

On July 1, 2018, Timbercreek Assets Management took over ownership of Northumberland Mall – they then appointed Sandalwood to take over management.  New money, new senior management. This promises to completely change the future of the mall. Timbercreek is “well financed” and they want to put a significant investment into the mall. They are looking at all options which range from (as a minimum) a facelift with many overdue repairs being done, to possibly a complete revamp. They are currently reviewing the options and hope to start work on the chosen changes in January although the work would likely proceed in phases.  Mall Manager Paul Kiidumae, who now works for Sandalwood, told me about some of the options which would possibly mean… Read complete articleMajor Upgrades Planned for Mall

Busy Saturday in Downtown Cobourg

John Draper

The second annual Art Walk on Saturday had good participation from the Cobourg stores on King Street, both operating and closed.  It was not clear how many people were aware of the fact that these stores do not normally display Art in their windows – I took photos of 17 stores who had Art in their windows but there were more.  A couple of the photos are below – quite an impressive show.  There were also a lot of vendors in booths on Second Street plus Mercedes tested the waters to see if there was interest in a street car show.  The event ran from 10:00am to 3:00pm and was followed by a pub crawl – but that’s not photogenic… Read complete articleBusy Saturday in Downtown Cobourg

Report on Northam Industrial Park – 30 June 2018

John Draper

Northam Industrial Park is managed by the Town as a separate entity and able to provide a dividend to the Town; this is like Holdco which is the holding company for the Electricity and Water Utilities.  In 2017, the Town was paid $241,000 from its investment in Northam.  In a report to be provided to Council at their Committee of the Whole meeting on September 4, there is no prediction of how much of the large profit will go to the Town.  The profit before amortization for 2018 is expected to be $2,700,000 but most is expected to be paid to reserves (already $1,000,000) as “suggested in the soon to be completed asset management report”.  A good part of the… Read complete articleReport on Northam Industrial Park – 30 June 2018

Cobourg Police Weekly report

John Draper

Every week, Police issue a Press Release giving a count of what they have responded to in the week and some examples of what they have done.  Typically, there’s not much happening – no murders, armed holdups, drug raids etc but I suppose we should be pleased to live in a Town where the crime rate is low, at least for major crimes.  This week saw a training exercise where Police simulated a situation at the Hospital, apparently imagining a deranged person with a gun.  Pete Fisher reported on the exercise – see link below.  The weekly report by S/Sgt Brent Allison did not mention that but said that between the 13th and 19th of August, Cobourg police responded to… Read complete articleCobourg Police Weekly report