Category: News 2019

Adam Bureau acts on Opioid crisis

John Draper

At the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday September 3, Councillor Adam Bureau made a “Notice of Motion” – this means the motion will be considered at the next Council meeting.  The motion asks permission from Council to form a partnership and invite the Cobourg Police Service, the Cobourg Fire Department, Northumberland EMS and representatives from the county, MPP David Piccini and MP Kim Rudd.  They would then hold a round table discussion to come up with suggestions to combat the opioid crisis.  The choice of people is because “this group of people deals with this issue on an almost daily basis and would have first-hand knowledge on recommendations on how to eliminate opioids and other harmful and fatal… Read complete articleAdam Bureau acts on Opioid crisis

Complaints about Marina

John Draper

In 2017, high water caused power to be cut off to boats moored at the Marina; this happened again in 2019.  And if we are to believe that it’s at least partly caused by the new IJC plan 2014, it’s quite possible, even likely, that there will be high water again.  Two delegations to Council at their Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday are asking for action on this – they point to a reduced number of boats coming to Cobourg and want the power situation to be fixed before the 2020 season.  John King who says he represents boaters and has interviewed 100 of them on the subject is also critical of other aspects of Marina management –… Read complete articleComplaints about Marina

Cobourg’s First Poutine Festival

John Draper

Filling the gap left by the no longer operating Shelter Valley Folk Festival, Cobourg’s first Poutine Festival is happening this weekend – Thursday to Sunday in Victoria Park. It was not well advertised so attendance was a little below expectations when I visited on Friday at around noon.  There was also no beer tent and the only “entertainment” that I saw was recorded music and a bean bag toss game.  But those who were there seemed to be enjoying their icecreams and other food – presumably including Poutine.  I spoke with one of the vendors who was involved in organizing the event and he said that they were working with the Town and the Lions club and assuming traffic picked… Read complete articleCobourg’s First Poutine Festival

Lakefront Utilities Helps Out in Florida

John Draper

With Hurricane Dorian expected to land on Florida’s east coast on Monday, local electric utilities are expecting damage to their infrastructure with many people losing their electricity service.  When Canada has a problem – usually from an ice storm in winter – American Utility companies often help out so now it’s our turn.  This morning (Friday) Cobourg’s Lakefront Utilities sent an electric line crew to Florida – no doubt wise to get there before moving around is difficult or impossible.  They will miss out on any “planned Labour Day family time to assist in whatever way they can for restoration of power.”  Every county in Florida is under a state of emergency as the state prepares for what may be… Read complete articleLakefront Utilities Helps Out in Florida

Netflix Comes to Cobourg

John Draper

From Monday 26th of August through Wednesday 28th of August, a film crew was in town shooting parts of a new Netflix series, Ginny & Georgia (more below).  Since the story was set in “the charming New England town of Wellsbury, Massachusetts” (which doesn’t exist), Cobourg had to look American with lots of American flags and even a US  Post mailbox.  The script required a drive through the Town and I learned how movie producers do this realistically – see photos below.  There was minimal disruption of downtown – mostly just some temporary loss of parking space – but “approx. 100 actors (I think they meant total number of people) and 40 trucks” were said to be in Town so… Read complete articleNetflix Comes to Cobourg

Public Input on County Budget

John Draper

After really bad public participation in County budget open houses in 2017 and 2018 (approx. 11 and 5 attendees respectively), this year the County elected to go online only.  The results of 374 responses were presented to County Council at their meeting on August 28.  Go to Links below to download the complete report – this post gives highlights.  Charts showing top issues are provided and other concerns are summarized. See also the three links to comments pages – it seems that people get quite vocal when they are offered a chance to give anonymous comments. The first two questions were revealing – 53% were not at all familiar with the process the County uses to develop their budget and… Read complete articlePublic Input on County Budget

Call for Nominations to Sports Hall of Fame

John Draper

In May 2016, Ross Quigley formed a committee and in 2017 they founded the Cobourg and District Sports Hall of Fame which is dedicated to documenting the history of local sports, preserving local sports memorabilia and honouring those local athletes and builders who have excelled in sports. Nominations were called for the first inductees in August 2018 and inductees were named in March 2019 at a ceremony – see links below.  Paul Currelly, Layton Dodge, Fred Dufton, Don Ito, Marty Kernaghan, Frank Mazza, Bill O’Neil and Steve Smith were then officially inducted at a gala event in June, 2019.  The “Great Hall” of the Cobourg Community Centre houses the memorabilia – some of it is inspected by a mother and… Read complete articleCall for Nominations to Sports Hall of Fame

Changes Recommended for Christmas Lights

John Draper

In 1995, Cobourg started to light up Victoria Park at Christmas time.  However, in 2015, the DBIA thought that it did nothing to get people into the Downtown area so they were moved to Rotary Park and the Esplanade.  It was also said that the lights were damaging the trees although they were added to a few trees in Rotary Park.  On the Esplanade, there were no large trees so trees were brought in.  But many citizens thought the lights had been better in Victoria Park so in January 2019, a citizen Ad Hoc committee was formed to recommend what should be done.  Called The Christmas Magic Ad Hoc Committee (CMAHC), the committee is composed of Bruce Moore, Ron Hyatt,… Read complete articleChanges Recommended for Christmas Lights