Shooting Victim at Hospital

John Draper

At around 10:45 Tuesday morning (24 March), a car delivered an “adult male” suffering from a gun-shot wound to the Northumberland Hills Hospital Emergency department.  Police were called and are investigating.  Their statement says that “this incident is being investigated by members of the Criminal Investigations Bureau, assisted by members of Uniform Patrol, Forensic Identification Services and Special Constables.  The investigation is in the early stages and investigators believe that this was not a random incident.”  The victim is reported to have “serious but non-life-threatening injuries”  And “the location of the shooting is unknown at this time.”  A photo is being circulated of the car that it’s believed dropped off the man – see below. Because of the crime, the… Read complete articleShooting Victim at Hospital

Two Special Council Meetings

John Draper

Council cancelled their regular meeting last night but at short notice, they scheduled two “special” meetings, one after the other starting at 3:00 pm.  However, given the Covid-19 virus issue, they were held using video-conferencing with all Councillors plus Interim CAO Ian Davey and Town Clerk Brent Larmer also connected.  It was then streamed so the public could view it, and I did!  The technology worked quite well although there were a few glitches (that’s technical jargon for “malfunctions”).  The sound was clear but cut out for about 20 minutes and the video froze a few times on individuals.  The two meetings each had a single topic agenda – the first was to take advantage of very recent legislation allowing… Read complete articleTwo Special Council Meetings

Town planning to Financially help re Covid-19

John Draper

With many businesses closed, many others getting less income and a lot of people losing their jobs, at least temporarily, the Town  is planning to provide relief of various kinds.  Although the Provincial and Federal Governments are planning to provide relief, it may come later than needed and may not be sufficient in many cases so the Town is wanting to help out.  This will include free transit, free parking, delayed payment of taxes and generally being sensitive to the difficult circumstances many residents will find themselves in.  Some of the problem is caused by the fact that the public cannot enter Victoria Hall but it’s not just that. Below is a list of what’s being planned and the rationale. … Read complete articleTown planning to Financially help re Covid-19

Transition House expansion into CCI

John Draper

Covid-19 has meant that Transition House has been “unable to operate at full capacity while meeting public health guidelines” but the Ford Government is supporting a local move to expand the capacity using space at the Cobourg Collegiate Institute (CCI).  This is possible because schools are closed until April 5 and perhaps longer.  The temporary shelter is the first of its kind in Ontario and came about because of work by MPP David Piccini coordinating the County, the School board, the HKPR Health unit and Transition House. This follows the closing of the Police Station Comfort centre because of Covid-19 concerns.  Bob Sanderson, Warden, Northumberland County said “In this time of uncertainty, residents can be assured that public organizations and… Read complete articleTransition House expansion into CCI

Update from Cobourg News Blog

John Draper

The news scene in Cobourg has been dominated lately by the Covid-19 Virus epidemic and simultaneously Cobourg News Blog is experiencing technical problems so comments are mostly not possible. The Covid-19 page is being updated several times per day as things happen – but some people wait for the news email so this post provides a summary for them. With many of the businesses on King Street now closed (primarily Restaurants and bars), and others heeding the call to stay home, parking is easy and it’s easy to achieve the recommended social distance.  Lineups (e.g. at a bank) are short.  Last Thursday and Friday, supermarkets (and their parking lots) were crowded with people buying toilet rolls and hand sterilizer so they are… Read complete articleUpdate from Cobourg News Blog

Last Council meeting in March

John Draper

At the Council meeting on March 16, Councillors decided to cancel the following meeting scheduled for March 30 so that the next meeting will be April 6 which is about the date when most of the Covid-19 restrictions will either stop or be renewed.  At the March 16 meeting, Interim CAO Ian Davey reported on what the Town has been doing – most of which has been already reported publicly.  There was nobody in the public gallery and no media were there – no doubt they heeded the advice to watch the meeting online.  But Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf was there and in response to questions from Councillor Emily Chorley, spoke about how the Police were responding, particularly in regard… Read complete articleLast Council meeting in March

More Funding for an Efficiency Review

John Draper

The County recently received funding from the Province to find efficiencies in the multiple Fire Departments in the County (see report in link below) and at the Committee of the Whole meeting on 9 March 2020, Town Clerk Brent Larmer announced that the Town itself had received a grant of $86,496 from the Province to do a review of “service delivery” so as to achieve cost savings and efficiencies.  Brent’s memo to Council said that “This Provincial program [Ontario’s new Municipal Modernization Program] is intended to help municipalities become more efficient and modernize service delivery while protecting front line jobs.”  The report must be made available to the public by September 18, 2020.  The work will be done by the… Read complete articleMore Funding for an Efficiency Review

First Confirmed Case of Covid-19 at NHH

John Draper

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit today confirmed the first positive case of COVID-19 in the region. The affected individual is a woman in her 60s who is a resident of Northumberland County. The individual was seen at the Northumberland Hills Hospital on Wednesday, March 11 after presenting with symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection and travel to Spain and Portugal. The woman had travelled on Air Transat flight 337 from Lisbon, Portugal to Toronto on March 6, 2020. The patient was discharged home and remains in self-isolation with follow up from the HKPR District Health Unit. Health Unit nurses have been in contact with the woman and are working with her to identify anyone she may have… Read complete articleFirst Confirmed Case of Covid-19 at NHH