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Bowood becomes collection site for Nova Scotia e-waste...  with little fanfare in local media, Bowood (also known as Boy's School, Youth Centre, reformatory and Shelburne Place) has become one of 31 regional dumping sites for waste from electronic products.
     The provincial program was established in response to growing concerns about the toxins present in trashed electronics. Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in computers contain heavy metals, such as lead, barium and cadmium, which can be very harmful to health if they enter the water system. These materials can cause damage to human nervous and respiratory systems. Flame retardant plastics, used in electronics casings, can release particles that damage human endocrine functions. PC World video - "The Dangers of E-Waste"
     Industrial waste collection was not one of the "best practices" uses described by Bowood developer Ralston Macdonnell during his earlier "courtship" of local citizens and politicians or his previous consultant's report of site use.  No public announcements have been made regarding the training centre, conference centre or seniors day care centre that Macdonnell assured Shelburne Municipal Council and Bowood open-house attendees in the fall of 2007
     Macdonnell purchased the Boys School in what was described in recent court action as a deal fraught with irregularities. The entire purchase price of $550,000 and $200,000-plus in maintenance fees has, according to Southwest Shore Development Authority chief Frank Anderson, been spent on day-to-day activities of SWSDA, leaving no monies to distribute to Team Shelburne members. Those funds have now been sequestered by court order from the expected $2.75 million proceeds from the sale by SWSDA of the Sandy Point military base.  SCT 27jan07

BREAKING NEWS... Homeboy chosen as Muni chief... According to reliable sources, former MLA candidate and Liberal Party apparatchik Kirk Cox was chosen in a national search as Chief Administrative Officer for the Municipality of Shelburne.
     Cox, a very connected political consultant and former aide de camp to MP Robert Thibault, is from this area and not too long ago bought a lakeside home in Ohio.
     Cox is considered by many as one of the most capable young politicians to come out of Nova Scotia, with some observers thinking he was being stymied by the state of "electability" of the Liberal party in this area.
     Cox will have has his work cut out for him, taking the reins over from interim CAO Reg Ridgely, who came to the Municipality in the wake of crisis, including financial problems, Joint Services disputes and accusations of missing funds and plummeting staff morale. Much of that turmoil appears to be behind the Municipality.
     Ridgely was also at the centre of the controversial attempt by the Municipality to purchase the former navy base at Sandy Point and the former Boy's School. At one point, Ridgely told SCT that "I'm going to put the municipality in debt for $1 million because I think it will be good for them."  
     "We are very pleased to see what a good candidate we have arrived at," said Municipal Councilor and CAO hiring committee chair, Sherm Embree. The Committee worked with search firm Walsh and Associates over many months to cull dozens of applicants to a short list interviewed by the Committee "The Council is committed to working on a positive transition that sets a solid groundwork." SCT21jan08

Freeze out?... Boys School money never coming to Shelburne County... SWSDA, Team Shelburne, Ocean Produce "circus" makes local pols regret provincial Youth Centre give-away ... in a front page story today, the Herald's Chris Lambie reports that $780,000 of the proceeds from the impending sale of the Shelburne Sound Stage at the former Sandy Point Base will be "frozen" in protected assets awaiting the outcome of the on-going $3 million lawsuit between South West Shore Development Authority and Ocean Produce International >>>The Herald

ERMES student secretaries featured on CBC Radio... a win-win situation at Evelyn Richardson Memorial Elementary School in Shag Harbour was covered on CBC's "Mainstreet" Wednesday afternoon when host Stephanie Domet called the school and spoke with student secretary Breanna Perry, who was doing phone duty at the time.
     The grade 5 student explained that the large cadre of mostly female student secretaries answer phones, make public address announcements, make photocopies and deliver messages to teachers during their 45 duty schedule to give the school's full-time, grown-up secretary a break.
     Breanna explained to Domet the training she and other receive from principal Mary Manning before they take to the phones and the Mainstreet host commented that, because of her poise and positive attitude, the ERMES student should consider a career in broadcasting. SCT 17jan08

Whirlfest spreads its wings... North America's premier whirligig festival returns Shelburne's historic waterfront Saturday and Sunday as craftsmen and women from throughout Nova Scotia compete in more than $1500 in prizes. 
    The Festival is truly a “home-grown” Nova Scotia phenomenon, having been created eight years ago by a small, but spirited citizen’s committee and has in some years generated more than 1,000 visitors.
    The Festival has grown grew in reputation and popularity, gaining the attention of craftsmen (and women) and media throughout the province. Participating “gigs” and “vanes” are judged by a volunteer panel and prizes are awarded in a well-attended public ceremony.
    One of only two of its kind in North America - and the first in Canada - the Festival has been one of the mainstays and most popular fixtures in the annual, mid-July Founders’ Days celebrations and now has established itself as an independent event in the fall season.  >>> read Herald story  >>> read Coast Guard story >>>visit Festival web site  SCT Sept 18, 2007

Wind farm in Woods Harbour?... An Ontario-based company is interested in developing a wind power project on Goodwin’s Island, near Woods Harbour.
   Schneider Power Inc. is hoping to see a small-scale wind farm developed on the island within the next few years. >>> full story

Planned DFO policy could sink Southwest Nova fishing industry with $375 million in costs... A coalition made up of more than 300 fishermen and processors has released a report that says a new DFO licencing policy will sink the value of lobster, groundfish and tuna licences in southwestern Nova Scotia by $375 million. >>> Nova News Now

"Haunted hotel" Ghost show sneak preview standing room only...  Shelburne history, slavery, promises and betrayal – then release were featured in the Making Amends”, episode of the highly-popular “Rescue Mediums” (W Network) previewed last week at the venerable Loyalist Inn Hotel in Shelburne.  The show featured U.K.-based mediums Jackie Dennison and Christine Hamlett describing the ghostly and eerie events and multiple "spirits" they encountered at The Loyalist during the filming this summer in Shelburne. (visit web site here)
     "We were thrilled at the response," says innkeeper Linda Deschamp of the crowd which filled the dining room for dinner and the sneak peek at the show. "And were urged by lots of folks to to other events at The Loyalist". Plans are underway for a halloween party and other themed events.
     The rescue Mediums episode will air in The W Network on Friday, September 28 at midnight and Sunday, September 30 at 12 noon and will air in October in the U.S. on the WE TV network. ( SCT September 18, 2007

Team Shelburne meets... munis want their dough... reports from attendees at the recent Team Shelburne meeting (a tape recorder at meeting was ordered turned off, despite Municipal Act regulations allowing it) say that team members insisted that SWSDA turn over their $700,000-plus or face possible legal action by the municipal units.
     Apparently, Team members are more comfortable holding their own dough "in trust" in the face of an impending lawsuit than they are having SWSDA hold the moola "in trust".  On August 14 SWSDA chief Frank Anderson told the Team in a letter that there was no problem in turning over the cash, but reversed this stance (based on asserted legal advice) just prior to the August 11 meeting.
     None of the Team Shelburne members contacted by SCT had yet seen the purchase and sale agreement for the Boy's School (now Bowood). For the curious, the agreement can be downloaded HERE.  SCT September 12, 2007 

llegal meeting? What meeting?...  for days there has been a buzz about a meeting planned this week between town and municipal councilors in the area in order to discuss matters of mutual interest, including the political logjam in the Joint Services agreement. The buzz, confirmed by no fewer than four elected officials in the area, and referenced in a stern letter of warning to stay away from Mayor Comeau to his council, said that the meeting was set up as a "bar-b-que (illegal without public notice nonetheless) at councilor Raymond Davis' house. Contacted by SCT, Davis said no meeting was ever planned or discussed. So there. SCT September 12, 2007 

 Muni council nodding at Bowood move...  the on-again, off-again move of Municipal offices to the new Bowood (former Shelburne Youth Centre) development looks on again, if Monday's committee of the whole meeting is any indication.  Ralston Macdonnell, Bowood developer, made a presentation in which he solicited the move, assuring Council of a "cost neutral" deal, including the purchase of the existing building
     Macdonnell's pitch, which focused in part on giving the municipality an "identity" though the new digs, was accompanied by vigorous nodding of agreement by meeting chair and deputy warden Pat Nickerson. Councilor Raymond Davis reminded his colleagues of a recent report from staff that outlined the onerous costs of staying put, which apparently includes $6,000 for directions for folks to find the courtrooms and council chambers.
    The report was called "bogus" by one counselor, but there was general agreement for further discussion. SCT September 12, 2007 

Muni move to Boy's School on the table again... the move of Municipal offices to the new Bowood (former Shelburne Youth Centre, or Boy's School) which was soundly opposed by area ratepayers at budget meetings in May is apparently now back on the planning board.
     Ralston Macdonnell, Bowood developer is scheduled to make a presentation to Shelburne Municipal Council on Monday at 6:00pm regarding a "Bowood Office Opportunity". Since the public outcry at the planned move and the unanimous vote of Council to abandon the plan,  Macdonnell has been meeting privately with Warden Paulette Scott and Muni CAO Reg Ridgely.
     Both Scott and Councilor Raymond Davis have spoken at recent Council meetings about the public being "badly informed" about the pluses and minuses of the move, with Davis proposing a rescinding of the vote and Scott opining that a move now would not necessarily be in opposition of the public will.
    When contacted by SCT about the proposal from Macdonnel, a longtime social activist in the area exclaimed "Doesn't this council understand the meaning of no?". SCT September 6, 2007 Editorial note: In response to the previous question... no, they apparently don't. 

Yarmouth sees worst tourism crisis in some time... despite an even or slightly increased count of tourist room nights for the province, Yarmouth has experienced a decline in total room sales of 33 per cent for the month of July, when compared to July last year, and 2006 wasn’t a particularly good tourist season. >>> see Herald story

September 11, 2007

Grey seal harvest support growing... Both Yarmouth and Barrington councils have voted to write to provincial and federal Ministers of Fisheries in support of a harvest because “the number of grey seals in the area is now becoming detrimental to the local fishery and to the economy of the area”. >>> full story

Prestigious "tradeshow for the arts" coming to Liverpool... Over 45 artists will perform at Contact East 2007, taking place for the first time on the South Shore in Liverpool from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3. >>> full story

RCMP seeking info on Osprey theft... Shelburne's Osprey Arts Centre has become the latest victim of break-and-enter thieves in the area, according to a story by Amy Woolvett on Nova News Now. The same night a hooded man was seen in the area carrying a crowbar, the popular arts centre lost close to $1,000 from a theft. >>> full story

July tourism stats show slow season... visitor statistics for July in Southwest Nova Scotia were released this week by the regional tourism marketing agency and the figures show an average decrease in visitor traffic in this area of 35% from the same period last year. Destination Southwest Nova Scotia showed that Shelburne visits were down by 25%, while Barrington and Clarks Harbour showed decreases of 50% and 45%, respectively. Lockeport suffered only an 8% loss, while increasing its "tour" visits to 23 from zero last year. Shelburne's tour visits went from 40 in 2006 to zero this year.
   Other areas marketed by DSWNS fared better, with Yarmouth seeing virtually no loss, while Wolfville increased by 10% and Annapolis Royal saw a whopping 100% increase. Liverpool reported a decrease of 25% and Lunenburg an increase of almost 10%. DSWNS has its headquarters in Lunenburg.
     Other signs that business in the region is lagging include real estate advertising for the sale of local tourism cottages and a major resort, other cottages planning to convert to senior assisted living, the first-ever seasonal closure of a local restaurant and lounge and the announced September closure of one of the areas premier gift stores. SCT, Aug 30, 2007

Bowood debut features local pols, businesses and visitors... more than fifty people ventured into the warm Shelburne air on Tuesday to attend the open house at Bowood (former Shelburne Youth Centre), the "creative community development" by Ralston MacDonnell, who recently purchased the property from the South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA). 
     Encouraging speeches by MacDonnell, warden Paulette Scott and MLA Sterling Belliveau were combined with booth and table displays by local companies and music by local band, Heavy Water.  Visits to several of the "cottages" and other facilities showed what appeared to be well-constructed buildings in relatively good condition, despite alarming presentations by Municipality of Shelburne staff just months ago describing the facility in near-ruin and a prospect for demolition. 
     MacDonnell outlined plans underway for a partnership with Roseway Manor, as well as plans to have the site used for conventions and training sessions by allied firm, MacDonnell Security Risk Management and other institutions. The Bowood chief began his remarks saying that part of the plan was to answer local questions about the project, but ended the presentation without soliciting questions from the attendees.
     MacDonnell explained that the name Bowood (and the re-named buildings and facilities) derived from the family estate of John Petty, the 1st Earl of Shelburne and Marquess Landsdowne, which was still being "resided in" today. The Wikipedia listing says the crumbling "big house" was demolished in 1955 by the 8th Marquess. Oxygen was said to have been discovered there in 1774 by Joseph Priestly.  download Bowood brochure HERE  SCT, Aug 29, 2007

Boy's School developer, SWSDA chief, sued for conspiracy and breach of trust in land deal.... in a ten-page lawsuit filed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Yarmouth on August 16,  (see court filing here) Ralston MacDonnell (MacDonnell Group, Vaughn Engineering, Bowood Corporation, Inc) and Frank Anderson (CEO, Southwest Shore Development Authority - SWSDA)  are accused by Ocean Produce International (OPI) of conspiring to subvert the bidding process which resulted in the recent sale of Shelburne Place (former Shelburne Youth Centre) to MacDonnell for $550,000.
     The suit alleges that, as an agent of Team Shelburne,  Anderson "unilaterally changed" what Team Shelburne dictated to be a call for tenders for the property into a "request for proposals", and cites instances of Anderson soliciting bid information from other bidders and tipping off MacDonnell  as to competitor's bids, rejecting higher bids than MacDonnell's, being "secretive and surreptitious" and "fraudulently conveying" the property to Bowood/MacDonnell.
      The suit claims Bowood, which was incorporated after the property sale, bought the land for "grossly below fair market or replacement value", is merely an "alter ego" of MacDonnell and was created "for the express purpose of taking title to the property."  Real estate developer Bernie Dockrill, another bidder on the property, has told SCT that Anderson discussed with him the details of his proposed bid prior to submission and requested that Dockrill submit the bid personally to Anderson and not via the method outlined in the published proposal request.  
     The suit states that OPI is also acting on behalf of all other creditors of SWSDA, which OPI claims was insolvent at the time of the issuance of the requests for proposals. Also named in the suit are the Shelburne Area Industrial Commission, Municipalities of Barrington and Shelburne and the towns of Shelburne, Lockeport and Clarks Harbour, plus CVN Holdings, to which MacDonnell mortgaged the property immediately after purchase for an interest-only, one-year loan of $660,000. Contacted by SCT, CVN principal Besim Halef said that he was never informed of any possible litigation regarding the property. "I'm not too worried," said Halef, "My lawyer signed a paper certifying the property so I guess any problem here is his."
       OPI, represented by Bridgewater-based Reuben Dexter, is asking the courts to declare SWSDA as the true property owner, not "in trust" for Team Shelburne, declare the sale and "conveyance" void, enjoin Bowood from selling or disposing of the property and award punitive damages and damages for conspiracy against Anderson, Macdonnell  and Bowood.
    OPI and SWSDA have been locked in a legal battle for seven years over property at the former CFB Shelburne. No allegations in the suit have been proven in court and no defence has yet been filed. Several calls to Ralston MacDonnell and Frank Anderson were not returned by press time. >>> see Herald story HERE
      . SCT August 27, 2007 

Funding looking good for Sandy Point Lighthouse repairs... municipal council set to allocate $10,000 from tourism budget.... attendees at the community meeting last week at the Sandy Point Light Community Centre was informed by several speakers that fundraising efforts looked promising. The project, according to sponsors, requires approximately $54,000 in the short term to repair the aging maritime icon.
     Joan Bower, with the Southwest Shore Development Authority, recounted several government agencies who have expressed an interest during her year-long project seeking funding. The regional officer for the Nova Scotia Department of Economic Development suggested at a recent Team Shelburne meeting that his agency would likely commit $20,000.
      The Sandy Point Recreation Centre has also committed to raising $10,000 with a series of fund raising events at the Centre beginning in September.
     Municipal warden Paulette Scott told the assembled group that her council was very supportive of contributing the $10,000 requested by councilor Raymond Davis during a recent council meeting. In an interview with SCT, Davis suggested that all but one of the council was inclined to vote for the funding. "The council is very keen on this important project," said Davis.
     The Council recently amalgamated tourism and heritage spending into a collective $20,000 fund, from which $8,400 has been committed to local museums and to Destination Southwest Nova Scotia Tourism Association. The Sandy Point Lighthouse project commitment would leave $1,600 in the tourism budget for projects such as Discover Shelburne County Tourism, Lockeport Loop, Loyalist Landing 2008 and others.
     The project to repair the lighthouse has separated into phases and project sponsors hope that work can begin soon. SCT August 27, 2007

Whirligig workshops popular item... In what the Whirligig Festival Committee has described as a "pleasant surprise" the whirligig making workshops offered in conjunction with the 8th Annual Shelburne Whirligig and Weathervane Festival this fall have become a popular item.
     The three-hour workshops by noted wood craftsman, whirligig designer and expert dory-builder, Milford Buchanan, are scheduled for Saturday, September 22 at 9:00am and 1:00pm. The workshop fee is $25, which includes all materials. Buchanan will instruct each class based on the skill-level present and he will use samples of his Shelburne Dory and Firepumper whirligigs for instruction.
     The Festival itself will be held this year on Saturday and Sunday, September 22 and 23 on the Historic Waterfront in Shelburne and will feature dozens of traditional and modern whirligig designs. More than $1000 in prizes are offered winners, including $500.00 for the "Best in show" and $100 for the People’s Choice Award. 
     For more information about the workshops or Festival: www.WhirligigFestival.com or email at oscarj@eastlink.ca

JUNE 29, 2007
South Shore groups capture 3% of $3.4 million in arts funding... arts groups in Shelburne, Yarmouth, Chester, Lunenburg and Liverpool received more than $100,000 in funding through the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage... >>> full story

Lockeport with "hands in their pockets"?... Shelburne Municipal Council voted unanimously Thursday evening to begin negotiations with the Town of Lockeport over the recent demands of the Town for what some councilors described as "totally ridiculous" increases in payments for fire and medical responder services provided to the Municipality in areas abutting Lockeport..
       The debate took place in the midst of a budget hearing where the other topic of much discussion was the municipality's strategy for dealing with a sudden $300,000 deficit share from the Joint Services Board.
     Councilors were near-unanimous in their open concern about two recent faxes from the Town of Lockeport requesting increased payments for services. "I don't like being blackmailed," said councilor Raymond Davis and John Roscoe bemoaned that "every time we turn around, Lockeport has its hand out" and Terry McIntyre suggested making the payments amounted to "opening a can of worms."
     Warden Paulette Scott agreed to contact Lockeport Mayor Darian Huskilson to see about a meeting, but she advised council that the letters - which were not made available to council - "didn't suggest a willingness to negotiate." SCT June 14 

Lockeport a good place to grow... Allendale Electronics is a medium-size company that survives — no, make that thrives — in an out-of-the-way Shelburne County town. >>> full story

Guest Editorial: Keddy at table because of constituents... Gerald Keddy’s refusal to stand up for Nova Scotia in the matter of honoring the Atlantic Accord appears totally unacceptable, if not a flagrant breech of public trust.>>> full story

Wetlands on road to ruin?... Resident fears development will destroy environment. Christine Tousignant says she’s alarmed the province has given her neighbouring landowner permission to build a road over sensitive coastal wetlands so that he can develop his property. 
     "Our overriding concern is the destruction of wetlands when it is avoidable, when there’s no good reason for it proceeding," said Ms. Tousignant.  >>> full story

Nova Scotia Music Week to return to Queens Co.... Liverpool will host Nova Scotia Music Week for a second subsequent year when the annual conference hits the community November 9-11, 2007.
     The Music Nova Scotia event left Halifax for the first time last year and quickly turned into the most successful edition to date, drawing a record number of delegates and fans to the South Shore.  >>> full story

Surprise $400,000 deficit shocks Lockeport and Shelburne ...   Eastern Shelburne County’s Joint Services Board has racked up a deficit of more than $400,000 which is a nasty surprise for the towns of Lockeport and Shelburne, and for the Municipality of Shelburne, which will have to pick up more than 70% of the tab. >>> full story

Team Shelburne back on tracks?... Barrington Muni warden Louise Halliday led a re-invigorated Team Shelburne meeting in Barrington Thursday in a solid, no-nonsense fashion, according to reports from the meeting.
     The topic of most interest and discussion was the pending sale of Shelburne Place (former Shelburne Youth Centre) and the lack of information about the status of the sale or the finances of the transaction. It was reported that there are now further delays in closing the deal.  
         Several of the team Shelburne members expressed frustration that they have never seen the proposed purchase agreement or any information about the real buyer of the property from South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) CEO Frank Anderson.  
     Shelburne Mayor PG Comeau voiced an interest in "full-disclosure" and member Doug Drane indicated that, as no financial statement has been forthcoming for almost two years, a line-item financial report should be forthcoming.
      The property sale has been mired in controversy since it was deeded to SWSDA in 2005, with proceeds of the sale to be directed to local economic development.
     More than 60% of the $600,000 dollars delivered with the property has been spent in maintenance costs and salaries for SWSDA staff and consultants fees, according to discussions at the meeting.  Despite a mandate from Team Shelburne to SWSDA market the property, there is little evidence on record of any efforts in that direction.
     The recent tender sale dictated by Team Shelburne added several additional layers of controversy when Anderson advised Team Shelburne to spurn the purchase offer by developer Bernie Dockrill and accept instead one submitted by Ralston MacDonnell, a frequent SWSDA contractor and business associate of Anderson's. Macdonnell's firms received an untendered contract for $40,000 for a marketing and organizational study for Team Shelburne regarding the property.
     MacDonnell, who was first presented as an "agent" of the buyer, had his bid hand-delivered to Anderson in Halifax, in contravention of the published tender proposal requirements. At a recent Team Shelburne meeting, former chair and Shelburne muni warden Paulette Scott was roundly criticized by her colleagues for secret meetings with MacDonnell, prior to the real estate deal being settled.
     A formal complaint to and request for an investigation by the Office of the Nova Scotia Ombudsman has been filed recently by a citizens' group regarding SWSDA's and Anderson's role in this property sale and other dealings over several years in Shelburne County. 
     The next Team Shelburne meeting will be June 20 in Shelburne and Anderson, who did not attend Thursday's session due to a dental appointment, will be instructed to attend the meeting prepared to answer questions and provide details about SWSDA’s management of Shelburne Place and about the sale of the property. SCT from reports June 8, 2007

Honeymoon's over for Macdonald and Tories... The opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) holds the upper hand in Nova Scotia, according to a poll by Corporate Research Associates. 37 per cent of respondents in the Canadian province would vote for the NDP, led by Darrell Dexter, in the next provincial ballot. >>> full story

Curtola rockin' out of Mersey gig... the ever-changing Rockin’ on the Mersey in Brooklyn has tipped over for good. The event, which was inexplicably slated during the ever-popular SeaFest, has been back-burnered by Canadian rock idol Bobby Curtola and partner Robert Hubbard so the duo can pursue 20,000 uranium mining claims in the region, plus the on-again, off-again condo project in Shipyard Point. >>> full story June 7, 2007

Errata... thanks to a discerning reader, SCT has been informed that Shelburne Park should not re referred to as the "former CFB Shelburne", but as HCMS Shelburne or CFS Shelburne, as it was "always a station and not a base." thanks and mea culpa SCT

$400,000 deficit pounds Shelburne muni joint services..... in an emergency meeting chaired by Shelburne Town councilor Elizabeth Acker, the Joint Services Board for eastern Shelburne County (Shelburne Municipality and Towns of Shelburne and Lockeport), members were informed that the growing deficit for the trio had surpassed $415,000, according to figures supplied by the municipality's finance department.
      The board is responsible for oversight of garbage pick-up, waste diversion, building inspection and emergency measures operations (EMO) in the region. The deficit is 250% greater than recently reported to the board.
     The desire of Lockeport mayor Darian Huskilson for a forensic audit by an independent source was not shared by board members.  sct June 7, 2007

MAY 30, 2007
No funding from Muni for local tourism... The Shelburne Municipal Council voted Monday night to award a $3,000 grant to Destination Southwest Nova Scotia Tourism Association, which, as the amalgam of South Shore Yarmouth and Evangeline Trail Tourism groups, claims tourism marketing jurisdiction for all points south of Halifax, with offices based in the Annapolis Valley and Lunenburg. 
     The staff report opined that DSWNS could better represent the interests of Municipal Tourism than could Discover Shelburne County Tourism Association or the Lockeport Loop, two other groups who have recently appealed for funding.
     A long-time tourism industry watcher, who asked not to be named, expressed concern about the regionalization of local funding. "If we thought we were getting lost in the shuffle when it was the South Shore Tourism Association, I wonder if we'll even show up on the radar with this big group." SCT May 30, 2007

Tri-County students receive medals from Lt. Governor Mayanne E. Francis... The Lieutenant Governor’s Medals are presented to one excelling male and one female Grade 11 student from each high school in Nova Scotia... >>> full story 

Frank-on-Frank discussion... Frank Anderson, CEO of the bedraggled South West Shore Development Authority is once again Frank Magazine's poster boy for quasi-government financial obfuscations. In a story in this week's issue, Frank takes Frank to task for millions in unaccounted or poorly accounted-for government and private funds from their March, 2006 year-end statements, including, almost $4 million in federal and provincial funding ($900,000 NS Economic Development, run by Anderson business partner and econ development minister R. Hurlburt), $1.14 million in salaries (22% rise from 2005), $370,000 from municipal tax coffers and $291,000 from private sources.
     SWSDA, under Anderson's leadership, are central to a complaint filed earlier this week with the Nova Scotia Ombudsman. 
     The Frank issue also reports on other SWSDA issues, the Municipal tax and budget meetings (not to be missed) and on the verbal excesses of a certain councilor. SCT  May 30, 2007

Keddy says summer jobs funding on its way... no corporate subsidies... MP Gerald Keddy said Tuesday that non-profit groups who were denied funding for the Canada Summer Jobs program will be reassessed in a second round of funding. 
     The funding cuts have been described as "a disaster" for an already fragile heritage and tourism industry, including museums and tourist bureaus
     Keddy said that groups that have had summer students in the past will be given priority. Service Canada will be calling the organizations that were rejected and they hope all calls will be complete by Friday.
     Upwards of 15 per cent of the funding for the program is held back every year for the second round,” said Keddy. “That money is being made available right now and I anticipate that some additional funds will be found.”
     Dozens of organizations that have hired students every summer were surprised to find that they were denied funding this year because of a new scoring system put in place by Service Canada.
     Corporations like Wal-Mart, Ford, Safeway and Bacardi will no longer be funded, according to Keddy. SCT

Shelburne radio reaching out to the world... Listeners from around the world are tuning in to community activities, music, sports and more through the cyber reaches of Shelburne Radio >>> full story

Chamber of Commerce sponsors Shelburne Tall Ships visit... Plans for the two-day tall ships festival are well underway and the Shelburne area Chamber of Commerce has recently sponsored the planning committee organizing the two-day Festival. >>> full story

South West Shore Development Authority on shaky ground, says audit...  According to outside audit statements of SWSDA, the future of the Authority is in trouble unless Shelburne Park (former CFB Shelburne) sells or is given back into the hands of the Municipality of Shelburne >>> full story

"Disgusting" tactics in Shelburne Boy's School bid?... developer Bernie Dockrill says he's disgusted with the tactics used by South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) in awarding controversial consultant Ralston Macdonnell the first rights to purchase the former Youth Correctional Centre in Shelburne.
     According to Dockrill, whose plans for the site included seniors housing and long-term care facility, says the winning bid was not delivered to Shelburne under advertised terms and SWSDA CEO Frank Anderson asked him to disclose his offer price prior to submission.
     Within hours of the partial disclosure to Anderson of the price by Dockerill, the  SWSDA CEO received a competing bid in Halifax, from Macdonnell, a long-time business associate of Anderson's. 
     Anderson, and SWSDA have recently been the subject of petition demands to the provincial government for a full audit of finances and activities relating to the Youth Centre and former CFB Shelburne.
     Dockrill announced a $675,000 back-up offer on Monday.  >>> full story

Liberal leader calls for SWSDA audit... letter sent to premier decrying lack of interest.... Stephen McNeil, newly-minted Nova Scotia Liberal party leader, called Monday for an immediate independent audit of the activities of the controversial South West Shore Development Authority relating to the former CFB Shelburne and former Youth Correctional Centre.  
     “The people of Shelburne County deserve full accountability on how government agencies are managing these properties,” said McNeil. “Accountability and transparency must be at the core of all management activities.” 
     A second letter was sent to Premier Rodney MacDonald on Tuesday, complaining of the lack of interest by his office or any government agency or official in the more than 500 petitioners who have requested the audit. (see letter HERE)
     Both properties are owned by SWSDA, under the long-time oversight of CEO Frank Anderson, who has been the subject recently of much public scrutiny for his handling of the impending sale of the former Shelburne Youth Centre to an unnamed buyer.  >>> see release HERE

Bumpy ride over for Destination Southwest Nova?... Change and growth were the keywords at the first-ever annual meeting for the tourism association formed to amalgamate the South Shore, Evangeline Trail and Yarmouth Tourism Associations.
     Industry stakeholders heard from president and White Point Resort manager Doug Fawthrop, Nova Scotia Tourism Association head Susan Tilley-Russell and tourism deputy minister Kellianne Dean that a positive outlook is needed for the large changes underway in tourism, including decreasing travel to Canada and declining roadways and ferry systems. >>> full story

Muni must step in on base abandonment says Warden.... In an interview on CBC TV Monday evening, municipal warden Paulette Scott asserted that the municipality "must step in" and take over the former CFB Shelburne from the cash-strapped redevelopment agency. Previously on CBC radio, warden Scott said that, after the take-over, the Municipality would hire a marketer to sell the site, as there is no municipal staff qualified
    CBC's Paul Withers described an unprecedented situation in Shelburne with a whopping 17% proposed tax increase triggering an angry "tax revolt."
   "It's too much for the taxpayers," said councilor Terry McIntyre, "they just can't afford it." >>> CBC news

SWSDA lawsuit on its way, says Muni councilor.... Shelburne municipal councilor Pat Nickerson confirmed that rumors of an impending lawsuit by South West Shore Development Authority against the municipality of Shelburne is a "sure thing". At a crowded meeting Tuesday, Nickerson said she had personally overseen the "deal" which the municipal tax payers would see a near 50% tax increase from the suit, based on figures supplied to council by CAO Reg Ridgely. SCT

Unrepentant councilor showers colleagues with vitriol.... during a lively discussion with citizens after a meeting in which an impending lawsuit by the local redevelopment authority was confirmed by councilors, Shelburne Municipal councilor Raymond Davis took aim in his now-familiar style at his fellow councilors, calling one a "f*$#-ing, brain-dead idiot" accusing another of "showing up drunk for most meetings" and a third for "not having the guts to vote his conscience".
     In the past, Davis has been quoted as suggesting the local RCMP staffers should suffer the fate of the four murdered mounties in Saskatchewan and recently distributed an email to SCT with admittedly vulgar content. SCT

MAY 23, 2007 

Tall Ships coming to Shelburne via Chamber of Commerce... Plans for the two-day tall ships festival are underway and the Shelburne area Chamber of Commerce has recently sponsored the committee allowing them the necessary aid to move forward. >>> full story

South West Shore Development Authority on shaky gound, says audit...  According to outside audit statements of SWSDA, the future of the Authority is in trouble unless Shelburne Park sells or is given back into the hands of the Municipality of Shelburne >>> full story

"Disgusting" tactics in Shelburne Boy's School bid?... developer Bernie Dockrill says he's disgusted with the tactics used by South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) in awarding controversial consultant Ralston Macdonnell the first rights to purchase the former Youth Correctional Centre in Shelburne.
     According to Dockrill, whose plans for the site included seniors housing and long-term care facility, says the winning bid was not delivered to Shelburne under advertised terms and SWSDA CEO Frank Anderson asked him to disclose his offer price prior to submission.
     Within hours of the partial disclosure to Anderson of the price by Dockerill, the  SWSDA CEO received a competing bid in Halifax, from Macdonnell, a long-time business associate of Anderson's. 
     Anderson, and SWSDA have recently been the subject of petition demands to the provincial government for a full audit of finances and activities relating to the Youth Centre and former CFB Shelburne.
     Dockrill announced a $675,000 back-up offer on Monday.  >>> full story

Liberal leader calls for SWSDA audit... letter sent to premier decrying lack of interest.... Stephen McNeil, newly-minted Nova Scotia Liberal party leader, called Monday for an immediate independent audit of the activities of the controversial South West Shore Development Authority relating to the former CFB Shelburne and former Youth Correctional Centre.  
     “The people of Shelburne County deserve full accountability on how government agencies are managing these properties,” said McNeil. “Accountability and transparency must be at the core of all management activities.” 
     A second letter was sent to Premier Rodney MacDonald on Tuesday, complaining of the lack of interest by his office or any government agency or official in the more than 500 petitioners who have requested the audit. (see letter HERE)
     Both properties are owned by SWSDA, under the long-time oversight of CEO Frank Anderson, who has been the subject recently of much public scrutiny for his handling of the impending sale of the former Shelburne Youth Centre to an unnamed buyer.  >>> see release HERE

Bumpy ride over for Destination Southwest Nova?... Change and growth were the keywords at the first-ever annual meeting for the tourism association formed to amalgamate the South Shore, Evangeline Trail and Yarmouth Tourism Associations.
     Industry stakeholders heard from president and White Point Resort manager Doug Fawthrop, Nova Scotia Tourism Association head Susan Tilley-Russell and tourism deputy minister Kellianne Dean that a positive outlook is needed for the large changes underway in tourism, including decreasing travel to Canada and declining roadways and ferry systems. >>> full story

Muni must step in on base abandonment says Warden.... In an interview on CBC TV Monday evening, municipal warden Paulette Scott asserted that the municipality "must step in" and take over the former CFB Shelburne from the cash-strapped redevelopment agency. Previously on CBC radio, warden Scott said that, after the take-over, the Municipality would hire a marketer to sell the site, as there is no municipal staff qualified
    CBC's Paul Withers described an unprecedented situation in Shelburne with a whopping 17% proposed tax increase triggering an angry "tax revolt."
   "It's too much for the taxpayers," said councilor Terry McIntyre, "they just can't afford it." >>> CBC news

SWSDA lawsuit on its way, says Muni councilor.... Shelburne municipal councilor Pat Nickerson confirmed that rumors of an impending lawsuit by South West Shore Development Authority against the municipality of Shelburne is a "sure thing". At a crowded meeting Tuesday, Nickerson said she had personally overseen the "deal" which the municipal tax payers would see a near 50% tax increase from the suit, based on figures supplied to council by CAO Reg Ridgely. SCT

Unrepentant councilor showers colleagues with vitriol.... during a lively discussion with citizens after a meeting in which an impending lawsuit by the local redevelopment authority was confirmed by councilors, Shelburne Municipal councilor Raymond Davis took aim in his now-familiar style at his fellow councilors, calling one a "f*$#-ing, brain-dead idiot" accusing another of "showing up drunk for most meetings" and a third for "not having the guts to vote his conscience".
     In the past, Davis has been quoted as suggesting the local RCMP staffers should suffer the fate of the four murdered mounties in Saskatchewan and recently distributed an email to SCT with admittedly vulgar content. SCT

Question period for muni council... $1 million debt "good" for municipality says CAO... More than 150 municipal taxpayers are expected at the 6:30pm meeting Monday evening at Shelburne High to hear the municipal staff and council answer the dozens of questions put forward regarding the proposed budget, CFB Shelburne and industrial park purchases, SWSDA bail-out, planned move to the former Youth Centre, alleged embezzlement and forensic audit, proposed raises in Warden Paulette Scott's salary and other matters. >>> full story

SWSDA set to sue Municipality on base bail-out??... Frank Anderson, CEO of Southwest Shore Development Authority, apparently arrived at last week's municipal tax meeting ready to deliver letters to the Municipal Council threatening a lawsuit if the council did not go ahead with the million-dollar plus bailout of SWSDA from the former CFB Shelburne (Shelburne Park), according to usually reliable sources.
     According this and other sources, Anderson has previously advised the Council that a lawsuit was imminent if the bailout did not proceed. At one point in the meeting, councilor Raymond Davis berated colleague Sherm Embree for voicing his concerns about the base deal, shouting, "You're gonna get us sued!"
     When asked directly if a lawsuit had been threatened, Warden Paulette Scott, for many weeks a vocal booster of the Shelburne Park purchase, said that "Nothing is in writing." SCT

URB lights up Region of Queens sign laws... The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has upheld Region of Queens municipal council’s decision to change Liverpool’s Land Use Bylaws and allow businesses to install internally lit, vinyl signs...>>> full story

Health minister and Yarmouth community seeing purple at repeated  hospital closures... Since the fall, the South West Health District has had to call four "code purples", a move that usually signals patients waiting for hours in hallways on stretchers as patients outnumbers available beds >>> full story

$3.65 million for Yarmouth school upgrade... education minister Karen Casey announces Carleton School getting a new gymnasium, other upgrades; pledges to recommend a new Yarmouth high school to cabinet >>> full story

Re-start hoped for soon in North Queens broadband service... officials with the Region of Queens and high speed internet users in the Caledonia area are hopeful quick provincial action on the sudden cessation of broadband service in the region... >>> full story

Petitions and meeting invite delivered to Premier and other pols... a petition signed in two days by more than 100 concerned Shelburne County citizens has been sent to Premier Rodney MacDonald and several other provincial politicians seeking an immediate public accounting of the dealings of South West Shore Development Authority and CEO Frank Anderson regarding the former CFB Shelburne and former Shelburne Youth Corrections Centre.
     Mr. MacDonald, Richard Hurlburt, Jamie Muir and their top lieutenants were also invited to attend the May 14 public meeting to discuss the impending vote on the 2007/2008 budget, the purchase of Shelburne Industrial Park and The Base and the move to the Youth Centre. The three previous meetings have been attended by more than 400 people. Read letter HERE  
     You can read the open letter to council HERE. You can read or download the petition HERE. SCT

Raucus Team Shelburne meeting... he said, she said... amidst the growing controversy regarding the sale of the former Shelburne Youth Centre (Shelburne Place), Team Shelburne held a meeting Tuesday, ostensibly to provide the body with an update of the status of the sale for a purported $500,000. >>> full story

Province matches town and municipality in arena funding.... The provincial government included the Shelburne County Arena Association in their sport and recreation facilities funding to the tune of $117,000 >>> full story

Overflow crowd at municipal tax rate hearing... more than 150 people filled the auditorium at Shelburne High to hear the chief administrative officer spell out the budget and tax plans for the municipality for the coming year.
     Municipal staff and council had anticipated far less rate payer interest when they initially booked the courtroom but a quick switch to the high school meant plenty of room for those eager to hear the budget news, especially plans underway for a "special purpose tax" plan, which would raise tax rates by approximately 17%. >>> more
   

Shelburne Council moves for full disclosure on Youth Centre sale, citing irregularities and secrecy  ... Shelburne Mayor Parker Comeau requested and received unanimous authority from his Council Wednesday to demand full public disclosure on the pending sale of Shelburne Place (former Youth Centre) by Southwest Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) to an unnamed bidder. >>>full story

Danger threat closes Barrington High... Stories of "black hooded" teens "coming to school with bullets" at Barrington High a hoax... The RCMP were called out to Barrington Regional High School on Wednesday after parents began receiving emails and text messages from students who reported that student may be coming to school to cause harm. The school was closed as a precaution.
   SCT was told by concerned citizens that a student dressed in black had brought bullets to school but "no gun was found." The RCMP determined the threats to be unfounded >>> NovaNewsNow  >>>the Herald 

Notice served on Councils regarding SWSDA "bankruptcy" and Youth Centre sale... Shelburne Town Council and others in the region were served legal notice of an impending Nova Scotia Supreme Court lawsuit on Tuesday, citing provisions in the "Statute of Elizabeth" and the "Assignments and Preferences Act", which claim the pending sale of Shelburne Place is part of an act of "fraudulent conveyance" of property owned by South West Shore Development Authority and purportedly held in trust for Team Shelburne. >>> full story

Proposed 17% Shelburne Municipal "special purpose tax" increase??...  increased taxes, municipal development of the former CFB Shelburne (Shelburne Place), economic development to be among topics debated in budget meetings starting Thursday, May 3 at 6:00pm. >>> full story

Black Loyalists and Anglican Church examine Shelburne's connection to Africa... For Elizabeth Cromwell, slavery and the racism that fed it is not an academic issue lost in the mists of history.
     A Nova Scotia descendant of slaves and former head of the Black Loyalist Heritage Society, Mrs. Cromwell recalled that the history of black Canadians was invisible and bigotry was common when she went to school.
 >>> full story 

Letters, do we get letters... it is not uncommon for SCT to get emails and telephone calls from public officials regarding stories we run or issues we cover, telling us "right on" or "you're way off base". 
    And we realize that being portrayed sometimes in a negative light is unpleasant, but most public officials see it as part of the "dance" we are all doing. Last week, though, we got an email from a Municipal councilor that curled our hair... >>> read the (x-rated) email here

What's the big secret?... in a situation which has some Shelburne Municipal councilors confused and dismayed, many Team Shelburne members either disgusted or scratching their heads and citizens in the region >>> more

Municipal forum to be highlight of May 7 & 8 AGM for regional tourism group... Destination Southwest Nova Scotia (DSWNS) is approaching its first year of operation and invites industry stakeholders and municipal leaders to attend its first, two-day Annual General Meeting and Conference at White Point Resort.  >>> more

Ready for some new $1 million eBay land sales in Clyde River?... Looks like the success of Carmen and Kevin Blinn in their eBay land sales operation in Port Clyde has caught the eye of one of their eBay colleagues. >>> more

Petitions and meeting invite delivered to Premier and other pols... a petition signed in two days by more than 100 concerned Shelburne County citizens has been sent to Premier Rodney MacDonald and several other provincial politicians seeking an immediate public accounting of the dealings of South West Shore Development Authority and CEO Frank Anderson regarding the former CFB Shelburne and former Shelburne Youth Corrections Centre.
     Mr. MacDonald, Richard Hurlburt, Jamie Muir and their top lieutenants were also invited to attend the May 14 public meeting to discuss the impending vote on the 2007/2008 budget, the purchase of Shelburne Industrial Park and The Base and the move to the Youth Centre. The three previous meetings have been attended by more than 400 people. Read letter HERE  
     You can read the open letter to council HERE. You can read or download the petition HERE. SCT

Raucus Team Shelburne meeting... he said, she said... amidst the growing controversy regarding the sale of the former Shelburne Youth Centre (Shelburne Place), Team Shelburne held a meeting Tuesday, ostensibly to provide the body with an update of the status of the sale for a purported $500,000. >>> full story

Province matches town and municipality in arena funding.... The provincial government included the Shelburne County Arena Association in their sport and recreation facilities funding to the tune of $117,000 >>> full story

Overflow crowd at municipal tax rate hearing... more than 150 people filled the auditorium at Shelburne High to hear the chief administrative officer spell out the budget and tax plans for the municipality for the coming year.
     Municipal staff and council had anticipated far less rate payer interest when they initially booked the courtroom but a quick switch to the high school meant plenty of room for those eager to hear the budget news, especially plans underway for a "special purpose tax" plan, which would raise tax rates by approximately 17%. >>> more
   

Shelburne Council moves for full disclosure on Youth Centre sale, citing irregularities and secrecy  ... Shelburne Mayor Parker Comeau requested and received unanimous authority from his Council Wednesday to demand full public disclosure on the pending sale of Shelburne Place (former Youth Centre) by Southwest Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) to an unnamed bidder. >>>full story

SWSDA set to sue Municipality on base bail-out??... Frank Anderson, CEO of Southwest Shore Development Authority, apparently arrived at last week's municipal tax meeting ready to deliver letters to the Municipal Council threatening a lawsuit if the council did not go ahead with the million-dollar plus bailout of SWSDA from the former CFB Shelburne (Shelburne Park), according to usually reliable sources.
     According this and other sources, Anderson has previously advised the Council that a lawsuit was imminent if the bailout did not proceed. At one point in the meeting, councilor Raymond Davis berated colleague Sherm Embree for voicing his concerns about the base deal, shouting, "You're gonna get us sued!"
     When asked directly if a lawsuit had been threatened, Warden Paulette Scott, for many weeks a vocal booster of the Shelburne Park purchase, said that "Nothing is in writing." SCT

URB lights up Region of Queens sign laws... The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has upheld Region of Queens municipal council’s decision to change Liverpool’s Land Use Bylaws and allow businesses to install internally lit, vinyl signs...>>> full story

Health minister and Yarmouth community seeing purple at repeated  hospital closures... Since the fall, the South West Health District has had to call four "code purples", a move that usually signals patients waiting for hours in hallways on stretchers as patients outnumbers available beds >>> full story

$3.65 million for Yarmouth school upgrade... education minister Karen Casey announces Carleton School getting a new gymnasium, other upgrades; pledges to recommend a new Yarmouth high school to cabinet >>> full story

Re-start hoped for soon in North Queens broadband service... officials with the Region of Queens and high speed internet users in the Caledonia area are hopeful quick provincial action on the sudden cessation of broadband service in the region... >>> full story

Question period for muni council... $1 million debt "good" for municipality says CAO... More than 150 municipal taxpayers are expected at the 6:30pm meeting Monday evening at Shelburne High to hear the municipal staff and council answer the dozens of questions put forward regarding the proposed budget, CFB Shelburne and industrial park purchases, SWSDA bail-out, planned move to the former Youth Centre, alleged embezzlement and forensic audit, proposed raises in Warden Paulette Scott's salary and other matters. >>> full story

Danger threat closes Barrington High... Stories of "black hooded" teens "coming to school with bullets" at Barrington High a hoax... The RCMP were called out to Barrington Regional High School on Wednesday after parents began receiving emails and text messages from students who reported that student may be coming to school to cause harm. The school was closed as a precaution.
   SCT was told by concerned citizens that a student dressed in black had brought bullets to school but "no gun was found." The RCMP determined the threats to be unfounded >>> NovaNewsNow  >>>the Herald 

Notice served on Councils regarding SWSDA "bankruptcy" and Youth Centre sale... Shelburne Town Council and others in the region were served legal notice of an impending Nova Scotia Supreme Court lawsuit on Tuesday, citing provisions in the "Statute of Elizabeth" and the "Assignments and Preferences Act", which claim the pending sale of Shelburne Place is part of an act of "fraudulent conveyance" of property owned by South West Shore Development Authority and purportedly held in trust for Team Shelburne. >>> full story

Proposed 17% Shelburne Municipal "special purpose tax" increase??...  increased taxes, municipal development of the former CFB Shelburne (Shelburne Place), economic development to be among topics debated in budget meetings starting Thursday, May 3 at 6:00pm. >>> full story

MAY 14, 2007

Question period for muni council... $1 million debt "good" for municipality says CAO... More than 150 municipal taxpayers are expected at the 6:30pm meeting Monday evening at Shelburne High to hear the municipal staff and council answer the dozens of questions put forward regarding the proposed budget, CFB Shelburne and industrial park purchases, SWSDA bail-out, planned move to the former Youth Centre, alleged embezzlement and forensic audit, proposed raises in Warden Paulette Scott's salary and other matters.
     The meeting comes after three recent, well-attended meetings in Shelburne, in which the overwhelming public testimony was that there should be no base purchase, no move to the Youth Centre and no raises in warden's salary.
     "The combination of apparent ineptitude of senior staff in analyzing the mysterious finances behind these proposals," astounds me, says one local economic development specialist. "This, combined with the repeated misleading and inaccurate testimony by these same people would be considered a crime in other jurisdictions."
     The budget and proposals for the purchases, upgrades and leases, move to the Youth Centre and 17% tax rate increase are strongly supported by and were prepared under the direction and supervision of interim CAO Reg Ridgely, a former analyst with the HRM government. In a recent interview with SCT, Ridgely declared that, "I plan to put this municipality under a $1 million debt because I think it will be good for them in the long run." 
     The tax increase, purchases, upgrades and salary increases have been proposed under the rubric of "economic development", but to date, Ridgely and the municipal finance chief have yet to present a case to the council or rate payers for the economic benefit of the projects. SCT

Raucus Team Shelburne meeting... he said, she said... amidst the growing controversy regarding the sale of the former Shelburne Youth Centre (Shelburne Place), Team Shelburne held a meeting Tuesday ostensibly to provide the body with an update of the status of the sale for a purported $500,000. SWSDA CEO Frank Anderson took over chairing the meeting in the absence of former chair and Lockeport mayor Darian Huskilson, who quit the post recently, claiming an untenable aura of secrecy and improper dealings in the land sales deal.
     Anderson immediately called for a closed-door session, which was vigorously opposed by Shelburne mayor PG Comeau, citing "enough secrecy, let's get this out in the open." Team Shelburne agreed, but Anderson refused to divulge any of the information he had prepared for the group.
      A discussion ensued in which several of the municipal leaders on hand criticized the effect that clandestine meetings between the agent for the still-unnamed proponent and Shelburne Municipal council has had on the propriety of the land sale. Anderson disavowed any knowledge of the meetings. In previous interviews with SCT, warden Paulette Scott and CAO Reg Ridgely explained that Anderson had requested and arranged the meetings.
    When asked whether the proposed Municipal move to Shelburne Place was discussed as a deciding factor in the interest of the proponent, Scott said "absolutely not". In an interview with SCT, the Windsor-based developer who proposed a $675,000 purchased was told by SWSDA that the municipal lease should absolutely be included in factoring his deal proposal.
     In a round-table discussion of the effect of the very public disintegration of Team Shelburne during these last weeks, Barrington warden Louise Halliday decried the chaos and circus-like atmosphere, including lawsuits and media "innuendo" surrounding the sale. Warden Scott opined that, were she a business person coming to the Shelburne municipality, she "would turn tail and run."

An open letter to Shelburne Municipal Council...

I arrived at municipal chambers last Thursday for the meeting about the budget and proposed tax rate hikes only to find that the meeting was suddenly moved to the high school because a LOT of interested people showed up, much to the apparent surprise of municipal council and staff.

At the meeting, where we were first told we would NOT be able to address council on the budget proposals, I became increasingly aware of how little some of the council really knew about many of the issues raised by citizens there. For instance, who really owns the former base in Sandy Point and the former Boys School ?? not the municipality or Team Shelburne, but, according to most who seems to know, it is South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA), under the complete direction and control of CEO  Frank Anderson. Or, as the Council has suggested in the past, does the Municipality of Shelburne really own it ? Who? who? who? ....well, it seems that SWSDA does own it, but apparently after running up over a million in bills for we don't know what, now wants to dump it on us, the Municipality - and the ratepayers!

According to the warden Paulette Scott, they can do just that! AND, if we don't take it... what will happen?? I would like a straight answer to that from Council at Monday or Tuesday's meetings. Please answer that... what will happen if, as a community, we don't accept the gift with a price tag of $1 million or more? What can Frank Anderson or SWSDA do? Go bankrupt as councilor Raymond Davis has said? Sue us? ...just let him try.

By the way...back to the $1 million+ owing... Who knows where the money went? Does the Council have ANY idea? Has it ever asked? What I say we should do is ....tell them to "SHOW US THE MONEY!! Before there is ANY discussion by Council to raise our taxes to buy this white elephant, they need to show us everything. Because it's OUR money, it's TAXPAYERS money and WE'RE SICK AND TIRED of being left in the dark, we're sick and tired of Frank Anderson treating us like second class citizens, we're sick and tired of OUR council keeping us in the dark as to what SWSDA is doing and saying.

I mean REALLY, Council, how stupid do you think the citizens of this County are?? Well, you can call us patient and tolerant but WE ARE NOT STUPID! We know more than you think about what's going on at Council. We have waited and waited - and waited... hoping you would fix the problems, as is your job, but you haven't...... so now the community will show you how to take us where we want to go. We'll do it in small steps. We will help you help us.

• Step #1: Accountability Rules. As it seems that you cannot seem to show much interest in the details of these multi-million dallor properties, several people have put together a petition calling on the SWSDA  board and provincial government officials for a full accounting from SWSDA - and from Council - of all of the financial dealings regarding the base. Starting this weekend, all of the citizens and businesses and officials - yes, even you - in the county will be encouraged to participate. We will speak with a strong, united voice and WE WILL BE HEARD.

• Step #2: You need to conduct the May 7 & May 8 meetings like you respect us - like we matter. The public needs to be ENCOURAGED to speak its mind. You need to stay at the meetings until ALL voices are heard... every last one. You need to - and you need to instruct your staff to - answer all questions directly.

• Step #3: Like you promised - and like we are entitled - you need to bring ALL the facts out into the open - for us all to see - about the Sandy Point Base and the Boys School at special meetings designed just for that.  This is BEFORE you have any more secret meetings with Frank Anderson, Ralston MacDonnell, Mark Lowe, lawyers from a secret, numbered company... or ANYONE else! 

Joyce Case Harlow , Jordan Falls   May 5, 2007

Overflow crowd at municipal tax rate hearing... more than 150 people filled the auditorium at Shelburne High to hear the chief administrative officer spell out the budget and tax plans for the municipality for the coming year.
     Municipal staff and council had anticipated far less rate payer interest when they initially booked the courtroom but a quick switch to the high school meant plenty of room for those eager to hear the budget news, especially plans underway for a "special purpose tax" plan, which would raise tax rates by approximately 17%.
     After initially declining to answer any questions from the ratepayers, saying "This is not the place for specific questions", warden Paulette Scott opened the floor to a flood of queries and comments from councilors and attendees.
     When it was explained that the special tax was designed to pay the costs of an anticipated move by municipal staff to new digs at the Youth Centre, demolition of the current building and purchase of the Shelburne Industrial Park and former Sandy Point Base property (owned by South West Shore Development Authority), many in the audience spoke of their concerns about the plans.
     Some of the questions raised - some by several people - included; where is the $5 million already invested in the base?; if SWSDA, with development experts, couldn't develop the property in five years, how does the municipality plan to do it?; why should municipal tax payers bail out SWSDA's $1million debt on the property?; has any study been done about the possible millions in environmental remediation costs sure to accrue?; and, why have there been no promised public hearings on the move to the Youth Centre?
      Other than the warden, who fielded most of the questions, only councilors McIntyre, Embree and Davis spoke. McIntyre insisted that, despite it being presented earlier as a fait accompli, the move to the Youth Centre was far from a sure thing. Embree had the most questions and comments and applauded the council and attendees for their interest in a necessary and robust public discussion. Davis closed the evening insisting that he was certain that moving municipal offices to leased space would be far less expensive than staying in the current facility.
      At least two more budget meetings are scheduled for May 7 & 8 at the high school. SCT

Shelburne Council moves for full disclosure on Youth Centre sale, citing irregularities and secrecy  ... Shelburne Mayor Parker Comeau requested and received unanimous authority from his Council Wednesday to demand full public disclosure on the pending sale of Shelburne Place (former Youth Centre) by Southwest Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) to an unnamed bidder.
     "If had known what I know now, and had only anticipated this level of secrecy, clandestine meetings and irregularities," mayor Comeau told SCT, " I would not have voted for the proposal, but would have brought it immediately back to my council."
     The mayor iterated to council that his motion was in no way intended to criticize any individual or to thwart development in the area. The Mayor said that the two proposals received by SWSDA were within 5% of each other, but that SWSDA CEO Frank Anderson appeared to lobby strongly for the acceptance of the winning offer, which Anderson has claimed was delivered personally to him in Halifax just minutes before the offer deadline. The published tender offer stated that all offers were to be submitted to SWSDA offices in Shelburne. SWSDA has no offices in Halifax..
      Anderson has refused to reveal to Team Shelburne the identity of the winning bidders, but they are represented by the Macdonnel Group, headed by a close friend of Anderson's. Ralston Macdonnell has been the contractor of record for many projects over the years with SWSDA, including consultations on the Team Shelburne project, and was a primary player in the controversial privatization of the Digby Wharf. The proposed project would apparently add 1,000 housing units to the property
     Lockeport mayor Darian Huskilson recently resigned as chairman of Team Shelburne, citing  his objections to the secret, closed-door meetings between Shelburne municipal warden Paulette Scott and CAO Reg Ridgely and other distortions of the Team Shelburne mandate.  
      Team Shelburne and the five regional municipal units were to be the recipients of the sale of the facility. Clarks Harbour mayor Leigh Stoddart recently proposed that the sale proceeds and remaining cash balance be distributed via  formula which would leave Shelburne with $150,000, the towns of Clark's Harbour and Lockeport; 75,000, the Municipality of Barrington $220,000, the Municipality of Shelburne $225,000 and the Industrial Commission with $200,000. 
     The closing date for the proposed sale is May 11, but a recent legal action May force all funds into an "escrow" account due to legal claims filed on the Town and others on Tuesday (see below) SCT

MAY 3, 2007

Nine lawsuits and counting for eBay land sales pair
Claims of fraud, slander and environmental calamity… follow the money.

Truro , Nova Scotia : April 20, 2007 :  The legal woes of self-styled eBay land magnates Carmen and Kevin Blinn of Antigonish have deepened as two more law suits were filed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Truro on Tuesday. The suits describe sales methods including “blatant misrepresentation” allegedly used by the Blinns to sell plots of land near Port Clyde and Barrington sight unseen, over the internet. The property, being sold as ideal for building cottages, is described by Nova Scotia Department of Environment staff as “wetland” and in a recent Halifax Herald article as “garbage land”.
     The current suits stem from recent SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) suits filed for the couple in March by Truro attorney Gary Richard against Shelburne , Nova Scotia Realtor™ Joyce Case Harlow and Shelburne County Today publisher Timothy Gillespie, both of whom have been vocal critics of the sales practices.  The building inspector for the area described the Antigonish couple as “selling lots that don’t exist on roads that don’t exist.”
            The suits for defamation and interference with business against the Blinns bring to nine the number of suits ongoing in Nova Scotia , with the pair as defendants in six. In separate suits, Gillespie and Case Harlow claim no fewer than 40 instances of the Blinns and their attorney making defamatory statements against Gillespie and Case Harlow, which are outlined in great detail in the pleadings.
     In addition to presenting evidence of the Blinns maligning their professional reputations and trying to ruin their businesses, the suits provide many instances where the Blinns have written to real estate clients and others stating that Gillespie and Case Harlow were engaged in an illicit romantic liaison.
Fraud, deceit, negligence…
            In January, the Blinns were sued by Jon and Sadie Smith of Virginia , USA in four separate actions accusing the, Blinns of "fraud, deceit, undue influence, negligent misrepresentation and negligence" concerning properties in Yarmouth and Inverness Counties sold by the Blinns for a total approaching $100,000.
            Those suits, filed by the law firm of Cox & Palmer, further states that the Blinns operated a "shell company" with Kevin Blinn as an employee and that Carmen Blinn "abused the corporate status ... to facilitate... the fraudulent misrepresentations made."
Slapping down critics
The SLAPP  suits brought against Gillespie and Case Harlow centered around allegations they unfairly targeted the Blinns regarding their sales practices. In these two most recent suits, the Blinns are accused of “what appeared to be a clear, on-going and persistent pattern of consistent, pervasive, and blatant misrepresentation” on their eBay web real estate “store”. The suits detail more than 15 alleged “patently false representations” on more than 25 web sites operated by the Blinns, including the promises of paved roads, electrical service on-site, ocean views, southern exposures, nearby shopping, elevated land, nearby beaches, golfing and fine dining.
     The SLAPP suits, according to pleadings filed in Supreme Court, are described as “meritless action(s)…whose primary goal is not to win the case but rather to silence or intimidate citizens who have participated in proceedings which may affect public policy or perception about a proposal or project whose public or private benefit is questionable.”
      Canada is warming to anti-SLAPP legislation, which is common in the USA . A recent British Columbia law states the need to “encourage public participation, and dissuade persons from bringing or maintaining proceedings or claims for an improper purpose…” and provides for Plaintiffs to post a bond of surety for costs and damage awards to Defendants. Nova Scotia has had anti-SLAPP legislation introduced in the assembly.
     Richard’s original pleading is right out of the SLAPP playbook described by the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund primer on the subject, citing claims of “interference in contractual relations,” “conspiracy” and “defamation”, by developers like the Blinns “with deep pockets and frustrated development plans claims its investments are at risk from the vocal opposition of some in the community.”
     “I have no intention of letting anyone use devious tactics to sell land in Nova Scotia that is virtually useless to honest, unsuspecting people from the USA or anywhere,” says Joyce Case Harlow. “Everybody knows this is just plain wrong, including the outrageous smear campaign against us, and I cannot wait to have a judge or jury – or anyone else - look at what these people have done to dozens of innocent land buyers.”
Bullies, bragadoccio and the eco-slapp
     The SLAPP challenge is just something else to contend with for Gillespie, who, the prior to moving to Nova Scotia , organized and managed the Public Access Project in California . The Project – and Gillespie - were regular visitors in the Superior and Supreme Courts of that state, their most common targets being large public agencies or municipal bodies thwarting public participation in the processes of government.
     “It is clear to me,” says Gillespie, “that, for so many reasons, the public interest is best served by details of this land sales operation being made public, and if the Blinns and Mr. Richard think that they can intimidate me with economic threats and slander, or with some $300 per hour lawyer, they have a rude awakening ahead of them.” He adds that a lethal combination of  strong evidence, overwhelming public opinion, widespread media attention and fighting from a principled position can actually win out over big bullies and bank accounts. “I’ve been threatened and intimidated by high-priced lawyers before, and I’ve never backed down.”
     “When this is all said and done, after the current and anticipated wave of actions against the Blinns are brought forward in the courts or other venues, after the Blinns unconscionable actions against me, Joyce and others are brought to the full light of day in court and in public,” adds Gillespie, “and after Mr. Richard and his firm have racked up tens of thousands of dollars in billable hours, I am confident that I will be among a growing number still freely writing about these utterly unregulated eBay schemes and we and the Smiths and perhaps others will have their relief from the courts.”
Paving paradise and putting in a parking lot. Where are the public officials in all this?
     In similar situations elsewhere in Canada and the USA , public officials with oversight authority have come to the table when an alarm is raised. Not so in Nova Scotia .  The Blinns have announced plans on the internet and in letters to lot owners that they plan to put more than one kilometer of paved roads over the fragile area on the Port Clyde land.  This is in addition to 7.3 kilometers of private roads for 96 lots over the  bog, swamp and wetland. The provincial Department of Environment describes wetlands as "a particularly sensitive habitat" and opines that "alteration of wetlands can cause a significant adverse environmental effect."
     To date, even though media reports about the Nova Scotia eBay land selling irregularities have been constant and widespread and even though discouraged and disgruntled lot owners and others have written Premier MacDonald, the local MLA, Municipal Council, Environment Minister, the RCMP and others, not one official appears ready yet to take any action to protect the fragile business reputation of Nova Scotia or the fragile wetland environment upon which this drama is being played.
1500% Profit overnight – 4500% in a year?
     The current suits describe Carmen and Kevin Blinn of using a variety of company names and internet identities in their online business dealings, including Nova Scotia Land Sales, nslandsales, sport17068, a numbered Nova Scotia Company and, within the past few days, Nova Scotia Property Sales.  “I have been writing about these people and their antics for more than a year,” says Gillespie, “and they are nothing if not ambitious and persistent.”
     Gillespie has described the massive, unregulated selling environment of eBay as “like the wild, wild, west.”  Unseemly practices on eBay appear to be a growing problem in many jurisdictions and articles and web logs (blogs) about land and other frauds on the eBay system are also growing. A Google search for “eBay fraud” nets more than 4 million responses.
Slippery as an eel
     “Tracking some business dealings is as difficult as trying to hold onto a slippery eel which is also a chameleon”, says Gillespie of the Blinn’s real estate operation. Since March of 2006, when he ran a story on his web news service about the land, known in the area as “Swain’s Bog”, which the Blinns then were selling for $1,300,000 or more, Gillespie has spent more than 100 hours researching the development and developers. This has included walking endlessly over the land, through woods, wetlands, bogs and swamps, doing a global positioning system (GPS) “mapping” of proposed property lines and roads, searching public records for other Blinn developments and fact-checking every assertion and promise to buyers on upwards of 30 different web sites.
     Having purchased the land it for less than 7% of the $1 million, if parsed into the lot sizes now being sold each day by the Blinns on eBay, the property would bring the Blinns over $3,000,000  -  a profit of 4500%.
Lawyer cited for defamation
     In one of the more unusual – or bizarre – aspects of the suits, is the behaviour of the Blinn’s Truro-based attorney and former federal Liberal MP candidate, Gary Richard. In a recent interview with the Halifax Herald, Richard is quoted as dismissing Gillespie’s popular news service out of hand and saying the sites stories were done by “…some disgruntled guy in his pyjamas”. “Defamation is defamation,” says Gillespie, who included these and other comments by Richard in his suit. “I’d like to disabuse Mr. Richard from his apparent illusion that a bar number makes him immune from professional conduct and from being held accountable in the courts.”
     The attention garnered by the Blinn lawsuits and attendant media coverage has attracted the interest of several Blinn customers, who now question the value of their purchases and who have contacted Gillespie as a result of his coverage of the land sales practices. Some have discussed a class action lawsuit and more than one has consulted with a Nova Scotia attorney.
Irony or calumny? Follow the money.
     The increasingly complex Blinn saga grows even more odd as those who are closely watching the looming environmental and legal battles, look to see where the Blinns are investing their “legal defence fund”.  In the four suits brought against them for fraud, where adverse decisions could embolden others and unleash a bevy of similar actions against them, then Blinns are unrepresented by counsel, while the plaintiffs have hired one of Nova Scotia ’s most respected law firms.
     But in the SLAPP suit, which appears to be designed to quash public scrutiny of the Blinn’s sales and development activities, they have hired an expensive and politically-connected attorney. That he is a law partner to the attorney whose name appears on the paperwork for the “instruments of subdivision” under which the Blinns parse out their lots may or may not have anything to do with it.
     “The solution to many business mysteries” adds Gillespie, “is to look very closely at where the money flows and to whom it flows to on any project, like the ones being scrutinized in these suits.” Especially, adds Gillespie, when the land sales operation involves a fragile environment, unlicensed sales people, a completely unregulated international sales system with 147 million possible customers and on-going charges in court of "fraud, deceit, undue influence, negligent misrepresentation and negligence".
“We’ll probably sort all this out in the end,” says Gillespie, if we just follow the money.”
More new victims?
     In addition to more than a dozen web sites or “blogs” devoted to general online and eBay  fraud, there are no fewer than three separate web sites, including two independent blogs, devoted to the travails of the Seaside Breezes “development” and the Blinns on-going legal woes. In an April 13 posting on the website for the Nova Scotia Business Journal, Brian Diviak from Crestline , California   writes: “I too was a victim of fraud I purchased a lot on Quaco Road , (the Yarmouth development named in the Smith’s fraud lawsuit against the Blinns) from Kevin and Carmen Blinn.”
     Yet another Burchell MacDougall attorney appeared in a Halifax courtroom on Wednesday representing the Blinns in that case. The Blinns have 20 days in which to file a defence to the current suits.
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Roads going in on 29 hectares of Port Clyde wetlands development... Cape Sable Island contractor Robbie Newell has won the tender to construct four roads totalling more than one kilometer on four hectares of land near Port Clyde, portions of which are covered by provincially-protected wetlands (marsh, bog or swamp).More than 20 additional private drives are part of the development plan for the project. 
     Described by Antigonish-based land developers Carmen and Kevin Blinn as the "largest development in Barrington", the 96-lot Seaside Breezes project has been mired in a rapidly growing controversy over the past months. The Blinn's were described in a recent news story by a local building inspector of "selling lots that don't exist on roads that don't exist."
    In a recent interview, Mr. Newell told SCT that he had previously built several similar roads over fragile wetlands and that he saw no difficulties ahead in obtaining the necessary permissions from NSEL. Records on file and inquiries to regional and provincial regulating agencies do not support Mr. Newell's claim.
     In letters to some of the recent property buyers, the Blinn's have assured them that road construction tenders had been completed on April 6 and that all roads would be built by summer. No other road contractor in the region contacted by SCT has record of receiving a tender offer. The Blinn's have advertised in their eBay "store" that many of the lots would be located on roads with names such as Beach Drive, White Sand Drive and Sea Breeze Drive. Some of the ads have asserted that the roads were already built.
     Ginette d'Eon,  inspector specialist with the Yarmouth office of the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labor (NSEL), has recently visited the site with Department of Natural Resources biologist Peter MacDonald. d'Eon told SCT that, pursuant to recent changes in environmental protection policy, the protocol for receiving a permit to disturb any wetlands area in the region is much more complex and onerous and includes retaining experts in wetlands ecology and hydrology and submitting complete reports on reasons, nature, alternatives, impacts and mitigation considered. Before building the proposed roads - or the 20-plus private driveways planned - a developer, contractor or land owner would have to apply for a permit to gain Wetland Alteration Approval to alter the wetlands.
     The department describes wetlands as "a particularly sensitive habitat" and opines that "alteration of wetlands can cause a significant adverse environmental effect." Anyone in Nova Scotia planning an alteration to a wetland requires an approval from NSEL.  Alteration is described as filling, draining, flooding, or excavating a wetland. 
     Recent stories in the Halifax Herald, Shelburne County Coast Guard, Nova News Now, Nova Scotia Business Journal and Nova Scotia Today have described at least three recent lawsuits for fraud and deception against Blinns, citing allegedly unlawful selling practices through their eBay internet auction site, called "Nova Scotia Land Sales". 
     The Blinns are also named as plaintiffs in a defamation suit in which a Truro lawyer has said she was wrongly accused as "...fraudulent in her business dealings, a huckster who has acted with criminal dishonesty in her dealings with her real estate clients" and that the Port Clyde (Nova Scotia) land Ms. Blinn was selling over EBay "was misrepresented on her Internet advertisement." (see more in NEWS section)
     The Seaside Breezes development includes at least 96 lots - sold also on the Blinn's "Nova Scotia Land Sales" eBay site. The firm is not registered as a company with Nova Scotia Joint Stocks. A Nova Scotia numbered company with Carmen Blinn as president and agent is listed in land registry files as owner of some of the Seaside Breezes land and is both plaintiff and defendant in the growing number of lawsuits surrounding the couple's online sales efforts.. 
       A countersuit to some of the above actions is scheduled to be filed with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court on April 16 in which the Blinns are apparently to be charged with more than twenty instances of defamation, slander and interference with business. SCT (see more in NEWS section)    >>>see The Bog for background stories

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• Yeah, it's the tax man... property tax assessment and appeals problems. 30-year West Sable Sable River denizen David Underwood described in detail a laborious and painful process of unfair and arbitrary tax hikes and his Sysifusian labour at righting the errant, speeding ship of provincial land taxation. Underwood requested help from the Council in his upcoming hearing appealing the massive assessment increases (2000%) in his "valuable" oceanview property (Sable River bogland with a rustic cabin, according to Underwood). Stating what everyone in the room knew,  councilman McIntyre opined "You're getting shafted!" 
• $26,000 paycheck for Warden?? (again!). $700 pay raise for Council and $7,000 jump for Warden Scott proffered. Councilpersons Davis and Van Buskirk should get the "yeoman's prize" for flogging the proverbial horse" of stewardship pay increases for their constant and continued efforts beyond the call of duty to get warden Paulette Scott a hefty raise. This is the third time the big pay hike has come before Council in as many months, and since opposition to it - surprise, surprise - was strongly voiced yet again and forced a timely retreat, we shall it revived soon via a new and improved staff report (the last one had the hikes costing an added $41,000 per year).  
• In line for a Pulitzer? SWSDA directs confusing history re-write. request o change 2003 action to appoint board members. Huh?? in a scene from a modern day Keystone Cops, Council debated at length a request from Frank Anderson (yes, that one) at Southwest Shore Development Authority to revise recent history to say that Council's SWSDA members were not appointed (as they have been for eons, according to long-time members Nickerson and Davis), but were elected. The ensuing debacle of confusion, misinformation, half and less-than-that nuggets of truth confused council and spectators (full house) alike. 
        CAO Ridgely's insistence that the matter was "quite simple" was belied by the council's confusion about the difference between "elected", "nominated", "appointed" and "approved" and between the actions of council, SWSDA board, SWSDA executive and SWSDA CEO Frank Anderson. Despite having been served notice prior to the meeting of an impending lawsuit regarding "illegal conveyance" by SWSDA of real estate holdings in the name of the council, none of the councilors or staff admitted to knowing what everyone else in the room knew - that this was SWSDA's way of "revising" the facts of their composition ("elected" by SWSDA vs."appointed" by Councils), in order to circumvent the recent clear ruling (now in Supreme Court) that they were subject to the provincial public records act. The Council seems desperately to want to avoid the oncoming train of lawsuits heading their way vis-a-vis their tortured relationship with SWSDA.
• Youth Centre scramble... Council voted to approve staff to negotiate with mystery buyer of former Boy's School. Warden Scott denied that she has met or knows of the buyers of the Youth centre (Shelburne Place), but pushed for adoption of a motion to begin negotiations with the phantom group (a numbered Nova Scotia Company) and to hire Halifax law giants Cox & Palmer to oversee the legalities. Scott and council have met several times with Ralston Macdonnell, who delivered the winning Team Shelburne proposal to Frank Anderson in Halifax minutes before the tender deadline (widely advertised as having to be submitted in Shelburne). Lockeport mayor Darian Huskilson recently quit as chair of Team Shelburne, citing the "backroom dealings" of Scott and others in the deal.
• We did NOT meet with that man... well, maybe we did... oh, you mean THAT meeting?... Warden and CAO deny meeting with bio-fuel tenant for base in Sandy Point..  when pressed by Pat Nickerson to confirm press reports (Shelburne County TODAY) that Bridgewater and PEI-based ethanol and basalt entrepreneur Mark Lowe had "met with municipal council", warden Scott firmly denied such was the case. What she did not say, was that she and CAO Ridgely, who also remained mum, had definitely met with Lowe, as was reported accurately in SCT. Nickerson agreed after the meeting that she may have misread the news story but was interested to know if any meetings with Lowe and municipal officials had taken place.
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