Belleville Mayor to Seek Re-Election

It’s official…..the Mayor’s name will be on the ballot when Belleville residents head to the polls to elect a new city council in November of next year . Mayor Neil Ellis announced his intentions for re-election during an interview in his office at City Hall yesterday. The Mayor says he’s pasionate about the job and honoured to lead the city….adding he wants to see a number of big infrastructure projects…such as the Bell Boulevard Bridge, the Quinte Sports Centre Multi-plex and Thurlow Water Tower…through to completion. PEC Mayor Leo Finnegan announced this week he won’t seek re-election and QW Mayor John Williams isn’t announcing his intentions at this time.

Nortel Pensioners Rally in Belleville Today

A group of retired Nortel employees will be looking for support from the Federal Government when they rally outside local MP Daryl Kramp’s office in Belleville today. Spokesman Lorenza Doucet, a Nortel pensioner, tells our newsroom the Ad-Hoc rally will be looking for help from all political parties with regards to lost benefits. The group will be outside Kramps’ Millenium Parkway office between 1:30 and 2:30 today.

Big Turnout for Wind Power Meeting in Picton

Over 30 people made formal presentations to Prince Edward County Council for five hours on proposed wind farms before a crowd of 300, in Picton last night. Most in the crowd were against wind farms, but, many were in favour. Those against say big wind turbines will ruin the County’s beautiful countryside, and wreck the tourist economy, and hurt real estate values.  Those for them cited clean, renewable energy, and a commitment to future generations as reasons to allow them. If all proposed wind farms, both off shore and on land were allowed,  Prince Edward County could be home to over 300 wind turbines.

Local Murder Suspect Was a Hero in Pembroke

A Picton man…..charged with murdering a young Picton mother earlier this month….was being hailed as a hero this spring in Pembroke.  The Daily Observer quotes 32-year old Mark Chapman as saying he left a friend’s apartment and was on his way to his own apartment in May when he noticed a fire and started kicking in doors and pulling nine people to safety. 60-people, including Chapman, were left homeless after the massive blaze. Chapman and Kevin Ruttan, of no fixed address, were charged last week with first degree murder in the death of 26-year old Steffany Gardiner.  He body was found on the beach at Papineau Lake September 19th.

Greater Napanee Council looking at future of pools

Greater Napanee council will consider four options for providing pool facilities in the future.

Council met with a small group of people last night, and Mayor Gordon Schermerhorn says the town will ask the federal and provincial governments for financial help..

Council, which operates two pools in Napanee, can build a new facility, fix the outdoor Rotary pool, extend the lease for the indoor Collins Court pool or completely get out of providing acquatics.

Council plans to discuss the issue further at meetings this fall.

Vehicle breakins continue in Belleville

Another day, and a lot more reports about vehicles being broken into in Belleville.

City Police say they investigated thefts from 18 cars in the east end yesterday.

Most of the vehicles were left unlocked on Sunday night.

Wallets, a camera,  loose change, compact discs and d-v-d’s were stolen.

A month of rain in two days in Quinte

It has been a month’s worth of rain in Quinte since yesterday morning.

An official at the C-F-B Trenton Weather Office says 76 millimetres of rain fell between early Monday and eight o’clock this morning..

There had been less than ten millimetres of rain in the first 27 days of September until it started yesterday.

The average September rainfall at the base is 76 millimetres.

New area code coming to Eastern Ontario

A new area code is coming to the Quinte area and the rest of Eastern Ontario next May..

The C-R-T-C says the new area code within the 6-1-3 boundaries will meet the continuously growing demand for new telephone numbers.

The Director of the Canadian Numbering Administration, Glen Pilley, says millions of additional telephone numbers will be provided without affecting existing numbers.

The new 3-4-3 code responds to the high demand for new numbers resulting from the growing popularity of wireless services, the Internet and I-P telephony.

Men arrested fighting outside Trenton business with one assaulting police

Quinte West O-P-P have arrested two men fighting in Trenton, including one who took his anger out on the police.

Officers responded at ten o’clock last night to a report of 10 to 15 people fighting outside a business. However, only four people were actually involved, and two of them were the instigators.

One of the suspects struggled while being arrested and assaulted the officers, and continued struggling and kicking at police after being put into the back of the cruiser. A 22-year-old man from Vaughn, north of Toronto, was charged with assaulting police, obstructing police and causing a disturbance.

A 27-year-old Brighton man was charged with being intoxicated in a public place.

Man seriously injured in Prince Edward County traffic accident

A man has been seriously injured in a two-vehicle accident in southeast Prince Edward County.

The O-P-P say a tractor-trailer and a pickup truck collided on Long Point Road, near Babylon Road, east of South Bay, yesterday afternoon.

The pickup driver was extricated and taken to Kingston General Hospital, where he’s in the Intensive Care Unit with serious injuries.

The tractor-trailer driver wasn’t hurt. The O-P-P continue to investigate the cause of the crash.