2021-02-10

LOCAL BRIEFS

Cookville RCMP cellblock upgrades cost $10,000

The Lunenburg district RCMP jail cells at the Cookville detachment recently reopened following a five-figure renovation. So-called "clients" of the police were taken to other available cells in Lunenburg County during the closure, which lasted from January 18 to 25. The Bridgewater Police Service - a municipal department - doesn't have its own holding cells, so during the closure prisoners were taken to next nearest detachment, near Chester. Changes in Cookville "were required to ensure the cells meet current RCMP standards," Cpl. Lisa Croteau, a spokeswoman for the province's RCMP, said in an email to LighthouseNOW. She said the cost of the work was about $10,000. Croteau declined to say what pre-renovation standards weren't being upheld that prompted the job.

New passing lanes coming to Highway 103

While one smaller project wraps up, work on another Highway 103 job is expected to last into the early days of summer. By January 31, the province's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal expected to see "some brush clearing" finished between the Danesville and Middlewood community boundary and the exit in Middlewood where the Hirtle Road and Camperdown School Road intersect. The project impacting the six-kilometre-long strip resulted in temporary, alternating lane closures. The goal of the work was to improve visibility, Peter McLaughlin, a spokesman for the department, told LighthouseNOW in an email. Meanwhile "access improvements" between the Oakland and Chester Basin exits was identified in a recent highway improvement report released by the province. "The department is beginning construction of passing lanes between Exit 9 and 10," McLaughlin said. This project also means alternating lane closures through to June 30. Both items "are part of the ongoing work we are doing to make Highway 103 safer for motorists," he said.

Two seriously hurt in Bridgewater crash

Two people sustained injuries the Bridgewater Police Service (BPS) consider serious as a result of a head-on accident in mid-January on north King Street. "Two young males and one adult female" were taken to hospital in Bridgewater by ambulance, police said in a statement. All occupants are from the "Bridgewater and surrounding area," Scott Feener, the town's police chief, told LighthouseNOW in an email. Just before the lunch-hour on January 18, emergency crews, including paramedics, BPS, and the town's volunteer fire department, were sent to a section of King Street on the town's west side - between Starr Street and Victoria Road - where a Pontiac Wave and Nissan Rogue collided. Firefighters used specialized extrication tools to free both drivers. Procedures to open a vehicle door and move a dashboard took place. An examination into the matter was ongoing, and there was no immediate word on patient conditions nor whether charges would be filed.