TENTS FOR HOMELESS
PAGE
5
$69K OF DRUGS SEIZED PAGE
STRATFORD VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 47
FREE
JULY 10, 2026
Jennifer Anderson
Jamie Gerber
519-301-2736
519-276-7995
Team Leader - BROKER
18
CELEBRATING 20 YEARS! ANNIVERSARY
REALTOR®
1020 Ontario St., Stratford 519-275-3413 www.eyestobuyoptical.ca
AndersonRealEstateGroup.ca
SALE See store for details
EYE EXAMS ON SITE
FRAMES START AT $60
Clean up continues after Canada Day windstorm CONNOR LUCZKA
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A week after 100-kilometre wind gusts ripped through Ontario, the City of Stratford is still cleaning up. On July 1, right after Canada Day celebrations wrapped up at Market Square, a rainstorm hit much of southwestern Ontario, including Stratford. About an hour before the annual Canada Day parade started, wind exceeding speeds of 100 kilometres an hour caused widespread damage throughout the city. “Storms with wind speeds at 100-plus kilometres an hour causing tree damage is not a surprise,” Quin Malott, manager of parks, forestry and cemetery with the city, wrote to the Times. “There was property damage to porches, cars and fences and hydro stacks from shear wind and fallen trees and limbs.” According to Const. Darren Fischer, community resource and media relations officer with the Stratford Police Service, local police were bombarded with calls during the storm. They received over 100 911 calls within half an hour. “Ultimately, there were only a couple that truly required a police response,” Fischer said. “Most of the calls were notifications that power was out in various areas, trees were down on various properties and hydro lines were down. Two of the more significant calls were regarding a tree that came down onto a CONTINUED TO PAGE 3
(CONNOR LUCZKA PHOTO)
Members of the Barkery float wave during the Canada Day parade on July 1. For more photos of the parade, see our photo spread on page 4. For our coverage of the Barkery's 25th anniversary, see page 7.
County council rejects integrity commissioner's sanctions for Ehgoetz GALEN SIMMONS Regional Editor
Perth County council has declined to formally reprimand Coun. Rhonda Ehgoetz or suspend her pay after the county's integrity commissioner found she breached multiple provisions of council's code of conduct stemming from a contentious forestry bylaw debate earlier this year. Instead, following a presentation by integrity commissioner John Mascarin and lead investigator Meghan
Cowan of Aird & Berlis LLP at its July 2 meeting, council voted only to require Ehgoetz to remove the Facebook posts that formed part of the investigation. Council voted against recommendations to formally reprimand Ehgoetz and suspend her remuneration for 20 days. The investigation arose from three formal code-of-conduct complaints related to Ehgoetz's actions before and after a special county council meeting on Feb. 12, when council debated the future of the county's forestry bylaw. Those complaints focused on an email Ehgoetz sent to CONTINUED TO PAGE 2