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01 | 05 | 2017 VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 01
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR NEW PRACTICE VENTURE PAGE 14
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Conversion plan for new LED streetlights gets the nod from Wellesley council WHITNEY NEILSON STREETLIGHTS IN WELLESLEY TOWNSHIP will receive a facelift for the new year, council decided Tuesday night. Some 537 light fixtures in the township will be replaced with LED lights over the course of the year in an effort to reduce energy consumption, bring down maintenance costs and increase the lights’ lifetime. Fairway Electrical was awarded the contract to complete the work and it’s expected to be largely completed by the end of the year. Coun. Carl Smit asked Kevin Beggs of the public works department if the township would be adding the SmartCity controls, which Kitchener has gone ahead with for their LED streetlight conversion. Smart controls allow municipalities to monitor outages in real time. They also give municipalities full control over dimming specific lights remotely. “It’s pretty new technology. I’m not saying in the future we may not. We may add that to them. But right now I think it’s pretty new and I don’t see the advantage to the township,” Beggs said. The total cost to replace the lights is $164,040, which includes a contingency. The project will be funded LED | 2
A trailer was burned to the ground in an early morning fire on Dec. 31 at the West Montrose Family Campground. Fourteen other trailers were either broken into or vandalized. Police are asking for the public’s help with locating two suspects they believe to be responsible. [LIZ BEVAN / THE OBSERVER]
Police seeking suspects in West Montrose trailer fire, vandalism and break-ins
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LIZ BEVAN WATERLOO REGIONAL POLICE ARE following footprints in the snow, looking for evidence in a New Year’s Eve fire and a rash of breakins at a West Montrose trailer park. Around 6 a.m. on Dec. 31, Woolwich firefighters were called to the West Montrose Family Campground on Line 86 for reports of a structure fire. After extinguishing the flames at the
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scene, authorities noted that 14 other trailers had either been damaged by vandals, or broken into. Staff Sgt. Mike Haffner said there were footprints in the snow that lead police to believe all 15 incidents are related. “There appears to be footprints from the pumping station (at the campground) where it looks like a vehicle was parked, two sets of footprints come into the campgrounds and whether it be damage or rummag-
ing through, 14 unoccupied trailers. There is nothing to say that they are absolutely related, but the footprints led from trailer to trailer and to the area that there was the fire. We believe that they are associated,” he said, adding other properties were damaged by the fire. “Authorities found one of the trailers engulfed in flames. There was damage to the two neighbouring trailers as well. They are close together.” FIRE | 24
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