Owen Sound Sun Times

Grey-Bruce’s medical officer of health would like to see students return to the classroom as soon as possible. On Tuesday, Ontario’s top doctor, Dr. David Williams, advocated a return to in-person learning before the province enters Step 1 of its reopening strategy, projected to happen June 14. “My position has been always, like our public […]

The SweetWater Music Festival is launching its 18th season with a virtual concert featuring two artists who first performed together more than 20 years ago. The spring musical event, Up Close and Personal with Edwin Huizinga and Philip Chiu, is set to premier Friday at 7:30 p.m. “Philip and I performed together for the first […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit is again warning of opioid overdoses in Grey-Bruce, after at least nine non-fatal overdoses were confirmed in the past week. The health unit sent an opioid alert to its system partners on Sunday after six overdoses were identified in the previous three days. Since the alert at least three more […]

Grey County has halted all activity related to a proposed transportation depot on a property adjacent to the Old Durham Road Black Pioneer Cemetery after concerns were raised by the committee that oversees the historic site. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the county said it had heard the concerns raised by the committee that […]

More than half of Grey County’s 122 paramedics have taken on additional responsibilities – from providing COVID-19 testing to helping out in long-term care homes – since the pandemic took hold in Ontario nearly 15 months ago. The remaining Grey County Paramedic Services’ staff supported those paramedics by picking up extra work when the additional […]

If there’s a Holy Grail of hockey cards it’s likely a mint-condition 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie card – – The Great One. An almost perfect version of the famous blue-bordered hockey card featuring a boyish-looking Wayne Gretzky on the front and his eye-popping rookie-season stats on the back sold for over $1 million at […]

For the first time in over two months, the Grey Bruce Health Unit reported no new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday. The last time a health unit situation report disclosed zero new cases of the infection was on March 18. Dr. Ian Arra, Grey-Bruce’s medical officer of health, said he doesn’t expect a surge of cases […]

Police in Grey-Bruce charged a number of people with stunt driving over the Victoria Day long weekend. On Monday, just after 9:30 p.m., two drivers were stopped on Highway 26 near Woodford Crescent in Meaford after two vehicles were following each other at a very high rate of speed, Grey-Bruce OPP said in a release. […]

A South Bruce Peninsula resident has been charged with impaired driving after getting stuck in the sand at Sauble Beach. Just before 9 p.m. on Thurday, police responded to a vehicle that was stuck on some rocks and sand at the beach in South Bruce Peninsula, Grey-Bruce OPP said in a news release. The driver […]

A woman from eastern Ontario faces numerous charges, including impaired driving and assaulting police, after colliding with a police cruiser in Chatsworth on Sunday evening. Just before 10 p.m., police stopped a vehicle that was going more than 170 kilometres per hour in a posted 80 km/h zone on Highway 10 south of the village […]

Police have arrested a third person in connection with the death of Kody Hunter last week in Owen Sound. Megan Hopkins, 27, of Owen Sound, was arrested on a charge of first degree murder, according to an OPP news release issued late Monday afternoon. She was arrested Sunday as part of the Grey Bruce Ontario […]

Three more COVID-19 cases were reported by the Grey Bruce Health Unit on Victoria Day Monday. There were two in Southgate and one in South Bruce Peninsula, bringing the cumulative total for Grey-Bruce to 1,336 cases, 38 of which are active. Cases reported were current up to midnight Sunday. There have been 378 local cases […]

The postponed Bruce Peninsula Sportsmen’s Association’s first Lures N Lines Spring Trout Derby is back on. The event will start at 12:01 a.m. Friday and run through June 6 at noon, club president Kevin Harders announced in a news release Saturday. “With the opening of golf this weekend we are confident that this can be done safely for the […]

Scattered pockets of people lounged on the sand at Sauble Beach Sunday, when the damp long weekend’s grey skies began to clear. But numbers were small, especially for a holiday weekend, and waits for ice cream and fries were short. Under the landmark Sauble Beach sign was another sign which read: “Beach Open. Gathering Max […]

Grey-Bruce added four cases of COVID-19 Sunday — two in Southgate and one each in Owen Sound and Grey Highlands. That brought the area’s cumulative, confirmed total to 1,333, of which 39 are active cases and 33 of those are variants of concern. In all, 378 variants of concern have been found in Grey-Bruce. The […]

A Durham man is the first recipient of the Walkerton Clean Water Legacy Award. Connor Maxwell, who will be entering his second year in environmental engineering at the University of Guelph, received a $1,000 scholarship. The Sacred Heart High School grad earned an environmental high-skills major there, competed nationally in several Canada-wide science fairs and […]

Police have charged a 39-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man with first-degree murder in the death of Kody Hunter last week in Owen Sound. Police charged Christie Currie, 39, of Chatsworth Township and Robert Jackson, 21, of Owen Sound. They remain in custody pending a bail hearing, an OPP news release issued early Saturday evening […]

It was a quiet Saturday with just two cases of COVID-19 reported by the Grey Bruce Health Unit. One confirmed case was in Owen Sound and the other in Kincardine, which brought Grey-Bruce’s cumulative and confirmed cases to 1,330, 44 of which are active. There are 156 active, high-risk contacts. Daily case counts were current […]

The 2021 Tommy Cooper Award winner, Lorie Smith, made a mark by expanding the 55th annual Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week and taking it fully online this year due to the pandemic. “Lorie has been the strength behind the Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week for the past 16 years, and she has built each year, strength upon […]

Hibou Conservation Area has been without a playground for a number of years. New equipment is coming though and could be installed this week, thanks to an initiative of the Optimist Club of Sydenham and District. After the site gets inspected, it will ready for the kids. The popular park just east of Owen Sound […]

Northern Bruce Peninsula’s integrity commissioner has found that evidence “falls far short” to support accusations that councillors colluded to dismiss Deputy-mayor Debbie Myles’s daughter from her town hall job. Myles’s complaint to town-appointed integrity commissioner, lawyer Harold Elston, alleged the dismissal “without cause” of her daughter, Cheri Hofstrand, was payback after the deputy-mayor earlier complained […]

Grey County’s Crown attorneys, like Crowns across the province, are struggling to keep up with a backlog of cases because COVID-19 ended trial work for several months last year. “Doesn’t matter to a lot of people, but it explains why we have difficulty responding quickly,” Grey County Crown attorney Leger said during a virtual court […]

A group seeking to preserve at least part of the 200-plus acre former Talisman Resort property presented its vision for the lands to Grey Highlands council Friday. The Friends of the Beaver Valley group, which has the backing of the Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy (EBC), is requesting a three-month delay of any potential sale of the […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit reported three new cases of COVID-19 Friday, with two in Southgate and one in South Bruce Peninsula. There are now 50 active and confirmed cases in the two counties including 41 involving a variant of concern. Two COVID-19 patients being followed by the health unit are hospitalized locally, and four […]

Owen Sound police charged an unlicensed 31-year-old woman after finding her slumped over the steering wheel of a car Thursday morning, according to a police news release. A caller reported the car in the 300 block of 14th Street West at 7:30 a.m., after noting it had been there for more than an hour and […]

The company behind a massive proposed waterfront development in Meaford said it will return to council with some changes after hearing several concerns from the public at a May 17 meeting. SkyDev, part of the Guelph-based Skyline Group of Companies, is proposing a development featuring a five-storey hotel and spa and nine residential buildings at […]

Many outdoor recreational amenities, including golf courses and tennis courts, will reopen Saturday in Ontario, and outdoor gathering limits will expand to five people. Premier Doug Ford made the announcement during a news conference Thursday afternoon while revealing a three-step “roadmap to reopening”. The gradual approach to reopening lessens restrictions as vaccinations in the adult […]

Residential Hospice Grey Bruce will have a new executive director next week. Janet Fairbridge succeeds Alex Hector, who will become executive director of South East Grey Community Health Centre in Markdale. Hospice board chair Paul Rowcliffe announced the appointment in a news release. He said Fairbridge was the foundation director of Hospice Georgian Triangle and […]

A third of the way through 2021, and in the midst of COVID-19’s third wave and vaccine rollout, Grey-Bruce’s medical officer of health is still working around the clock and unable to delegate legislated responsibilities to anyone else at the Grey Bruce Health Unit. Last year, while keeping watch over the public health unit “24/7” […]

A former director of operations and program development at the Grey Bruce Health Unit is suing the board of health for nearly $500,000, citing wrongful dismissal, breach of contract and moral and aggravated damages. In a statement of claim filed Jan. 15, 2021, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Karen Sweiger says she was […]

Lake Huron beach town officials are warning people to stay home this holiday weekend to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, as Ontario’s stay-at-home orders require most people to do. “Unfortunately, the pandemic is not over and as we work to get more of the population vaccinated, we all need to do our part by […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit reported seven new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday. The newest cases were found in Kincardine (2), West Grey (2), Southgate (2), and South Bruce Peninsula. There are now 54 active and confirmed cases in the two counties including 41 involving a variant of concern. Three COVID-19 patients being followed by the […]

A proposal to purchase and install a CT scanner at the Southampton hospital has taken a step forward. Ontario Health has confirmed that the proposal “is well aligned with both Ministry and Ontario Health priorities and sufficiently meets all identified requirements.” The government agency’s endorsement is required for the Ministry of Health to approve Grey […]

Owen Sound city council on Monday extended an exemption to the noise-control bylaw to allow construction equipment to operate on worksites on holidays between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. until Nov. 1. It’s a move in recognition that bad weather can reduce construction workers’ income and of lost time due to COVID-19. City staff recommended […]

Bruce Power is providing its fire training facility for Brockton’s new fire training centre. The facility, which is already available for training free of charge to municipal fire departments in Grey, Bruce and Huron counties, will help the centre with live fire training for volunteer firefighters, according to a news release from Bruce Power. “We […]

The need for emergency housing in Grey County soared in 2020 by 160 per cent over the previous year. COVID-19 was a factor in that increase, Anne Marie Shaw, Grey County’s housing director, told Owen Sound city council during a presentation Monday night that included an overview of her department’s work. There were 395 emergency […]

The Court of Appeal for Ontario has granted leave for South Bruce Peninsula to appeal its two convictions of damaging endangered piping plover habitat. No date for the appeal has been set. The little shorebirds at Sauble Beach have been in the midst of a row between the town and the Ministry of Natural Resources […]

Police were not releasing any more details on Tuesday about a homicide investigation into the death of a Holland Centre man. Owen Sound Police Insp. Jeff Fluney said Tuesday that he couldn’t provide any information beyond what was contained in a news release that was issued late Monday afternoon. In that release it said that […]

The puck is set to drop on the 2021-22 Ontario Hockey League season Oct. 7. The Ontario Hockey League recently announced key dates for the 2021-22 season including the upcoming draft taking place over two days, Friday, June 4 and Saturday, June 5. “It’s an exciting time for everyone as we turn our attention to […]

Grey Bruce Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Arra said it’s difficult to predict when the region’s vaccination progress will lead to a real flattening of new-case numbers in the two counties. Arra said with numbers already on the low side, it’s hard to make any inference. “With 100 cases a day you’ll see a […]

A Dundalk man has won $400,000 playing the OLG’s Instant Plinko game. Leslie Franks, a father and grandfather, won the prize after dropping a chip on a real Plinko board at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto. “I’ve been playing the lottery for decades,” Franks said in a news release from OLG. “This is my […]

While the move of the Brampton Excelsiors to Owen Sound awaits a final vote by the Ontario Lacrosse Association’s board of directors, one thing is now certain – they won’t play for a Mann Cup in 2021. The Major Series Lacrosse league in concert with the Western Lacrosse Association in British Columbia and Lacrosse Canada […]

A Southgate man has been charged with dangerous driving and failing to remain at the scene of a collision after a pedestrian fell from the hood of a car in Dundalk. On May 8, just after 3 p.m., Grey Bruce OPP responded about an injured pedestrian who was thrown from a moving vehicle on Bradley […]

A Holland Centre man is dead after an altercation in Owen Sound Sunday night, and police say they are investigating the case as a homicide. Shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday Owen Sound police responded to a report of an altercation in the 900 block of 6th Street East. When they arrived they found a man […]

The monument recognizing the more than 1,200 people buried in Potter’s Field at Greenwood Cemetery has been unveiled. On Monday, the volunteer committee overseeing the project announced that the cover had been taken off the monument. Constructed of solid granite and cast bronze, the monument was installed in December and covered for the winter, in […]

All Ontarians 18 and older will be able to book a COVID-19 test as of 8 a.m. Tuesday. The province announced Monday it would speed up its vaccination effort and make those 18 and older eligible a week ahead of schedule. Those who meet the criteria can book using the province’s online booking portal or […]

Concerned Grey Highlanders and conservationists are asking the municipality to delay any sale or development of more than 200 acres of land in the Beaver Valley so it may be preserved. In late April, the municipality began its Beaver Valley Planning Partnership seeking the public’s input about the future of the former Talisman Resort. The […]

With the rectory at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Owen Sound about to come down, the plants around the 148-year-old building have been saved to be admired by others. On Friday, a small group of volunteers removed a trailer load of plants from the gardens around the rectory and transplanted them at The Women’s […]

Four more COVID-19 cases were reported by the Grey Bruce Health Unit on Sunday, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the region to 1,294 since the pandemic began. The cases reported on Sunday included one each in Southgate, Owen Sound, The Blue Mountains and Saugeen Shores. The health unit reported eight new cases on […]

The families, staff and children at the Queen of Hearts nursery school have opened their hearts to help the Chapman House hospice by raising funds in honour of someone they were very close to. As of Saturday more than $18,000 had been raised by Team Queen of Hearts for the Residential Hospice of Grey Bruce […]