Owen Sound Sun Times

The board of health for the Grey Bruce Health Unit has ratified new two-year collective agreements with three bargaining units, which cover a combined 122 staff at public health. The collective agreements with the Ontario Nurses’ Association, Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union-ProTech and OPSEU Support each include wage increases of one per cent in Year […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit is urging people to heed public health recommendations before they become provincial regulations on Boxing Day and nix holiday celebrations planned outside of the household. “It really boils down to asking ourselves where have the majority of transmissions happened in Grey-Bruce? They’ve happened in small household type settings,” said Ian […]

A city committee is recommending council authorize moving to the next planning stage of a proposal to renovate the historic, 115-year-old chapel at Owen Sound’s Greenwood Cemetery and include a 387-niche columbarium inside. The community services committee supported proceeding to the design and engineering stage of the project in 2021 after receiving a staff-prepared business […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit reported two new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, one in Southgate and one in The Blue Mountains. There are currently 26 active cases, 12 probable active cases and 149 high-risk contacts of active cases in the region. Three patients with COVID-19 are currently hospitalized, one less than yesterday. No deaths have […]

Bluewater District School Board elementary and secondary school students will start virtual learning Jan. 4 to Jan. 8, right after the holiday break. As provincial plans are set now, elementary school students will return to their classrooms Jan. 11 in person, while secondary school students remain home and continue with virtual learning until Jan. 25. […]

The Bruce Trail Conservancy has made one of its most significant acquisitions by securing a 533-acre piece of Bruce Peninsula wilderness at Cape Chin. The property includes a 270-degree view of Georgian Bay and the Niagara Escarpment cliffs, approximately 1.5-kilometres of optimum Bruce Trail route and is habitat for several species at risk. Bruce Trail […]

Safe Restart Agreement funding announced for the Huron-Bruce riding Dec. 18 will help municipalities avoid deficits caused by COVID-19 expenses. It’s part of $695 million set aside across the province, building on the first phase of the federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement announced this summer. “The money will help municipal councils in Huron-Bruce to develop a […]

Grey Bruce OPP charged a 35-year-old man with attempted murder, arson and uttering threats following what police said was a suspicious fire in Southgate Township earlier this month. Police said in a news release Tuesday that they were dispatched to the scene at 2:49 p.m. Dec. 11. The fire was at a residence on Southgate […]

Less than a week after it opened its ski hills, Blue Mountain Resort will shut them down to comply with a provincewide lockdown to try to curb the spread of COVID-19. The resort opened some lifts and runs for the season on Saturday morning with capacity limits and health measures in place, but announced Monday […]

From the yellow zone to full-blown shutdown, the Grey-Bruce region will wake up locked down on Boxing Day. The provincial government announced Monday it will pause its colour-coded COVID-19 Response Framework in favour of a provincewide shutdown a minute after midnight on Dec. 26. The shutdown will essentially mirror the provincewide restrictions put in place […]

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Dec. 21 that schools aren’t to blame for much COVID spread, but he’s extending students’ Christmas break by one week to Jan. 11. Grey-Bruce elementary school kids may return to their classrooms Jan. 11, while secondary school students will start remote learning Jan. 11 until Jan. 25, when they […]

The flag at the former OSCVI will fly at half-staff in honour of Barry Boley, a long-time high school teacher and football and basketball coach who’s described by those who knew him as a mentor, dedicated educator and devoted family man. Mr. Boley died Saturday night of cancer at his Owen Sound home. He was […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit reported five new cases of COVID-19 Monday and declared the COVID-19 outbreak at Lee Manor in Owen Sound over. The outbreak at the long-term care home was declared on Dec. 11 when a staff member tested positive for the virus. No others tested positive inside the facility. COVID-19 outbreaks declared […]

People poured into stores in anticipation of a lockdown even before the province made it official Monday afternoon. Owen Sound Zehrs store manager Cynthia Dawson said customers started to arrive in droves shortly after opening. “We’re lined up out the door and tons of people are heading out. We are obviously maintaining out capacity at […]

The field hospital is to remain at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre for the foreseeable future. GBHS president and chief executive officer Gary Sims said on Monday that they had hoped that if all indicators around the pandemic were good in early December, they may actually be able to take the field hospital down, […]

The three hospital corporations in Grey-Bruce are appealing to Grey-Bruce residents to follow public health guidance to slow the spread of COVID-19. On Monday, Grey Bruce Health Services, Hanover and District Hospital and South Bruce Grey Health Centre issued a joint statement in which they said they have seen a surge in occupancy in recent […]

The Salvation Army’s annual Christmas Day dinner will be distributed from a truck this year, served by OSHaRE and Salvation Army staff combined on Friday. Public health protocols intended to limit the spread of COVID-19 won’t let guests dine together this year at the citadel. But a hot, take-out meal will be waiting for them […]

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at the Errinrung Long-Term Care Home after a staff member there tested positive for the virus. The Grey Bruce Health Unit reported the outbreak on Sunday, when six more cases of the virus were reported in residents of Grey-Bruce – two in Arran-Elderslie and one each in Owen Sound, […]

While heading outdoors and counting birds may seem like an ideal way to pass time when physical distancing and isolating from others is being encouraged, even it has had its challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Saturday, the 50th annual Owen Sound Christmas Bird Count was held around the city, with more than 30 volunteers […]

Santa made a pre-Christmas appearance at half-a-dozen seniors homes in Owen Sound on Sunday morning. But it was a crew of helpers driving pickup trucks that were bearing gifts for the residents of the homes. Rebecca Macdonald, a bookkeeper at Richard’s No Frills, and Heather Eyselein, owner of The Admiral’s Barbershop, teamed up to lead […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit was reporting eight new cases of COVID-19 in the region on Saturday, including an outbreak among staff at The Village Seniors Long-Term Care in Hanover. The cases, recorded in the 24 hours prior to 3:30 p.m., include two residents of West Grey, two residents of Owen Sound and one case […]

With capacity restrictions and health measures in place, Blue Mountain Resort began welcoming skiers and snowboarders to its slopes on Saturday. Due to a mild November, the season got going later than normal, but President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Skelton said Saturday morning that it was in a way a blessing for the ski […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit reported three new cases of COVID-19 Friday. The newest cases were found in West Grey, Meaford and South Bruce. There are now 29 active cases in the region with six probable cases and 200 high-risk contacts. Four people with COVID-19 are being treated at local hospitals. No deaths have been […]

The South Bruce Grey Health Centre has selected the CT scanner model it hopes to have installed at the Kincardine hospital next year. Earlier this month, the board of directors for the SBGHC chose the Edge Plus CT scanner from Siemens as the model that will be installed at the hospital. It is anticipated that […]

If the back-to-school test in Grey-Bruce was to prevent transmission of COVID-19 inside the classroom then students, staff, parents and public health are taking home full marks ahead of the holiday break. There have been several cases associated with schools in the region, but the Grey Bruce Health Unit has found no evidence of person-to-person […]

Charges against a 30-year-old man suspected of smoking up in the OPP parking lot in Wiarton then fleeing from police, and later with trafficking cannabis from a shop at Sauble Beach, were withdrawn because the suspect died, court staff said Friday. Grey Bruce OPP charged Mustafa Khedri, of South Bruce Peninsula in both incidents. First […]

The annual city firefighters’ toy drive was a success again this year. Friday had been targeted as the day families would pick up their bags of toys. But that was deemed unwise due to COVID-19, given more than two hundred people would have lined up at the market building to get them. Instead, they had […]

Chapman’s Ice Cream of Markdale has spent nearly a half-century building a business atop the pillars of cold storage and cold-chain distribution logistics. Those decades of experience moving ice cream from production in Markdale to the freezers of homes and restaurants across the country have uniquely positioned Chapman’s to help put an end to the […]

Six new cases of COVID-19 were reported by the Grey Bruce Health Unit Thursday. Hanover had two of the new cases. Others were found in Meaford, West Grey, Brockton and South Bruce. There are now 34 active cases of COVID-19 in the region along with six probable cases and 205 high-risk contacts. Four people with […]

The Inter Township Fire Department is hoping to keep a fire truck at Owen Sound’s fire hall, despite the 10th Street bridge being open again. Representatives with Georgian Bluffs and Meaford plan to meet with City of Owen Sound officials to discuss keeping one of their trucks at the fire hall on the city’s east […]

Santa came early to Grey-Bruce and he brought a sack of COVID-19 relief cash for local municipalities. The provincial and federal funding included more than $1 million for Hanover, $619,000 for Grey County, $500,000 for Bruce, ringing in at $2.972 million for 13 local municipalities. Municipalities can use the money at their discretion to avoid […]

Jessica Hastings-Lesperance knew she wanted to help raise money and awareness for mental health initiatives, but didn’t know where to start. So when staff members from the Owen Sound hospital’s mental health and addictions department began talking about their work inside Hastings-Lesperance’s Cedar Wellness Studio yoga class, it seemed like a serendipitous moment. “It was […]

Two studies of the municipal biodigester jointly owned and operated by Georgian Bluffs and Chatsworth are to be combined into one. On Wednesday, Georgian Bluffs council approved a motion that will see an assessment of the biodigester – including the possibility of temporarily mothballing the facility — become an extension of a biodigester feasibility study […]

Georgian Bluffs has adopted its new recreation and trails master plan. Council passed a bylaw Wednesday to adopt the plan, which provides council and staff with direction for its recreational assets over the next decade. “It is a living document and it is good that we have it done,” Mayor Dwight Burley said Thursday. “It […]

A surprise parade Thursday morning acknowledged nine months of living and working during the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on everyone, but people’s efforts are appreciated. Fire trucks, ambulances, police cars and others drove past the health unit, one of 18 parade stops. Vehicle lights flashed and sirens and horns blasted in appreciation. One van […]

A luxury camping retreat proposed for a 25-acre patch of farm and woodland in Meaford cleared another hurdle Monday, but some neighbours are protesting the project. At its final regular council meeting of 2020, Meaford council passed a bylaw to grant site plan approval and authorize the execution of a site plan agreement with the […]

The Grey Bruce Health Unit reported nine new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday. The newest cases were found in Southgate (2), Owen Sound (2), Arran Elderslie (2), Saugeen Shores, Huron-Kinloss and Brockton. There are now 33 active cases in the region with six probable cases and 232 high-risk contacts. Four people with a confirmed case of […]

The St. Mary’s and the Missions Catholic parish anticipates receiving a permit any day now to demolish its historic 148-year-old rectory in Owen Sound and make way for the construction of a new, accessible church residence. Neil Devlin, the parish’s building committee chair, said asbestos abatement work in the now-vacant rectory, next to St. Mary’s […]

A remastered and expanded version of Queen’s Hotel Blues, the 2007 documentary about the turmoil surrounding the demolition of a controversial downtown Owen Sound landmark, will be available for download Dec. 20. Filmmaker Graeme Bachiu added several minutes to the original 25-minute doc, and added bonus features including uncut interviews with some of the players […]

The other day I sat at a cafe and drank coffee and wrote and I don’t feel even a little bad about it. Before I tell you about my lovely experience at the cafe, I’m going to hit you all with my COVID edits because these have become a part of every conversation that I […]

A lover of the outdoors, conservation and teaching, Fred Geberdt died Tuesday of cancer. He was 79. Mr. Geberdt survived a few bouts of cancer since kidney cancer was diagnosed 16 years ago. When it came back as a brain tumour it proved too much, his son Chris Geberdt said. He died at his east […]

A large, bright yellow sharps disposal kiosk has been installed in downtown Owen Sound. The kiosk is part of a one-year pilot project aimed at reducing the amount of discarded needles and other sharps found in public places in the city and increasing the rate of return of sharps provided through public health’s needle syringe […]

Two new cases of COVID-19, in Meaford and The Blue Mountains, were reported by the Grey Bruce Health Unit Tuesday. There are now 31 active cases in the two counties as well as six probable cases and 231 high-risk contacts associated with the active cases. Probable cases are listed when a close contact of an […]

South Bruce OPP has called on the public to help find a stolen $29,000 snowmobile. The purple and white Polaris Assault 850 snowmobile was taken from the bed of a pickup truck parked on Absalom Street in Mildmay. Police said it was taken between 1 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. Sunday, a theft reported later that […]

Jeannette Cannon of Port Elgin hopes that telling others a bit about what her mother went through during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 will help see them through the COVID-19 pandemic. Cannon has helped piece together the details of her family’s own tragic experiences during the Spanish Flu pandemic for a new exhibit at […]

An idea to string Christmas lights over a tree in Hepworth’s memorial park in honour of loved ones must have struck a chord in people’s hearts. Sunday 75 people gathered to watch a tree near the Hepworth cenotaph lit up after nearly 40 donors raised more than $20,000 in a few weeks – nearly triple […]

A driver who failed to stop for police is facing charges after police were dispatched to a report of an erratic driver on Highway 6 in Georgian Bluffs Monday. Grey Bruce OPP Const. Adam Belanger said a red vehicle was witnessed driving above and below 80 kilometres per hour south of Shallow Lake. “OPP officers […]

There will be music in the Owen Sound Farmers’ Market square on two dates this week. The city says following the success of its free, socially distanced lunchtime concert series Music at the Market this fall, it has scheduled free holiday performances Dec. 17 featuring Moondance and Dec. 18 with Coco Love Alcorn. The concerts […]

West Grey police charged a 20-year-old Hanover man after witnesses reported an erratic driver Sunday. A black Volkswagen Jetta was seen driving fast and “swerving all over the road” about 3:35 p.m., eastbound on Grey Rd. 4 in West Grey. As witnesses followed at a safe distance and updated police dispatchers, the Jetta crossed the […]