THAT HAPPENED

Participants disembark from a bus during a festival tour held as part of the 50th anniversary of the Shag Harbour UFO incident. There’s some old people, we give them lobsters.” MacDonald said he didn’t think the fire was caused by any of the non-native fishermen he fished with, saying many had called him to say they were sorry this had happened to him.

RCMP were investigating two suspicious vessel fires in Digby County

By the time Alex McDonald discovered his boat was missing from the Comeauville wharf on Oct. 9 – and was later observed at sea by DFO on fire before sinking – the RCMP already had declared another boat fire in Digby County to be suspicious. This one occurred in Weymouth North Oct. 5. The Weymouth Fire Department responded to the blaze at about 7:20 in the morning. “The fire was contained to the boat’s wheelhouse, where it would have originated,” said Weymouth Fire Chief Roy Mullen. The boat was out of the water at the Weymouth 1

An online housing survey – part of a housing needs assessment for an area of western Nova Scotia covering five counties and part of a sixth – was launched. 3

The 84th Independent Field Battery in Yarmouth held an open house as part of nationwide effort to promote the army reserve.

Yarmouth’s Ryan Graves played in three NHL pre-season exhibition games and once again went deep on the roster during the New York Rangers’ training camp.

Crosswalk flags were stolen from three separate crosswalks in downtown Digby. The 30 flags stolen were part of a safety program initiated to increase safety at three of Digby’s busiest crossings

North slip, where it had just been painted. Later, when interviewed by The Vanguard after losing his own vessel to a suspicious fire, Alex McDonald said he knew the owner of the boat involved in the Weymouth North blaze, saying it was a non-native vessel. “He’s a nice guy,” he said. “We’re at the same wharf during the fishing season.”

Questions about proposed new Yarmouth arts centre were raised at public session

Location, size, cost and parking were among the questions raised during a public meeting to discuss the Town of Yarmouth’s plans for a new arts centre. The town had chosen the Collins Street parking lot as the site for the proposed facility. Architect Brian MacKay-Lyons went over some of the work his firm had done following some stakeholder sessions. There was no specific design yet, but he presented some examples of possibilities. The proposed facility would include two theatres: a 500-seat auditorium and a 200-seat performance venue. For many at the meeting, parking was an issue. The proposed centre included 115 underground parking spaces. Many also wondered just how practical the project was.

Amid concerns about Cape Sable Island Causeway, province was doing engineering assessment

Humps and bumps and ripples in the road surface, along with sinkholes on the walking trail, had many people in western Shelburne County wondering and worrying about the Cape Sable Island Causeway. The causeway, which opened in 1949, had been a concern for various reasons for many years. A spokesman for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal said an engineering assessment of the causeway was being completed, which should help identify the cause of the problem and the work required. In the more immediate future, some patching on an area of settlement was planned. Barrington Warden Eddie Nickerson said the issues with the causeway had to be addressed. “Every time we talk to TIR we talk about the causeway,” he said. “Hopefully this time it gets addressed.”

Cat ferry season was over, engine problems had impacted schedule

Bay Ferries carried 41,462 passengers during its 2017 Cat ferry season between Yarmouth and Portland, up from 35,551 passengers in 2016. The company had anticipated higher numbers in 2017, but the season had been impacted by a failure on June 28 of The Cat’s starboard outer main engine, which necessitated significant modifications to the sailing schedule, both in terms of reduced crossings and some cancelled crossings. The engine could not be fixed until the season ended. A secondary engine issue in August, which was repaired, also had resulted in a few cancelled crossings. Overall, the ship did 84 round trips rather than the 112 that had been scheduled. Still, Mark MacDonald, Bay Ferries’ chairman and CEO, said the company was “very pleased with the steady growth” the service had experienced.