Top stories from Hants, Kings counties from July to December 2023
For many residents, the last half of 2023 was particularly challenging.
Tragedy struck in mid-July when a severe storm system resulted in the death of four local residents, three of which were youth. The search for the victims resulted in daily media coverage and national attention.
Weather was on the minds of many as we braced for storm after storm.
Flooding was significant throughout the summer and fall months.
The rising cost of living and the lack of affordable housing options resulted in increased homelessness and hardships throughout the province.
But despite the challenges, there were moments of hope and prosperity. The region rallied together, helping raise funds for various charities – the Terry Fox Run and Hants County Christmas Angels fundraisers both had their best years – and finding supports for those who had fallen on hard times.
Here’s a brief look at what and who was making the news in Hants and Kings counties between July and December 2023.
JULY
• A torrential storm resulted in three months’ worth of rainfall in a 24-hour period. The July 21-22 weather event resulted in flash flooding, predominately in West Hants and Halifax Regional Municipality. It damaged infrastructure, with several bridges destroyed, roads undermined and culverts washed out. An emergency evacuation order for all residents of the St. Croix river system was issued as the dam was at risk of breaching. In nearby Brooklyn, and surrounding communities, people had to be rescued from the floodwaters.
As morning came, the devastation was apparent – and a search for four missing
Hants County residents was launched. Search and rescue volunteers, firefighters and police officers were among those who spent days tirelessly searching for the missing.
• The bodies of the four individuals who died during the floodwaters were found, with the last victim being discovered on Aug. 1. The tragedy made national news nightly as the community struggled to make sense of the loss and honour the lives of Nick Holland, 52, Terri-Lynn Keddy, 14, and six-year-old friends Colton Sisco and Natalie Harnish.
Premier Tim Houston said: “We can rebuild roads, bridges and buildings but we can’t bring people back. The legacy for these floods will be the incredibly tragic loss of life.”
• Stories of daring rescues and the need for better cell reception and infrastructure appeared in the days and weeks that followed the flood.
Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister, also visited the region to get a firsthand look at the devastation.
• There was an outpouring of support for Jillian Jodrey and Andrew McKenzie after they lost their Woodville home to a late-night fire.
• Repair work was underway at the Falmouth Baptist Church after the historic building was struck by lightning in June and the steeple caught fire.
• A new survey helped shine a light on what rural homelessness looked like in the Annapolis Valley. Researchers Mary
Sweatman and Alisha Christie conducted a survey between Digby and West Hants in 2022 and discovered there were 231 people experiencing homelessness at the time of the study; 75 of which were children.
• Walkers Restaurant owners Joanne Barnett and AJ Reid announced they purchased Magic Pizza, located a few doors down on O’Brien Street in Windsor, and had big plans to expand its hours, menu and dine-in experience.
• Efforts to rehabilitate and restore Centreville’s Concrete House soldiered on. With the museum stabilized, volunteers began to focus on interior repairs.
• Wolfville’s iconic Randall House was in dire need of repair and more volunteers to help shoulder the load of keeping the heritage property operational.
• Highway 358 in Kings County reopened to traffic about three weeks after heavy rain caused a landslide, damaging the east side of the North Mountain roadway. The landslide occurred just below the Lookoff, a popular tourist destination.
• Community generosity helped an online auction reach more than $47,000 to help Kaelynn Munroe and her family while the three-year-old battled a rare form of cancer.
AUGUST
• As residents grappled with grief, the four people who died during the July flooding were being honoured with makeshift memorials – one at a memorial tree in Windsor’s downtown and one at the cenotaph in Brooklyn.
• Angela Blenkhorne, a former Hants County resident living in Alberta, was bringing her Bernie’s Buddies workshop to West Hants with the hope of helping youngsters navigate the grieving process.
• As people began to see the impact the flooding had on others in the community, many losing everything due to flooding, West Hants Caremongers stepped in and held a food and clothing drive that exceeded all expectations. Anyone who was impacted by the flood or were struggling to make ends meet were encouraged to drop by Windsor Elementary School to pick up items for free.
• Tenants were fighting eviction notices after floodwaters and sewage swamped the bottom floor of their rental homes on Wagner’s Court in Windsor. With the housing shortage and increased rental costs, the tenants were concerned they wouldn’t be able to find an affordable place to live.
• Due to damage sustained during July’s torrential rain storm, Smileys Provincial Park was to remain closed for 2023. Those with campsites booked were to receive refunds.
• A cybersecurity issue in July resulted in the County of Kings shutting down all systems while an investigation was launched. The municipality was providing credit monitoring and fraud protection services to people who were potentially impacted by the incident.
• A vacant home in Lockhartville was destroyed by fire, with the cause thought to be electrical in nature.
• A group of Kings County residents opposed to the rezoning of a Wolfville Ridge property learned their appeal was dismissed by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board. Although upset with the ruling, they were considering pursuing other avenues to protect the rural community’s agricultural nature in the future.
• An appeal of a Kings County development agreement to permit tourist cabins at Sunken Lake was dismissed by the UARB.
• Although the three Nova
Scotian wrestlers who competed during the 2023 Lutte Académie competition in Montreal were eliminated, they were pleased with the spotlight the tournament provided
and may return to compete in 2024 if invited.
SEPTEMBER
• Kings County was making progress on tackling the sewage odour that had been plaguing the region most of the year. It was hoped a system assessment and sludge management plan would help prevent the odour problem at the regional sewage treatment plant in New Minas from recurring.
• For the first time in 32 years, pro wrestling returned to the lineup at the Hants County Exhibition – North America’s oldest agricultural exhibition.
• Mermaid Theatre launched a fundraiser aimed at helping preserve the historic Windsor venue. The storms in 2023 had packed a wallop and the roof was in dire need of repair.
• A black colt called Total Glamour, owned by Steele Family Warmbloods, of Scots Bay, was purchased by an undisclosed buyer in Denmark. The foal was to be raised and trained at the world-famous equestrian facility Blue Hors.
• A team of five teachers from Avon View High School – Christina Clairmont, Rob Davies, Cindy Campbell, Glen Earley, and Katie Pollard – delivered a record-breaking performance on Family Feud Canada. They were the first team in the Canadian show’s history to guess all five No. 1 survey responses during the fast money segment. The show originally aired on Sept. 21 on the CBC-TV and CBC Gem app.
• Two streets in Windsor in need of repair received a financial boost when the municipal, provincial, and federal governments announced nearly $4 million in funding. The roads were College Road – a narrow street that leads to King’sEdgehill School’s campus, the Dill Family Farm and the Gladys Manning Retirement Home – and Nesbitt Street,
Windsor’s which is located near downtown Highway 101 exit. College Road was in the process of a receiving a complete makeover, with a sidewalk being added as well as an extra turning lane at the intersection of College and King.
• Finn Chiasson, an eightyear-old Hants County boy, was one of the people selected to name one of 12 Royal Canadian Mounted Police foals. He selected the name Wynn, which turned out to have a very special meaning. Const. David Wynn, who once worked in Nova Scotia, was killed in the line of duty in Alberta in 2015. He died on the same day Finn was born.
OCTOBER
• Nanco Developments pled guilty to charges relating to the December 2020 demolition of Avonport’s historic Reid House. The owner, Bassam Nahas, 72, of Fergusons Cove, was not present in court. The company was fined a total of $86,250.
considered The judgement was a slap on the wrist by organizations involved with preserving Nova Scotia’s rich history.
• Walkers Restaurant had to be evacuated as fire broke out in the kitchen and began to spread rapidly. The owners, Joanne Barnett and AJ Reid, vowed to rebuild and quickly reopened in a temporary location in downtown Windsor.
• Kings County tax bills were delayed due to the July cybersecurity attack. There was no estimated restoration time available for the municipality’s financial system, however, it was hoped the bills would be sent out by the end of the year.
• A sombre Sunday service in Hantsport was held the day before the 10th anniversary of Harley Lawrence’s murder. Lawrence was a homeless man, originally from Hantsport, who was intentionally lit on fire while sleeping in bus shelter in Berwick in 2013.
• Kings County Coun. Joel Hirtle proposed to council that the municipality should declare a housing crisis and temporarily suspend its
bylaws that disallow yearround occupancy of recreational vehicles. He said this would give citizens with no place to go some reprieve when the colder months hit. Instead, council directed the CAO to bring back a report on the subject.
• Windsor’s Terry Fox Run at King’s-Edgehill School saw the event raise another record-breaking amount of funds. More than $55,100 was realized, which was up from $52,490 in 2022.
• With the uncertainty surrounding the fate of Lake Pisiquid and whether a pumpkin regatta could be held, Windsor’s merchants downtown were thinking of new ways to draw people to the community. One event being planned for October 2024 is a giant pumpkin road race.
• Famed Freak Lunchbox muralist Jason Botkin returned to Nova Scotia to create a unique 64-foot by 68-foot mural on the side of Avonian Place in Windsor. He started the nature-centric mural in September and concluded in October. In high demand worldwide, this was the Montreal-based artist’s second mural in the province.
• Tug of war was making a strong comeback in Hants County. Two Falmouth teams won the men’s and women’s provincial titles at the Hants September. County Exhibition in Coaches were hopeful the resurgence would help spark more teams across the province.
• Some sports stories are made for the movies. Such was the case with the West Hants Coyotes. The under-15 baseball team won the A provincials, marking 40 years to the day that the assistant coach, Troy Burgess, won the same championship at the same ball field. Making it even more special was that his son, Max, drove in what turned out to be the game-clinching run.
NOVEMBER
• Canada Post unveiled a stamp commemorating the Annapolis Valley’s Mona Parsons, who demonstrated courage and perseverance during the Second World War.
• Volunteers with the West Hants Historical Society unveiled the organization’s vision for an interpretive centre to be built near Fort Edward National Historic Site. The group is hopeful West Hants council will allow them to use the land that the municipality was looking to sell to a developer in 2022.
• A Three Mile Plains renter was surprised when her landlady provided her with the keys to a renovated and fully furnished apartment. Robin States had to escape her basement apartment through a window during the July floods. Debby Rose wanted to make States’ return memorable and provided everything from a fireplace and La-Z-Boy recliner to new dishes, cutlery and appliances.
• Grand Pré’s Sylvia D. Hamilton, an award-winning filmmaker, writer, journalist, professor, poet, artist, public speaker, and activist, received the Order of Nova Scotia for her work capturing and preserving the experiences of African Nova Scotians.
• Krista Morine, a former Princess Wolfville, was calling on the revival of the Queen Annapolisa competition, highlighting the benefits the event brought not only to the contestants, who gained confidence and public speaking skills, but for the entire region in terms of tourism. The Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom Festival committee had switched to a more inclusive model, focusing on youth leaders in the community instead.
The Flower Cart Group
• celebrated the opening of its amalgamated social enterprise and vocational training centre in New Minas. The new building housed all of its branches, allowing the participants to all be under one roof.
West Hants council
• was seeking legal advice on whether they could entertain more information after holding a public hearing and entering into second reading for a proposed development agreement in Windsor. The planning department was recommending the municipality permit a six-storey apartment complex in an area that traditionally only allowed three storeys. Some councillors were concerned the apartment would impact the historic view from Fort Edward.
In other development
• news, a stacked townhouse was pitched to replace the former Windsor United Baptist Church, which was built in 1898 and decommissioned in 2019.
DECEMBER
Darroll Murray Atwell
• was sentenced for his role in disposing of his friend’s body after he was killed.
Robert Michael Campbell, 51, was found dead on May 24, 2020, inside a burned vehicle.
Atwell received 4.5 years after pleading guilty in the fall to breaking into a Ridge Road home with the intent to commit an indictable offence on May 24, 2020; and later, in St. Croix, interfered with the human remains of Campbell by burning a vehicle with his body inside; as well as intentionally causing damage to a Dodge Caravan owned by Michael Campbell – Robert’s father. Another man is facing similar charges and is due to go to trial in 2024.
• Cindy LeGoffic Loane’s dedication to helping others was recognized as she officially retired from the Matthew 25 Windsor and District Food Bank – a service she helped launch more than 50 years prior with her mother.
• With inflation, housing shortages combined with steep increases in rent, and stagnant wages, food banks across the province were feeling the pinch. More and more people were seeking stop-gap help between paycheques, and officials with the Matthew 25 Windsor and District Food Bank said they were helping more people who were homeless, staying in their vehicles or living in tents.
• Kings County council was contemplating ways to help shortage, alleviate the housing with its latest discussion focusing on allowing owners of residential properties in designated growth centres to build secondary or accessory housing units.
• The UARB dismissed appeals three separate planning relating to Kings County council’s approval of a land use bylaw text amendment for the historic hamlet of Grand Pré. The amendment would allow Grand Pré Wines Ltd. to construct and operate a wine processing facility on its agricultural property.
• Kings County property owners affected by the municipality’s cybersecurity breach earlier in the year were told to anticipate their tax bills in early January.
• Infrastructure upgrades plus an influx of new personnel were coming to 14 Wing Greenwood as the federal government announced it was investing $2.49 billion in remotely piloted aircraft technology. Both Nova Scotia and British Columbia were poised to benefit from the announcement.
• Wild weather wrapped up 2023 with a wind storm that saw multiple outages, and in one Kings County subdivision, multiple power poles toppled over.
• The provincial environmental assessment of a wind energy project near Vaughans received the green light. The Bear Lake Wind Project, owned by Wind Strength, a Membertou First Nation company, and EverWind Fuels, could see 15 wind turbines operating on Crown and private land on property that straddles West Hants, Chester and Halifax counties.
• Mark Long, a former police officer who developed post-traumatic stress disorder, was one step closer to seeing his dream to help others become a reality. Long was putting the finishing touches on the Returning Warriors Ranch, located on his 76-acre property in Hants Border.
Its purpose is to help others through discussing shared experiences and peer support. Long was hoping the first guests would arrive early in 2024.
• Emergency room closures at the Hants Community Hospital in Windsor were compared reported to be decreasing to the previous year.
• West Hants Regional Municipality’s council learned it could cost about $140 million to fix the flooding issues in downtown Windsor.