Mount Forestıs sixth annual High Healthy Happy Haydays Hootenanny gets underway this evening with an open jamboree. Anyone can show up and join in the music-making.
The three-day outdoor hootenanny takes place under a tent at the Mount Forest Legion parking lot and usually attracts about 1,000 people. Programmed entertainment is featured Saturday and Sunday.
One of the founders of the event, Sonny Thompson, who will be playing in the open jamboree, says the many volunteers are what makes it all possible.

Construction officially starts today on the Emergency Services Training Centre in Blyth.
Local politicians, firefighters, and representatives of the Fire Marshall's Office will be at the ground-breaking ceremony this afternoon.
This building will be located at the corner of London Road and Blyth Road.
Domm Construction of Ayton has the contract to build the new facility, which is expected to open next March.
It allow the Emergency Services Training Centre to accommodate more courses, provide a better learning environment for students, and give them more room to store equipment.

A Listowel man was part of a high speed chase early this morning -- but he was the one doing the chasing.
The resident of Victoria Avenue South heard a noise outside in his driveway around 3:30 this morning, and spotted his utility trailer being pulled away by a pickup truck. The trailer was loaded with two 4-wheelers.
The man jumped in his own vehicle and started to follow the truck and trailer. The vehicles headed south on Highway 23, then east on Perth Line 72. Near Donegal, the trailer became unhitched from the truck and came to a stop.
The homeowner continued to follow the truck, but lost sight of it west of Millbank. His trailer sustained minor damage - the 4-wheelers were not damaged.
Police are looking for an older maroon-coloured Ford extended cab pickup truck.

The OPP have laid charges against a Listowel man as part of an investigation into a crime spree earlier this year in North Wellington and Grey Counties.
Between February and mid-March, a number of vehicles were stolen and some homes and buildings were broken into.
The County of Wellington OPP Street Crime Unit charged 25-year-old Michael Roy Cassel for his role in the thefts.
Charges include Possession of Stolen Auto under $5000; Theft of Auto over $5000; and Break & Enter with Intent.
Cassel is to appear in Guelph court August 17th.

The Avon Maitland District School Board is asking the Education Ministry for additional funding for its new elementary school in North Huron.
Board chair Jenny Versteeg says the board has encountered costs beyond their original estimates and they're not in a position to cover those costs on their own.
Versteeg says the unforseen costs include roads around the site next to the F. E. Madill High School in Wingham as well as parking and problems associated with the elevation of the lot. The shortfall is about one million dollars.
She says if the Ministry doesn't come up with the additional funding by the end of August, they'll have to build the new school on their alternative site.
She cannot identify the site at this point, but it would still replace the elementary schools in Wingham, Turnberry, Blyth and East Wawanosh.

Bruce Power is a bit surprised by controversy over plans to ship 16 low-level radioactive waste steam generators to Sweden.
 That's why it has held three open houses to explain how the generators will be shipped.
The first two - in Southampton and Owen Sound - were sparsely attended, and very few attended at the Bruce Power Visitors' Centre Thursday.
 The company is waiting for needed approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Association before going ahead with its plans. The 100 tonne generators will be shipped by truck to Owen Sound and then loaded onto a freighter for the trip to Sweden where they will be recycled.
Kurt Wigle, Bruce Power waste programs manager, says they would like to ship in late September of October. If approval isn't given, the generators will be stored on the Bruce Power site.

Protesters lined the road in Arkwright last night as the Arran Wind Energy Project held another public meeting.
One of those protesters was Bruce Township resident Norma Schmidt.
Schmidt says she was in favour of wind energy until a year and a half ago when the turbines were completed in Bruce Township.
It was then Schmidt says she began suffering from health problems which she claims are the fault of wind turbines.
Schmidt adds she only suffers from those symptoms while around wind turbines.

Residents of Dundalk will know in a few weeks whether a physician will finally be coming to town.
Southgate's economic development officer, Henry Micek says the new doctor expects to get his license after a hearing August 6th before the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Southgate has been trying for years to attract a doctor.
Micek said the search is now on for a female doctor for Dundalk.

The long time secretary treasurer of the Grey Bruce Federation of Agriculture is retiring.
Hundreds turned out in Elmwood for a retirement party to honour Donna Spitzig. She's been with the Federation 23 years.
Spitzig says she has many great memories but mostly she'll miss the people.
One event that sticks in her mind is a rally in Ottawa in 1992 when the Grey Bruce Federation sent 11 bus loads of people in support of supply management.
Donna Spitzig's successor at the Grey Bruce Federation of Agriculture has already been hired. She's Jessica Burgess of the Formosa area.

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