If there ever was any doubt that organized crime is infiltrating small-town Ontario, it was evident Wednesday morning in London.
At a media conference at the headquarters of the London Police Service, the results of a joint force criminal investigation were on display.
An investigation that began last year in Aylmer resulted in the arrest of four members of Outlaw Motorcycle Groups and eight associates.
The joint force initiative involved police services in St. Thomas, Aylmer and Strathroy-Caradoc with the assistance of the OPP and London Police Services.
In total 52 charges were laid in the drug trafficking investigation.
Aylmer Deputy Police Chief Kyle Johnstone says the addition of a criminal investigator last year to the ranks of the service helped move the investigation along.
Category Archives: Aylmer
Rebuilding community strength “in great little communities like St. Thomas with long histories of contributing massively to the Canadian economy.” – PM Justin Trudeau
Seems the PM just can’t get enough of St. Thomas.
For the second time in just over a month, Justin Trudeau dropped into the city Thursday afternoon for a quick lunch at Legends Tavern and then a stop at The Atrium for a sit-down session with local small business entrepreneurs before a quick jaunt over to Streamliner’s to greet customers.
Of course, Trudeau was on hand at the Elgin County Railway Museum at the end of April for the announcement Volkswagen, through its subsidiary PowerCo, had chosen St. Thomas as the home of its first EV battery gigaplant in North America.
Ostensibly this trip to the Railway City was to play up the economic benefits to small business owners after the massive battery facility opens in 2027.
Mayor Joe Preston joined Trudeau for the short walk from Legends to The Atrium and both appeared in high spirits with shirt sleeves rolled up the PM’s trademark down-to-business look.
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Who knows what lurks out of sight above Talbot Street?
We referred to them as the city’s forgotten apartments. A pair of decrepit hovels visible from the mayor’s office in city hall.
The first thing you noticed was the gaping holes where the ceilings had fallen away.
Patches of paint which had not yet floated to the floor cling tentatively to the walls.
In other areas, vast expanses of paint blistered like badly burned skin.
Missing tiles in one of the showers had been replaced with duct tape and garbage bags.
The remnants of a skylight were stuffed with a blanket and when it rained, water dripped to the floor and down the front stairs.
When this corner exposed those units in January of 2016 they were home to four tenants, seemingly off the radar of several departments at city hall.
Links to the trio of items written about those apartments and what might have been in the way of affordable housing back in 2016 can be found at the end of this item.
We reference these residences because how many other out-of-sight, out-of-mind units can be found up and down the Talbot Street core?
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This is Mathew’s story: His last gift to mankind was to let someone else live
A ceremony was held Wednesday morning on the steps of city hall to commemorate the third annual International Overdose Awareness Day.
Later in the day, The Nameless, in partnership with Southwestern Public Health, held an open house at White Street Parkette in St. Thomas.
That was where Anna Maria Iredale of St. Marys dug deep into her reserve of fortitude to step forward with her personal tale of tragedy.
We’re documenting it in its entirety as a tribute to Anna Maria and her son.
That’s a photo of him below and every picture does tell a story. This one is well worth the time and effort it takes to absorb.
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‘A lot of pride in the things I’ve had a small fingerprint on’ – outgoing St. Thomas city manager Wendell Graves
It all started with a high school geography course so many years ago.
As city manager Wendell Graves reflected back on his years of public service on Feb. 25, his final day at city hall, his attention turned to a particular field trip that would be “the ignition point” for what would become a four-decade career path.
“Don Cann was the teacher and he brought us on an afternoon field trip to city hall and specifically to the planning department. And that was my initial ignition point. I had never been in city hall before.
“My roots are in the city. I graduated eons ago from Locke’s Public School and then Arthur Voaden and the influence those institutions had on my career path has been tremendous.
“I give a shout out to all those kids who sit behind those desks or in front of a screen. There is so much opportunity here in the city for them to grow their careers and that is really important.
“And a fulfilling career as well.”
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‘We get this protest in, we move it out of town and do it as peaceful as possible’
Mayor Joe Preston and Police Chief Chris Herridge have both cut to the chase when talking about today’s (Saturday) Freedom Rally in St. Thomas: “We do not want this protest.”
It’s the third such rally in less than a month in the region at a time when the province is tightening up restrictions due to a rapid increase in COVID-19 infections.
In speaking with Herridge this week, he stressed “should they come here they could face charges.
“But if you say ‘no’ to the arena (Memorial Arena, where the protesters are meeting up) they’re going to show up. And, we do not want what happened in Aylmer (where the march through town forced detours at numerous locations).”
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St. Thomas now has a face-covering bylaw but does it have any teeth? Should it need any?
As expected, city council on Monday (Aug. 10) unanimously approved a municipal bylaw which supports the letter of instruction issued at the end of last month by Southwestern Public Health requiring the use of face coverings by individuals inside buildings where there is access to the public.
The bylaw will be in effect until Jan. 15 of next year at which time the need to extend it will be evaluated
But, is it little more than window dressing?
City manager Wendell Graves says the intent now is to train enforcement staff to ensure they understand how the bylaw is to be applied.
Read into that it is unlikely to ever be enforced.
Instead, it will be servers, cashiers and front-line staff who will face the wrath of belligerent customers who stubbornly refuse to wear a mask because it is their right to do so.
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Mandatory wearing of face masks: ‘It’s becoming our new second nature’
The feelers have been out there for some time now, and last week’s interview with Dr. Joyce Lock, Southwestern Public Health medical officer of health, confirmed the wearing of face masks in enclosed public places was soon to be mandatory in this COVID-19 marathon.
Dr. Lock sealed the deal via a teleconference Thursday (July 30).
There are those who will argue this should have been done back in the spring as the pandemic embers flared into a full-blown blaze.
Our neighbour to the north made the wearing of face coverings compulsory exactly two weeks ago, so why the lag time in the health unit’s watershed?
Dr. Lock touched on that last week noting, “we’re working step in step with our municipal partners to make it as simple a process as possible for individuals, businesses and organizations across our geography.”
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Groups think we have a process in place: Sorting out the community grants boondoggle in St. Thomas
The item on Monday’s reference committee agenda notes, “The members will discuss the council grants process.”
Trouble is, this council and previous editions have not had a clearly defined method of distributing funding to community groups and organizations.
In particular, the last two rounds of funds disbursement have been an embarrassing undertaking, to put it mildly.
In the past, this has been a totally unstructured affair with little in the way of guidelines to follow.
The overarching target – seldom adhered to – has been one-half per cent of the general tax levy or in the $250,000 range.
Last year’s determination of who gets what was likened in this corner to a “Saturday morning session at the auction house.”
The best takeaway was Coun. Gary Clarke’s observation, “Groups think we have a process in place.”
