A focus session of the Local Immigration Partnership Initiative is scheduled for this afternoon in the Russ Ramsay Boardroom at Civic Centre. The overall objective of the initiative, which is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, is to identify groups that will co-ordinate and enhance local service delivery to newcomers. The goal is to develope partnerships with representatives from community organizations in both the business and labour sectors.

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An Elliot Lake man is facing impaired and flight from police charges in connection with an incident last evening in that community. Police had been responding to a report of an impaired driver and it is said that the driver did not pull over for police and instead pulled into a driveway on Missauga Avenue and attempted to run away from police. Charged is 49-year old Timothy Bloxom.

OPP are looking into an incident in which a window and sign were damaged at a business in Desbarats. The damage to Northern Quality Meats is estimated at $300 and police say the damage appears to have been caused by the shooting of a BB gun or pellet gun.

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OPP report that a 30 year old male was injured in a cooking oil fire - at a home on Havilland Shores Drive in Goulais River yesterday morning. The oil was left unattended on the stove and caught fire - the man was injured when during the course of trying to put out the fire, spilled hot oil on himself - suffering second degree burns to his legs, feet and left hand. He remains in hospital in stable condition. There was no damage to the home.

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City Police arrested 32 year old Lee-Ann Perrault at her Albert Street residence early yesterday shortly after reports that a female known to her had been assaulted.

25 year old Rhea Desmond was charged with stealing a laptop computer at the home of a person known to her, last month.

34 year old Theodore Dumanski of Highway 17 North was charged with shoplifting at Cambrian Mall.

Police are investigating a breakin to a home on Dennis Street from yesterday, where some cash was stolen.

And there were more reports of vehicles being damaged and broken into - at St Bernard’s Tower and on Kohler Street.

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Joe Moniz, a well known figure in Sault, Michigan died early yesterday of a heart attack at age 50, reportedly after playing hockey the night before. He’d served on the school board for nearly 17 years, and was the PA announcer for the I-500 race for more than 10 years and was also active in his church.

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City Council received a report from the Economic Development Corporation’s Gateway Committee last night. Committee Chair Bill Durnford says he’s confident a four to eight month deadline to prepare conceptual plans for developing the Gateway site can be met — part of the committee’s two year mandate to come up with an Attraction Development Strategy and Business Plan for the site. When asked about whether three hoteliers on the E-D-C Gateway Committee would be considered a conflict on interest, group chair Bill Durnford quickly quashed that suggestion. Durnford says his group will stick to a waterfront development strategy that was first introduced in 1988 — it suggested that tourist attractions be built on either end of the waterfront and has resulted in the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, among other sites in that area. Several ideas for the development of a tourist attraction are being considered, including moving the Algoma Central Railway station onto the site. Durnford was also asked about the inclusion of alternative energy in any project idea — he is in support of incorporating green initiatives, saying they would help support any educational component of whatever attraction will be built.

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City Council approved the allocation of 15 thousand dollars from the Gateway Allocation Fund to improve the aesthetics of the Gateway site. The money would be used to cut and remove vegetation from the site so individuals can enter the property. Some barbed-wire fencing would also be removed. City Councillor Lorena Tridico asked if the site had undergone any previous maintenance and if the current maintenance would be ongoing. Sault Mayor John Rowswell answered that this is being done in one shot and more enhancements would be made if any serious contamination needed to be disposed of.

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The registration of a Simpson Street house under a section of the Ontario Heritage Act is being recommended by City Council. Bishophurst is located at 134 Simpson Street — it was constructed back in 1876 as the See House of the Anglican Diocese of Algoma. Among the house’s many connections are first Bishop of Algoma Frederick Dawson Fauquier and Sir James Dunn. Anglican priests that played a role in the development of Northern Ontario also passed through the site. Last night’s recommendation follows a similar decision by the city’s Municipal Heritage Committee back in November.

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It was late last week when changes were made to the ‘Buy American’ policy — they include Canadian suppliers getting access to state and local public works projects in exchange for providing U-S suppliers to numerous construction projects north of the border. City Council passed a resolution last night where E-D-C staff will write up a report on how the revised policy will affect local businesses.

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A Sault Ste. Marie man arrested for second degree murder last month faces more charges in relation to a Breach in Court Orders in the investigation surrounding the death of a three year old boy. 30 year old James Purcell now faces two counts of failing to comply with direction in detention order and three counts of counselling to commit the offence of obstruct justice. Purcell was charged with one count of second degree murder in the death of three year old Aiden-Floyd Lapinskas. An investigation by Sault Police and the O-P-P Criminal Investigation Branch determined that Purcell had breached his non-communication order about 380 times between January 13th and February 6th while in custody at the Algoma Treatment and Remand Centre. Purcell made a brief court appearance today for a bail hearing on those charges — his matters have been adjourned to tomorrow.

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