With the recent losses to the community of Austin Mannette and Kim Young, we would like to offer condolences to their family and friends. Both of these people gave so much to their Shore communities. Austin’s nursery was one of the Cooperator’s most loyal advertisers. We loved talking politics with him while we picked up flowers for the office’s flower boxes. We came to appreciate Kim’s dynamism and her caring concern for her community early in the paper’s history when she and her husband Mike spearheaded the community fight against HRM’s sudden enforcement of a 100-foot road frontage rule. They are missed already. 

--Richard Bell, Editor  

By Stephanie Parrish, Hope for Wildlife Society 

Every year, Hope for Wildlife receives hundreds of calls regarding seals lying on beaches or ice flows; this is the time of year where you may start to see more seals spending time on land. 

By Dee Dwyer  

If you’ve taken a walk on the Gaetz Brook Greenway, you may have seen a wooden owl perched on one of the trail`s bridges. Or driving along Pleasant Drive in Gaetz Brook, you pass a lawn full of quirky, one-of-a kind sculptures and whimsical Minions. These creations are some of the wonderful creatures made by the personable and generous Calvin McKay.  

By Richard Bell 

Narrows 9 Dragons will be launching their three 40-foot-long Dragon Boats into Porters Lake again this summer, opening on May 5.

By Richard Bell 

Robin Clayton has filed a request for a variance to allow him to keep his beloved horse Angel on his property on East Petpeswick Road.  

By Richard Bell 

Hidden within the 2022-2023 budget released on March 24 was a major change in plans for the Musquodoboit Harbour bridge: the Department of Public Works now plans to replace the bridge, at some indefinite time in the future. 

By Richard Bell

A Cape Breton-based renewable energy company has applied to build a large, 20MW solar farm on 40 acres off upper West Petpeswick Road in Musquodoboit Harbour. If completed, Petpeswick Solar Inc. will generate enough energy to power over 4000 homes annually, and reduce total GHG emissions by an estimated 168,000 tCO2e per year by 2030.

[Editor’s Note: This editorial represents the opinion of this newspaper about the location and design of the proposed new school. In our own stories, we have interviewed and quoted proponents and opponents of the Eastern Shore Industrial Park site, and have published unedited submissions from proponents. This editorial contains the conclusions we have come to after reviewing what we know. To the extent that our conclusions are in any way provisional, we deeply regret that both the previous Liberal government and the current PC government have refused to release critical information that should have been public before the selection of the site.]

By Richard Bell

One of the remaining mysteries about the secretive site selection process for the new consolidated junior/senior high is exactly how long ago the Liberal government decided to locate the school in the Eastern Shore Industrial Park in East Chezzetcook.

Slide from SST showing features of consolidated junior/senior high. The main entry is at the top in gray. High school on left wing, junior high on right wing. Bright green rectangles are classrooms; dark blue rectangles on the senior and junior wings are labs. The large red rectangle in the center is the gym, with unisex changing room above. Orange is cafetorium. Next to gym, lower pink space is music room, opening to a low stage and the cafetorium. Above music is pink theatre room that can open into the gym.  

By Richard Bell 

For the last two years, the former government and now the current government have refused to allow the public to see the contents of a March 2020 Public Works technical report on two possible sites for replacing Eastern Shore District High (FOIPOP requests 2020-20456-TIR and 2021-0172-DPW). 

A Poem by Gisela Kaden

By Cassandra Grosse 

Walking into the bright, clean barber shop for an interview, I was greeted with a warm hello by the owner of Prominence Hair Studio, Justin Williams. Expecting a conversation between the two of us, I was pleasantly surprised to learn Justin preferred for me to see him cut a client’s hair while doing the interview. 

By Karen Lia Schlick 

What is our goal when we set out to create something, whether it’s a piece of art, a dance piece, a hooked rug, poem, or a flower garden? 

By Dee Dwyer 

Many folks along the Eastern Shore have been dazzled by Allan Banks’ beautiful hillside garden just past the Salmon River Bridge, Harbour Breezes Daylilies. But in addition to his ever-expanding garden, Allan has carved out an equally rich career in vocal music, most recently as a founder of the Coastal Voices Men’s Choir. 

By Kaylee Conrod  

The Halifax Public Library system recently wrapped up major renovations in Sheet Harbour and Musquodoboit Harbour, adding on to the two buildings. And there have been major upgrades in the strength of the Wi-Fi signals at Sheet Harbour, Musquooboit Harbour, and Middle Musquodoboit to make it even easier for people to access the libraries’ free Wi-Fii.  

By Karen Lia Schlick 

Time for something new! The new year brings hopes and aspirations for change to the front of our minds. “This will be the year that I learn to paint, play a musical instrument, learn to dance, write, or find a way to be creative that’s enjoyable,” we say hopefully.

The December issue of this paper contained an article titled “Learning to Grow Dinner”, with my name attached as the writer. The article that was published was not the article that I submitted. 

By Kelly Corkery 

“It is death that goes down to the centre of the earth, the great burial church the earth is, and then to the curved ends of the universe, as light is said to do.”—Harold Brodkey 

By Dee Dwyer 

I am with the painter Kristina Søbstad in her East Petpeswick studio, looking at her large diptych, “Let’s Go to the End,” which depicts a scene from Newfoundland’s East Coast Trail. “We were walking on a sheltered, canopy-covered trail through the forest,” Kristina explains, “and then came out to the reveal of this cove surrounded by mountains.”