The Nova Scotia Remembers Legacy Society, incorporated in Fall 220, will hold a Memorial Race on April 18^th. During the past year the group has developed an aggressive plan to honour its commitment of providing ongoing support to the communities of West Colchester affected by the tragedy that took place in April of 2020.

Committee Chair: Megan Netzke and Board Chair: Tiffiany Ward have worked hard and make many presentations to various stakeholders, including Colchester Council to explain their short and long-term plans.

Their most immediate event is the first annual Nova Scotia Remembers Anniversary Race to be held on April 18^th. The race is expected to attract 500-750 with 4 Start Lines. Covid Protocols will be in place. With assistance from Bluenose Marathon/Valley Harvest it is anticipated there will be 1000-1500 virtual participants.

The April 18^th event will include: Nova Scotia Remembers Memorial Race – Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10k & 5k; Nova Scotia Remembers Commemorative Walk and Nova Scotia Remembers Memorial Ceremony. Colchester Council approved a $5,000 injection toward the cost of the Memorial Race.

A Nova Scotia Remembers power point presentation indicates as a fundraiser the race will generate $75-$90,000 in 2021. Other sources of funding is listed at Nova Scotia Remembers Contribution, Corporate & Private Donors and Government partners.

The organization is planning to make the anniversary race an annual event. Just before presstime, organizers were awaiting confirmation the event would be a qualifier for the Boston Marathon.

A spoken person for the Society said, "We are uniquely positioned to collaborate with various local health boards and organizations. Through our newly developed four-phase project we seek to coordinate community resources and determine community needs, actions that will enable us to provide appropriate and relevant programs and services to residents of West Colchester.

Through public and stakeholder engagement we will create and implement a strategic plan to support these communities, and a coordinator will be hired to manage the ongoing programs and supports".

The four part program will include:

• Education: Bursary fund for children of victims; Nova Scotia Women’s Resiliency Bursary; Helping Professions Bursary and Nova Scotia Remembers Bursary
• Memorial: Permanent Memorial; Memorial Events and Support for other memorials in the communities.
• Community Development: Networked community supports for all ages; Trauma Informed Model; Community Advocacy and Programming.
• Grief & Trauma Support: Coordinated support for affected families and communities; Clinical and community focused; Research and development and Centre of Expertise.

The first three phases of the program will occur from April through to October. The fourth phase comprising Program Implementation and Management will be ongoing from November 2021, November 2021-Ongoing

For more information about the West Colchester Community Development Project contact: Megan Netzk at megan.netzke@live.com or Tiff Ward, board chair at novascotiaremembers@gmail.com

The agony of Colchester developing a noise by-law suffered a serious setback at the February meeting of council when the a draft of the proposed legislation was presented by staff. After lengthy and vibrant discuss, the proposed by-law was muted, when council refused to pass first reading.

Councillors had a variety of opinions and concerns concerning what was being proposed in Devin Trefry’s explanation to council. As part of his presentation, Mr. Trefry indicated Council had previously directed staff to draft a noise by-law as well as a fireworks by-law for consideration. Complaints from some residents about various occurrences of "fireworks" last summer raised the matter for consideration along with noise by-law.

Major concerns included unintentional consequences; grand fathering of existing businesses; community or individual fireworks were included when many councillors felt they were different matters and a variety of other concerns.

After lengthy vibrant discussion, a motion from Deputy Mayor Stewart, seconded by Councillor Johnson "That First Reading of the Noise By-law not be approved." The motion was carried with Councillor Boutilier opposed as the first reading was not approved subsequently "Muting" the by-law for the time being..

During discussion prior to the vote on February 25th, it was agreed permitting for fireworks as presented in the draft by-law was acceptable. Also by majority, Council was not in favour of grandfathering existing businesses. Staff proposed a few additional changes to the draft by-law (discussed February 11^th). The proposed changes include a clause specific to fireworks during a ban on open fires issued by the Province; a clause permitting up to two additional occasions for fireworks with time restrictions; delegation for exemptions; modified penalties; and, time restrictions for the detonation of fireworks.

The noise by-law will be a more difficult task. Councillors have expressed concern about pitting neighbor against neighbor with complaints about chain saw running at 6 am; someone mowing their lawn early in the morning resulting in unexpected consequences, where the municipality was put in position to be a "sub-division referee". Such actions could lead to constant flow of court cases and litigation where nobody wins.