Kingston News June 19, 2018

Hiring Freeze

Premier designate Doug Ford has put the public service under a hiring freeze while he looks at the province’s books.  Ford has pledged to launch an audit of government spending and save billions each year by finding efficiencies.  The head of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says he sent the P-C leader a letter last week asking for a meeting but hasn’t heard back yet.  Kingston native Smokey Thomas says he reminded Ford of his promise not to lay off any workers in his belt-tightening efforts.

Info Request – Man Approaching Children

There’s been another incident of a man wanting to talk with children in Kingston – but police didn’t say anything about it until yesterday…even though it happened last Wednesday afternoon in Westbrook.

Police want to talk to a man seen smoking near the intersection of Woodfield Crescent and Leyton Avenue…near W.J. Holsgrove Public School.  He walked off in an unknown direction.

Anyone with information as to the identity of this person is asked to contact Constable Craig Boyce cboyce@kingstonpolice.ca, or Detective Amanda Smith asmith@kingstonpolice.ca.

Crash Update – Kingston

The driver of a motorcycle involved in a collision with a vehicle on Highway 2 at the west entrance to Faircrest Boulevard suffered series head injuries.

Kingston Police say the woman in her thirties was taken to hospital by paramedics after the collision between a passenger car and the motorcycle around 4pm on Sunday.  Nobody in the car was injured.

Police are continuing their investigation and no charges have been laid.

Ducks on 401 – Crash

Frontenac OPP say a father and son driving on the 401 eastbound in Kingston ended up in a ditch after the vehicle in front of them stopped to avoid hitting a family of ducks.  It happened on Sunday morning when the minivan travelling behind the vehicle that stopped swerved to avoid a crash.  Police say the vehicle went into a ditch and hit a tree.  The driver and his 10 year old son were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Anybody who witnessed the crash is being asked to contact Frontenac OPP.

Not a Hostage

A 24 year old Kingston man has been charged with attempting to get a ransom from his parents for being taken hostage.  Kingston Police went to St. Lawrence College last Thursday to check on the welfare of the man after his parent got a text message demanding a large sum of money if they ever wanted to see him again.  The man was found at a local hotel where he was alone and police say there was no hostage taking. He’s been charged with public mischief.

Inmate Death

A 24 year old inmate at the Regional Treatment Centre at Millhaven Institution has died.

Nicholas Brennan had been serving a sentence for the murder of a 40 year old father of five in Toronto.

No details have been released on the cause of his death on Friday of last week.

St. Lawrence – Green Construction Symposium

St. Lawrence College is hosting a symposium on training people in green construction as a kickoff to a year-long curriculum development process.

Faculty and staff from St. Lawrence, Fleming College, Algonquin College, and Queen’s University along with industry and construction representative will be attending the day-long session.

Art Gallery – Edwards

A Kingston art gallery is opening a unique exhibit today featuring award winning author and illustrator Wallace Edwards.  The exhibit at Studio 22 on King Street features preliminary pencil drawings and paintings on paper that served as the inspiration for his most recent picture book, Woodrow At Sea. Other artwork on display includes a collection of watercolour and pencil animal studies.  Edwards lives in Yarker and won the Governor Generals award for Children’s Literature Illustration in 2002.  A portion of sales from the exhibit will be donated to the Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre in Napanee.  The exhibit runs until July 14th.