Car Swarmed

A 23 year old woman who had her car swarmed and damaged by students partying on University Avenue will be getting it fixed thanks to a student’s fund raising campaign.

Casandra Asselstine says she’ll never forget the nightmare she drove into on the night of September 8th.

Asselstine tells the Whig she went into shock after students swarmed her car, started rocking it back and forth and chanted about flipping it over.

Damage to the car was first reported to be around $800 but is far more extensive.

A Queen’s student started an online Tilt campaign that has raised $2,600 and the university says it will cover the rest of the cost for Asselstine’s repairs.

Suspect Arrested

A 39 year old man has been charged with holding up the Scotiabank at Princess Street and Bath Road.

Kingston Police say their suspect was arrested around 1:30 yesterday afternoon.

The Scotiabank was robbed by a man with a knife on Tuesday afternoon.

Police say the guy had made his getaway on a bicycle.

Sexual Assault

A 39 year old man from Kingston has been charged with sexually assaulting his former wife.

The man was arrested on September 11th and charged with two counts of sexual assault.

The victim told police the assaults took place in her home in late 2014 and early 2015.

United Way KFLA Campaign Update

Utilities Kingston and City of Kingston Staff kick off their United Way workplace campaigns with the Mayor’s BBQ today at Lake Ontario Park.

The United Way announced yesterday afternoon its campaign has raised just over $670,000 since it started on September 11th.

That’s 20% of the $3.4 million dollar goal.

Candidates Debates

The candidates running for election in Kingston and the Islands talked about economic development, infrastructure money, affordable housing and even got into the marijuana debate.

TV Cogeco hosted the debate last night sponsored by the Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce.

When it came to the issue of legalizing marijuana… Liberal candidate Mark Gerretsen says it will actually make it easier to keep the drug away from youth and tax revenue will help with drug education programs.  Green candidate Nathan Townend says his party is in favour of legalization and doesn’t consider it a major issue.  Andy Brooke says the Conservatives are against legalization and as a former RCMP officer he believes it would actually increase trafficking by criminals.  The NDP’s Daniel Beals says his party will decriminalize marijuana because it’s wrong to make criminals out of people who use pot.

Conservative candidate Andy Brooke said 27 years of having a Liberal MP represent Kingston has failed to secure funding for the third crossing – something he said would change if he’s elected.

He also accused Liberal Gerretsen of not being able to reach a consensus when he was mayor – something Gerretsen said is not possible on some issue.

Gerretsen says the third crossing project isn’t even ready for construction so asking for money would not be possible.

NDP candidate Daniel Beals took on the Liberals saying the only way Paul Martin was able to balance the budget years ago was by robbing millions from pension plans and employment insurance.

Green candidate Nathan Townend and Conservative Andy Brook agreed.

But – Gerretsen, Beals and Townend all accused the Tories of doubling Canada’s debt during the ten years they have been in office.