NEWS

Local news in and around Aylmer and Elgin County

EECC offers to be new home to Aylmer library

December 5, 2024 | 0 Comments

East Elgin Community Complex board members voted Wednesday, Nov. 27, to make another pitch to become the new home of a larger Aylmer library. But Kirk Barons, on behalf of the Aylmer Library Expansion Supporters, vowed that group would again fight such an effort, believing the library needed to be downtown, not on the outskirts.…

Measles alert issued by health unit

November 28, 2024 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health on Wednesday, Nov. 27, reported a potential risk of the public being exposed to measles through an unimmunized child, who was currently hospitalized for treatment. One exposure risk occurred at Aylmer Ultrasound and Aylmer Family Dental Clinic on Talbot Street West on Thursday, Nov. 21, between 2:30 and 5:30plm. The other was…

AMHA U13 Local League team wins Silver Stick

November 22, 2024 | 0 Comments

Aylmer Minor Hockey’s Under 13 Local League Red team took on St. Thomas Stars, pictured here, on Friday, Nov. 15, in a game that was part of a Regional Silver Stick tournament at East Elgin Community Complex. Here, Max Deleebeeck sprinted the puck down the ice on Aylmer’s way to a 7-2 victory over St.…

Workers picket Aylmer post office

November 22, 2024 | 0 Comments

Workers at the Canada Post office in Aylmer hit the picket line on Friday morning, Nov. 15, as they went on strike along with fellow union members across the country. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says that, after a year of bargaining with Canada Post without success, it was striking for “fair wages, safe…

Voters express sentiments over Conservative nomination

November 14, 2024 | 0 Comments

Andrew Lawton, of London, was installed as the Conservative Party of Canada nominee for the Elgin–St. Thomas–London South riding on Saturday, Nov. 9. Mr. Lawton bested Central Elgin candidate Anthony Shields, who was endorsed by current MP Karen Vecchio. The race to become the CPC candidate in the next federal election followed MP Vecchio’s announcement…

Insurance dispute threatens high school swimming

November 6, 2024 | 0 Comments

East Elgin Secondary School’s swim team is in imminent danger of collapse and, if it does, it will potentially take down competitive swimming for all schools in Thames Valley District School Board. Parents and volunteers involved in running the swim team say the issue involves a dispute over insurance coverage between the Ontario Ministry of…

Fire victims face long recovery

October 31, 2024 | 0 Comments

Cornelius Woelke and his young sons Cornelius Junior, two-and-a-half years old and Jacob, who will turn a year old on Nov. 1, severely burned during a fire in their apartment in Springfield on Saturday, Oct. 19, have started to respond to medical treatment but face a long road to recovery, Jake Friesen said. Jake, of…

Three badly burned in Springfield fire

October 23, 2024 | 0 Comments

Thick black smoke churned out of two houses on fire on Ron McNeil Line in Springfield on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 19. One was a three-unit apartment building and the other a single-family home. Both were heavily damaged, and a father and two very young children were badly burned and remain in hospital. Malahide Fire chief…

New mural unveiled

October 16, 2024 | 0 Comments

East Elgin Secondary School art students Capri Thiessen, left, Sky Mitton, Emma Monster, Joey Yaw, Gracie Huisman and Kristen Peters recently unveiled the mural  they painted, with the help of others, to cover a utility box in Balmoral Park in Aylmer. Absent were Avery Heynen, Angela Kloosterman, Miranda Hew, Adriel Kuepfer, Keana Zacharias and Kris…

Tapping the keg…isn’t supposed to go this way

October 10, 2024 | 0 Comments

Beer gushed out of a ceremonial keg as Malahide Stellvertretender Bürgermeister (Deputy Mayor) Mark Widner, armed with a hammer, left, and Aylmer Bürgermeister (Mayor) Jack Couckuyt, holding a spigot, tried to tap it on Saturday night, Oct. 5 at Saxonia Hall Oktoberfest celebrations. Featured performer was Walter Ostanek and his band, and German food and…

Mayor scolds unnamed councillor, Desrosiers says it’s her

October 10, 2024 | 0 Comments

Aylmer Mayor Jack Couckuyt at the end of a town council meeting Wednesday, Oct. 2, sharply criticized an unnamed council member for what he asserted was support for a defamatory online remark. (Councillor Kathryn Desrosiers later in the week posted on Facebook that the mayor’s criticism was aimed at her.) “I thought a long time…

Don’t resort to vigilantism, Aylmer Police warn

October 2, 2024 | 0 Comments

Aylmer Police want residents to report suspicious activity when they see it, but not to go beyond that and engage in what amounted to “online hate” against individuals. That is what allegedly led to a “violent assault” against an individual on Aug. 31 that is now under investigation. Police found no evidence to substantiate online…