News Headlines

Malahide Firefighters were called to their second major fire in two years at a junk yard in Calton on Wednesday, May 19, at 9:55 p.m. The blaze was reclassified as a structural fire, and additional equipment and firefighters from Malahide’s fire stations were called in starting at 10 p.m. Fire Chief Brent Smith said the…

The allocation of extra COVID-19 vaccine to the N5H postal code provincial “hot spot,” including all of Aylmer and much of Malahide, appears to be paying off. Despite some local opposition to vaccines, 37.9 percent of the area’s population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine so far. That compares to 41.6 percent…

About 500 attended an outdoor service Sunday morning, May 16, at Aylmer Church of God (Restoration), in defiance of provincial regulations limiting such gatherings to a maximum of 10, just two days after a judge ordered the building padlocked so no one could get inside, and fined the church and its two pastors for ignoring…

The Aylmer Church of God (Restoration) has been padlocked following a ruling by Justice Bruce Thomas of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in St. Thomas Friday, May 14, about contempt of court findings against the church, Pastor Henry Hildebrandt and Associate Pastor Peter Wall. Aylmer Police, in a statement, said Elgin County Sheriff’s officials,…

St. Thomas Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas, in an online hearing on Friday morning, May 14, ordered substantial fines for Aylmer Church of God (Restoration), Pastor Henry Hildebrandt and Assistant Pastor Peter Wall. Justice Thomas also ordered the church padlocked until churches were allowed to hold in-person services at no less than 30 percent of…

Dozens of vehicles were parked at Aylmer Church of God on Thursday morning, May 13, while at the same time in St. Thomas Superior Court of Justice, lawyers for the church and the province were arguing whether the church should be fined and its doors locked for last week being found in contempt for holding…

Southwestern Public Health Medical Officer of Health Dr. Joyce Lock, in a weekly news briefing on Wednesday, May 12, said that the health unit was tracking 136 ongoing cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, Middlesex and London, which was a higher number than the previous Wednesday. “We are not heading in the right direction,” she warned.…

In a weekly report issued Monday, May 10, Southwestern Public Health reported that, to date, 77,940 residents of Elgin, St. Thomas had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, an increase of over 10,000 from 66,436 on Monday, May 3. In St. Thomas, 42.3 percent of adult residents have been vaccinated, in Elgin County…

Southwestern Public Health announced Monday, May 10, that a St. Thomas man in his 70s had died as the result of COVID-19. That brings the total number of deaths in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford since the pandemic began to 77. The health unit also reported 58 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the weekend,…

Councillor Rick Cerna, at a Malahide council meeting Thursday, May 6, ripped into Herbert Hildebrandt and his father, controversial Aylmer Church of God Pastor Henry Hildebrandt, and their actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Herbert Hildebrandt had sent an email to Mayor David Mennill and township councillors about comments the mayor made in a recent interview…