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A Minden man has pleaded guilty to abandoning pelts and been given a suspended sentence. R. Shayne McKelvey pleaded guilty to abandoning the pelts of eight eastern coyotes. As part of a plea agreement, he has made a $1,000 donation to the Haliburton Highlands Outdoors Association. The coyotes were seized from the disposal site and will be used in research by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Court heard that an investigation into the report of abandoned wolf carcasses revealed that eight eastern coyotes had been discarded on private property in Minden.

You would never know it as you drive by the laneway off county Road 121 between Kinmount and Minden, but that laneway leads to a series of shooting ranges where police, military and security personnel receive specialized firearms training. The MilCun Training Center is owned and operated by Linda Miller and Keith Cunningham and the site is known as the MilCun Marksmanship Complex. The complex consists of a training building and three separate ranges. The range closest to the building is 100 metres long, with shooting mounds at 25, 50 and 75 metres.

Last week County Council was poised to adopt a recommendation by the Economic Development and Tourism Committee to deny Enduro bikes access to the rail trail. When the vote was about to be taken, Warden Dave Burton intervened on behalf of several members of Council and, as a result, the fate of Enduro Bikes on the trail remains undecided until a special meeting on July 7th when various trail user groups will have an opportunity to address Council one last time before a fi nal decision is made.

When scientific research reveals a dreadful situation that seems to be spiraling out of control, is it possible to approach the topic with anything other than a purely gloom and doom tone? Leave it to the clever and witty Alanna Mitchell and through a bit of humour, her own experiences, and a strong message of hope, the focus just doesn’t have to be about the planet going to hell in a handbasket.

“The trip to New York has brought about a realization that over a decade of our work about geological events, decomposition and regrowth can be as relevant in the city as it is in nature, for both of us.” Victoria Ward What do you think New York City and Haliburton County have in common? ‘Not much at all, thankfully’, would be the answer of most folks that live around here. However, ask the same question to artists Victoria Ward and Gary Blundell and their answers, and artworks, will have you viewing both places in a new light.

Despite healthy downpours of rain, water levels across the county continue to be a matter of grave concern, not only for waterfront residents in the area trying to enjoy their lakes, but for tourism operators, marinas and people who hope to make additional revenue through cottage rentals. Over the past few weeks, articles have started to surface in southern city dailies raising concerns that signifi cantly reduced water levels could even create problems for hydroelectric power generators this summer.

What would be a good bid? Who’d bid what? How late could you leave it to ensure a winning bid? The sense of anticipation pervading the room was almost palpable as the great and good of Haliburton County’s environmental elite jostled politely to get a look at the lots on offer at the silent auction. And this was merely the preamble to a gala night of winners, and not losers but runners up, at the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust (HHLT) Enviro-Heroes Awards and fundraising dinner.

A barricade across what used to be a highway entrance to businesses near the corner of Highway 35 and Bobcaygeon Road in Minden is causing considerable angst for some of those businesses. The barricade was installed on Tuesday, May 25 in accordance with an order by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. The property at the corner, formerly the home of Rusty’s Auto, was purchased by partners Claudio Bortolussi and Gino Cappozoli, who had plans to tear down the existing building and build a new structure to house an as yet undetermined business, perhaps a fast food drive through.

A wondrous wind stirred through the art and over the seats at the Rails End Gallery last Sunday evening. The wind, generated by the five piece brass ensemble known locally as the Highlands Brass Quintet, was bold, bright and blaringly good, tightly tempering their tuba, trumpet, and trombone strains to the somewhat onerous confines of the intimate locale of the Gallery’s main room. The ensemble could easily have overpowered the small venue, but they managed to bring just enough restraint and respect to their performance before a sold out crowd at the Rails End.