The Observer (Sarnia)
FIGHTING WEST NILE
Branton Mastrandrea, with Pestalto Environmental Health Services Inc., drops mosquito larvicide in a catch basin on Alexandra Avenue in Point Edward as part of Lambton Public Health's efforts to reduce the risk of West Nile virus. Drivers are being...
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Chief drops $1.5M suit against Sarnia newspaper, owner
Sarnia's police chief has withdrawn his lawsuit against a local newspaper and its ownership. Derek Davis launched a $1.5-million action in April against the Sarnia Journal, its Sarnia Media Group Inc. parent company, and majority owner Nathan...
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Lambton College celebrates graduates at convocation
Alix Emmrich had one more exam to get through after crossing the stage at Lambton College's convocation this week. The Waterloo resident graduated from a two-year program at the college in Sarnia Tuesday and is working for Lambton Emergency Medical...
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Sarnia-area law enforcement officers carry the torch for Special Olympics
Organizers of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics scheduled the Sarnia-area run for Friday on purpose. “We always pick a PD (professional development) day . . . just so the athletes and their families can participate,” said Jocelyne...
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BRICK BY BRICK
A six-storey apartment building is rising on a London Road site next to Lambton Mall. The building, the first of several planned for the site, is a project of London-based Southside Group. The company said previously the apartment building is expected...
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ROPER'S ROMP
Sharon Ritchie and other volunteers take a dance break during Saturday's Mrs. Roper's Romp, Sarnia-Lambton Chapter, car wash at the Point Edward Ex-servicemen's Hall in support of the Women's Interval Home. Chapter members take part in events dressed...
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Ex-T.O. deputy named Sarnia's interim top cop
A former City of Toronto deputy police chief has been appointed by the Sarnia Police Services Board to provide interim oversight and leadership while Chief Derek Davis is on administrative suspension, with pay. The board said in a statement Friday...
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County council asked to OK $32.5M Sarnia plan — if feds, Ontario kick in
Lambton County councillors are being asked to green-light a $32.5-million affordable housing project on Sarnia's Cathcart Boulevard — if Ottawa and Ontario pony up at least $16.4 million. The project and its proposed financing, which won a county...
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TIME TO DANCE
A performer with Brampton's It's Time 2 Dance wears poi kaal kuthrai garb during a performance at Sarnia's Redeemer Christian Reformed Church Saturday. The dance was part of the Sarnia Tamil Sangam group's Tamil New Year celebration.
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Meet Simon, the `cuddle bug'
Drivers passing the paddock on Meghan Clarke's horse farm near Petrolia pull over now and then to ask a question. Is that a camel? It is, and his name is Simon. “I was contacted by a friend about a zoo in Quebec that was forced to shut down,” Clarke...
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UNEASY SLIDERS
Brigden's Claire Haugh, 1, left, and her sister Eloise, 2, start down a slide Thursday at a playground in Sarnia's Canatara Park.
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LEATHER WORK
Jennifer Seel, a student in a leather carving class at Sarnia's Strangway Centre, poses Tuesday with some of the equipment used. The recreation centre for adults offers 85 programs annually and sees about 2,000 users, city officials have said.
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YOUNG STARTER
Robert Tiede, 2, and Clarissa Tiede from Watford cross the finish line of the Watford Alvinston Road Race 2026 on Monday outside the East Lambton Community Complex. Monday's race was the 67th annual edition of the event.
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Hopefuls line up early, hoping to Catch the Ace — and $2M
Ed Kukura, Ace Concordia and Julien Malles were first in line Thursday at the legion in Sarnia to buy tickets for an estimated $2-million top prize in the weekly Catch the Ace lottery. They set up camp at about 11 p.m. Wednesday, Kukura...
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THEY KNOW THEIR ONIONS
Lambton Shrine Club members, from left, George Spence, Ray Hardy and Rob Donald were on duty Wednesday morning at the group's annual Vidalia onion sale next to the Blue Water Bridge in Point Edward. The fundraiser, held for about three decades, raises...
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FOR THE BIRDS
Volunteer Dagmar Joosten holds a kestrel named Nico from the Bluewater Centre for Raptor Rehabilitation Saturday during a World Bird Migration Day event in Sarnia's Canatara Park.
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DEADLY CRASH
Norma Lagacy heard a boom early Friday. It "shook the whole place,” she said. What Lagacy heard was an SUV crashing into a support pillar for the Murphy Road overpass on Guthrie Drive East about 12:30 a.m., Sarnia police said. The lone male occupant...
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COUNTDOWN BEGINS
Sarnia Coun. David Boushy, left, and Kevin Marriott, warden of Lambton County, talk while standing next to a calendar unveiled Wednesday at county council to mark the remaining meetings until Boushy, first elected to city council in the 1960s, retires...
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Sarnia's Great Lakes high school shares the `joy of music'
The Great Lakes secondary school auditorium was full for the 10th music Monday community music event at the Sarnia high school. About 570 pupils and staff from 11 local elementary school filled all the seats while the high school's music department,...
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SUPPORT WITH A SMILE
Jack Christine, executive director of the Inn of the Good Shepherd, and executive assistant Robyn Lafond decorate smile cookies Thursday at the Tim Hortons on London Road in Sarnia. Sale of the cookies at Sarnia Tim Horton locations through Sunday will...
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Sarnia day of mourning shines light on mental health impacts from workplace
The impact of workplace incidents on workers' mental health was a focus of Wednesday's day of mourning ceremony in Sarnia. The Canadian Labour Congress declared a national day of mourning in 1984 for workers killed and injured on the job and this...
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PITCHING IN
Rob Collie, with the Rotary Club of Sarnia, collects trash in Germain Park Saturday. Collie was among about 375 participants tending to 38 city parks during Sarnia's annual community parks cleanup day, said recreation co-ordinator Rebecca Warren....
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ALL KEYED UP
Ariya Parmar, 11, left, and Emily Gomez, 12, are shown at St. Giles Presbyterian Church in Sarnia Wednesday before taking part in an under 13 piano duet event at the 95th Lambton County Music Festival. The festival runs through May 1.
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Joy, excitement and trusting God
A new bishop is taking over the Diocese of London, which serves about 450,000 Southwestern Ontario Catholics. Pope Leo XIV has appointed Rev. Daniel Miehm as the 11th Bishop of London beginning in June, replacing Bishop Ronald Fabbro, who has held the...
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HIVE OF ACTIVITY
Haley Walker, beekeeper at St. John in the Wilderness Anglican Church in Bright's Grove, shows Laura Greaves a section of a beehive during Saturday's Climate Action Sarnia-Lambton Earth Day family activities at the Sarnia Public Library. With Walker is...
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SAD FAREWELL
Pallbearers wearing jerseys with the name Dane on the front and Nisbet and the number 15 on the back wait to carry the casket of Dane Nisbet Friday into the funeral service at Temple Baptist Church in Sarnia. Read more on
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They need your vote
The Petrolia Community Refrigerator, a volunteer group providing food at no cost to those in need, is appealing for community support — this time in the form of online votes. It's one of three Ontario community programs vying for up to $25,000 from...
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Deadly Lambton College shooting
Sarnia's top cop had this advice for a Londoner charged in a Sarnia student pub shooting that killed a 20-year-old Sarnia junior hockey player and injured two former teammates: “Turn yourself in.” “To Mr. Doe directly, I say that every time you go to...
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Former junior hockey player, 20, killed in Lambton College shooting: Police
The perpetrators remain at large after gunfire erupted early Friday at a campus bar at Lambton College in Sarnia, leaving one man dead and two others – all three played junior hockey together – injured, sources say. A 20-year-old Sarnia man died in...
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Ambassador Bridge loses top spot as busiest U.S.-Canada trade crossing
The Ambassador Bridge's long reign as the busiest Canada-U.S. trade crossing has come to an end. The Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia saw roughly 274,000 more commercial trucks than the Windsor border crossing last year, representing a major change in the...
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SUGAR! SUGAR!
The Petrolia and District Skating Club's senior team performs during the club's ice show, “Sugar! Sugar!,” on Sunday afternoon at the Greenwood Recreation Centre. Sunday's performance was the club's 63rd annual ice show.
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County mulls alternative site for Sarnia overflow shelter
Lambton County isn't expected to close an overflow homeless shelter in Sarnia any time soon, but it is considering an alternative permanent location for the additional beds. County council got an update Wednesday in a staff report on the Out of the...
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ALMOST BUNNY TIME
Lauren Dillon, a staffer at the Children's Animal Farm in Sarnia's Canatara Park, holds Oreo the rabbit as the park gears up for the free Easter in the Park bash Saturday. The farm is free to visit daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more on Easter in the...
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EARLY EGG HUNT
The Easter Bunny greets, from left, Declan Pearson, 8, Kayda Pearson, 7, and Norah Inger, 3, Saturday at the Bright's Grove Optimist Club's Easter in the Park egg hunt in Wildwood Park at Sarnia's Bright's Grove.
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CRUNCH TIME
Taking part in the Great Big Crunch nutrition event Thursday at Lansdowne public school in Sarnia were, from left, Brooke Salenbien, with VON and the Ontario Student Nutrition Program, Grade 3 pupil Hayley Leckie, 9, and Nicole Paquette with Noelle's...
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Tiny school, big ideas
Grade 7 and 8 pupils at Wyoming 's Holy Rosary Catholic school will showcase how the rural community is embracing digital technology at the community's fairgrounds in April. Alongside local tech and career exhibitors, the Wyoming Sky-Tech Invitational...
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RIGHT ON TARGET
Heather Littlejohns with the Ka Chi Yoga Institute tries a Sarnia School of Archery interactive kiosk at the inaugural Sarnia Sports and Recreation Show Saturday, at the Dante Club. Read the full story on
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Chiefs call for integrity probe into councillor's online comments
Two area First Nation chiefs are calling for Sarnia's integrity commissioner to probe recent online comments by a city councillor. Walpole Island Chief Leela Thomas, and Kettle and Stony Point Chief Kimberly Bressette, each posted letters dated March...
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Pipeline watchdog probing recent spill into St. Clair River
Ontario's pipeline regulator says it's investigating a March 11 hydrocarbon spill from a Sarnia pipeline into the St. Clair River. A Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) spokesperson said it's working with the pipeline operator,...
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SMALL FRY
From left, Myles MacDougall, 4, Emily Scott, Cameron MacDougall, 1, and Bryce MacDougall from Sarnia check out some of the fish inside the Bluewater Anglers' hatchery in Point Edward during the organization's open house on Sunday. The event ran...
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SPRING IS COMING
It already looks like spring inside the City of Sarnia greenhouse at Germain Park where plants are being grown for city parks and gardens. Horticulturist Jorge Paiva holds a New Guinea impatiens that has already begun to bloom. City staff plant and...
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FISHING IN THE MIST
Mist hangs over the St. Clair River Wednesday morning as angler John Perz of Sarnia tries his luck from the Point Edward shore near the Blue Water Bridge. After a stretch of warmer days, below 0 C daytime high temperatures are forecast to return...
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0-50-0-0
The Sarnia Legionnaires own the record no team wants. They capped the first winless season in Greater Ontario Hockey League history Sunday with an 8-2 road loss to the Elmira Sugar Kings. The Legionnaires go into the GOHL record book with a 0-500-0...
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TIME FOR A CHANGE
Dana Thorne, curator-supervisor of the Lambton Heritage Museum in Lambton Shores, changes the time on a clock in the collection that was made by the Arthur Pequegnat Clock Company, the longest lasting Canadian-based clock manufacturer, in business from...
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MEET CAPTAIN CANADA
Forest's Tyler McGregor, longtime men's para hockey captain and a public face of Canada's team at the Milano-Cortina Paralympic Games, says he aims to inspire as he gears up to join Nordic skier Natalie Wilkie carrying the Maple Leaf flag at Friday's...
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BUNDLED UP FOR HABITAT
Nine-year-old Isaac Whitely of Wyoming and his Sarnia grandfather, Don Smith, walk Saturday in the Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity Sarnia/ Lambton. About 160 walkers participated in the walk near Centennial Park,...
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McGregor flag bearer at Paralympics
Para hockey captain Tyler McGregor, of Forest, was selected a Canadian flag bearer Friday for the Paralympic Winter Games. McGregor will share the duty with para nordic skier Natalie Wilkie, of Salmon Arm, B.C. McGregor is at his fourth Paralympics....
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Nearly 100,000 votes in salt-spreaders naming contest
The names are in for a pair of school board salt-spreaders in Sarnia-Lambton and Chatham-Kent. The truck-mounted ice melters, used to keep paved schoolyards safer at a cheaper cost than plowing, are Mr. Melt in Sarnia-Lambton, and Ice, Ice Salty in...
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HARD FOUGHT
Nathan Medeiros (23) of the St. Patrick's Fighting Irish goes to the basket against Ursuline Lancers' Gibson Dunlop (33) in the LKSSAA senior boys AAA basketball final Saturday at Ursuline College Chatham. See the full story on
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GOING FOR GOLD
Nathan MacKinnon, left, celebrates his last-minute powerplay goal with teammates Sam Reinhart, centre, and Macklin Celebrini as Canada came back to beat Finland 3-2 in Friday's men's Olympic hockey semifinal and win a berth in Sunday's gold-medal game....
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WEATHER WOES
The entrance to the Petrolia Discovery from Petrolia Line was closed Wednesday due to unsafe conditions. Officials have issued flood and freezing rain cautions throughout the area.
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FAMILY DAY FUN
Jennifer Napier pours syrup for her daughter, Evie Napier, 5, at the Family Day breakfast Monday at New LIfe Assembly in Petrolia. Family Day activities were also offered at Petrolia's YMCA, arena and Lions Club hall.
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CREWS GET A BREAK
Construction crews received a break this week when milder temperatures moved into the Sarnia area. A crew with Maaten Construction was at work on a medical building project next to Christina Street in Sarnia. The city issued building permits valued at...
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CARVING OUT CAMARADERIE
Doug Barners works on a carving of a bear Wednesday at the weekly meeting of Triple C Carvers, a social club where participants carve everything from “soup to nuts” — even golf balls, one member says -- and socialize over coffee and cookies
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`TOTAL WHITEOUT'
A winter wallop that closed roads and left many stranded in Sarnia-Lambton was drawing comparisons Saturday to 2010's “Snowmageddon.” “We are no stranger to these weather events,” said Warwick Township Mayor Todd Case, at the east Lambton...
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Sarnia townhome tenants fighting eviction notices
After 20 years living at Village Green townhouses in Sarnia, Robyn Johnson says she has no plans to leave. Johnson and other residents at the Exmouth Street complex recently received eviction notices from their new landlord, to make way for...
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Council OK's spending plan, 3.7% tax hike
Lambton County's share of local property tax bills will climb 3.7 per cent this year. That translates to $19.49 more than last year for each $100,000 of assessment on a residential property, the county says. County council approved the increase...
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ONE HURT IN CRASH
A Sarnia police officer directs traffic shortly after a collision at the intersection of Murphy and London roads Sunday afternoon. A Sarnia police spokesperson said a vehicle heading west on London Road allegedly went through a red light and collided...
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HAIL TO THE CHIEF
The retirement of Doug MacKenzie, Point Edward's fire chief, was celebrated Thursday during an open house at the village's community hall. MacKenzie, centre, shown here with his spouse Shamine MacKenzie, left, and Point Edward Mayor Bev Hand, served 45...
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COLD WEATHER ALERT
A city crew clears snow Wednesday from a parking lot in downtown Sarnia. Lambton Public Health said Wednesday a cold weather alert for the Sarnia area has been extended through Sunday following Environment Canada's forecast that frigid overnight...
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Family Literacy Day
There's more than one way for families to build literacy skills, the Lambton County Library's Vanitia Campbell says. The library and community partners hosted Family Literacy Day activities, including a bean bag toss, plastic cup stacking, henna art,...
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OPEN HOUSE
Toni Powless, with Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services, shows off the kitchen of an apartment in the agency's new affordable housing building in Sarnia during an open house this week. The five-storey, 60-unit building, built on land donated by Lambton...
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PIECE MAKER
Ron Schiestel works on a wooden puzzle for his granddaughter in the hobby shop at the Strangeway Community Centre on East Street North in Sarnia. The city-run centre offers programs for adults age 20 and older.
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Big, busy Rotary used book sale aids community causes
At one point, there were about 15,000 books on display at this year's Rotary Club of Sarnia-Bluewaterland book sale. But that, Dale Wilcox, event co-ordinator with the Sarnia service club, said Saturday, was just a snapshot. “Since 9 o'clock this...
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BLOWING SNOW
Tyler Rayner from Petrolia gets creative and uses a leaf blower to get the snow off his pickup truck Thursday afternoon after a massive snowstorm rolled through the region. More snow is expected, along with frigid temperatures, this weekend.
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STORM COMING
Visibility on Highway 402 at Forest Road was reduced early Wednesday afternoon as a winter storm started to arrive in the region. Temperatures were expected to drop later on Wednesday as snow squalls arrived and police in the area cautioned motorists...
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OUT GO THE LIGHTS
Acie Burgess from Sarnia helps take down the Celebration of Lights display in Centennial Park Saturday morning. Saturday was the community takedown day for the annual lights display, which was up from late November through to last week.
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Petrolia hospital renovation going to tender in weeks
A multimillion-dollar renovation of the emergency and X-ray departments at Petrolia's hospital is expected to go to tender in coming weeks, a decade after planning for the project began. “We're talking about an initiative that really began in 2016,”...
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SHELF IMPROVEMENT
Volunteer Stephanie Stevens sorts books Wednesday donated to the Rotary Club of Sarnia Bluewaterland for its used book sale running Jan. 16 and 17, and 30 and 31, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at DeGroot's Nurseries in Sarnia. Book donations are being accepted by...
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`Moving meditation': Sarnia open house showcases tai chi's health recovery
About 20 people showed up at a church hall in downtown Sarnia Sunday afternoon for a open house by the Sarnia Branch of the Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism. The branch holds tai chi sessions several days a week in space at St. Andrew's Presbyterian...
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Polar plungers kick off 2026 at Sarnia's Canatara Beach
Walking up the beach, pieces of ice hanging from her hair and bathing suit, Triniti Boucher said she couldn't feel anything. “But it feels really nice,” the Sarnia woman said. Boucher was one of about 25 people who waded into Lake Huron at Sarnia's...
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New `catio' for Petrolia ferals opens its doors
A group working to contain the feral cat population here has a new facility some of the felines can call home. Caregivers of Petrolia Ferals, a volunteer-run organization aiming to ease the hardship of feral and vulnerable cats in Lambton County,...
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`IT'S HEARTBREAKING'
At best, they'll get a phone call this Christmas. At worst, there will be nothing but silence from their son, Chandler Gattinger, who has disappeared onto the streets of London. “I don't have a clue where he is; he is on the streets of London...
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Sarnia high schoolers head to college amid roof repairs
Alexander Mackenzie secondary school students will head to class at Lambton College from March to June during roof repairs at the Michigan Avenue high school. Lambton Kent District school board said the temporary arrangement with the Sarnia community...
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THROWING SNOW 2.0
Bright's Grove entrepreneur Robert Carriere thinks often about a piece of advice he was given years ago. “Never lose your momentum,” a successful business leader told Carriere early in his effort to develop technology behind his exoskeleton design...
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HELPING HANDS
Veronica Azichoba, left, and Atta Mujeeb, with Shell, sort donated food Tuesday at the Inn of the Good Shepherd during this year's “Inn-dustry Takeover” at the Sarnia agency.
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