Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Saturday morning.
OPP: Impaired driving, impaired crashes up in Ontario in 2023
Ontario Provincial Police say they saw more impaired driving this year compared with last year, and more impaired driving crashes. OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt says there was a 16 per cent rise in impaired driving occurrences and a 10 per cent increase in collisions involving impaired drivers. He says OPP officers have laid more than 10,000 impaired driving charges so far in 2023, 215 of them in the last week. Schmidt says 397 people died in crashes this year, 49 of them in collisions involving alcohol or drug impairment.
Sudbury Five win home opener over London 124-113
The Sudbury Five opened up their 2023-2024 season, and the first since joining the Basketball Super League, with a 124-113 win over the London Lightning. Both teams are former members of the now defunct National Basketball League of Canada, with the Lightning holding the distinction of being a two-time NBLC champion. London came out strong, led by Ben Mockford, who notched 22 points over 33 minutes, and Jeremiah Mordi, who scored 20 points over 37 minutes. By the end of the first quarter, London was up 33-26. The Five rebounded in the second quarter with help from Landon Kirkwood and Samuel Daniels, both playing in their first season with the Five, who scored 19 and 21 points respectively throughout the contest.
Wolves earn point on road in shootout loss to Barrie
The Sudbury Wolves came back from Christmas break on Thursday night for a game against the Barrie Colts at the Sadlon Arena in Barrie. Marcus Vandenberg got the start in goal for the visiting Wolves while Ben West got the nod for the Colts. In a penalty-filled opening frame, Jack Brauti got the Colts on the board first, scoring his third goal of the season just 4:40 into the first period to give Barrie an early 1-0 lead over Sudbury. The remainder of the period was a fairly steady parade to the penalty box, with both teams accumulating a total of five penalties in the first period, Sudbury earning three and Barrie two. Despite their best efforts, the Wolves could not solve West in the Barrie net in the opening 20 minutes and went into the dressing room trailing the Colts 1-0 after 20 minutes of play.
Year in review: City makes headway on downtown projects
Revitalizing downtown Sudbury was a clear priority of city council in 2023, with the city’s elected officials inching closer toward their arena/events centre and library/art gallery projects. These major projects join emergency services infrastructure, tackling the city’s infrastructure spending gap and city council members behaving badly in filling out the list of key trends in city council news this past year. In late November, city council greenlit a $65-million library/art gallery project to take shape at Tom Davies Square, which is expected to open by the end of 2026. Meanwhile, city council members voted to purchase several downtown properties to the immediate east of the Sudbury Community Arena to accommodate an arena/events centre project, at a total cost of $12.5 million to date.
GSPS looking for three men involved in shovel attack
Greater Sudbury Police are requesting assistance in locating 30-year-old Chase Gour-Boyd, who is currently wanted on two outstanding arrest warrants for two separate assaults that took place on Dec. 1. They are also requesting assistance to identify two individuals involved in one of the two assaults. According to a release from GSPS, the original incident was reported to police Dec. 1 at around 1:25 a.m. and officers were dispatched to Durham Street in relation to a weapons complaint. “Information provided was that an individual was seen beating another individual with a shovel outside of an establishment on Durham Street,” said the release. “The individual believed to be responsible for the attack then went inside the establishment while the injured individual left the area on foot. Officers attended the establishment and were unable to positively identify the individuals involved in the incident.” Then, the release states that just after 2:15 a.m. officers were dispatched to the hospital as City of Greater Sudbury Paramedics had transported an individual who had sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries consistent with the assault that had taken place on Durham Street. As part of the ongoing investigation, officers reviewed video surveillance footage of the incident and identified the individual believed to be responsible for the assault.
