Graveline trial starts: The trial of Rita Graveline, the Luskville woman who shot her husband in August 1999, started Feb. 19 in Hull Court.
Defence lawyer Marino Mendo is using battered wife syndrome to defend his client, who is charged with second-degree murder for killing her husband, Michael Graveline, 51, of 31 years. Rita admitted to killing her husband.
On Aug. 10, 1999, after a night at the bingo hall and a darts tournament, Rita got in a quarrel with her husband which resulted in her allegedly shooting him with a hunting rifle while he was sleeping in bed.
Pontiac Municipality courted from all sides: It must be nice to feel wanted. Just ask the citizens of Pontiac Municipality.
Despite the seemingly eternal rift on council, with the east ward councillors and their west ward counterparts locked in an ongoing struggle over issues big and small, the municipality is being courted by more than one suitor.
To the north, the Municipality of La Pêche has made perfectly clear which sections of North Onslow it wants. To the west, the Municipality of Bristol last year passed a resolution calling for a feasibility study on the advantages and disadvantages of annexing Quyon and surrounding area.
Within a couple of weeks, a petition will circulate in Quyon and North and South Onslow asking the residents to decide whether they want to split from the eastern wards.
Now, Pontiac MRC has entered the fray by again tabling and passing a resolution — with only Bristol Mayor Jack Graham dissenting — requesting that the entire municipality join Pontiac MRC. The resolution, brought forward by Mansfield Mayor Robert Ladouceur at Monday’s MRC meeting, calls for Pontiac Municipality to rejoin.
“I want them here, they can help us,” Ladouceur said. “Plus, it means putting 5,000 more people in our MRC.”
Teen smoking area concern: At the Pontiac High School Governing Board meeting on Feb. 13 some parents raised concerns they had about an increase in the number of young people smoking cigarettes.
“A group of several parents made a proposal to the board to form a tobacco reduction plan,” said Nancy Hunt, a parent who has two children attending PHS.
The plan entails providing literature and counselling for students to encourage them not to smoke and show them the harmful effects cigarettes can have on their health.
Pontiac High School currently has a designated area at the back of the school for students to smoke. Previously, students had to go off the school grounds to smoke.
“I don’t mind the smoking area,” said Jessie Goncalves, a PHS student, when asked what she thought of having a designated area to smoke. “It gives us students a place to smoke and the teachers can keep an eye on us.”
Rachel Laroque, another PHS student and smoker, said “it doesn’t make a difference to me, but it’s better than having to go off the school grounds to smoke.”
“We are going to smoke anyway, so it doesn’t matter if there is a smoking area or if we have to go off the school grounds.”