In a decision that might be unprecedented in Ontario municipal Integrity Commissioner (IC) adjudications, Central Elgin council on Monday, Sept. 11, rejected a Code of Conduct report and so thwarted an independent investigator’s findings of code violations by Mayor Andrew Sloan. Council also decided at its September 11 meeting to to accept a separate but similar report about Councillor Morgaine…

Next week, readers will find a donation bag inside this newspaper for The Aylmer Express’s 34th annual Thanksgiving Food Drive for Corner Cupboard food bank in Aylmer and St. Thomas Caring Cupboard food bank. “Demand is up for sure,” said Penny Hilliker, manager of the Aylmer food bank, which is part of the East Elgin Community Assistance Program. Corner Cupboard…

Elgin Ontario Provincial Police Constable Brett Phair reported Thursday, Sept. 7, that the remains of a missing London resident last seen taking a swim from a boat near Port Stanley had been found in Lake Erie. The body was about 6.5 kilometres east of where he had gone into the water. Police, firefighters, the Canadian Coast Guard, an OPP helicopter…

Murray Alward of Vienna, who appeared in the pages of The Aylmer Express 2021 with a tomato weighing just over three pounds he grew in his backyard, has surpassed that with this 3.5-pound tomato he harvested Tuesday, Aug. 29. He’s a retired plant propagator, and the seeds that grew this tomato came from the 2021 example. The new record holder…

Dr. Mike Toth, an East Elgin native who’s practised since 1988 in Aylmer, retired earlier this year, but still has a great deal to say on the state of medicine in this area and across the province. He’s a former president of the Ontario Medical Association. He recalled fondly the great support he received from veteran Aylmer physicians when he…

Elgin Ontario Provincial Police, Central Elgin Fire and Rescue and the Canadian Coast Guard are searching for a swimmer reported missing from a 25-foot sailboat in the waters of Lake Erie, near Port Stanley. Const. Brett Phair of Elgin OPP said a London resident, 64, had gone swimming from the boat at 3:48 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31. The boat…

Elgin Ontario Provincial Police officers are trying to determine why a sailboat was abandoned docked to a pier in the Port Stanley. Const. Brett Phair said police received a report Wednesday, Aug. 30, that a boat had been docked alongside the pier on the west side of the harbour on Friday, Aug. 25, at about 1:15 p.m. Two white males…

Comic and juggler Craig Douglas kept five balls in the air at once during a show for the Aylmer library’s Summer Reading Club in the opera house at Old Town Hall on Saturday, Aug. 19. More pictures are in the Aug. 23 edition of The Aylmer Express. (AE/Rob Perry)

“Craig the Science Guy” Johnston used a Slinky as part of his educational show for the Springfield library’s Summer Reading Club at Malahide Community Place on Thursday, Aug. 7. The show was the final meeting of the club. More pictures in the Aug. 23 edition of The Aylmer Express. (AE/Rob Perry)

The over 300 riders who participated in the 11th 3 Port Tour on Saturday, Aug. 19, enjoyed “a perfect day for riding,” Aylmer Bicycling Club President Brett Hueston said afterward. The day before the bicycle ride, covering routes of 50-, 100- and 160-kilometres, had been very windy, the day after was much warmer and humid. But the weather Saturday offered,…