Brandon, MB – The City of Brandon’s Community Services Department is pleased to inform the public that the Manitoba Hydro Power Smart Waterfall of Lights display will officially be turned on for the 2018-2019 winter season today at 5 p.m. The sparkling display of holiday lighting is located immediately west of the City of Brandon’s Community Services Complex on McGregor Avenue. As of this evening, the display will be turned on and will remain lit from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. nightly through the winter season. NO public vehicles are allowed in the direct area of the Power Smart Waterfall of Lights display. The public is encouraged to park in designated areas on McGregor Avenue or Hilton Avenue and walk through the area to view the lights. The City of Brandon Community Services Department asks all members of the public to enjoy the lighting displays at a safe distance and not to walk in areas where power cords are present. Today also marks the official opening of the Hanbury Hill toboggan hill, located just off Braecrest Drive in Sir Winston Churchill Park. Hanbury Hill’s warm-up gazebo will now be open from the hours of 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., while decorative lighting and flood lighting is turned on each evening from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. for the duration of the season. Other toboggan hills available for public use include ones in Rideau Park and at the Wheat City Golf Course/Recreation Centre, and smaller sliding hills include the 34th Street & Cherry Crescent Sliding Hill and the Parkdale Park Sliding Hill. Due to the construction activity currently underway at the Wheat City Golf Course/Recreation Centre, all members of the public are asked to keep away from all fenced-in areas and watch carefully for heavy machinery coming and going from the area. Families are encouraged to enjoy all the above mentioned free winter recreation offerings; however, the City of Brandon would note that all are unsupervised areas. Meanwhile, Community Services crews continue preparation on the popular public skating oval along McGregor Avenue, with a tentative ice opening date of Friday, December 14th. The community is asked to respect all signage and barricades as preparation of the oval continues and to stay off the ice surface until it is ready for public use. For more information on public winter activities provided by the City of Brandon’s Community Services Department, call 204-729-2148

On Thursday, staff of a group home reported finding two license plates at a residence on Cornell Bay. The plates were found to belong to the stolen vehicle from Winnipeg. Police executed a search warrant at the residence that recovered a 12 gauge sawed-off shotgun, Savage Arms .22 caliber long rifle and a sock full of ammunition. The registration for the stolen vehicle from Winnipeg was also found in the residence. An 18yr old Brandon woman was arrested for Possession of Prohibited Firearm, Possession of Property Obtained by Crime x2, Unauthorized Possession of Firearm, Unsafe Storage of Firearm x2, Unsafe Storage of Ammunition and Possess Weapon for Dangerous Purpose and lodged at BCC to appear in Court.

Dirty T Shirt Productions has taken the unique story of the McPhail Brothers to Bell MTS FIBE TV 1. McPhail Brother Workshop, a six-episode series follows Joel and Josh McPhail into their shop, as they create stunning, one-of-a-kind pieces out of wood and metal Producer / Director Steve Langston explained the show captures the creative genius of two of his childhood friends. Joel and Josh first headed to the workshop, he said, when their mother planned to buy a $2,000 dining room table for their cabin and the brothers knew they could make one. Youtube Trailer Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtzqeDoIFYc “Because they're always into making stuff and it turned out really well. People started asking them to build stuff for them and that’s when the business took off,” Langston said, noting carpentry for the former Brandonites is still part time, on weekends and evenings. McPhail Brothers Workshop, filmed in Portage la Prairie, shares the passion Joel and Josh have for their projects, along with the feisty relationship between the siblings. They work with a lot of Manitoban materials, Langston said, particularly Manitoba maple, as well as reclaimed products, from barn board to truck parts. “I mean, they're not necessarily just carpenters, they're welders and they're doing all sorts of interesting things that make their products so unique,” he added. Langston admitted McPhail Brothers Workshop was a fun project for all involved. “It's one of those projects where you have to almost pinch yourself," he said, adding the show demonstrates hard work between the two brothers does pay off. When asked about the experience of filming a television show with his brother the oldest McPhail Brother offered, “Being able to create these projects with my brother has been a great bonding experience, but being able to film it all and share it with the world at the same time is just amazing. Each McPhail Brothers Workshop episode is approximately eight minutes long and available now to Bell MTS subscribers. Dirty T Shirt Productions is a Manitoba company founded by Steve Langston in 2010. The company regularly works with many of Manitoba's more visible brands and has been seen across Canada on familiar channels, such as CBC, AMI, Bell MTS and more. Look for McPhail Brothers Workshop on Instagram at @mcphailbros and check out their hand-crafted work at mcphailbrothers.com.

The Manitoba government has introduced amendments to The Highway Traffic Act that would adopt more serious sanctions for drunk drivers while keeping more police on Manitoba’s roads, Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced today. “There are still too many people who haven’t gotten the message about drunk driving and they are taking the lives of too many Manitobans,” said Cullen.  “Our government is sending a message to all Manitobans with our immediate roadside prohibition legislation – if you drink and drive, you will lose your licence, you will lose your vehicle and you will lose a lot of money.” Under the proposed new law, drivers under the influence of alcohol who register a ‘warn’ on an approved screening device, suggesting a blood alcohol content (BAC) of between .05 and .08 would face a new monetary penalty of at least $200 for a first offence, escalating to at least $400 for a third or subsequent offence, to be established by regulation.  They would also face a vehicle impoundment of between three days for a first offence and 30 days for a third or subsequent offence.  Those drivers caught a third or subsequent time would also be required to drive with an ignition interlock for a year.  These new sanctions would be on top of existing licence suspensions and other sanctions for ‘warn’ range drivers. For first time drunk drivers that register a ‘fail’ on an approved screening device, which indicates a BAC over .08, who cause no bodily injury or death, police would have the discretion to impose a new monetary penalty of at least $500 as well as a mandatory ignition interlock of one year rather than proceeding with a criminal charge.  The new sanctions would be comparable to those applied post-conviction and would be applied on top of the existing pre-conviction 90-day licence suspension, 30-day vehicle impoundment and mandatory Addictions Foundation of Manitoba assessment or remedial program required for all first-time drunk drivers with a BAC over .08 on a breathalyzer test. Adding up all the administrative sanctions and penalties, the minimum cost for a ‘warn’ range driver would be $2,600 for a first offence to about $3,200 for a third or subsequent offence.  The minimum cost for a ‘fail’ would be over $3,300.  All monetary penalties would be established by regulation. Under the new approach, testing could take as little as six minutes, which is significantly less than the time required to administer a breathalyzer and process a drunk driver criminally, which is often up to four hours.  As a result, police officers would get back on the road sooner, allowing them to catch more drunk drivers. Once proclaimed, the legislation would be accompanied by a provincewide public education campaign by Manitoba Public Insurance, further emphasizing the new costs and consequences of driving drunk. In 2017, 73 people were killed and 442 were seriously injured in traffic collisions in Manitoba.  Drunk driving accounted for 32 per cent of those killed and six per cent of those injured.  Already this year, 28 people have lost their lives because of a drunk driver. This new Immediate Roadside Prohibition approach to drunk driving was implemented in British Columbia in 2010.  Since then, alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities have decreased by 50 per cent and injuries have decreased by nearly 25 per cent.  The British Columbia model is strongly supported by Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada.

West End Community Centre volunteers were seen early this morning working hard to clear the snow off of the two ice surfaces at the centre after a weather system dropped about 10 centimetres of snow on the city.   The volunteers have spent many hours flooding the rinks to get them ready for the season and they are pleased to announce that the West End surfaces will officially open and be ready for public use tomorrow!   This is great news for Brandon School Division students as there is no school on Friday. The West End Community Centre is located at 247-23rd Street. They have two ice surfaces, one for hockey and one for exclusive to skating without sticks and pucks. So gear up, take advantage of the great forecast and enjoy your first outdoor skate of the year!   If you’re not into skating, but find the winters to be long and boring why not consider volunteering at your local community centre? Many of the centres rely on local volunteers (as well as donations) to keep the doors open and as we all know, many hands make light work.   For details and contact information on Brandon’s community centres, visit: http://www.brandon.ca/community-centres/centre-information.