PRoudly sERvIng PRInCE EdwaRd County sInCE 1830
The Picton Gazette THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014
VOLUME 1 8 4 , N O . 1 0
InsIdE
thiS week
PEtER MERtEns
Mayor says he will not run this fall
HANG UP
Quinte region traffic Coalition warns about driving with cells PagE 9
Mertens decides to leave County’s top post after one term Chad Ibbotson
Staff writer
HALF DONE Pirates dispatch rebels, face Jets in league final PagE 18
aRMEd advanCE Members of the first battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment take part in an exercise to clear the hallways at the old Prince Edward Heights Institute and advance on a target Tuesday. The troops, down from Petawawa on a training mission wore their winter white camouflage during the operation. (Adam Bramburger/Gazette staff)
Forces on patrol at Camp Picton Petawawa-based first battalion of Royal Canadian Regiment stages training exercises adaM bRaMbuRgER
Staff writer
HOLD ON
Cobourg pushes Dukes to brink of playoff elimination PagE 18
sECtIons
Looking back.......6 Weather.............6 Editorials.............7 Letters....................8 Sports....................18 Classifieds.............20 Puzzles.................26 CaNaDa’S OLDeSt COMMUNitY NewSPaPer
Though it ceased to be an active Canadian Forces base 45 years ago, Camp Picton welcomed the shortterm deployment of some 300 troops from the first battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment (1 RCR) Monday. The soldiers were bused in from CFB Petawawa in order to complete a fourday exercise designed to hone their skills in lowlevel combat and counterinsurgency measures. The regiment's commanding officer Lt.-Col James Price, a Trenton native himself, said they chose Picton because of the facilities available here and, simply, because familiarity isn't conducive to productive training in an industry where being alert can be the difference between life and death. "We're so familiar with Petawawa. When you're training, you want to ensure you're getting the most bang for your buck," he said. "This allows us to have a road move to come down to this location. It's somewhere new. It's a facil-
IntEnsE nEgotIatIons Lieut. Hary Little,
left, and Cpl. Greg Pulham take part in a simulation of talks to engage key community leader in a war zone at Loch Sloy Business Park Tuesday. (Adam Bramburger/Gazette staff)
ity that's here. We were back here in the fall and we had a look." Price explains that the core competencies — shoot, move, communicate — are the same anywhere, but sometimes drilling skills a familiar site can take the edge off. "If you know the area in which you're doing it or you're out over the same ground over time, you don't get as much exercise
P U L L - O U T
Carol Brough
R E A L
with respect to the navigation because you know it," he said. "In these sort of areas, it's something new so the soldiers have to come back to their first principles. It allows us to get away, to concentrate on what we have to do, and to go back to our basics." In a tent a few yards away from the air strip, Price and his operations manager Capt. Jeff Lloyd pored over maps and gave
E S TAT E
briefings to some of their senior officers about the exercise at hand. Lloyd explained the various companies of the regiment were patrolling areas surrounding the airfield and the nearby paintball facility located in the old Prince Edward Heights complex. The patrols were scheduled to set up a mock attack on targets at the paintball facility Thursday morning. More specifically, media members learned that different platoons received their orders Monday evening. Each platoon — groups of about 30 soldiers — was set to patrol designated areas in three-hour blocks over the night time hours. The system was designed to give nine hours of coverage with different platoons crossing over into varied designated area. While the patrols were set in three-hour blocks, those shifts also included nearly two hours of preparation and one hour of follow-up, in which intelligence gained on patrol would be handed over to a communications officer.
See TRAINING, page 22
S E C T I O N
After one term at the helm of Prince Edward County council, Mayor Peter Mertens has decided not to seek re-election. In a release dated March 4 Mertens addressed the residents of Prince Edward County, saying his decision not to run in this fall's municipal election came with mixed feelings. “I've thought about this for quite a long time and I've argued with myself for quite a long time,” Mertens said in an interview with The Gazette. “I've thoroughly enjoyed working as the mayor, I've enjoyed working for the people of Prince Edward County. There's a lot of satisfaction in public service.” Mertens said as much as he will miss working with the residents and fellow councillors, he believes people should know when it's time to move on. “I always wanted to make sure that I left before my best before date,” he said. He said he and council were able to accomplish all the work that he set out to do when he was elected mayor. “Had there been things on my to do list that we hadn't been able to accomplish I might have thought differently about it,” he said. After eight years with the municipality — four as a Wellington councillor and four as mayor — Mertens said he's most proud of the sustainability initiatives council was able to commence.
See MERTENS, page 26
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