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Lovelace hearing postponed

The hearing for the second round of contempt charges facing members of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation couldn’t proceed yesterday when defendant and Queen’s professor Robert Lovelace couldn’t get from the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay to the Frontenac County Court House. Ardoch Algonquin lawyer Christopher Reid said there was a great deal of confusion as to whose responsibility it was to make sure Lovelace was in court.

“I don’t believe it was my responsibility, and Justice Cunningham said it’s not his responsibility, so the fact is nobody made any moves to have him in court,” he said. “It’s up to the prosecutor, which in this case is Frontenac Ventures.”

Lovelace was sentenced to six months in prison and given a $25,000 fine at a Feb. 15 ruling on the first set of contempt of court charges.

Lovelace and other members of the Ardoch Algonquin and Shabot Obaadjiwan were charged after disobeying an injunction to stop blockading a disputed mining site near Sharbot Lake.

Reid said yesterday’s hearing should have dealt with alleged contempt of court that occurred after Oct. 5, 2007, but didn’t proceed for two reasons.

“The first was because Bob wasn’t there,” he said. “We also all agreed that since we have filed an appeal of the sentence it would make more sense to have the appeal dealt with first before the second phase of the contempt proceeding.”

The next court date has been set for June 2, but Reid said there’s no guarantee the appeal, which was served on March 14, will be processed by that date.

On March 17, the OPP laid charges against six more people for coming inside the 200-metre set-back on the property. The six accused—Oskar Graf, Ilene Kinley, Shelia MacDonald, Suelyn Cedar, Beth Robertson and another person not yet found—will also return to court June 2.

—Jane Switzer

Waldron Tower wins residence energy challenge

Last Friday, Waldron Tower was declared winner of the first annual Residence Energy Challenge. The challenge, hosted by Students Taking Responsible Initiatives for a Viable Environment (STRIVE) and the sustainability co-ordinators from the AMS and the Dean of Student Affairs office, encouraged students to reduce their residence’s overall energy use.

Blake Anderson, student affairs sustainability co-ordinator, said Waldron saved 3,397 kilowatt hours of energy. In total, Queen’s residences saved 40,816 kilowatt hours.

The challenge also involved a competition between Queen’s, the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo. Students signed online pledges committing to a reduction in energy use. Waterloo won the interuniversity challenge, with 46 per cent of students signing the pledge. Queen’s came in second with 33.4 per cent and Guelph followed with 12 per cent.

“We had over 33 per cent of students sign the energy challenge pledge, which I think is a pretty big feat,” Anderson said.

Next year, Anderson said, the competition will likely be held earlier to get a head start on changing energy consumption behaviours.

—Kerri MacDonald

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