The bi-annual National Drug Take Back Day, held Saturday at the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office and law enforcement offices nationwide, was a big success.  Over 240 pounds of pills were collected at the Sheriff’s Office, and turned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for disposal by incineration.  “We are very pleased to once again partner with our community and the DEA in this event,” said Sheriff Tim Donnellon.  “We know the importance of getting these pills out of medicine cabinets, where they might be stolen and sold on the streets, lead to an accidental overdose of a child or end up in our drinking water.”  This was the 16^th time the Sheriff’s Office has participated in the Take Back Day event.  Over 1900 pounds of pills have been collected from our community and disposed of properly.  Though the nationwide numbers for the latest event are not available; in April of this year nearly 475 tons of pills were collected at nearly 6,000 sites nationwide.  If you missed the event and still have pills that you wish to dispose of, you can bring them to the Sheriff’s Office, located at 1170 Michigan Road in Port Huron Township.  Drop off hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.  Just bring in your pills and drop them into the receptacle located in the main lobby of the Sheriff’s Office.  We are able to take pills only.  Liquids, inhalers, sharps and patches cannot be accepted.  For disposal of sharps, please go to: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/whm-stsw-sharps-collection-list_196524_7.pdf

Fighting human trafficking in our community through awareness and education is the subject that the Kiwanis Club of Port Huron is tackling and presenting at a Human Trafficking Conference on Saturday, November 3rd from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Blue Water Convention Center at 800 Harker Street in Port Huron.  There is no cost to attend this conference, although it is requested that you register online at kiwanisporthuron.org.  Guest speakers for the day will include law enforcement, Homeland Security, the State Prosecutor, a survivor and a psychologist.

Beginning this week, the St. Clair County Board of Commissioners will begin keeping to their fall schedule for meetings.  St. Clair County Administrator Controller, Karry Hepting says, that she can’t believe it is that time already to be announcing the Fall meeting schedule, but, here we are.  Hepting says that in November and December, the normal meeting schedule is altered to accommodate the upcoming holidays.  The first Thursday of the month will continue to be committee meetings, however, their full board meetings will move from the third Thursday to the second Thursday of the month, so the meeting will be back to back Thursdays, allowing for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Election day is Tuesday, November 6 and voters will head to the polls to decide on a number of positions.  Locally, in the city of Port Huron three seats for city council need to be filled and the position of Mayor is up for grabs.  Four candidates are running to hold the title of Mayor; those include current , current city councilman Scott Richard Worden, newcomer, Tray Smith, current Mayor Pauline Repp and Garth Gurnsey who has run for Mayor in the past.  Garth says he is an honest and hard-working person and he has a long history of connect to Port Huron.  He lived in the children’s shelter that was on 10^th Street.  He served 26 years in the Navy and is involved in a number of Maritime activities.  He says he loves the city and he has ideas for the city to partner with others.  Gurnsey believes the city should eliminate the city income tax among other ideas which he feels would create growth within the city.

Eight candidates are in the running…only three seats are available for Port Huron City Council.  Running on the ballot are  Lisa Beedon,  Bob Mosurak, Arthur Payne,  Marissa Williams, Jeff Pemberton,  John Hardman, councilmember Teri Lamb and current councilmember Anita Ashford.   Ashford has a long list of credentials concerning her experience on boards and understanding how government and committees work.  She also has had experience on City Council, having served the past two terms on City Council and is current mayor pro tem.  She also serves with the Blue Water Transportation Commission.  Anita talked with WGRT about the blight situation in the city, and how she feels that to deal with that, you need to move up to dealing with the rental housing issues.  That is where it starts, she says.  The landlords need to provide good quality housing, and good quality renters will follow.

Election day is Tuesday, November 6 and voters will head to the polls to decide on a number of positions.  Locally, in the city of Port Huron three seats for city council need to be filled and the position of Mayor is up for grabs.  Four candidates are running to hold the title of Mayor; those include current Mayor Pauline Repp, current city councilman Scott Richard Worden, Garth Gurnsey who has run for Mayor in the past, and newcomer, Tray Smith.  Smith says what he has to offer is unique in that it is giving people a platform to be heard from all levels of life, he brings a blended sense to hearing all voices.   In the next term, he would like to see the apathy leave us.  He wants to see people become engaged and get encouraged and become involved in making a difference in our community.  He feels that Port Huron is seeing a decline in population and Port Huron is not a diverse city, mainly in ideas.  He would love to see a rise in the youth.  He feels the position of Mayor needs to give people hope.  That residents should feel they can speak with the Mayor about their concerns, and look to the Mayor for hope.