LETHBRIDGE- The city will be holding an open house Wednesday evening from 4 to 8 at the new Crossings Branch Library on the westside.

Community Planner Tyson Boylan explained that the city wants your input as they work on a plan to provide more opportunities for commercial and industrial development in West Lethbridge.

Boylan added that major retail stores and warehouses are just a few of the options for development in the area.

LETHBRIDGE- Canadians from coast to coast will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Terry Fox run September 19th and Lethbridge will be no different. 

Registration for the run will start at 1 p.m. on September 19th at the Kiwanis Shelter at Henderson.

Jo-Anne Wilson is the chair of the local event.

She says they're doing something special this year to kick things off.

"One of our volunteers is actually going to be running from Medecine Hat to Lethbridge to raise money and awareness for the Terry Fox Run," says Wilson. 

For more information or to register a team visit www.terryfox.org/ or find them on Facebook.

LETHBRIDGE- Organizers of a first-year welcome program at the University of Lethbridge are celebrating record success this year.

The student-led Frosh week, called "Fresh Fest," signed up students for 60 per cent of 450 packages  ahead of move-in day this weekend - more than ever before.

Fourth-year student Tyrell DaSilva is one of the event's coordinators. He says he's been pleased to see the event gain momentum since its inception three years ago, as it's helping build school culture.

"Students were going back to school excited to get back to their academics but that was it," says DaSilva. "They didn't have any kind of welcome back where they knew they would see friends, peers and mentors from years past."

DaSilva says the successful early package sales had a lot to do with coordinating the marketing for student-organized Fresh Fest with the orientation spearheaded by university staff.

Now from Thursday to Sunday this week, about 450 first year and transfer students will take part in a long list of activities designed to take the edge off starting at a new school. From a luau and 100-foot slip 'n' slide to a music festival, DaSilva says he's looking forward to bringing the experience to more students.

"Anytime I hear a student say that all the friends that they hang out with now are ones that they met at Fresh Fest, I get shivers. Because that's how I am and that's how lots of people I know are as well - it's really cool."

Event organizers expect to be sold out by the end of this weekend.

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Photo: Coordinator Tyrell DaSilva juggles bouncy balls shaped like lemons - part of the Fresh Fest package for new students.

LETHBRIDGE- Our city's Public Safety Communication Centre is looking into an incident August 25th, where emergency crews went to the wrong location after getting a 911 call from a cell phone.

The call came in reporting an elderly male was believed to be suffering from a heart attack. While a location was given by the caller, it couldn't be pin-pointed because it was on a cell-phone, and the crews ended up a Lethbridge Centre Mall at the Seniors Bridges Program instead of the Senior Centre.

They did eventually get to the patient, however it took 11-minutes, which is 2-minutes more than the city's target emergency reponse time.

LETHBRIDGE- A 15th name has been added to the list of those looking to fill eight aldermanic positions this fall.

Incumbent alderman Margaret Simmons made her announcement Friday, stating that one of her main priorities if re-elected, is to deal with an issue that keeps getting brought up. She explained that communication issues seemed to be a focus of a number of concerns brought to her. Simmons then noted that she wants to make members of council and city employees easier to get a hold of, and make sure they keep the public informed as to exactly what's going on around the city.

Simmons will be seeking her second term on council, with the vote going October 18th.

LETHBRIDGE- Regional Police are searching for a suspect, after a 9-year old boy was approached by a suspicious male Thursday evening around 5:30.

The boy was playing in the front yard of a home along the 1800 block of 22nd Street South, when a man on a bicycle came up and asked the boy to come with him.  The boy immediately went to his parents, who called police.

The suspect is described as a white male around the age of 50, with grey stuble and white hair under a baseball cap. He was also riding a red bike.

To apply, you must be at least 18 years of age and a resident of Lethbridge. 

In addition to working on October 18, all election workers will be required to attend a mandatory one-time two-hour training session. Sessions will be scheduled between September 28 - October 7, 2010.

Applications are available at the City Clerk’s Office, 2^nd Floor, City Hall, 910 – 4^th Avenue South and on the City of Lethbridge website at www.lethbridge.ca/election.