Image

Plympton-Wyoming man fined for open liquor

February 15, 2021

Alex Kurial/Local Journalism Initiative

A Plympton-Wyoming man is lighter in the pocketbook after a case of late-night driving.

Conner Weed, 26, plead guilty to a careless driving charge in Sarnia Court Feb. 9. Justice Krista Leszczynski assessed Weed with a $1,500 fine. He won’t receive any driving ban.

It was just after midnight Oct. 25 last year when OPP were patrolling Petrolia Line looking for suspicious vehicles that had recently fled a farm property. As an officer went eastbound past Gypsie Flats Road, he saw a pickup truck begin to leave the laneway of a farm before reversing back onto the property.

The officer turned around to investigate and found the truck parked near some bushes with two men inside. The passenger said the property was his family farm. But the driver – Weed – had an odor of alcohol on him and open bottles of Smirnoff Vodka and Bacardi Rum in the cab. This served as grounds for an arrest.

Defense lawyer Nick Cake says his client did act carelessly, but says Weed wasn’t up to anything suspicious. “He was doing some farm work with a friend… and they were going to a different field to tend to some equipment,” says Cake.

Careless driving fines range from $400 to $2,000. Leszczynski accepted the joint position that a penalty at the higher end of the scale was called for.

“This is an elevated fine. It recognizes not only that you were operating a motor vehicle carelessly… but also recognizes that at the time you had open alcohol in the vehicle,” says Leszczynski.

Share This

Image
Front Page

Killer Bees’ Feasey to coach Maroons

July 12, 2025

Barry Wright/The Independent Alvinston Killer Bees star Brennan Feasey is the new head coach of the Sutherland Cup champion Chatham Maroons of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. The new job came about after Richard Santos left the Maroons this week to become the new head coach of the U16 boys prep team with Biosteel Sports Academy in Windsor and

Read More

Image
Front Page

Still standing (with some help) after 200 years

July 12, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent When Abraham Smith and his wife, Anna Hoy, arrived on the shores of the St. Clair River, there was nothing but trees which blocked out the sun. The couple landed around what we now know as the St. Clair Parkway and Smith Line in 1820, along with two children and another family, and settled in the area.

Read More

Image
Front Page

Remembering Croton

July 12, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent Harold Snary stands under a tree in the postal village of Croton. Those standing with him see a new, siding-clad school and church, a few homes and the traffic whizzing down Oakdale Road. At the corner of Oakdale and Croton Road, they might notice the building which used to be the general store. For most, this 39-person

Read More

Image
Front Page

Lambton lands part of 30×30 project

July 11, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent Almost 700 acres of land along the Sydenham River, including some in Petrolia and Wawrick, will be recognized as conservation lands in Ontario. It’s part of an international plan to protect 30 per cent of the earth’s land and sea by 2030. Tim Payne, manager of forests for the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority, was contacted by

Read More