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Alan Cochrane
Cochrane report

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Portofino - a new Italian restaurant featuring homemade pasta, sausages and seafood -- is set to open soon at 40 Weldon Street in Moncton.

"Watch out Moncton, Portofino is here. This is the restaurant you've been waiting for for years," owner and chef Tony Scichilone said yesterday. Scichilone, a native of Sicily, said the restaurant is family owned and operated and will have daily lunch specials and buffets. It is operated by Tony and his son Fabio, who makes home-made sausages and other Italian specialties.

The Scichilone family has been in the restaurant business for over 30 years and is already well-known at the Dieppe market.

The restaurant is named in honour of Portofino, a small Italian fishing village, commune and tourist resort located in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera.

For more, call 860-7007.

City water system receives award

The Atlantic Canada Water Works Association (ACWWA), as well as the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA), have recently recognized the City of Moncton's automated water meter reading system as a leader in water conservation and environmentally sound practices.

The ACWWA recently awarded the 2008 Project of the Year award to the City of Moncton in the greater than 25,000 (population) category. By remotely reading each meter at least four times per day, Moncton is able to profile water usage and identify high consumption and leakage on the customer side so that customers can be made aware when their consumption is abnormally high. This latest technology is the first RF (radio frequency) Fixed Network system used in Canada.

"This project took over four years to complete, but it has already demonstrated its worth to our City as a tool for water loss management through leak detection and water conservation education," said Don Morehouse, director of Public Works.

The CAMA also highlighted Moncton's nomination for the 2008 Environment Award of Excellence. In addition to profiling residential, commercial and industrial consumption, the data collected through the AMR system allows the City to conduct "water audits" of its own water distribution system in order to monitor leakage levels and target areas for repair.

Online university appoints officials

Meritus University, a new Canadian institution specializing in online higher education for working professionals, recently announced two new appointments.

R. Alex Reed joins as the Pice President Operations/University Registrar and Dr. Harvey Silverstein takes on the role of Dean of Business and Information Technology. The university is based in Fredericton.

Meritus University is among a small number of fully online universities operating in Canada and was recently approved by the New Brunswick Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour to offer its degree programs in business administration and information technology management. Meritus University is now accepting applications.

For information, visit the website at www.meritusU.ca

Snow-scrapers for transport trucks popular

The Snow-Scraper, an ingenious yet reasonably system that uses a rack to scrape snow and ice off the roofs of transport trucks, is becoming a hot commodity in Canada and the United States.

Officials with Scraper Systems Inc., say their Snow Scraper system has already been installed in over 200 locations across North America. The Canadian distributor is Denex Industrial Inc. of Dartmouth.

The Snow Scraper uses an adjustable rack between two poles. The truck can simply drive through it and have the snow and ice scraped off quickly and efficiently.

Snow and ice on the roofs of trucks has become a concern for the trucking industry in recent years. The extra weight can mean decreased fuel economy and ice and snow can create an extreme safety hazard on the highway. Fines in several provinces and states can be as high as $275 per infraction along with point penalties for drivers.

n The Cochrane Report appears each Wednesday and Saturday. Items for inclusion may be submitted to cochrana@timestranscript.com, or by fax to 859-4904.