New Members of Council Sworn In

Some changes are being made to the committee structure at City Hall.

At the swearing in ceremony this morning, the six members of council were assigned their committee duties for the next year.

A couple of new committees have been created and a couple have been eliminated altogether.

One of the new committees is Corporate Services, which Rory McMillan will be taking charge of.

McMillan had been chair of the former Finance and Administration Committee.

Ron Lunny take over as chair of the Finance Committee, while Sharon Smith is chair of Economic Development and Hydro, which is another new committee.

Charito Drinkwalter has been named chair of the Community and Protective Services Committee,
while Louis Roussin heads up Property and Planning.

Rod McKay is the new chairman of the Operations Committee.

Snowmobiler dies near Ingolf

A 55 year old man is dead following a snowmobiling accident near Ingolf.

The OPP say the incident took place Friday afternoon around 4:30 after

a sled went through the ice on Longpine Lake.

While a passenger managed to get out of the water to safety, the

driver had to be rescued by emergency personnel.

Rick Schween was pronounced dead at Lake of the Woods District Hospital.

The OPP say in the past week there have been numerous incidents of snowmachines going through the ice on Rabbit Lake, Round Lake and Laurenson's Lake.

Hospital coping with bed shortage

Lake of the Woods District Hospital says its been dealing with its bed shortage, even
though they haven't seen many of their patients moved into long term care facilities.

Chief Executive Officer Marc Belaen says 13 patients are still waiting for a bed
of open up in either the Kenora District Home for the Aged or Birchwood.

He adds they are still waiting for word from the Ministry of Health, that as many as
10 beds could be opened at Pinecrest.

Belcaen says there is a lot of demand for the Alternate Level of Care beds, but they
have been managing pretty well in recent weeks.

Snowmobiles fall through ice

It's the old saying:  if you don't know, don't go.


Over the weekend, there have been numerous reports of snowmobiles going
through the ice of local lakes and rivers.

Sleds have fallen through thin ice on Round Lake, Laurenson's Creek and
Shoal lake over the past couple of days.

Fortunately, no one was injured in those incidents, but caution is
advised when heading out.

The heavy snow, hasn't allowed the ice to thicken up very much so far.

New Edition Council to be sworn in today

A big day for the new edition of Kenora City Council.


Council members will be publically sworn in at a formal ceremony in
Council Chambers.

Kenora Mayor Dave Canfield says he's met individually with each of the six
council members to determine which committees they will be sitting on over
the next few years.

The swearing in will take place starting at 11:00 this morning.

Council gets down to work tomorrow, with their first committee meetings slated
for 2:30.

PLT deadline extended

A victory for property owners who pay the provincial land tax.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton sent an open letter to Premier McGuinty demanding he extend the deadline to pay 2010 property tax bills.

Hampton says his constituency offices have been overwhelmed by calls from people who have been told they have just day's to pay or face penalties.

The province has agreed to extend the deadlines, the first payment to January 31st, and the
second at the end of February.

Broncos Win, Thistles lose

A disappointing weekend for the Kenora Triple "A" midget Thistles.

The Thistles were tripped up 8-1 yesterday at the Kenora Rec. Center by the
Central Plains Capital.

Friday night, the Winnipeg Wild walked away with a 4-1 win over the Kenora Midgets.

Meanwhile, the Beaver Brae Girls Hockey team continues to roll along.

The Broncos nipped the Fort Frances Muskies 5-4 Friday night, to remain
unbeaten in NorWOSSA League Play.

Beaver Brae hits the road tomorrow night to take on the Rams in Red Lake.

Tourism Kenora planning more special events

Tourism Kenora says its plans to host more special events in the months ahead.

On Friday, it was announced that the Beach Boys would be playing the Kenora Harborfront on June 15th.

Heather Paterson is the city's Tourism Development Officer and says now that they are under the umbrella of the Lake of the Woods Economic Development Commission, they will be doing more of this kind of special event promotion..

Tickets for the Beach Boys will go on sale this Friday.