Roussin Appointed to KDSB

Councillor Louis Roussin will be the city's next representitive on the

Kenora District Services Board.

Council approved Roussin's nomination to the board at a special meeting Friday in council chambers.

Roussin will take over from Rory McMillan, who had been chair of the

District Services Board over the past couple of years.

Council also agreed to appoint mayor Dave Canfield as Roussin's alternate if he can't attend the board meetings.

Multiple Vehicle Accident closes Trans-Canada for five hours

Steady snow this weekend made for some slick road conditions in the Kenora area.

At one point, Highway 17 west of Kenora near the Ontario/Manitoba border was closed down Saturday night due to a multi-vehicle collision.

The OPP say four or five vehicles were involved in the accident near the intersection of the Shoal Lake Road.

The Trans-Canada was closed for about five hours while the wreckage was cleared.

There are reports that traffic was backed up all the way to Falcon Lake at one point.

The highway was finally re-opened around 1:30 Sunday morning.

Proposal for Norman Accessibility Park

Norman Park seems to be the next area of development for the City of Kenora.

City Council has approved a lenghty report which could make the park more accessible for peole with physical handicaps.

Councillor Sharon Smith its a worthwhile project that will not only enhance tourism, but benefit local residents.

The proposal calls for a low grade walking trail from Norman Park to the new Discover Center at Cameron Bay and along Lakeview Drive to the Dairy Queen, a splash pad and also new accessible washrooms.

The exact cost of the project won't be determined until tenders come back.

Food Costs increase in region

The Northwestern Health Unit says the cost for families in the Kenora-Rainy River district to eat healthy, nutritious food each month has risen 11 per cent over the past year.

Nutritionist Julie Slack says their healthy food basket survey shows it now costs 916 dollars.

She says unfortunately the increasing cost of food is forcing many to make unhealthy choices so they have money for other expenses.

Slack says while food prices continue to rise, incomes have not kept up at the same pace.

Midget Thistles win pair of home games

The Kenora Triple "a" Midget Thistles have won three of four games on their current five game home stand.

The Thistles took a pair from the Norman North Stars over the weekend.

Saturday night, the Thistles cruised to a 5-1 victory.

Friday night, the Kenora Midgets came back from a 2-0 deficit

and rallied for a 3-2 win over Norman.

The Thistles have one more game at home before the Christmas Break.

The Eastman Selects are in town Wednesday night.

Police Board Rules on Found Money

It turns out that there is such a thing as finders keepers in Kenora after all.

The Kenora Police Services Board has had a change of heart and will
be returning some money to a woman who found some cash in the city this past summer.

Initially, members of the police board talked about donating the money to a charity.

Mayor Dave Canfield says there is no incentive to turn in lost items, if the city is
just going to turn around and give it to someone else.

Its believed a woman found about four hundred dollars in cash on June 28th.

Since the money hadn't been claimed with in three months, the Police Board was asked
to decide what to do with it.

Tourist Resorts get NOHFC Funding

Three area businesses have received funding to make energy efficient changes.

Motlong's Camp in Sioux Narrows has been given a grant to convert to bio-diesel for use in its diesel vehicles.

Anishinabi Lodge in Vermilion Bay will install a self-contained solar electrical system as well as a wind

turbine.

The move will eliminate the reliance on the existing gasoline-powered generator.

Camp Lake St. Joseph in Pickle Lake will upgrade its current solar energy system to increase its power generation to 860-watts.

The money is from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

Allan Cup to get more TV exposure

The 2011 Allan Cup in Kenora will get twice as much national exposure on television than previous national senior hockey championships.

Judy Bain is one of the members of the Allen Cup Committee and says they have received word from TSN that it plans to produce not only the final, but one other game during the week-long tournament.

Bain adds that the games will also be broadcast in High Definition.

The Allan Cup will take place April 11th to 16th.

City sets Recycling Targets

The City of Kenora is hoping to get closer to the provincial government's target for recycling

in the next couple of years.

Local residents currently recycle about 33 percent of their household waste.

Thats less than the provincial target of 60 percent, but still better than the average across Ontario of just 25 percent.

The Solid Waste Department's Waste Management Promotion and Education Plan was approved by Kenora City Council on Friday.

Solid Waste manager Mike Mostow says the plan sets out targets for increasing the amount of material being recycled locally.

Mostow adds that they will be meeting with officials from Waste Diversion Ontario in the new year to talk about Kenora's Recycling program.

He says currently, Waste Diversion Ontario provides about one third of the funding for their blue box programs, while the municipality picks up the rest.

The reports can be found on the Kenora re-use website.