Lengthy Power Outage Planned for Sunday

Residents living to the north and west of the City of Kenora will be in the dark for a long time Sunday.

Hydro One says it will be shutting off the electricity for customers in the Jaffray Mellick, Dalles First Nation, Pellatt, and Washagamis Bay for a total of six hours.

The outage is scheduled to last from 9:00 Sunday morning until 3:00 in the afternoon.

Hydro One says its doing mainteance and upgrades to its equipment during the six hour interuption.

Neighborhood Watch Meeting Next Week

The OPP are trying to expand the Neighborhood Watch program in Kenora.

The program was brought back a couple of years ago, and an information session will take place next week for anyone interested in getting involved.

A meeting will be held next Tuesday night in the Rotary Room of the Kenora Rec. Center starting at 7:00.

City Starts Thinking ahead to 2012 Budget

It should be a little easier to put together the 2012 municipal budget next year.

Ron Lunny is the chair of the finance committee and says last year the new council faced a huge learning curve when it came to the budget.

Lunny says department heads have already begun looking at their budgets for 2012, and he anticipates they should be able to approve it a little earlier next year.

Word on the Water this Weekend

Kenora is the writing capital of northwestern Ontario, at least for this weekend.

The second annual Word on the Water conference is taking place this weekend.

Rick Brignall is one of the organizers and says they are expecting a good turn-out.

The conference starts tonight at the Minis Hall of the Super 8 with a presentation on aboriginal writing from the Winnipeg Aboriginal Writers Group.

Gravelle Takes over as Minister of Natural Resources

Michael Gravelle understands the Ministry of Natural Resources portfolio is an important one for Northwestern Ontario.

That's why the Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP is chomping at the bit to get going.

Gravelle was sworn into office Thursday.

Gravelle notes he spend the next couple of weeks getting acquainted with the hot-button issues facing Natural Resources.

Bartolucci back as Northern Development Minister

It's a familiar face in the position of Minister of Northern Development and Mines.

Rick Bartolucci says he's happy to be back in his old post and looks forward to getting caught up to speed.

Bartolucci notes he'll be sitting down with area First Nations to talk about their concerns about the Ring of Fire.

Deadline for Infrastructure projects approaches

The clock is ticking on projects that have received federal infrastructure funding.

October 31st is supposed to be the deadline to have all the projects complete.

Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford says there will be some leeway.

Rickford says most of the projects in this riding have met the deadline.

Transit Commission looks to overhaul bus routes

Kenora's Transit Commission is planning to meet at the end of the month and decide if and how bus routes should be changed.

Some routes have very low ridership and cost a lot of money to operate.

Councillor Charito Drinkwalter says the Transit Commission will base their decision on a ridership survey that was carried earlier this year.

The Lakeside route is being under-utilized and costs four times more to operate than the Keewatin bus route.

Con College Enjoys good enrolment numbers

Confederation College continues to ride a first year enrolment wave.

Vice President of Student and Corporate Services Bob Backstrom says this year's levels have remained even with last year but that is still very high.

Backstrom says Confederation college is also better than the provincial average for both graduates getting hired and employers being satisfied with former students

Broncos win final game of regular season in WHSFL

Beaver Brae's football team ended its season with a "W".

The Broncos edged the West Kildonan Wolverines 25-23 yesterday afternoon at Pete Fair Memorial Field.

Head Coach Chris Penner says the two teams were pretty evenly matched.

Jared Davis rushed for 144 yards, including a 65 yard touchdown run at the end of the second quarter.

Joseph Lee had a 30 yard touchdown reception, while Brayden Leishow had the rest of the Bronco points with a touchdown, a field goal and a punt single.

Thistles lose, Saints Win

It was a close one last night at Thistle Rink as the Kenora Midget AAA Thistles dropped a 3-2 decision to the Norman Northstars.

Brent Aiken and Rhyse Mandamin scored for Kenora. The two teams will battle again tonight at the Rec Center.

It's Breast Cancer Awareness night so don't forget to Pink the Rink.

Game time is 7:30.

Meanwhile, the Thomas Aquinas senior boys volleyball team continues to roll along.

The Saints were in Whitefish Bay yesterday and blanked the Winter Hawks three sets to none.

The T.A. junior boys were also victorious winning three sets to one.