Hospital in the Black

Lake of the Woods District Hospital managed to finish the 2009/2010 fiscal year in the black.

The hospital posted a surplus of about 116 thousand dollars last year.

President and CEO of the hospital, Marc Belcaen says it hasn't been easy to keep their books balanced.

This is the third time in the past four years the hospital has managed to post a surplus on
its operations.

The hospital had a budget of almost 44 million dollars last year.

Show Us Your Colors

The first ever Show Us Your Colors fundraiser for local cancer patients gets underway this

afternoon.

Irma Milko is one of the organizers of the event and says they noticed a definite need in
the community to help out cancer patients who have to go to Winnipeg for treatment.

Tonight's supper is already sold out.

There are a number of other events taking place all day at Norman Park, including
Dragon Boat rides.

Hospital Chair Elected

Debbie Baldwin is back as chair of the hospital board for a second year

in a row.

The executive of the board was elected last night at the Annual General Meeting.

Baldwin becomes the first chair of the board under its new corporate model.

She says under the new model, the board has been reduced from 20 members down to
just 13.

Fred Richardson was elected as vice-chair of the hospital board last night.

Northern Ontario Party a go

The Northern Ontario Heritage Party is one step closer to gaining official party status.


Party spokesperson Ed Deibel says they're waiting for a letter from the Ontario Elections Commission.

More than 1 thousand one hundred and fifty signatures in favour of the party were sent to the commission.

Deibel says they hope to have as many as 11 candidates in place for the next provincial election in 2011.

Pikangikum fire grows

Sun and windy conditions  over the past couple of days continue to fan out a large forest fire burning northeast of Pikangikum First Nation.


The fire has grown to 44-hundred hectares in size and is considered not under control.

A number of hotspots continue to smoke and fire crews are on scene.

The good news for the MNR is that there have not been any new fire starts reported
in the region in the past five days.

Three local soccer teams at All-Ontario's

Three local high school soccer teams are in action today at the all-Ontario

championships.

The Thomas Aquinas boys are in Windsor for the start of the OFSAA single A championships.

The Saints face Smithville District Secondary School at 10 this morning in their first round robin game.

Meanwhile, the T.A. girls team are in Sudbury for the provincial single "a" championships.

They play their first game at 8:00 this morning against Guido de Bres.

In Sarnia, the girls double "a" championships are taking place and Beaver Brae

is representing NWOSSA there.

The Broncos play their first game at 11:00 this morning against St. Thomas Aquinas from Oakville.

All the provincial championships wrap up on Saturday.

Wet May weather

A year-long trend towards warmer weather came to a halt last month.


Environment Canada says temperatures in the Kenora area were pretty much
normal for this time of year.

The average daily mean temperature was 11.9 degrees.

Meteorologist, Chantal Cerny says unfortunately it was a much wetter month
than usual.

Kenora had just over 144 millimeters of rain last month, which is 80
millimeters more than normal.

Coronor Investigating Child's death

The Regional Coroner's office is investigating the death of a four year old Thunder Bay kindergarten student.


Willow Scott Hannam was on a field trip to Fort William Historical Park on Monday when the accident involving horses and a wagon occurred.

Dr. Michael Wilson says the investigation has begun and could take several months to complete.

Wilson says after the investigation concludes they will decide whether or not to launch an inquiry into the death.

Four arrested in brutal assault

Four men are in custody following a brutal beating on a remote first
nation in northwestern Ontario.

The Nishinabe Aski Police says 25 year old Brian Bluecoat was attacked on the
Fort Severn First Nation over the weekend.

Police say he suffered a fractured skull, a damaged windpipe, a punctured leg, bruising to his body, and a partially amputated figner.

The four men are being charged with aggravated assualt.

The accused include 18 year old Terrence Childsforever, a 16 male and two 14-year-old youths.

All four appeared in Kenora Court yesterday for a bail hearing.

MNR conducting Lake Surveys

The Ministry of Natural Resources says it will have staff out on area lakes once again

this summer conducting fish surveys.

This year, the MNR says it will be concentrating on lakes in the areas south of Kenora
to Fort Frances and over towards Dryden.

MNR spokesperson Bill Towill says they usually try to study the lakes on a five year
cycle.

Towill says they use the information collected for the Ministry of the Environment's
guide to sports fishing, and also to make any changes to fishing regulations in the
region.

(Photo courtesy of the MNR)

Hospital Foundation AGM

Despite a sluggish stock market, the Lake of the Woods District Hospital Foundation

has been able to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for the local medical facility.
The Hospital Foundation held its annual general meeting last night and says it transferred
a record 750 thousand dollars to purchase new equipment and carry out capital upgrades.

While revenue from investments has been hit hard in the past couple of years, the Foundation
still managed to generate over 600 thousand dollars through its fundraising efforts.

The Foundation still has its work cut out.

The Hospital says its going to need over eight million dollars over the next five years
in capital projects and equipment purchases.

OPP officer charged

A veteran O-P-P officer in northwestern Ontario has been suspended from duty with pay

while he answers to charges of uttering threats and unauthorized
possession of firearms.

Investigators say an officer who was off duty in Terrace Bay is accused of uttering threats.

No details of the threat are being released to protect the identity of the victim.

Constable Gregory Sutton is to appear in Thunder Bay court on July 5th.

Internships for Northern Youth

Keeping our young people in the north.


That's the goal of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund's co-op and internship programs.

Minister of Northern Development Michael Gravelle says employers find it beneficial to hire the region's youth.

Over 300 Northern youth are getting on-site job experience through internship and co-op placements.

Couchiching pleased with progress in talks

Couchiching First Nation is claiming victory after taking down a toll booth on Highway 11 Monday night.


Councillor Sarah Mainville says the decision came after getting assurances from the federal government over the contaminated lands issue.

Mainville says negotations over the Highway 11 land claim with both the federal and provincial governments will also take place

Old Fort William Tragedy

The coroner is investigating the death of a four-year-old girl following an accident at Fort
William Historical Park in Thunder Bay.

Willow Scott Hannam was on a field trip on Monday with her kindergarten class when a wagon rolled over her when a horse was startled.

The Lakehead School Board and the Ministry of Labor are also investigating the incident.

Lake levels stable despite rain

Despite all the rain this weekend, water levels on Lake of the Woods aren't expected

to rise very much in the next few days.

Rick Cousins is a spokesperson for the Lake of the Woods Control Board and say
the south end of the drainage basis is still quite dry.

Cousins says they expect the lake to rise three to five centimeters over the next
seven days.

Outflow from the Norman Dam will remain unchanged.

Couchiching Toll Booth removed

Members of the Couchiching First Nation have brought down a toll booth on Highway 11 near Fort Frances.

Band members removed the booth Monday night at about 9 p.m.

They opened the toll booth on May 21, charging $1 per vehicle to raise awareness about a highway land claim.

The band also called for funds to relocate six families living on what the band claims is contaminated soil from a former sawmill.

A band spokesperson says the reason for the removal of the toll booth will be explained in a statement later today.

Provincial police earlier said traffic flow was orderly through the toll with a minimal wait.

Big Fine for Building on Lake of the Woods

A Winnipeg man has been fined a total of nine thousand dollars for illegally building in the
Clearwater Bay area.

Ian Rentz was fined a thousand dollars for constructing a building without a work permit.

He was also fined four thousand dollars for continuing construction after receiving a stop work order from the Ministry of Natural Resources and another four grand for failing to comply with the terms and conditions of a work permit.

The court heard that in April of last year a Ministry of Natural Resources technician inspected Rentz’s cottage property on an island in Echo Bay on Lake of the Woods in Kenora.

Rentz was doing some construction work without a permit.

He was ordered to stop work until he obtained a work permit.

A month later a Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officer saw Rentz continuing to work on the structure despite the stop work order.

A few months later, Rentz received his work permit but failed to comply with its terms and conditions.

The area where Rentz was constructing the cottage is under a Restricted Area Order.

Fire Hazard Dropping

Rainfall over the weekend in much of Northwestern Ontario has helped ease the forest fire hazard.


Ministry of Natural Resources Information Officer Debbie McLean says the current hazard is listed as low to moderate.

McLean adds the forest fire hazard still remains high in the Quetico Park area where three fires are still burning.

With the fire hazard on the decline, MNR Fire Fighters are being sent to northeastern Ontario to deal with
wild fires there. 

Cancer Rates in the Northwest still high

Residents of Northwestern Ontario still live a lifestyle that poses a cancer risk.

The latest report card from Cancer Care Ontario indicates we smoke more than the provincial average and are more overweight as well.

Michael Power of the Regional Cancer Centre says even cutting down on smoking would help reduce rates considerably


The report card also shows the local Centre is doing a good job in cancer radiation treatment.