Sioux Narrows fatality update

The name of a 22 year old man who died after jumping off the Sioux Narrows

Bridge over the weekend has been released.

Gerald Jonasson of Edinborough, North Dakota was killed after he jumped
off the bridge early Sunday morning and failed to resurface.

The OPP's Underwater Search and Recovery Unit as well as the Kenora Marine
Unit were able to locate the body later in the day.

No other details about the incident have been released.

Environment Committee releases annaul report

The City of Kenora is getting a passing grade for its work on environmental issues.


The city's Environmental Advisory Committee has submitted its annual report to council and its generally favorable.

Dave Schwartz is a member of the committee and says they are pleased with a number of initiatives undertaken by the city last year.

Schwartz says the implementation of an Electronics Waste Depot is a positive move, but suggests he would have liked to have seen solar power used in the building of the new fire hall on Barsky's Hill.

A new principal at Beaver Brae

A couple of schools will see administrative changes next School year.


Beaver Brae Secondary School will get a new principal next year.

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board says Clinton Bruetsch will take over from Katherine McIvor.

Bruetsch is currently the vice-principal at Queen Elizabeth High School in Sioux Lookout.

Steve Poling becomes the new principal at Queen Elizabeth, while Wayne Mercer becomes the vice-principal.

Council decides against Parking changes

Parking could be at a premium in downtown Kenora over the next couple of months.


The big tent has gone up on the Harborfront, meaning that all monthly parking is being
moved to other lots in the downtown core.

City council has spent a long time debating how it wants to deal with the parking issue
and has decided against extending a two hour limit at the metered parking spaces
in the downtown area.

Recreation Manager Colleen Neil says she would like to see the time limit expanded
so visitors can spend more time touring Kenora.

The Tourism Office does issue visitor parking passes to tourists, but instead of day-long
passes, council says it would like them to be for two hours only.

Water Levels up

All the rain over the past couple of weeks has convinced the Lake of the Woods Control Board to

increase the outflow from the Norman Dam into the Winnipeg River.

Outflow rose from 150 cubic meters per second up to 200 on Friday.

The Control Board says water levels on the lake have increased two inches
over the past week and are expected to rise another two to three inches
over the next seven days.

The Control Board is also preparing for an open house in Kenora this
week.

It will take place at the Best Western Lakeside Inn on June 17th starting
at 7:30. 

Sioux Narrows Fatality

A bizarre incident in Sioux Narrows has resulted in the death of

an American visitor.
Just before 2:00 Sunday morning, the Sioux Narrows Volunteer
Fire department was called out to help look for a man who had jumped
off the Sioux Narrows Bridge.

There are reports that two people had jumped off the bridge, but only
one managed to make it to the surface.
The OPP's Underwater Search and Recovery Unit was called in and divers
managed to locate the body of the missing man around 5:00 yesterday
afternoon.

The deceased was a 27 year old man, but his name has not been released
yet.

IJC encouraged to assist Lake of the Woods

The Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation says its pleased with a number of initiatives that have been taking place over the past couple of weeks on the political front.

Earlier this month, a motion was passed in the House of Commons urging the protection of waters on Lake of the Woods.

Todd Sellars is the executive director of the Foundation and says a similar bill has also been passed in Minnesota.

Sellars says they also met recently with representitives from the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department and says a reference has also been drafted for the International Joint Commission to work on water quality issues on Lake of the Woods.

A good year for Relay for Life

A record year for fundraising at the Relay for Life.


In the 10th year of the event, over 74 thousand dollars was raised for
cancer research.

Ralph Page was one of the organizers of this years event and says they
managed to smash the previous best for the Relay locally.

A total of 25 teams showed up to walk in support of local cancer patients
at the Relay for Life this year.

Hearings begin on Far North Act

Consulation sessions are scheduled to take place in remote first nation communities this week.


The hearings are on the Ontario Government's Far North Act.

Nishinawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy says they need more time to translate the Far North document.

The far north act recently passed second reading and is subject to further revision prior to the third reading which is scheduled to happen this fall.

HST Tolls Threatened

A number of First Nations communities are preparing to impose toll fees on traffic passing through their territories over the HST.


Anishinabek Nation Chiefs meeting at Fort William First Nation endorsed a resolution directing their bands to begin advertising their intentions for this summer.

Native leaders want a point-of-sale tax exemption now given to aboriginal people extended when HST kicks in July 1st.

Rainy River Resources results

Rainy River Resources has hit more high-grade gold mineralization on its Rainy River Gold project about 80 kilometers south of Kenora.


Company officials say the exploration program continues to demonstrate the potential for underground mining.

They add the Company will be aggressively pursuing a drilling and engineering program to look at an all-underground mining operation or an open pit and underground operation.

Go Electric Biker

A Southern Ontario man is travelling across Canada on an electric bike.


Art Burns left Dundas, Ontario at the end of May, and hopes to be in Langley, B.C. by June 22nd.

Burns is scheduled to ride through Kenora today and says he's promoting green transportation.

Burns is driving a bike which is equipped with a small generator to charge its lithium batteries.

Free Fishing for Military weekend

A big thank-you is going out to Canada's armed forces this weekend in Kenora.


About 30 members of the Canadian Military will be in town for a day of fishing
on Lake of the Woods tomorrow.

Woody Linton is one of the organizers of the fishing weekend and says it was
really the idea of a local guiding service.

Linton says most of the soldiers who have signed up for the day of fishing are
veterans of the Afghan mission.

They will be spending the night at the Kenora Armories before going back to
their home bases.

New Gateway Signage for Kenora

The City of Kenora is planning to spend about 100 thousand dollars for new
signs at the east and west boundaries of the municipality.

The funding for the gateway project is being included in the money earmarked for
the Highway 17 east and west rehabilitation projects.

The city's economic development officer, Jennifer Findlay says a request for
proposals for the new signs will be going out shortly.

The city is budgeting about 50 thousand dollars for each sign.

Relay for Life tonight

The 10th Relay for Life gets going this evening at Lakewood School.

Relay volunteer Ralph Page says they are looking forward to holding the event
at a new location this year.

Page says there is going to be lots of activities to keep people going all night long.

There are 25 teams registered for this year's event.

Electronic Waste Recycling Coming soon

The City of Kenora will soon have the only waste electronics recycling depot in
northwestern Ontario outside of Thunder Bay.

The city has reached an agreement with the Ontario Electronics Stewardship to
collect old computers, televisions, monitors, printers and cellphones.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says local residents will have to pay to
dispose of their old electronic equipment.

Perchuck says the recent electronic waste disposal day was quite successful
with two and a half semi loads collected in one day.

Action Plan on Policing Demanded by Treaty Three

Grand Council Treaty #3 is demanding an action plan to deal with
policing relations in the City of Kenora.

The aboriginal group says there have been several regretful incidents
involving use of force by police and First Nation residents over the years.
The most recent event took place on Monday when a 39 year old Grassy Narrows
woman was shot twice in downtown Kenora after brandishing a knife at police.

Grand Chief Diane Kelly says she wants the OPP to take steps to assure
Treaty Three leadership that aboriginal citizans are safe to walk the streets
of Kenora.

Services Board to discuss Kenora Land Ambulence base

The Kenora District Services Board will be meeting later this month to decide what to
do about a new land ambulence base in the city.

Last month, city council rejected a re-zoning request on Railway Street for the base.

Chief Administrative Officer Sten Lif says the issue will be on their agenda for discussion at their
June 24th meeting, but at this point there is no back-up plan.

The Services Board has spent several years and thousands of dollars try to find a suitable
location for a new land ambulence base in Kenora, so far without any success.

Drug arrests in Kenora

Two Kenora men have been charged following a drug bust in the Rideout area of town.


The OPP say that last week the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau and the
Drug Unit conducted a search of a Mascott Avenue home.

Officers located about a kilo of marijuana, two grams of cocaine, and seven thousand
dollars in cash.

The value of the property seized is estimated at over 29 thousand dollars.

33 year old Trevor Triskle and 31 year old Travis Triskle have been charged with possession
for the purpose of trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime.

Evergreen Parents Lobby to Save School

The Evergreen Parents Council has made a pitch to the Keewatin-Patricia

District School Board to keep their school open.

A deputation was made at this week's open board meeting.

Patti Letourneau was one of the presenters and says even though no schools are
scheduled to close in the next five years, they want the board to know that
Evergreen School is valuable to the local community.

The board isn't expected to make any decisions on a report on the Kenora Accommodation
Review Committee until the fall, but Letourneau says they wanted to make a
presentation on behalf of Evergreen before the summer break.