American Hunters face hefty fine

Two American hunters face a huge fine for illegally hunting deer in the Kenora

area last fall.

Jamie Doucette and Jesse Caswell from Michigan have been fined a total of
over 11 thousand dollars for hunting deer at night.

The two were driving along Cynet Lake Road last Hallowe'en when a large
buck ran across the road in front of them.

One of the hunters turned the truck to point the headlights at the deer,
while the passenger got his rifle out to shoot at the buck out the side
window.

The shot missed its mark, but the gun discharged and the bullet ripped through the floor of the truck
as one of the hunters tried to put it back in its case.

Caswell and Doucette have also been banned from hunting in Ontario for three and six years
respectively.

Rickford defends FedNOR

The federal government is defending the FedNOR program.


Critics have said the Harper government is backing away from FedNor or has been mispending
funding.

But Keora M.P. Greg Rickford says the Harper government is still committed to the program.

Lakehead University, Confederation College and the Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund recently
benefitted from 1.1 million dollars in FedNOR funding.

Van Wallenghem Not Running Again

There will be at least one vacancy on Kenora City Council this fall.


Councillor Chris Van Wallenghem says he doesn't intend to run in
the upcoming municipal elections.

Van Wallenghem made the announcement at the end of last night's
open council meeting.

Councillor's Dave McCann, Wendy Cuthbert and Jim Parson have
all submitted their nomination papers for the October 25th municipal
elections.

Councillors Charito Drinkwalter and Rory McMillan have not indicated if
they plan to run again.

School Boards gear up for All-day Kindergarten

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is gearing up for all-day kindergarten

this fall.

Two schools will be offering the day long junior and senior kindergarten classes.
Director of Education of the public school board Jack McMaster says they have been
working with the Kenora Catholic and the Northwest Catholic School Boards on the
roll-out of the program.

In Kenora the public school board will be offering all-day kindergarten at Evergreen
this fall, while the Catholic board will be using St. Louis for its program initially.

Local Services Board Proposed for Pellatt

The Pellatt United Fire Department is hoping to have a more reliable source

of funding soon.

Residents in four unincorporated townships west of Kenora are being asked to
support the creation of a local services board.

Barry Balteson is one of the people behind the proposal and says the goal is
to impose a small levy on each home owner in the area served by the fire
                                            department.

The first of two public meetings on the local services board will take place
tonight at the Pellatt Fire Hall at 7:00.

The actual vote will take place on August 14th.

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.