Fort Frances Plane Crash

No injuries are being reported from the crash of a float plane in Rainy River yesterday morning.


It happened in front of several people who were lined-up along the Fort Frances waterfront for the Canada Day parade.

The plane end up on its side several feet from the American side of the river with only its tail and left wing showing.

The cause of the accident is not immediately known, but a witnesses suggest that a strong wind at the time may have been a contributing factor.

American Tourists Found after Five Days in the Bush

A couple of american tourists are safe and sound after being lost in the bush in

northwestern Ontario for five days.

The married couple from Washington State had been flown into a camp on a remote
lake about 96 miles north of Red Lake on June 19th.

On June 24th, they suffered boat problems and were stranded downstream from their
cabin on Critchell Lake.

They stayed on the shoreline for five days until they were finally reported missing to
the OPP on June 29th.

The next day, the 67 year old couple were found after a joint search by a Ministry of
Natural Resources helicopter, an OPP Emergency Response Team and the tourist
outfitter.

The couple and their golden retriever are in stable condition, though the woman was
taken to hospital in Red Lake for observation.

More Special Events this weekend

The special events just keep rolling in Kenora.

After a spectacular fireworks display in Keewatin last
night, attention shifts to the harbortown area of Kenora
for the next two days.

Tonight the Winnipeg Symphony makes its annual summer time
return to the Big Tent.

And tomorrow, the Kenora BIZ will be celebrating National Aboriginal
Solidarity Day.

Events will be taking place downtown all afternoon, with
entertainment in the evening.

There will also be another fireworks display at 10:45 Saturday
night.

NOMA responds to Forest Tenure Changes

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association has mixed feelings about the

provincial government's plan to overhaul the forest tenure system.

Public meetings were held in May over a proposal to set up corporations
to handle forest management issues.

Anne Krassilowski is president of NOMA and says each community in the
region has different ideas on what they want to be done, but all are united
in the fact that they don't want any limits on the access to wood fiber.

Krassilowski says their main goal is to ensure that no more mills in northwestern
Ontario are closed as a result in changes to the forest tenure system.

Dedication Ceremony for Mike Richards

And it took a long time to organize, but Mike Richards will officially be recognized for

winning the gold medal at the Olympics this past February in Vancouver.

A ceremony honoring our Winter Olympian will take place at noon today at the Kenora
Rec. Center.

Richards won gold as a member of the Canadian Men's Hockey team.

He also captained the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals last
month.

Everyone in the community is welcome to attend this afternoon's public event.

Redditt Washout

No word as to when a gaping hole in a roadway in Redditt will finally be

repaired.

A 25 foot section of the road just north of the CN rail line washed out last

weekend.

High water caused the washout and has also pushed water levels on

Basket Lake over its banks.

The lake has flooded a small portion of the road just north of the Baily Bridge.

For the time being, local residents who want to get from the south side of
the community to the north side have use a detour along the English River
road to the old dump road.

A section of the English River Road also washed out last weekend about

50 kilometers north of Redditt.

Accident closes Trans-Canada east of Dryden

OPP are investigating a collision on Highway 17 between Dryden and Ignace.


A collision between a semi-tractor trailor unit and a pick-up about 3 kilometers west of
Baskett Lake closed the Trans-Canada down for several hours yesterday.

When fire and rescue crews arrived at the scene, they found the tractor unit rolled over in the ditch, and the trailer partially across one lane of the highway.

The driver was removed from the vehicle with unspecified injuries.

The second vehicle involved in the head-on collision was a half ton truck that was cut in half on impact.

The driver was rescued from the burning halfton and transported to Dryden Regional Health Center.

Municipal Insurance tender approved

The City of Kenora will be staying with the Standard Insurance Brokers for its
municipal insurance policy.

Council held a special meeting Tuesday to approve insurance coverage for the next
year, starting July 1st.

The Standard came in with a price of 303 thousand dollars this year.

That's down slightly from last year's rate, which came in at 308 thousand
dollars.

Body located in Rainy Lake

The OPP in Fort Frances say the body of a 24 year old man who disappeared in Rainy Lake over
the weekend has been found.

The Underwater Search and Recovery Unit located the body of Clayton Windigo, no far from
where he disappeared on Sunday night.

Windigo had been diving off the Bears Pass Bridge with friends, just off Highway 11.

He entered the water around 8:30 Sunday night and failed to re-surface.

His body was pulled out of the water around 11:00 yesterday morning.

Keewatin Hosts Canada Day

Its going to be a busy couple of days in the Kenora area.


Canada Day Celebrations will be taking place tomorrow and all the events
this year will be in Keewatin.

Sharon Smith from the Keewatin B.I.Z. says they are excited to be hosting
July 1st celebrations tomorrow.

Events get underway starting at 9:00 tomorrow morning, culiminating with the
fireworks display at 10:00 over Portage Bay.

Organizers are reminding visitors that Ottawa Street will be closed to traffic
from 9:00 in the morning until 2:00.

Tourism Marketing working

Tourism Kenora says its pleased with the results of its latest marketing campaigns.


Two marketing campaigns have targeted the Winnipeg and southern Manitoba markets
over the past two months.

Tourism Development Officer, Heather Paterson says response to the campaigns has
been very positive.

The Escape to Ontario campaign was funded in part by the Ontario Tourism Marketing
Partnership, with Kenora acting as the lead.

The other campaign is called Choose Your Adventure and directs people to the
Stay In Kenora website.

Traffic Meetings

Something needs to be done to make Main Street South more pedestrian
friendly.

That seemed to be the prevailing feeling from a public meeting held this
morning on the downtown traffic design.

Maria Bagdonis from Young Drivers of Canada says there are definite
traffic issues with the Kenricia Corner.

Operations Manager Rick Perchuck says he's not keen to make changes to the
pedestrian cross-walks along Main Street, but suggests the left turn onto
1st Street South could be eliminated to move traffic more smoothly during
peak periods.

Missing Man in Rainy Lake

The OPP in Fort Frances are continuing their search for a man missing in the Bears Pass area of

Rainy River.

Police say a young man was diving with friends off a bridge on Highway #11 around 8:30 Sunday night,
when he failed to re-surface.

A marine patrol unit and other officers have been searching the area over the past couple of days, but have been unable to locate the missing man.

Other resources are being brought in today to help out with the search.

The name of the missing person has not yet been released by police.

Youth arrested for Vehicle Break-ins

The OPP say two 16 year old male suspects have been arrested in connection to a string

of vehicle break-ins.

Last week, the two youth were arrested after police responded to a report of someone
breaking into vehicles in the Donbrock Drive area.

After further investigation, it was determined the duo were responsible for a number of
vehicle break-ins over the past couple of months.

The OPP say they culprits targeted unlocked vehicles where valuables were out in
plain sight.

New Job at Separate School Board

The Kenora Catholic District School Board has added another person to its administrative

team.

The board recently appointed Mary Cunningham as its School Effectiveness Leader.

Acting Director of Education, Kevin Debnam says the province has provided funding for
the position and its up to each school board to decide how to use it.

Cunningham was the board's Curriculum Co-ordinator, and Debnam says they will now
post that job to find a replacement.

Special Council Meetings

Kenora City Council will be holding a couple of special meetings today.


First up is a public meeting to deal with the traffic alignment in downtown
Kenora.

Two sessions are scheduled to take place.

One at 8:00 and the other at 2:00.

Council wants feed back on the current traffic flow, and ideas that might reduce
vehicle backlogs.

Another meeting will take place at noon to award the city's insurance contract
for this year.

Rifle incident ends peacefully

A 15 was questioned by police after the area around Valleyview School

was surrounded by police.

The OPP were told that there was a man on the roof of the school with a gun around 2:30
Monday afternoon.

Local residents were notified of the situation and told to stay inside their homes.

A short time later the suspect came down off the roof and was approached by police.

He took officers into an area in the bush where three other rifles were hidden.

The OPP say the rifles were actualy turned out to be soft air guns, which are manufactured to look like
assault rifles.

Its believed the youth was playing war games with some friends in the area.

Leo Bernier Passes Away

He was called the Emperor of the North.

Legendary provincial politician Leo Bernier has passed away at the
age of 81.

Bernier represented the old Kenora riding from 1966 to 1987.

Kenora-Rainy River M.P.P. Howard Hampton says Bernier will be fondly
remembered.

Bernier served as Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister of
Lands and Forests in the governments of Bill Davis and Frank Miller.

Weekend forest fires

Despite cool, rainy conditions over the weekend, MNR fire crews had to

battle a number of new wild fires in the region.

Most of the action has been in the far north in the Sioux Lookout and
Nipigon Districts.

One new fire is burning about five kilometers north of Muskrat Dam.

Its about 24 hectares in size and is not under control.

Fire crews were also notified about some day burning taking place
on Lake of the Woods.

While campfires are allowed during the day, brush and grass burning is
not.

The fire hazard is listed as low to moderate across much of the region,
but high in the far north.

Treaty Three upset at charges

Grand Council Treaty #3 says its disappointed that the OPP have filed charges

against a 39 year old Grassy Narrows woman following a confrontation with
police in downtown Kenora.

Helen Proulx was shot after she brandished a knife at an officer on June 7th.

Grand Chief Diane Kelly says the charges betray the spirit of discussions they
have been having with the OPP regarding the shooting incident.

Inspector Dave Lucas of the Kenora Detachment says he met with the Grand Chief
and the chief of Grassy Narrows, prior to the charges being laid.