City council on Trans-Canada Twinning Project

Kenora City Council is endorsing a lobby effort by residents living west of Kenora to have

the route for the twinning of the Trans-Canada Highway moved away from Lake of the Woods.

A letter was sent to council recently asking it to support a move of the new four lane highway north of the existing road bed to help protect water quality on Clearwater Bay.

The Ministry of Transportation will be holding another open house on the route-planning for Highway 17 west on July 24th.

Kenora Mayor Len Compton says the MTO should look at moving the new highway away from
the lake, even if its costs more to do it.

Construction work on the first 10 kilometers of the double lane highway is expected to begin
later this year.

NAN Grand Chief Meets Queen

The Grand Chief of the Nishbawbe Aski Nation is feeling good after his meeting with the Queen yesterday.

Stan Beardy says it was imporant that she met with him because it means she respects First Nation treaty rights.


Chief Beardy says he told the Queen that it was the 100th anniversity of the signing of Tready 5.

New Zoning By-Law gets feedback

The City of Kenora should have a new zoning by-law in place by the fall.

Yesterday a public meeting was held to get feedback on the revised zoning
changes.

Murray Chown is a planner hired by the Tim Horton's Corporation and says they have been working with the city on some changes to the zoning regulations, which would allow restaurants in more areas designated at light industrial.
The city started reviewing its zoning by-law last year in conjunction with the
new Official Plan, which is expected to be approved by the province by the end
of August.

Graffitti By-Law almost ready

Kenora City Council is putting the finishing touches on a by-law that would try to control the spread of graffitti.

The Anti-Graffitti By-Law is expected to go before council next week.

Operations Manager Rick Perchuck says under the By-Law, the city would purchase specialized kits which can be used to cover up unsightly spray paint.

The kits would be made available to owners of private property who have re-occurring
graffitti issues.

Fire Hall Fit and Finish Funding sought

Kenora's Fire and Emergency Services Department is seeking an additional
138 thousand dollars from the city to furnish the new fire hall on Barsky's Hill.

Fire Chief Warren Brinkman says the Fit and Finish of the new building was never
included in the 5.9 million dollar construction budget.

Brinkman says the fire hall project is pretty much on budget, though the cost of
roofing is about 24 hundred dollars higher than projected.

Construction is expected to be complete by late August or early September.

Abitibi Restructuring Nearly Complete

AbitibiBowater could end nearly eighteen months of creditor and bankruptcy protection on October 1 if its restructuring plan wins creditor support next month.


A meeting on the plan takes place August 26th.

The plan would see unsecured creditors receiving between nothing and 48 per cent when their debt is converted to equity, depending on their class.

Current shareholders will walk away empty-handed.

Others fall somewhere in between, including workers who received no severance when their mills were shut over the past year.

Municipal Candidates Workshop

Anyone interested in running in the upcoming municipal elections in the fall can get a reality
check this week.

The Kenora and District Chamber of Commerce is co-sponsoring a special two hour session for potential candidates.

Andy Scribilo is the president of the chamber and says they just want to make sure
they have a good slate of candidates come October 25th.

The Candidates Session will take place tomorrow night at the Best Western Lakeside
Inn from 7 til 9.

Scribilo says you can pre-register by calling the chamber office or just show up at the
door.

Water Levels Rising

Water levels on Lake of the Woods have spiked in recent days due to all the
rain this past weekend.

The Lake of the Woods Control Board says the lake has risen about 10 centimeters
over the past three days.

Rick Cousins is a spokesperson for the control board and says as a result they will
be increasing outflow today from the Norman Dam into the Winnipeg River.

Cousins says water levels on the Winnipeg River below the Norman Dam could jump
about a foot this week due to the increase in outflows.

Drowning near Sprague

A 22 year old man is dead after drowining in a lake near the Manitoba/Ontario
border.

The RCMP say they were called to Moose Lake Provincial Park over the weekend.

Police say two men were having a swimming race near an unsupervised beach Sunday
afternoon.
One of the men began to tire and was unable to keep his head above water.

People at the beach spent about 15 minutes searching for the missing man, but
by the time they found him, he could not be resuscitated.

The Mounties says alcohol was not a factor in the drowning.

The name of the deceased won't be released until next of kin are notified.

Good turn-out for Blood Donor Clinic

It was a good turn-out on the first day of the Blood Donor Clinic at Thomas Aquinas
High School.

Canadian Blood Services says they had 152 people show up yesterday, donating 131 units of blood.

Harvey Heather from Canadian Blood Services says traditionally it difficult to get people
out to their summer blood donor clinics.

The Blood Donor Clinic will run from 9:30 to 12:30 today.

Blood Donor Clinic starts today

And Canadian Blood Services says they still have lots of appointment times avaiable for its Blood Donor Clinic in Kenora this week.
As many as 220 donors are expected over the next two days at Thomas Aquinas School.

Harvey Heather from Canadian Blood Services says its often difficult to get people
out to their summer blood donor clinics.

The Blood Donor Clinic will run from 4:30 this afternoon until 9:00 tonight and
then again tomorrow morning from 9:30 to 12:30.

Heritage Committee looks at protection for Rideout Cottonwood

Kenora's Heritage Committee is looking at a by-law that could protect an old tree in the north end of town.

The 300 year old eastern cottonwood in the Rideout area is one of oldest of its species in Ontario.

The Heritage Committee currently has by-laws which register and designate historical buildings and homes in Kenora, but nothing that can protect natural landscapes.

Committee members are currently looking into similar by-laws in communities elsewhere in Ontario.

A very wet weekend

It was a very wet weekend across northwestern Ontario, with the Kenora area
seeing the most rainfall.

About a months worth of rain fell in the city Saturday and Sunday,
while the Experimental Lakes area just east of the city had the largest
downpour, with 113.5 millimeters.

Bill Laidlaw from Signal Weather Services says were were expecting some rain this
past weekend, but perhaps not that much.

Sioux Narrows was also deluged with 94 millimeters of rain.

There was so much rain, that a section of Highway 71 just north of Sioux Narrows was covered in water, temporarily closing down that section of the road.

Kenora Judokas medal at Nationals

A couple of members of the Jaffray Melick Judo Club earned medals at the National Judo Championships
in Lethbridge over the weekend.

Kaitie Dennis led the medal parade with a pair of bronze medals.

Dennis placed third in both the Under 17 and Under 20 age groups, while Ben Dennis had to settle for a silver medal in the Under 15 division after a split decision in the gold medal match.

Luke Heatherington also completed in the Under 17 division and finished 5th in his weight group.

All four will remain in Lethbridge this week for the National training camp.

IJC agrees to management agreement on Lake of the Woods

The International Joint Commission has been asked to examine the development of a bi-national management of both Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake.

Canada's chair Joe Comuzzi says the review will first focus on a governance model for the two border waters.

A final report is expected by the end of 2011.

Work to begin this week on Redditt Washout

The Redditt Local Roads Board is hoping for some emergency funding from the province

to help cover the cost of a major road washout.

A section of the road just north of the CN train tracks washed out last weekend.

Work crews are expected to begin repairing the damage and installing a new culvert
today.

About 25 feet of road were washed away by heavy rains during the last weekend of
June.

Local residents living on the north side of the CN tracks have to use a detour to
get to their homes.

Body of missing man located in Rainy Lake

O-P-P divers have recovered the body of a man who had been missing since Canada Day after falling out of a boat on Rainy Lake.


The body of 43-year-old Robert Mainville of Couchiching First Nation was found in an area of Duck Bay, yesterday morning.

The search by provincial police had been ongoing since last Thursday night when Mainville and another man fell into the lake.

The other man, whom police have not identified, was found alive that night and taken to LaVerendrye Hospital in Fort Frances for treatment.

Kenora's newest street named

The City of Kenora now has a new street.

Mike Richards Way was officially dedicated Friday afternoon at
a special ceremony at the Kenora Rec. Center.

The street named after the Philadelphia Flyer Captain runs along
side the Rec. Center.

Richards says he was surprised by the honor.

Richards is now gearing up for his Charity Golf Tournament
later this month at the Kenora Golf and Country Club.

He says a number of his Flyer team mates and at least one
member of the Chicago Black Hawks will be attending.

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.