Low fire hazard

The high humidity levels are helping to control the forest fire hazard.

Jeff Antoszek of the Ministry of Natural Resources says there is enough moisture in the air to keep forest from getting tinder dry.


There was just one forest fire reported in the region yesterday.

Its an 18 hectare blaze about 120 kilometers north of Pickle Lake.

The fire hazard across the region is low to moderate today.

Rickford responds to MP extra income

No complaints from Greg Rickford.

The Kenora Conservative MP thinks there's nothing wrong with some MPs having an extra income.

He says he says the only rule should be that elected duties come first


The names of about 150 MPs who had outside income were named recently, that included Thunder Bay NDP MPs Bruce Hyer and John Rafferty.

MNR Safety Advisory

The Ministry of Natural resources is advising people to use caution while travelling on resource access roads in the Kenora District.


They say the roads do not receive regular maintenance and could be a danger to travellers.

The risks include road washouts, water over the road, and heavy rutting.

The advisory comes after heavy rainfall last weekend.

OPP Summer Students on Patrol

Local police will have an extra set of eyes and ears on duty this summer in downtown
Kenora.

Three summer students have been hired to patrol the harbortown area.

Contable Dave Cain of the OPP says the students will be involved in a number of different initiatives.

Cain says the students will be clearly identified with uniforms as OPP summer students.

The OPP's Marine Unit also has three summer students on duty.

Outflow from Norman Dam increased again

The Lake of the Woods Control Board has authorized another increase in outflow from the
Norman Dam into the Winnipeg River.

Outflow will be increased 360 cubic meters per second later today.

This is the second such increase in two days, as the Control Board tries to keep water
levels from rising too fast.

The lake rose four inches over the past week and is expected to rise by as much as six inches
over the next couple of days.

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.