Beach Boys coming to town

Tourism Kenora says you will be hearing some good vibrations coming from the Harborfront next spring.

The Beach Boys have been signed to play one night under the big tent.

The iconic 60's California Surf band will entertain local residents on
Wednesday, June 15th.

Chair of the Kenora Economic Development Commission, Dennis Wallace says this is not just a concert, but an economic impact event for the city.

Tickets for the all-ages concert will go on sale on December 10th.

Prices range from 59 to 100 dollars.

New Name for merging Children's Aid Societies

The new children's aid society for the Kenora and Rainy River District will have a new name.

Kenora-Patricia Child and Family Services and Family and Children's Services of the District of Rainy River will officially merge on April 1st of next year.

Agency staff, foster parents and children all were given the opportunity to come up with
a new name for the amalgamated children's aid society.

The transitional leadership team has come up with new name of Kenora-Rainy River Districts
Child and Family Services.

A new logo for the joint is still being worked on by staff.

Fort Frances man jailed on Sex Charges

A 44year-old man has been convicted of  three counts of sexual exploitation and one count of sexual interference in relation to an historical sexual assault investigation.


Fort Frances OPP charged Garry Mathewson back in July with several sexual offences.

The offences involved three male victims and took place within the Rainy River and Thunder Bay District's between 1992 and 1999.

Mathewson has been ordered into custody to serve 66 months concurrent with 141 days of pre-sentence custody.

He must register with the sexual offenders information registry and submit DNA samples.

Mathewson is also prohibited from attending any place with children for ten years and can't own a firearm for his lifetime.

Paterson Medical Clinic officially opens

Kenora's newest medical facility has celebrated its grand opening.

The Paterson Medical Clinic on Tunnel Island held its ribbon cutting last night.

Don Parfitt is chair of the Kenora Health Center Board and says the total project will cost about 7.5 million dollars once all is said and done.

Dr. Buzz Pederson is with the Sunset Family Heath Team and says the new facility makes it a lot easier for doctors to do their jobs.

Other tennants in the new building include the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and
the Community Care Access Center.

Hospital reports a surplus

Lake of the Woods District Hospital continues to operate in the black.

Through the first seven months of this fiscal year, the hospital had a surplus
of 341 thousand dollars.

Chief Executive Officer Marc Belcaen says he's confident they will be able to
break even on their operations by the end of the year.

He says tradionally the winter months are a little lean for generating extra income,
because they don't see the same number of patients from Manitoba and the U.S.

CP Holiday Train stops in Kenora this weekend

The Canadian Pacific 'Holiday Train' rolls into Northwestern Ontario this weekend.

The train will arrive Saturday in Vermilion Bay at 1:45, then Kenora at 3:45.

Spokesperson Kevin Hrysak says the train has become a festive tradition.

Canadian rockband 'The Odds' will be performing and Santa Claus will be on hand
at the CP Rail Yard behind the WholeSale Club.

Report looks at retaining grads in NWO

Northwestern Ontario's labour force has a hard time retaining post secondary graduates.

That's one of the findings in a report created by an economist at Lakehead University.

Author Livio Di Mateo says the first step retaining our youth is to create a graduate survey.

The report recommends retention incentive programs and employer surveys.

MPP calls for insurance rebate for snow tires

A northwestern Ontario member of the Ontario Legislature wants insurance companies to give motorists who use snow tires a break.

Thunder Bay Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro introduced a motion last week calling for

rebates for any one putting the heavy duty tires on.

Mauro calls it a win win situation.

Young Drivers of Canada says while snow tires do help in poor conditions, safe driving

habits are just as important to avoiding collisions in bad weather.

NDP Complain about public access to remote lakes

The NDP are concerned about reports of tourist outfitters being given exclusing access to Northern lakes and crown land.


People have been contacting Natural Resources Critic Gilles Bisson stating signs have been posted saying only Tourist Outfitters can access the lake.

Bisson says he's been raising the issue with Minister Linda Jeffrey.

Bisson says most of the closed off lakes are in the Wawa area but notes it's probably happening in the rest of the Northwest as well.

NorWOSSA Second Season Begins today

The second season in NorWOSSA court sports begins today.


Thomas Aquinas boys basketball and girls volleyball teams are heading
to Whitefish Bay today to take on the Winterhawks.

This weekend, the senior girls are in Dryden for the annual Eagles High School
Volleyball Tournament.

Festival of Trees Starts Tonight

The Festival of Trees turns seven years old this weekend.

The annual event is a major fundraiser for the Kenor and Lake of the Woods
Regional Community Foundation.

Darlene McGilvary is the executive director of the foundation and says they
will have 25 christmas trees decorated, three wreaths and three gingerbread
houses on display at the museum over the next three days.

She estimates the foundation will be able to raise about 25 thousand dollars
during the three day event.

Tonight is seniors night, which will be followed by the gala tomorrow night and
family day on Saturday.

Funding to pave Rabbit Lake Trail

Plans to complete a paved trail along Rabbit Lake are starting to come together.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation has promised the Kenora Trails Committee
68 thousand dollars for the project.

Barb Manson is the City's Parks Supervisor and says they want to create a
fully accessible loop.

The next phase of the project will see the section of the paved trail expanded
to Garrow Park.

Manson says they hope to complete the work next summer.

Bearskin Sale Delayed

It may be another month before the acquistion of Bearskin Airlines is completed.

Winnipeg-based Exchange Income announced its intentions to purchase the Northwestern Ontario airline back in September.

President Michael Pyle says the deal is moving along but notes it may be another 30-days until its finalized.

Pyle notes they are waiting on a number of things to happen, including Government approvals, but he doesn't anticipate any problems.

Airline officials were hoping to have the deal completed the first week of December.

Right to Play heads north

The Provincial Government has committed 490-thousand dollars over 4-years to support the Play Hockey Program in northern Ontario.


Aboriginal children in Sandy Lake and Moose Cree First Nations will be hitting the ice to receive hockey lessons and compete in hockey games.

The pilot progrem helps aboriginal youth improve their health and self-esteem through sports.

Canfield takes over mayors chair today

There has been a quiet changing of the guard at city hall.


The new edition of council is officially in charge.

Mayor Dave Canfield says while their official swearing in ceremony doesn't take place
until next week, council members have taken their oath of office and are ready to start their new duties

The official swearing in ceremony will take place on Monday, December 6th.

Old Firehall to become a Micro-Brewery

One of Kenora's oldest heritage buildings is going to be transformed into a brewery.

The City of Kenora has accepted a proposal from Lake of the Woods Brewing Company
to take over the old fire hall on Second Street South.

Jennifer Findlay is Kenora's Economic Development Officer and says the committee that
put out the RFP was very impressed with the proposal.

Findlay says complete details of the business proposal which includes a brew pub, won't
be made until a 90 day due diligence period has expired and the property has been
officially transferred.

Trillium Foundation Funding announced

The Ontario Trillium Foundation has awarded 820-thousand dollars in grants to 19 not-for profit organizations across Northwestern Ontario.

Two Kenora groups are getting funding.

The Kenora Trails committee is getting 68 thousand dollars to finish paving a section of the Rabbit Lake
Trail to Garrow Park.

The Lake of the Woods Aeromodellers have been promised 45 hundred dollars to install fully accessible
portable washroom at its facility out on the east highway.

Police Crackdown on Prescription Drug Trafficking

The war against prescription drug use in Northwestern Ontario continues.

Drug Enforcement Officers showed up at the Thunder Bay Airport on Monday and arrested twi men from Toronto for possessing oxycodone tablets.

Police say one of the men concealed the drugs internally.

Officers believe the tablets were destined for Fort Hope and Martin Falls First Nations.

The value of the drugs is 44 thousand dollars, however the value is higher in the Far North, putting it at roughly 176 thousand dollars.

Police say 37 Shawn Baxter faces counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and breach of recognizance.

36 year-old Steven Armstrong has been charged with possession and trafficking in a controlled substance.

Rainy River Resources to move to TSX

Rainy River Resources is looking to make a move to the main board on the T-S-X.

C-E-O Raymond Threlkeld says they'll looking at the change from its position on the TSX Venture Exchange in the first quarter of next year.

Rainy River’s stock has catapulted from 2-dollars a share a year ago to just over 11-dollars in trading last week.

Schools buses running today

Despite some snow overnight, its going to be business as usual for local schools.

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board says its buses will be running in the Kenora area this morning.

Already, road crews are out plowing local streets and highways.

The Kenora area has been hit with about five centimeters of snow so far, and Severe Weather Specialist, Geoff Coulson says about the same amout of snow will likely fall today.

Roads in the Kenora area are listed as snow-covered with some slushy sections and

poor visibility.

The OPP say further to the east in the Dryden area, travel is not advised this morning.