New Members of Council Sworn In

Some changes are being made to the committee structure at City Hall.

At the swearing in ceremony this morning, the six members of council were assigned their committee duties for the next year.

A couple of new committees have been created and a couple have been eliminated altogether.

One of the new committees is Corporate Services, which Rory McMillan will be taking charge of.

McMillan had been chair of the former Finance and Administration Committee.

Ron Lunny take over as chair of the Finance Committee, while Sharon Smith is chair of Economic Development and Hydro, which is another new committee.

Charito Drinkwalter has been named chair of the Community and Protective Services Committee,
while Louis Roussin heads up Property and Planning.

Rod McKay is the new chairman of the Operations Committee.

Snowmobiler dies near Ingolf

A 55 year old man is dead following a snowmobiling accident near Ingolf.

The OPP say the incident took place Friday afternoon around 4:30 after

a sled went through the ice on Longpine Lake.

While a passenger managed to get out of the water to safety, the

driver had to be rescued by emergency personnel.

Rick Schween was pronounced dead at Lake of the Woods District Hospital.

The OPP say in the past week there have been numerous incidents of snowmachines going through the ice on Rabbit Lake, Round Lake and Laurenson's Lake.

Hospital coping with bed shortage

Lake of the Woods District Hospital says its been dealing with its bed shortage, even
though they haven't seen many of their patients moved into long term care facilities.

Chief Executive Officer Marc Belaen says 13 patients are still waiting for a bed
of open up in either the Kenora District Home for the Aged or Birchwood.

He adds they are still waiting for word from the Ministry of Health, that as many as
10 beds could be opened at Pinecrest.

Belcaen says there is a lot of demand for the Alternate Level of Care beds, but they
have been managing pretty well in recent weeks.

Snowmobiles fall through ice

It's the old saying:  if you don't know, don't go.


Over the weekend, there have been numerous reports of snowmobiles going
through the ice of local lakes and rivers.

Sleds have fallen through thin ice on Round Lake, Laurenson's Creek and
Shoal lake over the past couple of days.

Fortunately, no one was injured in those incidents, but caution is
advised when heading out.

The heavy snow, hasn't allowed the ice to thicken up very much so far.

New Edition Council to be sworn in today

A big day for the new edition of Kenora City Council.


Council members will be publically sworn in at a formal ceremony in
Council Chambers.

Kenora Mayor Dave Canfield says he's met individually with each of the six
council members to determine which committees they will be sitting on over
the next few years.

The swearing in will take place starting at 11:00 this morning.

Council gets down to work tomorrow, with their first committee meetings slated
for 2:30.

PLT deadline extended

A victory for property owners who pay the provincial land tax.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton sent an open letter to Premier McGuinty demanding he extend the deadline to pay 2010 property tax bills.

Hampton says his constituency offices have been overwhelmed by calls from people who have been told they have just day's to pay or face penalties.

The province has agreed to extend the deadlines, the first payment to January 31st, and the
second at the end of February.

Broncos Win, Thistles lose

A disappointing weekend for the Kenora Triple "A" midget Thistles.

The Thistles were tripped up 8-1 yesterday at the Kenora Rec. Center by the
Central Plains Capital.

Friday night, the Winnipeg Wild walked away with a 4-1 win over the Kenora Midgets.

Meanwhile, the Beaver Brae Girls Hockey team continues to roll along.

The Broncos nipped the Fort Frances Muskies 5-4 Friday night, to remain
unbeaten in NorWOSSA League Play.

Beaver Brae hits the road tomorrow night to take on the Rams in Red Lake.

Tourism Kenora planning more special events

Tourism Kenora says its plans to host more special events in the months ahead.

On Friday, it was announced that the Beach Boys would be playing the Kenora Harborfront on June 15th.

Heather Paterson is the city's Tourism Development Officer and says now that they are under the umbrella of the Lake of the Woods Economic Development Commission, they will be doing more of this kind of special event promotion..

Tickets for the Beach Boys will go on sale this Friday.

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.