Treaty Three Police adds new officers

The Treaty Three Police Service has added four new constables, three sergeants, and one staff sergeant.

A swearing in ceremony was held this morning.

Chief of the police service, Conrad DelaRonde feels that its important to recognize the officers and the work that they are doing.

Terry Armstrong has also been sworn in as the new deputy chief of the aborigianl police service.

Council agrees to put out a tender for Harborfront Tent

Kenora city council is still stopping short of fully supporting the construction of a tent structure for the Harborfront.

Council last night gave the go ahead for the operation department to put out a tender for the project, but cost will ultimately determine whether the city moves ahead.

Councillor Sharon Smith says there isn't any money in the budget for the tent, and if the quotes come in way over their projections, they may not be able to proceed.

The cost to erect a permanent tent on the Harborfront has been estimated at 1.5 million dollars.

City Seeks 5 Million Dollar line of Credit

The City of Kenora may have millions of dollars socked away in reserves, but it doesn't have a lot of cash on hand.

That's forced city council to request a five million dollar line of credit.

Chair of the finance committee, Ron Lunny says this is the first time the
city has had to open a line of credit to pay off some of its outstanding bills.

Lunny says the city has traditionally kept between seven and ten million dollars in its checking account, but that's been depleted by a number of major projects going on in the city, including the new fire hall, the Paterson Medical Clinic and the downtown revitalization project.

Crackdown demanded on Illegal Taxis

The City of Kenora is being asked to crack down on illegal taxis operating in the community.

Tim Fullmer is one of the owners of Blue Taxi and says there are a number of vehicles operating both full and part time, that are not licenced by the city.

Fullmer says they've already talked to the OPP about the situation, and they want to launch a sting operation. 

Mayor Dave Canfield says they'll get the appropriate department in the city to deal with the issue.

Council Nominates Martin for Lakehead Fellowship

A Redditt resident has been nominated for a prestigious honor.

Kenora City Council has put forward Jack Martin's name a Lakehead University

fellowship.

Martin is a Lakehead graduate and has spearheaded the water treatment plant

project in Redditt and is one of the orginal founders of the Triple Play program.

Past nominees for the Lakehead fellowship include Rod Shewchuck and Don Parfitt.

Saints take three of four from Sioux Lookout

The Thomas Aquinas Saints took three of four games against the Sioux Lookout Warriors in court sport action.

The T.A. Senior boys basketball team eked out a 50-49 victory over the Warriors.

Alex Gamboa led the offense with 17 points.

The Saints junior boys had an easier time of it, cruising to a 57-34 win over Sioux Lookout.

Patrick Van Bellingham led all scorers with 19 points.

In girls volleyball, the T.A. senior girls won in three straight sets, while the Thomas Aquinas junior girls suffered the lone loss of the day. They were upset three sets to one by the Warriors.

Today, Rainy River is in town to take on the Saints in the last action for the teams before
the Christmas break.

One person injured in By-Pass Accident

The OPP say there were no serious injuries as a result of a single vehicle accident on the Kenora By-Pass.

The accident took place shortly after noon yesterday near the intersection of Beryl Winder Road.

Police say an eastbound vehicle lost control and struct the guard rails on the north side of Highway 17-A.

The vehicle flipped over, blocking both lanes of the road.

The By-Pass was shut down for about an hour while the wreckage was cleared.

The driver sustained only minor injuries as a result of the roll-over.

Contracts for Emergency Dispatch on Council Agenda

Kenora's Fire and Emergency Services Department says its pleased with

they way emergency calls are being dispatched in the city.

Fire Chief Warren Brinkman is recommending that city council extend a

contract with the Kenora Central Ambulence Communications Center.

Brinkman says it would cost a lot of money to try and provide the same type

of service in-house.

Brinkman says they budget about 50 thousand dollars a year for dispatching calls to the fire department.

Council is expected to endorse the five year contract at tonight's open meeting.

Saints Girls Senior Volleyballers win gold

The Thomas Aquinas Senior Girls Volleyball team  is starting to hit mid-season form, even though the NorWOSSA regular season is just a couple of weeks old.

The Saints were in Thunder Bay for the Westgate spike-off.

T.A. topped the field of 13 teams entered in the two day tournament.

Thomas Aquinas went through the round robin with a 10-2 win/loss record then proceeded to win their quarter-final and semi-finals.

The Saints met up with Dryden in the gold medal match and T.A. ended up sweeping the Eagles in two straight games, to win the event.

Thomas Aquinas Court sport teams are back in action today with Sioux Lookout in town.

Morningstar Center Gets Funding for Housing Project

Lake of the Woods District Hospital and the Morningstar Center are gettinding for a new

supportive housing project in Kenora.

The project is aimed at people with addictions issues.

Patti Dryden-Holmstrom is with the Morningstar Center and says they will be getting annual funding of 84 thousand dollars to provide supportive housing for up to eight people.

Dryden-Holmstrom says they will be working with an existing program already being provided
in the community.

The funding was announced recently by the Northwest Local Health Integration Network.

Emergency Dispatch Contract presented to Council

Kenora's Fire and Emergency Services Department says its pleased with they way emergency calls are being dispatched in the city.

Fire Chief Warren Brinkman is recommending that city council extend a

contract with the Kenora Central Ambulence Communications Center.

Brinkman says they budget about 50 thousand dollars a year for dispatching calls to the fire department.

He says the Communications Center is a state of the art facility and has worked

very well since it was opened a couple of years ago.

Council is expected to endorse the five year contract at tonight's open meeting.

MPP's head home for Christmas Break

Members of the Ontario Provincial Parliament are back in their home ridings after

a tumultuous session adjourned for the Christmas Holidays.

Kenora-Rainy River M.P.P. Howard Hampton says two recent reports released last

week show the McGuinty Government is increasingly out of touch with the residents

of Ontario.

With an election looming next fall, Hampton says the next sitting of the Legislature

will likely be just as lively.

M.P.P.'s don't return to Queen's Park until late February.

City Daycare rates rising

Parents who have their kids enrolled in the city run daycare facility will have to

pay a bit more in the new year.

Kenora City Council is expected to approve a dollar a day increase for the Castle of

Learning and Discovery Children's Center starting January 1st.

Rates will increase to 30 dollars a day.

Chair of the Community Services Committee, Charito Drinkwalter says the rates are in line

with other agencies and municipally run day care centers in the region.

Council is planning to approve the rate increase at tonight's open meeting.

Weekend hockey results

The Thomas Aquinas boys hockey team just missed out on a medal at a tournamentin Kilarney, Manitoba over the weekend.

The Saints finished fourth out of eight teams entered in the tournament.

T.A. lost 5-2 to Minnedosa in the Bronze medal game.

The Saints play their home opener on Thursday night against Sioux Lookout.

Beaver Brae's boys hockey team continues to have a tough time winning in Fort Frances.

The Muskies downed the Broncos 4-1 Friday night.

Beaver Brae meets up with Fort against tomorrow night in the back end of their
home-and home series.

Meanwhile, the Kenora Triple "a" senior Thistles split their games over the
weekend.

Saturday, the Thistles were in Grunthal to take on the Southeast Prairie Thunder
and were thumped 7-1.

Friday night, the Kenora Seniors beat the Fort Frances Thunder Hawks 5-3.

Jeff Richards had goals in both games.

The Thistles are off until the new year.

The Kenora Triple "a" midget Thistles split their games against the Brandon Wheat Kings

at home this weekend.

Yesterday the Kenora Midgets were edged 5-4 by the Wheat Kings.

Saturday, the Thistles upended Brandon 7-4.

Beach Boy Tickets Selling Quickly

Beach Boy tickets are going faster than a Little Deuce Coupe.

The tickets went on sale this morning and despite a computer glitch, all the 100 dollar and 79 dollar tickets have been sold out.

Heather Paterson is Kenora's Tourism Development Officer and says they aren't sure if or even when they will be able to resume internet sales.

Paterson says so far one thousand of the 15 hundred tickets up for sale have been sold for the June 15th concert.

Last Day for Ice Candle Sales

Today is the last day to pre-order your ice candles at Lake of the Woods Cemetary.

The ice candles will be placed at grave sites on Christmas eve.

Barb Manson says you don't have to have a loved one interred at the cemertary in order to buy an ice candle.

Manson says once again this year, there will be a special ceremony at the Cemetary in the afternoon of December 24th to begin the lighting of the ice candles.

Communities lobby for new E.M.O. Officer

The City of Kenora is supporting a resolution calling on the provincial government to hire a new emergency measures officer for northwestern Ontario.

The current field officer is based in Thunder Bay but is getting set to retire.

Kenora Fire Chief Warren Brinkman says the field officer covers a lot of territory.

Brinkman says the Emergency Measures Field Officer provides a valuable service to local communities, including training and help during community emergencies.

Safe Communities Kenora report card

Kenora's Safe Communities Committee believes there is still room to improve their program locally.

The National Safe Communities organization recently released its report card and Kenora scored 17.5 out of 20, which is better than the provincial and the national

average.

Maria Bagdonis is one of the committee members and says one of the areas they scored well was in community involvement.

Bagdonis says their Safe Communities Committee need work to get more people involved at the executive level and to make their program more sustainable over the long run.

Beer heist in Dryden

The great Northern Ontario heist.

Someone in Dryden managed to steal 63-cases of Labatt's beer from a Transport parked at Husky Wednesday night.

Dryden Police say the culprit or culprits walked the 22-hundred dollars worth of beer north to Pioneer Road and then drove off on a snowmachine.

The suspects left behind one case of suds on the trail.

Police say entry was gained by cutting the lock.

Officers also located a box containing a fax machine, which was reported stolen from a military transport the same night.

Gingerbread Lane this weekend

Its time to take a stroll down Gingerbread Lane.

The Making Kenora Home Committee is holding the fundraiser
this weekend.

Dan Jorgenson is one of the committee members and says they will
be auctioning off 50 or more gingerbread houses tomorrow at the Jubilee Church.

Organizers say they are still accepting donations of gingerbread houses that can be entered into the auction.