Roussin Appointed to KDSB

Councillor Louis Roussin will be the city's next representitive on the

Kenora District Services Board.

Council approved Roussin's nomination to the board at a special meeting Friday in council chambers.

Roussin will take over from Rory McMillan, who had been chair of the

District Services Board over the past couple of years.

Council also agreed to appoint mayor Dave Canfield as Roussin's alternate if he can't attend the board meetings.

Multiple Vehicle Accident closes Trans-Canada for five hours

Steady snow this weekend made for some slick road conditions in the Kenora area.

At one point, Highway 17 west of Kenora near the Ontario/Manitoba border was closed down Saturday night due to a multi-vehicle collision.

The OPP say four or five vehicles were involved in the accident near the intersection of the Shoal Lake Road.

The Trans-Canada was closed for about five hours while the wreckage was cleared.

There are reports that traffic was backed up all the way to Falcon Lake at one point.

The highway was finally re-opened around 1:30 Sunday morning.

Proposal for Norman Accessibility Park

Norman Park seems to be the next area of development for the City of Kenora.

City Council has approved a lenghty report which could make the park more accessible for peole with physical handicaps.

Councillor Sharon Smith its a worthwhile project that will not only enhance tourism, but benefit local residents.

The proposal calls for a low grade walking trail from Norman Park to the new Discover Center at Cameron Bay and along Lakeview Drive to the Dairy Queen, a splash pad and also new accessible washrooms.

The exact cost of the project won't be determined until tenders come back.

Food Costs increase in region

The Northwestern Health Unit says the cost for families in the Kenora-Rainy River district to eat healthy, nutritious food each month has risen 11 per cent over the past year.

Nutritionist Julie Slack says their healthy food basket survey shows it now costs 916 dollars.

She says unfortunately the increasing cost of food is forcing many to make unhealthy choices so they have money for other expenses.

Slack says while food prices continue to rise, incomes have not kept up at the same pace.

Midget Thistles win pair of home games

The Kenora Triple "a" Midget Thistles have won three of four games on their current five game home stand.

The Thistles took a pair from the Norman North Stars over the weekend.

Saturday night, the Thistles cruised to a 5-1 victory.

Friday night, the Kenora Midgets came back from a 2-0 deficit

and rallied for a 3-2 win over Norman.

The Thistles have one more game at home before the Christmas Break.

The Eastman Selects are in town Wednesday night.

Police Board Rules on Found Money

It turns out that there is such a thing as finders keepers in Kenora after all.

The Kenora Police Services Board has had a change of heart and will
be returning some money to a woman who found some cash in the city this past summer.

Initially, members of the police board talked about donating the money to a charity.

Mayor Dave Canfield says there is no incentive to turn in lost items, if the city is
just going to turn around and give it to someone else.

Its believed a woman found about four hundred dollars in cash on June 28th.

Since the money hadn't been claimed with in three months, the Police Board was asked
to decide what to do with it.

Tourist Resorts get NOHFC Funding

Three area businesses have received funding to make energy efficient changes.

Motlong's Camp in Sioux Narrows has been given a grant to convert to bio-diesel for use in its diesel vehicles.

Anishinabi Lodge in Vermilion Bay will install a self-contained solar electrical system as well as a wind

turbine.

The move will eliminate the reliance on the existing gasoline-powered generator.

Camp Lake St. Joseph in Pickle Lake will upgrade its current solar energy system to increase its power generation to 860-watts.

The money is from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

Allan Cup to get more TV exposure

The 2011 Allan Cup in Kenora will get twice as much national exposure on television than previous national senior hockey championships.

Judy Bain is one of the members of the Allen Cup Committee and says they have received word from TSN that it plans to produce not only the final, but one other game during the week-long tournament.

Bain adds that the games will also be broadcast in High Definition.

The Allan Cup will take place April 11th to 16th.

City sets Recycling Targets

The City of Kenora is hoping to get closer to the provincial government's target for recycling

in the next couple of years.

Local residents currently recycle about 33 percent of their household waste.

Thats less than the provincial target of 60 percent, but still better than the average across Ontario of just 25 percent.

The Solid Waste Department's Waste Management Promotion and Education Plan was approved by Kenora City Council on Friday.

Solid Waste manager Mike Mostow says the plan sets out targets for increasing the amount of material being recycled locally.

Mostow adds that they will be meeting with officials from Waste Diversion Ontario in the new year to talk about Kenora's Recycling program.

He says currently, Waste Diversion Ontario provides about one third of the funding for their blue box programs, while the municipality picks up the rest.

The reports can be found on the Kenora re-use website.

Policing costs in Kenora to Rise in 2011

Its going to cost a bit more to police the City of Kenora next year.

The 2011 policing estimates were presented to the Police Services Board this week.

Inspector Dave Lucas says there's about a two percent increase next year.

The budget estimate for policing next year is 6.68 million dollars, which is largely due to a increase in employee salaries.

The estimate does not include another potential increase for officers based on a re-negotiated settlement for 2011.

Council holds special meeting this morning

The newly sworn in edition of Kenora City Council is going to be ready for a holiday break.

Councillor's have been fed a steady diet of meetings even before they

were sworn in on December 6th.

This morning, council will squeeze in one more meeting before the

new year.

A special meeting is scheduled for council chambers this morning at 10:00.

Items on the agenda include a waste recycling strategy for the city and a funding application for Norman Park.

Police Seize Guns in Dryden

A News Conference has been scheduled for 1 o'clock Monday afternoon in Winnipeg to discuss the circumstances behind a Monday night raid of a home in Dryden.

Dryden Police Detective-Sergeant Anne Tkachyk says the arrest of 71-year-old Robert McGillivray is an extension from an investigation conducted in Brandon, Manitoba.

Tkachyk says McGillivray faces 11-charges.

McGillivray has been released on numerous conditions and is due in Court on February 7th.

Con College nears completion of new building

Confederation college students will soon be getting a state of the art learning facility.

The College launched a fundraising campaign for the REACH building in Thunder Bay with a 250 thousand dollar contribution for a new Dental Clinic.

President Pat Lang says the building will cost about 22 million dollars. 

She says the new facility will give students an edge with top of the line hands on learning.

American fined for illegally hunting a black bear

A Colorado man has been fined 25-hundred dollars for shooting a black bear without a valid licence near Fort Frances.

Levi Larsen is banned from hunting in Ontario for a year after he was fined for unlawfully hunting a black bear, possessing a void licence and exporting the bear out of Ontario without a permit.

Court heard that Larsen tried to purchase a non-resident hunting licence on a number of occassions, but was denied by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

However, Larsen persisted and purchased a licence in another location and went on to shoot a bear.

Students Decorate LCBO Bags

Grade Four students across Kenora have been busy doing some artwork.

The students have been commissioned to decorate LCBO paper bags.

Constable Dave Cain says they asked the students to come up with their
own messages about not drinking and driving.

Cain says they'll have about 500 hundred of the specially designed bags

ready to hand out starting today.

Broncos and Saints hockey teams win at home

Colt Manson and Blake Lundin each scored hat tricks as the Thomas Aquinas Boys hockey team

trounced the Sioux Lookout Warriors 9-2 at the Thistle Rink.

T.A. improves to 2-0 in NorWOSSA single "a" league play.

Over in Keewatin, the Beaver Brae girls hockey team is now a perfect 8-0 on the season,

with a 3-1 win over Fort Frances.

Ainsly Lindquist, Haley Moncrieft and Jess Ricklefs each scored for the Broncos.

Broncos split games against Muskies

Beaver Brae's court sport teams started the second season in NorWOSSA with a split of their games against Fort Frances.

The Broncos were at home yesterday and the Senior Boys Basketball team was upended by a score of 68-30.

Beaver Brae's junior boys are in the win column with a 52-27 win over the Muskies.

The Broncos senior girls were stretched to the limit, but prevailed three sets to two against Fort.

The Beaver Brae junior girls lost in three straight sets.

Proulx Trial Wraps up after one day of testimony

There has been a lot of conflicting testimony at the trial of Helen Proulx.

The 39 year old Grassy Narrows woman faces charges of Assulting a Police Officer and having a weapon dangerous to the public peace.

Proulx was shot after brandishing a knife at Constable Kathrine Moyer.

Moyer told the court that the shot Proulx twice because she feared for her life.

Eye witnesses can't agree whether Proulx's weapon was a butter knife, a paring knife or a steak knife.

Witnesses also had different ideas of what Proulx was doing.

Some suggested she was trying to keep the police officer from taking her knife away

from her, while others suggested she was jabbing the knife in a threatening manner.

Proulx's Lawyer Greg Brodsky told the court that police don't shoot people because they

are intoxicated and don't shoot people because they want to commit suicide.

He says his client had no intent to hurt Constable Moyer and should be found not guilty.

Justice Jennifer Hoshizaki is expected to make her decision sometime in the new year.

International Falls man faces drug charges

An International Falls Man faces charges after attempting to cross into the U-S with marijuana taped to his body.

U-S Customs and Border Protection says the 24-year-old man was walking through the border crossing at International Falls Saturday at around 12:30.

Customs officers found the 46 grams of marijuana taped to the man's leg during a secondary examinations.

The man was later turned over the Koochiching County Sheriffs office for prosecution.

New Committee to look at Harborfront operations

The City of Kenora has set up a special committee to look at how to operate the Harborfront in the years to come.

The City's special events co-ordinator Buck Matiowski is due to retire next year and Tourism Kenora is taking responsibility for managing special events.

Sharon Smith is one of the members of the new committee and says they just want to make sure there is some continuity.

Smith says there are a number of programs such as the Green Team and Buck's Brigade that they need to decide how to operate in the future.