Morning accident on the Redditt Road

Traffic has been moving slower than usual on the Redditt Road this morning.


A two vehicle collision closed Highway 658 down for about an hour.
The road has since been re-opened to two lane traffic.

No other details about the collision have been released.

Meanwhile, the accident has caused some delays for school bus service
along the Redditt Road.

Excel Coachlines says its number 13, 14 and 16 buses are running about
30 minutes behind schedule.

Broncos win Battle of Kenora

Beaver Brae's girls hockey team won the battle of Kenora.


The Broncos met the Saints last night at the Kenora Rec. Center and
skated away with a 4-2 victory.

Ainsley Lindquist, Jess Ricklefs, and Sam Smith each scored for Beaver Brae,
while Jody Melillo added an empty netter.

The Broncos are back in action this weekend at home with a pair of games against
the Lake of the Woods Bears from Beaudette, Minnesota.

No Increase in Health Unit Levies

The levy charged to municipalities to help fund the Northwestern Health Unit will remain the same as last year.

Chief Administrative Officer of the Health Unit, Mark Perreault says the per capita rate, combined with declines in population, will mean area town and cities will pay less this year than they did in 2010.

Perreault says staff reductions through attrition has allowed the Health Unit to work with less money from municipalities.

Community Plan in the Works for the Abitibi lands

The Lake of the Woods Economic Development Commission wants to establish
a community improvement plan for the Abitibi lands in Kenora.

Fo-Tenn Consulting met with City council yesterday to outline the process.

Economic Development Officer for the City, Jennifer Findlay says over the next few months, they will
be seeking public input on the Community Improvement Plan.

Findlay says they will be holding a couple of public meetings in coming months to outline some of the incentives that could be offered to businesses willing to re-locate.

Atikokan Company first to get new Wood Allocation

Atikokan Renewable Fuels is hoping to begin production of its wood pellet plant later this year after being granted the rights to access 179-thousand cubic metres per year of poplar and birch fibre.

The Atikokan plant also received one-point-two million from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

Spokesperson Ed Fukushima says that money offsets costs incurred while they waited for wood.

Fukushima says the wood allocation allows them to begin talks with potential customers.

Break-ins reported in Rabblit Lake area

The OPP are investigating another rash of vehicle break-in's in the

Rabbit Lake area.

On Friday, a number of unlocked vehicles located along Rabbit Lake
Road were entered.

A quantity of change, an i-pod and other personal items were stolen.

Anyone with information about these break-ins are asked to contact
the Kenora Detachment of the OPP or Crimestoppers.

Aboriginal Groups Applaud Rickford's Appointment

Aboriginal groups in the region are giving their thumbs up for the appointment of Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford as the new parliamentary assistant for Aboriginal Affairs.


Stan Beardy is the grand Chief of the Nishinabe-Aski Nation and says Rickford's appointment as is a welcome move.

Beardy says the Kenora MP is very familiar with NAN issues

Grand Council Treaty #3 has also given its blessing to Rickford's appointment and hopes
the Harper government lives up to its commitments to first nation education and creating
healthy and sustainable communities.

Impaired Driving charge results in impounded vehicle

A local woman has learned the hard way about Ontario's new, tougher drinking and

driving laws.

The OPP say over the weekend a 23 year old male and a 19 year old female had their
licences suspended after registering a warning on a roadside breath test.

The 19 year old driver also had her vehicle impounded for seven days.

Under new legislation, there is a zero tolerance level for alcohol for
drivers 21 and under.

The new laws went into effect back in December.

Hampton bullish on the Mining Industry

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton feels this region will benefit from a gold mine long before the so-called Ring of Fire can be adequately developed.

Speaking at the Rainy River District Municipal Association meeting on the weekend, Hampton says the northwestern Ontario has everything needed to make a gold mine proposed by Rainy River Resources possible.

Hampton feels it will be at least a decade before any mine in the Ring of Fire is developed because it lacks the necessary infrastructure.

January snowier than norml

The Month of January seemed like a cold and snowy one.


And it was, but there were no record broken.

Severe Weather Specialist for Environment Canada, Geoff Coulson
says the Kenora area had over 50 centimeters of snow last month, which is almost
double the amount we usually get.

Temperature-wise, Kenora was almost normal for the month of
January.

The average daily mean temperature last month was -17.6 celcius,
while the norm is -17.3.

JM Judo Club four for four at Selkirk

It was a golden weekend for the Jaffray Melick Judo Club.


Four members braved the snowy roads and travelled to Selkirk for their annual Open Judo Tournament.

All four fighters came back with gold medals.

Thomas Hertz won the Under 13 boys division with a perfect 3-0 record,

Taylor Tom had a two and 0 record, good enough to win her division, while Luke Heatherington was compiled a 2-0 record to take the Under 20 men's competition.

Daniel Gordon was 3-1 on the day, which also earned him a gold medal in the boys
under 15 division.

Police investigate Snowmachine accident

The OPP are continuing to investigate a collision between a snowmachine and a motor vehicle over the weekend.

Police say that sometime yesterday, a 15 year old female sledder left the trail and started driving onto Airport Road.

The snowmobile ended up hitting a north bound vehicle.

The OPP say no-one was hurt in the collision.

Police say anyone 12 to 15 has to hold a valid snow vehicle operators

licence, but is not permitted to travel on or across any roadway.

Broncos win Silver in Manitoba Girls tournament

A couple of medals for Kenora girls high school hockey teams. 

In Pilot Mound, Manitoba, the Beaver Brae girls won the silver medal, after dropping a 4-1 decision to the host Pembina Tigers in the tournament final.

Thomas Aquinas Girls hockey team took the bronze medal in that same tournament.

T.A. faced their NorWOSSA foes from Fort Frances and overcame a 3-1 deficit with five minutes left to play and edged the Muskies 4-3 in overtime.

Melissa White had a hat trick in that game, including the game winner in O.T.

Plans in the works to import more elk to NWO

The Lake of the Woods Elk Restoration Committee is hoping to be able to increase  the size of the herd in northwestern Ontario in the next year or so.

Numbers have dwindled down to about 39 in the Cameron Lake area southeast of

Kenora.

Murray English is the co-chair of the committee and says because they are no longer allowed to import wild elk from out west, they are looking to southern Ontario now to increase their numbers.

English says it would be 2012 at the earliest to have any elk transported from southwestern Ontario.

Kenora's Relay for Life Team honored

Kenora's Relay for Life team has been singled out for its fundraising efforts.

Two members of the local Relay for Life Committee were in Toronto recently to accept an award for Fundraising Development.

Kenora's Relay for Life in 2010 raised more than 77 thousand dollars, which was more than double the previous year.

Co-chair Amanda Van Wallenghem says last year more teams, more people and more money was raised and they want to make this year's event bigger and better.

Rickford shuffles parliamentary secretary duties

Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford will have new duties when parliament

resumes sitting today.

He has been moved over as parliamentary secretary for Official Languages

to parliamentary secretary for Indian and Northern Affairs.

Rickford replaces Winnipeg M.P. Shelley Glover, who has been shuffled

over as the new parliamentary secretary for Finance.

Rickford just took on his new duties as parliamentary secretary this past

summer.

Parliament Resumes today

Members of Parliament are heading back to Parliament Hill today after a month off.

Thunder Bay Rainy River MP John Rafferty says he's anxious over the fate of his pension bill.

He'll be making a last minute plea to his federal counterparts tomorrow.

Rafferty says it's going to be a busy week.

Rafferty says there still are some Liberals and Conservatives who are not supporting his bill.

Broncos take silver at Junior KIT

Beaver Brae's junior Boys basketball team had a strong showing at their own Kenora Invitational Tournament.

The Broncos made it all the way to the a-side final, but ran out of gas, dropping a 45-28 decision to Dryden in the gold medal game
Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, the Kenora Triple "a" midget Thistles split their road games on the weekend.

Saturday, the Thistles were blanked 3-0 by the Southwest Cougars.

Yesterday, the Kenora Midgets eked out a 3-2 win over Pembina

Valley Hawks.

In the Casey's men's hockey tournament over the weekend, CHCP took top honors.

The Jeff Richards-led team tripped up Liesure Time 6-1 in the A-side final Sunday afternoon

 at the Keewatin arena.

Fort Frances OPP arrest two people for trafficking

The OPP have arrested two people on trafficking charges after pulling over
a vehicle in Emo.

Members of the Community Drug Action team stopped the vehicle yesterday
on Highway 11.

Officers seized over five pounds of marijuana.

The drugs have a street value of about five thousand dollars.

44 year old Carl Meeches and 33 year old Rhonda Johnson, both of Fort Frances
have been charged with possession of a narcotic for the purpose of trafficking.

The duo are scheduled to appear in Fort Frances court next month.

Opening Doors back up and running

An after school program for kids in the Kenora area is back up and running with the help of a number of different agencies.

The Opening Doors program runs three days a week at Pope John Paul School.

OPP Constable Dave Cain says Opening Doors is targets at kids between the ages of 10 and 14.

Cain also says they help the kids out with their homework and also get them involved in other activities such as well as sports.