Kenora Thistles Vs. Thunder Bay Kings

The triple "A" Thunder Bay Kings finished off the Thistles yesterday afternoon.

Game 3 of the HNO Regional Playdowns was an upsetting finish for the Thistles and the Thistle arena.

The Kings finished them off with a score of 4-1.

The Thistles didn't score till the 3rd period when when Brennan Dubchak netted his first goal of the weekend.

On a positive note the Senior Thistlesbeat the Fort Frances Thunder Hawks in a Shootout 4-3 on Saturday night in Fort Frances.

Another Drug Seizure

The OPP have made another drug seizure.
On Friday the OPP were conducting a RIDE program in Vermillion Bay, when officers saw a black Ford truck attempting to avoid the check stop.

They then pulled the truck over and further investigation revealed that the 22 year old driver David Cunninham of Vermillion Bay was in possesion of around 286 grams of pot.

The pot has a street value of around 53 hundred dollars.

Cunniham has been charged with drug related charges and is due to appear in Dryden court on May 2nd.

Winter Carnival hands out money to local charities

The organizing committee for Kenora's Winter Carnival says it paid out over

94 hundred dollars to eight different charities as part of the Charity Challenge.

Its A Dog's Life was the big winner, collecting over 38 hundred dollars.

The animal welfare charity sold 29 hundred buttons, which was the most of
any charity registered in the challenge.

The Lake of the Woods Hospital was the runner up and earned just over
12 hundred dollars in the Charity Challenge.

Hospital board seeking new members

Lake of the Woods District Hospital is having a tough time signing up new members.

The hospital board wants to get as many memberships as possible by the end of this month for the corporate elections taking place in June.

Under the hospital by-laws, you have to be a member for at least 60 days to be eligible to run for a position on the board.

The hospital advertised widely last month trying to drum up interest in the corporate memberships, but so far very few people have expressed interest.

The corporate memberships cost just five dollars.

March Break Weather Woes

Today might not be the best day to begin your March Break.

A blizzard warning has been issued for southern Manitoba, and

the Kenora area is expected to get about 10 centimeters of snow

overnight.

Bill Laidlaw from Signal Weather Services says things will likely

stay dry until later this afternoon.

The good news is the system should pass by tomorrow, and sunshine is expected again for Sunday and Monday.

Schaeffer Inquest Wraps up Today

An inquest has heard that a Peterborough man had started to turn his life around just three years before being shot and killed by police on a remote lake in northwestern Ontario.

Levi Schaeffer was 30 years old when he was killed by officers investigating a stolen boat on Osnaburgh Lake near Pickle Lake.

The inquest has heard that Schaeffer was wielding a knife and a can of bear spray while charging at Constable Kris Wood who shot him twice.

Schaeffer's mother, Ruth, testified he was diagnosed with panic and personality disorders.

Wood has testified he had no other option to deal with Schaeffer and that he feared for his life.

The inquest is to wrap up today.

Ontario Court of Appeal Orders Judicial Inquiry into local jury rolls

The Ontario Appeal Court has ordered a judicial inquiry into whether the jury roll in northwestern Ontario represents the community.

The court decision comes from concerns about aboriginal representation on juries in two coroners' inquests.

The families of Jacy Pierre, who died of an overdose in jail, and Reggie Bushie, went to the court after they couldn't get answers from officials on the roll used for the inquest juries.

The juries are taken from a roll compiled by the sheriff from municipal assessment lists but aboriginals living on reserves are not on the list.

Terry Waboose, of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, says the decision confirms the extent of stonewalling from government they have faced.

Municipal Cultural Policy Being Developed

The City of Kenora is getting some funding from the provincial government to

help draft a municipal cultural plan.

The first stage in the process took place last night with a workshop involving interested local residents.

Economic Development Officer for the city, Jennifer Findlay says the timing for such a policy seems to be right.

Findlay says the Municipal Cultural Plan will not only include an inventory of local groups involved in the arts and heritage, but also include some goals to work towards.

Canadian Arrow finalizes the purchase of more claims in Kenora area

While there has been a boom in gold exploration activities in northwestern Ontario recently, other metals haven't been as fortunate.

Canadian Arrow says it was forced to curtail its plans for the Kenbridge nickel property southeast of Kenora for the past three years due to the economic downturn.

Company spokesperson, Kim Tyler says things are slowly starting to rebound.

Tyler says Canadian Arrow has just completed the aquisition of the Denmark Lake group of claims, next to its Kenbridge site and is hoping they will be able to resume exploration in the not too distant future.

Two more Drug Busts for the OPP's Traffic Unit

For the third time in three days the OPP have seized a quantity of drugs during routine traffic stops near Kenora.

Wednesday evening around 8:30, a vehicle was stopped on Highway 17 east of Kenora and about seven thousand dollars worth of marijuana was seized.

In a second incident, just after 2:00 Thursday morning, officers stopped another vehicle on the Kenora By-Pass and seized over 22 thousand dollars worth of drugs, including 1.3 pounds of marijuana, a couple of ounces of cocaine and some codeine pills.

Co-incidentally, all three men who were arrested were from Dryden.

They all face charges of trafficking in a narcotic.

MNR Employee presented the Kallemeyn Award

The Lake of the Woods Water Quality Forum has wrapped up for another year, and a local MNR employee has been singled out for his work.

Tom Mosindy was presented the Larry Kallemeyn Award this week.

Executive Director of the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation Todd Sellars says Mosindy was honored largely for his work on the lake trout fishery.

The two day water quality conference wrapped up yesteday in International Falls.

Midget Thistles prepare for Branch Playdowns

The third season for the Kenora triple "a" midget Thistles begins this evening.

The Thistles are taking on Thunder Bay Kings in the best of three northwest branch playdowns.

Coach Brian Olson says the team is looking forward to the challenge.

Game one of the best of three series take place at the Thistle Rink tonight

at 7:30.

Game two is tomorrow night and game three, if necessary will take place Sunday afternoon.

Work Begins to Develop a Municipal Cultural Plan in Kenora

Anyone who wants to enhance Kenora's cultural landscape is being

invited to provide their two-cents at a special forum this evening.

Jennifer Findlay is with the Economic Development Commission is looking

for some feedback it can use to help develop a Municipal Culture Plan.

Findlay says the City has received funding from the Ministry of Culture to
develop a Municipal Culture Plan.

The forum will take place in the Minis Hall of the Super 8 Motel at 7:00.

Whiteshell lakes designated as protected areas

A lake in Whiteshell Provinical Park in Manitoba that had been considered as a possible site for a Tim Hortons camp for children  will be set aside as a natural protected area.

The province says Meditation Lake, along with Sylvia Lake, in the Whiteshell will be free from development.

The Tim Hortons Foundation Leadership Camp looked at Meditation Lake, but a wilderness group argued that many other areas of the Whiteshell were better suited for such a project.

An area west of Sylvia Lake was eventually chosen and approved for the camp, but the province says land adjacent to the lake will not be developed or made accessible for cottage construction.

Former TA student wins medal at CIS Volleyball Championships

A former member of the Thomas Aquinas senior boys volleyball team now has a Canadian University Silver medal to add to his two OFSAA gold medals.

Dan Boutwell is the starting middle hitter for the Brandon Bobcats men's volleyball team.

The Bobcats fought their way in to the national championships Sunday, but lost to the host team from Trinity Western.

This is the best ever finish for the Bobcats, who were competing in just their second national championship.

Public School Board looks at Aboriginal Achievement

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board says its doing what it can

to close the gap between aboriginal students and the rest of their peers

in local schools.

Trustees were presented a couple of reports this week that looked at how

teachers and administration were planning to improve student achievement.

Director of Education Jack McMaster admits aboriginal students continue to

lag behind, but they are working to build bridges that will hopefully pay dividends

in the long term.

McMaster says they are starting to see some improvement in credit  recovery for aboriginal students, but there's still more work that can be done.

Local Hospitals reducing falls

There's praise for health care facilities in Northwestern Ontario from a top provincial official.

Dr. Ben Chan, CEO of the Ontario Health Quality Council notes that institutions in Kenora, Dryden and Red Lake have reduced patient falls by half in the past year. Chan says that frees up beds elsewhere in the region.

Local health care facilities have been concentrating on the reduction of falls in recent years.

Drug Bust On the By-Pass

The OPP say they have seized over 18 thousand dollars worth of cocaine during a routine traffic stop on the Kenora By-Pass.

Police stopped a vehicle for speeding around 2:30 Tuesday afternoon.

The driver did not have a valid license and officers decided to search the vehicle.

About six ounces of cocaine and over 13 hundred dollars in cash were found in the car.

The driver 35 year old Jeffery Coleman of Sault Ste. Marie and  the passenger 30 year old Russell Lidstone of Calgary have been charged with trafficking in a narcotic as well as possession of property obtained by crime.

They made their first court appearance yesterday. 

SIU Clears Dryden Police in fatality last May

The Ontario Special Investigations Unit has cleared the Dryden Police of

any wrong in the death of a 25 year old man in the lock-up of the Dryden

Police Station last year.

Dustin Douglas Ruillard had initially been taken to hospital for high levels

of alcohol in his system on May 11th.

Dryden Police were contacted after Ruillard repeatedly tried to leave

the hospital.

Ruillard was eventually taken to the Dryden Police Station to sober up, but began showing signs of mental distress.

He was again taken to hospital, but died a short time after being re-admitted.

After months of investigation, the cause of death still has not been determined, but the SIU says the post-mortem shows there was no sign of misconduct while he was in police custody.

Saints Senior Girls win Silver

For the second year in a row the Thomas Aquinas senior girls

volleyball has won silver at the All-Ontario single "a" championships.

The Saints made it into the gold medal game last night against the Ottawa area team from Embrun, but ended up losing three sets to one.

T.A. took the first set 25-23, but proceeded to lose the next three.

Embrun came into the tournament as the second seed, behind Thomas Aquinas.