Council Still Grappling with Digital Billboard Decision

Kenora City Council is still split over the issue of what to do about a digital billboard along Lakeview Drive.

The Property and Planning Committee met for almost an hour this morning debating the issue.

Derrick Johnson is a representitive with Pattison Outdoor Advertising and tried once again to sell council on the idea of the digital billboard.

An ad-hoc committee set up by council to look at the issue had recommended that a variance to the sign  by-law not be given to allow the digital billboard, but the sign committee voted 3-1 against that recommendation.

Kenora Catholic District School Board Moving its Offices

The Kenora Catholic District School Board will be saying good bye to its old board offices on First Street North this week.

The Board is closing its old offices as of noon today as it begins moving to its new office space in the Old Thomas Aquinas Annex.

Director of Education, Phylis Eikre says they plan to spend the next few days moving.

Eikre says they plan to be in their new board offices by Monday, April 18th.

The new board offices cost about one million dollars to build.

Hampton Angry over Wood Allocation Decisions

A lot of words but not much action from the Liberal Government.

That's the message from Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton after he questioned the McGuinty Liberals Monday on their wood allocation decisions.

Hampton says the Grits are out of touch with Northern Ontario and the forest industry.

Hampton says everyone he talks to in the forest sector is calling for a resumption of sawmilling in Ontario, something he says is lost with the Liberals.

Harborfront Tent Ready for Labor Day?

The City of Kenora still isn't exactly sure when the new Harborfront Tent will be installed.

Council has given the formal go ahead for the 1.4 million dollar tent, but it likely won't be ready for the summer festival season.

Chair of the Operations committee, Rod McKay says while they would like to see it up by the middle of August, he suggests September 1st is a more likely target.

That means all of the special events this summer will be held under the old tent on the south parking lot.

First All-Candidates Forum Tomorrow in Dryden

The candidates vying for a seat in Parliament as the Kenora representative will take part in their first debate this week.

An All-Candidates Debate is set for Thursday at 7 o'clock at the Royal Canadian Legion in Dryden.

Roger Valley, Tania Cameron, Greg Rickford and Kelvin Chicago-Boucher are all scheduled to participate.

Mike Schwindt of the Green Party is unable to attend.

The candidates will be taking questions from the floor and the media and will also have an opportunity to question their competitors.

Bentley and Claronville Win on Day Two of Allan Cup

The Fort Frances Thunderhawks and the Dundas Real McCoys are still searching for their first wins at the Allan Cup.

The Real McCoys were edged 4-3 by the Bentley Generals from Alberta last night at the Thistle Rink.

The loss ensures the Real McCoys will finish at the bottom of their pool.

The Thunderhawks are in a similar position after dropping a 3-1 decision to the Clarenville Caribous yesterday afternoon.

Tonight, the host Kenora Thistles will take on Bentley in a battle for first place in their pool.

Clarenville will face the Southeast Prairie Thunder this afternoon for first in the other pool.

Thistles win first game at Allan Cup

An impressive win for the Kenora Triple A Senior Thistles to start the Allan Cup.

The host team cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Dundas Real McCoys last night at the Kenora Rec. Center.

Tyler Gordon backstopped the Thistles to the victory with 36 saves, including a couple of key break-aways.

He says the team played solidly in front of him.

Sean Hughes was the player of the game with a pair of goals and two assists, while Jon Johnson had a pair of goals, and Jeff Richards scored once and added two assists.

The Thistles next game is tomorrow night against the Bentley Generals.

Meanwhile, the Fort Frances Thunderhawks squandered leads of 1-0 and 2-1, and eventually fell 6-3 to the Southeast Prairie Thunder from Steinbach in the early game.

Council Approves 1.61 percent budget increase

After months of review, Kenora City Council has finally put the 2011 municipal budget to bed.

Council yesterday agreed on a 1.61 percent increase in the mill rate.

Ron Lunny is chair of the finance committee and says they were able to trim the budget down a bit, but increasing the industrial tax rate for the first time in more than 10 years.

Lunny points out that some property owners could face a much higher tax increase than the 1.61 percent, because municipal property assessments went up an average of 2.4 percent.

Council is expected to formally approve the budget next Monday.

Nuclear Waste up for Discussion in Ignace

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is hosting community sessions in Ignace today and tomorrow.

The group will present the results of initial screening held last year in the community.

Officials are trying to determine whether there are obvious reasons that would eliminate Ignace from continuing in the site selection process for a deep geological Nuclear repository.

If residents and Council are in favour of the findings, the community can then decide if it wants to request a feasibility study, which would take 2 to 3 years to complete.

Today's and Wednesday's sessions are from 1 to 4 and 6:30 until 8:30 at the Curling Club Gallery.

Black Bear Hotline Up and Running Again

The provincial bear reporting hotline is up and running.

The toll-free number is part of the Ministry of Natural Resources Bear Wise Program, to educate people on how to avoid attracting bears.

As black bears come out of hibernation, the ministry says people should be taking steps to prevent encounters with them.

MNR conservation officer Ross Johnston says people should be thinking about taking down bird feeders before they receive unwelcome visitors.

Summer Company Applications now available

The Northwest Business Centre is offering students a unique summer job opportunity.

Spokesperson Mike Greaves outlines the 'Summer Company' program.

The Centre will assist those interested in owning and operating their 8 to 12-week business over the Summer.

Over the past 5 years, the Kenora-Rainy River District has developed over 15-young entrepreneurs.

NOACC Makes presentation on Forest Tenure Legislation

The Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce is giving the provincial government a piece of his mind.

Chief Operating officer of NOACC, Harold Wilson was in Toronto yesterday to share his concerns about the forest tenure bill.

Wilson says the province isn't listening to their recommendations.

Bill 151 would create a number of crown corporations to manage area forests.

OPP nab a pair of impaired drivers

An 18 year old man faces drunk driving charges following a single vehicle accident early Saturday morning.

The OPP say they responded to a vehicle roll-over on the Airport Road around 12:30 Saturday morning.

The driver was was taken to Lake of the Woods District Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

In another incident, Police were conducting a RIDE Check Stop early Sunday morning on Darlinton Drive when a vehicle approached and tried to avoid officers.

The OPP managed to stop the vehicle and charged the driver with impaired operation of a motor vehicle.

City Council Ready to Take the Wraps off the 2011 Budget

Kenora City Council will be taking the wraps on the 2011 municipal budget.

A public meeting is being held this afternoon to go over the fine print in this year's fiscal document.

Council has been meeting over the past few months to try and whittle down both the operating and capital budgets.

The budget meeting will take place at 2:30 this afternoon prior to the committee of the whole meeting.

The actual budget won't officially be passed until next week.

Hospital Hoping for Funding increase in 2011

Lake of the Woods District Hospital says it still isn't sure exactly how much money it will have to work with in the 2011 fiscal year.

The provincial government promised a 1.5 percent increase in health care spending this year.

But CEO of the Hospital, Marc Belcaen says there are indications that the funding will be tied to performance related data.

Last year, the hospital had a budget of about 45 million dollars.

Allan Cup Ready to Roll

Two years of planning comes to fruition this week with the Allan Cup tournament taking center stage in town.

The week long event gets underway this afternoon with the first game at the Thistle Rink.

Judy Bain is chair of the Allan Cup Committee and says they are pleased with ticket sales so far.

Bain says their goal is to basically even, but expects they should be able to post a small surplus.

LOWBIC Lending up in 2010

The Lake of the Woods Business Incentive Corporation has a profitable year in terms of small business loans.

LOWBIC held its annual general meeting on Friday and its balance sheet showed about 1.2 million dollars lent out to 12 businesses in 2010.

Ryan Reynard is the Executive Director of LOWBIC and says there is some optimism in the tourism sector, despite a downturn in that industry in recent years.

LOWBIC says it also offered one on one, in-depth business councilling to 167 clients last year.

Hospital Bed Shortage Continues

Lake of the Woods District Hospital is seeking another two week extension to its 1-A crisis status.

The status gives patients in alternate level of care the first shot at a long term care bed when one opens up at either Pinecrest or Birchwood.

Director of Patient Care Leslie Brown says they currently have 16 patients waiting for long term care beds, which is the same, when the 1-A status was approved by the Northwest Local Health Integratin Network one month ago.

She says the 1-A status is due to expire on April 11th, but they are hoping to extend it beyond the Easter Long weekend.

Hospital CEO Marc Belcaen adds that they still haven't heard any word as to if or when Pinecrest will be able to open up 10 interim long term care beds.

Canadian Military Plans Forest Fire Training Exercise

The Ministry of Natural Resources is working with the Canadian Military in a 7-day firefighting training excercise.

About 100-military personnel and helicopters will be participating with MNR waterbombers, helicopters and firefighters.

Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Hill says the Military needs to fine-tune their policies in the event of an emergency.

'Trillium Response' will take place in Bon Echo Park near Trenton the first week of May.

Hill was one of the keynote speakers at the Northwest Response Forum in Dryden.

Teams gearing up for Allan Cup

All the teams in this weeks Allan Cup have arrive in town and are getting ready to start play today.

The round-robin begins this afternoon, with Fort Frances taking  on the South East Prairie Thunder from Steinbach.

Tonight's feature game has the host Kenora Thistles taking on the Ontario champs, the Dundas Real McCoys.

Thistles Fordward, Jeff Richards says even though they don't know much about these teams, their game plan is pretty straight forward.

The Opening Ceremonies take place at 7:30 this evening, with the puck drop in the Thistle Game at 8:00.

The other game between Fort and Southeast will start at 2:00.