Kenora Man arrested in Dryden

A Kenora man is in Dryden Police custody.

City Police were alerted to an abandoned dump truck on Highway 17 just east of the cemetery around 2 o'clock this morning.

Police contacted the registered owner and found out that the vehicle was stolen from Thunder Bay.

Officers and the OPP K-9 unit followed footprints into the cemetery and to a local business.

The accused was found hiding in a storage building.

Police say 39 year old David Wayne Sandberg faces a charge of possesion of property obtained by crime.

Blood Donor Clinic Wraps up today

A good turn-out for the first day of the Blood Donor Clinic in Kenora.

Yesterday, 162 people showed up at Thomas Aquinas to give the gift of life.

Canadian Blood Services says it collected 137 units of blood on day one.

That was three higher than their original goal.

Today there are still 30 appointment times available.

The Blood Donor Clinic runs until 12:30 this afternoon.

Field set for 2012 Ontario Scotties in Kenora

The final teams have qualified for the 2012 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts taking place in Kenora next week.

Former provincial champion, Sherry Middaugh qualitied for the Scotties over the weekend in a last chance tournament.

She's joined by another former Ontario champion, Jenn Hanna from Ottawa, who also qualified through the last chance bonspiel.

A total of ten rinks have been confirmed for next week's draw, including four from northern Ontario.

The Scotties will begin Monday evening at the Kenora Curling Club.

Northwestern Ontario Health Survey Results

The Northwestern Health Unit is painting a poor portrait of the lifestyles of local residents.

The Health Unit has just released a number of reports that looks at some of the overall issues affecting the health of people living in this region.

Dr. James Arthurs says on a per capita basis we're one of the poorest areas of the province.

Arthurs says the good news is the Health Unit can use these reports to develop programs or put more money into existing programs to improve the health of local residents.

Illegal Deer Hunting in Kenora

Two Kenora men are 22 hundred dollars poorer after illegally killing a deer.

David Adams and Victor Longe were stopped MNR conservation officers on the English River Road, north of town back in October.

The officers found evidence that Adams had killed a deer, which he denied at the time.

The conservation officers discovered that Adams had killed an antler less deer three days before and didn't have a tag for the animal.

The harvested deer and parts of another deer were located at Longe's home.

Illegal Hunting in Vermilion Bay

A Vermillion Bay man is going to have to cough up a thousand dollars for illegally killing a wolf.
Trevor Robinson pleaded guilty to hunting and killing a wolf without a license.

The MNR says they received information that Robinson had shot a wolf on Little Clay Road near Vermilion Bay back in November of 2008.

Robinson was not licensed to hunt wolves, but he affixed a seal on the dead animal from another hunter.

Kenora's 2012 budget

Progress is being made on Kenora's 2012 budget.

A draft of the operating and capital budgets has been completed.

Councillor Ron Lunny says councillors will get a chance to view the proposed budget over the next couple of weeks.

Last week the City of Dryden approved a 10 percent increase, but Lunny says Kenora's increase won't be anywhere near that high.

WestJet

WestJet developing a regional jet service could mean big opportunity for Confederation College students.  Dean of Aviation Joe Vieira says it will benefit both pilots and mechanics.

WestJet could add 40 turboprop jets to compete head to head against Air Canada.

Vieira says he hopes this'll lead to more people enrolling in the the avaition mechanics program.

Special Olympian:David Ducasse

A Special Olympian from the Fort Frances district is being adopted by the Ontario Provincial Police.


Officers and staff across the district will help raise money for David Ducasse to attend the Ontario Provincial games at the end of May.

David Ducasse will compete in bowling in his third trip to the provincials.

Area residents can also help out by visiting the detachments or going online to specialolympics2012games-dot-com.

Health Unit Offices Still Recovering from "flood"

Things still aren't quite back to normal at the Northwestern Health Unit offices in Kenora.

A broken toilet flooded parts of the Health Unit's Wolsley Street location on Tunnel Island last weekend.

Medical officer of health, Dr. James Arthurs says they've had to rip up carpet and tear down drywall damaged by water.

Some files also sustained some water damage.

He adds that the front desk was hit hardest and calls are still be re-routed through their Market Square offices today.

Broncos Boys lose two over the weekend

Beaver Brae's boys hockey team is heading into the exam break on a two game losing skid.

The Broncos dropped a 4-3 decision to the Dryden Eagles last night at the Kenora Rec. Center and were beaten 5-1 Friday night in Fort Frances by the Muskies.

Beaver Brae doesn't play again until January 27th, when they travel to Dryden to face the Eagles.

The Broncos just have four games left in the regular season.

Fort Frances Wins Kenora Bantam Tournament

Fort Frances took top honors at the Kenora Double "a" Bantam Hockey tournament over the weekend.

The Canadians upended the Dryden Paper Kings in the A-Side final Sunday afternoon 5-3.

The host Kenora Double "a" Bantam Thistles earned the bronze medal.

Blood Donor Clinic Starts today

Canadian Blood Services is asking for your help

Adrienne Silver, Communications Specialist for Northwestern Ontario says the need blood is constant.

In the new year alone they'll be looking for atleast one hundred thousand new donors just to keep up with the high demand.

They're at St. Thomas Aquinas today and tomorrrow and looking to book over 140 appointments

The Blood Donor Clinic starts this evening at 4:30 and runs till 9:00, and then again tomorrow from

9:30 to 12:30.

Give the gift of life in 2012 - book your appointment - call 1888-2-donate

OFIA Complains about Environmental Commissioner

The Ontario Forest Industries Association continues to be engaged in war of words with the province's Environmental Commissioner.

Last week Gordon Miller complained about a lack of a plan to protect natural spaces and species at risk in Ontario.

Jamie Lim is the president of the OFIA and questions Miller's science.

Lim says Ontario has already recognized the importance of forestry to its Climate Change solution.

Dryden Youth Killed near Oxdrift

A 14 year old Dryden teen has been identified as the victim of an accident near Oxdrift over the weekend.

Tristen Wise was hit by a transport around 3:00 Saturday afternoon.

The OPP say the highway was closed for about four hours while Technical Traffic Investigators looked into the cause of the fatal collision.

The Driver of the semi was not injured and police say no charges are pending at this time.

Kenora Arena's

The City's Recreation Department has completed a facility review of its arenas.

The Jaffray Melick Arena had to be closed down this winter due to deficiencies, but the Keewatin Memorial Arena has passed with flying colours.

Recreation Services Manager, Colleen Neil says no major problems were uncovered
with the actual building.

Neil says one issue that needs to be addressed is a crack in the arena floor, but they
can include that in any future capital planning for the facility.

Kenora City Council 2012 Meeting

Kenora City Council holds its first open meeting of 2012 tonight.


One of the items that could to generate some debate is a resoultion on paving the shoulders of provincial highways.

The resolution comes from the Township of Carling and says paving the shoulders would create safer traffic conditions cyclists, pedestrians and motorists alike.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says the only highway in the City of Kenora that would be affected is the Redditt Road, because all the other provincial highways in the city have paved shoulders.

Chair of the Operations Committee Rod McKay says while he's not opposed to the idea, he questions whether the provincial government should be pursuing such initiatives, especially when its facing a 16 billion dollar deficit this year.

Adult Education Center

The viability of a new adult education center in Kenora should be a little clearer by the end of this month.

The Lake of the Woods Economic Development Commission is expecting to receive a final business.

Geordie McEwan is the vice-chair of the commission and says they'll be presenting the
findings to all their partners.

McEwan says regardless of whether the public school board approves the use of Lakewood
or not, he believes an adult education center is going to be a viable project.

North Spirit Lake Plane Crash Update

The Transportation Safety Board has released some initial findings into a plane crash that killed four people in North Spirit Lake.

 Investigators have determined the landing gear of the Piper Navajo was down and the flaps partially extended at the time of the crash in Northwestern Ontario.

Investigators also found heavy fire damage in the fuselage and the right-wing area.

The team is planning to take a further look at the engines and propellers.

The pilot and three passengers died in the crash last Tuesday.

One man survived and is recovering in hospital.

Terrace Bay Pulp Mill

It's bad news for the Town of Terrace Bay.


After 3-months of downtime was announced just before Christmas; Buchanan has decided to sell the mill.

Mayor Mike King says he doesn't think the mill will be able to meet it's downtime deadline.

King is still hopeful they'll be able to find a buyer and the mill will continue to operate in the future.