Life Jacke Campaign

The OPP Marine Unit has launched a new campaign on Lake of the Woods promoting life jacket use.

Members of the Marine Unit haned out red t-shirts over the weekend to kids
proclaiming, "I got caught wearing my life jacket".

The OPP says while most of the life-jackets were handed out to youth, some adults were also rewarded.

The message from local police is if the motor is running, life jackets should be on.

Broadband service in northwestern Ontario expanded

More homes in the remote northwest will be getting high speed internet.

Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews made the announcement last week.

He says the project will be completed by the end of next year by three companies.

TBay-Tel, Galaxy Broadband Communications and the Spectrum Telecom Group will be rolling
out the broadband service.


Toews says here are about 45 hundred households in the region that will benefit from the funding
announcement

Discovery Center Tender to be Awarded Tonight

The City of Kenora is ready to move ahead with a new tourism office on Lakeview Drive.


Council is expected to approve a tender of 2.1 million dollars to build the Discovery Center
near Norman Park.
Operations manager Rick Perchuck says they had budgeted 1.8 million dollars for construction but
is asking council to approve the tender despite the increased costs.

Council is expected to approve almost six million dollars in expenditures on two separate
projects, including phase two of downtown revitalization.

That project came in about 634 thousand dollars higher than projected.

Weekend Fatal

There was one fatality on northwestern Ontario highways over the weekend.


The OPP in Nipigon say a motorcycle lost control while traveling up a hill near Schreiber.

Police say road conditions were damp at the time.

The male driver of the bike was pronounced dead at the scene, while a female passenger was taken to the Health Sciences Center in Thunder Bay for treatment of unspecified injuries.

The Trans-Canada in the area was closed briefly due to the accident.

Apartment Fire under investigation

An apartment building on Cambrian Drive had to be evacuated Friday morning
due to a fire in one of the units.

The fire broke out around 9:30, but Kenora Fire Chief Warren Brinkman says
they were able to contain the blaze to the apartment of origin.

He says there was extensive damage to the apartment, but quick response from
fire fighters kept the fire from spreading to any other units in the building.

Brinkman says the apartment complex was evacuated only as a precaution.

No damage estimate has been given but Brinkman says the apartment will need
extensive renovations.

The cause of the fire still has not been determined.

Another Quiet Forest Fire Weekend

Another relatively quiet weekend for forest fires in northwestern Ontario.

Just three new blazes were reported over the past three days.

One of the fires was located on an island on Lake of the Woods just

north of Morson.

Fire crews from the Fort Frances District responded.

It was just 0.1 hectares in size.

The other fire was also small and located about 75 kilometers

southwest of Pickle Lake.

There was some smoke lingering in the Kenora area yesterday, but the
MNR says it was from fires burning in Saskatchewan.

Phase Two of Downtown Revitalization Awarded

Its going to cost almost four million dollars to complete phase two of the downtown

revitalization project.

Council held a special meeting this morning to approve a tender from Jarnel Contracting
worth 3.943 million dollars.

Operations Manager Rick Perchuck says the contract includes construction of Lake of the
Woods Plaza and the new festival site.

Perchuck says the tender is about 624 thousand dollars more than than budgeted.

Council has agreed to take money out of its reserve fund to pay for the work.

City looks to haul own Garbage and recycling

Kenora and Dryden could soon be teaming up in a bid to reduce recycling costs.


The city is planning to buy a transport truck which would haul recyclables from Kenora
a couple of times a week, and two times a week from Dryden.
The Solid Waste Department is eligible for 80 thousand dollars in funding from Waste Diversion
Ontario for the purchase of the truck.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says they can reduce their costs by doing doing the
hauling themselves instead of contracting it out.

The City of Dryden still has to come to an agreement with Kenora to share the costs of
hauling the recyclables.

The city estimates it will be able to save about 35 thousand dollars a year by doing its
own hauling.

Signage Options Explored

The City of Kenora is considering an idea to install five permanent, changeable message boards at various access points in the city to promote special events.

At the Property and Planning Committee this week, councillor Wendy Cuthbert says the signs could be posted on Lakeview Driver, the Tourism Office on Highway 17 east, Jack Robinson Park, the new Norman Discovery Center and at the intersection of Valley Drive
                                                       and the Airport Road.

She says the signs would provide an avenue for advertising for non-profit groups.

They have complained in recent months they no longer had space to promote their
events, since the CP rail fence has been made off limits under the new Sign By-Law.

The idea came forward from the Beaches, Parks and Trails Committee and will be
put forward for inclusion in the 2011 municipal budget.

No more flavours Smokes

Local health officials are calling it an important step forward for public health.


All flavoured cigarettes and cigarillos must be pulled from store shelves.

The ban came into effect July 1st..

Daniel Depeuter says he would have liked to see the Federal Government take the ban one step further and ban flavoured chew tobacco.

Store owners caught selling the flavoured tobacco products will be subject to potential enforcement action, including fines.

Free Family Fishing Week Wraps Up

Organizers of Family Fishing Week activities say they expect Free Family Fishing week will become an annual event.

This is the first year free fishing in Ontario waters has been expanded from two days up to seven.

Mike Melnyk is with the group called Catch Fishing and says doesn't think there will be any turning back now.

Melnyk says they also hope to expand their Free Family Ice Fishing weekend in
February, to a full week in 2011.

Teaching Opportunities Decline

A federal agency is suggesting the prospects of finding a teaching job in an elementary school in northwestern Ontario over the next few years will be limited.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada says the people currently in the professin are relatively young with only about one-quarter of all teachers now employed over the age of fifty.

Declining enrolments and school closures are also cited as having on impact on job prospects.

The agency says prospects are better for teachers who willing to relocate to remote or First Nation communities or work casual or on-call.

Low fire hazard

The high humidity levels are helping to control the forest fire hazard.

Jeff Antoszek of the Ministry of Natural Resources says there is enough moisture in the air to keep forest from getting tinder dry.


There was just one forest fire reported in the region yesterday.

Its an 18 hectare blaze about 120 kilometers north of Pickle Lake.

The fire hazard across the region is low to moderate today.

Rickford responds to MP extra income

No complaints from Greg Rickford.

The Kenora Conservative MP thinks there's nothing wrong with some MPs having an extra income.

He says he says the only rule should be that elected duties come first


The names of about 150 MPs who had outside income were named recently, that included Thunder Bay NDP MPs Bruce Hyer and John Rafferty.

MNR Safety Advisory

The Ministry of Natural resources is advising people to use caution while travelling on resource access roads in the Kenora District.


They say the roads do not receive regular maintenance and could be a danger to travellers.

The risks include road washouts, water over the road, and heavy rutting.

The advisory comes after heavy rainfall last weekend.

OPP Summer Students on Patrol

Local police will have an extra set of eyes and ears on duty this summer in downtown
Kenora.

Three summer students have been hired to patrol the harbortown area.

Contable Dave Cain of the OPP says the students will be involved in a number of different initiatives.

Cain says the students will be clearly identified with uniforms as OPP summer students.

The OPP's Marine Unit also has three summer students on duty.

Outflow from Norman Dam increased again

The Lake of the Woods Control Board has authorized another increase in outflow from the
Norman Dam into the Winnipeg River.

Outflow will be increased 360 cubic meters per second later today.

This is the second such increase in two days, as the Control Board tries to keep water
levels from rising too fast.

The lake rose four inches over the past week and is expected to rise by as much as six inches
over the next couple of days.

City council on Trans-Canada Twinning Project

Kenora City Council is endorsing a lobby effort by residents living west of Kenora to have

the route for the twinning of the Trans-Canada Highway moved away from Lake of the Woods.

A letter was sent to council recently asking it to support a move of the new four lane highway north of the existing road bed to help protect water quality on Clearwater Bay.

The Ministry of Transportation will be holding another open house on the route-planning for Highway 17 west on July 24th.

Kenora Mayor Len Compton says the MTO should look at moving the new highway away from
the lake, even if its costs more to do it.

Construction work on the first 10 kilometers of the double lane highway is expected to begin
later this year.

NAN Grand Chief Meets Queen

The Grand Chief of the Nishbawbe Aski Nation is feeling good after his meeting with the Queen yesterday.

Stan Beardy says it was imporant that she met with him because it means she respects First Nation treaty rights.


Chief Beardy says he told the Queen that it was the 100th anniversity of the signing of Tready 5.

New Zoning By-Law gets feedback

The City of Kenora should have a new zoning by-law in place by the fall.

Yesterday a public meeting was held to get feedback on the revised zoning
changes.

Murray Chown is a planner hired by the Tim Horton's Corporation and says they have been working with the city on some changes to the zoning regulations, which would allow restaurants in more areas designated at light industrial.
The city started reviewing its zoning by-law last year in conjunction with the
new Official Plan, which is expected to be approved by the province by the end
of August.

Graffitti By-Law almost ready

Kenora City Council is putting the finishing touches on a by-law that would try to control the spread of graffitti.

The Anti-Graffitti By-Law is expected to go before council next week.

Operations Manager Rick Perchuck says under the By-Law, the city would purchase specialized kits which can be used to cover up unsightly spray paint.

The kits would be made available to owners of private property who have re-occurring
graffitti issues.

Fire Hall Fit and Finish Funding sought

Kenora's Fire and Emergency Services Department is seeking an additional
138 thousand dollars from the city to furnish the new fire hall on Barsky's Hill.

Fire Chief Warren Brinkman says the Fit and Finish of the new building was never
included in the 5.9 million dollar construction budget.

Brinkman says the fire hall project is pretty much on budget, though the cost of
roofing is about 24 hundred dollars higher than projected.

Construction is expected to be complete by late August or early September.

Abitibi Restructuring Nearly Complete

AbitibiBowater could end nearly eighteen months of creditor and bankruptcy protection on October 1 if its restructuring plan wins creditor support next month.


A meeting on the plan takes place August 26th.

The plan would see unsecured creditors receiving between nothing and 48 per cent when their debt is converted to equity, depending on their class.

Current shareholders will walk away empty-handed.

Others fall somewhere in between, including workers who received no severance when their mills were shut over the past year.

Municipal Candidates Workshop

Anyone interested in running in the upcoming municipal elections in the fall can get a reality
check this week.

The Kenora and District Chamber of Commerce is co-sponsoring a special two hour session for potential candidates.

Andy Scribilo is the president of the chamber and says they just want to make sure
they have a good slate of candidates come October 25th.

The Candidates Session will take place tomorrow night at the Best Western Lakeside
Inn from 7 til 9.

Scribilo says you can pre-register by calling the chamber office or just show up at the
door.

Water Levels Rising

Water levels on Lake of the Woods have spiked in recent days due to all the
rain this past weekend.

The Lake of the Woods Control Board says the lake has risen about 10 centimeters
over the past three days.

Rick Cousins is a spokesperson for the control board and says as a result they will
be increasing outflow today from the Norman Dam into the Winnipeg River.

Cousins says water levels on the Winnipeg River below the Norman Dam could jump
about a foot this week due to the increase in outflows.

Drowning near Sprague

A 22 year old man is dead after drowining in a lake near the Manitoba/Ontario
border.

The RCMP say they were called to Moose Lake Provincial Park over the weekend.

Police say two men were having a swimming race near an unsupervised beach Sunday
afternoon.
One of the men began to tire and was unable to keep his head above water.

People at the beach spent about 15 minutes searching for the missing man, but
by the time they found him, he could not be resuscitated.

The Mounties says alcohol was not a factor in the drowning.

The name of the deceased won't be released until next of kin are notified.

Good turn-out for Blood Donor Clinic

It was a good turn-out on the first day of the Blood Donor Clinic at Thomas Aquinas
High School.

Canadian Blood Services says they had 152 people show up yesterday, donating 131 units of blood.

Harvey Heather from Canadian Blood Services says traditionally it difficult to get people
out to their summer blood donor clinics.

The Blood Donor Clinic will run from 9:30 to 12:30 today.

Blood Donor Clinic starts today

And Canadian Blood Services says they still have lots of appointment times avaiable for its Blood Donor Clinic in Kenora this week.
As many as 220 donors are expected over the next two days at Thomas Aquinas School.

Harvey Heather from Canadian Blood Services says its often difficult to get people
out to their summer blood donor clinics.

The Blood Donor Clinic will run from 4:30 this afternoon until 9:00 tonight and
then again tomorrow morning from 9:30 to 12:30.

Heritage Committee looks at protection for Rideout Cottonwood

Kenora's Heritage Committee is looking at a by-law that could protect an old tree in the north end of town.

The 300 year old eastern cottonwood in the Rideout area is one of oldest of its species in Ontario.

The Heritage Committee currently has by-laws which register and designate historical buildings and homes in Kenora, but nothing that can protect natural landscapes.

Committee members are currently looking into similar by-laws in communities elsewhere in Ontario.

A very wet weekend

It was a very wet weekend across northwestern Ontario, with the Kenora area
seeing the most rainfall.

About a months worth of rain fell in the city Saturday and Sunday,
while the Experimental Lakes area just east of the city had the largest
downpour, with 113.5 millimeters.

Bill Laidlaw from Signal Weather Services says were were expecting some rain this
past weekend, but perhaps not that much.

Sioux Narrows was also deluged with 94 millimeters of rain.

There was so much rain, that a section of Highway 71 just north of Sioux Narrows was covered in water, temporarily closing down that section of the road.

Kenora Judokas medal at Nationals

A couple of members of the Jaffray Melick Judo Club earned medals at the National Judo Championships
in Lethbridge over the weekend.

Kaitie Dennis led the medal parade with a pair of bronze medals.

Dennis placed third in both the Under 17 and Under 20 age groups, while Ben Dennis had to settle for a silver medal in the Under 15 division after a split decision in the gold medal match.

Luke Heatherington also completed in the Under 17 division and finished 5th in his weight group.

All four will remain in Lethbridge this week for the National training camp.

IJC agrees to management agreement on Lake of the Woods

The International Joint Commission has been asked to examine the development of a bi-national management of both Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake.

Canada's chair Joe Comuzzi says the review will first focus on a governance model for the two border waters.

A final report is expected by the end of 2011.

Work to begin this week on Redditt Washout

The Redditt Local Roads Board is hoping for some emergency funding from the province

to help cover the cost of a major road washout.

A section of the road just north of the CN train tracks washed out last weekend.

Work crews are expected to begin repairing the damage and installing a new culvert
today.

About 25 feet of road were washed away by heavy rains during the last weekend of
June.

Local residents living on the north side of the CN tracks have to use a detour to
get to their homes.

Body of missing man located in Rainy Lake

O-P-P divers have recovered the body of a man who had been missing since Canada Day after falling out of a boat on Rainy Lake.


The body of 43-year-old Robert Mainville of Couchiching First Nation was found in an area of Duck Bay, yesterday morning.

The search by provincial police had been ongoing since last Thursday night when Mainville and another man fell into the lake.

The other man, whom police have not identified, was found alive that night and taken to LaVerendrye Hospital in Fort Frances for treatment.

Kenora's newest street named

The City of Kenora now has a new street.

Mike Richards Way was officially dedicated Friday afternoon at
a special ceremony at the Kenora Rec. Center.

The street named after the Philadelphia Flyer Captain runs along
side the Rec. Center.

Richards says he was surprised by the honor.

Richards is now gearing up for his Charity Golf Tournament
later this month at the Kenora Golf and Country Club.

He says a number of his Flyer team mates and at least one
member of the Chicago Black Hawks will be attending.

Fort Frances Plane Crash

No injuries are being reported from the crash of a float plane in Rainy River yesterday morning.


It happened in front of several people who were lined-up along the Fort Frances waterfront for the Canada Day parade.

The plane end up on its side several feet from the American side of the river with only its tail and left wing showing.

The cause of the accident is not immediately known, but a witnesses suggest that a strong wind at the time may have been a contributing factor.

American Tourists Found after Five Days in the Bush

A couple of american tourists are safe and sound after being lost in the bush in

northwestern Ontario for five days.

The married couple from Washington State had been flown into a camp on a remote
lake about 96 miles north of Red Lake on June 19th.

On June 24th, they suffered boat problems and were stranded downstream from their
cabin on Critchell Lake.

They stayed on the shoreline for five days until they were finally reported missing to
the OPP on June 29th.

The next day, the 67 year old couple were found after a joint search by a Ministry of
Natural Resources helicopter, an OPP Emergency Response Team and the tourist
outfitter.

The couple and their golden retriever are in stable condition, though the woman was
taken to hospital in Red Lake for observation.

More Special Events this weekend

The special events just keep rolling in Kenora.

After a spectacular fireworks display in Keewatin last
night, attention shifts to the harbortown area of Kenora
for the next two days.

Tonight the Winnipeg Symphony makes its annual summer time
return to the Big Tent.

And tomorrow, the Kenora BIZ will be celebrating National Aboriginal
Solidarity Day.

Events will be taking place downtown all afternoon, with
entertainment in the evening.

There will also be another fireworks display at 10:45 Saturday
night.

NOMA responds to Forest Tenure Changes

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association has mixed feelings about the

provincial government's plan to overhaul the forest tenure system.

Public meetings were held in May over a proposal to set up corporations
to handle forest management issues.

Anne Krassilowski is president of NOMA and says each community in the
region has different ideas on what they want to be done, but all are united
in the fact that they don't want any limits on the access to wood fiber.

Krassilowski says their main goal is to ensure that no more mills in northwestern
Ontario are closed as a result in changes to the forest tenure system.

Dedication Ceremony for Mike Richards

And it took a long time to organize, but Mike Richards will officially be recognized for

winning the gold medal at the Olympics this past February in Vancouver.

A ceremony honoring our Winter Olympian will take place at noon today at the Kenora
Rec. Center.

Richards won gold as a member of the Canadian Men's Hockey team.

He also captained the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals last
month.

Everyone in the community is welcome to attend this afternoon's public event.

Redditt Washout

No word as to when a gaping hole in a roadway in Redditt will finally be

repaired.

A 25 foot section of the road just north of the CN rail line washed out last

weekend.

High water caused the washout and has also pushed water levels on

Basket Lake over its banks.

The lake has flooded a small portion of the road just north of the Baily Bridge.

For the time being, local residents who want to get from the south side of
the community to the north side have use a detour along the English River
road to the old dump road.

A section of the English River Road also washed out last weekend about

50 kilometers north of Redditt.

Accident closes Trans-Canada east of Dryden

OPP are investigating a collision on Highway 17 between Dryden and Ignace.


A collision between a semi-tractor trailor unit and a pick-up about 3 kilometers west of
Baskett Lake closed the Trans-Canada down for several hours yesterday.

When fire and rescue crews arrived at the scene, they found the tractor unit rolled over in the ditch, and the trailer partially across one lane of the highway.

The driver was removed from the vehicle with unspecified injuries.

The second vehicle involved in the head-on collision was a half ton truck that was cut in half on impact.

The driver was rescued from the burning halfton and transported to Dryden Regional Health Center.

Municipal Insurance tender approved

The City of Kenora will be staying with the Standard Insurance Brokers for its
municipal insurance policy.

Council held a special meeting Tuesday to approve insurance coverage for the next
year, starting July 1st.

The Standard came in with a price of 303 thousand dollars this year.

That's down slightly from last year's rate, which came in at 308 thousand
dollars.

Body located in Rainy Lake

The OPP in Fort Frances say the body of a 24 year old man who disappeared in Rainy Lake over
the weekend has been found.

The Underwater Search and Recovery Unit located the body of Clayton Windigo, no far from
where he disappeared on Sunday night.

Windigo had been diving off the Bears Pass Bridge with friends, just off Highway 11.

He entered the water around 8:30 Sunday night and failed to re-surface.

His body was pulled out of the water around 11:00 yesterday morning.

Keewatin Hosts Canada Day

Its going to be a busy couple of days in the Kenora area.


Canada Day Celebrations will be taking place tomorrow and all the events
this year will be in Keewatin.

Sharon Smith from the Keewatin B.I.Z. says they are excited to be hosting
July 1st celebrations tomorrow.

Events get underway starting at 9:00 tomorrow morning, culiminating with the
fireworks display at 10:00 over Portage Bay.

Organizers are reminding visitors that Ottawa Street will be closed to traffic
from 9:00 in the morning until 2:00.

Tourism Marketing working

Tourism Kenora says its pleased with the results of its latest marketing campaigns.


Two marketing campaigns have targeted the Winnipeg and southern Manitoba markets
over the past two months.

Tourism Development Officer, Heather Paterson says response to the campaigns has
been very positive.

The Escape to Ontario campaign was funded in part by the Ontario Tourism Marketing
Partnership, with Kenora acting as the lead.

The other campaign is called Choose Your Adventure and directs people to the
Stay In Kenora website.

Traffic Meetings

Something needs to be done to make Main Street South more pedestrian
friendly.

That seemed to be the prevailing feeling from a public meeting held this
morning on the downtown traffic design.

Maria Bagdonis from Young Drivers of Canada says there are definite
traffic issues with the Kenricia Corner.

Operations Manager Rick Perchuck says he's not keen to make changes to the
pedestrian cross-walks along Main Street, but suggests the left turn onto
1st Street South could be eliminated to move traffic more smoothly during
peak periods.

Missing Man in Rainy Lake

The OPP in Fort Frances are continuing their search for a man missing in the Bears Pass area of

Rainy River.

Police say a young man was diving with friends off a bridge on Highway #11 around 8:30 Sunday night,
when he failed to re-surface.

A marine patrol unit and other officers have been searching the area over the past couple of days, but have been unable to locate the missing man.

Other resources are being brought in today to help out with the search.

The name of the missing person has not yet been released by police.

Youth arrested for Vehicle Break-ins

The OPP say two 16 year old male suspects have been arrested in connection to a string

of vehicle break-ins.

Last week, the two youth were arrested after police responded to a report of someone
breaking into vehicles in the Donbrock Drive area.

After further investigation, it was determined the duo were responsible for a number of
vehicle break-ins over the past couple of months.

The OPP say they culprits targeted unlocked vehicles where valuables were out in
plain sight.

New Job at Separate School Board

The Kenora Catholic District School Board has added another person to its administrative

team.

The board recently appointed Mary Cunningham as its School Effectiveness Leader.

Acting Director of Education, Kevin Debnam says the province has provided funding for
the position and its up to each school board to decide how to use it.

Cunningham was the board's Curriculum Co-ordinator, and Debnam says they will now
post that job to find a replacement.

Special Council Meetings

Kenora City Council will be holding a couple of special meetings today.


First up is a public meeting to deal with the traffic alignment in downtown
Kenora.

Two sessions are scheduled to take place.

One at 8:00 and the other at 2:00.

Council wants feed back on the current traffic flow, and ideas that might reduce
vehicle backlogs.

Another meeting will take place at noon to award the city's insurance contract
for this year.

Rifle incident ends peacefully

A 15 was questioned by police after the area around Valleyview School

was surrounded by police.

The OPP were told that there was a man on the roof of the school with a gun around 2:30
Monday afternoon.

Local residents were notified of the situation and told to stay inside their homes.

A short time later the suspect came down off the roof and was approached by police.

He took officers into an area in the bush where three other rifles were hidden.

The OPP say the rifles were actualy turned out to be soft air guns, which are manufactured to look like
assault rifles.

Its believed the youth was playing war games with some friends in the area.

Leo Bernier Passes Away

He was called the Emperor of the North.

Legendary provincial politician Leo Bernier has passed away at the
age of 81.

Bernier represented the old Kenora riding from 1966 to 1987.

Kenora-Rainy River M.P.P. Howard Hampton says Bernier will be fondly
remembered.

Bernier served as Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister of
Lands and Forests in the governments of Bill Davis and Frank Miller.

Weekend forest fires

Despite cool, rainy conditions over the weekend, MNR fire crews had to

battle a number of new wild fires in the region.

Most of the action has been in the far north in the Sioux Lookout and
Nipigon Districts.

One new fire is burning about five kilometers north of Muskrat Dam.

Its about 24 hectares in size and is not under control.

Fire crews were also notified about some day burning taking place
on Lake of the Woods.

While campfires are allowed during the day, brush and grass burning is
not.

The fire hazard is listed as low to moderate across much of the region,
but high in the far north.

Treaty Three upset at charges

Grand Council Treaty #3 says its disappointed that the OPP have filed charges

against a 39 year old Grassy Narrows woman following a confrontation with
police in downtown Kenora.

Helen Proulx was shot after she brandished a knife at an officer on June 7th.

Grand Chief Diane Kelly says the charges betray the spirit of discussions they
have been having with the OPP regarding the shooting incident.

Inspector Dave Lucas of the Kenora Detachment says he met with the Grand Chief
and the chief of Grassy Narrows, prior to the charges being laid.

Public school Principals and VP's get raise

Principals and vice-principals with the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board will be getting raises this year.


At a special board meeting this week, trustees approved wage increases in line with what unionized staff will get.

Superintendant of Business Dean Carrie says the salary increases are not included in the province's wage freeze legislation.

Carrie says the wage increases will amount to about three percent this year.

OPP respond to Treaty Three

The OPP say they have been meeting with local aboriginal leaders about their
concerns following the shooting of a 39 year old Grassy Narrows woman in
downtown Kenora earlier this month.

Inspector Dave Lucas of the Kenora Detachment says he met with both the chief of
Grassy Narrows and the Grand Chief of Treaty Three last week.

The shooting of Helen Proulx is still under investigation by the SIU.

She was charged last week with assaulting a police officer, uttering
threats and possessing a weapon dangerous to the public.

Roads open after wash outs

Two roads in the Kenora area that were washed out over the weekend are are open
to traffic this morning.

Highway 525 to Whitedog was closed part of yesterday due to a washout about two
kilometers north of the Minaki Highway.

Its now listed at open.

Highway 671 to Grassy Narrows is also open after being washed out
about 58 kilometers north of the Kenora By-Pass.

NOSM Strat Plan Released

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine has a vision for the next five years.

Officials have taken the wraps off the new strategic plan.

Dean Dr. Roger Strasser says that the priorities include enhancing the schools education program and research plans

Dr. Strasser believes the goals are achievable.

The medical school places eight second year students in Kenora each year as part of its training program. 

Public School Board Plans Budget Review

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is planning to do a complete
review of its finances this fall.

That in the wake of a 1.5 million dollar deficit in this year's budget.

Superintendant of Finance, Dean Carrie says they can't afford to rack up
deficits each year, so they need to find ways of reducing costs.

Carrie says they were able to cover their red ink this year by taking from
from reserves, but that's not sustainable in the long term.

All-Day Kindergarten popular at St. Louis

The Kenora Catholic District School Board says its had good response

to its all-day junior and senior Kindergarten classes at St. Louis school.

The all-day classes will begin in the fall, and acting director of education,
Kevin Debnam says they will have a full complement of students in the
program.

42 kids have been signed up for junior and senior kindergarten classes.

He adds that they will also be working with a third party to provide before
and after class supervision.

City offers free land for Ambulence Base

With both the City of Kenora and the Kenora District Services Board divided on a suitable location for a new Land Ambulance Base, Kenora Council has offered free property on Barsky's Hill.


In a letter to the KDSB, Mayor Len Compton offers property located in the 14th Street North and Mellick Avenue area, at no cost to the Board.

The Board has formed a Task Force to work with the City on the proposed site.

However, some Unincorporated members are concerned with some of the wording in the letter.

Compton writes the property may provide a unique opportunity for an integrated emergency service delivery model in the future.

One member stressed the KDSB is not looking to integrate emergency services.