Railway street apartment fire under investigation

The Ontario Fire Marshall's office has been called in to help investigate a blaze to a small apartment complex on Railway Street.

The fire broke out around 8:00 last night and was reported by a passing motorist.

Fire Chief Warren Brinkman says there was significant fire, water and smoke damage to two of the apartment units.

No-one was injured, and there were no fire alarms sounding when fire crews arrived at the scene.

The OPP will be helping the Fire Marshall's office out with the investigation.

Broncos and Thistles lose on the Road

The road wasn't a friendly place for Kenora's travelling sports teams.

The Triple "a" Midget Thistles dropped a 5-0 decision last night to the Winnipeg Thrashers.

The Kenora Midgets are back at home this weekend for a pair of games against the Parkland Rangers.

Meanwhile, Beaver Brae's court teams took it on the chin in Dryden.

The Eagles swept the Broncos in all four games played.

The closest game was a 26-25 loss by Beaver Brae in Senior Girls basketball.

The Bronco junior girls took the Eagles to overtime, but ended up losing 27-20.

 Beaver Brae senior boys volleyball team lost three sets to one, while the junior squad was swept in three straight.

Deadline approaching for NOVA awards

The deadline is fast approaching for the 1st ever NOVA Awards.

The awards will recognize 40 community leaders across northwestern Ontario under the age of 40.

Mike Greaves is with the Kenora Young Professsionals group and says this is chance to single out someone locally who has made a difference.

The deadline for nominations is this Saturday.

The awards ceremony will take place in January in Thunder Bay.

Council asked to support move of the LCBO

There's a call to move the liquor store in Kenora out of the area of the Kenora's Shopper's Mall.

Barb Skead made a deputation to council this week asking for both the LCBO and the Beer store to be moved to a more remote locate.

Skead says its becoming very difficult to shop at the mall without being harrassed.

She suggests the liquor store should be moved to the Kenora By-Pass by the OPP station.

Kakabeka Falls

A man is dead after falling into the Kakabeka Falls canyon.

OPP were called to the Provincial Park around 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon.

Police say officers interacted with a man and during the interaction, the man fell into the canyon.

No other details are available as the Ontario Special Investigations Unit has been called in to look into the incident.

Operation Christmas Child

It's still two months away, but area residents are being to start think about how they can make Christmas enjoyable for children in need around the world.


Organizer Della McQuaker says Operation Christmas Child is now underway in the Rainy River District.

Shoe boxes available at The Kenora Library and the Calvary Church - for more information call 548-2000

Lukas Whitmore

The search continues for a missing Winnipeg man. 25-year-old Lukas Whitmore was last seen October 2nd near Dryden, after he was released following an impaired driving charge.

Police say may be seeking refuge in an outdoor shelter.OPP stress that he has no history of violence and that the public shouldn't be hesitant to approach him.

Whitmore is described as 5-foot-3, slim build, blue eyes, with short brown hair and a receding hair line.

He was last seen wearing dark clothing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Police or Crime Stoppers.

The Ontario Breast Screening Program

The Ontario Breast Screening Program wants to see 150 women over 50 this Friday.


Spokesperson Lori Della Vedova says it's the third year for the one day drop in breast screening day in Northwestern Ontario.

Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora is one of five sites across the region taking part in the challenge.

Kenora Youth Council

Kenora City Council seems very receptive to the idea of setting up

a youth council.

The idea was proposed recently by a number of students during a deputation
to council.

Jared McLean says one of the things they'd like to pursue is a youth drop-in
center

Council says it’s prepared to draft a terms of reference for a youth council
and move the committee on from there.

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is enjoying a bit of a population boom.

Numbers are up in a couple of schools this fall.

Director of Education Jack McMaster says Beaver Brae is enjoying a bit of rebound in student numbers.

McMaster says they have 261 students enrolled in the Junior Kindergarten program, which is 21 more than they expected.

The public school board has just over 53 hundred students this fall.

Habitat For Humanity looking for family to move into new home

Wanted: a family to live in Kenora's first ever Habitat for Humanity home.

A meeting will take place tonight, for anyone interested in applying for the low income housing project.

Ralph Page is a spokesperson for the committee and says their goal is to start builing the home in 2012.

The home will be located on Main Street Rideout.

The meeting will take place in the Kenora Metis Center on Park Street starting at 7:00.

Thomas Aquinas takes three of four from Red Lake

The Thomas Aquinas senior boys volleyball team remains perfect in NorWOSSA league play.

The Saints were in Red Lake yesterday and cruised to a three sets to none win over the Rams.

The T.A. junior boys also had a good road trip winning three of four games played.

On the hardcourt, the Saints senior girls romped to a 36-8 victory over  Red Lake, while the Thomas Aquinas Junior girls suffered the lone loss of the day, a 16-10 decision at the hand of the Rams.

Minto Accident sends one man to hospital

A 46 year old Rat Portage man is recovering from injuries sustained in a single vehicle accident in the Minto area of town.

The OPP say a dodge pick-up had rolled over on Minto Crescent Sunday night.

Police say the lone occupant of the vehicle was partially ejected and sustained serious injuries.

Albert Gibbens was transported to the Winnipeg Health Sciences Center.

The OPP's Technical Traffic Collision Investigators were called in to look into the cause of the crash.

Trans-Canada Diesel Spill

Motorists are being urged to use caution driving along the Trans-Canada Highway in the Kenora area this morning.

The OPP say there is a diesel spill from the Manitoba border all the way to the Airport Road on the Kenora By-Pass.

The slippery conditions have already caused one transport to slide off the highway.

The MTO is currently putting sand down on the fuel, but conditions are still said to be be fairly slick in some areas.

AbitibiBowater

There's a new name coming to the mill in Fort Frances.

AbitibiBowater is changing its name to Resolute Forest Products.

The name was selected among 14-hundred submissions received through an internal company contest.

The change takes place November 7

Cross-Town Snowmobile Corridor

A final plan for the city's cross-town snowmobile corridor should be ready in time for next week's open meeting of coucil.

The operations department is still deciding on the best location for the trail with the Sunset Trailriders.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says the costs associated with the new trail is also an issue council will have to address.

Some members of city council still aren't sold on the idea of reviving the cross-town corridor and don't think the city should have to pay any of the costs of re-developing it.

Whitedog First Nation School

A new school is about to be opened on the Whitedog First Nation.


The 55 thousand square foot school cost about 25 million dollars to build.

Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford will be joined by Chief Eric Fisher at the ribbon cutting.


A special ceremony will take place this morning at 11:00 to open the facility.

Keewatin-Patricia District School

Summer school programs run by the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board are getting the thumbs up.

A literacy camp was offered for grades 1,2 and 3 students, while a credit recovery program was run in some secondary schools.

Scott Urquhart says that program was particularly valuable for grade 8 students getting ready to enter high school.

A total of 212 students enrolled in the Summer learning for Secondary students, while 60 kids were signed up for the Summer Literacy camps.

Manitoba Man fined for illegal fishing on Winnipeg River

A Manitoba man faces 23 hundred dollars in fines for fishing illegally on the Winnipeg River north of Kenora.

Vincent Wiebe of Lake Frances has been fined for fishing without a licence and tresspassing.

Court heard last week that Wiebe had been fishing near the Caribou Falls Generating Station this past May.

He had caught seven walleye while on Ontario Generation property.

He had been fishing in an area that had been posted with the sign "Danger-no tresspassing".

JM Judo Club wins two medals at Quebec Tournament

The Jaffray Melick Judo Club brought back a couple of medals from a tournament in Montreal.


The club took four members to the Quebec International Open over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Ben Dennis went a perfect 4-0 in his matches over two days and won gold in the Under 17 male 50 kilo division.

Thomas Hertz took a bronze medal in the Under 15, 34 kilo division, finishing with a 2-1 record.