CJRL News

Friday, November 4, 2011

Boil Water Advisory Expanded

A broken water line has city crews scrambling.

The water main broke earlier today and has resulted in an expanded boil water advisory.

The advisory now includes all of Keewatin and the Norman area all the way to the Husky Travel Stop on Lakeview Drive.

To compound the problem, there is a city wide power outage scheduled for Sunday morning and that could also affect the municipal water operations.

The boil water advisory will be in effect all weekend long.

Hospital in Good Financial Shape

Lake of the Woods District Hospital has a healthy bottom line halfway through the fiscal year.

Finance manager Cindy Gasparini says through the second quarter of 2011/2012, they were 230 thousand dollars in the black.

That's down slightly from 264 thousand dollars last year at the same point in time.

Gasparini says she expects outside sources of revenue will be down this year, and costs for energy are expected to be up this winter, so that's going to impact their bottom line.

She says at this point they are on target to balance their books by the end of the fiscal year, barring any unforseen circumstances.

City Wide Hydro Outage Planned for Sunday Morning

A couple of reminders for local residents this weekend.

In addition to the time change at 2:00 Sunday morning, there will also be a city-wide power outage tomorrow.

Hydro One says the outage will last no longer than an hour and a half.

It will start at 6:00 and run until around 7:30.

Hydro One is completing some upgrades at its sub-station on Rabbit Lake Road.

Sagkeeng youth killed in shooting accident

A shooting on a Manitoba First Nation has killed a nine-year-old boy.

R-C-M-P say the lad was accidentally shot by his 14-year-old brother last night at their home on the Sagkeeng First Nation.

The young victim was pronounced dead at hospital.

Band Councillor Derrick Henderson says the close-knit community is devastated by the death.

Sagkeeng is a Treaty Three community located about 200 kilometers northwest of Kenora.

Minor Hockey prez arrested for Fraud

The former President of the Moose Factory Minor Hockey Association has been arrested.

Nishnawbe-Aski Police were contacted to investigate a report of fraudulent activity.

Police learned that nearly 16-thousand dollars had been made in unauthorized bank withdrawls.

Police say 33-year-old Terrance Hardisty of Moose Cree First Nation faces theft charges.

Rickford upset at federal NDP leader

Kenora's MP Greg Rickford says he is stunned with the NDP's decision to punish Thunder Bay's two MP's for voting to abolish the long gun registry.

Rickford says its a hypocritical move.

Rickford says effectively silencing Hyer and Rafferty is a slap in the face to everyone in their ridings.

Hunting Trip

A hunting trip back home as ended up costing a Calgary man.

Dustin Gamble has been fined $1500 for posing as a resident hunter.

Court heard that Gamble moved from Dryden to Alberta and he used false information to continue buying an Ontario licence.

He used the licence to hunt both deer and moose in Ontario.

At the same time, Gamble used his Alberta resident licence to hunt in his home Province.

Kenora Public Library

Keewatin residents are passionate about their library.

About 40 people turned out for a public consultation session yesterday about the Kenora Public Library.

Cindy Christianson says its hard to talk about the services the library should be providing, when you're worried about services being cut altogether.

The group, Libraries in Transition is conducting an operational review of the Kenora Public Library.

A final report is expected to be complete by the end of this year.

Habitat for Humanity

The 2011 Shingles campaign has officially come to an end. Over $720 dollars was raised.

All proceeds will be towards the roof of the very first Habitat for Humanity build here in Kenora.

The project should start on Main Street in the spring of 2012

Lake of the Woods Discovery Center

The City of Kenora's new Lake of the Woods Discovery Center is already winning awards.

The Canadian Wood council had its annual gala in Ottawa last night where they recognize excellence in wood based construction projects and the organizations that are pioneering and preserving the use of wood.

Mayor Canfield says to see the award for institutional wood design, head out to The Discovery Centre on Lakeview drive.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Final Library meeting in Keewatin today

Local residents interested in the future of the Kenora Public Library have one final chance today to give their feedback.

A meeting is taking place at the Keewatin Branch Library with a group called Libraries in Transition.

The company is conducting an operational of the library and Peggy Walshe says a recent survey shows there is lots of support for the services it provides.

Today's session will run from 2 til 4:00 at the Keewatin Branch.

Two NDP M.P's punished for Supporting bill to abolish gun registry

Two northwestern Ontario MP's Bruce Hyer and John Rafferty are paying for their decision to go against the NDP and vote to abolish the long gun registry.

The NDP has stripped Hyer of his critics positions and he can't ask questions or make statements in the House of Commons.

He calls the punishment draconian.

Raffery says the NDP are punishing his constituents.

Tourism numbers improving in Kenora

Tourism Kenora must be doing something right.

Figures for the first 10 months of 2011 show a significant increase in visitor numbers.

Tourism Development officer Heather Paterson says the opening of the new Discovery Center certainly helped.

Paterson says they've had more than 13 thousand visitors pass through their tourism bureaus this year, compared to 73 hundred last year.

Library Celebrated Giller Awards

The Kenora Public Library is hoping to ride the coattails of Canada's most illustrious literary awards.

The Library is hosting its first ever Giller Gala next week.

Head Librarian Erin Roussin says they are using the Giller Awards as a fundraiser.

Roussin says they are trying to raise money for a self check-out system.

Tickets are available at the Kenora Public Library.

Broncos finish regular season in Dryden

First place is on the line today in Senior Girls Basketball as the Dryden Eagles and Kenora Broncos meet in Dryden.

It's the final regular season game of the season and the Eagles hold a one game edge in wins with 5.

At the same time, the Senior Boys Volleyball team faces the Broncos.

The Boys have already clinched first place.

The 1:30 games will also be NORWOSSA tune-up games.

Dryden and Kenora meet in Junior Girls Basketball and Junior Boys Volleyball.

The Eagle Boys have secured first place, while the Dryden Girls have clinched second.

Saints split with Rainy River

A costly loss for the Thomas Aquinas senior girls basketball team.

The Saints were edged 42-41 by Rainy River yesterday in T.A.'s final home game of the regular season.

The Owls victory means Rainy River will host next week's NorWOSSA Single "a" championships.

The Thomas Aquinas junior girls also lost, dropping a 44-15 decision to the Owls.

It was a different situation in boys volleyball, with the Saints Junior squad winning three sets to one, and the T.A. seniors cruising to an easy 3-0 win over the Owls.

Thomas Aquinas wraps up the regular season today in Ignace.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

MNR completes Walleye Survey

A Ministry of Natural Resources study is giving credence to the importance of angler habits in the management plans of area lakes.

Researchers looked at the habits of anglers in 157 walleye lakes.

Author Len Hunt says the findings will help the MNR in drafting future plans.

The study did find that lakes in close proximity to anglers do face pressures, but anglers aren't inclined to fish the lakes until stocks are depleted.