Lake Smart Ready to Hit the Water

Be Lake Smart.

That's the message from the Lake of the Woods District Property Owners Association as they prepare for the Lake Smart Program for 2014.

Executive Director Susan McLeod says this year they want to get off the "big lake" and spend more time in places like Mianki, Black Sturgeon Lake, and Trout Lake.

McLeod also says they want to partner with Centre of Sustainable Watersheds to create a database that can highlight there work showing what is working and what can be improved.

This will be the 4th year that LOWDPOA runs the Lake Smart program.

Police Seize 4 Pounds of Marijuana

For the second time this week over $10,000 of drugs were taken off the streets.

Kenora OPP say they stopped a vehicle early yesterday afternoon on highway 17A.

During the stop police seized 4 and a half pounds of pot valued at $10,800.

As a result 38 year old Ronen Estein and 46 year old Mario Trunzo, both from Winnipeg, have been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime.

Both men answered to the charge in Kenora court earlier today.

It's the second large bust in the city in the past week, as police seized 17 grams of cocaine from a home during a search warrant on Friday.

Greenhouse Suffers Roof Collapse

All the snow this winter has been not only hard on roads and highways, but roofs as well.

Debbie's Greenhouse on the Redditt Road was the casualty from Monday's snow storm.

Vince Schatkowski says the roof of the main greenhouse collapsed while they were trying to

shovel snow off of it.

Schatkowski says they are supposed to start their spring seeding in another month, but doesn't know if they will be able to repair their greenhouse in time.

Arrest In Pickle Lake Assault

A 51-year-old man faces charges following an assault in Pickle Lake.

Provincial Police say the charges stem from an altercation that occurred at a Cat Lake Road residence.

Police say a woman sustained an injury to her head during the incident.

Richard Muckuck of Pickle Lake has been charged with assault causing bodily harm.

Union Gas Offers Winter Warmth Program

Union Gas is offering some relief to eligible families struggling to pay their natural gas bills.

It's Winter Warmth program allows customers to receive one-time financial assistance of up to five-hundred dollars.

Spokesperson Andrea Stass says there anticipate demand to be high given this year's winter.

 Stass says prices now being paid are locked in until March.

And while consumption this year has increased, Stass says it's doubtful we'll see the type of increases being experienced in parts of the U.S.

City Gets Ready for New Strat Plan

City Council is looking for funding to create a new five year strategic plan.

Councillor Rory McMillan says they are looking for upwards of 80 thousand dollars from Fednor and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund to help bring it together.

McMillan says council will set guidelines on topics such as budgeting and operations

He adds the Strat Plan will be in place for the next installment of council, and it
will be able to upgrade the document as it sees fit.

Gravelle Defends Handling of Ring of Fire

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle is defending progress in the Ring of Fire mining project.  

The NDP say that there is virtually nothing happening to get the development corporation in gear.

But Gravelle says that's not so, adding the hiring of the consulting firm Deloitte is an important part of the equation

Gravelle says there is plenty going on behind the scenes to come up with a transportation route for the area

Con College Hands Out Bursaries

Over 250 Confederation College students from across the region have one less financial worry.

They have been awarded scholarships and bursaries totaling 120 thousand dollars to help them continue their education at the institution.  

President Jim Madder says it's all made possible by donations from alumni and other fundraising events, like the charity golf tournament in Kenora.

The ceremony was held at the Thunder Bay campus yesterday afternoon.

Saints Senior Girls In Wawa for NWOSSA

A long road trip for the Thomas Aquinas senior girls volleyball team.

The Saints are in Wawa to face St. Joseph's in the NWOSSA finals.

The best-of-three series gets underway this morning, with game two
this afternoon.

The winner will move onto the All-Ontario Single A championships in
Richmond Hill in early March.

Midget Thistles Avoid Playoff Exit

The Kenora Triple "a" Midget Thistles have managed to stave off elimination the first round of the play-offs.

The Thistles came back to beat the Winnipeg Thrashers 3-2 last night in Winnipeg.

The Thrashers built a two goal lead early in the game, but the Thistles mounted their come back in the second and third with three unanswered goals from Josh Brunton,  Daniel Nault and Brandon Stanley.

Game four of the best of five series returns to Kenora tomorrow night.

Game time is 7:30 at the Kenora Rec. Center.

Snow Day for local Students

Not a lot of snow so far, but the Northwest Student Services Consortium has decided to err on the side
of caution and cancelled all it's buses this morning.

The Consortium is worried the winter storm will wors
en as the day progresses making for poor driving
conditions for it's drivers.

As of 5:30 this morning, buses in  Kenora, Sioux Narrows,  Dryden, Vermillion Bay, Red Lake, Ear Falls.
Sioux Lookout, Ignace and Upsala have been cancelled.

All schools in the Kenora area will remain open.

Police Investigate Assault in Whitedog

A man is in Kenora hospital following an early morning assault on the Whitedog First Nation.

Treaty 3 Police and the Ontario Provincial Police say the man was attacked with a weapon and is now at Lake of the Wood District Hospital with life threa
tening injuries.

Police say that a 27 year old man is already in custody as part of the investigation.

He will appear in Kenora court tomorrow to answer to the charge of aggravated assault.

The investigation is ongoing.

School Board Grappling With Higher Utility Costs

The cold, snowy winter is making it difficult for some local agencies
to make ends meet.

The Kenora Catholic District School Board says it's natural gas costs are up this year because of the cold.

Operations manager Andrew Poirier says all their utility costs are up this year.

Poirier adds that the 10 percent increase in the city's sewer and water rates
also hit them hard, because students use a lot of water.

Two Sledders Found Safe and Sound in Eastern Manitoba

All the snow is even making it hard for snowmobiles to get around.

The RCMP in eastern Manitoba were advised of a pair of stranded snowmobilers Monday morning on George Lake northwest of Lac Du Bonnet.

Police say a 39 year old man and a 38 year old woman were sledding in the back country when they became stuck in several feet of slush.

Because of the lake conditions, the RCMP brought in a helicopter and managed to rescue the
two sledders.

They were checked out by emergency service personnel and declared to be in good health.

Kenora Officer Faces Police Service Act Charge

A Kenora OPP officer isn't out of the woods yet.

Constable Troy Bender was fined 11 hundred dollars for careless driving
just before Christmas in connection to an accident that resulted in the
death of a 42 year old Grassy Narrows woman.

Gloria Assin was being transported to the Kenora Detachment in September of 2012 when the cruiser was hit by a semi.

While criminal charges against Bender were dropped, he now faces a
charge of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act.

No date for the hearing has been announced.

Rickford Applauds Pikangikum Pilot Project

Kenora MP Greg Rickford is applauding a new program to help at-risk youth in Pikangikum First Nation.

The Federal Government has invested nearly 2.4-million dollars over 5-years in the crime prevention program 'Project Journey'.

Rickford says the initiative will give youth the tools and opportunities they need to steer clear of crime and live in a safe community.

The program will be led by Provincial Police in Red Lake, and will prevent and reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviours among aboriginal youth between the ages of 6 to 18.

Rickford says each year, the project will engage 75 to 100 youth in primary activities with an additional 50-youth participating in secondary activities.

Crimestoppers Looking for Help In Solving Nestor Falls Break In

OPP are turning to Crimestoppers for help in solving a break-in at Nestor Falls.

An unnamed business on Highway 71 was broken into sometime between 6 p-m Saturday February 8 and 1 p-m the next day.

An amount of money and some small items were taken.

Anyone with information can call Crimestoppers.

Another Alberta Clipper Heading Our way

Environment Canada says we can expect 5 to 10 centimeters of snow over the next couple of days.

Meterologist Ria Alsen says it's thanks to an Alberta Clipper that's making it's way into the region.

Alsen says while the Kenora area will just get brushed by the system, areas west of the City there could be even more snow falling, particularly towards Lake Superior.

The snow is expected to start falling tonight and won't let up until Friday afternoon.

Feds Promoting the New First Nations Education Act

The Federal Minister of Aboriginal Affairs is trying hard to sell his government's plan for First Nation Education.

Bernard Valcourt met with the Chief of the Fort William First Nation and Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Harvey Yesno yesterday morning in Thunder Bay.

Valcourt says he's heard their concerns and feels the plan will allow adequate funding and First Nation say in the education system.

Valcourt was a guest speaker at a luncheon put on by the Chamber of Commerce.

Bronco Girls End the Regular Season on the Offensive

Beaver Brae's girls hockey team has put an exclamation mark on the NorWOSSA regular season.

The Broncos played their final game yesterday and trounced Sioux Lookout 12-0.

Hannah Rose scored three goals, while the line of Rylee Smith, Hilary Moncrief and Kate Charlebois accounted for nine goals and 12 assists.

Beaver Brae is back in action Friday night in Fort Frances for game one of their best-of-three play-off series against the Muskies.