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.