Wintle wins Dryden By-Election

A former Mayor and Councilor has been elected in Dryden's by-election for one vacant Council seat.

Sid Wintle received 997-votes yesterday to win the vote by a wide margain.

Shayne MacKinnon came in second, while Chuck Schmitt finished third.

A total of 29-hundred ballots were cast and voter turnout was 52.45-percent.

Thunder Bay follows Kenora's Lead on Deer

The City of Thunder Bay is following Kenora's lead.

A legal deer hunt within Thunder Bay city limits will start this fall.

Their City Council passed the bow hunting by-law last night and Councillor Ken Boshcoff says he's heard positive feedback.

Boshcoff says they can't afford to hide their heads in the sand anymore, because the over population of deer needs to be addressed.

Canfield Critical of Bear Wise Cuts

Kenora City council is asking the provincial government to reconsider cuts being made to the Bear Wise program.

The MNR has announced it will no longer be relocating nuisence bears.

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield says the policy doesn't make any financial sense.

Canfield says he plans to bring the issue up next month when he'll get a chance to meet with the Minister of Natural Resources.

Proposals for Rec. Center Floated to City Council

The tennis and basketball courts at the Kenora Rec. Center could be due for some upgrades.

Kenora City council is being asked to support re-locating both the tennis and basketball courts this summer.

Recreational Services manager Colleen Neil says they also want to move the outside washroom facilities closer to the docks on Laurenson's Creek.

Neil says there is money in the capital budget for the changes, but city council says it wants to hold a special meeting before approving any of the projects.

Fire Crews Deal with Blaze behind Thomas Aquinas

Some excitement for residents in the Minto area last night.

A wild fire broke out in the bush behind Thomas Aquinas.

An MNR fire crew actually spotted the blaze and helped municipal fire crews bring the blaze under control.

It was the second time yesterday, fire crews were dispatched to that area and Kenora's Fire and Emergency Services Department is trying to find out if last night's blaze was sparked again by high winds or some other cause.

Sioux Narrows Faces Shortfall on Infrastructure projects

The Town of Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls is being forced to dig a little deeper into its reserves to fund a couple of major infrastructure projects.

Mayor Bill Thompson says they came up about 500 thousand dollars short in their funding from the federal and provincial levels of government.

Thompson says they had appealed to the federal government for help, but without any success.

Sioux Narrows got funding for a new tourist information center and also a new runway for the Nestor Falls Airport.

Foul Play Ruled Out in Keewatin Fatality

Police say they don't believe there was any foul play in the death of a 22 year old man in Keewatin over the weekend.

The body of the man was found around 5:30 Sunday morning near the C.P. rail crossing on Government Road.

A post-mortem exam was conducted yesterday at Lake of the Woods District Hospital, but the cause of death hasn't been released.

In the meantime, the OPP say Northwest Criminal Investigations branch is continuing to look into the fatality.

The name of the deceased isn't being released until next of kin have been contacted.