New Winter Carnival Taking Shape

Kenora's revived Winter Carnival is starting to take shape.

The steering committee for the Carnival met last week to confirm some of the

events that will be taking place during the three day festival.

Heather Paterson is Kenora's Tourism Development Officer and says

there's a lot of excitement about the March event.

The carnival will take place from March 4th to 6th.

Paterson says they will be launching a website in the next

couple of weeks.

RCMP investigate Hunting Accident in Eastern Manitoba

A man is in a Winnipeg hospital after a weekend hunting accident in southeastern Manitoba.

R-C-M-P say the 43-year-old man and a 17-year-old male teen were hunting in the Rural Municipality of Piney on Saturday when the teen accidentally shot his companion.

The victim was taken first to the hospital in Roseau, Minnesota before being transferred to Winnipeg where he's listed in critical but stable condition.

Mounties say they're considering charges.

New Fiber Optic Network promised for Northern Ontario

Within five years, 26 Nishnawbe Aski First Nations Communities will hooked up to fibre optics.

The federal and provincial governments along with Bell Aliant are making it happen.

Kenora MP Greg Rickford says the 55 million government dollars is taxpayers money well spent.

Total cost of the project is 86 million dollars.

Hampton Joins Protest over high hydro costs

Spiralling electricity costs continue to plague the McGuinty Government.

Energy Minister Brad Duguid confirmed hyro rates will be going up 46 percent

over the next five years.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton says its time for local northern residents to speak out.

Hampton demanded the Government remove the Harmonized Sales Tax off hydro bills to provide some relief.

A rally against high electricity rates took place in Dryden on Friday.

Local Judokas medal at a pair of tournaments

The competitive judo season is underway for the JM Judo Club.

The club recently attended the St. Boniface Tournament and took home a number of

medals.

Thomas Hertz and Calvin Legarde medalled in the Under 13 age group, while

Bo Rodgers and Daniel Gordon placed in the top three in the boys Under 13 age group.

Gordon and Luke Heatherington won medals in two different divisions.

Meanwhile, Ben Dennis won the only medal for the JM Judo Club at the Ontario
International Open Tournament in Toronto this past weekend.

He won gold in the Under 17 boys 46 kilo division.

Kaitie Dennis lost a pair of bronze medal matches in the women's Under 20 and Senior

divisions.

Common Ground at an Impasse

The once-promising Common Ground Initiative has hit a bit of a roadblock.

Common Ground is a partnership between the City of Kenora, four local first nations and Treaty Three, but development of a management plan has reached an impasse.

Kenora Mayor Len Compton says they haven't been able to agree with Treaty Three on whether to include a dispute resolution mechanism in the plan.

Compton says Treaty Three doesn't seem to feel a dispute resolution mechanism is needed, and that's held up development of the management plan for months now.

Greenpeace and CEP unveil Green Jobs Report

Greenpeace and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union are teaming up to create green forestry jobs.

The environmental group released it's green jobs report for northern forestry on Friday.

CEP Spokesperson Kim Ginter explains why the union is getting involved.

Ginter hopes by launching the report in northwestern Ontario, Minister of Northern, Development, Mines and Forestry Michael Gravelle and the Liberals will sit up and take notice.

New Fire Hall Almost Ready to Open

The new Fire Hall on Barsky's Hill will be officially opened at the end of this month.

Fire Chief Warren Brinkman says while almost all the work on the building is complete, there are still a few minor details that have to be finalized before they can begin moving their equipment in.

The new fire hall opened its doors last week to Kenora City council so they could tour the building and hold their special meeting of council in the second floor training room.

No Free Parking This Christmas

Don't expect any free parking in downtown Kenora this holiday season.

Kenora City council has turned down a request by the Business Improvement

Zone for five days of free parking in the week leading up to Christmas.

A representitive from the BIZ had suggested allowing free parking at all
metered stalls from December 20th to 25th.

But councillor Dave McCann says that could cost the city anywhere from 18 to
23 thousand dollars in lost revenue.

Council voted unanimously against the free parking initiative.

Kenora Cleans up after Snow Storms

Don't put away your snow shovels just yet.

After getting anotehr 10 centimeters of snow yesterday, another system is expected to drop couple more centimeters of white stuff over night.

Yesterday's snowstorm caused some travel problems in the Kenora area.

The Kenora By-Pass was closed down for a couple of hours due to a number of accidents involving tractor-trailor units.

Over the past four days, the Kenora area has received over 25 centimeters of snow, but road conditions are slow starting to improve as city crews are out this morning clearing major routes through town.

Most of the major highways in the area are listed as bare and wet with slushy
sections.

Confederation College signs deal on Aborignal Education

Confederation College is again getting involved with educating our First Nations communities.

College President Pat Lang says they're partnering with Matawa to try to make a difference in educating young Aboriginals.

The two organizations have signed a memorandum of understanding to achieve their objectives.

Matthyson tours Northwestern Ontario

The Women's critic for the NDP feels the federal government isn't doing enough

to ensure the safety of aboriginal women in Canada.

Irene Mathyssen was in Kenora last week and spoke with representitives with local women's groups.

Mathyssen says the National Status of Women committee has been touring the country looking into the issue of violence against women.

Mathyssen says her committee has been fighting the federal government for funding to complete their report which will look at the disappearance and murder of  aboriginal women across Canada.

Senior Thistles Win Opener

The Kenora Triple "a" Senior Thistles started their march to the 2011 Allan Cup with a victory.

The Thistles played their first game of the season on Saturday night and blanked the Southwest Prairie Thunder 3-0.

Jeff Richards, Jeff Heringer and Ryan Bowen scored for the Kenora Seniors, while Tyler Gordon back-stopped the team with the shutout.

The Thistles next game is at home against Fort Frances on December 10th.

Meanwhile, the Kenora Triple "A" midget Thistles snapped a seven game winless streak Saturday night.

The Thistles wrapped up their road trip to Thompson, Manitoba with a 3-2 shootout

win over the Norman North Stars.

On Friday, the North Stars upended the road weary Thistles 5-1.

And Beaver Brae's girls hockey team improved its record to 3-0 in the young NorWOSSA

season.

The Broncos shutout their cross town rivals, the Thomas Aquinas Saints 4-0 Friday night.

Alberta Clipper hits Kenora

Motorists might want to give themselves a few extra minutes to get to get around town today.

An Alberta clipper continues to blow across northwestern Ontario.

About 15 centimeters of snow has fallen so far and another five more are expected throughout the day.

Crews are currently working to clear area roads and highways.

Highways in the Kenora area are described as snow-covered, with some slippery sections and poor visibility.

Meanwhile, Severe Weather Specialist Geoff Coulson says he expects the snow to hang around for the rest of winter.

Coulson says another weather system could bring another five to ten centimeters of snow to the Kenora area on Monday or Tuesday.

Funding for homeless shelters announced

The Kenora District Services Board has handed out nearly 68-thousand dollars in funding to support four homeless programs.

The Kenora Fellowship Centre will see 15-grand, while the Dryden Food Bank is welcoming 5-thousand dollars.

The Sioux Lookout Out of the Cold Shelter is receiving roughly 28-grand to help the 489-clients it serves a year.

KDSB Chair Rory McMillan says this only scratches the surface of what is needed to improve the homeless issue in our District and he's urging the incoming Board of Directors to keep the pressure on the Government for more funding.

Province Announces Electricity Rebate for 2011

You can ring in the New Year knowing that your electricity bill will be cut by 10 percent.

The McGuinty Government announced the rebate on Thursday, and opposition members are saying it's nothing more than an election gimmick.

Minister of Northern Development Michael Gravelle says that's not the case.

Gravelle says rebates may not show up on bills immediately in January, but they will be reimbursed on later bills.

Treaty Three Applauds U.N. Declaration

Grand Council Treaty Three is applauding the United Nations for approving its

Declartion of rights for Indiginous People.

Grand Chief Diane Kelly says Canada was a major architect of the declaration, which
was signed on November 12th.

She adds that the expectations of Treaty Three residents has been raised by Canada's
move to endorse the declaration.

Kelly is hoping this marks a new era in the relations between Treaty Three and the crown and will create a new, better and strenghened economy in northwestern Ontario.

Infrastructure projects on Budget

Infrastructure projects currently underway in the City of Kenora are all running pretty much on budget.

Councillor Dave McCann provided an update to council at its final open meeting yesterday.

McCann says the second phase of downtown revitalization will wrap up by next spring.

McCann says they have written to the federal and provincial government's to ask for an extension to complete the Discovery Center at Cameron Bay

and also to spend about a million dollars in the paving budget that wasn't spent this year.

Snow Day today

Students will get their first snow day of the year today.

Excel Coach Lines says all school buses have been cancelled today because the roads have not bee plowed yet.

Excel adds that the bus cancellation also applies to the city's Transit system.

All buses have been cancelled this morning, but Excel says it will review the situation this afternoon.

Bernier Honored at Queen's Park

The King of the North is still being talked about at Queen's Park.

Members from all parties paid tribute to Leo Bernier yesterday.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak stood up in the legislature and touched on his legacy.

Bernier past away at the age of 81 this summer.

The provincial government announced yesterday that Highway 664 from Bernier's hometown of Hudson to Sioux Lookout would be named in his honor.

Evergreen Parents petition against school closure

Parents at Evergreen School are planning to launch a campaign to keep the elementary school open.

The petition is aimed at appealing the decision by the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board to close the facility at the end of this school year.

Supporters say they need about 60 signatures on the petition so they can take their appeal to the to the Ministry of Education.

The parents want the Ministry to review how the whole process was conducted.

The decision to close the school means most students would be tranferred to Lakewood School next

fall.

CHAP program extended for a month

The Cardio Health Awareness Program, or CHAP for short, has been given a bit of a reprieve.

The volunteer blood pressure clinics were supposed to wrap up at the end of October, due to a lack of funding.

However, co-ordinator of the program, Shirley Hanslip says they will be able to continue on for another month.

Clinics have been set up at a number of locations across the city for the rest of this month.

Hanslip says they are still hoping for some long term funding from the provincial government.

Community Foundation hands out more grants

The Kenora and Lake of the Woods Regional Community Foundation is playing Santa Claus, handing out 45 thousand dollars in grants to 20 different local groups.

A granting Ceremony took place last night, the Kenora District Home for the Aged received the largest grant of 45 hundred dollars from the Jim and Leney Richardson Community Fund.

Don Parfitt is chair of the foundation and says they continue to grow despite tough economic

times.

Other recipients last night were Its a dogs life, collecting two separate grants totallying 26 hundred

dollars, while the Lake of the Woods Hospital Foundation picked up two separate grants worth

65 hundred dollars.

Council meets one final time

The out-going edition of Kenora City Council will meet for one final time.

A special meeting of council is scheduled to take place tomorrow in the Training Room of the new fire hall on Barsky's Hill.

Council has a number of routine resolutions to deal with.

A day after the open meeting, the new edition of city council will get a crash course in municipal politics.

A training session is set for Friday for the incoming council members.

Three members of the new council are raw rookies and will be sworn in on December 6th.

Thistle Midgets lose Another Game at Home

The Kenora Triple "a" Midget Thistles wrapped up a five game home stand with just a single point to show for their effort.

Last night, the Thistles dropped a 5-3 decision to the Winnipeg Thrashers at the Kenora Rec. Center.

Bowen Alcock, Brennan Dubchak and Grant Valiquette scored for the Thistles.

This weekend, the Kenora Midgets head out on their longest road trip of the season when they travel to Thompson, Manitoba to take on the Norman Northstars for a pair of games.

Winter weather on the way

It looks as if Old Man Winter is finally going to make an appearance in northwestern Ontario.

Severe Weather Specialist, Geoff Coulson says a system developing in the west could drop as much as five centimeters of snow tomorrow and
Friday.

Coulson adds that another weather system in the U.S. midwest could drop even more snow on northwestern Ontario over the weekend.

KPDSB embraces classroom technology

The face of classroom instruction has completely changed in the Keewatin-Patricia School District.

At the Board's November meeting, Trustees were shown new methods of learning, with students having access to labtops, SMART Boards and student-teacher blogs.

Director of Education Jack McMaster says students and teachers have embraced the move.

McMaster notes they have found that students grades and will to learn have imroved with the new technology.

American Angler Fined for using fake licence

Not knowing the name of the mayor of Mississauga, was the downfall of a Chicago-area angler caught fishing on one of northwestern Ontario's biggest lakes with a fraudulent Ontario Outdoors card.

The Park Ridge, Illinois man was charged in August after a routine

boat inspection on Lac Seul determined he was not from Mississauga, the municipality he used when he purchased his card.

Conservation officer Tim Neidenbach says he asked the man who the mayor of Mississauga is, but he didn't know her name.

Neidenbach says most people who live in Mississauga know it's Hazel McCallion, who has been the city's mayor for 31 years.

Neidenbach says the man, who was fined $5,000, is an avid fisherman who had been using a fraudulent Outdoors Ontario card since 1993.

Trucking Company Fined for Diesel Spill

A trucking company has been fined 10 thousand dollars for failing to clean up a diesel gas spill on Highway 17 east of Kenora.

Day and Ross Incorporated pled guilty in Kenora Court last month to one violation under the Environmental Protection Act.

Court heard that back on April 1st, 2009, a tractor trailor belonging to the company left the Trans-Canada Highway about 30 kilometers east of Kenora.

The fuel tanks ruptured and about 170 liters of diesel spilled into the ditch.

The Ministry of the Environment ordered the spill to be cleaned up within 20 days, but the actual work wasn't carried out until 60 days later.

Treaty Three Police Establishes Endowment Fund

The Treaty Three Police says it wants to give back to the local community.

The aboriginal police agency has established an Emergency Services Endowment fund through the Kenora and Lake of the Woods Regional Community Foundation.

Chief of Treaty Three Police, Conrad Delaronde says their employees have agreed to support the fund through payroll deductions.

Delaronde says the endownment fund is open to all emergency service employees in Kenora.

Broncos Hockey Teams win on home ice

A three goal barrage with just over a minute left in the game propelled the Beaver Brae Broncos to a 4-2 win over the Dryden Eagles in the Boys High School Hockey opener yesterday.

The Broncos spotted the visiting Eagles an early 1-0 lead before Joel Gordon scored late in the second.

Chris Hrabec tied the game with a shorthanded marker with 1:05 left to play, before Curtis Zilinski recorded the winner 11-seconds later.

Joel Gordon iced the game with an empty-netter, his second of the game.

The Broncos outshot the Eagles 37-28.

In Girls action, the Beaver Brae Broncos held on to beat the Fort Frances Muskies 3-1 at the Keewatin Arena.

Haley Moncrief, Erin Gasparini and Sam Smith scored for the Broncos, who improved their

record to 2-0 in league play.

Appointments still available for Blood Donor Clinic

Canadian Blood Services says it still has plenty of appointment times available for its blood donor clinic.

Day two will start at 9:30 this morning at Thomas Aquinas School.

Harvey Heather says as of yesterday they still needed to fill 60  appointment times.

The blood donor clinic will run until 12:30 this afternoon.

American Angler Faces Hefty Fine

An American man has been fined a total of 5-thousand dollars for several offences, after he was caught fishing on Lac Seul near Ear Falls.

The man told conservation officers that he lived in Mississauga and showed him an Ontario resident Outdoors Card and fishing licence for residents.

An investigation revealed that the man had been posing as an Ontario resident since 1993 in order to obtain a licence, even though he never lived in Ontario.

Wojciech Rzepka of Park Ridge, Illinois was convicted of 3-counts of possessing a void fishing licence, angling without a licence and making a false statement.

Two men arrested following high speed chase

Two Thunder Bay men have been arrested following a high speed chase through Kenora.

Police initially tried to pull over a vehicle on Lakeview Drive early Sunday morning for a routine traffic stop.

Instead of stopping though, the vehicle sped away.

Police tried to set up a spike belt on Lakeview Drive but they were able to avoid it.

Later officers deployed spike belts on Essex and Beauty Bay Road.

The occupants of the vehicle fled on foot and were arrested a short time later.

32 year old Chadwick Atwood and 32 year old Stephen Parr have been arrested and charged with possession of a narcotic for the purpose of trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime.

The driver of the vehicle, Stephen Parr has also been charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and driving while disqualified.

Plans for expanded Kindergarten Programs outlined

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has unveiled its plan for expanding full-day kindgergarten in area School's.

Riverview School in Dryden will receive one class next year, while 6 spaces have been set aside for 2012-2013.

Director of Education Jack McMaster says they will also have the program up and running in Savant Lake, Sioux Narrows, Upsala and Pickle Lake next school year.

McMaster notes half of their schools will have the program by the end of year three, with 3-classes in the new Dryden Elementary School, 3-classes at Lakewood School in Kenora, 2 at Sioux Mountain School and 1-class at Red Lake-Madsen Public School.

Broncos hand out Football Awards

Beaver Brae's football team may have bowed out in the quarter-finals of the Winnipeg High School Football League, but the team still had a lot to celebrate at its annual awards banquet last night.

Riley Higens and Billy Kitt shared the Pete Fair Memorial Award for their contributions to the team this year.

The team's nominees for the league awards were also announced, with Dannon Saunders the choice for lineman of the year.

Scott Morgan is nominee for Offensive Player of the Year, while Hudson Boucha is the Broncos nominee for Rookie of the Year.

The league awards will be presented next week in Winnipeg.

Pension Reform Bill ready for hearings

Thunder Bay Rainy River MP John Rafferty's pension bill is being discussed today.

Rafferty says they'll be going clause by claue through the bill for the next two weeks.

Rafferty says they hope to have a vote on the bill just before the Christmas break.

The goal of the bill is to protect the pensions of workers, when the company they work for files for bankrupcy.

OPP Taser Sioux Narrows Man

The OPP say they had to use a Taser to subdue a suspect who had been threatening some officers.

Police were called out to Sioux Narrows to deal with a man who had been making threats.

Members of the Emergency Response Team and a Canine Unit were asked to help locate the man, who had run into the bush.

When the suspect finally came out of the woods, he continues to act in a hostile manner and threaten police.

Officers finally subdued the man using a taser.

22 year old Quinton Tom of Sioux Narrows was arrested and charged with  uttering threats, assault and breach of probation.

Manitoba Angler fined for illegal fishing

A Manitoba man has been fined 26-hundred dollars for having too many fish in his possession.

Peter Hiebert was fined for having 10-walleye over the legal limit and having one-pike of prohibited length.

The man was stopped on May 15th by conservation officers on the Winnipeg River near Kenora.

Of the 10-walleye Hiebert had over the legal limit, 9-were outside the allowable size.

Concern over Illegal Hunting

The OPP in Kenora say they have been getting a number of complaints about hunter illegally going after game.

Over the past couple of days police have investigated a couple of incidents of hunters shooting toward residences and hunting at night in the Essex Road area.

In one case, a Kenora man was found to have shot and killed a deer.

The hunter was located a short time later, and the matter has since been turned over to the the Ministry of Natural Resources for follow-up.

Weekend hockey results

The Kenora Triple "a" midget Thistles droppped a pair of close games at home

over the weekend.

The Thistles hosted the Southwest Cougars and were edged 3-2 yesterday at

the Kenora Rec. Center.

Saturday Kenora Midgets squandered a 3-1 lead in the third period and dropped a 5-3 decision to the Cougars.

Meanwhile, the Kenora double "a" Peewee Thistles took top honors at a tournament in Dryden.

The PeeWee Thistles upended the host Dryden PaperKings 6-4 in the A-side final.

A strong start to the season for Beaver Brae Girls hockey team,

the Broncos blanked the Dryden Eagles 7-0 Friday night at the Thistle Rink.

Blood Donor Clinic This week

Its time to roll up your sleeves again.

Canadian Blood Services is getting ready to hold another blood donor clinic in Kenora over the next two days.

The Clinic will start this evening at 4:30 and run til 9:00 and will also take place tomorrow morning from

9:30 to 12:30.

The blood donor clinic will take place at St. Thomas Aquinas High School.

OPP identify body at Tower Motel

The Kenora detachment of the OPP has concluded its investigation into the death of the man in the Tower Motor Hotel.

He has been identified as 30 year old Allan Henfrey of Kenora.

Henfrey was found deceased in his room early in the morning on November 10th.

A coroner's report concluded that Henfrey died from complications as a result of on going health issues.

OPP-DRUG-BUSTS

Early in the OPP stopped two vehicles on Highway 17-A for speeding and ended up charging the occupants on a varietyof drug charges.

In one incident, a car was pulled over just after midnight.

Officers seized five grams of marijuana, 30 grams of cocaine, 280 dollars in cash and some drug paraphernalia.

29 year old Stephen Baker, and 19 year old David Spellman, both of Fort Frances have been
charged with possession of a narcotic for the purpose of trafficking.

Man found dead at the Tower Motor Hotel

OPP are investigating the death of a 30 year old male at the Tower Motor Hotel in Kenora.

Hotel staff contacted police after they found a male deceased in his room.

Police and ambulance responded to the scene and the man was pronounced dead at the scene and was taken to Lake of the Woods District Hospital.

A post mortem is to be done in the next couple of days.

The Investigationn continues and his name has not been released.

NorWOSSA Finals

The Thomas Aquinas boys volleyball teams are the king of the court in northwestern Ontario.

The Saints won both gold medals up for grabs at the NorWOSSA single "a" championships this morning.

The T.A. senior boys had an easy time with Atikokan, sweeping the Voyageurs in three

straight sets.

Thomas Aquinas has won two consecutive OFSAA championships and now has an automatic berth into the All-Ontario finals later this month in Hamilton.

Meanwhile, the Saints junior boys also won gold, beating Atikokan in three straight sets.

In Fort Frances at the NorWOSSA Double "a" championships, just one Beaver Brae team has advanced

to the finals.

The Bronco senior boys volleyball team swept Fort Frances in three straight sets in the semi-final

this morning and now face Dryden tonight in the gold medal game.

The three other Beaver Brae Teams in action lost in the semi-finals.

School Board votes to Close Evergreen

Trustees with the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board have voted unanimously to close Evergreen School at the end of this school year.

The recommendation was made by school board administration after receiving and reviewing the Kenora Acccommodation Review Committee's final report.

The committee recommended the closure of Evergreen in four years, but superintendant of Business Dean Carrie says administration felt they had to move a little more quickly to deal with their population decline at the elementary school level.

The public school board estimates it will be able to save about 80 thousand dollars a year by closing Evergreen.

Carrie adds they will begin the process of seeking funding for a new school at Valleyview as soon as possible.

Temperature Records Continue to Fall

The temperature records continue to fall across northwestern Ontario.

A number of communities across the region enjoyed record high temperatures

yesterday.

Kenora hit 14.6 degrees, shattering the previous record of 11.1 back in 1969.

Atikokan was the hot spot in the area once again topping out at 15.6 degrees, breaking the previous record of 13.3.

Dryden, Fort Frances and Red Lake all broke records yesterday as well.