New Gateway Signage for Kenora

The City of Kenora could soon see some new signage entering the community.

The Property and Planning Committee has awarded a contract for two new gateway signs.

Mike Newton had the winning bid for the project, which features a triagular sign holder, which will sport the new City of Kenora logo.

The city has set aside 50 thousand dollars for the project, but councillor Wendy Cuthbert says the winning design came in under budget.

A total of four designs were submitted for the gateway signs.

OPP arrest Drunk and Speeding Driver

A case of maybe too much liquid courage?

A 25-year-old man has been arrested after he was clocked driving 157-kilometres on the Kenora By-pass.

Officers noticed that the driver had been drinking and he failed a roadside test.

Bryan Hawrysh of Kenora faces counts of impaired driving and street racing.

More Fire Rangers heading west

Another one hundred Ministry of Natural Resource forest firefighters will depart for British Columbia this afternoon.

There are currently over two-hundred MNR personnel now in that province, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Fire Information Officer Debbie MacLean says more personnel will be provided if called upon.

Of the MNR personnel in the west, 75 are from the west fire region with another 63 to be part of today's deployment.

Due to all the rain in recent weeks, the fire hazard is low across most of northwestern Ontario

and no new fires have been reported in several days. 

Drug Bust on By-Pass

A routine traffic stop on the Kenora By-Pass has resulted in the seizure of a large quanity of marijuana.

The OPP say they stopped a vehicle for speeding Tuesday on Highwyay 17-A.

The driver confirmed to police that he had a suspended licence.

Officer also felt the operator of the vehicle was behaving in an unusual manner and conducted a search.

Police say 18 pounds of marijuana with a street value of about 167 thousand dollars was seized, along with about 500 dollars in cash and some drug paraphenalia.

30 year old Christopher Dawe from British Columbia was arrested and charged with
possession for the purpose of trafficking and trafficking in a narcotic.

He appeared in Kenora court yesterday to face the charges.

Treaty Three Critical of SIU Report

Grand Council Treaty #3 continues to be critical of the OPP response to a shooting incident in downtown Kenora.

The Ontario Special Investigations Unit released a report into the shooting of 39 year old Grassy Narrows resident last week clearing an OPP officer of any wrong-doing.

Grand Chief Diane Kelly says she's disappointed with the finds in the report and also the policies and procedures of the OPP.

She says the whole incident raises questions about why a lone female officer was sent to a domestic violence incident.

She also wonders why it took the OPP over 50 minutes to inform the SIU about the shooting.

Kelly says if she can't get answers from the OPP Commissioner or Ontario's Solicitor General, she will file a complaint with the Independant Police Review Director.

KBI Can-Am Challenge Teams Introduced

Anglers are gearing up for the 22nd annual Shaw Kenora Bass International.


The three day fishing derby gets underway tomorrow morning from the Kenora
Harborfront.

This morning, the members of the Can/Am Challenge were introduced.

Jeff Gustafson is a member of Team Canada and says so far pre-fishing has
been pretty slow.

Weigh-ins will take place at 4:00 tomorrow and Friday and
3:00 on Saturday under the big tent on the Harborfront.

Busy long weekend for the OPP

The OPP in Kenora were kept hopping ove the August Long Weekend.


The final tally shows 358 calls for service, including 64 liquor licence Act Offenses, 15 motor vehicle collisions and 13 mischief complaints.

Constable Dave Cain of the OPP say officers are also looking into a couple more serious complaints.

Cain adds that a 26 year old Kenora man was also charged with careless driving after a vehicle rolled over on St. Clair Street in Keewatin on Saturday.

KBI starts tomorrow

One of the biggest sporting events of the year in Kenora takes place this weekend.

The 22nd annual Kenora Bass International gets underway tomorrow morning from the Harborfront.

This is the first year as chair of the fishing tournament for Duncan McEwan and he says they are still looking for last minute entries.

So far 129 teams have entered KBI.

Anglers hit the water at 6:30 tomorrow morning.

Drowning in Falcon Lake

A little horseplay turned to horror yesterday when a Toronto teen

slipped under the waves of Falcon Lake and never surfaced again.

A group of 12 men and boys from Ontario had been in Winnipeg for
a Muslim religious convention when they decided to make a pit stop
at Falcon Lake for brunch and fun before beginning the long drive
back home.

A spokesman for the group says three teens hopped in a canoe that
was lying around and went out in the water without lifejackets.

The spokesman says the 17-year-old was fooling around and stood
up in the canoe, causing it to tip.

Traffic Changes in Stores for Downtown Kenora

The City of Kenora is planning to do some minor traffic tweaking in the downtown core.


A couple of public meetings were held last month to get feedback on how to improve
traffic flow for both vehicles and pedestrians.

Operations manger Rick Perchuck says one of the annoyances for pedestrians is the
length of time it takes to cross Main Street at the First Street intersection.

Perchuck is also recommending that the left hand turn from Main Street onto First Street South
be eliminated altogether during the day to prevent traffic build up.

Council is expected to vote on the changes at its open meeting next Monday.

Kenora OPP Taser Twice

It was a busy weekend for the Kenora OPP.


In fact, things got to the point early Saturday morning officers were forced to
use Tasers to get things under control after the Friday night Harborfest Concert.

Officers tasered two people who they believe were preventing officers from breaking up a fight on the harbourfront.

Constable Dave Cain says the officers were in their rights to use the weapons.

Cain says the two crowd members refused to obey officer's demands to stand back and acted in an aggressive manner.

JM Judoists Medal at International Tournament

Two members of the Jaffray Melick Judo Club medalled at a huge tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

over the weekend.

Kaitie Dennis won a silver medal, after advancing to the gold medal match in the 57 kilo
division.

Ben Dennis took home a bronze medal after losing to the eventual gold medal winner
in the boys 44 kilo division.

Over one thousand fighters from 100 countries took part in the weekend tournament.

Council Race Heats Up

Another person has thrown his hat into the ring for the race for Kenora City Council.


Gregary Potvin is the fifth person to submit nomination papers for the October 25th
municipal elections.

A total of six council seats are up for grabs, along with the mayoralty.

The deadline to submit nomination papers is September 10th.

A wet July confirmed

If you thought July was a wet month in the Kenora area you'd be right.


CJRL meteorologist, Bill Laidlaw says we were drenched by 198 millimeters
of rain last month, which is about double the average for July.

Temperatures were also slightly above normal for this time of year.

The average daily mean temperature last month was about a degree
higher than usual.

Water Levels continue to rise

Water levels on Lake of the Woods are starting to stabilize after rising steadily over over the past few weeks.

The Lake of the Woods Control board says water levels rose just a half an inch in the
past week and are expected to remain stable or decrease slightly over the next seven
days.

To cope with the higher water levels, the Control board has authorized yet another
increase in outflow from the Norman Dam into the Winnipeg River today.

Outflow will go from 730 to 800 cubic meters per second.

Water levels below the dam and downstream at Minaki are expected to rise
about six inches as a result of the increase in outflow.

Fire Rangers heading west

Ontario is sending more help to western Canada ravaged by forest fires.


Over one hundred Ministry of Natural Resources firefighters and support personnel were sent to northern Saskatchewan and British Columbia on Sunday.

Another twenty firefighters have been in Manitoba since early last week.

The M-N-R expects to be called on for more assistance, especially in B-C where the fire situation is worsening.

Two Coronor's inquests in Northwestern Ontario

The deaths of two men in northwestern Ontario last year will be subjects of coroner's inquests later this fall.


A September inquest in Fort Frances will examine the death of 21-year-old Dylan Wreggitt of Atikokan.

He died while in custody at the Rainy River District Jail last August.

Another inquest into the death of 30-year-old Levi Schaeffer will be held in Thunder Bay in October.

Schaeffer died in an altercation with Provincial Police in the Osnaburgh Lake area last June.

Anicinabe beach still closed

Just one beach remains closed in the Kenora area after heavy rains last week.


Anicinabe Beach is still listed as off limits to swimmers due to high e-coli levels in the water.

Advisories for Ottawa Street Beach and Darlington Beach in Keewatin were lifted over the weekend, as was the closure notice for Rabbit Lake Beach.

The health unit says it will continue its beach monitoring program for the rest of the summer.

Beach closure notices

The Northwestern Health Unit is changing how it will inform swimmers of potential bacteria in area beaches.


Instead of issuing warnings following water sampling, Medical Officer of Health Dr. James Arthurs says there will now be permanent signs posted at popular swimming areas.

Arthurs says the current warning does not always tell an accurate picture since samples are sent away and the situation often changes by the time results are known.

SIU issues correction in downtown Shooting

The Ontario Special Investigations Unit has clarified one of the claims made in its report on a June 7th shooting incident in downtown Kenora.

Last week, the SIU issued a release saying it took two hours for the OPP in Kenora to notify them of the incident in which a 39 year old woman was shot by an officer on 1st Street South.

The SIU says the Kenora Detachment actually notified them 51 minutes after the shooting.

Despite the correction, the SIU says it would have liked to have been contacted as
soon after the incident as possible in order to mobilize its staff to begin their
investigation.