Downtown Revitalization

The second phase of the downtown revitalization project has begun in the City of Kenora.

Titan Contractors is removing the bridge beside Scotia bank.

The construction company is is preparing the site for further work in the area.

On Monday, crews will begin to dig on First Street South between Main Street and Bernier.

Pedestrian access will be closed in that area.

Construction is expected to wrap up by November 30th.

CBS Clinic Day One Results

Some 152-donors gave the gift of life yesterday at the Canadian Blood Donor Clinic at St. Thomas Aquinas High School.

The 118-units of blood collected will help some 354-patients.

Spokesperson Harvey Heather says to make an appointment call 1-888-2-donate.

Today's blood donor clinic runs from 9:30 until 12:30.

Boating Deadline

If you want to enjoy the warm weather out on the lake, you will need a Pleasure Craft Operator Card starting today.

Boaters can complete the online exam at boatsmartexam.com.

Cameron Taylor is the president of the company and says taking the exam is cheaper than thefine for not having a licence.

You can take the test at any time, however starting today you will need the new boating license.

Failing to have an operators card will cost you 250-dollars.

Officials say 8-million Canadian boaters still need to be certified.

Rafferty on Fall Session of Parliment

The fall session of the House of Commons got under way yesterday but just how long Parliament will sit is anyone's guess.

Thunder Bay-Rainy River M-P John Rafferty says he want to see parliament make it through the session as long as it can.

Rafferty says his party is also reviewing a proposal for E-I reform which on the surface has some benefit for many unemployed workers.

Council Position

The manager of the CP Rail station in Kenora could have a new job next week.

Jim Parson was one of eight people who submitted applications to fill avacancy on council created by the resignation of Andrew Poirier earlier this summer.

Each councillor was asked to vote secretly for the candidate of theirchoice, and Parson was the overall winner.

If he agrees to sit on council, he will be sworn in at the end of next Monday's open meeting.

Initially, nine people submitted applications, but one person with drew due to a conflict of interest.

Abitibi Bowater Cuts

About 400 workers who supply logs and chips to AbitibiBowater's Thunder Bay pulp, newsprint and lumber operations have agreed to a pay cut.

The workers hope the move will help keep their employer in business.

A new three-year contract, to take effect November 1st, will shave hourly wages by a-dollar-50 and reduce overtime and benefits.

Workers currently earn around 27 dollars per hour.

Firehall Tender

Kenora City Council is leaning towards approving a 5.9 million dollar tender to build a new firehall on Barsky's Hill, despite the inflated cost of the project.

Council spent a lot of time debating whether it is willing fund the project without federal or provincial assistance.

David Nelson is the Architect on the project and says they have already scaled back the original cost of the project.

The lowest initial bid came in at 6.3 million dollars, which is about 1.3 million higher than initially budgeted.

Council will vote on whether to approve the tender on Monday night.

Broncos Footbal

A good start to the regular season for Beaver Brae's football team.

The Broncos blanked the Fort Frances Muskies 44-0 Friday afternoon at Pete Fair Memorial Field.

Mark Gramenz was Beaver Brae's player of the game with 165 yards receiving and a touchdown.

He says the team made big strides in the past week to get ready for the regular season.

Billy Kitt had a pair of touchdowns for the Broncos and over 100 yards rushing.

Scott Morgan, and Michael Menzies also scored majors for Beaver Brae.

The Broncos next game is on Friday at home against the River East Kodiaksfrom Winnipeg.

Blood Donor Clinic

Canadian Blood Services needs your help.

A two day blood donor clinic will be held today and tomorrow at St. Thomas Aquinas High School.

Spokesperson Harvey Heather says their goal for the fall clinic is 300 donors.

The clinic runs from 4:30 until 9 today and 9 until noon tomorrow.

Anyone wanting to make an appointment to donate can call 1-888-2-DONATE.

Kenora Aging Forum

A forum on how to make local communities more age-friendly is being heldin Kenora next week.

Jennifer Rasmussen is helping organize the one day session and says theyare working with the province on the initiative.

Rasmussen says there is still space available for last minute registrations.

The forum will take place at the Minis Hall at the Super 8 Motel on Tuesday, September 15th.

Experimental Lakes Funding

The Experimental Lakes Area east of Kenora is getting 850 thousand dollars in funding from the federal government to build a new laboratory.

The money will be used to erect as new fish research facility.

Dr. Mike Paterson works out at the E.L.A. and says their current lab is about 40 years old and in desperate need of replacement.

The funding will be spread out over the next two years and is part of the federal governments 250 million dollar initiative to upgrade laboratory facilities across Canada.

Whiteshell Canoer

The RCMP in eastern Manitoba have located the body of a canoer who had been missing in Whiteshell Provincial Park since last weekend.

Police and a civilian boater located the body of the man in Big Whiteshell Lake,near where his canoe was found capsized last Sunday morning.

A post-mortem was conducted Thursday at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg and it determined the man died as a result of drowning.

Foul play has been ruled out.

The name of the deceased has not yet been released.

Fire hall tenders

The fate of a new fire hall in the City of Kenora is somewhat up in the air.

Council had hoped to award a tender for the project by the end of last month.

But councillor Charito Drinkwalter says the bids came in higherthan expected.

She adds that they are going back to the drawing board to try andreduce the cost of the project and bring it more in line with theiroriginal budget, which is about 4.5 to five million dollars.

Forest Fires Weekend

Despite fairly wet weather over the past few days, the Kenora district has been the busiest in terms of forest fires this week.

The Ministry of Natural Resouces says there have been three fires reported over the past couple of days.

The most recent was reported on Friday.

A pine tree was hit by lightning and ignited.

Local residents were able to put it out before it spread into thesurrounding bush.

The other two fires are located on islands on Lake of the Woodsand are being allowed to burn for ecological reasons.

NWHU Funding

The Northwestern Health Unit will be tackling illicit drug use thanks tofunding from the federal government.

The Health Unit has received 301 thousand dollars from the NationalAnti-Drug Strategy.

Dr. Jim Arthurs is the chief medical officer of health and says healthunit employees will work with local youth to come up with strategiesfor combatting drug abuse.

Dr. Arthurs says the Youth Action on Drugs program will be rolledout in communities across the Kenora and Rainy River Districts,including first nations.

Terry Fox Run

The 29th Annual Terry Fox Run goes Sunday in Communities across the Region.

Registration will be held at Valleyview school from 9 until noon.

Participants can walk, run, or skate five or ten kilometers.

Greyhound Petition

Dryden's Roger Valley says thousands of people rely on Greyhound Bus service in Northwestern Ontario and stresses we need to rally to save the local run.

Valley is urging residents to sign a petition calling on the Feds to intervene and work on a solution to maintain what he calls an essential service.

You can also pick up a copy by e-mailing rvalley@drytel.net

Board Improvement Plan

The Keewatin Patricia District School board plans to improve students literacy, math and career options over the next school year.

The public board reviewed its draft improvement plan at its September meeting.

Assistant to the Director of Education, Caryl Hron says they want to bring students math marks up.

Younger kids in elementary school will also look at what careers they may want to pursue.

No More Boil Water

Good news for residents of Tunnel Island, Norman and Keewatin.

The Northwestern Health Unit has lifted its boil water advisory, which has been in place since last Saturday evening.

The Health Unit says tests of the water supply conducted this week show no evidence of bacteria.

The boil water advisory was put in place as a precaution, while work is being carried out on the submarine water line between downtown Kenora and Norman.

The Health Unit has also rescinded its closure of Keewatin Beach.

It says e-coli levels have now returned to acceptible levels.

Emergency Rooms Report LHIN

A consultant had drafted a report on how to improve wait times and staffing issues at emergency rooms across northwestern Ontario.

The board of the Local Health Integration Network received the report this week.

Laura Kokochinski is a spokesperson for the LHIN's and says KPMG was hired to provide a number of recommendations to improveemergency service.

A total of 25 recommendations were presented in the final report.

Increased cooperation between hospitals in the region wasthe main suggestion to improve
operations in localemergency rooms.