NorWOSSA league results

A disappointing start to the season for Beaver Brae's boys volleyball and girls basketball teams.

They were in Dryden yesterday for their first league games and returned home without a win.

Both the Bronco senior and junior boys volleyball teams were beaten 3-1 by the Eagles.

In girls hoops action, the Beaver Brae Seniors dropped a 47-12 decision to Dryden, while the juniors lost 31-19.

Meanwhile, Thomas Aquinas took three of four games from Rainy River.

Both the junior and senior boys volleyball teams won in straight sets.

Saints senior girls nipped Rainy River 42-38, while the T.A. junior squad lost the only game of the day, dropping a 38-15 decision to the Owls.

Special Council Meeting This Morning

Kenora City Council may be considered a lame duck, but it still has some work to do before a new mayor and council are sworn in.

A special meeting will take place this morning to approve a number of last minute items.

Council has to finalize arrangements for a joint recycling program with the City of Dryden.  A total of 14 items are on today's council agenda.

The meeting will take place at 9:00 at the Second Floor Meeting room in the Kenora Rec. Center.

Candidate drops out of School Board Race

There will only be four eligible candidates for the Keewatin-Patricia District School

Board when the ballots come out in the next week or so.

Jon Sigurdson had filed his nomination papers prior to the September 10th deadline,

but has informed the city's returning officer that he will be moving out of the area.

That makes him ineligible to run for the school board.

Joanne McMillin says the ballots have already been sent out to be printed, meaning

Sigurdson's name will still show up on the ballot.

She adds that she's trying to advise as many people as she can prior to the election

that as of October 1st, he will not be an eligible candidate.

New Immigration Web Portal Working

The British are coming.

That's the hope of the new Northwestern Ontario Immigration Web Portal.

Spokesperson Kathy Woodbeck says they are actively targeting the UK.

Woodbeck says each day they have been receiving 4 e-mails a day from interested Brits looking to relocate.

Construction of new land ambulence base expected by spring

The Kenora District Services Board says it will likely be spring before work on a new land ambulence base can begin.

The board is just finalizing a deal with the City of Kenora for some property on 14th Street North.

Garry Parkes is chair of a committee that was given the job to find a new location for the land ambulence base and says its getting too late in the year to begin any work.

The Kenora District Services Board had set aside a million dollars for the project several years ago,

and Parkes says they will have to address the funding side when they set the new budget for

construction.

Nestor Falls Leads Ultimate Fishing Town Contest

Nestor Falls is number one.

At least for now.

The tiny community south of Kenora has put up huge numbers in voting

in the World Fishing Network's Ultimate Fishing Town Contest.

Nestor Falls took the lead this morning after trailing Port Alberni, British Columbia since the beginning of the contest.

Voting will wrap up one week from today.

The winning community will get a cheque for 25 thousand dollars.

New Fire Truck on Tour

Kenora's new fire truck is being shown off this week to a large group of interested by-standers.

The Metro Star Pumper is being show-cased at the national convention of the Canadian Fire Chiefs

in St. John, New Brunswick.

The new fire truck won't fit in the old fire hall on Second Street South, and can't be moved yet

into the new fire hall on Barsky's Hill.

So the company that sold the fire truck to Kenora's Fire and Emergency Services Department has asked if they could take the vehicle on a tour of Canada to show it off.

After leaving New Brunswick, it will head to Brandon, Manitoba before it arrives at its new home in
Kenora. 

More Funding for Skills Training

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is getting funding from the federal government to offer a skills training program.

The program will be offered in Kenora and Dryden and will help a number of young adults make the transition into the workforce or allow them to return to school.

190 thousand dollars is been promised through the Good Job Skills Training project.

Under the program, students will attend employability workshops and get on-the-job

training through work placements.

The funding will allow as many as 24 people to enter the program.

Another Public Information Center on Highway 17 Twinning

It looks as if a final route for the twinning of the Trans-Canada Highway west of Kenora is

going to be delayed for a few more months.

At least two more public information sessions are planned before a final decision is made.

The next open house will be held on October 2nd at the Kenora Legion.

The consultant tasked with doing the route plan says the additional public information centers

have been arranged to deal with some of the concerns raised by residents in the Clearwater

Bay area.

A final route plan is expected to be presented at a fourth public information session sometime early in 2011 and the prelimiary design is scheduled to be unveiled by summer of next year.

DSSAB Accepts City Offer for Land Ambulence Base

The Kenora District Services Board has come to an agreement with the City of Kenora's on the location

of a new land ambulence base.

The two sides issued a joint release saying that the offer of land west of the new fire hall on

14th Street North has been accepted.

The city has offered the property at no cost to the Services Board.

Chair of the land ambulence committee, Garry Parkes says after 10 years of searching for a suitable location, they are now a step further towards construction of a new facility.

Once terms and conditions of the agreement are finalized, the Services Board is expected to

begin moving ahead with development of the new land ambulence base.

Catholic Board Pleased with most EQAO Results

The Kenora Catholic District School Board says there is still some room for improvement in the most recent grade three, grade six and grade nine standardized test results.

While there was improvement in grade three reading and grade six reading and writing, results for grade three math and math and grade six math decreased.

Assistant Superintendant of School Effectiveness, Mary Cunningham says they are looking at ways of improving their test results.

Cunningham adds that math results for grade nine students in both the applied and academic streams

were well above the provincial average.

Parson Curtails Campaign Appearances

Most candidates running in the October 25th municipal elections are just getting

their campaigns up to full steam.

But at least one person is being forced to curtail his campaign appearances.

Jim Parson is one of three people running for mayor, and says due to an illness in his family, he won't be making any public appearances over the next couple of months.

There are three all-candidate forums next week, but Parsons says he will not be able to attend.

He says his heart is still in the election race and won't be withdrawing from the mayoralty race.

Broncos win on the Road

Beaver Brae's football team is off to a promising start to the season.

The Broncos crushed Maples on Friday 28-6, improving their record to 2-0 in the Winnipeg High

School Football League.

Beaver Brae's next test is Thursday at home against Kildonan East.

The Reivers are also unbeaten after two games. 

Thistles see first action of the season

It was a good weekend for the Kenora Triple "a" midget Thistles.

The Thistles were in Beausejour for a pre-season tournament.

The Kenora Midgets finished the tournament with a record of three wins and one loss.

They wrapped up the tournament with a 5-2 win over the Interlake Lightning yesterday.

Thomas Aquinas win KIVT

The Thomas Aquinas Saints won the Kenora Invitational Junior Boys Volleyball tournament over the weekend.

The tournament was played at both Beaver Brae and T.A. Friday and Saturday.

The Saints finished the round robin with a 10-2 record, and beat Whitefish Bay in two straight games in the semi-finals.

T.A. met up with Fort Frances in the final, and managed to beat the Muskies two games to one.

Treaty Three Opposes Far North Act

Grand Council Treaty Three has joined the ground swell of opposition against the Far North Act.

Grand Chief Diane Kelly says she's worried the provincial government is taking away some of the decision making over their traditional lands.

Kelly says aboriginal commities are the only growing population in the north and wants the provincial government to recognize their jurisdiction in the region.

She adds that the Toronto-based discussions and consultations on Bill 191 are not  appropriate for decisions that affect the far north.

She sugges bi-lateral talks take place between the Province Ontario and Treaty Three.

Three All-Candidate Forums in three days

Candidates running for Kenora city council are going to be busy next week.

Three all-candidate forums for mayor and council will take place over three days.

One week from today, the Kenora and District Chamber of Commerce will be holding a forum at the Super 8 motel.

That will be followed up a night later with a all-candidates forum with the Local Young
Business Professionals group at the Rotary Room in the Kenora Rec. Center.

And on Wednesday the 29th, the Kenora Seniors Coalition will be holding its own forum for the candidates in the same location the next morning.

The official vote in the municipal elections is October 25th, but vote by mail
ballots should be in the mailbox by the end of next week.

Strike at NOSM continues

Contract talks between the North Ontario School of Medicine and

the union representing more than 150 workers have broken off.

OPSEU local 677 says the talks collapsed yesterday after four

days of mediation.

The union says a bit of progress was made, but there's no word when talks might resume.

Outstanding issues include contracting out, transfers to alternate locations, hours of work, overtime and wages.

The administrative, technical and clerical staff work at campuses at Laurentian University in Sudbury and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and satellite campuses in Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie.

OFAH weighs in Federal Gun Registry Vote

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters is disappointed that a number of NDP Members

of Parliament have reversed their decision to dismantle the federal long gun registry.

A vote on the registry is scheduled to be held this week on Parliament Hill.

Greg Ferrant is a spokesperson for the OFAH and says the issue is becoming a bit of a

political football.

Ferrant says the vote is too close to call, and isn't willing to predict is the private members

will to kill the long gun registry will pass or not.

Rickford ready for new session of Parliament

Members of Parliament go back to work today after a summer on the barbeque circuit.

Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford says it looks like its going to be a busy session.

In addition to a number of government bills on the agenda, Rickford says he'll be speaking out against a private members bill by Toronto area M.P. John McKay on corporate accountability.

Rickford adds that the other major vote this week will take place on Wednesday on the

federal long gun registry.

He says at this point the vote is too close to call.