March comes in like a Lion

In like a lion.

That's the way March has blown into Kenora.

A sudden snow system blew into town this morning, but we're not expecting a lot more snow today.

Severe weather specialist Geoff Coulson says areas to the east of Kenora are being harder hit.

Coulson says high winds will create low visibility due to blowing snow, and will also drive the temperatures down over the next few days.

Drug Bust in Rainy River District

Four Rainy River district residents face drug charges.

Provincial Police seized over 37-thousand dollars worth of drugs, including 36 marihuana plants, a quantity of marihuana bud and a quantity of prescription pills from two homes in LaVallee township and Chapple township last Thursday.

A 26-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man from LaVallee township each face production charges.

Two men, aged 27 and 23, from Potts Township, face charges of possession and Insecure storage of a firearm.

Countdown begins for Kenora Winter Carnival

Organizers of the Kenora Winter Carnival have officially begun the count down.

The carnival takes place over the weekend.

Heather Paterson is the tourism development officer for the city and says even before the event gets underway, one competition has already been a success.

Eight local charities have been busy selling their carnival buttons.

The charity challenge will wrap up as one of the final events of the winter carnival on Sunday.

Paterson adds that they are still looking for teams to enter the Great Canadian Canoe Race on Sunday afternoon.

Frank Symonds Classic Results

A good weekend for the Kenora Nordic Trails Ski Club.

It hosted the 21st annual Frank Symonds Classic out at the  Mount Evergreen Ski Club and members took home hardware in three different categories.

Carl Peever finished first in the men's 10 kilometer race, while

Jennifer Findlay was the top female racer.

In the 9 kilometer freestyle event, Dan Morwood took top honors, while Janet Findlay was the top female racer.

In the kids two kilometer race Jakob Rasmussen set the pace, with Elise Hummelbrunner the top female.

Ring of Fire Blockade Planned

A First Nation is planning to set up a blockade Thursday near the massive chromite deposit in northern Ontario known as the Ring of Fire.

Marten Falls First Nation is planning to block access to the deposit near James Bay because its members feel excluded from negotiations on its development.

Aboriginal communities in the area have complained that mining companies aren't consulting them in their plans to develop the deposit.

Schaeffer Inquest Begins this week

An inquest gets underway in northwestern Ontario this week to look into the shooting death of a Peterborough man.

The O-P-P's use-of-force policy is under the microscope as a coroner probes the 2009 shooting death of Levi Schaeffer near a remote First Nation community.

The inquest will also look into the circumstances that led to Schaeffer being shot by officers in the Osnaburgh Lake-area.

O-P-P officers and members of Schaeffer's family are expected to testify at the inquest, which is expected to run through Friday.

Kenora Hydro Undecided on New increase

Hydro rates in the City of Kenora will be going up as of May 1st, but

by exactly how much is still a question mark.

Kenora Hydro has to decide by the end of the week whether to apply

for another rate increase to cover their portion of a court ruling

last week.

An Ontario court Justice decided that Hydro companies had overcharged on the amount of interest they paid on overdue accounts.

The fine was 18 million dollars.

President and CEO of Kenora Hydro Dave Sinclair says they are eligible to apply for a rate increase to cover the cost of the fine, but he's not sure whether they will or not.

Kenora Hydro already has a rate increase before the Ontario Energy Board and Sinclair isn't sure how a second increase would affect their application.

Gas Prices Up

                                        The price of gas continues to climb in Kenora.

Yesterday it hit a dollar 22 a liter, up three cents from the weekend.

Higher gas prices in Northern Ontario have the NDP talking about government regulation again.

Provincial leader Andrea Horwath says it's not fair that the North always pay more than what they do in Toronto

Horwath says government control would help even out the price in the province.

Money Still Available for Community Improvement

After two years, about two thirds of funding available through a community improvement fund for downtown Kenora has been spent.

The fund was set up as part of the downtown revitalization project and encourages local business owners to fix up their building facades and signage.

To date about 133 thousand dollars of the 250 thousand dollars set aside in the CIP fund has been spent.

Heritage Kenora is asking the city to re-new the program once again in 2011, to use up the funds remaining in the budget.

OPP Forensics Lab gets okay from Council

Kenora City Council has given the go ahead for a new

OPP Forensics Laboratory to be built north of the Kenora

By-Pass.

Council approved the site plan for the facility, which will

be built just east of the existing detachment office.

The Property and Planning committee says the OPP didn't

need approval from the city to proceed with construction,

but did so as a courtesy.

Its expected that construction will begin sometime later this year.

IJC Task Force releases Interim Report on Lake of the Woods

A task force looking into water quality issues on Lake of the Woods has come out with its interim report.

The 84 page document looks at some of the agencies currently involved on the lake and address some of the long term issues affecting water quality.

Todd Sellars is the Executive director of the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation and says the interim report is a very thorough document.

The task force, which was set up by the Internation Joint Commission will be holding a couple of open houses in April to get feedback on the interim report.

The only stop in northwestern Ontario is April 7th in Sioux Narrows.

Construction on Discovery Center Progressing

The new discovery center on Lakeview Drive is expected to be open

in time for the 2011 tourism season.

Local officials got a first hand look at the facility this week.

Kenora M.P. Greg Rickford says funding for the project was approved under the federal/provincial infrastructure project.

The Discovery Center will function as the new tourism bureau for the city.

Construction is expected to be complete by June.

Freedom of the City for the 116th Independant Field Battery

The 116th Independant Field Battery in Kenora is getting

a unique honor from the city.

Council has granted a request given the military group Freedom

of the City.

The honor is given to organizations or members of the community

that have provided heroric service to the City.

The request to have Kenora give the Freedom of the City was made last month by Colonol Woody Linton during a deputation to council.

He says its an honorary distinction, that places no monetary demands on the city.

Four Council Members at Good Roads

The City of Kenora is well represented this week at the Ontario Good Roads

Conference.

Four members of council and one staff member have made the trip to Toronto

four the three day conference.

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield says their main focus will be to get funding from

the provincial government to help fix up our aging bridges.

Canfield says the price tag for fixing up Kenora's bridges runs into the tens of

millions of dollars, something local taxpayers just can't afford.

Fiecek Rinks Avances to National Wheelchair Championships

A perfect weekend for Wayne Fiecek at the Northern Ontario Wheelchair curling championships.

The Fiecek foursome booked its ticket to the national championships with a 5-4 win over Steve Daniel of Sudbury yesterday at the Fort William Curling Club.

Fiecek finished with a 4-0 record and now moves onto the national championships

at the end of March.

Bronco Hockey teams win in NorWOSSA Semis

Both of Beaver Brae's hockey teams have advance to the NorWOSSA

finals.

The Bronco boys were in Dryden yesterday and earned a 2-1 win over

the Eagles in game two of their best of three semi-final.

Beaver Brae also won Friday night's game 1-0 and take the series
two games to none.

Meanwhile, the Bronco girls beat their cross-town rivals from Thomas
Aquinas in two straight games.

Last night Beaver Brae needed double overtime to tame the Saints.

The Broncos won 4-3, with a game winning goal by Sam Smith.

They now face the winner of the series between Fort Frances and Dryden.

A good weekend for the Kenora Triple "a" senior Thistles.

The Thistles won both games played at the Rec. Center this weekend against

the Fort Frances Thunderhawks.

Yesterday, Jeff Richards scored twice en route to a 6-1 win over Fort.

Saturday night, a similar scenario with the Kenora Seniors earning a 5-1 win.

Their next game is this weekend, with the Penticton Vees coming to town for

a pair of exhibition games.

Ontario Heritage Trust Volunteer Awards

Two Keewatin Residents have picked up volunteer awards from the Ontario Heritage Trust.

Ted Szjewski and Laureen Parsons were presented plaques for their work in restoring the old cemetary in Keewatin.

The cemetary dates all the way back to the early 1900's but had been abandoned and overgrown.

Szjewski and Parsons and a number of other volunteers have been working over the past few years to clean up the gravestones and spruce up the property. 

Police Board gets unexpected windfall

The Kenora Police Services board is a little richer today.

The board has been presented over 16 hundred dollars in found money.

OPP sergeant Kelly Fitzsimmons handed over the cash this week.

She says the money was collected over the past six years by the

former Kenora Police Service and either the owner was not found, or

the money was seized as part of a criminal investigation.

She says if there was no forfeiture order, the money has to by law

turned over the Police Board.

Chair of the board Colin Wasacase says the money will be put into

reserves for future use.

Fantino tours Northwestern Ontario

The Federal Government is providing almost 400 thousand to help seniors and people with disabilities in the region.

Minister of State for Seniors Julian Fantino made the announcement yesterday while touring the region yesterday and says its an important issue that needs support.

The funding is part of the 2010 Federal Budget and is being distributed through the New Horizons for Seniors Program.

District Services Board Approves Budget

The Kenora District Social Services Board has passed it's 38 million dollar budget.


The 2011 budget includes cost increases for Land Ambulance, Social Housing, and Ontario Works programs.

CAO Sten Lif says that's a 1.8 percent increase for local area municipalities.

Kenora's share of the budget will be increasing this year by 42 thousand dollars.