Cross Province Unicycle Tour Starts in Kenora next month

Kenora will be the starting point of a 26 hundred kilometre unicycle journey.

Derrick Ferguson will be cycling across Ontario on a tour to raise money for the Rick Hansen Foundation.

Derrick says a trip to Central America is what inspired him.

Ferguson will begin his journey in Kenora on May 6th.

Economic Development Commission Sets up New Committee for Lakewood

The Lake of the Woods Economic Development Commission has established a new committee to move the adult education concept for Lakewood School forward.

The public school board declared Lakewood Surplus last week and has sent out letters to interested parties asking for bids.

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield is on the new committee but says he's not sure what role the city will play in the development.

Local education groups will have first right of refusal on Lakewood, followed by the municipality, and then other government agencies.

Summit on Ring of Fire called a Success

Some are calling it an unprecidented meeting.

A weekend summit of First Nations and regional municipal leaders on the Ring of Fire produced a resolution supporting Exton in Greenstone as the site of the proposal chromite smelter.

Greenstone Mayor Ren Beaulieu says for the first time, a united front is emerging.

A total of five first nation communities also attended the summit. 

OPP Traffic Unit Stays Busy

The OPP are in the midst of a two week long seatbelt campaign, but officers have been busy charging drivers with a variety of other offenses.

Over the past couple of days, the OPP's Traffic Division has charged one motorist for driving while suspended.

Three other people were nailed for driving without a licence while another driver had his vehicle impounded for 45 days for prohibited driving.

The Spring seatbelt campaign will wrap up on April 22nd.

CCAC Launches Speak Up campaign

Area residents are being encouraged to "Speak Up" about the type of health care they want in the event they aren't able to communicate their wishes later on.

Marg Poling of the Northwest Community Care Access Centre says too many people aren't prepared.

Officials says the discussions should start early and often as situations in life changes

Two Common Ground Research Projects complete

A million dollar research fund is starting to bear fruit for Tunnel Island.

The first two research papers from the Common Ground Research Forum have been completed.

Teika Newton heads up the Forum and says they will be presenting the results of the research papers in June.

The research papers looked at the attitude of local residents towards Tunnel Island and the Common Ground initiative.

Alzheimer Society Launches Penny Drive

Call it Pennies from Heaven.

The Alzheimer Society of Kenora and Rainy River is launching a penny drive to raise funds for its programs locally.

Lynn Moffatt is executive director and says they will also be offering prizes to major contributors.

A number of containers have been set up at businesses across the city so people can drop off their pennies.

Thistles Back in Action Today at the Allan Cup

Two teams searching for their first win at the Allan Cup in Lloyminster will do battle this evening.

The Kenora Thistles will face the Stoney Plains Eagles tonight in a clash of 0-1 teams.

The Eagles lost their first game of the Allan Cup last night 3-2 to the host Lloydminster Border Kings.

Meanwhile, the Southeast Prairie Thunder have a perfect 2-0 record after beating up on Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland 5-2 last night.

T.A. Student Advances to finals of Ontario Technological Skills Competition

A Kenora student is heading to Waterloo at the end of this month to showcase his carpentry skills.

Kevin Schabler from Thomas Aquinas won the individual carpentry competition put on by Confederation College for local high school students.

This was the regional contest to see who would qualify for the Ontario Technological Skills Competition in carpentry, culinary arts, television production and welding.

The top three finishers in each division advance to the provincial championships.

Schabler was the only Kenora student to advance.

Kenora Businessman Faces Hefty Fine

A Kenora businessman is facing a hefty fine for illegally taking gravel from a local pit.

Roland Roen was fined 10 thousand dollars for 13 counts of failing to pay annual fees, another two thousand dollars for operating a gravel pit without a permit and two thousand for harvesting on crow land without a licence.

The court heard that Roen had been hired by Ontario Hydro to repair a road in the Gundy Lake area back in 2008.

Material used for the road repair was removed from a nearby small pit on Crown land, for which Roen did not have a permit.

He also removed trees from three of his aggregate pits without obtaining a forest resource licence.

Boil Water Advisory in Lakeside area

About 30 homes in the Lakeside area are under a boil water advisory today.

The advisory was issued by the Northwestern Health Unit after a water main break in the 5th Street South area yesterday morning.

City operations manager, Rick Perchuck says crews has since found the water main leak and have been able to repair it.

The boil water advisory will remain in effect for at least a couple of days as the Health Unit waits for water tests to come back clear of any contamination.

Plans for Economic Development Agency Get a Rough Ride

Some members of city council are raising concerns about a proposed new regional economic development agency for northwestern Ontario.

Councillor Rory McMillan says he doesn't like some of the proposed governance models for the agency, which potentially could have a board with as many as 32 members.

Mayor Dave Canfield says while he can understand the concerns, he supports the Economic Development Agency in principal.

Canfield adds that the regional economic development agency will be one of the issues up for discussion next week at the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association Conference in Kenora.

Another Reminder to Lock it or Lose It

Another good reason to lock your vehicle.

The OPP say they are investigating the theft of a Blackberry Playbook from a vehicle parked in the 5th Street South area on Friday the 13th.

Police say the car wasn't locked at the time.

The OPP have been preaching the message of "lock it or Lose it" for several years, and says leaving valuables in plain view makes it easier for thefts to occur.

Campbell Presents Petitions At Queen's Park

The first petition supporting saving the area's tourist information centre from closures is now before the Ontario legislature.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell says studies show this region brings in more money per stay than any other part of Ontario, in part due to visitors attending attractions they learned about by visiting the tourist information centres.

Campbell expects to bring more petitions in the near future.

Positive Reviews for Computers in the Classroom

Classroom computers aren't going to be a passing fad.

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board recently completed a survey of staff, students and parents about the use of netbooks and computer tablets.

Lakewood principal Lynn McAughey says 99 percent of parents supported the use of the technology.

The surveys also found an overwhelming majority of students liked using computers to do their school work, and found it helped them complete their work more easily.

Thistles lose First Game at Allan Cup

The Kenora Thistles weren't able to hang onto a 3-2 second period lead and lost 7-4 to the host team from Lloydminster in their first game at the Allan Cup.

Lloyminster scored five third period goals in the come from behind victory.

Penalty trouble hurt the Thistles, who went to the penalty box seven times and received two misconducts in the third period.

The Border Kings capitalized with four power play goals in the third to put the game away.

Sean Hughes, Jon Johnson, Jonathan Poirier and Ryan Bowen each scored for the Thistles in a losing cause.

Their next game is Wednesday night against the Pacific Division Champions from Stoney Plains.

Common Ground Sold Out Again

The annual Common Ground story-telling session was another huge success.

Common Ground took place on Saturday at the Lakeside Inn featuring stories about the Stone Boat Company, the Hilliard House Opera Company, the early history of Ukrainians in Kenora, and a history of the Kenora and District Festival of Arts.

Common Ground is an oral history of Kenora, and has been held the past six years.

The event was sold out with about 200 people in attendance.

OPP investigate Fatality in Pikangikum

Police are investigating the suspicious death of a 32 year old Pikangikum First Nation man.

Officers were called to a house on the First Nation to deal with an altercation on April 14th.

A short time later a man was located unresponsive on the side of a road.

A post-mortem exam still needs to be conducted.

Winter Returns to Northwestern Ontario

Old man winter isn't done with us just yet.

Windchills are making it feel like -12 in downtown Kenora this morning, but the situation is worse east of the city where a number of road closures have been reported.

Highway 17 between Ignace and Thunder Bay has been closed since 2:00 this morning due to heavy snow.

Bill Laidlaw from Signal Weather Services says areas to the east of Kenora are definitely being hit the hardest.

Highway 11 between Thunder Bay and Atikokan has also been closed due to the weather.

A number of highways in the area east of Thunder Bay have also been closed due to the snow.

Business Loans up in Kenora

Lake of the Woods Business Incentive Corporation says there are some positive signs of life in Kenora's economy.

In the past year LOWBIC approved 14 business loans worth a total of 1.4 million dollars.

Executive director of LOWBIC Ryan Reynard says they supported both new and existing businesses in the past year.

LOWBIC says the business loans helped to create 71 new jobs in the area and maintained another 77 jobs at existing businesses.