March Weather Recap

March 2010 is going down in history as the least snowiest ever in the Fort Frances area.

For the first time ever, no snow was recorded at area weather stations.

Geoff Coulson of Environment Canada says combined with warmer than usual temperatures, snow levels diminished by the middle of the month.

The average temperature for the month came in at 1.1 C., breaking a 10-year-old record high by more than a full degree.

Tax Increase Considered

Homeowners in Fort Frances could be faced with a 2-point-4 per cent tax increase.

But a decrease in the education portion of the tax bill and a change in assessment could result in some residential ratepayers paying less.

Mayor Roy Avis says he's pleased with the figure.

"I was hoping for two per cent," says Avis, "but at 2.4 per cent it's well within the scope of what we wanted to accomplish this year."

However, taxes could increase another one per cent if municipalities vote in favour of a change in how share the costs of social services administered by the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board.

That vote comes next week.

Councillors also trimmed the capital budget by about 57-thousand dollars at their budget meeting last night.

It includes holding off on replacing the stage at the Townsend Theatre, installing new light standards on Scott Street and painting of the overpass on Portage Avenue.

The town is proceeding with an upgrade to the water system at Sunny Cove Camp, improvements to its recycling building and the purchase of equipment to help firefighters better identify hazardous materials.

Relay for Life Meeting

The planning for this years Relay for Life in Fort Frances begins tonight.

Committee member John Homer says anyone interested in being a part of this year's fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society is invited to a meeting at the La Place Rendez-Vous.

"What the meeting is for is anybody who wants to put in a team," says Homer, "or wants to know anything about Relay for Life, if your a business and you want to sponsor, if you want to volunteer or be a committee member. It's open to anybody."

Tonight's meeting begins at 6 p.m.

Relay for Life will happen June 25 at Pither's Point Park.

Contact North Study

Contact North is having more than just an educational impact in northern Ontario.

A Lakehead University study says the distant education and learning network generates between $9 and $16 million to the economy.

President Maxim Jean-Louis says that is impressive.

"It was really internally for us at Contact North to have a good sense of what impact that we've having," says Jean-Louis. "Also we wanted everyone in the region (to understand the impact) because the reason why Contact North is providing these services is to stem the out-migration."

Contact North has 94 access centres, including one in Fort Frances, creating 245 full-times

Golf Season Opens

It's an early start to the golf season in Fort Frances.

Kitchen Creek open its fairways to golfers for the first time yesterday.

President Faye Flatt says it may be the earliest opening ever.

Flatt says green fees are also being lowered to reflect the early opening.

The driving range at Heron Landing is also open with the rest of the course to open at a later date.

Weekend Fire

A garage and house were destroyed in a weekend fire in Alberton township.

It occurred on Hill Road Saturday afternoon.

The exact cause is not know, but fire officials say it started in the garage with the wind fanning the flames to two vehicles parked outside and the nearby home.

About about fourteen firefighters from Alberton were joined by another ten from the LaVallee township fire department in battling the blaze.

New C.A.O.

The City of Kenora has appointed from within as its new chief administrative officer.

Karen Brown, the city's manager of finance, replaces Bill Presentanz who is retiring in August.

Brown has been employed by the city for the past eighteen years.

Stolen Bikes Handed Out

Some Ontario children will be getting bicycles once allegedly stolen by a Toronto theft ring run by former bike shop owner Igor Kenk.

He was sentenced to 30 months in jail last December after pleading guilty to bicycle theft and to six drug possession charges.

Police are distributing about 70 bikes and more than 1,000 bike parts and locks today to a pair of Toronto centres for at-risk youth.

Experts will help kids assemble and repair the pieces into complete bikes, which will then be donated to the community.

About 300 bicycles and parts are also being sent to a native agency in Thunder Bay and North Spirit Lake, north of Dryden.

Motorcycle Safety

With warmer weather, more people will be taking their motorcycles out for a spin, but Ontario Provincial Police are urging bikers to be cautious.

The warning comes after a man died in a motorcycle on the weekend in southern Ontario while street racing.

Police says officers will be keeping an eye on sport motorcycles speeding and driving dangerously.

Drug Awareness Campaign

An awareness campaign on the dangers of overusing opioid such as Oxycontin has been launched in northern Ontario.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health's “No Easy Way Out" project is directly aimed at young people.

Program Consultant Michelle Ott says the numbers of students using drugs for non-medical purposes is significant.

"Two per cent of the students across Ontario reported using non-medical Oxycontin," says Ott. "In northern Ontario that was 3.2 per cent."

Ott says nearly three-quarters of those students reported taking the drugs from family members who were prescribed such medication.

More Forest Fires

Another two forest fires in the Rainy River district over the Easter long weekend.

Both occurred in the Atikokan area with one confirmed as being human caused.

It brings to six, the number of fires, this season, with two still considered active.

Meantime, the Ministry of Natural Resources has set up a new toll-free emergency number to report a forest fire.

It is 310-FIRE.

Candidate for Atikokan Trustee

A retired school principal is seeking election to the Rainy River District School Board.

Mike Lewis is hoping to represent Atikokan on the board.

Lewis was also a chair with the former Atikokan School Board.

Vote By-Mail Considered

Public school board voters in the Rainy River District's unorganized areas may get the chance to vote by mail this fall.

The Rainy River District School Board is looking at the option for voters in the election of trustees.

The board had contracted services to an organized municipality in the past for polling stations, but a report by its finance committee says with many communities going to mail-in ballots themselves, polling stations may not be an option this year.

Trustees are to vote on the issue at their meeting tomorrow.

Tennis Courts on Hold?

Plans to build new tennis courts in Fort Frances this year may have to put on hold.

The town was hoping to share the costs of building the courts with the Rainy River District School Board.

The board's finance committee is suggesting the board not move forward with the request at this time.

The Northwest Catholic District School Board had agreed to a part of the project by supplying the land for the courts at St. Francis Field.

Snowmobile Accident

Police have recovered the body of a Cochrane Ontario man who died in a snowmobile accident on Saturday on a lake north of Longlac.

Forty-eight-year-old Lucien Dubeault was a passenger on a snowmobile which plunged through thin ice.

OPP officers rescued two other people, one of them the driver of the snowmobile that went into the water.

Save Our Smiles

The Northwestern Health Unit wants to Save Our Smiles.

Program Manager of Children's Clinical Services Dawn Sauve says it's an awareness campaign for Dental Health Month that suggests following healthy practices can eliminate tooth decay.

"There are three main messages," says Sauve, "healthy habits, healthy foods and healthy rewards. When you think of health foods we think of limiting sugary snacks and drinks, choosing fresh foods and vegetables and making water or milk your first choice. Eating healthy foods is a great way to keep your teeth and body healthy."

Health Unit staff will be promoting the campaign to children with visits to schools during the month.

Fire Season Underway

(Ministry of Natural Resources photo)

It has the makings of a busy fire season for the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Today marks the official start to the fire season in northwestern Ontario, but fire crews have already been called into service to deal with brush fires.

Fire Information Officer, Debbie McLean says they are prepared for the worst.

"We don't really tend to make long term predictions on what an early and dry spring would mean for the summer season," says MacLean, "but we dealing at this point in time with a high to extreme hazard."

A ban on burning in organized municipalities within the Rainy River district is still in effect.

Meantime, the fire danger in much of Minnesota remains high.

Eight new fires were reported yesterday in the northeast part of the state.

The Department of Natural Resources did ease burning restrictions in Koochiching County, although a burning permit is still required.

Sunshine List Revealed

The list of public sector employees in the Rainy River district earning over $100-thousand has changed.

The 2009 list, released by the province yesterday, is shorter than previous years with some employees showing a drop in earnings.

Wayne Woods, CAO of Riverside Health Care Facilities, is among the highest paid in the district, but his 2009 salary of $228-thousand is a drop from the $245-thousand reported in 2008.

Riverside had a total of six employees on the so-called sunshine list which is down from the ten the year previous.

The Rainy River District School Board had nine employees earning over the province's magic figure, two fewer than 2008, while the Northwest Catholic District Board reported a total of eleven employees earning over $100-thousand.

Sponsor Back

The Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship has a key sponsor back for its event in 2010.

Lund Boats of Canada is back on board for a sixteenth straight season.

Chair Tom Fry calls Lund an icon in tournament fishing in northwestern Ontario, and is happy to have the company back to showcase its boats at this year's event.

Park Celebrates 35th

Minnesota's only national park is celebrating its thirty-fifth anniversary this year, and special events today.

Voyageurs National Park was authorized a national park on April 8, 1975.

Chief of Interpretation Tawnya Schoewe says the anniversary is an important one.

"It's a pretty big deal," says Schoewe, "we hope not just to the staff, but to the public as well. We're very proud to be a part of the national park system and proud to celebrate it with all of the local gateway communities and America in general."

Today there are special displays at the park's Rainy Lake Visitor Center and at the International Falls Public Library.

An official recognition of the park's anniversary will happen next Thursday.