FFCBC Champions

A pair of anglers well-known to northwestern Ontario are this year's Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championships.

Kenora's Jeff Gustafson and Bemidji's John Peterson came in on the final day of fishing with just over 20 pounds of bass, giving them over 55 lbs over the three days.

Gustafson says their catch Saturday came early in the day.

The Fort Frances team of Ryan Hyatt and Karl Wolff were a pound and a half back in second.

Fort Frances anglers Bryan Gustafson and Jamie Bruce were tops in the second division while Sean Good and Pete Badiuk earned the win in the third division.

Sorting Gap Marina Site Welcomed

It was a return to the Sorting Gap Marina for the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship after going indoors for the past three years.

Gary Rogozinski, a former chair, was among those happy to see it back on the waterfront.

While exact attendance figures aren't immediately know, the weigh-ins attracted strong crowds.

Kids Get Out On Lake

FFCBC photo

Missing from the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship this year was the Kids Pro tournament.

That lead to Missouri's Phil Bangert taking it upon himself to organize an informal event that allowed some of the Championship's anglers to take some local kids out for a day of fishing.

It attracted between 15 and 20 kids, some Bangert says have never been fishing or been on Rainy Lake.


Bangert hopes it will continue in some fashion in the future.

Bangert says he'd also like to give similar opportunities to seniors.

Fire At Fort Frances Mill

No major damage reported from a fire at Resolute Forest Products mill in Fort Frances yesterday.

Members of the Fort Frances Fire and Rescue Service were called out at around  5 p.m. to deal with a stubborn blaze in the duct work in the grinding room.

Fire crews were on site for about four hours.

Operations at the mill, though, were not impacted.

MNR Fire Centres Get Upgrades

The Ontario Government is upgrading three forest fire response centers.

47-million dollars will be spent on upgrades to a facility in Sudbury, the Hailburton Fire Management Headquarters and a fire attack base in Armstrong.

Jails Full

New statistics show that nearly half of Ontario's jails are overcrowded.

Cells meant for two people at times hold three or more as a rising tide of inmates await their day in court.

Figures from The Ministry of Community Safety and Corrections show that on an average day last year,  14 of Ontario's 30 jails held more prisoners than they were designed for.

McCaig Wins Quest

Mike McCaig stole the show at Quest for the Best.

McCaig wowed the crowd with his rendition of "If I Were A Carpenter" to advance to the final sing-off against Larissa Desrosiers where the judges selected him as the overall winner.

People's choice winners were Erika Tymkin and Clinton Bruyere.

Treaty 3 Police Not Folding

 The newly appointed board for Treaty 3 Police Service says the service isn't going anywhere next month.

A statement issued says the 45 day notice given to officers last month has been misinterpreted as a notice the aboriginal police service is shutting down.

The Board states the notice is only a requirement in the event of possible layoffs.

The board adds that if the Service was to shut down, governments require a year's notice which has not given.

The board met for the first time yesterday with a representative of the officer union on hand.

County Opts To Pay For Full Amount For Jail Repairs

Koochiching County is opting to pay the full amount when it comes time to cover the costs of upgrades to a regional corrections center.

The County is on the hook for about 41-thousand dollars in a planned six-million dollar improvement to the Northeast Regional Corrections Center, north of Duluth.

St. Louis County will cover the bulk of the costs through bonding and has offered to include other Counties if they desire

Site For Kraft Celebration Tour Selected

A site has been selected for the upcoming Kraft Celebration Tour in Fort Frances.

Fort Frances Curling Club president Ron Silver says TSN opted for the Sorting Gap Marina.

The site will include a huge jumbotron and twenty-one different tent sites featuring games and activities and food booths.

Silver says they're now looking for about 82 volunteers to help with set up and tear down and man some of the booths.

Call the curling club if you are interested in helping out.

Hydro Outage

Some residents west of Fort Frances are without power this morning.

Hydro One is reporting about 20 residents living in the Crozier area without electricity related to a storm that passed through the area.

Thunderstorms, packing heavy rain, hail and high winds hit much of the borderland.

Mostly pea sized hail fell in the Fort Frances area.

Quest Goes Tonight

Twenty local performers take to the stage tonight in the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce sponsored Quest for the Best.

Atikokan Blues artist Sunday Wilde attends as one of three judges.

She'll be joined by 93.1 The Border's own Andy C and last year's Quest winner Brittany Hayes.

Doors of the event at the Sorting Gap Marina open at 6:30 p.m.

New Gold Extends Offer For Rainy River Resources

New Gold says it now has 86 per cent of all shares in Rainy River Resources in a planned take-over of the mining exploration company.

New Gold is giving shareholders, yet to take the cash-and-stock offer, until August 8th to accept.

The company says if it has at least 90 per cent of Rainy River share, it will acquire the rest through a compulsory acquisition.

Some Newly Acquired Safeway Stores Sold Off

Empire Company, which owns Sobeys stores in Canada, has struck a deal to sell some of its newly acquired Safeway properties in a sale-leaseback deal with property management company Crombie of Nova Scotia.

None of the stores impacted are in northwestern Ontario are impacted.

Bone Marrow Donors Sought

A drive is under way to persuade college-age people in Minnesota to be bone marrow donors.

The shortage of marrow donors is so acute that last year only about half of the 12,000 blood cancer patients requesting a donor received one.

One reason is doctors have found it hard to recruit younger people, whose cells are better able to fight cancer.

Union Welcoming New Police Service Board

A new police services board for the Treaty 3 Police Service is being welcomed by the union representing its officers.

Public Service Alliance of Canada's Judith Monteith-Farrell is expecting a better working relationship in trying to keep the Service from halting August 19.

Monteith-Farrell says the board has indicated a commitment to keeping the police service going.

Course Focusing On Terrorism Planned

A heightened sense of security is leading to a new program to be delivered at Rainy River Community College.

The college is partnering with Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids to deliver a two-year Strategic Security Studies program.

Coordinator Steve Kovacic says it will, in part, train students how to detect and deal with terrorist activities.

The program will be taught by instructors with military, Navy Seals or SWAT team backgrounds.

Kovacic estimates 51-thousand jobs available related to the course.

Don't Call OPP About Road Closures

OPP are asking the public not to call them if you need information about road closures.

Constable Anne McCoy says you should be calling 511.

McCoy says calls to the OPP Communication Centre only tie up lines and operators for those needing police assistance on other matters.

MPP Supports Expanding Power To Ombudsman

Ontario's Ombudsman has some local support in attempts to have more oversight into municipalities, universities, schools and hospitals.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell says it makes sense that he would look after those areas.

Campbell says people are concerned about oversight in those sectors, and feel they've no where to turn when a problem arises.

Campbell believe Andre Marin does as good job and considers him one of the most respected civil servants in the province.

Forest Fire Now Contained

A large forest fire burning near Red Lake is now listed as being held.

The fire, 50 kilometers northwest of the northwestern Ontario town has burned more than 18-thousand hectares.

It started July 3rd by a lightning strike.