AbitibiBowater Restructuring Plan

AbitibiBowater could end nearly eighteen months of creditor and bankruptcy protection on October 1 if its restructuring plan wins creditor support next month.

A meeting on the plan takes place August 26.

The plan would see unsecured creditors receiving between nothing and 48 per cent when their debt is converted to equity, depending on their class.

Current shareholders will walk away empty-handed.

Others fall somewhere in between, including workers who received no severance when their mills were shut over the past year.

Lions Give the Gift of Sound

(Carter Kinnear (seated) and his mother Tammy joins with members of the Fort Frances Lions Club and Jackie McCormick of the Enhanced Learning Centre to show of his near hearing aids)


The Fort Frances Lions Club is helping an 11-year-old area boy hear many sounds for the first time.

Carter Kinnear is sporting new hearing aids, paid for in part by a two-thousand dollar donation from the club.

His mother Tammy is appreciative of the gift for her son who has a hearing defect since birth.

"It's made Carter's life completely different," says Kinnear. "His learning ability and basic skills that we take for grant, such as hearing birds chirp he's never been able to hear before; that's a new experience for him."

"It's amazing," says Carter. "I feel like I can hear everything now."

Lion's past-president Jacques Fiset says club members felt obligated to help out.

"Being that the hearing aids are needed and the Lions motto and ethics is hearing and eyesight, we decided to fill our commitment and help purchase the hearing aids for him," says Fiset.

Carter received his new hearing aids three months ago.

Extended Learning Programs Eliminated

The Rainy River District School Board won't be offering any before or after school care for students attending full-day junior kindergarten at Atikokan's North Star School this fall.

Education Director Heather Campbell says only a handful of parents expressed interest in having their children taking part which wouldn't have been financially viable for the board.

Campbell says the decision does not prevent the board from offering the extended learning programs in future years.

MP's Earning Extra?

Two northwestern Ontario M-P's are in the spotlight.

New Democrats John Rafferty and Bruce Hyer are among 150 MPs who have outside business interests that could supplement their regular salary of $151-thousand a year.

Rafferty sees nothing wrong in that.

"I don't think its unreasonable to ask a member of Parliament or someone who's doing a public service for a short period time to wind up a viable business they'll likely be going back to after the election," says Rafferty.

Rafferty adds he has not seen any income from his communications and media monitoring business since he was elected.

Tour Du Fort Back Online

A new website for Tour Du Fort is finally on line.

President Kerry Zucchiatti says among the new features of Tourdufort.com is the ability to acquire passports or tickets online, including a new pick-three option giving concert goers the ability to select shows they want to see.

"By offering a few different purchase options we're hoping music lovers will pick something convenient for them and we'll see an increase in our attendance numbers," says Zucchiatti.

Zucchiatti says the new website is part of a new marketing strategy aimed better catering to the needs of its patrons and sponsors while pursuing new ones.

Wet July

It's turning out to be a wet July in the Borderland.

The U.S. National Weather Service says more than 6.18 or 15.6 centimetres of rain has fallen at International Falls since July 1st.

That breaks the old five-day record of 6.02 inches set back in August 1942.

Environment Canada says Fort Frances has already received a third of the rain it normally gets for July.

Annexation Hearings Start Today

A hearing into two competing annexation proposals involving the cities of International Falls and Rainer and Koochiching County gets underway today.

Ranier City Council approved a plan last June which proposed to annex lands around the city.

But Falls city officials expressed concerns because it included a foreign trade zone and put forward annexation plans of their own that the area.

Today's hearing at the Koochiching Court House includes two sessions for public comment this afternoon and tonight.