Bus Impacted by Cold

A second straight day of sub-zero temperatures is having an impact on some school buses today.

Iron Range has cancelled all of its runs in Atikokan.

Jane Peterson's Dove bus, ANH route, is delayed 25 minutes.

Rising Policing Costs Concerning

Rising cost of policing has the town of Fort Frances seeking help.

Councillor Rick Wiedenhoeft says the cost to contract police services to the OPP has rising almost 19 per cent over the past four years, and the province should provide more financial help.

"I would like to say demand, but I thing we have to suggest at this present time, that they increase their provincial policing grant as part of the OMPF funding (Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund)," says Wiedenhoeft, "to cover the additional costs of police services in Ontario to those communities that are contracting the OPP."

Wiedenhoeft says a recent wage settlement for officers could lead even higher costs to the town.

Town Buys Old Library

The town of Fort Frances is purchasing the former library building.

Mayor Roy Avis says it still to be determined, though, what they will do with the building.

"There's been letters written from people showing an interest," says Avis. "What we're doing is we're going to be looking at what we're going to do with it in the future whether it be sold or leased, who will get it. All those things have not been dealt with yet, but we're going to have a committee set up in order to look at all of those."

The one-dollar deal with the Fort Frances Public Library Board was part of a memorandum of understanding struck in October and formalized last night.

Support Sought for Fire Victim

There's a campaign underway to help out a 72-year-old area woman get back into her home.

The woman was forced from her home, south of Finland, last week because of an electrical fire.

Neighbour Jim Scheibler says she has no insurance and he's hoping to rally area support for her.

"It's really tough on her," says Scheibler. "She's lived there many years and it's her home. So we're just looking for help from the community to just step up and try to get her home again."

Anyone who can assist can call Jim or Maxine at 487-1425.

Educational Staff Help Needy

Fort Frances High School and Confederation College's Rainy River campus have joined in the campaign to help the district's needy.

Staff at both institutions waged a friendly competition in collecting non-perishable food items.

College campus manager Anne Renaud says her staff did well.

"I think we're pretty close," says Renaud. "I don't know if we're going by weight or size of boxes, but I think relative to the number of stuff that we have we did very well and we helped the community which was the main goal."

High School principal Al McManaman says the biggest winner was the community.

The collection was held in conjunction with the OPP Stuff a Cruiser campaign.

Essay Winner Address Council

A grade 5 students from Robert Moore School in Fort Frances says the building of a dirt bike track would be high on his list if he were mayor.

Daymond Morriseau was the winner of the town's Local Government Week essay contest held back in October.

"I have a lot of friends that would benefit from a dirt bike track as they also have dirt bikes," says Daymond. "I would build this track behind the Lakeview Trailer Park as there is a lot of open space in the back."

Daymond pitched his idea to council last night.