Canada Day Committee Pitches Funding Request

The Fort Frances Canada Day Committee has presented its case for $10-thousand in bridge funding from town council.

Chair Teresa Hazel says the festival is a worthy investment, but the committee is doing its part to attract additional funding.

"We do have a request letter going out to businesses, service clubs and individuals to ask for their help this year in sponsoring," says Hazel. "The Eisenhauers, who are well known community couple, have already come forward with a donation."

Hazel says the money from the town would be paid back as funding from other sources was obtained.

Community Safety Zone Approved

Fort Frances council has given approval to implementing a community safety zone in the town's west end.

Despite a recommendation from OPP that it be in place year round, councillor Rick Wiedenhoeft says it was felt the zone would be more effective to have the zone in place during the school year for now.

"We can always revisit this if it doesn't work for the summer months," says Wiedenhoeft. "Right now. let's start relatively small. See if it works and build it around the school year, the school days and the school kids."

The zone still needs provincial approval before it can be implemented.

Budget Passed

The final tax bills for 2011 will be coming to property owners in Fort Frances by the end of June.

Town council formally approved the budget last night.

Residential ratepayers will see on-average a 2.5 per cent tax increase.

The first installment of the bills must be paid by July 29.

MPP Upset with Government Response

A northwestern Ontario MPP is criticizing the Liberal government for a lack of action over the disappearance and deaths of seven First Nations high school students in Thunder Bay.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton says inquests into some deaths continue to be delayed.

"These are seven young citizens of Ontario," says Hampton. "These are seven teenagers. I suggest to the minister and to this government that if seven teenage high school students disappeared from London, there would be a different reaction. If seven teenage high school students disappeared from Hamilton, there would be a different reaction."

Hampton is pushing for increased attention to the conditions of First Nations youth living off-reserve.

Festival Award Winners

The best of the this year's Rainy River District Festival of the Performing Arts was celebrated with a concert at the Townshend Theatre Sunday.

Individual award winners were also recognized.

Alexis Sharp in piano, Phoebe Firth in vocal and Scott Walsh in drama were this year's Rose Bowl winners as top performers in their divisions.

DRAMA AWARDS

Callahan Wiedenhoeft - Joan Miller Award, Best Stage Presence, Poetry or Prose, Grade 5 and under
Mackenzie Wright - Board of Education Award, Elementary Most Promising Student, Grade 6 and under
Shawn Brady - Bertha Livingston Award, Most Promising Student, Grades 5 to 8
Andrew Eldridge - Board of Education Award, Intermediate Most Promising Student, Grades 7 or 8
Emma Kunkel - Board of Education Award, Senior Most Promising Student, Grades 9 to 12
Kristina Robertson - Jean Boileau Award, Best Individual Performance
Kristina Robertson - Katy Van Drunen Memorial Award (Pharmasave), Best Monologue by a High School Student
St. Michael’s School, Grade 1 - St. Mary’s Catholic Women’s League Award, Choral Speaking, Primary
J. W. Walker School, Grades 4 and 5 - Voyageur Lions Club Award, Choral Speaking, Junior
Sturgeon Creek Alternative Program - Business and Professional Women’s Club Award, Choral Speaking Grades 6, 7 and 8
Adriane Gurski, Alana Walsh, Taylor Swire, Tamika Andy, Jilayne Derkson, Jessica Caul - Knights of Columbus Award, Best Performance by a Group
J. W. Walker Schoo, Grades 2 and 3 - Elaine Jardine Award, Best Elementary Choral Speaking Performance
Avery Adrian, Will Anderson, Joseph Ball, Brayden Botsford, Judd Gardiman, Caleb McIntosh, Travis Kewakundo, Ryllie Yarmovich - Adjudicator’s Choice Award, Noteworthy Performance
Dylan Roen - Adjudicator’s Choice Award, Noteworthy Performance
Tasha Roth - Adjudicator’s Choice Award, Noteworthy Performance




FRENCH DRAMA AWARDS

Siobhan MacKintosh - Kiwanis Club French Award, Most Promising Student, French Poetry, Grades 5 and 6
Tianna Veldhuisen - Canadian Parents for French Award, Most Promising Student, French Poetry, Grades 7 and 8
Mackenzie Wright - Adjudicator’s Choice Award, Noteworthy Performance

PIANO AWARDS

Katelyn Bruyere - Barbara and Bruce Murray Award, Most Promising Student, Exam Courses, Beginner to Grade 2
Tianna Veldhuisen - Middle C Music Award, Most Promising Student, Exam Courses, Grades 3 or 4
Taylor Shouldice - Fort Frances Lions Club, Outstanding Achievement, Exam Courses, Grades 5 or 6
Anika Alexander - Emily Louise Austin Award, Best Piano Student, Exam Courses, Grades 7 or 8
Meagan Empey - Kinsmen Club Trophy, Most Promising Student, Exam Courses, Grades 9 or 10
Sophie Carpenter - RoseMarie DeGagne Memorial Award, Outstanding Achievement, Method Courses, Level I
Mika Kooistra - Clarence and Gertrude Bujold Family Award, Outstanding Achievement, Method Courses, Level II
Alexa Veldhuisen - McIrvine Women’s Institute Award, Outstanding Achievement, Method Courses, Level III
Maxwell Williams - Clarence and Gertrude Bujold Family Award, Outstanding Achievement, Method Courses, Level IV, V or VI
Sara Bagacki and Anika Alexander - Elementary Teachers’ Federation Award, Best Piano Duet, Any Level
Lorianne Duek - Garton Music Award, Noteworthy Performance
Kaitlyn Chiasson - Adjudicator’s Choice Award, Noteworthy Performance




INSTRUMENTAL AWARDS

Katelyn Bruyere - Helen Parris Memorial Award, Individual string player or string ensemble demonstrating outstanding musicality
Cameron Daley - Fort Frances Rotary Club Award, Best Woodwind Solo Performance
Emma Kunkel - Harper Simmons Trophy, Best Brass Solo Performer
Caleb Duek and Lorianne Duek - Gillies Instrumental Award, Group of 2 to 8
Fort Frances High School Senior Band - Ralph Whetstone Trophy, Best Band
Robert Moore School Grades 7 and 8 - Adjudicator’s Choice, Beginner Band, Noteworthy Performance


ROSE BOWLS
Alexis Sharp (Piano)
Phoebe Firth (Vocal)
Scott Walsh (Drama)

MURIEL ROSS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
Emma Kunkel (Instrumental)

Katy Van Drunen Prize
Presented to the recipient of the Drama Rose Bowl
Scott Walsh

Dallman Award
Presented to the recipient of the Piano Rose Bowl
Alexis Sharp

Rainy River District Festival Award for Outstanding Achievement
Sturgeon Creek Alternative Program, Grades 6, 7 and 8







VOCAL AWARDS


Callahan Wiedenhoeft - Lillian Thomas Memorial Award, Most Promising Vocalist, 10 years and under
Emma Dykstra - Vocal Teachers’ Award, Most Promising Vocalist, 11 or 12 years
Taylor Shouldice - June Clink Memorial Award, Most Promising Vocalist, 13 or 14 years
Kennedy Latimer - Elfé Forsberg Trophy, Most Promising Vocalist, 15 or 16 years
Katelyn Shortreed - Jaycees Trophy, Best Vocalist, 17 or 18 years
Taylor Shouldice and Kennedy Latimer - Nestor Falls Lions’ Club, Best Duet Performance
Naomi Carradice, Moriah Carradice, Lemuel Carradice - Oblate Fathers’ Award, Best Elementary Ensemble
Robert Moore School, Senior Kindergarten - Kinette Shield, Grade 1 Choir (This Year, Senior Kindergarten)
St. Michael’s School, Grades 1 to 3 - Lakeland Personnel Award, Massed Choir, Kindergarten to Grade 8
Robert Moore School Girls’ Choir - Northern Lights Credit Union Award, Grades 4 to 8 Massed Junior Choir
Robert Moore School Girls’ Choir, Grades 4 to 8 - Elementary Teachers’Federation Award, Best Student Choir in the Festival
Jessica Whalen - Adjudicator’s Choice Award, Noteworthy Performance

Contest Winners Recognized

Five Fort Frances students were recognized by town council for their art work.

Deputy Mayor Sharon Tibbs says they were the winners of a poster contest with recycling and the environment the focus.

"We work so hard in this community to recycle and to improve our recycling in our area," says Tibbs, "and we're so proud when we see the young people do these kinds of things because we see them take a responsibility for their planet."

The art work of all students who participated was on display during last night's meeting.

Early Learning Expanding

(Rainy River District School Board photo)

The Rainy River District School Board is moving ahead with plans to introduce the province's early learning program to three more schools.

Education Director Heather Campbell says some consultation led to J.W. Walker School in Fort Frances, Donald Young in Emo and Sturgeon Creak near Barwick being selected.

"We did a consultation in April with school communities, with members from the child care providers, Aboriginal Head Starts to talk about the needs in within those areas," says Campbell, "the challenges in implemented the early learning program and possibly the extended day programming"

Provincial approval will allow the programs to be offered beginning September 2013.

High School Survey

The Fraser Institute is out again with its ranking of Ontario high schools.

Fort Frances, Rainy River and Atikokan High Schools are placed low on the list based on the results of standardized tests written by grade 9 students in 2010.

Atikokan High School, which saw a nearly 15 per cent increase in the number of students passing the tests, is ranked the highest among schools in the Kenora-Rainy River districts.

Threat Assessment Training

Educators, community agencies and law enforcement officials will gather today in Fort Frances for the first of several training sessions on threat assessment.

OPP Constable Anne McCoy says the training will help participants determine the seriousness of threats when made.

"It helps us learn to read people behaviour and to identify threats before they become a crisis or a criminal offence," says McCoy.

Training sessions will also be held this week in Atikokan and next week in Emo.

Metis Plans

Sunset County Metis are taking closer look at the services provided to Metis people in the Fort Frances area.

President Clint Calder says one of the areas they want to explore is the development of family and child welfare services specific to Metis.

"In our area we have Weechitiwin that delivers those services to First Nations people," says Calder, "and Family and Children Services who kind of deliver to everyone else, including Metis. We think there is a rationale for delivering Metis specific family and children services"

Calder says they're also looking at creating low-income housing and repairing their existing facilities.

New Training Program Coming

The new Atikokan Renewable Fuels plant will soon be the site of a new training program.

Speaking recently to the Atikokan Chamber of Commerce, owner Ed Fukushima says it's a program that will also involve Confederation College and Human Resources Development Canada.

"We'll be training people in the forest processing of fibre," says Fukushima, debarking, chipping, grinding and pelletizing of fibre. There's notking like that in North America."

The plant is expected to begin production later year.

Atikokan Chamber Awards

(Cody Degagne (Second from left) receiving award as Employee of the Year - Atikokan Progress photo)

The Atikokan Chamber of Commerce has handed out it annual awards.

The Business Excellence Award was given to Robin Donuts.

The entrepreneur of the year award went to Rhonda Happy, operator of the Little Darlings, new coffee shop.

Cody Degagne, who works at Brown's Convenience, was selected employee of the year.

The Customer Service Award was won by Darryl Warkentin, the floor manager at Foodland.

And Garry McKinnon of the Atikokan Economic Development Corporation was winner of the Ambassador's Award.

A total of 27 nominees were up for the awards.

Law School Gets Nod

Lakehead University is another step on it's way to getting a law school.

It comes with the approval of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

All that's left now is for the provincial government to give it's approval and provide the necessary funding.

Slow Going at State Capital

A Minnesota legislator is getting frustrated with the lack of progress being made at the State Capital.

District 3 Senator Tom Saxhaug says they're far from whether they should.

"In the last eight years, by this time we had conference committee reports out on major bills," says Saxhaugh. "Many of them had been vetoed by this time so we were back going through that process. In this case, we don't even have any initial conference committee reports on the major bills."

Saxhaugh says if business, including a budget, can't be finalized within two weeks, the legislature will be forced into a special session.