Mine Centre Tender Accepted

Construction of a new elementary school in Mine Centre could begin as early as next month.

Trustees with the Rainy River District School Board yesterday awarded a contract worth $5.9 million to Thunder Bay-based Finnway General Contractor.

Education Director Heather Campbell says additional funding from the Ministry of Education is also covering all project costs pegged at $6.5 million.

"We received two letter from the Ministry of Education providing the funding," says Campbell, "and we've come under budget in our tendering and working with the contract to reduce costs. So we are full speed ahead."

The new school will house about 90 students from the Mine Centre area as well as Seine River and Nicickousemenecaning First Nations.

Ontario's Education Minister Deb Matthews must still sign off on the project, but the board isn't anticipating any difficulty with that step from occurring.

St. Francis School Project Funded

The Northwestern Catholic District School Board has received provincial funding for a renewable energy project for St. Francis School in Fort Frances.

Superintendent of Education Chris Howarth says the $159-thousand is for the installation of a SolarDuct Photovoltaic project.

"It consists of solar panels that will use the sun's energy," says Howarth. "Using a converter, we'll convert it into electricity and that will be fed back into Ontario's power grid and the school board will see revenue from that."

Howarth says the project could generate $27-thousand annually for the board through the sale of power back to the grid when in place next fall.

Parade of Boats Returns

The Parade of Boats makes its return today at the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.

It begins at 5 p.m. beginning on Central Avenue with boats making their way down Scott Street to the Memorial Sports Centre.

Chair Tom Fry is looking for a good show from the anglers after the parade was dropped last year.

"They were part of the desire to bring it back," says Fry. "We had a lot of comments from people in the town as well as anglers who said they missed it last year. So we're kind of hoping everyone will come out and support it."

Boston Pizza also jumped on board as the major sponsor and is putting up a prize to the best dress boat as selected by the public.

Labour Leaders Pan Deficit Reduction Plans

Ontario public sector unions are critical of Finance Minister Dwight Duncan's plan to freeze their wages.

Labour leaders met with Duncan yesterday to discuss deficit reduction plans that includes freeze on public sector salaries for two years.

The C.A.W. calls the plan an attack on the collective bargaining rights of public sector workers.

President Ken Lewenza says the union recognizes the difficulty the province is facing, but the cost cannot be borne almost wholly by workers.

The president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says Finance Minister Dwight Duncan's wage freeze plan is unfair.

Smokey Thomas also says the plan doesn't protect the public services Ontarians need or strengthens the economy.

OPSEU Calls Government to "Come Clean"

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union is calling on the Liberal government to "come clean'' about a police raid on provincial offices in Toronto last week.

President Smokey Thomas says the union has been told that its members were not the target of the OPP raid, but thousands of workers remain under a cloud of suspicion because the government won't state which ministries were targeted.

Eco Fees Lifted, But...

Ontario residents may not be paying the controversial eco fee at the cash register, but they're still on the hook for the program.

Environment Minister John Gerretsen lifted the fees yesterday, but says the government will fork over up to five-million dollars to keep the program going for the next three months.

He says the government will take that time to come up with a better plan to offset the cost of recycling potentially hazardous items.

Mine Centre School Tender Discussed

The start of construction of a new school in Mine Centre could get the green light today.

Trustees with the Rainy River District School Board have called a special meeting for this morning to discuss a proposed tender.

The Ministry of Education previously announced it would provide 4.8 million dollars towards construction, but the board said back in February that final costs could come almost two million higher.

Water Restrictions Lifted

Water restrictions put in place at the end of June for Fort Frances and Couchiching First Nation have been lifted.

The removal of the ban on such things as filling swimming pools and washing vehicles at home comes following an inspection of a paint job inside the water tower.

Operations and Facilities Manager Doug Brown says the inspection showed no major problems.
Homeowners are still limited to watering the lawns on an odd-even basis until September 15.

Boyle Ends Career with City

(Retiring City Attorney Joe Boyle with International Falls Mayor Shawn Mason)


International Falls City council gave thanks last night to its retiring city attorney.

Joe Boyle attended his last council meeting in his official capacity, ending a more career with the that began in 1973.

"The city has allowed me to practice law as the part-time city attorney," says Boyle, "appearing in hundreds of cases, both civil and criminal and to go to seminars. I retire with great gratitude."

Mayor Shawn Mason and other councillors issued their thanks for the job performed over the many years.

Mason credited Boyle for helping the city begin to realize its dream of a developed waterfront.

While Boyle retires as the city's attorney August 1, he'll continue practicing law privately.

Busy Weekend for Fire Department

It was a busy weekend for the Fort Frances Fire and Rescue Service who responded to no fewer than five calls.

Saturday morning about 10 a.m., the department was called to a home on Kaitlyn Drive to deal with a kitchen fire.

The owners of the home had the blaze extinguished by the time firefighters arrived, but not before it caused some fire and smoke damage to the kitchen.

Early Sunday morning at about 5 a.m., the department responded to a call of smoke filling an apartment on 6th Street East.

The problem was pinpointed to a burned out furnace fan.

An hour later, crews rushed to a home in the 400 block of Church Street where an elderly woman was taken to hospital for treatment after fire started in a sofa and filled the home with smoke.

Within fifteen minutes of arriving, firefighters were dispatched to a smoke alarm in the 1100 block of Scott Street which turned out to a false alarm.

And last night at round 8:30 p.m., Fort Frances Fire was sent to Gillon's Insurance on Church Street where a burned out roof fan sent smoke into the building.

Damage was considered miminal.

Vikings Asked to Participate

The city of International Falls is hoping to enlist the help of the Minnesota Vikings in next year's tug of war between it and the town of Fort Frances.

City Administrator Rod Otterness says the invite to members of the football club is part of an effort to make the friendly competition between the two sister communities bigger and better.

International Falls won this year's event following two straight wins by Fort Frances.

Anglers Prep for Tournament

If prefishing is any indication, this year's Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship could be a struggle for many anglers.

The field of more than one hundred teams begin its hunt for this year's title Thursday.

Two-time champion James Lindner says part of the key to winning is figuring out what works and what doesn't.

"A lot of times you can fish right through a lot of fish and not catch them, "says Lindner. "and then change baits, get the right bait on, and it's like magic. That's part of the whole deal with these guys here just trying to find the art of angling. It's the weirdest thing in the world. It changes every year."

Devlin's Bill Godin, who's fished the tournament since its inception and enjoyed four top ten finishes along the way, says it could be a struggle to find the big ones this year.

"We've been doing a lot of prefishing and it's been tough for us," says Godin. "We can catch a lot of fish, but we can't figure out where the big ones are."

Anglers gather tonight for the official rules meeting.

Changes to Moose Tag Transfers Considered

Ontario residents have until Thursday to comment on a proposed change that could impact the transfer of moose tags among hunters.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is looking to prohibit hunters from passing their tags onto another in consecutive years.

Wildlife Management Coordinator Tosh Gierek says its based on input received at public meetings last year.

"The way it works right now is that they can transfer a tag as often as they wish," says Gierek. "What we heard from hunters was they had some concerns with that."

If approved, the new regulation could be in place for the 2011 hunting season.

Wage Freeze Talks Today

The Ontario government today begins the difficult task of preparing its public sector unions and employers for a wage freeze.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan will meet union leaders and employers who run institutions such as hospitals, schools and universities to talk about capping salaries.

About 350,000 non-unionized public-sector workers had their wages frozen in the March budget.

Probe into Government Ministries Launched

The OPP plans to release more details today about a criminal probe into some financial deals involving government ministries and outside vendors.

Raids were conducted last Thursday at several ministries, but police won't comment on the allegations or if charges are pending.

A senior government source stressed that the investigation did not involve elected officials or political staff.

The raids took place around buildings in Toronto housing several ministries such as Energy and Infrastructure, Education and Consumer Services.

Kids Kick off Tournament

(Damon Nyberg (far right) poses with Kent (far left) and Steve Ballan after a first place finish in this year's Kids Pro Tournament)


An area youngster teamed up with former champions of the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship to win this year Canada Safeway Kids Pro tournament.

Damon Nyberg, fishing with 2001 champs, Kent and Steve Ballan, combined for almost 12 pounds of fish in yesterday's event.



"We caught a pretty big one," says Damon. "Our awesome netter (Kent Ballan), one of the fish spit out the lure, as soon as he netted, spit out the lure, but he quickly got it. That was awesome."



A total of 30 kids took part.

Vote Fort Frances as Ultimate Fishing Town Canada

Fort Frances has now been nominated for the title as Canada's Ultimate Fishing town.

It's a contest sponsored by the World Fishing Network.

TV Host Mariko Izumi says the winner will get $25-thousand in prizes.

"Whether it be the photos, videos or essays, the main thing is to get as many people to submit as much content about your town," says Izumi. "If you do that, you have a good chance of winning, no matter where you are located."

Voting will start August 17.

Boat Operator Licensing Changes

Some changes are in store for the test to get a pleasure craft operator card.

That card is now needed to operator a motorized boat of any type.

Cameron Taylor of BOATSmart! Canada says Transport Canada is looking new test questions.

"BOATSmart Canada has been lobbying the government to make the exam questions more applicable and more difficult to really test the boater's knowledge," says Taylor.

The new tests, which increases the number of questions from 36 to 50, will be administered starting in September.

It's estimated thousands of Canadians are still do not have their operator's license.

The fine for not having an operator's card is $250.00.

Jeffrey Speaks with Native Leaders

Natural Resources Minister Linda Jeffrey is touring area first nations to discuss the Far North Act.

Jeffrey says she's been given a bum rap when it comes to consulting area first nations.

"Ideally we would have enough time that everyone would be able to get know the bill and be comfortable with it," says Jeffery. "I don't have that luxury. I have to be back in the legislature in September where they will be clause-by-clause consideration of the bill."

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton says the Minister has to realize that decisions can't solely be made in Toronto and expect First Nations to accept them.

Hospital Losses Mounting

For the second year running, more than a third of Ontario hospitals are bleeding red ink.

Sixty-one of the province's 159 public hospitals reported a deficit in the last fiscal year that ended March 31, according to figures obtained from Ontario's 14 local health integration units.

Northern hospitals appear to be falling behind more than their southern counterparts.

In the four most northern regions of the province, 31 hospitals were in the red, up from 20 in the previous year.

Riverside Health Care Facilities reported a loss of $474-thousand dollars at its hospitals in Emo, Fort Frances and Rainy River.