New State Rules Concern Area Tournament

New State rules to prevent the spread of invasive species is causing concern to organizers of the International Falls Bass Championship.

Chair Gary Potter says it could impact on fish mortality at the tournament.

"What they want you do do is come off a lake or river, drain everything and then proceed," says Potter. "They want us to do that same. What we're asking for is a little common sense. Let us get down to the park and drain our live-wells there. It's one mile away."

Potter says the tournament would be not be able to afford equipment to re-fill live-wells that ensures fish stay alive when they reach the weigh scales.

Building Concerns

The city of International Falls is pushing to have the owners covers the cost of demolishing a downtown building destroyed by fire last month.

City officials says the building, which housed an antique store, has become a hazard, and are exploring how to bring it down as quickly and safely as possible.

But Mayor Shawn Mason says the cost of demolition shouldn't be borne on the backs of local taxpayers.

Rachel's Challenge Coming to Rainy River District

(Banner Signed by International Falls students last year promising to uphold Rachel's Challenge)


An anti-bullying program named after one of the victims of the Columbine School shooting is coming to the Rainy River District.

Steve Latimer, the United Native Friendship Centre's Youth Justice Coordinator sees Rachel's Challenge an important program to introduce.

"With the calibre of students and the amazing things that some of them do in this area, we have a great many more positive peers out there," says Latimer, "but that just wasn't coming through. I was looking for a program that would reinforce positive peers and Rachel's Challenge is 100 per cent that"

Latimer says the program will be presented to area high schools and the public this fall.

Missing Girl Found

A 16-year-old girl from Young Star House, north of Emo, who was the subject of a police search for the past week.

OPP says Belinda Paishk was located at a Fort Frances home yesterday.

Seniors Poverty Debated

Opposition MP's are calling for an increase to the Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors.

During debate yesterday, Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty plead the case of an Atikokan resident who was having difficulty paying for electricity as a reason for the increase.

"I asked if he had tried some strategies to reduce the use of electricity," says Rafferty. "He told me that he uses one light bulb and every second day he unplugs the refrigerator. That is what seniors go through in this country. That is what seniors go through in my riding."

Rafferty blames the HST as a turning point for many seniors forced into poverty.

Senior Games Come to Fort Frances

Seniors from across the Kenora-Rainy River district are gathering in Fort Frances today for the start of the District Senior Games.

Organizer Nick Wihnan says they'll participate in a variety of games.

"There's table shuffleboard, euchre, cribbage, floor shuffleboard, golf, carpet bowling, bridge, bowling, horseshoes and of course a nice banquet," says Wihnan.

Opening ceremonies will be held this morning at the Sister Kennedy Centre.

Long Border Line

No charges, but there was plenty of police presence this weekend to watch over a long line of traffic entering the United States at International Falls.

At one point Saturday, the line stretched along King's Highway to the westerly limits of Fort Frances.

OPP says they did receive a complaint about the long-line, but no other issues were reported.

US Customs and Border Protection was processing two vehicles at one time in some of its lanes, but officials says the wait was still up to 90 minutes long.

Operation Corridor Results

Fewer charges were laid in the OPP's latest 24-hour blitz targeting commercial drivers and their vehicles.

During Operation Corridor, officers laid 320 charges - a third of which were for equipment violations.

Fifty vehicles were also pulled off the road due to equipment issues or hours of service violations.

Drilling Begins at Former Gold Mine

Mineral Mountain Resources has started the first phase of a drilling program at a historic gold mine north of Fort Frances.

The B.C. company is exploring the Straw Lake Beach Mine.

The mine operated during World War two, but shutdown in 1941 because of a lack of power for ventilation and milling operations.

Osisko Mining Project Outlined

Osisko Mining has kicked off what it says will be a lengthy public consultation process on its Hammond Reef Gold project north of Atikokan.

The company held an open house Saturday in Atikokan to outline its plans to area residents.

Project Manager Anne Charland says they're in the pre-feasibility stage right now.

"Right now what were doing is that we have an extensive drill program that aims at defining the resource we have so we can go to (the)feasibility (stage)," says Charland.

Charland says on average the company is drilling about 22-thousand metres each month with as many as 17 drills on site.

New Forest Fires Reported

(Ministry of Natural Resources photo)

Ministry of Natural Resources forest fire fighters in the Rainy River district responded to four fires on the weekend.

Two of the fires, one near Cuttle Lake, northeast of Fort Frances and one at Marmion Lake, north of Atikokan, were small lightning fires.

Another fire at Marmion and one near Bat Fly Lake, north of Fort Frances, were human caused.

The MNR is still monitoring two fires in Quetico Provincial Park.

Relays For Life Set to Go

Relays for Life are set for this Friday in both Fort Frances and Rainy River.

Committee spokesperson for the Fort Frances event John Homer says all is set to go at the Fort Frances High School.

"We've got a really good core committee," says Homer. "Couple of us have been on the committee for a while. A couple that have been on for a couple years. Some brand new people. We all kind of pull together and it's going to be really fun. We've got some really exciting new thing."

Friday, the Fort Frances event was boosted with separate fundraisers at M and M Meats and Boston Pizza.

Hospital Tour Planned

It's going to be a busy summer for the CEO of the Thunder Bay Health Sciences Centre.

Andree Robichaud says she'll be making the rounds of the region's hospitals.

"For me when I listen to their issues, I have to see, I want to visit and I really want have the time to sit with each and every one of them and see how we can help each other," says Robichaud.

Robichaud says she'll start her tour in August.

Missing Angler Found

The body of a Wisconsin man has been pulled from a lake in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Emergency personnel recovered by the body of 23-year-old Ty Sitter from 90 feet of water in Swan Lake, north of Grand Marie.

Sitter disappeared June 9 when he left his family campsite to go fishing.

Meantime, the body of an 80-year-old Minnesota man has been recovered by a provincial police dive team in Nipigon.

Ronald Lee Hilsen was reported missing last Thursday after failing to return from a fishing trip on Lake Superior.

Divers found his body not far from where he had been fishing.

Atikokan College Grads

It was graduation day for Confederation College students in Atikokan Friday.

It's the first time a Convocation ceremony has been held in the community.

College President Pat Lang says it's a result of strong partnerships.

"Any time we move into a community to offer programing it's always successful," says Lang. "We have our community partners involved. In this case it was the Atikokan High School, Atikokan General Hospital and Contact North."

A total of 13 students were recognized at ceremonies held at the Atikokan High School.

Strategic Planning

It was a long day of discussions for Fort Frances town councillors Thursday.

The town's elected officials were joined by members of the administrative team in coming up with a new strategic plan.

Mayor Roy Avis says it was an important exercise.

"What we're trying to do is evolve a plan that will make it a better community to live in," says Avis. "It will be better for the future economic viability of our community. It will also deal with the hardships that we're going to be be faced with in the near future."

Councillors also discussed suggestions from local residents on such things as bus service, eliminating heavy trucks down Scott Street and water metres.

Time-of-Use Billing in Place

Time-of-use billing is starting to take effect in Fort Frances.

Some Fort Frances Power Corporation customers are now being charged rates based on when they use power.

CEO Jorge Ruppenstein says customers will see the difference when their bills are issued in July.

"On the new bill, it will actually total how much electricity was consumed during these three time periods," says Ruppenstein, "on-peak, off-peak and mid-peak."

All Power Corp customers will be on the new billing system July 1st.

Literacy Test Numbers Reviewed

The Rainy River District School Board is taking a close look at the latest results from standardized literacy tests written by its students.

Eighty-per cent of students who wrote the March tests met or exceeded provincials standards.

Superintendent of Education Casey Slack says they're now looking at where improvements can be made.

"Senior administration and the school level leaders can articulate next steps working with out program support team to ensure that come September we've got some enriched practices in place to enhance performance on the test," says Slack.

The results were slightly lower than last year.

MNR Crews Returning

The Ministry of Natural Resources has started the process of bringing back its forest fire fighters and other support staff from Alberta.

The first one hundred will return home soon with the rest of the 273 personnel coming back to Ontario over the next few days.

An increase in the fire hazard in northwestern Ontario has prompted the MNR not replace the crews who have been in Alberta since the middle of May.

Earthroots Apologizes

The environmental group Earthroots is offering an apology to Weyerhaeuser.

Earlier this week, the group claimed the company's mill in Kenora used formaldehyde in the production of its engineered lumber, a fact strongly denied by Weyerhauser.

Yesterday, Earthroots issued an apology and says it will do a review of its report to check its accuracy.