Word that 36 assisted living units will be available here to high-risk seniors by 2017, along with six in Emo and additional ones in both Rainy River and Atikokan, is welcome news—and long overdue. The need for assisted living—a bridge, so to speak, between people living in their own home […]
Editorials
Dogs, geese, and strippers seemed to be the hot topics of conversation here this past week. Social media was abuzz over the town’s musing to ban dogs from the Seven Oaks area at the Point while the Times’ weekly web poll on the issue garnered nearly 500 votes as of […]
Town council seems to be over-thinking what should be a fairly straightforward decision to simplify the corporate rate structure for Memorial Sports Centre memberships. The current structure involves a somewhat convoluted formula that ranges from a 15-20 percent discount depending on the number of employees with gym memberships. Instead, Community […]
With the future of Our Lady of the Way School in Stratton still in limbo, the Northwest Catholic District School Board now is weighing the merits of consolidating St. Michael’s (JK-Grade 3) and St. Francis (Grade 4-8) here. Given the multi-billion-dollar deficits the province continues to face, the Ministry of […]
There probably aren’t too many people around here who will shed a tear when we say good-bye to 2014 tonight. To say this was a challenging year is a colossal understatement—from Resolute Forest Products’ decision to permanently close its mill here to battling the rising waters of Rainy Lake and […]
Downtown. Dec. 17, 2024. The windows are covered in plywood. Someone has sprayed the boards with black spray paint—pictures of ugly beings and foul language. That one with a caricature of a leering devil used to be the florist, with lovely plants gracing the sidewalk in front. Instead of a […]
There likely were plenty of crossed fingers around town this afternoon as Knox United Church waited to learn if it had advanced to the final round of the Aviva Community Challenge Fund—and a shot at the $100,000 grand prize. Ranked in 14th place in its category as of last night, […]
The new Fort Frances council for 2014-18 only was sworn in Monday evening but, as Mayor Roy Avis correctly observed, it will have to hit the ground running. Fortunately, with five returning faces to the table, that shouldn’t present much of a problem. And clearly the community has faith that […]
Town council’s decision to maintain term limits on municipal boards and committees, except in cases when there are not enough applicants to fill all the vacancies, was the right one. Given problems in the past of not enough people applying to sit on a particular board or committee, council initially […]
Kudos to those who stepped up Monday night to ensure the Rainy River District Festival of the Performing Arts will live to see another year. With the previous chair and several long-time members stepping down from the organizing committee, “Festival” (as it is commonly known) was in real danger of […]
A “David-and-Goliath” fight. A “Hail Mary” attempt. Both are apt descriptions of the delegation of district municipal leaders and First Nations’ chiefs that descended on Queen’s Park earlier this week to plead the case to wrest control of the Crossroute Forest from Resolute Forest Products. Time will tell if their […]
In the end, the municipal election here was somewhat anticlimactic. With Coun. Andrew Hallikas vying the mayor’s chair, and Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft opting not to seek re-election, everyone knew the incoming town council would feature at least two new faces. But with three running for mayor, and a whopping 16 […]
