Councillors will be pulling out the symbolic axe now that the final two town divisions presented their 1998 budget requests Monday night. And like the two before them, both are asking for more dollars than last year. Coun. Sharon Tibbs, who chairs the Administration and Finance executive committee, said the […]

Ask Mel DeGagné how many years he’s been in business with NorFab Building Components Ltd. and he’ll probably tell you to count up one year for every expansion that’s been built on their 80-acre lot on Highway 11/71 just west of Fort Frances.

The Town of Fort Frances may have to do some more exterminating to get the last of the “Y2K” bugs out of its computer system in the next year but Administration and Finance manager Darryl Allan said Jan. 1, 2000 shouldn’t bring Armageddon. Allan reported to council Monday night after […]

For the second-straight year, the local chapter of the Canadian Relief Fund for Victims of Chernobyl in Belarus is planning to host a small group of children in Rainy River District next summer. But organizers need some help from the community–and the clock is ticking fast. Five children and one […]

Some 1,400 teenagers from across the district got a “no nonsense” lesson in smart risk-taking when the theatrical production, “HEROES,” took to the stage at Fort High last week. The program–a show about life choices–addressed teens in grades eight through 12, as well as a number of those now out […]

Division managers for the town have less than a week to find another $410,000 that can be removed from the system to allow council to pass the 1999 budget with no tax increase at its next meeting Monday. Council debated the budget in-camera for several hours before the last council […]

Local members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the International Association of Aerospace Workers last night ratified a six-year contract with Abitibi-Consolidated. Members with IAM Local 771 ratified the deal by 78 percent. Numbers for the IBEW Local 1774 vote were unknown by press time. Mill manager Jim […]

Fort Frances Little Theatre is looking for interested actors and stage technicians to come out this Sunday for auditions in an effort to stage Tennessee William’s classic play, “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Open auditions will be held upstairs at the Fort Frances Museum from 1-4 p.m. and again from 6:30-8:30 […]

After hearing federal Finance minister Paul Martin give a thumbs down to plans by four of the Canada’s five largest banks to merge on Monday, local bank managers have offered mixed responses to how they and their corporations are approaching the decision. “We haven’t really had time to consider the […]

Winners of the Legion’s annual Remembrance Day poetry, prose, and poster contest were rewarded for their efforts Monday at Fort Frances High School. Bob Cupp, Roly Crawford, and Betty Newman, members of the Legion’s benevolent committee, were on hand to award 21 students from J.W. Walker and Robert Moore elementary […]

Organizers of the first “Magical House and Light Tour,” held here Sunday evening, are dancing on cloud nine after it exceeded all their expectations–raising $2,500 in the process. Staged as a fundraiser for the Riverside Foundation for Health Care, 125 people took up the opportunity to tour six local homes […]

Fort Frances CAO Bill Naturkach was still waiting for his phone to ring Tuesday afternoon, eager to hear how the provincial government was proceeding, if at all, on Bill 79–what he called the “bill of chaos” last week. Also known as the Fairness for Property Taxpayers Act, Naturkach said Bill […]