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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 $1.19 plus 6 GST, $1.25 U.S.Printed in Canada Volume 115 Number 5

www.fortfrances.comemail: info@fortfrances.com ISSN 0834-6283 PAP No. 07429

ISSN 0834-6283

Threatening skies Sunday af-ternoon couldnt stop a recordnumber of people and their ca-nine companions from turningout for the fourth-annual PurinaWalk for Dog Guides here.

This year, the 20 registeredwalkers raised more than$2,400double the amountraised in 2008towards train-ing and providing service dogsfor Canadians who require as-sistance.

InsideInside

See story on A2

Music has been an integralpart of the Emo Walleye Classicsince its inception in 2002.

Whether its during the Satur-day night dance or as the boatsenter the arena for the finalweigh-ins, music always seemsto encourage the participation of

people from across the district. This year, the directors of theEWC put together an entertain-ment program aimed at pleasingspectators and performers.

CountryCountry

See story on A5

It took a team effort, and afew favourable bounces, but theMuskie boys soccer team didalmost the unthinkable here lastWednesdayclaiming the Nor-WOSSA crown and a trip tothe all-Ontarios in Hamilton thisweek with back-to-back wins overthe Dryden Eagles and KenoraBroncos.

The Muskies prevailed overthe Broncos on an overtime goal

by Mitch Cain in a 1-0 win.

SportsSports

See story on B1

Record numberattend dog walk

Music top-notchagain at Classic

Muskie boyssurvive thriller

By Rick NeilsonDistrict correspondent

Were going to build an abat-toir, Steve Loshaw announced tospontaneous applause by the two

dozen or so members attendingthe annual meeting of the RainyRiver District Regional AbattoirInc. at the Barwick Hall on Thurs-day night.

When we first started this four years ago, Geoff Gillon told methat it would be a long hard pro-cess but I never realized it would

be that long or that hard, admit-ted Loshaw, who is president ofthe RRDRAI.

As first reported in Fridays DailyBulletin, it was not a certainty thatLoshaw would be making the an-nouncement given the board onlyreceived confirmation of fundinglast Monday (May 25).

Construction is set to begin inlate June, to be completed by theend of the year.

The contractor, Coldbox Build-ers from Vaughan, Ont., will be us-ing local sub-contractors as muchas possible.

Loshaw noted having localknowledge of the building will bevaluable for maintenance or up-

grades.The plant will be provincially in-spected, but could be upgraded tofederal standards down the road.

It will operate as a not-for-profit

business.The $2-million, 3,600 sq. ft. kill

and chill plant, to be located at26 Byng St. in Emo, will requirea manager and two or three part-time workers once it begins slaugh-

tering its anticipated 20 animalsper week.The facility will handle beef,

pork, bison, elk, sheep, and goats.Funding assistance for the proj-

ect comes from FedNor, the North-ern Ontario Heritage Fund, andthe Ontario Cattlemens Associa-tion.

The local portion to be raised bythe RRDRAI is $360,000.

Loshaw suggested members en-courage their neighbours to join,with a membership costing $500.

There currently are 108 mem-bers, with about 900 animal com-mitments (which cost $100 per

head to a ceiling of $2,000).Producers who are members get

a discount, and those who havemade animal commitments receivean additional discount as well as

priority booking.It is projected to cost $140 to

slaughter a beef.RRDRAI vice-president Trish

Neilson noted the funding wascontingent on sufficient animalcommitment numbers.

Our funding partners wentthrough those numbers prettythoroughly, she stressed.

Staff

Dont start building an ark justyet.

While water levels on RainyLake currently are sitting abovethe International Rainy LakeBoard of Controls rule curve atthe moment, it remains to be seenwhether these high levels willstick around for the summer.

Rainy Lake is definitely higherthan the IRLBC would prefer,interim co-chair Rick Walden said

in an e-mail.As of May 28, Rainy Lake was

at 1,108.3 feet9.3 inches abovethe upper rule curve but just 2.4inches above the maximum URClevel in July, Walden noted.

He added with inflow at about3,500 cubic feet per second larg-er than the outflow, the lake levelis still rising.

While it remains to be seen how high Rainy Lake will risethis year, the current level, atonly 2.4 inches above a normally-acceptable summer level, is notregarded by the board as a floodlevel, Walden said.

How much longer the levelrises, and how high it gets, is de-

pendent on rainfall, he stressed.We could easily end up with

lake levels as high, or higher, than

By Peggy RevellStaff writer

Theyve spent the past four years hammering home an anti-tobacco message, but Youth Ac-tion Alliances across the provincewill be shutting down at the endof August following the Ontariogovernments decision to end the

programs funding.I was completely shocked, Tif-

fany Whalen, a Northwest YAAsenior peer leader and summerstudent for tobacco-free sports andrecreation, said of her reaction

when she first heard funding had been cut to the YAA, which wascreated under the Smoke-Free On-tario Strategy to establish youth-led anti-tobacco initiatives.

I was just shocked because allthe work weve put into it, and allthose changes weve made, sheadded. Its just a disappointment

because of all the work wevedone.

We wanted it to continue, shestressed. All the resources, all thefuture events, and policy changeswe could have madewe dont getto do it anymore.

Its a very, very good programand its a bummer that its just be-ing cut.

Im deeply discouraged, echoedJennifer McKibbon, tobacco strat-egy manager for the Northwestern

Health Unit, which helped ad-minister the YAA program in thisregion.

As an organization, we were sotickled to have youth staff, and to

have them work with us on someof the issues and then take the is-sues beyond where we might havethought of as adults.

It added such a neat dynamicto our work, and not only that, butthe work that they were doing wasreally critical public health preven-tion work, and so were really dis-appointed, McKibbon lamented.

With our program, we got a lot

of experience about policy changeand advocacy for change, and the

program was just great to teach ushow to make a difference in poli-tics today, said Whalen, express-ing gratitude for the funding thatwas provided over the past four

years.It gave us skills and tools to ad-

vocate for different changes in ourprovince alone, she noted.

Whalen pointed to the advocacywork YAAs across the province

have done, including lobbying fora smoking ban in public placesand workplaces, a smoking ban invehicles carrying children, and theFlavour . . . Gone! campaign thatoriginated from the local North-west YAA, which has been lobby-ing the government to ban flavours

Brett Meyers netted the 6.02-pound walleye teammate Na-than Brigham had reeled up on Day 1 of the Emo WalleyeClassic. The pair had good success Friday morning down-stream from the dam here, propelling them to a lead afterthe opening day with a 13.99-pound catch. But the duo only

brought in a 6.34-pound bag on Saturday to finish in thirdspot. Kelvin Caul and Ted Heyens captured their first EWCcrown with a two-day haul of 24.98 poundswell ahead ofrunners-up Paul Allan and Jason Rostek (21.40). See story onB1. Mitch Calvert photo

Whoa!

Taylor Meyers and Justin Bujold paused be-fore family and friends during the GrandMarch portion of Fort Highs annual promSaturday at the Townshend Theatre. This

years theme was A Night Among theStars, with 184 students participating in

the Grand March. The dinner and dancefollowed at La Place Rendez-Vous. More

photos are available online at www.fftimes.com alongside video at www.fortfrances.tv

Elisabeth Heslop photo

All decked out

Constructionof abattoirslated to startby late June

Funding cut to killanti-tobacco program

Lakelevelstillrising

Please see Lake, A7

Please see Construction, A7

Please see Funding, A7

June 3, A1.indd 1June 3, A1.indd 1 6/3/09 11:24:43 AM6/3/09 11:24:43 AM

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 FORT FRANCES TIMES A7

ROYAL CANADIAN LEGIONBRANCH #99

2009 Raffle Results2009 Yamaha Phazer GT and 2009 Yamaha 350 Kodiak with plow

and winch, plus Yacht Club trailer with swivel jack supplied byTompkins Hardware Limited and YamahaWinner: Robin McQuaker, Stratton

Motorguide electric trolling motor courtesy of Nestor Falls MarineWinner: Larry Hagen, Fort Frances

One day catch and release fly-in fishing trip for four includingflight, boat, motor and gas supplied by True North Outposts

Winner: Henry Petkau, Emo

$1,000 worth of groceries supplied by Cloverleaf Shop-Easy FoodsWinner: Deb Westover, Barwick

Woods 10cu. foot freezer and frozen food package supplied byGreens Countrywide & Greensides General Store

Winner: Darlene Smith, Devlin

John Deere STIHL HS 45 Hedge Trimmer courtesy ofDeGagne Equipment

Winner: Lisa Loney, Winnipeg

20 Haro F1 BMX bike supplied by Skates & Blades, Bikes & BoardsWinner: Tracy Gibson, Fort Frances

Acer Aspire One 8.9 Notebook supplied by WalmartWinner: Dave Christiansen, Fort Frances

Husqvarna 125c grass trimmer courtesy of Borderland EssoWinner: Aaron Heerema, Emo

$250 Petro Canada Gas Card courtesy of Norlund Oil (2003) LimitedWinner: Vernon Thompson, Emo

McAuley & Partnersbarristers & solicitors

Serving our Communities Since 1948

SARAH S. TRACH, B.A., LL.Bp n h fFAMILY LAW, f whh h h xnv

knwdg. MS. TRACH w n F Fn n Jun 16h, 2009.

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5th Annual Fort Frances

VOLLEYBALL CAMPFor male and female players ages 12 - 17.

HEADLINE COACH

BOB KOWAL - NIPISSING UNIVERSITYFormer Head Coach - Mens Volleyball Program

CAMP TUITION $165

Application forms can be picked up at FFHS (Main Office)or in the Recreator. Applications due by June 15th.

Contact Duane RoenFort Frances High School (807) 274-7747

Plan to attend the

ATTENTION Youth Volleyball Players!

July 6th - 10th, 20099 am to 2 pm daily

- THANK YOU -The Fort Frances Muskie Girls Hockey Team andthe Redline Booster Club thank you for attending

the Emo Walleye Tournament Fish Fry!

The turnout was exceptional and we trulyappreciate the support of theshing teams and residents

from throughout the district who attended.

Special thanks as well to our generous sponsors who include:

Canada Safeway-Fort Frances

Fort FrancesGeneral Supply

Ernest ThompsonDistributors

The Place

Dalsegs Food Town

Cloverleaf Foods

Tompkins Hardware

Beaver Mills Marketin Rainy River

Your support provides for a delicious mealand for proceeds to be directed towards defraying the

expenses of the Muskie Girls Hockey Program.Finally, a big thank you to the Emo Walleye Committeeand to the Crossroads Rink Group for providing us with

the opportunity to be a part of this special event.

10Anniversary Special

Fort

Dance Studiopresents

~A Reprisal of Select Past Performances~

Friday, June 5th, Townshend Theatre @ 7 pm

AND

Saturday, June 6th, Townshend Theatre @ 7 pm

Tickets sold @ Bettys and at the door on show nights.

All tickets $11

~Dancing Down Memory Lane~

Happy 10th Fort Dance Studio

10th Annual Core & Elite Divisions Recital

In honour ofWORLD ELDER ABUSE AWARENESS DAY

June 15th

The Fort FrancesElder Abuse Awareness Committee

is pleased to present a FREE

Health & SafetyWorkshop for Seniors

Monday, June 15th, 2009at 10:00 a.m.

Royal Canadian Legion250 Church St. Fort Frances

The agenda for the sessionwill be as follows:

10 a.m. ~ Drivewise with

Constable Anne McCoy11 a.m. ~Medication Safety withEdwin Bruyere, Pharmacist

12 noon ~ Light Lunch sponsored by theRainy River Valley Safety Coalition& the Older Adults Program

1 p.m. ~ Frauds & Scams with O.P.P.2 p.m. ~ Safe Banking with Nancy Green,

CIBC Bank Manager

Enter towin prizes!

For more information or to register,please call 274-9712 or 274-1403

Thisadvertisementsponsored by

Thank YouThe Board of Directors for the

Timothy Perreault Charitable Foundationwould like to thank the following businesses, organizations and individuals

who helped make this years golf tournament a great success. Thank you

to our Gold sponsor B-93 for all the advertising and radio interview, it wasvery special, to our silver sponsors DeGagne Equipment, Couchiching First

Nations, a thank you to Sight and Sound, Howarths Home Centre, OtisElevator Services, United Native Friendship Centre, North American Lumber,Sunset Country Ford, Revco Carpet, Holmlunds Financial Services, GillonsInsurance Brokers, Royal Bank of Canada (Winnipeg Branch), Tom Veert,MGI (Rice Financial Services), Gizhewaadiziwin Health Access Centre,

E. Thompson Distributors, Heron Landing Golf Course, SandwedgeRestaurant (Greg Bruyere),Fortune Bay Resort and Casino, Chester Fried

Chicken, Couchiching Convenience Complex, Couchiching Fire Department,Weechi-it-te-win Family Services, Rainy Lake Tribal Contractors, Wayne

George Construction, Domenic Servillo, Construction Allied Workers Union,Heikki Lampi, Fort Frances Chiefs Secretariat, Fort Frances Clinic Dispensary,

LaPlace Rendez-Vous, Asselins, Wilsons Business Solutions, Linda Kennard,Maurice Fillion, Fort Frances General Supply, International Travel,

Pwi-Di-Goo-Zing Ne-Yaa-Zhing Advisory Services, Calder Law Office,Fort Frances Times, Richard Bruyere, Lannie Michell.

Last of all and the most import ant people:

Brenda McPherson, Sharon Strachan, Michelle Strachan, Diane and GerryMartin, Josephine Potson, Mary Jane Kecwandh, Shania Weir, Patsy Friday,

Sherry McLeod, Ashley Grimard. Also a very big thank you to all the players,I hope you had a wonderful day. If I have forgotten anyone, please forgive

me. Thank you all very much, a little step in time, makes a big different.

Pauline and Greg Perreault

like pina colada, cotton candy,and green apple being added totobacco products like chew andcigarillosproducts that specificallyare targeted towards youth.

The program is really impor-tant, why would you want to cut a

program thats doing so good? shewondered.

And it doesnt even cost thatmuch to fund in the beginning.

We receive a little more than$200,000 a year, and thats whatwere losing, McKibbon said of thecost for the health unit to run the

program across the region.It was $115,000 a year per

clusteris what they used to callitand the Northwestern HealthUnit had two clusters, so thats$230,000 a year.

This funding covered all thecosts for the program, includingtravel, training, program supplies,and employing one part-time adultstaff and 16 part-time youth staffacross the region.

Provincially, the cancellation ofthe YAA program means 50 adultstaff in public health units, andmore than 350 youths, will losetheir jobs.

The ministrys position is thatwe take the fight against smokingseriously, but we know that we

have to make changes to reachmore Ontarians, Ministry ofHealth Promotions spokespersonGary Wheeler said in response towhy funding for the YAA program

will be stopped.So we are seeking to build on

the successes of the YAA program, by taking a broader approach toengage greater numbers of youthwho are at risk in Ontario commu-nities, he explained.

Were currently developing new programs with our partners thatwill build on the accomplishmentsof the YAAs, Wheeler added.Our plan is to bring in new youth-oriented programs this fall, andthose programs are going to bedeveloped in consultation with our

partners.But since this new program still

is in its development stage, details(such as if youths will be employedlike they are with the YAA) are not

yet available.Meanwhile, across the province,

supporters of YAAs have beenorganizing, including a Facebookgroup called Save the YAAs!Stand up and have your voice

heard! which has more than 700

members.Rallies and letter-writing cam- paigns also were planned beforeMPPs go on summer recess tomor-row (June 4).

Local members of the YAA havebeen writing letters to politiciansto express their disappointmentwith the program being cancelled,noted Whalen, who encouragedmembers of the public to do thesame.

Write letters, make phone calls,fax, e-mail, drive the governmentcrazy and just help us get our pro-gram back, she stressed.

We want them to realize thatwhat theyve done has really put adamper on youth today, Whalen

remarked. We were making suchgreat headway, and we were mak-ing so many changes.

Weve been doing this for years,and now that weve really got the

ball rolling and weve really got the youth engaged and ready to go,our opportunities have just beencut.

This includes further work withthe Flavour . . . Gone! campaign,said Whalen, because while thefederal government recently intro-duced a bill that bans flavouredcigarillos, flavoured chewwhoseuse is much more widespread inNorthwestern Ontario by youthswas omitted.

I think the Flavour . . . Gone!campaign that they launched last

July is a really excellent exampleof youth doing things that we, asadults, might not necessarily thinkof doing, explained McKibbon.

They just have the energy to dothat, and they can focus on thoseissues that are youth-centered.

And its the kind of work thatdoesnt get done as well if itsadults doing it, and sometimes itdoesnt get done that way becausethe youth have this sort of unique

perspective on the issue as it af-fects them.

Some of the things they wantedto work on in the future was get-ting parks and playgrounds smoke-free for kids, so trying to talk to thelocal municipalities about passing

bylaws so that playgrounds weresmoke-free, added McKibbon, cit-ing second-hand smoke concerns,the butt litter that can be a danger-ous to animals and young children,and to encourage adults to providea good example to the children inthose areas.

Fort Frances, we kind of wantto do a twist on it, said Whalen.Instead of banning the productin the open . . . we can put morecigarette cans, like the butt cans,up and more places to throw yourgarbage instead of just throwing iton the ground.

Other areas that the YAA hopedto work on include asking mu-nicipalities to eliminate smokingaround rec centres and pools, like

Fort Frances already has done,noted McKibbon.

They may get some work doneon that this summer, but once the

program gets cancelled, itll haveto be on a volunteer basis andkids are busy, just like we are, sheadded, referring to school work, so-cial lives, and other part-time jobs.

And having paid staff, includingthe youth, running the program isone of the YAAs strengths, McKib-

bon stressed.From my perspective, we value

their work by paying them like wewould pay adults to do that work,she remarked. Youth are great forvolunteering, theyre great for that,

but Im not expecting the [new]program to be as successful.

The youth are going to listento youth more than anybody else,thats just my opinion, Whalensaid on why the YAA is successful.

If you get, for example, someadult in there, trying to preach tothe youth, This is why smoking is

bad or dont do drugs because . . .theyre just going of kind of brushit off and skip the assembly at the

high school.Another loss will come with the

end to jobs for the adult staff, whoare a youth advisor and supportthe involved youth in planning

how to take action on issues the youth feel are important, McKib- bon added.

The difficulty of running a pro-gram like thiswhere youth arereally engaged and have influence

over how the program is run, re-ally have a meaningful roleis thatif you dont have paid adult staffwhose job is a youth advisor, theadult staff that are in the healthunit dont have that kind of time.

They have other programs thatthey have to do.

These are the jobs that werelosing.

Were going to continue the program as fully as we can untilthe end of August, until the fund-ing ends, but it is a sad time,McKibbon stressed. Were all feel-ing a little bit deflated about it

because I cannot fathom why thisis a good idea.

It just gave us a voice to makea difference, and now we feellike weve lost that voice, echoedWhalen.

RRDRAI secretary Bill Dar-by believes there is a likelihoodthere will be larger numbers thanthose committed.

A lot of producers only boughta small number because theyunderstood that it means youvegot to bring your animals tothe abattoir and they were notsure if they would be able sellat the farm gate, so they onlycommitted to bring two or threeanimals.

But they eventually could bebringing more, he suggested.Loshaw conceded there was

some concern about being penal-ized if producers we unable bringthe animals they had committed.

We are not in the position topenalize them. We need the sup-port, he stressed.

We have a positive messagetonight and we hope that maybethere is some money out there;that people would like to helpreduce that $360,000 so that itis more manageable.

Use the facility when it isup and running. Promote local

products, Loshaw urged. Wevegone many years without an ab-attoir and we have to use it.

The Rainy River Future De-velopment Corp. will hold themortgage.

Loshaw praised the dedicationand hard work of the board andthe patience of the membership.

He also acknowledged theRRFDC and Geoff Gillon, agrep Gary Sliworsky, Jane Gillon

with the Ministry of NorthernDevelopment and Mines, and thetownships of Barwick, Emo, andLa Vallee for their contributions.

Jeannette Cawston, the rural agco-ordinator, spoke briefly about

her efforts to build the appetitefor local food while also trying toincrease the interest of farmers incatering to the local market.

We have conducted three sur-veys that show that 85 percentwill buy local, she noted. Theyask, Where can you get it?

Ive been working with the[Rainy River Cattlemens Associa-tion] on protocols, as well as mar-keting and packaging, Cawstonadded.

Our vision is to have RainyRiver Raised beef in all of theretail stores across the region.

those of 2008. However, it shouldnot be assumed that this will bethe case this summer.

While the level is currentlyhigh, and is likely to be for a while yet, a return to better weatherwould easily result in quite accept-able levels in the summer months,Walden remarked.

This past winters weather, in-cluding a record snowfall in March,is one of the factors behind whythe water levels are high.

Since late April, the Rainy-Namakan basin has experiencedthree periods of well above normalrainfall which, combined with theabove normal snowmelt run-off,

has resulted in the current highlake level, Walden explained.

The fact that the rainfall hasbeen fairly intense at times, insteadof more evenly distributed, and thefact that the weather has been cooland cloudy, has also meant thatmore of the rainfall has run offinto the lake and the basin hasnt

had a chance to dry out as muchas it would under warmer, sunnierconditions.

Lake levels will continue to rise,he added, until inflow and outfloware equalsomething that is main-ly subject to the continued amountof precipitation.

As of Thursday, 14 of the 15 gateswere open at the dam here andwater was being passed through

both powerhouses, Walden said,with the final gate expected to

be opened once it is effective

to do so.It is anticipated that the final

gate will be opened soon, althoughthe lake level is still about 3.5inches below the level at which theIJC order requires all gates to beopen, he noted.

It is not effective to open gatesfaster than they have been dueto the restriction in the upperriver at the Ranier rapids, Waldenstressed.

Larger amounts of water simplycant pass through this restriction

until the lake level is higher, soopening more gates sooner simplydraws down the level of the riverat the dam, resulting in less depth,or head, to push water throughthe sluices that are open.

While some may suggest a solu-tion to high water levels is drawingthe level of Rainy Lake lower overthe winter, Walden pointed to theIRLBC/IRRWPB Spring, 2009 re-

port to the IJC, where in section2.2 this proposal is addressed inthe context of the 2008 event and

presents modelling results whichshow that this is simply not effec-tive.

Walden advised property own-ers to keep updated on the waterlevel conditions, and take precau-tions for protecting shorefronts anddocks.

Regularly updated water levelsfor Rainy Lake, and other informa-tion, can be found online at www.ijc.org, where a link to the RainyLake Board of Control can be

found under the Boards tab.

More from A1

Lake level still risingAbattoira go

Funding cut kills programMore from A1More from A1

June 3, A7.indd 1June 3, A7.indd 1 6/3/09 10:08:42 AM6/3/09 10:08:42 AM