Ask Tom Pearson, owner of Camp Narrows Lodge and former president of the North Western Ontario Tourism Association, about what’s keeping tourists out of the area and he won’t hesitate to speak his mind.

Town council agreed Monday night to declare two properties surplus and put them up for public sale. The property at 821 Sixth St. W.—formerly Buttner Enterprises—will be put to public tender, with a reserve bid in the amount of $75,000.

Confederation College graduates were offered words of wisdom and acknowledgment during their convocation ceremony here Monday night.

With the arrival of summer comes the potential for severe weather, including the many thunderstorms Rainy River District has witnessed over the last couple of weeks.

Fort Frances Public Works has replaced the blue-coloured glass depot bins with a new green dumpster to make glass recycling more efficient for residents and staff alike.

Energy Fitness patrons will be heading off in teams to a pair of marathons this weekend—one in Winnipeg and the other in Duluth. The marathoners will be wearing matching green bandanas with white polka dots as a show of solidarity—an idea dreamed up by Energy Fitness owner Jackie Lampi-Hughes.

A sub-committee of the Rainy River District Regional Abattoir Inc. has been struck to determine the supply commitment of its members in order to move ahead with an accurate business plan to establish an abattoir in the area.

On Sunday, June 17, local “Joints in Motion” participant Bill Michl will be having a Father’s Day Speghetti Dinner at the KC Hall between 5-7 p.m.

In an efforts to establish a dedicated youth justice system, the province announced Friday it would fund the construction of a new youth detention facility here in Fort Frances.

There are six contestants competing in this year’s Emo Fair queen pageant, which once again is being held in conjunction with the Rainy River Valley Agricultural Society’s annual fall fair in August. Organizers Sis and Trisha Wilson, who took over the event last year, are thrilled with the boost in participation this time round.

Two southern Ontario men have been fined $5,000 and banned from hunting for two years for illegal moose hunting. Alain Brisson, 52, of Embrun, and Andre Brunet, 61, of St. Eugene, pleaded guilty to hunting cow moose without cow tags, abandoning the kill, and allowing the meat to spoil.

An Efficiency and Effectiveness Review of the Rainy River District school bus transportation services was conducted by a review team selected by the Ministry of Education.

The Superior International Junior Hockey League will expand back into Fort Frances this fall. “It’s gonna happen, it’s as simple as that,” said SIJHL president and commissioner Ron Whitehead. “Fort Frances is definitely in the league.” The league approved the move Saturday at its annual general meeting, ending a process that began late last year.

Up until now, it seemed the only traffic the government dock at Pither’s Point would see this summer would be from the hundreds of seagulls that perch there each day.

Jason Jarvis may look all business with a racing-styled helmet, cycling shorts, and a sleek, hot green bike, but he laughed at the notion that members of the Borderland Bicycle Club were out for anything but fun here Sunday.

For Peter Engberg’s “Wing-N-It,” last Wednesday (June 6) was a night of firsts. In his first sail of the season, he won Week 3 of the Rendezvous Yacht Club’s Spring Series.

International Falls resident Earl Palmquist is selling the world’s largest lake trout—a 40-pound behemoth he caught near Atikokan 20 years ago—on eBay. It’s not easy for him to sell it.

The local Sight & Sound fastball team is on one long road trip. Due to a series of scheduling conflicts and rain-outs, the Fort Frances-based team, which hasn’t played at its home field at VanJura since May 24, won’t be playing a game within town limits until Thursday, July 5—a span of 42 days.

The night-time entertainment during the upcoming Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship could be the best ever. The schedule kicks off Sunday, July 22 at 8 p.m. with the ever-popular MuchMusic Video Dance for young people under the big tent.

Teri Treftlin, who was raised in Fort Frances and Atikokan, was presented with the Young Entrepreneur Award (Northwest) at the 10th-annual Influential Women of Northern Ontario awards luncheon held June 6 at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay.

Canadians like using cash. It’s a fast and convenient means of payment. In 2006, there were some 1.3 billion notes in circulation worth more than $43 billion. That’s about 40 bills for every person in Canada.