District

The Rainy River District School Board approved its 2018-19 budget during a special meeting held at the Education Centre here last Tuesday.

The approved budget was balanced and represented a total of more than $56.33 million—a four percent increase over last year's budget.

A local man has been fined and ordered to pay forest fire suppression costs under the Forest Fires Prevention Act.

Geoffrey Stanger was convicted at trial and fined $800 for starting a fire without a permit and $800 for failing to tend a fire.

He also was ordered to pay $800 for the cost of putting out the fire.

Rainy River High School students celebrated their graduation last Wednesday evening with a ceremony taking place in the school's gym.

The RRHS band kicked it off with a procession and performance of “O Canada.”

The Rainy River District Transportation Services Consortium is pleased to announce that following an extensive procurement process, all routes have been awarded for the 2018-19 school year.

As a result, a new school bus transportation provider, First Student, now will provide service in Rainy River District.

Draw winners from the recent “Strawberry Social” held by the Emo and District Hospital Auxiliary included Mamie Herdman of Fort Frances (wooden lawn chairs donated by Nestor Falls Hardware) and Shirley Brown of Nestor Falls (solar lights).

Shirley Wilson of Emo won the door prize.

The auxiliary members thank all who donated, attended, and worked at the event.

Canada Day is this Sunday and many district communities are gearing up to provide a day of celebration.

Barwick, for instance, will hold its parade, a ball tournament, and great food booths while Emo once again has a full day of activities planned.

“Dry lightning” activity resulted in rapid fire starts in the vicinity of Kingfisher Lake First Nation in the far north as of yesterday afternoon.

Sioux Lookout Fire #31, located six km east of Kingfisher Lake First Nation, was listed as “being held” at 0.2 hectares in size at last report.

Glenn Boyda of Atikokan won the $500 up for grabs for Father's Day in the Rainy River District Mutual Aid Association's weekly cash calendar draw.

Winning $30 for June 17-23 were Lana Sherwood (Welland, Ont.), Simone Dejardins (Fort Frances), Jim Mills (Thunder Bay), Emily Esselink (Devlin), Rochelle Duchnicki (Fort Frances), Ron Cameron (Atikokan), and Ed Pearson (Sleeman).

The Northwest Catholic District School Board is pleased to announce the award of playground equipment improvement tenders at Sacred Heart School in Sioux Lookout and St. Patrick's School in Atikokan to Playgrounds-R-Us, funded with Ministry of Education School Condition Improvement and School Renewal funding.