District

“Rainy River Ambulance is in a bit of a crisis right now,” ambulance manager Grace Silander told the Rainy River District Social Service Administration Board here last Thursday.

Whether it’s watching one somersaulting in the living room or looking at one down the shaft of an arrow, there’s little that holds as much excitement for the Cupps and their guests as a black bear.

It has been almost a year since the first elk were released at Cameron Lake by the Northwestern Ontario Elk Restoration Committee and so far it’s been a great success, said co-chair Mike Solomon.

“The elk are alive and well,” Solomon said last week. “With the exception of four or five elk who died since the release, all the others are doing well.

While raising children can be demanding under normal circumstances, raising physically or developmentally disabled children can take quite a toll on parents.

For 10 years, the Family Relief Program here has been sending out qualified family relief workers to offer those parents periods of respite.

After three years of not doing any serious painting, Connie Cuthbertson has made her way back into the art scene with a bang.

“I was accepted to exhibit in a show—the 75th Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour,” the Fort Frances woman enthused.

Transportation and special education funding are topics that will be brought up by both the local public and Catholic school boards here Thursday when they meet with deputy education minister Suzanne Herbert.

Both boards have been spending more than their budgets in the area of transportation for several years as the ministry has yet to revamp its funding model.

Applying about 35,000 pounds of pressure to the side of an old K car, Emo volunteer firefighter J.P. Winik tore a door right off its hinges.

The Paragon report, an economic development assessment of Rainy River District was presented to area municipalities last week.

The report, first revealed in the Times back on July 5, was done by Paragon Decision Resources Inc. at the request of the Rainy River Future Development Corp. to show what the district needs to improve economic development.

Jeff Gillon, Community Investment manager for the Rainy River Future Development Corp. here, believes the economic impact local farming has on Rainy River District is one very few people know much about.

“The farming industry provides income and revenue to people across the district, and is not restricted to one specific place but is actually quite widespread,” Gillon said.

Pickup trucks pulled up to the big tent at Hannam Park in Rainy River on Saturday only minutes before the 1 p.m. registration deadline as owners of the district’s biggest pumpkins wanted to keep them under wraps as long as possible.