Now that lake levels have returned to normal, the Rendezvous Yacht Club is holding its “community sail” program, originally scheduled back in June, tonight (Aug. 19) and Aug. 29 from the government dock by La Place Rendez-Vous.
It will begin at 6:30 p.m. both nights.

In its continued efforts to get funding for the new Fort Frances Library and Technology Centre, the town is re-applying to the province for more dollars.
At a special meeting yesterday afternoon, town council passed a resolution to support a funding application to the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. (NOHFC) to the tune of $480,000.
The town previously had applied to the NOHFC for library funding, but was turned down. An appeal also was rejected.

There were 18 new fires reported in the West Fire Region yesterday, eight of which have since been declared “out.”
Fire planning specialists predict that today will continue with multiple fire starts and intensified fire behaviour, such as intermittent to continuous crown fire potential with torching, spotting of embers ahead of fires, and fires that burn deeper beneath the surface into organic matter on the forest floor.

After helping Canadian Blood Services exceed its goal for donations last fall, district residents once again are being encouraged to give the “gift of life” here on Sept. 10-11.
CBS spokesperson Harvey Heather said last week the agency is in need of blood.
“Summer here at Canadian Blood Services has been extremely busy and challenging,” he noted. “Across Canada, we have collected over 5,400 units of blood over our planned collections.

Information sessions are being held by the Ontario government over the next three weeks concerning changes to the taxation of unincorporated areas.
The sessions come as the province moves into the final phase of its Provincial Land Tax (PLT) reform that will see unincorporated territories taxed under the Current Value Assessment (CVA) format, starting in the new year.
The CVA format used to assess land taxes was not applied to properties in unincorporated territories when it first was introduced in 1998.

Fort Frances District firefighters responded to a new fire in Quetico Provincial Park on Saturday.
FireRangers and a waterbomber took action on the fire, which was showing open flame and spreading at a rate of about two-three metres per minute.
The blaze, which probably was caused by lightning, currently is classified as “under control” at 0.7 hectares in size.
The West Fire Region has a total of eight active fires, including three in Fort Frances District, two in Red Lake District, two in Nipigon District and one in Kenora District.

By the end of yesterday, three new fires had been reported in the districts of Kenora, Fort Frances, and Thunder Bay, bringing the total of active fires in the West Fire Region to seven.
The blazes, which include two in Fort Frances District, two in Red Lake District, and one each in the Kenora, Nipigon, and Thunder Bay districts, are a mix of human and lightning-caused fires.

The Fort Frances Public Library’s summer reading program is coming to a close, which means time is running low for whose still trying to get in their book reports.
The party to celebrate those readers who read “tonnes” of books will be held next Friday (Aug. 22) at noon, so the deadline to submit any last-minute book reports is this coming Wednesday (Aug. 20).

The word “skeet” is derived from the Swedish word for shoot.
Skeet was invented in 1915 to simulate bird hunting, and live pigeons were first used.
Nowadays, humane disks of clay are used although some older shooters still call the targets “birds.”
Rounds (out of 25) from this past the Fort Frances Sportmen’s Club range by Frog Creek included Tony Manuge (20, 21, 19, 19), Len Noonan (20, 23, 24, 21), Brad Houghton (20, 20, 20), and Ted Brockie (22, 21).

With the aim to start construction next spring, the building committee for the Fort Frances Public Library and Technology Centre will meet with project architect John Knox this Wednesday (Aug. 20) to take another look at the plans.
“At the meeting, we expect to finalize the footprint,” said library board chair Joyce Cunningham.
“The committee members will evaluate the current floor plan, which has been reduced from 17,000 sq. ft. to 13,770 sq. ft., and make any fine-tuning changes that are required,” she added.