Friday, April 27, 2007

Venture Centre Gets New Funding

There was some significant good news for The Venture Centre in Timmins today. The federal government announced more than $1.5 million in funding over the next 3 years. The funding, made possible by Industry Canada/FedNor, will support several different aspects of The Venture Centre’s work in the district which includes Timmins, Gogama, Foleyet, Mattagami First Nation, Shining Tree and Biscotasing. Some of the money will be used for coordinating an Export Development Program for the whole of Northeastern Ontario.
For more complete details, be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times.

New Gear


Northern College Student Firefighter Kayla Amodeo, centre, gets a hand with her new hat and coat courtesy of Xstrata Copper's Kidd Creek Minesite fire department. Kidd Minesite fire chief Dave Dewar, right, holds the helmet. Wayne Shippam, coordinator of the college's Pre-Service Firefighter Education and Training Program, helps with the new coat. Xstrata donated nine full sets of fire fighter bunker gear to assist the students in their training.

Bike Crash


Emergency workers tend to a child who suffered injuries in a mid-afternoon accident outside Ecole publique Lionel Gauthier school in Timmins today. A police officer gathers measurements beside the child's bicycle. The matter is still under investigation by Timmins Police. Emergency workers indicated the injuries were not considered life-threatening. For more complete details, be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times .

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Local High Schools 'REPORT CARD'

The Fraser Institute Report Card for Ontario’s Secondary Schools has given less-than-glowing marks to some high schools in the Timmins area.
Four local schools were rated against a top score of ten points.
The Timmins schools in the Fraser list this year are École secondaire catholique Theriault with 5.9 points, Roland Michener Secondary School with 5.7 points, Timmins High and Vocational School with 4.3 points and O’Gorman High School with 3.6 points.
The rankings are based on information taken from Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). The report covers 719 public and separate, English and French secondary schools.
The report also lists the overall school ranking compared to the other 719 high schools in the province. The Timmins schools were all in the bottom half of the ranking. Theriault was ranked at 460 out of 719. RMSS was ranked at 489. TH&VS was ranked at 621 and O’Gorman was ranked at 659.
The local high school rankings are in contrast to an earlier report this year when the Fraser Institute announced the Garfield Weston Awards for the best elementary schools in Ontario.
To see the full version of this story, look in your next copy of the Timmins Times this week.

Police Reports

HIGHWAY DEATH - Ontario Provincial Police report that 52 year old Gerry Lemire of Timmins died in a single vehicle automobile crash on Highway 101 west Tuesday evening. Police say Lemire was the lone occupant of a 2007 KIA vehicle. The crash occurred about 1.5 kilometres west of the Opishing River bridge in Sewell Township. OPP Forensic Identification officers are still working with Technical Traffic Collision Investigators to try to find out exactly how the crash occurred.

DRUG BUST - Timmins Police have laid drug charges as the result of a search warrant executed during a raid on a residence. Claude Rozon, 55, of Fifth Avenue in Timmins was arrested and charged with 2 counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance for the Purpose of Trafficking. Police seized the following items.
10 grams of Cocaine valued at $1,000.
207 grams of Marihuana valued at more than $4,000.
More than $5000 in cash and other drugs. Rozon was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in court in July

For more complete details, be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times this week.

Porcupine Lake Waterfront

Water levels on Porcupine Lake are rising with the spring thaw. Compared to previous years, the MRCA isn't very concerned about flooding.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Flooding Conditions NOT Urgent

Flooding has been occurring in some parts of Timmins because of the warmer temperatures. Kees Pols, the general manager of the Mattagami Region Conservation Authority, says no significant damage or inconvenience is occurring however. Pols says the MRCA is keeping a close eye on all waterways, on the weather and the snow levels in the bush. Property owners who live near shorelines are advised to remove all materials that might suffer water damage, or float away, in the event of high water.

Picket Rally on Wednesday

Locked out Grant Forest Products workers will get some moral and financial support this week from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. OPSEU workers will head out to the Grant strandboard mill on HIghway 101 west in Timmins at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to lend support to the CEP workers who have been off the job for 8 months.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Highway 101 Temporarily Closed


Highway 101 west in Timmins was closed at mid-morning after a two vehicle collision. Details of the collision have not been released but one vehicle was flipped onto it's roof on the south side of the highway. The other vehicle ended up in a clump of dense bush on the north side of the highway. Drivers were treated by paramedics and transported to hospital. For complete details, be sure to check your copy of the Timmins Times this week.