http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx News brought to you by Tbnewswatch.com Tue, 21 May 2013 21:43:18 GMT 5 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/images/tbnewswatchlogo.JPG http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280746 A woman charged with murder in 2010 has now been charged with aggravated assault in two separate incidents over the long weekend. Thunder Bay Police received a call to the Shoppers Drug Mart on Memorial Avenue around 8:30 p.m. Sunday. There responding officers learned of a group of intoxicated women who had entered the store for fear they would be assaulted outside. The women left the store befpre officers arrived, but were located shortly afterwards under the Memorial Avenue bridge. A 19-year-old female appeared to have been assaulted and was soaking wet; she was taken to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and is still in the hospital. Thirty-one year old Thea Gliddy has been charged with aggravated assault, threats and breach of probation. Gliddy was later charged with two more counts of aggravated assault stemming from an incident that happened around 2 a.m. Monday. A female victim, 33, and her boyfriend, 29, had been assaulted in an apartment in the 100 block of South May Street. Police were called to Shelter House to assist the female, who required medical attention. She told the officers she and her boyfriend has been assaulted. Her boyfriend came to the Shelter House and both were taken to the hospital and have been treated and released. Gliddy and 31-year-old Denise Moonias have been charged with two counts of aggravated assault. Gliddy was also charged with breach of probation. Gliddy was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Randy Cromarty, whose body was found at the former Inntowner Hotel in May 2010. Those charges were stayed in 2012 when the Crown announced it did not have enough evidence for a reasonable chance at conviction. She was released in 2012 after two years in custody. Police arrested Gliddy Monday without incident Monday at 7 p.m. on South May Street. She appeared in court Tuesday morning and was remanded into custody. Both investigations are ongoing.  None of the charges against the accused have been proven in court. Tue, 21 May 2013 16:13:34 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280746 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280733 A local health centre is growing again. The NorWest Community Health Centre on Simpson Street was designed for around 15 staff when it was built 20 years ago. Today, more than 66 are working out of it, sometimes with six people working out of an office designed for two. Then there are the clients and service providers who use the building. “Right now this building is way beyond capacity in terms of the number of people that use it,” CEO Wendy Talbot said. “My staff have been working under very tight conditions.” On Tuesday, the province announced funding for the centre to construct another two-storey building in the parking lot next to the existing centre. MPP Bill Mauro said the exact dollar figure isn’t known as the project will go to tender in the coming months. “I think it’s fair to say this is a multi-million dollar investment,” Mauro said, adding that there’s no exact dollar figure attached to the project right now. It’s part of the province’s commitment to primary care he said. “It keeps people out of the emergency room it keeps them healthier.” The building will house more exam rooms, reception area and community rooms for more programming, something the centre hasn’t been able to expand on because of the space issues with the current building. Talbot said the new building, which could break ground next year, also means that clients can be in and out quicker. “We’re only going to continue to grow,” she said.       Tue, 21 May 2013 13:47:14 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280733 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280751 Despite its history with flooding, the recent rainfall has had no impact on Fort William Historical Park. More than 60 millimetres of rain fell on the city and region over the holiday weekend. As a precaution, Historical Park staff moved the farm animals off the historical site and into a barn on higher ground. Staff also moved some historical items to higher ground. Historical Park spokesman Marty Mascarin said they have water around the shoreline but it hasn’t kept the park from closing its doors. He called the precautions standard operating procedure. “We’ve been receiving visitors from California and Minnesota and so forth,” he said. “We’re just keeping our fingers crossed that the rain will let up. When you have a forecast of concentrated rainfall in the springtime or at any point, it’s always a cause for concern depending on the level of the river. It has been receding now it has gone up again.” Mascarin said they’re keeping a close watch on the Kaministiquia River and keeping in touch with the Ontario Power Authority, which controls the dam further upstream. In comparison to last year, Mascarin said the amount of water they were dealing with was about the same. The high water hasn’t impacted any of the Old Fort’s canoeing programs as they haven’t started yet. Mascarin added they are only offering walking tours at the moment. Environment Canada spokesman Geoff Coulson said the city is going to experience drier conditions starting Wednesday. Another 10 to 20 millimetres of rain is expected to fall Tuesday. He said it was a wet holiday weekend. “Many locations were picking up about 80 millimetres of rain,” Coulson said. “A lot of that was falling during the early morning hours of Monday. Now looking at the radar, there’s one last band of precipitation from this very stubborn system that has been hanging out the Minnesota area.” He said the weather will improve in the evening with plenty of sunshine in the forecast but added that the amount of rain the city did received was unusually high. “Normally what we would expect to see for the whole month of May is about 67 millimetres of rain,” he said. “We over the course of the holiday weekend we saw more than a month’s worth of rainfall in many areas. Fortunately, before that it was relatively dry.” The average daytime high for this time of year is around 18C. Coulson said the city will be a little cooler than the average with the daytime high expected to be around 17C on Wednesday.     Tue, 21 May 2013 15:33:40 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280751 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280724 Two men have been charged in an assault that occurred Saturday in the Field Street area. Thirty-two year old John Baxter and 34-year-old Patrick Baxter have been charged aggravated assault. The 31-year-old male victim remains in the hospital in fair condition. Thunder Bay Police officers initially arrested four individuals – two men and two women – and charged them under the liquor license act for being intoxicated in a public place. The two accused have both appeared in court and have been remanded in custody to the Thunder Bay District Jail. The investigation continues. Tue, 21 May 2013 15:13:57 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280724 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280715 Some new strategies and a bit of luck has the city’s police force is on budget  so far this year. Thunder Bay Police Service chief JP Levesque told the police board Tuesday morning that through the first quarter, the force is on budget. Overtime, usually the largest culprit when it comes to the police being over budget, has been kept to a minimum so far this year. Levesque said that’s because they’ve been trying to stop overtime within the uniformed ranks as much as possible. But mainly it’s because there has been no major event that has required overtime. “Right now something could happen and our overtime budget could be blown,” he said. “It’s usually driven by major cases.” The police board also heard Tuesday that the new Zone Watch program has 62 applicants. Executive officer Chris Adams said they are going through background checks, but barring any setbacks all applicants should become Zone Watch members. “We would have been happy if it had been 30 to start,” Adams said. “The response has been quite gratifying.” Zone Watch is an online forum that selected citizens can use to interact with police to help keep an eye on their neighbourhoods. The applicants will begin a four-week training course next month. “That training will give them a better understanding of policing,” Adams said. Adams said it’s not clear yet which parts of the city the applicants come from but ages range from late 20s to 70s.     Tue, 21 May 2013 12:46:39 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280715 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280725 Charges are pending in a May Street assault city police are investigating. At 3:30 a.m. Saturday, Thunder Bay Police officers assisted a 27-year-old female assault victim in the 100 block of South May Street. The victim was intoxicated and had severe facial injuries. She was taken to the Thunder Bay Health Sciences Centre and has since been treated and released. Other individuals in the apartment were intoxicated and uncooperative with the initial investigating officers. Tue, 21 May 2013 13:21:47 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280725 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280747 There will be no summer election in Ontario. Both of this city’s MPPs say they’re happy that the minority-led Liberal government’s budget will pass. Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath announced Tuesday that her party would be supporting the budget, giving the government enough votes to pass the budget released earlier this month. MPP Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay-Atikokan) said while an election was always a possibility, he’s not surprised the NDP announced its support. “I really felt it would land in this position,” Mauro said. “They were pieces we were already doing to be quite frank.” Those pieces include a decrease in auto insurance premiums. Mauro said he’s happy that this will give the minority government stability for a while. MPP Michael Gravelle (Lib., Thunder Bay-Superior North) agreed. “It allows us to carry on with some really incredibly important work,” Gravelle said. But Thunder Bay-Atikokan Progressive Conservative candidate Harold Wilson wasn’t so impressed. PC leader Tim Hudak had said he would not be supporting the budget. "While attention has been focused on the budget, the clock has been ticking on many critical files for our region,” Wilson said. “These include the looming impacts of the Endangered Species Act provisions - set to come into effect on July 1, the complete lack of urgency on any of the mining approvals in our area, the over 6 months and counting we have been awaiting the Ontario Power Authority's report on the options for our Thunder Bay Generating Station, and now the cuts to training for our local contact centres. “There comes a point where there is no road left for kicking those cans."     Tue, 21 May 2013 14:47:13 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280747 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280658 Bill Bartley said the City of Thunder Bay dodged a bullet. Bartley, the head of the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority, on Tuesday said much less rain fell overnight Monday than the 70 millimetres originally forecast. The four to 13 millimetres that came down was on top of 60 to 70 millimetres of rain that saturated the city over the weekend. “The flows are still moving rather rapidly and they are still high, but they are starting to recede,”said Bartley, lifting the flood warning order with sunny skies in the forecast. “The Neebing River is two metres lower than it was at this time last year. We had what they call a five- to 10-year return this year, versus the 100-year return last year.” Darrell Matson, the city’s manager of infrastructure and operations, said while some residents have experienced localized flooding in their basements, the municipal infrastructure held up, unlike last May when heavy rains led to sewage back-ups after the sewage treatment facility failed. “The water pollution control plant performed very well. There were no operational issues,”Matson said. “We did experience a couple of minor power failures. The plant was recommissioned and it certainly performed to expectations.” Flows have since receded, he added, noting the storm and sanitary sewer system worked well. Some city roads didn’t fare quite as well, a number of them closed by washouts. Chippewa Park was also closed indefinitely because of flooding on Fort William First Nation. “It will remain closed until further notice,” said Matson, adding they had to evacuate three people, a camper, a worker and a security guard, from the park. “Just essential staff will be allowed in today in order to accommodate the daily operations.” Mayor Keith Hobbs, who met Tuesday with the city’s Emergency Operations Control group to forge a plan of attack, said safety is still paramount and despite the lifting of the flood warning, residents should still take precaution. “The waters are high. They’re fast and we’re urging parents to watch their children and make sure everyone is safe. So that was our No. 1 priority,”Hobbs said. “I think we came out of this very well. Each emergency we have, we learn from it.And I think it was a great weekend. Everyone did a great job from the city’s perspective.” Hobbs added he plans to ask council to extend the application period for the city’s residential drainage assistance program, which is set to expire on May 31. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:47:21 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280658 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280500 The Lakehead Region Conservation Authority has upgraded its flood watch to a flood warning. City worker and firefighters were responded to a number of flood related incidents Monday morning. The LRCA originally issued a flood watch for the city as well as Neebing, Oliver Paipoonge, Shuniah and the townships of O’Connor, Conmee, Gillies and Dorion but has since upgraded it to a warning. On Monday afternoon Fort William First Nation Chief Georjann Morrisseau declared a state of emergency under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, stating the community has suffered flooded homes and roads have been washed out.  The city and area has already received about 50 to 60 millimetres of precipitation over the last 24 hours. Another 45 millimetres of additional rain is expected in the forecast over the next day and overnight. LRCA chairman Bill Bartley said the amount of rainfall may even be exceed in the event of a thunderstorm. “We’re telling people to be careful and watch out,” he said. “It’s not as bad as last year. We still have lots of room in the waterways but 28 or 30 hours from now that could be a different story. If it keeps going the way it is right now it should be OK but I say that with great caution.” Water was already overflowing onto the street along Mountain Road near Broad Oaks Drive, which is now closed. The Neebing-McIntyre Floodway has also begun diverting flows and is expected to continue over the next few days. Bartley said they are monitoring the situation closely and advised residents to stay away from fast flowing water in watercourses and in ditches and added that they are in close communications with the Ministry of Natural Resources. “We haven’t had any reports of any great rivers flooding,” he said. “If anything changes we’ll certainly let people know. Right now we’re in fairly good shape.” OPP Sgt. Brent Genereux said they’re also monitoring the weather. He said some roads are already seeing some water flowing over but so far, there hasn’t been any road closures yet due to flooding. Roads that have some water include Highway 527 about eight kilometres from Highway 11/17, Silver Springs Road, Highway 593 and Flanders Road South near Atikokan. “If the integrity of the road starts going then we will definitely close the road,” he said. “This all depends on the weather.” OPP later sent a release that listed a number of roads that weren’t passable because they were washed out. The roads included Highway 593, Auto Road a mile West of Dawson Road, Blakie Road at Whitefish River and Flanders Road to Lac La Croix. OPP say Highway 527 about eight kilometres from Highway 11/17 is washing out but still passable as well as Silver Springs Road and Two Island Lake Road off Highway 589. OPP have also closed a section of Highway 11/17 about 48 kilometres west of Nipigon. OPP say a hole in the road forced them to close both sides of the Trans-Canada Highway near Nipigon. Police are redirecting traffic at Highway 527 and Highway 11/17 and are unsure when the road will be open to traffic. NOTE TO READERS: If you have weather-related photographs you would like to share, please send them to jlabine@dougallmedia.com.   Tue, 21 May 2013 11:19:45 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280500 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280506 Despite minor malfunctions, the city’s general manager of infrastructure and operations says the Thunder Bay Sewage Treatment Plant is handling the recent rainfall. The city and district has already received more than 10 millimetres of rain since Sunday with more expected over the next few days.  The Lakehead Regional Conservation Authority issued a flood watch for the city as well as Neebing, Oliver Paipoonge, Shuniah and the townships of O’Connor, Conmee, Gillies and Dorion. The city’s general manager of infrastructure and operations, Darrell Matson, said staff has been on duty for the past 24 hours and are closely monitoring the situation. Matson said city crews are still repairing the Atlantic Avenue sewage treatment plant following the May 28th flooding disaster and is susceptible to minor malfunctions. He said since those malfunctions happen from time to time so it was important to have staff available at all times. “There’s been no issues with respect to infrastructure, roads or flooding,” he said. “The plant has been handling the flows extremely well. Over the past 24 hours, it experience two power failures. Operating staff restarted the plant.” “Minor malfunctions could be electrical power malfunction or a speed control malfunction and mostly in the electrical instrumentation controls area. Those are the components that are being torn out and being replaced.” The city has responded to reports of ponding on roads as well as calls regarding sewer and water. Matson said this is typical given the amount of precipitation. He added all the sewers that have been inspected so far are operating normally. Waterways are also being closely monitored.  “The biggest difference from last year is the amount of precipitation over a short period of time,” he said. “This is a significant amount of precipitation over a long period of time. Those are two fundamentally different events.” City officials, who have called a media conference Tuesday morning to update the situations, said several road closures were in effect Monday night. Arundel near Toledo Street, Melbourne Road near Hazelwood Drive, Chippewa Road between City Road and the Chippewa Park zoo and the recreation trail underneath the Edward Street bridge were all closed because of excessive water.  "We are strongly advising residents to use extreme caution when traveling throughout the city and area, as water levels have risen quickly and will only get worse if heavy rainfall happens overnight," Mayor Keith Hobbs said in a release. "Public safety is our top priority. We are asking motorists and pedestrians to take extra care if you are on the roads and rails, and please take extra care with children when outdoors."  To report flooding, phone the Infrastrucure and Operations department at 625-2195. For provincially controlled routes, dial 511.  --With files from Leith Dunick    Mon, 20 May 2013 20:27:40 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280506 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280514 We asked tbnewswatch.com users for their flood photographs, and here are some of them that were sent to us. If you want a closer look at the photographs, click the “view larger image” link just below the photo caption. If you would like to send us your own photographs, send them to jlabine@dougallmedia.com. Be sure to give us your name in the body of the message so we can give you the photo credit. If you have uploaded flood videos to Youtube, you can send us the url and we will either link or embed that video on this page.   Mon, 20 May 2013 17:04:52 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280514 http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280574 Some residents are already comparing Monday’s rainfall to last year’s flooding disaster. Around 50 to 60 millimetres of precipitation has fallen across the city and region over the last 24 hours with another 45 millimetres expected in the forecast. Near the end of May last year, the city received more than 120-millimetres of rain during the course of a two-day storm, with 71-millimetres falling in just six hours. The flooding caused thousands of dollars in damage and flooded hundreds of basements. Tanya Smyk, who has lived on Mary Street for the past five years, didn’t have her basement flood but the water did build up in her backyard. With the amount of rain that has already fallen, her backyard is already overflowing. She said the amount of water she’s seeing is rivaling what she saw last year. “The only other time I’ve seen this happen was when we have the city wide flooding last spring,” she said. “I hope it doesn’t come towards the foundation. This is the same amount of water. Before last year, I never ever saw the water reach my shed. This is probably just as close as I’ve ever seen it to my actual home.” Smyk said her backyard usually pools with water because she’s at the lowest point in the neighbourhood. Adding to her troubles is the fact that her sump pump is out at her camp. Fortunately, Smyk said her neighbour is helping her out. “Last year during the flooding I pumped for eight solid hours in the middle of the day and it basically clears everyone’s backyard first then mine last,” she said. “I don’t want it coming near my foundation. I’ve never had a leak in my basement and I don’t want it to start now.” Nancy Fournier-Leclerc, who has lived on Mountain Road for the past 11 years, didn’t have her basement flood last year but she said if the rain continues to come down she’s worried that this year could be a first. “We’ve never see it that bad before,” she said. “We don’t really know what to expect. Our sump pump is just going and going. If we were to lose anything it would be our gym equipment, all our sports stuff, our freezer and we keep our wine down there. It’s more like storage. If it makes it up to the second basement, that’s our rec room and computer room.” She said it took years to accumulate all her possessions and couldn’t bare thinking of losing it all. The creek near Fournier-Leclerc ‘s home has risen over the past day and she said it’s a bit scary to see the water come closer to her home. She added that’s also worried about being trapped along Mountain Road as the city already closed one section off. “Tomorrow we have school and if that were to happen how would we make it out there,” she said.   Mon, 20 May 2013 16:38:43 GMT http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/Default.aspx?cid=280574