JULY: A pre-election appearance, grim statistics and a flash flood

10. A 19-year-old Manitoba man was charged with sexual assault after an incident at Fort William Historical Park during a music festival on July 18. Police allege Stephen MacKenzie attacked a woman in a portable shower stall.

9. A volunteer group stepped forward and agreed to find a way to keep the city’s historic Canadian National caboose on display at Prince Arthur’s Landing. Another group, the Silver Mountain Historical Society, had made a request to council to consider moving the train to Silver Mountain, where it would be used as a museum.

8. An alleged drunk driver was involved in a spectacular late-night Algoma Street crash. According to police the driver slammed into a planter along the boulevard, went airborne and travelled about 20 metres before coming to a stop. The 42-year-old male driver then failed the sobriety test administered on scene. The planter was destroyed, as was his vehicle.

7. Taxpayers learned the municipality could be facing a $1-million shortfall by year’s end, according to city manager Tim Commisso. That was up from the $832,000 projected at the beginning of the year during the budget process. Commisso laid the blame on winter control, overtime costs for police and early leave benefits.

6. A former bible camp counselor was convicted of sexual touching in court after he pleaded guilty to 10 charges of abusing underage victims. Jeff Paxton faced six counts of sexual assault, three counts of gross indecency and one count of invitation to sexual touching.

5. A vigil was held on July 16 in honour of 22-year-old Larissa Charlie-Stillway, who was murdered a month earlier at a trailer park on City Road. The event was hosted by the Ontario Native Women’s Association and held to encourage women in the community speak out about violence facing them. Her boyfriend, Cruz Pelletier, was charged with second-degree murder.


4. NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair paid the city a pre-election visit and vowed once and for all he wouldn’t fight to bring back the controversial long-gun registry if he was elected in October. Mulcair called it a failure during a stump-style speech. The program cost taxpayers more than $2 billion after being instituted by the Liberals.

3. Not that it was any real surprise, but Statistics Canada numbers showed that Thunder Bay earned the dubious distinction of being Canada’s murder capital in 2014. The city’s 11 murders were more than 2.5 times more per capita than its nearest rival.

2. Representatives of Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment slammed the City of Thunder Bay over its environmental assessment filings regarding proposed construction work on the Boulevard Lake dam. The $5.3-million project was put on hold for at least another year over the concerns. It was originally scheduled to begin this past summer.

1. Flash flooding and heavy rains wreaked havoc on outlying communities in the Thunder Bay area, forcing residents in Nolalu temporarily from their homes. The Whitefish River swelled and overflowed its banks, washing out roads and flooding out homes and properties. Damage was extensive, said Nolalu Fire Chief Bob Payne.