Here are the most read stories of the third week of 2015:
5 Moose population reaching critical point: Sportsman's Alliance
The head of the Northwestern Ontario Sportsman’s Alliance would like to see the Ontario government step up its game to protect the province’s moose population.
John Kaplanis on Wednesday said simply reducing the number of hunting tags clearly isn’t working. Moose numbers are down more than 30 per cent across Ontario, and have been nearly halved in the Thunder Bay area in the past several years.
It’s getting to a critical point, Kaplanis said, blaming an increase in predators for the drop in numbers. The solution, as he sees it, is to do more to control the wolf and bear populations, especially in areas where moose are being hardest hit.
“We’d like to see more predator controls in the form of spring bear hunting, and it seems like the ministry (of Natural Resources) is moving toward that direction with the pilot bear control project. So that’s an encouraging step,” Kaplanis said.
4 Teen driver charged after fatal collision with pedestrian last month
A teenager has been charged after a fatal collision with a pedestrian last month.
The crash killed 75-year-old Darlene Kooistra at the intersection of Arthur Street and Edward Street Dec. 5, 2014.
Thunder Bay Police Service have charged the 17-year-old driver with careless driving.
After examining the truck, police also charged him with a defective braking system, operating an unsafe vehicle and driving a vehicle with an open container of liquor.
3 Local man must reduce height of fence to comply with bylaw
Everyone agreed it was a nice fence.
Mayor Keith Hobbs even called the nine-footer, complete with a gate for Brian Vic's RV to fit through, a thing of beauty.
"It's the most beautiful fence I've ever seen in my life," Hobbs said.
But nice and beautiful weren't enough for the Elm Street fence to hurdle the city's six-foot fence height bylaw Monday night, as council turned down an exemption request 7-4. Vic will now have to figure out a way to reduce the fence.
Councillors were sympathetic to the cause saying if no one had complained, the fence would've been spared. Development and emergency services manager Mark Smith said complaints over fences are more common that people might think. There were 41 complaints last year alone.
2 Coffee shop apologizes for "disgusting and racist" song mistakenly played
A north core downtown coffee shop is apologizing after a “disgusting and racist” song was played on its outdoor speakers in the north core late last week.
Video posted to Facebook shows a racially hateful song by controversial American singer Johnny Rebel loudly playing outside the Daily Grind on Red River Road, shocking those recording the video.The song includes the lyrics, "America for whites, Africa for blacks," and mentions the "N" word several times.
The establishment issued an apology on their Facebook page, saying they were unaware the track was located amidst a bulk collection of Johnny Cash songs.
"We would like to apologize to everyone for playing that inappropriate song outside of our coffee shop. It was a disgusting and racist song and it certainly does not reflect our feelings and opinions,” the apology reads.
1 Fence likely to prevent vehicles from James Street Swing Bridge outer lanes
THUNDER BAY -- It appears CN Rail is moving forward with plans to permanently eliminate two-way vehicle traffic on the James Street Swing Bridge.
Sources have confirmed to Dougall Media that the railway, which owns the century-old bridge, has hired a third-party contractor to build a fence that would prevent vehicles from driving down the two lanes.
Crews were working on the bridge Monday morning, installing steel poles down the length of the west lane.
It is believed pedestrians would be able to access the old vehicle lanes.
Social Story of the Week:
Coffee shop apologizes after "disgusting and racist" song mistakenly played in north downtown
