The Eagles girls’ hockey team is showing southern Ontario how the Northwest plays hockey.

The girls are 2-0 after their first two round robin games.

Game one was a walk in the park for the team as they faced off against Smooth Rock Falls. Alexis Reid and Alex Wesley earned two goals apiece while Morgan Church, Halle Lobreau, Kylie Engstrom and Kristen Bartlett added their names to the score sheet with one each in the 8-0 win.

Game two was much closer as the girls faced off against Carleton Place. The girls earned a 4-1 win with goals from Bartlett, Engstrom and Wesley.

Goaltender Breanna Brown faced nine shots in total for both games.

The girls need a tie or a win against Ridley in the morning to move on to the quarter finals. Check back Wednesday afternoon for a full update.

The murder of Lesley Enriquez in March 13 attack by suspected Mexican drug cartel members in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, has sent terrible shock and sadness as far north as Dryden.

Enriquez spent time in the community and attended Dryden High School for one semester in her teen years.

Local resident Dixie Robinson, Enriquez’s godmother, had a close relationship with the 34 year-old who was four months pregnant with her second child.

“We were very close after both her Mom and Dad passed away,” said Robinson adding there may be many community members that would remember Lesley from her time spent here.

“I had spoken with Lesley eight days before the tragedy and we were making plans for me to go down to be with her for the birth of her second baby,” said Robinson. “Lesley had a very sweet, very bubbly and amiable personality, which she carried from her teenage years into her adulthood. She and her husband, Art, were a beautiful young couple. This is a tragic and very frightening situation.”

Both Enriquez and her husband Arthur Redelf, were killed by gunmen after leaving a children’s party at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez. A third American, also linked to the U.S. Consulate was killed in a seemingly coordinated attack that has drawn international condemnation.

Robinson, along with her son, left Dryden last week to attend Enriquez and Redelf’s funeral in El Paso, Texas, just across the border from Juarez.

Foreign Affairs Canada has issued a warning for Canadian citizens to avoid traveling to Mexico, particularly Juarez, due to escalating violence linked to drug trafficking.

-Chris Marchand

The chair of the 2010 Dryden Walleye Masters Committee says the organization is disappointed at a city council decision not to sponsor the local fishing tournament by donating the use of the Dryden Memorial Arena for the event.

Joe Barron’s letter on behalf of the Walleye Masters Committee appeared in the March 13 council agenda, requesting permission to use Duke St. Dock for the event, permission to close Earl Avenue between Duke and Arthur streets and the sponsorship donation of the Dryden Arena for a total of 10 hours over June 18, 19, and 20.

Council, chose not to waive a $775 facility rental fee.

Though present at the meeting, Barron expressed frustration at his inability to directly address council on the matter while it was being discussed at the meeting.

“What we suspect, from the figures that we have, is we’re bringing anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000 each year into the community,” said Barron. “That’s $3 million over the last 20 years this tournament has brought into the merchants, restaurants, hotels, etc. For them to dismiss it like that, I wonder where their loyalties lie? Do they not want these activities to go on?”

Barron adds he hoped that council would have tabled discussion on the matter in the hope that the group could appear as a delegation at an upcoming meeting of council.

“We talked about it (appearing as a delegation) and based on what was said, there’s no sense in us doing that. It would be a waste of everybody’s time,” said Barron. “There are tournaments like this across the northwest,” he said. “Red Lake, Fort Frances, Kenora – all of their councils are behind these tournaments 100 per cent. They can see the economic impact and the goodwill it’s creating. I don’t think the Dryden Council could care less about the Walleye Masters.”

Council’s discussion raised the point that local taxpayers are currently subsidizing over half of the facility’s annual operating costs.

City of Dryden director of community services Bill Latham says the city would find itself in a difficult position if they absorbed rental costs for some groups and not for others who could make equally valid claims about economic spinoff to the community.

“If we open up the arena for everything like that, it wouldn’t be fair to all our partners. We have to be consistent and fair. We do recognize the economic benefits when we have events in the arena, but we also have to be responsible to the taxpayers.”

Latham says recreation department officials have recently developed an hourly rate system that helps keeps costs down for community partners. He adds the recreation department used this new rate structure in their discussions with the Walleye Masters Committee to arrive at a rate of $775 for the 10 hours they need over the weekend. Under the existing fee schedule, the same access to the facility would have cost $1,743.

“We’re doing that more and more with all of our user groups, because they’re not using the arena for the full day, just a couple hours,” said Latham. “It is a fairly good deal and it does go above and beyond our existing policy.”

- Chris Marchand

While it may do wonders in improving quality of life for local cardiac patients, a physiotherapy program at Dryden Regional Health Centre (DRHC) simply can’t keep up with local referrals.

There are 12 people waiting to access DRHC’s Cardiac Rehab Exercise Program, designed to help high-risk patients who have experienced cardiac events or who have been diagnosed with underlying heart disease. Closely monitored by cardiologists at Thunder Bay’s Regional Health Science Centre, the regional satellite program aims to safely build patients’ exercise tolerance and teach them how to continue on their own.

“It’s worth the wait as far as I’m concerned,” said one program participant who requested to not have his name published. After two years on a waiting list, the man says the program has allowed him to resume a fairly normal life. “I was in a situation where I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Basically, the doctor told me not to do anything. So, I spent two years doing nothing and I decided that wasn’t very good, so I got into the program to find out what I could do without killing myself.”

Another patient, who also opted not to be named says the program has been a very positive factor in his continuing recovery from a series of heart attacks last March.

“I’m back bowling and I’m getting better all the time,” he said. “Some of the guys at the bowling alley might not agree with that, but it feels good to me anyway. I’ve learned quite a bit.”

Since the program was introduced in 2008, it has seen 16 graduates.

DRHC’s Angela Bujold says there are no easy answers to concerns raised about timely access to the program.

She says space constraints for exercise equipment, staffing levels, and the long three-to-six month length of the program are limiting factors to the volume of patients they can handle.

Only four patients can be enrolled in the program at a time – matching the department’s capacity for exercise equipment – attending two 1.5 hour sessions on a weekly basis.

Bujold says DRHC’s staff of six physiotherapists are fully occupied with additional programs, both in the hospital and out in the community and that program expansion is unlikely in the short term, due to tight budgets.

“We look after all the total knee surgeries, exercise programs at Princess Court, we have therapists who do Home Care for Sioux Lookout, Vermilion Bay, Wabigoon, Ignace and Dryden, plus they see surgical in-patients and out-patients as well,” said Bujold. “Those six physiotherapists have to do all of those things. If we run more cardiac rehab programs, we have to cut back somewhere else. We recognize the need for more spots, but at the same time we’re fortunate to have the level of service we do. A lot of hospitals are cutting out rehabilitation services as a way of saving money and our hospital has not.”

Those who have yet been unable to access the cardiac rehabilitation program are encouraged to contact the Dryden Family Health Team where there are several programs on managing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, healthy eating and weight loss counseling, as well as safe medication use.

- Chris Marchand

USAF Warthog demo team confirmed for Centennial Airshow

Organizers for Dryden’s upcoming Centennial Airshow are pleased to report that they have received official notice from the United States Air Force Air Combat Command that the A-10 Warthog East Demo Team will be performing at the Dryden event during the May Long Weekend.

The A-10 Thunderbolt II, designed for close air support of ground troops, is extremely maneuverable at low air speeds and altitude. The aircraft can loiter near battle areas for extended periods of time and operate under 1,000-foot ceilings (303.3 metres) with 1.5-mile (2.4 kilometres) visibility. The wide combat radius and short takeoff and landing capability permit operations in and out of locations near front lines. Using night vision goggles, A-10 pilots can conduct their missions during darkness.

For more on the upcoming Dryden Centennial Airshow, check out www.dryden2010.com, or find them on Facebook.

Stanley Bruce Corbett

With his family at his side, Stan Corbett passed away peacefully, following a brief illness, on March 17, 2010 at the Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora, at the age of 87 years.

Stan will be remembered by his daughter Sue Troughton of Comox, B.C., his son Jim and wife Cheryl Bouvier; grandchildren Dominique and Aaron  and his brother Ozzie and wife Norma.

He was predeceased by his wife Olive in 2002; his parents Harry and Katherine; his brothers Earl, Sonny, and Doug; and his sister Muriel.

Stan was born and raised in Kenora, and remembered fondly his days playing the violin in the school orchestra at Lakewood School.  He worked for a short period of time with the railway, then with the paper mill in Kenora.

It was in Kenora that he met his wife Olive, whom he married in 1949.  In the 1950s, Stan and Olive moved to Dryden, where Stan started a long career with the Dryden paper mill, where he worked until retiring in 1987 as superintendant of the steam plant.  Stan received great satisfaction from his work with the paper mill, and took pride in the growth of the community of Dryden.

From the age of 16 on Stan enjoyed his camp on Lake of the Woods on property that he purchased with money earned from his paper route.  Until the mid sixties, the trips from Dryden to camp included launching a boat on Longbow Lake and traversing the Longbow Dam as no road access was available.  Stan grew tired of that routine and in the late sixties pioneered the construction of a branch road off of Kimberley Road.

Following his retirement, he and Olive moved to the camp where they continued to enjoy the summers on Lake of the Woods.  During winters, they enjoyed travelling, golfing and spending their time in Yuma, Arizona, where they developed many warm and lasting friendships. He will be missed by his friends and neighbours in the south.

A celebration of Stan’s life will be held on Friday, June 11, 2010, at Smith Camps on Lake of the Woods (details to follow).

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Canadian Cancer Society.