Candace Derksen

The Municipality of Rhineland has been singled out, twice, by the Manitoba Good Roads Association.
    
At its recent annual awards presentation, the Municipality received two awards.
    
The first is the Provincial Shield for the best maintained system of rural municipal roads in District 2.
    
The second award is the Judges Shield for the most improved municipal roads in District 2.
    

The grassroots group behind Altona's Field of Dreams project is being inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame for their work in getting the Access Field built.
    
They are Ken Wiebe, Gord Sawatzky, Ben Dueck and the late Menno Friesen. 

The Morris Robotics team registered some of its best scores of the season, and it happened during Day 1 of the VEX World Championships, presented by the REC Foundation, in Dallas, Texas.

It was Altona vs. Altona as two of the Angels U13 softball teams took to the club's new diamond for the first time Tuesday night. 

The first pitch was thrown on the community's newest softball diamond last night, just over a year after the Angels softball club cast a vision for improved facilities. Over the fall and spring, volunteers worked tirelessly to relocate a diamond to the northwest corner of Ecole West Park School's property and convert it into a full clay facility in time for the 2025 season. 

"Without the people that make up our community, we are nothing." That from Paul Peters, Executive Director of The Community Exchange. The Altona-based organization hosted a 'thank you' supper on Monday, recognizing the crucial role volunteers, donors and service partners play in making the organization what it is today.

"It's the volunteers that are really helping to bring to life some of the vision of who we are."

In 2024, volunteers logged well over 2,500 hours with the organization.

"We're here to celebrate together, to come together, to connect (and) to build relationships." That from Jaime Friesen-Pankratz in her opening remarks to the crowd that gathered at the Rhineland Pioneer Centre in Altona on Saturday morning for a Pow Wow demonstration. 

Hosted by the Steps Toward Reconciliation group, the event saw performances by the Jo Creek Drummers and Dancers from the Roseau River First Nation and included explanations and teachings about the various dances and dress. 

The Town of Altona will be testing its emergency outdoor warning siren today.
    
It will be activated at 1 p.m. and run for four minutes in order to ensure the equipment is working properly.
    
At any other time, if you hear the siren for longer than 30 seconds, seek shelter immediately and tune your radios to CFAM 950 for more information. 
    
Again, Altona's emergency outdoor warning siren will be tested for four minutes at 1 p.m. today. 

An hours-long standoff with a black bear came to a peaceful end early Saturday morning in Altona. 

The animal was spotted high up in a tree around 8:15 a.m. Friday morning when Dwayne Martens peeked out of his back garage door and spotted the creature taking a nap in his backyard tree. 

The community came out in droves yesterday for the second in a series of Food for All Events, sponsored by Rede-Made Noodles, in support of the vital work being done by the Rhineland and Area Foodbank in Altona.

Broadcasting live from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Sun Valley Co-op food store in Altona, the event encouraged community members to drop off non-perishable food items and cash donations to help feed local families in need.

In total, the day generated $2,750 and many bags of non-perishable food items. 

It wasn't what Dwayne Martens was expecting to see when he stepped outside this morning...a black bear taking a nap in his backyard tree!

"I came into my garage around 8:15 this morning and I looked out my backdoor and happened to see it," explained the Altona resident.