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WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mayor Sam Katz with Mary Kelekis (centre) and her sister Becky Walker at Wednesday�s announcement.

Kelekis Restaurant will live on, in a Way

WINNIPEG has renamed a stretch of Main Street in honour of Kelekis Restaurant.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Sam Katz announced Main Street between Aberdeen and Redwood avenues will be designated Kelekis Way.

The designation is strictly honorary and will not affect street addresses on Main Street between Aberdeen and Redwood. Small Kelekis Way sign toppers will be added to street signs in the area.

The move acknowledges the 81-year-old restaurant, which was founded on Main Street by the patriarch of the Kelekis family, Chris, in the 1930s, with a chip stand in the back of a Model T.

The restaurant is closed Wednesday.

"Eighty-one years for Kelekis is pretty phenomenal," Katz told reporters following Wednesday morning's city council meeting. "I believe no matter where you live in the city of Winnipeg, you've travelled to Kelekis. I certainly have on many occasions."

Three in hospital with gunshot wounds

WINNIPEG police are investigating an early-Sunday-morning shooting at an after-hours club in Weston that sent three men to hospital.

Police said officials at Health Sciences Centre notified police at 4:30 a.m. Sunday that staff were treating three people for gunshot wounds.

The investigation found that the victims had been at the after-hours club on Keewatin Street near Notre Dame Avenue when an argument broke out between two men.

One pulled a gun and started firing, injuring the three people.

A spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said two of the injured men were treated at the hospital that morning and released.

The condition of the third man is unknown

Today the day to walk for homeless

IF you're looking for a way to warm your heart as well as your feet, Hannah Taylor has just the ticket.

The youthful anti-poverty crusader is hoping hundreds of Winnipeggers turn out today for her third annual Walk a Mile in Their Shoes event to raise cash and awareness for Canada's homeless.

Walkers, including many business and community leaders, will be gathering at Portage and Main at 12:30 p.m. today in front of the Richardson Building and joining Taylor for a bracing trek to Higgins Avenue and Main and back again.

The walk, hosted by Virgin 103's Ace Burpee, is just one of about 50 Walk a Mile events being held throughout Canada today to help people with nowhere to live and nothing to eat. Another walk is being held in Singapore, organized by the Canadian International School and the U.S. International School.

The walks are the highlight of National Red Scarf Day, when Canadians are urged to buy one of Taylor's signature red Ladybug scarves, which symbolize a warm hug for the homeless.

ACCESS Centres get go-ahead

THE province is moving ahead with the construction of three new medical and social service ACCESS Centres in Winnipeg.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has issued a request for proposals from developers for the design and construction of the new centres, which will be located in St. Boniface, St. Vital and southwest Winnipeg.

Health Minister Theresa Oswald said in a news release the new centres will make health care more accessible and convenient.

The three new ACCESS Centres will include primary-care clinics with doctors and nurse practitioners, said Oswald.

Also available will be such services as home care, mental health treatment, dietitians, pharmacists, social workers, and assistance for seniors and families with finding child care, housing, employment and income assistance.

The three new centres are in addition to the three already established in River East, Transcona and downtown and two under construction in St. James and northwest Winnipeg.

Raids at two homes net five drug arrests

FIVE people are facing drug charges after Winnipeg Police raided two homes Tuesday.

Police said officers from the street crimes, tactical support and general patrol units executed a drug warrant at a home in the 500 block of Valour Road at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, arresting four adults.

Police said that raid led to a raid in the 600 block of Setter Street, where another adult was taken into custody.

Police found cocaine, marijuana and 40 Percocet pills, more than $900 in cash and various drug paraphernalia.

The five individuals -- three women aged 20, 27 and 29, and two men aged 22 and 32 -- are facing charges.

Stabbed cabbie airlifted to Winnipeg

A cab driver from The Pas was airlifted to Winnipeg Wednesday after he was stabbed in an early-morning robbery.

RCMP said the 54-year-old cabbie had picked up four passengers -- two men and two women -- on the Opaskwayak Cree Nation at about 2 a.m. Wednesday and drove them to a trailer park in The Pas.

When the passengers were getting out, the two men attacked the driver and attempted to rob him.

RCMP said the driver fought back, resulting in both himself and one of his attackers being injured.

The attackers and the two women fled on foot.

The cabbie drove himself to the local health centre.

Two suspects, aged 19 and 23, were later arrested by police.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 31, 2013 A10