Monthly Archives: July 2012

Davidson

Lukiwski hits BBQ circuit

Like most young people in the summer, Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre MP Tom Lukiwski has come home after school, or in his case a session of Parliament, only to find out spending two months basking in the rays at the lake is not to be and a summer job is waiting.

“The summertime is probably as busy a time as (Members of Parliament) have during the year,” said Lukiwski, who holds the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader. “Many people who have not had the opportunity to meet with me while I’m in Ottawa have that opportunity now that I’m back in Saskatchewan. My calendar has been extremely busy so far and it will continue to be through the course of the summer.

“There are more events like barbecues and centennial celebrations, but also a lot of individual meetings with constituents and organizations.”

Lukiwski said his and the government’s focus at the time being is on reducing the size of the deficit, which means reducing the size of government among other things. He said after the global recession of 2008, the government was forced to bring in a stimulus package costing about $15 billion and that needs a trim.

As a result of this, the government was forced to end its involvement with managing community pastures, a topic near and dear to rural Saskatchewan’s hearts.  All 62 pastures in the province, which are used as grassland for cattle by area farmers and are rich in resources and endangered wildlife, will be discontinued under federal management by Agri- and Agri-Food Canada as of 2018.

Lukiwiski said he believes the community pastures are not going to be eliminated entirely just because the feds have drawn back their involvement with them. He said that hopefully someone or something else steps in to keep them going, but it was a necessary decision in order to keep up with the government’s priorities.

To read more please see the July 16 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Co-op cleanup

The Affinity Credit Union and Co-op Association celebrated the International Year of the Cooperative last week by helping clean up the Town of Davidson.

The Riverbend Co-op raked, weeded and picked up garbage at the Davidson Campground, while staff at the Credit Union did their part by cleaning up the Centennial Legacy Trail, the Senior Citizen’s Centre, the Bob Crowley Memorial Gardens and Arnold Park.

Tyler Pisiak, branch manager of the Credit Union, who helped out by weeding at Arnold Park, said the cleanup is an initiative by the Davidson co-ops to help their community who support them by buying memberships. He said co-ops around the province are taking part in the first ever-International Year by choosing their own way to celebrate it and their area.

“The International (Year of the Co-op) is more in recognition of the cooperatives around the province,” said Pisiak. “I guess one of the principles behind the cooperatives is giving back to the community. Why we’re doing this is we’re trying to just bring attention to what we do and that we’re a little bit different in that regard in that we like to give back to the community.”

Marie Nadeau, financial supervisor of the Davidson Branch of Affinity Credit Union, said the main idea behind the cleanup was “if we work together, we can do better for our communities.” She said in recognition of this members of Affinity got together and with a little push in the right direction by Communities in Bloom and the Town of Davidson they decided to get to work sprucing up the various gardens and parks.

“When we talked to Communities in Bloom, they said they have a girl hired for the job to water and weed, but there is so many areas that she can’t really dig in and do the nitty-gritty,” said Nadeau. “They gave us a few spots that they thought would be a good place to go and then the town said maybe clean up the park.

“They thought that would be a good idea and we were all for it. It’s the weeding and stuff, so that’s what we decided to do.”

Donna Russell, marketing coordinator at the Credit Union, who took part in cleaning up the flower gardens at Centennial Legacy Trail, said she was happy to complete some “community service” in celebration of the International Year of the Co-op. She said there are cooperatives all over the world and doing things like this brings attention to the gratitude co-ops have for the people who support them.

featured

RCMP advise boaters to batten the hatches

The Southey/Strasbourg RCMP detachment is asking all vacationers along Last Mountain Lake to be vigilant when it comes to suspicious activity around their resort communities.

The force has seen increased calls for service since the hot weather brought on more traffic along the lake and if anyone sees anything out of the ordinary, a call to police with a description of the perpetrators involved could be really helpful in solving a few unsolved thefts, while also decreasing the chance of more happening.

“We’re really trying to impress on the public that if you see any suspicious activity, especially the full-time residents in our resort communities, to let the police know,” said Cpl. Conrad Logan of the Southey RCMP. “If you see vehicles out of place, give us a call and we’ll check it out.”

Police are asking citizens in the area be mindful of suspicious vehicles or people around their properties after a number of thefts in the Strasbourg Resort area occurred over the past few months. The latest incident happened July 9, when a pontoon boat docked at Glen Harbour was robbed of electronics and fishing equipment.

“The best thing to do is write down the description of the suspicious vehicle and write down the plate number if you can get it,” said Logan. “If you can’t get the plate number, the vehicle might have an interesting characteristic, such as it’s got the big overhead lights or a big grill on the front of a truck, or maybe a sports car and it’s got spoiler on it or things like that.

“These are very good descriptions for us and for police officers, people always like to know what we drive, well we have a very good idea of what the locals drive. There are a lot of things that we can pick up.”

Logan said there are a variety of ways to protect your property when at a resort, but the main thing to remember is that even though you might be on vacation the weather and criminals will not.

“If you’ve got a boat on your lift, make sure it’s up out of the water high enough, so if the wind does get up the waves aren’t splashing against it,” he said. “Tie up you boat and don’t leave any valuables in your boat if you’re leaving it on your lift or in the dock.

“There are a lot of resort communities here on Last Mountain Lake where the shoreline is actually owned by the communities themselves and lots of members of the public walk up and down those shorelines. Late at night, you never know if there might be people down there walking and maybe somebody is just up to no good.”

Davidson

Clarence Torguson, Nov. 28, 1932 – June 24, 2012.

It is with great sadness that the family of Clarence Torguson, age 79, announce his peaceful passing at the Luther Special Care Home on Sunday, June 24, 2012, with his loving wife by his side. Clarence is survived by his loving wife Gerry; sister Lorraine Austman; brother Wes Torguson; brother-in-law Bill (Carol) Wick; sister-in-law Lorraine (Gerry) Cooper, numerous nieces and nephews and other family members and friends. He was predeceased by his parents Jens and Aago Torguson; sister Anne Leonard and brother-in-law Stan Austman; father- and mother-in-law Olaf and Elizabeth Wick.

A very special thank you to all the special care givers on second floor at Luther Special Care Home for all the loving and extra special care given to Clarence.

The celebration of Clarence’s life funeral service was held on Friday, June 29, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. from the Hanley Centennial hall, Hanley, Sask. with Rev. Andrew Appledore officiating.

Interment in the family plot, Hanley Cemetery, Hanley, Sask.

For friends so wishing memorials in memory of Clarence may be directed to the Hanley United Church fund or to the Sask. Alzheimer’s Association.

Hanson’s Funeral Home, Davidson, Sask. in care of arrangements.

Bladworth, featured

Twisters touch down

Lawrence and Margaret Ann Beckie got the shock of a lifetime last Tuesday when a tornado touched down on their Allan Road farm, five miles east of Bladworth.

No one was injured in the violent storm, but it did tear apart trees, move their barn off its foundation, and throw around huge grain bins like they were baseballs.

Lawrence said the couple could see something serious was coming their way before the twister hit as very black clouds starting rolling and moving in fast towards them from the northwest. He said they heard a continuous rumbling, but saw very little lightning and decided to head inside the house before the storm got worse.

“The tornado hit about 2:30 p.m. when the hail started,” said Lawrence. “The heavy rain started about 2:00 and it was ferocious. I’ve never been scared of a storm before, but I was scared of that one.”

Once inside, the couple couldn’t feel the devastation taking hold outside or the funnel cloud ripping up their yard only a few feet away from their home. They said the power went off and they looked for a candle, but taking more precautionary measures didn’t occur to them at the time.

“We have a basement, but we never even thought about going down there,” said Lawrence. “If the house went, we didn’t care if we went either.”

The whirling winds caused widespread damage to rows of trees lining their farm, toppled over one grain bin and picked up another and threw it on top of a tree. The twister also moved their barn off its foundation on its north end and damaged its east wall.

“The most serious damage is to the barn, but that is covered by insurance,” he said. “We have two tractors in there and we’re lucky they didn’t go. That would have been a serious loss.

“We didn’t get any damage to the house though and that’s a good thing, a real blessing.”

The Beckie family has been on this corner section of Allan Road since 1916, starting with Lawrence’s grandfather, but this is only the second time Lawrence can remember a tornado barrelling through. His said the first time was in 1976 when a large barn that he used as a granary was completely flattened.

The cleanup was well on its way only a day after the storm, thanks in large part to their grandson Jory Cooper, 17, and full power has been restored to the farm after SaskPower removed a tree that fell on a line.

The tornado that struck the Beckie farm was one of three confirmed twisters that touched down in south-central Saskatchewan July 3 according to Environment Canada.

Kenaston

Federal funds to flow west

Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, came home last Thursday to announce new funding for upgrades to existing infrastructure in Western Canada.

The announcement held at the Kenaston Swimming Pool saw the Kenaston resident and Conservative Party MP for Blackstrap announce $46.2 million in funding allocated towards community facilities including local arenas, community centre’s and sports fields over the next two years.

“This money is targetting community points of interest,” said Yelich. “It is not very easy to get money. Swimming pools are very expensive to run, so when they need an upgrade any money they can access for the upgrade is significant. (By holding the press conference at the pool) we’re trying to demonstrate the idea of what kind of community infrastructure would be able to apply for this funding.”

The money will be paid out to a community by regional agencies after a project has been completed and is in line with their proposal to Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), an agency run by Yelich’s department. Only existing infrastructure that is in need of upgrades need apply.

Dan O’Handley, Mayor of the Village of Kenaston, said applications would be going out to WD towards getting a new filtration system for the pool as well as gaining a grant for upgrades to their hockey rink. He said that he wasn’t aware that money would be flowing west this quick, but was happy to have Minister Yelich back to announce the new spending.

“In rural Saskatchewan, money is hard to come by,” said O’Handley. “We’re not like the big places where they get a lot more grants. When we do get one, we’re always appreciative.”

Yelich said the money is only going towards existing infrastructure upgrades because funding new projects is just too expensive in a time when the government is trying to get out of deficit and into a balanced budget.

“In the meantime, all these communities may need is maybe a pump or a roof or an upgrade of some sort that will make a significant difference to that community,” she said. “Whether it’s seniors, the Legion, or the library, if there is something that needs an improvement then that’s what we will do.”