Monthly Archives: February 2013

featured, Kenaston

Kenaston puts a stop to speeding

Slow down is the message concerned residents of Kenaston are trying to get across to speeders in their community, but not all Kenastonians seem to be taking kindly to the means.

Carmen Fowler, administrator of Kenaston, said the village has recently installed three new four-way stops, one on 3rd Street at the first block coming into Kenaston and two on 2nd Street about two blocks apart, to go along with their original four-way stop near Kenaston School in an effort to prevent a possible accident involving a speeding car and children heading to class.

“We had a lot of speeders going downtown, so it’s basically to slow people down because there is a crosswalk where kids go across Main Street (3rd Street),” said Fowler. “There is a hill where you come into town and you go up that hill to get downtown. Kids cross there that go to school, so we wanted to slow people down before they go to that street and possibly hit kids because the kids can’t see the traffic very well there.”

Fowler said 2nd Street comes off Highway 11 just as 3rd Street does and they have been getting complaints from residents about people speeding on it as well, so that is why they decided to erect two four-way stops there too.

“People come off the highway and they keep going,” she said. “They don’t slow down because they can curve coming into town off the highway. This way we’re hoping that it’ll slow them down because they know there is a stop sign there now.”

The decision to put up the stop signs was made by the previous village council headed by former Mayor Dan O’Handley, but current Mayor ML Whittles agrees entirely with the stop signs and said “they are not being removed” despite some opposition from residents unhappy with the new stops.

“We have that hill and (the RCMP) were clocking people at around 80 to 100 kilometres at times going down Main Street,” said Whittles, noting it’s a 40 km an hour limit. “It is a means of safety.”

The new stop signs were recently brought up at a community meeting held Jan. 29 at Kenaston Place by some residents wary of the change, but Fowler said putting up the signs was a council decision in an effort to make the community safer and people unhappy with the change need to recognize that.

To read more please see the Feb. 11 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Physiotherapist offers services to Davidson

Got a sore back, neck or shoulder? Rejoice! Your salvation is at hand.

Trevor Donald, practising physiotherapist and acupuncturist, opened up a practice Jan. 25 in Davidson at the Robinson Block, located at 702 Railway Street, and will be providing services to people of all ages on Fridays of each week.

Donald, who has been practising physiotherapy for 11 years, said his area of expertise is determining movement pattern problems and developing corrective strategies, especially if it is anything that is an ongoing problem or a repetitive strain problem. He said his work on back, shoulder and neck pain most applies to people who have a muscular or skeletal problem that stems from anything including car accidents to work and sports injuries.

“I try and figure out where the problem is in the movement pattern that is creating that issue,” said Donald. “Some of them are a little more clear cut. You get some where somebody had a car accident and hurt their neck or they’re playing hockey and pulled their groin. The repetitive ones are more correcting the movement patterns.”

He said the acupuncture services he provides will release endorphins in the body, “which are your body’s natural painkillers,” treating muscle tightness. Blood flow improvement and nerve stimulation are also an advantage to the “dry needling” technique he practices.

“You don’t have to have a physician referral (to get services),” said Donald. “The only reason somebody might need it is through their health plan or their group insurance.  Sometimes they require the physician referral, but actually coming and seeing a physio (therapist), you don’t need one.”

A graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, Donald currently practices four days a week in Saskatoon at Flaman Physiotherapy and decided to dedicate his off day to physiotherapy in Davidson and area earlier this year. He said there were no services available before he came, so he thought providing physiotherapy and acupuncture services here would help anyone looking for help without having to travel to the city.

“With physio, we do a lot of exercise prescription as well,” he said. “It gives people exercises to work on or will help them with their gym or training program and that’s to design (the gym program) and progress as well. Physio involves a lot of the exercise component.”

Sports

Cyclones rout Chiefs and 19ers in first round of league and provincial playoffs

The Davidson Cyclones senior men’s hockey team are 2-0 in playoff action, beating the Nokomis Chiefs 8-2 last Tuesday in their first Long Lake Hockey League (LLHL) playoff game and the Loreburn 19ers 10-0 a day later in their first provincial “D” playoff match.

“It is what it is,” said Jason Shaw, head coach of the Cyclones. “We won’t play the same style as we do against Nokomis and Loreburn as we do against LeRoy (the Cyclones next opponent if they beat the Chiefs) and probably Kyle (their likely competition in the next round of provincials). We just have to get through these games and hopefully we can get everybody back and healthy and make a good run.”

The Cyclones game against the Chiefs started slow and somehow seemed to get slower, but that’s expected when only the Chiefs can only dress 10 guys for the game and the Cyclones just 11. In a first period that saw the clubs exchange one goal apiece, everybody seemed tired–the players, the fans and the officials.

Davidson broke out for five more goals in the second to Nokomis’s one, bringing the score to an out-of-reach 6-2, but that had more to do with the sloppy play of the Chiefs than with any expertise on the Cyclones part. Missed pass after missed pass was the order of the night.

“Pretty much it’s been the same all year (for us),” said Chiefs head coach Adam Hendry. “We were short benched and didn’t really have a good start and their top line took control of the game. We probably just got tired of chasing them around all night.”

Full lineups were at hand for the Cyclones-19ers game and the game did have a faster pace than the night before, but the end result was pretty much the same.

To read more please see the Feb. 11 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Raiders revive basketball glory

Once a Raider, always a Raider.

The blue and white lives on after graduation from Davidson School with the Raiders senior men’s basketball team racking up win after win in the Saskatoon Senior Men’s Basketball League (SRML). The team is comprised of former Davidson high school players now plying their trade in Saskatoon, including two current coaches of the Davidson School junior and senior basketball teams.

“We’re a good team,” said Ian Kadlec, who helps coach the Davidson junior team and is a Raiders point guard, both then and now. “Every team has a couple good guys on it, but once we shut down on their guys, our team is more balanced. The level is not quite as good as we can play against.”

Sporting jerseys sponsored by Davidson Western Sales, the senior men’s Raiders have so far amassed an impressive 11-0 record with four games left to play. The club usually competes against other SRML teams at Walter Murray High on the south side of Saskatoon on Sundays with their next game coming up the morning of Feb. 17 against the team Make It Rain.

“The league is fairly competitive,” said Kattlyn Williams, former and current Raiders point guard, along with a being a coach of the school senior ball team. “Any higher and you’d start getting into Huskies players or college ball, so it’s a pretty competitive men’s league.”

Williams said the average age of players on the Raiders is 25 and the team is comprised of members of Craik, Outlook and Saskatoon as well. He said the team, which is currently in E division, is looking to win the championship this year moving them up a division and into better competition for next season.

“We have playoffs after the season ends (in late February),” he said. “We’re hoping to win in playoffs.”

Kadlec said the club is just “taking it one game at a time” and he doesn’t want to look too far ahead, but the team as it is gets the guys in some action and gets them back to their roots, which is a good thing.

“The team is pretty cool,” he said. “When we do our chant when we go on the court, we do our ‘Raiders on three’ chant from high school.”

Williams said anyone looking to come out and support the club could head down to the Walter Murray Gym to see them play. He said they currently get around 10 people from Davidson over for their games now and could always use more.

“When people find out we’re playing ball, they’re pretty excited because they used to watch us back in high school,” he said. “They could come watch us if they want.”

Davidson, featured

Businesses welcome penny’s demise

Businesses in Davidson don’t seem too worried about the demise of the penny in Canadian currency.
Starting today, businesses will be rounding cash transactions up or down to the nearest five-cent increment according to a guideline provided by the Government of Canada. According to the guideline, only the final amount, after taxes have been added, are subject to rounding.
For example, if a final amount owing is $1.01 to $1.02 the figure will be rounded down to $1, while if the amount is $1.03 or $1.04 the figure will be rounded up to $1.05.
“We’re almost there,” said Natasha Larsh, co-manager of Gunner’s Gas and Convenience, on whether they’re prepared for the change. “When we first opened we were rounding everything off anyways. There are just a few products we need to change.”
Pennies can still be used in cash transactions indefinitely and the rounding off policy does not apply to cheques or electronic payments such as debit, credit or payment cards.
Kamal Saini, supervisor at Davidson’s A&W restaurant, said the tills have already been configured to take the rounding policy on cash transactions into account and there have been signs posted on the tills leading up to the change to inform customers. He said the prices of food would not actually change.
“The tills are going to change, but not the prices on the menu boards,” said Saini.
By phasing out the penny as a Canadian coin, the government states it will save taxpayers $11 million a year. This savings comes from the rising cost of production of the one-cent coin compared to it’s worth, the amount of pennies that are lying around Canadian households right now and the handling costs imposed on retailers with the penny.
Judi Packet, co-owner of Packet’s Foods, said the phasing out of the penny is not going to affect them in any way as they’ve already been rounding off transactions for about the past four years.
“We’re a coffee shop,” said Packet. “We didn’t want to deal with pennies in the first place.”

Davidson

Student teacher face-to-face time goes up

Instructional time for the 2013-2014 school year in Saskatchewan is being set to last a minimum of 950 hours, forcing school divisions in this area to readjust their calendar.
The Sask. Party government proclaimed legislative and regulatory amendments on Jan. 1 choosing the 950-hour minimum face-to-face teacher-student time that will apply to the next school year. Saskatchewan school divisions did not offer a minimum amount of instructional time before these amendments were introduced and the changes are an attempt to create a standard consistent with other western Canadian provinces.
Instructional time does not include teacher in-service days or teacher preparation.
Larry Pavloff, chair of the Prairie Spirit School Division board of education, which represents schools in Dundurn and Hanley, said they did not know the changes were “coming down,” but they did hear it was a possibility. He said the new legislation may or may not be a positive thing for students and teachers, but that depends on the quality of education provided.
“Just the fact that we add more time to the calendar year does not mean that student achievement is going to improve,” said Pavloff. “If we add the same quality of time that we know our teachers are presently providing, I don’t know how it can’t help but improve student achievement.”
Pavloff said the Prairie Spirit School Division will have to add 30 hours of instructional time in the coming year to meet the legislative requirements, but how that will happen will not be known until the division board of education calendar committee, which sets out the schedule of the school year, comes to a conclusion of what options they will decide to implement.
He said the committee will meet “very shortly” to work out these details and will then submit their proposals to the school board before April 1.
“Then the board has until May 1 to get their choice of calendar or present their calendar to the ministry,” he said. “The board has to have the decision made by May 1 as to what our school calendar is going to look like.”
Darby Briggs, communications coordinator with the Prairie South School Division, which represents Craik School, said the division is currently putting together a package of options to get up to the 950-hour minimum. She said they would then present that package to the board Feb. 12 in an effort to decide what they’re going to do come September 2013.
“We currently don’t have the 950 (instructional hours minimum), so we’re definitely going to have to take a look at things,” said Briggs. “We’ve got a lot to look at and definitely a lot of options to examine in making sure that what we decide is best both for the kids and the teachers, but also meets the ministry’s requirements.”
To read more please see the Feb. 4 print edition of The Davidson Leader.