Monthly Archives: May 2013

Davidson, featured

Davidson raises concerns over potential cleanup costs at old gas station

The former S. M. Gas and Convenience station located on King Edward Street in Davidson is causing headaches for town officials.

“The concern is the possibility of the underground storage tank leaking and the ground being contaminated,” said Davidson administrator Gary Edom. “At some point in time if the owners decide to walk away from it we get stuck with the clean up. (It could be) a very expensive mess to clean up and remediate.”

As discussed at the monthly town council meeting last Tuesday, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment has recently released results of precision leak tests of the storage tanks undertaken by the owners of the site determining the tanks are not leaking at this point in time.

Edom said he got the Ministry involved by contacting Arm River–Watrous MLA Greg Brkich a few weeks ago who then relayed the town’s concerns to Ken Cheveldayoff, Saskatchewan Environment Minister. Cheveldayoff replied back to Edom with a letter stating ministry staff has advised him that the owner of the site has conducted tests on the tanks in 2011 and 2012, which determined they are satisfactory.

Cheveldayoff further said that the province does not have any funding available for clean up of orphaned gas stations, but that the Green Municipal Fund managed by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities may be an option to consider should this be required.

Edom said when the station was originally shut down about two years ago there was water getting into the tanks possibly because of inadequate filler caps. He said to his knowledge the caps have now been changed.

“That’s the concern,” he said. “If water is getting in, there could be gas getting out. What we’re thinking is if (the owner of the site) walks away from it, it just sits there forever or the town jumps in and has to clean it up.

“These cleanups are darn expensive, so we’re trying to get pressure on these guys while they still own it to do something if something needs to be done.”

The town could end up owning the site because the owner of the property is behind on their taxes, so the town may have to eventually take the title to it. This would mean that taxpayers would be on the hook for the cleanup costs if action were required.

“Right now the Ministry of Environment seems to be satisfied that nothing is leaking out of those tanks, which is everybody’s big concern,” said Edom. “If (the owners) want to let it sit closed, as long as it’s not contaminating anything, it’s their money. But if gas starts leaking into the ground, we have major expenses.”

Davidson

PFRA office layoffs shock PSAC Ag Union

The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) offices in Watrous, Melville, Weyburn and North Battleford are being closed by the federal government with all employees at those offices receiving layoff notices.

Fabian Murphy, first vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada Agriculture Union, said they are shocked by the cuts. He said it was expected the employees would be relocated instead of being laid off.

“Those offices were the old Agro-Environmental Services or the old PFRA sites, small work sites,” said Murphy. “(When) Agro-Environmental Services was combined with Science and Technology a couple years ago and (the federal government) announced the closure of the PFRA farms it was anticipated that those employees would be affected to a certain degree, but we were certainly taken by surprise when they were given their notice.”

Murphy said this would affect PFRA patrons as they would no longer be able to utilize these offices to carry out their work as well as gain the “human resources assistance” available to them from these employees. He said the union has not received information on when exactly the offices would close, but that also depends on the employees.

“They have some options to decide if they’re going to be taking the transitional measure and leaving right away or if they’re going to try and hang around for a while,” he said. “They’re entitled to 120 days to make their decision and then after that they’re entitled to, if they choose, stay on for a year. The end date on those employees depends on their positions.”

Patrick Girard, senior media relations officer with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), said the government is closing these PFRA offices because they are shifting focus in the way it supports innovation and environmental work. He said with these closures they would now be fully integrated with the rest of the department’s research.

“This is enabling AAFC to better integrate agronomic and environmental expertise to address productivity (and) sustainability challenge in a more holistic way,” said Girard.

To read more please see the May 27 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Prairie Ice 98s dominate competition at Saskatoon City of Bridges tourney

The Sask Prairie Ice 98s peewee girl’s hockey team is dominating their competition this spring, thanks in large part to the outstanding play of their last line of defence.

Loreburn’s Jasey-Rae Book, 14, recently backstopped the team to a 3-1 win over Sask-Can in the gold medal game at the Saskatoon City of Bridges AAA hockey tournament. Jasey-Rae claimed MVP honours for the final game in the May 15-18 tournament winning a 28″ TV for her efforts.

“I have a high confidence level right now,” said Jasey-Rae, a Grade 9 student at Loreburn Central School. “The puck seems to keep out of the net.”

A hockey player since she was four years old at both the goaltender and forward position, Jasey-Rae is no stranger to big games. She is also a member of the Diefenbaker Thunder, who made it to the league final against the Fort Qu’Appelle Flyers earlier this spring.

Despite a strong effort, the Thunder suffered a 5-4 loss to the Flyers, but Jasey-Rae said it was a close back-and-forth affair.

With her summer team, the Prairie Ice, Jasey-Rae deflects credit for the team’s success just like the many pucks shot her way. She said the team is “really strong” defensively, which makes her job between the pipes pretty easy

She said they also have many offensive weapons on the team, so she knows if one does get by her or the team’s alternate goalie, Tatum Shand, the Prairie Ice would have an answer.

This was made obvious by the team’s strong tournament play this year finishing with silver in their earlier two tournament entries in Regina and Calgary before the gold medal triumph in Saskatoon.

This is Jasey-Rae’s fourth year on the Regina summer league team, whose lineup consists of players from numerous Southern Saskatchewan locales including Weyburn and Outlook. Over her years, she has also suited up for the Outlook IceHawks and Loreburn 19ers.

Jasey-Rae said summer hockey is different from winter hockey as the Prairie Ice is more of a “tournament team.” The club doesn’t play any regular season games and practices only on off weekends from tournaments in Regina.

Their season ends in June after a yet-to-be-confirmed tournament in Fargo, North Dakota, but the first task at hand for the club is duplicating their latest gold medal effort at their next tourney this weekend in Regina.

“I’d say we have a pretty good chance of winning the thing,” said Jasey-Rae, “but you never know.”

Davidson

Residents to ponder paving proposal

Residents along a stretch of Third Street, King Edward Street and McGregor Street in Davidson will once again have the opportunity to decide if they’d like pavement and curbs put down along their roads.

Gary Edom, administrator of Davidson, said town officials are sending a letter out to residents along the gravel portion of the roads inquiring if they would like the town to move forward by contacting engineers and tendering the work. He said the households affected would have to incur the costs of the project.

The stretch of road that would have pavement put in if approved by residents begins about at the start of the North Side Manor on Third Street, goes up to the end of the street, turns around the corner and heads down King Edward Street to the New Life Pentecostal Assembly before turning once again ending halfway down McGregor Street.

“It’s a pretty big stretch,” said Edom. “We’ll just see who is interested and who isn’t and go from there.”

Edom said the town has tried to start the project before, but there was little interest among property owners. He said they are inquiring about starting it again because some property along the road has changed ownership since the last go-around, so there may be more interest now.

“If too many (property owners) are against it, then there is no point in going any further,” he said.

featured

Brkich and Broten debate success of spring session

The spring session of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly came to a close last Thursday with members from both the government and opposition claiming success on the issues they have brought forward the past two months along with frustration toward views coming from the other side.

Saskatchewan Party MLA Greg Brkich, who represents Arm River, said the government has helped the people of this province this spring by bringing in a balanced budget, introducing private liquor stores and looking into new laws to improve safety in highway construction zones. He said the party, which holds 49 of the 58 seats in the legislature, has not confronted many difficulties this past session putting forward its mandate other than “a few concerns with health and a little bit with highways,” but those issues have been addressed.

“Calls to the office have been very light with concerns,” said Brkich. “We get a lot of compliments on the direction that our government is going in, which is the economy. We still have the strongest economy in Canada and that is what people are most favourable of, having a good strong economy.”

Brkich said the New Democratic Party’s spring concerns about the long-term care conditions for seniors is a falsehood considering “they never did anything for the 16 years they were in (power for long-term care),” while the Sask. Party government has announced 13 new long-term care facilities in an attempt to play “catch up” with the needed infrastructure due to NDP neglect. He cited the new long-term care facility in Watrous along with the other 12 “that are being built and being close to finished” as how the government is addressing the problem of the condition of current long-term care.

The NDP and independent provincial auditor’s demands for greater transparency when it comes to the government’s use of two sets of books to determine the province’s finances come budget time was also dismissed by Brkich. He said using a single set of books to determine the province’s finances is “up to the finance minister,” but for him showing a balance on both the general revenue and the summaries provides a better argument.

“The general revenue is your day-to-day money that is coming in,” he said. “It’s your day-to-day expenses. The summary is more of your long-term, so actually looking at the two gives you a better picture of what’s happening in Saskatchewan rather than just having one set of books.”

Cam Broten, leader of the Saskatchewan NDP and MLA for Saskatoon Massey Place, said his party has voiced the concerns of many Saskatchewan people during his first session as leader of the official opposition including the lack of transparency displayed by the government in respect to the province’s $19 billion debt despite a robust economy and the care for Saskatchewan seniors that is not up to “standards that everyone wants” and expects.

“The report from the provincial auditor that was released (this past month was) very critical and scathing of the Sask. Party government for maintaining two sets of books,” said Broten in a conference call. “The auditor clearly said this has allowed them to hide deficits and it doesn’t give an accurate picture of the total debt, which is now over $19 billion. We wish the government would agree with the independent provincial auditor, but we have seen a dismissive approach by them, where they don’t see any need for change, even though the rest of the country does things differently.”

To read more please see the May 20 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Helen’s Run celebrates life of Dundurn grandmother

In an effort to honour the memory of her grandmother and raise funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Logan Williams is once again putting on Helen’s Run in Dundurn this June.

“Helen Williams was my grandmother,” said Logan, 31. “She lived in Dundurn since 1958 and she passed away from breast cancer in 1993. I had been putting a team into the CIBC Run for the Cure called Helen’s Helpers and decided that it would be nicer to bring something closer to home. Myself, my mom and my dad are runners and we thought it would be fun to put on a run of our own. The first year we used it as a fund-raiser for Run for the Cure, but now we donate the money directly to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.”

The Helen’s Run 5Km Fun Run/Walk for Breast Cancer is being held June 1 this year at the Dundurn Military Base with a start time of 10 a.m. Interested participants can register for the non-competitive run at www.helensrun.ca with a registration fee of $25 for adults, $15 for youths under 16 and $40 for families.

“If you are running you don’t need to collect pledges,” said Logan. “You just pay your registration fee, but you can donate money as well. We have had people in the past who have collected pledges from co-workers and we of course wouldn’t say no to that, but it’s not something that we require.”

Logan said their goal this year is to raise $4,000, putting them over the $10,000 mark they had raised since the run’s inception in 2009. She said they have already raised over $2,000 towards their goal. Last year the run had 47 entrants, numerous volunteers helping out and raised $2,263.

She said the choice of a five-kilometre distance was settled on because it is “not as daunting as a 10-kilometre or a half-marathon,” but there is a shorter route for kids or people who may think they can’t make it.

“If you can walk for an hour, you could walk it easily enough,” she said. “We wanted to make it something that could include almost everybody.”

Logan said the day would also feature a coffee get-together at the gym before the run and a chili-on-a-bun lunch afterwards. She said the day would also include a trade show showcasing local businesses going on in the gym throughout the festivities.

“It is a family event. We’ve had babies right from six-weeks-old to people in their 70s come. It is a really nice atmosphere.”