Monthly Archives: February 2014

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Motorists seek shelter in Davidson

For the second time in less than a year, Davidson residents opened their homes to complete strangers after icy conditions and blowing snow forced the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways to close Highway 11 between Kenaston and Regina for approximately two hours last Wednesday stranding travellers in town.

Davidson Emergency Measures Operations (EMO) coordinator Trish Shilling said about 80 of the 175 people who were diverted off the highway to Davidson Town Hall and decided to spend the night in town were billeted to 25 different households. Another 80 headed to the New Life Pentecostal Assembly to sleep on bedding provided by the Davidson Health Centre. She said the 15 other travellers decided to stay overnight at the Town Hall despite the EMO having more homeowners in town willing to act as billets.

“It ran a lot smoother than last year,” said Schilling when comparing Feb. 18 to the first time she had to organize emergency shelter for stranded travellers early last March. “This time I had a little more forewarning I guess. Last time, we got there and people were already streaming in, 20 to 30 at a time, while this time they kind of trickled in. It wasn’t late at night (like last time), so the time of day made a difference because it was still daylight and people weren’t as panicked. Even the travellers were more relaxed and we had more time to get set up and talk to them and get organized.”

A Craik RCMP constable said the provincial Ministry of Highways closed Highway 11 between Kenaston and Regina at 3:15 p.m. due to bad weather conditions and reopened it at 5:30 p.m. resulting in motorists being diverted to the Davidson Town Hall and Craik Legion Hall during that time. He said they received 19 calls for traffic collisions on Highway 11 during the blizzard including one for a jack-knifed semi with two trailers that blocked the southbound lane one kilometre south of Girvin that backed up 200 vehicles behind the collision for upwards of five hours.

Estevan residents Pam Dechief, Leann Boehm and Sheila Guenther were three motorists who found themselves stopped outside of Girvin due to the semi accident. They said they were on their way home from volunteering and checking out the Saskatchewan Winter Games in Prince Albert when they found themselves in the back up.

“We were there for awhile waiting on the highway for about an hour and a half listening to the radio and finally it sounded like they weren’t going to be able to clear the highway off anytime soon,” said Guenther, who along with the other two women and Brandon’s Tammy Johannson were billeted by Bob and Shirley Bender. “We came into town, stopped at the first motel, the Jubilee, and waited a little bit to see if they had any rooms. They sold out the last two rooms right before it was our turn. Then we started driving around town looking for another one and I called the town office and talked to a man there and he told me about (the) EMO coordinator, so I called her.”

To read more please see the February 24 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Rail and grain companies need a plan to clear grain backlog

There are several different issues with the delays in grain movement, which is a month to two months behind schedule in this area for getting older contracts cleaned up, but one local farmer doesn’t believe a resolution is coming anytime soon.

“We’re cleaning up our January canola contracts getting to the end of February right now,” said Davidson farmer Rob Stone, noting the delay is also stopping farmers from doing any new contracts for the next few months. “We could have probably had that cleaned up sooner, but the weather didn’t work for us and we weren’t concerned (about) moving at that point. There were a lot of people who jumped in line to make sure they were delivered too, so from our experience it’s not horrible. It was worse and it can get worse again if the railways don’t deliver. They missed two trains in a row at Richardson, so two weeks in a row that there was no cars and (if) you start having that happen on a consistent basis it really affects their capability to do any business.”

Stone said little accountability for the railroads to move the grain volume and honour their service agreements is still only one of the issues with the backlog of grain movement. He said the main problem is the grain companies not pushing hard enough in a public forum for improved service, which would include more railway employees and more engines dropping off cars and picking them up.

“There really hasn’t been a lot of pressure from the grain companies to this point,” he said. “It’s a tough one for sure, but the biggest issue is everyone has got a different reason why the railroads aren’t doing their job or performing to our expectations and the old excuse of it’s winter, it’s cold, that sort of stuff, (well) it’s cold and winter every year. We need to find better solutions (instead of) making excuses.”

Greg Brkich, MLA for Arm River–Watrous and a Bladworth farmer, said the system is backed up about two months due to several factors including the large crop grown last year, bad weather conditions and a couple November derailments. He said the province is trying to find a solution to this through meeting with both CN (Canadian National Railway) and CP (Canadian Pacific Railway) and grain companies to come up with a quicker method of getting grain moved.

“The short-term (solution) is for the railroad companies to put more crews on and put more trains out there,” said Brkich. “Long term is we have to sit down with the (grain) companies and the railroads to develop a long-range plan to handle this kind of volume.

“You go back 10 years (and) we’ve grown bigger crops (almost every year). With the improved farming techniques that are out there we expect this to be the norm, so the problem has to be looked (at) into the future. This isn’t a one-time problem.”

Brkich said there are penalties in the Federal Fair Rail Freight Service Act that grain companies can pursue to make sure the railroads perform up to expectations, but the companies haven’t been using them. He said that is something the province is asking the companies to use to solve the backlog problem because it is only the grain companies that can bring action forward.

To read more please see the February 24 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Victoria Royals hold quick skate on Davidson Rink ice

The Western Hockey League’s Victoria Royals put on a display of skill and hard work for a small group of minor hockey players Feb. 16 at the Davidson Rink.

The Royals stopped by the rink for an hour-long practice sandwiched between a 5-4 win over the Prince Albert Raiders a day earlier and an eventual 4-3 shoot-out victory in Moose Jaw on Family Day against the Warriors.

“We (were) on our way to Moose Jaw and there was no ice available for us,” said Dave Lowry, head coach of the Royals (41-16-4). “We started looking at the smaller communities on the way and Davidson had ice available. We play an afternoon game (Feb. 17), so we just wanted to have a quick skate and loosen up.”

Lowry said the ice was good and the rink was pretty unique. He said it’s great for smaller communities to have facilities like the Davidson Communiplex that teams on the road can take advantage of.

“If we can’t find ice along the way we’ll stop wherever we can,” he said. “We’re fortunate that this community had ice available and let us take it and use the facility.”

Brett Cote, a third-year defenceman for the Royals, said they likely wouldn’t get in a pre-game skate before their afternoon game against Moose Jaw, so stopping at a different rink on the way for a skate was a good move.

“We’ve done this in previous years,” said Cote, who has two goals and 28 points on the year. “We did it I remember two years ago when we came out here. We did it once, but usually we just go to whatever the city is and use their barn.”

The Royals practice in Davidson came after they completed the first leg of a seven-game road trip that sees the team play four games in Saskatchewan split up between a quick hike to Manitoba to play the Brandon Wheat Kings before eventually finishing off with a two-game stand at Prince George against the Cougars.

“It’s real important, but the one thing it’s good for our team is we’re comfortable playing on the road as well,” said Lowry. “We play the same whether we’re at home or on the road and we’ve been able to find success that way.”

Cote said they’re pleased with how things are going for the club so far this season, but the teams they’re facing over the two weeks across the Prairies and back home in BC are all tough. He said they’re just going to keep working hard and hopefully move up in the standings as they get ready for the playoffs.

“The last couple years we’ve gotten knocked out in the first round of the playoffs,” said Cote. “The expectation this year is definitely to make it past the first round and then obviously see where we go from there.”

Davidson

Davidson Fitness Centre gets two new heavy-duty treadmills and an elliptical trainer

The Fitness Centre at the Davidson Communiplex is in the process of pumping up its offerings to members while also working out some strains along the way.

Trevor Ouellette, recreation director for Davidson, said two new LifeSpan TR5000 treadmills and one Spirit Fitness elliptical trainer were installed at the Fitness Centre last Tuesday. He said the town has also ordered matting to finish rubberizing the whole floor at the gym.

“This gives us decent quality equipment that our members can use,” said Ouellette, noting memberships had been in decline for a while, but are now staring to come back up and currently stand at 18. “It’s just (getting) things in order to get our membership up and provide a quality workout area.”

Ouellette said the new heavy-duty equipment cost the town $9,000 to install, while the new matting came with a price tag of $1,700. He said the snag with putting in the upgraded equipment is they are drawing too much power, so some additional electrical work has to be done.

“The (charge) draws too much because the plug-ins along the one wall are all off one breaker, so when you plug more than one in it blows the breaker,” he said, noting this should cost an additional $600 to $1,000 to fix. Ouellette said these expenses are going to be coming out of the 2014 budget.

Blair Frederickson, a Fitness Centre member since last November, said the Davidson gym is a great way for him to get a good workout and especially so because of its location near Davidson School where he works as a career guidance councillor. He said the free weights and benches are the main things he takes advantage of, but does appreciate the variety of equipment available.

“It’s nice to have a gym in town where instead of me having to put out the expense of having to buy all the equipment and put in my own basement and then have my wife going ‘well you smell really bad’ to come to the gym here and work out,” said Frederickson. “The new treadmills are nice. I’m an outside runner, but in winter (and) especially when it’s really cold that’s something I’ll take advantage of and use.”

Ouellette said the other project in the works for the gym is fixing their front door where cold and ice has lifted a pad up and the kick plates and jams are getting off-kilter. He said it takes a bit of “finessing” to open and close the doors now, but once that is fixed the gym upgrades should be completed.

“We may get a vast number of (new) memberships and have to increase our equipment,” he said, “but right at this time there is nothing in the works other than what has already been planned.”

Obituary

Bohrson, Leslie
Leslie loved the land. Raised on the family farm in the “Gumbo Centre” district southwest of Hanley, he was the first child born on August 26, 1947 to Tom and Gladys Bohrson. Leslie’s childhood was filled with sports, especially softball, and being an active member in the 4-H Club with a special interest in the beef, grain and potato projects. Leslie’s passion for knowledge took him to the University of SK where in graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1971.
Leslie entered into the provincial public service and retired in 2006 from SK Agriculture and Food after 35 years of service. In 1998 he received the “Distinguished Agrologist Award” and his name was added to the “Wall of Honour” at the U of S. The award was presented for “integrity, breadth of knowledge, leadership, experience and recognition by his peers.” In 2006 he received the SK Centennial Medal for his contributions made to the community and province.
Leslie’s devotion to the community was rooted in his love for his family. Leslie met Barbara Dukart while working in his first job and his life was changed forever! They were married on April 20, 1974 in Estevan and lived in Outlook until moving to Swift Current in 1988. During that time the family grew (and grew) with six boys: Mark, Raymond, Stephen, Brian, Adrian and Eric. Les was involved with the Scouts, soap box racing and the SK branch of the Kidney Foundation of Canada. Always arriving in the trademark Bohrson van that held the whole family (and sometimes a second car), they spent summers camping with friends and family and when the temperature dipped they adventured south! Les and Barb’s great joy was when AnnaMarie married Stephen and—finally—there was another girl in the family. Their joy multiplied with the arrival of granddaughters Lilaina and Paige.
Less than two years ago Leslie was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. It became his mission to raise men’s awareness of their PSA numbers. He died in Swift Current on February 20, 2014. He was the glue that kept many circles and histories connected. His family, friends and colleagues will remember him as a kind and loving man and will be profoundly missed.
Leslie’s funeral will take place on Feb 25th at 1:00 pm at the Hanley Lutheran Church, Hanley, with his sister, Pastor Kristin Soveran presiding.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Leslie’s memory may be made to “Friends of Cypress Hills Park” for a bench on the trails he loved.
Hanson’s Funeral Home of Davidson in care of arrangements.

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Local kids compete at Saskatchewan Winter Games

The top young athletes in the province are gathered together this week in Prince Albert to compete for a gold medal at the 2014 Saskatchewan Winter Games.

Over 150 of these young adults from the Humboldt, Fort Qu’Appelle and Watrous areas will make up Team Prairie Central, one of nine different district teams comprised of around 1,700 athletes in total. Six athletes from Davidson and area, including Elbow’s Shane Lafontaine, Hanley’s Hanna Anderson and Kianna Dietz, Loreburn’s Dodge Long, Davidson’s Breanna Shaw and Hawarden’s Nolan Haugen are members of Team Prairie Central.

“This is my first time (going),” said Nolan, 13, who is a forward for the Prairie Central hockey team. “I’m really excited to be a part of it and represent my zone. I’m expecting it to be hard, but I’m just going to give it my all.”

Nolan, a member of the Clavet Cougars, said he made the team at a three-day tryout in Warman, which was structured as a round-robin tournament. The Kenaston School Grade 8 student said they haven’t had any practices since the team was picked, but he doesn’t believe playing with a different team is going to cause them any problems.

“We’ll just work hard and try to win a bunch of games,” he said. “It’ll be kind of new playing with a bunch of new kids, but it’ll be really fun.”

Dodge is one of the kids who will line up with Nolan on the Prairie Central male hockey team. Breanna and Kianna are going to be playing for the female hockey team, while Hanna will skip the female curling team and Shane is going to be trying his best with the badminton team.

Loreburn’s Grant Abbott, coach of the Prairie Central badminton team, said they have a good squad this year and the hope is the badminton team can compete for a medal at the games. He said nine players on their team belong to a Saskatoon club and are pretty familiar with each other and they’ve also gotten together for a practice as Prairie Central before the games, so they should be ready going in.

“Winning a gold would be a bonus,” said Abbott. “We talked about that at the practice that the main objective is to go in there and have a great experience and to have lots of fun. For a lot of these kids that are playing this will be their only opportunity to play in badminton because it is only every four years. Hopefully they’ll really enjoy it and maybe if they’re lucky enough they’ll participate in the Summer Games in two years in a different sport.

“I know I really enjoyed it four years ago,” he added. “My son (Ian) was on the team four years ago and it was a great experience. It’s a lot of fun and win or lose hopefully it’ll be a great time.”

To read more please see the Feb. 17 print edition of The Davidson Leader.