Gawking Goshawk
Monthly Archives: September 2014
DQ Grill & Chill opening soon
DAVIDSON—Ever since a huge DQ Grill and Chill sign went up on Highway 11 Trevor Dieno has had to turn away potential customers.
The much-anticipated restaurant isn’t open for business, but it will be very soon.
“We feel terrible people walk in and we can’t serve them. All day and every day, pretty much since the sign went up,” Dieno says of the steady stream of people who stop for a tasty treat.
The sign, which at 45 square feet is the largest DQ sign in North America, acts as a beacon to the travelling public.
If the weather co-operates, meaning it doesn’t rain much, and the contractor can pave the parking area, Dieno projects the Grill and Chill will be open for business the second week of October.
This will be sweet news to many.
To read more about the DQ Grill & Chill at Davidson, please see the Sept. 22 print edition of The Davidson Leader.
Schmaltz, Frank
The road to Davidson’s water treatment plant will now be known as Enterprise Lane. At its meeting Sept. 16. town council decided to hold another work bee at Davidson Cemetery. DAVIDSON—Family and friends of local potash miners spent anxious hours last Wednesday and Thursday, waiting to hear from their loved ones who were trapped underground.
Mr. Frank Schmaltz, beloved husband of Mrs. Emily Schmaltz, passed away with his family by his side on Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 at the age of 94 years. Frank also leaves to cherish his memory his children, Raymond (Gail), Patricia (Bill) Thomson, Cecil (Betty), Donna (Jim) Siroski, Sandra (Lorne) Zentner, Gerard, Cyndy (Darren) Lutz and Gary (Tammie); his grandchildren, Joel, Michael, Tim, Sheri, Lori, Annette, Cory, Jason, Stacey, Brett, Kent, Kristine, Lauren and Jordon; twenty-six great-grandchildren; two brothers, Adam (Loretta) Schmaltz and Richard (Susan) Schmaltz; three sisters, Rose Mulhall, Anne Barker, and Eva Sutherland; as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Frank was predeceased by his parents, Ludwig and Florentina Schmaltz; one son, Donald Gene Schmaltz; one daughter, Theresa “Terry” Pearl Schmaltz; two brothers, Jack (Lucille) Schmaltz and Louis (Barbara) Schmaltz; three brothers-in-law, Joe Mulhall, Milt Barker and Barney O’Reilly. Frank was born and raised on the family farm near Prelate until they relocated to Glidden, SK in 1934. In 1941, he joined the armed forces and later that year he received an Honourable Discharge. He married Emily Mastel on June 2, 1942 in Josephstal Church in the Mendham, SK district. They farmed for six years until 1953 when Frank returned to the PFRA, working in various pastures throughout Saskatchewan. December 1979 marked his retirement at Davidson, SK at which time they moved to Medicine Hat and remained there until the time of his passing. After his retirement, Frank was employed as Commissionaire at Suffield for six months. He enjoyed horses, woodworking, ushering at the church, and his position as Guard for the Knights of Columbus. Frank spent the last five years in the Sunnyside Nursing Home and the family is extremely grateful to the staff for the excellent care he received while he was there. The Vigil Rites (Prayers) will be held in Saamis Memorial Funeral Chapel, #1 Dunmore Road SE, Medicine Hat on Sunday, September 21, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. The Funeral Mass will be celebrated at Holy Family Parish, 1451 Strachan Road SE, Medicine Hat, on Monday, September 22, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. with Father Philip Le, celebrant. Memorial gifts in Frank’s memory may be made to Sunnyside Care Centre, 1720 Bell Street SW, Medicine Hat, AB, T1A 5G1, or to Alberta Heart and Stroke Foundation, 124, 430 – 6th Avenue SE, Medicine Hat, Alberta, T1A 2S8. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Saamis Memorial Funeral Chapel And Crematorium, “The Chapel in the Park”, Medicine Hat, Alberta. Should you wish any additional information, please telephone 1-800-317-2647.
Enterprising Situation
Town administrator Gary Edom said the road needs a name due to the new business developments in the area.
Council agreed with a suggestion from the Dienos to call the unnamed street Enterprise Lane.
“I like it,” Schneider said.Fall work bee planned for cemetery
The plan is to pick a day the week of Oct. 13 and invite volunteers to come to the cemetery to do a fall cleaning.
“This will give a nice look to the cemetery before the snow comes,” Mayor Clayton Schneider said.
It will also help reduce some of the maintenance work at the cemetery come spring.
A work bee was held in the summer at the cemetery. For every volunteer hour of labour during the summer work bee, the town donated money to the volunteer’s designated charity.Locals rescued from potash mine
A water truck caught fire at about 3:30 – 4 p.m. last Wednesday afternoon at PotashCorp’s Allan mine, forcing 96 miners to seek refuge.
The fire set off stench gas, an alert gas that warns miners of fire, signaling them to seek shelter in one of the mine’s refuge stations. These stations are sealed to protect workers from flames and from breathing smoke or harmful gas. Other workers who weren’t able to get to a refuge station, built their own.
Ryan Shaw, who works at the Allan mine and is a member of its mine rescue team, said his shift was nearly over when he heard about the fire. The rescue teams got organized. Shaw said his five-member team, including Kirk Johnson, was the first rescue team to go down into the mine.
Shaw said when the stench gas is set off, miners “brattice” themselves in. Using a large plastic curtain, they seal themselves in an area where they have clean air and then wait for help.
“We’re always taught to follow procedure, to find the good air.”
As the first team into the mine, they were wearing breathing apparatus. It was their job to establish where the air was good.
Shaw said they made their way towards the fire, which was 1.1 kilometres underground and then another 5.8 km north of the shaft. Along the way, Shaw said they checked on workers who were in refuge stations or in brattice shelters.
“As long as nobody has health issues, we leave them there because we know they’re safe,” Shaw said.
At about 7:30 p.m. Shaw’s team made it to the fire. He said the plastic water tank and the truck’s rubber tires were still burning, so they extinguished the blaze.
Once the fire was out, it was a matter of waiting for smoke and gas to clear so they could remove workers from the refuge stations.
There were about 12 mine rescue teams, 30 people in all going up and down through the course of the operation, involved in the rescue that lasted until about 9 p.m. Thursday when all the trapped workers made it safely to the surface. Shaw and Johnson went down three times between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday night.
The fire burned three power feeder cables and some communication lines that were in the area.
To learn more, please see the Sept. 15 print edition of The Davidson Leader. To subscribe, call 306-567-2047.