Monthly Archives: September 2015

Aylesbury, Craik, Davidson, Dundurn

Two vehicles stolen during widespread crime spree

web-rcmpBy Joel van der Veen

CRAIK — Two vehicles were stolen in the Davidson area during an apparent crime spree on Tuesday night that stretched from north of Saskatoon down to Aylesbury.

According to a news release issued by the Craik RCMP detachment, an unknown suspect or suspects embarked on a binge of breaking and entering of vehicles between 11 p.m. on Sept. 8 and 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 9.

Police believe the suspect or suspects rummaged through several vehicles in multiple communities along Highway 11, including Davidson, Craik and Aylesbury.

Two vehicles were reported stolen from the Davidson area, although one of the vehicles was later located within town limits.

Const. Matthew Moline, speaking to the Leader, was tight-lipped about the thefts, saying that the spree remains under active investigation.

Moline declined to disclose any information about the second stolen vehicle, which had yet to be recovered as of Thursday.

However, police have connected the incidents in this area to similar thefts in several communities north of Saskatoon, including Rosthern, Laird and Hepburn, that occurred the same night.

Moline said that items stolen in those communities were later recovered in this area, thus indicating to police that “it’s the same crew.”

The Leader also received reports of suspects rummaging through vehicles in Dundurn last week. Moline said he hadn’t heard about any such incidents but said there could be a connection.

Police issued the usual reminder to local residents to keep homes and garages locked in their absence.

The public is also reminded to keep vehicles locked and to keep valuable property hidden from view, and to report any suspicious activity in the area.

Anyone with relevant information is asked to contact the Craik RCMP or Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers.

Craik, Davidson, Kenaston, Sports

White for the win: Raiders kick off year with win over LCBI

Pictured is the Raiders' Dawson George (25), carrying the ball to score one of the five touchdowns he completed on Thursday night.
Pictured is the Raiders’ Dawson George (25), carrying the ball to score one of the five touchdowns he completed on Thursday night.

By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — If Thursday’s game set the tone for the months to follow, Davidson Raiders football fans can look forward to a highly exciting season.

The senior Raiders enjoyed a 70-66 win in an exhibition game over the Lutheran Collegiate Bible Institute (LCBI) Bisons of Outlook, delighting a hometown crowd at the Kinsmen Field.

After a tight first half that saw the lead shift back and forth several times, the Raiders held the lead for virtually the entire second half, though the Bisons were never far behind.

It was a captivating game, and coach Jason Low said he was proud of the team and pleased to be able to return the support shown by the community with a win at home.

He credited the win to a combined effort by the entire team, along with strong performances on both offence and defence and the support of an expanded coaching staff.

“We won today because we played as a team,” Low said Thursday night. “They’ve been working hard . . . I’m excited and I’m proud of the guys.”

LCBI has proved a strong competitor in past years, routinely defeating the Raiders, and Thursday’s success was a hard-earned reversal of fortune.

Low said the team is working to view each game as a potential victory within their grasp, explaining, “Our approach this season was that we wanted to beat everybody.”

Dawson George of Kenaston scored the Raiders’ opening touchdown and would go on to score four more by the game’s end.

Among the other offensive highlights were a breakaway run by Dylan Payne and back-to-back touchdowns by quarterback Andrew Read. Jacob Schilling also completed two touchdowns.

A major factor in the team’s win was its success in kicking field goals. The Raiders managed to earn conversions on five out of 10 touchdowns, adding a total of 20 points to their score.

Davidson held a slim lead at the midway point with a score of 34-32, and maintained that lead for most of the second half, though the score was briefly tied at 46 points each.

Low noted he was impressed with defensive backs Cole Murfitt and James Morrison, saying they provided good coverage and fine tackling.

He also had praise for Reegan Taylor, saying he played with “a lot of heart, and left it all on the field.”

The coach acknowledged that the team had picked up its share of penalties through the course of the game, chalking some of that up to opening night jitters.

“A lot of that’s normal but, I think, preventable,” he said. “A lot of it will come with experience.”

Low said the expanded coaching staff had proven immensely helpful, allowing individual coaches to focus on particular areas and bringing considerable expertise to the team.

He said it was a major factor in the team’s victory, along with the junior football program, in which many of the younger players have taken part.

“The more kids we get out playing junior ball, the more football sense they have,” he said. “They’re just stepping into sports that much easier.”

The victory over LCBI was only the second win for the senior team since Davidson School revived its football program in the fall of 2011.

Loreburn, Sports

Rain results in big crowds for Loreburn RAVE tournament

Gracie Allan (7) of the Davidson/Loreburn RaiTec dives for the ball during a game in the RAVE tournament held at Loreburn last weekend.
Gracie Allan (7) of the Davidson/Loreburn RaiTec dives for the ball during a game in the RAVE tournament held at Loreburn last weekend.

By Joel van der Veen

LOREBURN — Few would have welcomed the prospect of a rainy Labour Day weekend, but it proved a boon for organizers of Loreburn’s annual senior girls volleyball tournament.

The rain may have put farmers behind schedule, but it also brought piles of spectators and volunteers to the Loreburn rink, said Brandy Losie.

“The place was packed all Friday night and all day Saturday,” said the village administrator. “The rain really helped.”

A total of 15 teams competed in the senior RAVE (Really Amazing Volleyball Event) tournament, held Sept. 4 and 5 and organized by the Loreburn Recreation Board and Loreburn Central School (LCS).

The North West Central School Wildcats from Plenty were the winners of the event, coming out on top in the championship pool that also included the Assiniboia Rockets, the Eston Mustangs and the Davidson/Loreburn RaiTec B.

Other competitors included the Hanley Sabers, the Kenaston Kodiaks, the LCBI Bisons, the Frontier Raiders, the Outlook Blues, the Dinsmore Wildcats, the Beechy/Lucky Lake Blazers, the Marengo/Westcliff High Warriors, the Eatonia Spartans and the St. Walburg Saints.

Losie said planning for the event hit a snag as the new gym floor at LCS wasn’t yet ready for use, forcing organizers to hold all the matches in the Loreburn rink.

However, two teams subsequently dropped out of the event, and with players from the Davidson/Loreburn RaiTec splitting into two teams, the tournament went ahead smoothly.

Losie said the weekend went well from an organizational standpoint. The school and recreation board have combined forces to run the tournament, with lots of help from students and others.

The teams were divided into three pools for round robin games on Friday night and Saturday morning. They were then split up again based on their performance, with the winner declared from the championship pool.

The Davidson/Loreburn B team won all eight of its matches in the round robin section, finishing first in the C pool, but ended up fourth in the championship pool with just one win out of six matches.

Kenaston won five matches and lost three in the round robin, coming second in the B pool, and then finished third in the X pool with three wins and three losses.

Hanley had four wins and four losses in the round robin section, coming third in pool C, but then won five out of six matches in the X pool to take first place there.

The Davidson/Loreburn A team won three and lost five in the round robin section, giving them fourth place in the A pool. They then finished in second place in the Y pool with three wins and three losses.

Loreburn’s junior volleyball tournament was scheduled for this past weekend, featuring a total of 16 entries, evenly divided between boys’ and girls’ teams.

Losie said the gym floor was ready to go as of last Tuesday, so both the school and the rink were expected to be busy over the weekend. Details will follow in an upcoming edition of the Leader.

Elbow

Crane raises boat from rocks

Mark Janke and Chris and Keith Bryenton of Coppertop Towing in Elbow secure tow straps under a pontoon boat they were tasked with recovering from the rocks of the Qu'Appelle dam at Lake Diefenbaker.
Mark Janke and Chris and Keith Bryenton of Coppertop Towing in Elbow secure tow straps under a pontoon boat they were tasked with recovering from the rocks of the Qu’Appelle dam at Lake Diefenbaker.

By Tara de Ryk

ELBOW — A crane plucked a 3,500-pound pontoon boat off the rocks of the Qu’Appelle dam Aug. 28.

It was all in a day’s work for Mark Janke, owner of Coppertop Towing, and for crane operator Jarred Beattie of Alliance Crane out of Moose Jaw. Both are often tasked with recovering a variety of vehicles, but for both, recovering a wrecked boat out of Lake Diefenbaker was a first.

The boat landed on the rocks after strong winds in early August ripped it from its mooring and sent it sailing down the lake.

“I bet the waves down here were a good eight feet high that day,” Janke said. The wind and waves sent the boat on a collision course with the Qu’Appelle dam. The pontoon boat wound up wrecked on the rocks, one of its pontoons ripped to shreds.

Its resting place was at the midway point of the dam, making a recovery from shore impossible. Towing the wreckage to land by boat was also unfeasible because one pontoon was destroyed and the other was waterlogged.

Janke said the boat owner’s insurance company asked him to come up with a plan to recover the watercraft.

“I decided the safest way to do it was by crane,” Janke said.

He had to get permission from CP Rail to use the right-of-way across the dam for the recovery. Janke said officials from Environment had been out earlier and removed fuel and contaminants from the boat.

Janke hired Alliance Crane and Beattie arrived around 10:15 a.m. Friday morning with the mobile crane. He angled it on the driveway beside the railway tracks and extended a series of booms high into the air, across the dam and over the lake.

Below, Jahnke and helpers Chris and Keith Bryenton worked out a way to secure the boat to the cables.

Balancing and securing the weight of the boat proved tricky due to the outboard motor and the wrecked pontoon, which made it difficult to secure the cable.

After about one hour of adjusting the straps and chains in various combinations, success was achieved and the pontoon boat was raised out of the lake and onto Janke’s flatdeck truck.

Janke was pleased with the job.

“When it’s (the boat) broke up like this…I calculate for the worst and hope I get lucky,” he said. “I brought it out the best I could without putting another mark on it.”

He was helped by the weather. There was hardly any wind and the lake was calm.

Beattie said he does a lot of salvage work, including recovering rolled semis and farm machinery, but “boats are kind of a rare lift.”

Janke said the pontoon boat would be delivered to a wrecker in Saskatoon.

Bladworth, Davidson

Wilkins’ Riel sculpture joins Highway 11 series

From left, Thomas Quiring, Elizabeth Quiring and Jim Beebe play during an Aug. 30 ceremony to dedicate a sculpture of Louis Riel, called "The Invitation."
From left, Thomas Quiring, Elizabeth Quiring and Jim Beebe play during an Aug. 30 ceremony to dedicate a sculpture of Louis Riel, called “The Invitation.”

By Joel van der Veen

BLADWORTH — As Don Wilkins planned his latest sculpture, he faced a daunting question: how best to depict one of the most controversial figures in Canadian history.

The subject: Métis leader Louis Riel, a prime mover behind two major rebellions in the 19th century, a man variously seen as either a father of his people or a traitor to his country.

“How do you handle something like that?” said Wilkins, an artist and retired farmer based near Girvin. “I didn’t know how I could really represent him.”

For inspiration, Wilkins turned to a specific moment in time: the summer of 1884, when a delegation visited Riel in Montana, where he was then living in exile, to ask him to return to act as their representative in negotiating with the Canadian government.

While Riel’s name is typically associated with the rebellions he led and his execution for treason in 1885, Wilkins said he wanted to take a different approach: “In this instance, he’s a peacemaker.”

This formed the basis of his latest project, “The Invitation,” which was officially dedicated at its site along Highway 11 just outside of Bladworth on Aug. 30.

A crowd of around 100 people gathered for the ceremony, which included a musical performance, a brief speech by Wilkins and the unveiling of a plaque.

Performing at the site were bagpiper Jim Beebe, of the North Saskatchewan Regiment Pipes and Drums; bagpiper Thomas Quiring and of the 96th Highlanders Pipes and Drums; and Elizabeth Quiring, of the same band, on the tenor drum.

Wilkins read a speech outlining the context of the sculpture, aided by a small portable PA system. He also answered several questions from the audience, while his daughter, Cindy Jordison of Tisdale, unveiled the plaque.

This latest sculpture is the eighth in a series along Highway 11. Wilkins was part of the committee that successfully campaigned to have the route named the “Louis Riel Trail” in 2001.

“This highway provides a great venue to showcase our region and our province,” Wilkins told the Leader last week.

The main part of the steel sculpture depicts Riel himself, 13 feet tall, posed in a peaceful stance with a crucifix held in his outstretched left hand, reflecting his Catholic faith.

Behind him are four pillars, representing the four delegates who travelled to meet with Riel: Gabriel Dumont, Moïse Ouellette, Michel Dumas and James Isbister.

Each one is adorned at the top with a small image of a rider on horseback, while a small building marked with a cross represents the St. Peter’s Jesuit mission where Riel was teaching at the time of the delegates’ visit. Also on the site is a Red River cart, the 16th such cart crafted by Wilkins.

For the full story, please see the Sept. 7 edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Schools witness growth as students hit the books

Grade 1 students listen to teacher Crystal Johnson on the first day of school in Davidson on Sept. 1.
Grade 1 students listen to teacher Crystal Johnson on the first day of school in Davidson on Sept. 1.

By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — With a new year underway, Davidson School is welcoming lots of new faces amongst both its staff and students.

“The population is booming,” as principal Jason Low put it, with enrolment so far at a total of 261 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12, up from 228 in 2013 and 242 last year.

A large part of that growth comes from the 30 children starting Kindergarten this year, while just seven students graduated from Grade 12 in June.

Low said there are also lots of students joining the other grades this fall, contributing to an enrolment increase of nearly eight per cent over 2014.

“The startup was very smooth,” he said Thursday. “I think everybody had a good summer and was ready to come back.”

Two new teachers began at Davidson this fall, including Joell Tiffin, who was previously an intern here in 2011.

Tiffin, who has taught in Outlook for the last three years, took over the Grade 2 classroom from Laura Willner, who took on a new role as the school’s guided English Language Arts (ELA) specialist.

Willner is now working with students in grades 1 through 5, providing what Low called “intensive support” in co-operation with other teachers to improve the school’s ELA performance.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Peach, who came to the school from Harris, is teaching the Grade 5 class, taking the reins from Paul Stinson, who has moved to the Distance Learning Centre at Kenaston.

This fall the school also welcomed a total of seven interns, drawn from both the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan.

Serving in the elementary wing are Kara Fidelack in Kindergarten, Ashton Mills in Grade 1, Tenille Kirtzinger in Grade 3 and Hallie Vollmer in Grade 4.

In the high school wing, Catherine Goyette is working with teacher Paulette Killoh, while Rheanne Gerwing was assigned to work with Sandra Baldwin.

“Our new staff is settling in nicely,” said Low, adding that the school is “a pretty happening building these days.”

As well, Correne Pedersen is joining the school as a casual staff member this year (0.17 FTE) for a new initiative called “Up to Code” for students in grades 1 through 12.

This program, based on a proposal from teachers Arlene Low and Sandra Baldwin, will instruct students in computing language.

Low said the school has other similar technological initiatives underway, with plans to showcase these programs toward the end of the year.

The school is also making plans for its annual “Meet the Teacher” barbecue, although a date has not yet been set.

For the full story — including updates from the schools in Kenaston, Loreburn, Hanley, Dundurn, Craik, Imperial, Holdfast, Bethune and Eyebrow — please see the Sept. 7 edition of The Davidson Leader.