The Village of Aylesbury is out $7,500 or 50 per cent of their revenue this year after Statistics Canada miscounted their population size in the last census.

In the 2011 Canada wide census, which is conducted every five years, Aylesbury was reported as having a population of 10 residents and five private dwellings in use.

The actual number is 42 residents and 23 private dwellings, recently corrected by Stats Can and posted to their website. Unfortunately for Aylesbury, their provincial and federal grant money will still be based on 10 residents and five dwellings for this year, resulting in the $7,500 loss.

Jeff Murray, administrator for the Village of Aylesbury, said they are getting no help for the wrong numbers from the provincial or federal government, which was not the village’s fault in any way, and will just have to suck up the revenue loss.

“They are not going to be doing anything for it,” said Murray. “I’m not sure why, but that’s the way it is I guess.”

Murray got the population numbers corrected by submitting an ISC map showing the boundaries of Aylesbury and all the utility bills of the residents that had a civic address on it to Stats Can, so when the gas tax fund is distributed next June the village will get its actual amount.

“The (village) is not going to get their money (lost this year) in lieu,” he said. “Next year, they’re not going to increase it by the amount they should be, so (Aylesbury) lost that funding.”

Murray said the village did not increase its millrate to compensate for the mistake and will be dipping into savings this year to bandage the loss.

Laurent Roy, Statistics Canada manager of formal reviews of population counts, said this is “common” for a Stats Can census. He said in 2006, when the last census was conducted, 100 municipalities out of about 5,000 in Canada were found to have wrong numbers and had to be corrected.

“It looks like it will be the same amount this year,” said Roy. “There are 5,000 municipalities, so it is still a small amount of 100 corrections.”

He said it is the provincial government that deals with the grant money for municipalities, so Stats Can has no say in whether Aylesbury will be compensated for its loss.

Roy said the province will use the corrected numbers on the Stats Can website next year so any difficulties that were encountered this year should not be repeated.

One hundred thirty-five Kenaston School students, teachers and members of the community got their walking shoes on for a good cause Sept. 19. The school, in partnership with the Kenaston Affinity Credit Union, raised over $3,500 for cancer research during the annual Terry Fox Walk.

Cathy Enns, a high school teacher at Kenaston School, said this is the eighth year the school has done the Terry Fox Walk on a school day. The group headed out for the 40-minute stroll at 11 a.m. from Kenaston School and proceeded through a pasture, around the Arena and back past the school before arriving at Affinity for a barbecue lunch.

“We’re excited about it and think it’s necessary,” said Enns. “We had the philosophy that Terry Fox would be happy that we did the walk any day of the month or at any time. It’s a good cause.”

Enns said the school got together with Affinity for the Walk because they were both looking for “a leadership role in the community” and this proved to be a great partnership. She said Affinity supplied the food for the barbecue, selling lunch meals for $5 apiece, while the school helped organize the Walk and get the students aware of a family’s journey with cancer and all the actions they can take to help out.

“Students can help by raising awareness by just participating in this Walk, by helping to raise funds for research, or by being a good community member and friend to some family or somebody who is going through cancer,” she said. “This year another way the older kids can help is through donating blood or blood platelets or by getting their names on the stem cell registry.”

Marie Nadeau, financial supervisor at the Davidson Branch of Affinity Credit Union, said the Davidson community came together to raise about $3,500 as well for the Terry Fox Foundation. Their credit union sponsored the meal, supplying all the burgers and drinks for the lunch at Davidson School.

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

Devin Schmit and Darak More are going to trial.

The two men are each facing first-degree murder charges in the death of Rob Vicente of Bladworth.

Schmit and More were at their preliminary hearing, which began Monday, Sept. 10. The hearing was scheduled for three weeks, but ended the next day, Tuesday, after it was decided there was enough evidence to proceed to trial.

There is a publication ban that prohibits reporting on evidence heard at the preliminary hearing.

At Monday’s hearing, Schmit, wearing a black Saskatchewan Roughriders T-shirt under an unbuttoned collared shirt, and More, in a plain grey sweatshirt, appeared at the hearing. They sat in a glassed prisoner’s box at the side of the room. They have remained in custody since their arrest Feb. 11, 2011.

Members of Rob’s family, including his parents and brothers were at the hearing, which took place in a small courtroom in Regina Provincial Court.

On Thursday, Rob’s mother Pam said the abrupt end to the hearing caught them by surprise.

“We sure weren’t expecting it,” Pam said.

Pam and Ferd Vicente have been waiting nearly two years, and had prepared themselves, to hear the Crown’s evidence and to learn what is alleged to have happened to their son Rob, who was 25 when he was last seen at the Shell gas station in Davidson on Oct. 10, 2010.

On Oct. 12, Hanley RCMP was notified that Rob was missing. While family and friends tried to locate Rob, on Oct. 14, 2010 police reported that on Oct. 12 Rob’s burned-out car was found in a vacant farmyard about 29 kilometres west of Davidson.

Meanwhile, many people from Bladworth, Davidson and the wider community took part in extensive ground and air searches for Rob, with no success.

On Feb. 11, 2011, Schmit and More were charged with first-degree murder and robbery. On Feb. 14, 2011 RCMP said they had discovered human remains in a farmyard on the edge of Davidson. The remains were later confirmed to be those of Rob Vicente.

More and Schmit will stand trial in the Court of Queen’s Bench in Regina on first-degree murder charges and robbery with a firearm in connection with the death of Rob Vicente. Schmit and More have pleaded not guilty.

No trial date has been set.

Pasture patrons in the area are forming groups and seeking support from their RMs in an effort to lease PFRA lands from the province, but it appears the Government of Saskatchewan is only interested in selling the land.

Dean Palmer, chairman of the McCraney Pasture Committee patron group, said leasing the McCraney pasture through the RM of McCraney would be the best way for the patrons who use the pasture for grazing cattle to retain it. He said it would not be economical for the 25 patrons who use the pasture to buy it.

“The provincial government is working with Farm Credit to try and come up with some kind of a reasonable financing method to buy these pastures, but I really think, as far as buying it, all that does is create a lot of problems,” said Palmer. “If they start selling it quarter-by-quarter, the fence lines are not on the quarter lines…and with the Arm River valley going through it, it’s tough to divide quarter-by-quarter sections up.

“If we’re interested in buying it, it’s going to take a lot of money or some corporate sponsorship. For young producers, like myself, and a lot of the older producers, if they have to come up with however much money, they’ll just sell their cows and get out. I think that is probably the most realistic way, because I don’t think buying it is a real economic option just to graze cows in. There would have to be some alternative economic strength to help reinforce buying it.”

Palmer said the pasture would essentially be a RM of McCraney pasture instead of just a local pasture if the province accepts their lease proposal. Palmer said the group has already submitted the application to the province, but has not received a final decision back from them as of yet.

Lyle Stewart, Minister of Agriculture for the Government of Saskatchewan, said the first five pastures up for sale in the province will be announced sometime this fall and the government is taking bids for them right now. He said the federal government will continue to manage all of the pastures through the 2013 season, but “deals can be done anytime” and the government wants to have a number of them sold by the end of the next season.

“The patrons will have the first opportunity to own and operate these pastures and we’ve had, in this office, lots of calls and visits from people and individuals and corporations that would just buy them all or individual ones and we’ve turned them all down and just told them that the patrons have the first opportunity with these lands, so there is no competition at this point if the patrons are interested,” said Stewart about whether patron groups are competing with multi-nationals, out-of-province groups or corporations at this moment for the lands.

To read more please see the Sept. 10 print edition of The Davidson Leader.