Category Archives: Kenaston

Kenaston

Riverbend Co-op buys 4 C’s Corner Store

Riverbend Co-op has purchased the 4 C’s Corner Store at Third Street in Kenaston in an effort to strengthen the Co-op branch financially and provide the community with consistent product selection and service.

Dale Firby, general manager of Riverbend Co-op, said the services previously offered by 4 C’s Corner Store such as their lottery, liquor and convenience business is currently in the process of being moved into the Co-op building also located on Third Street. He said they plan on selling the corner store building after everything is completed.

“It was an opportunity to include another service into our operation that the community really needed and the existing owners (of 4 C’s) wanted to get out of that business,” he said, noting the Co-op took possession of 4 C’s on Aug. 1.

Firby said selling the building would then provide somebody else with an opportunity to open up another service or business in the community. He said they are now reviewing the Co-op’s operating hours as they are more dictated towards the food business.

“Basically we want to be a little more convenient for our customers,” said Firby. “There is no guarantee of change, but it depends on customer demand.”

featured, Kenaston

Sign theft saddens community

Family and friends of the late Michael Hertz are devastated after a walking trail sign that was put up shortly before his death was stolen earlier this summer.

Susan Anholt, secretary-treasurer of Kenaston and District Chamber of Commerce, said the sunset “Mick’s Way” Bonnington Springs Walking Trail sign was taken from its spot at the east end of the trail sometime between the middle of June and the beginning of July. She said the sign has tremendous value to the community as it celebrates the life of one of their most-loved residents.

“Mick Hertz was just an incredibly popular school teacher and he wanted the walking trail, so just as a member of the village he went to the village council and made a proposal for it, laid out the route and got permission,” said Anholt, noting Hertz was battling prostate cancer at the time. “I had the honour of helping him and lots of days when we were working on this he was so sick from (chemotherapy) and whatever else they were doing to him, but he kept on trucking.

“The final bit he was too ill to complete it, but we got the sign up as quickly as we could and had a picture taken of him and myself when the signs were up. He passed away after that.”

Anholt said a couple ladies walking the trail on July 4 first discovered the sunset sign was missing. She said the sunrise sign at the west end of the park is still there and nothing else appeared to be touched.

“These are big redwood signs and they are beautiful,” she said, adding each sign is worth around $700. “For whatever reason someone thought they needed it more than we did, so that’s sad. I suspect someone with a friend named Mick just thought ‘oh, this is cute.  We’ll just take it to our buddy Mick.’ That’s my guess because what really would you want this for.”

Regan Firby, the daughter of Michael Hertz, said her father decided to propose a walking trail for Kenaston because it would give the community a place to enjoy the beauty of the village. She said they would like the sunset sign returned for the principle of it and not the cost of putting up a replacement.

“It’s a man who put a lot of hard work into this,” said Firby. “When the trail was built my dad was sick, so he was out there helping and it’s kind of heartbreaking that somebody would take it. I hope the person that took it doesn’t understand the significance of it. That would be extra sad.”

Anholt said the village has not reported the theft to the RCMP, but are trying to raise awareness about the sign and gain any information on its whereabouts through other means such as a facebook page. She said if anyone has any information on the missing sign to please contact the Kenaston and District Chamber of Commerce or the Village Office.

Kenaston, Sports

Tweet gets ready for fight of her career

A local mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter wants a knockout this Saturday at Ameristar Casino in Kansas City, MO, in what will be the biggest fight of her young career.

Kenaston native Charmaine “Not So Sweet” Tweet (4-3) is fighting Brazil’s Ediane Gomes (10-2) at Invicta FC 6: Coenen vs. Cyborg. The winner of the bout will determine the next challenger for the Invicta FC (fighting championships) featherweight crown.

“We’ve had some predictions from my camp that this could be my first knockout in MMA,” said Tweet. “My coach can really see me actually scoring the knockout on her and basically if it does go to the ground I have to be really conscious of her submissions and go for my own.”

Tweet, ranked sixth in the world, said she doesn’t know that much about her opponent, who is ranked second in the featherweight class, other than the Brazilian has a black belt in ju-jitsu and likes to strike. She said the fight against Gomes was up in the air until the last week of June and she is a last minute replacement for fellow Canadian fighter Julia Budd who had to back out due to a neck injury.

“I was told to stay ready, so basically what I’ve been doing is just going to my classes as usual and not training for any specific opponent, but training and staying loose and practising the techniques (of) ju-jitsu,” she said. “Now that we know who I’m fighting we can tailor it for the next two weeks to an opponent and come up with a game plan.”

Despite not knowing if this fight would happen, Tweet has been working hard with her coach Wiley BJJ out of Regina to prepare for it just in case. Since moving to the Wiley BJJ camp, Tweet’s ground game has improved mightily resulting in four wins out of her last five fights.

Tweet said other trainers kept telling her to stop fighting off her back, which went against her style of fighting. She said at her new gym they have let her develop her striking from the bottom philosophy.

“That is what I did in my last fight (against Amanda Bell June 1) and it worked really well for me,” said Tweet. “Just as I was striking her, and she didn’t really want too much more of that, I got lucky enough to steal the sweep and take the top position.

“Basically my style hasn’t changed too much. They’ve just worked more with the style I already have whereas at other gyms they tried to change it. It’s really a good fit where I am now because of lot of their philosophy is the same as mine going into MMA.”

To read more please see the July 8 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Kenaston

Power outage prompts four-day drinking water advisory in Kenaston

A precautionary drinking water advisory has been lifted for the Village of Kenaston four days after a power outage compromised the safety of the drinking water supply.

Carmen Fowler, administrator for Kenaston, said village residents were advised April 20 to boil all drinking water and any water used for other activities such as brushing teeth or dishwashing plus not drink from any public fountains after the widespread power outage occurred between the hours of 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. that night.

“Once the power is out for a period of time then the (water) treatment plant depressurizes, which can cause contamination of the water lines once the power comes back on,” said Fowler. “The person taking care of the treatment plant, depending on what the situation is, monitors what happens and if they feel it needs to be called in (to the regional environmental protection officer) they have the numbers for them. He talks to them, gives them the situation and they decide whether to put (an advisory) on or not.”

Fowler said only residents of the village were affected by the drinking water advisory, so any outlying farms did not have to boil their water. She said Mayor ML Whittles, a councillor, herself and members of the volunteer fire department went door-to-door after the advisory was issued to inform residents of the situation.

Tyler Hopson, spokesperson for SaskPower, said the outage affected 890 customers in the areas of Hanley, Kenaston and Hawarden. He said the culprit was supporting equipment failure and workers for SaskPower got the equipment fixed and the power back on as quickly as possible.

Fowler said this is the first time a power outage has prompted a precautionary drinking water advisory in Kenaston and to get the water back up to snuff she sent three samples to the provincial lab at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon last Monday and Wednesday. She said the village received a clear result after they sent the second samples in that they could lift the advisory.

“We’re hoping this never happens again,” she said, “but we can’t control that I guess.”

Kenaston

“Wynn Fairly” wrestles at Kenaston Place

Wrestling fans in Kenaston are set to be thrilled this Friday and Saturday as they watch local boy Wynn Fairly get ready to compete for the state title, but an underhanded manager of his rival has other ideas in mind.

The 2013 Kenaston Dinner Theatre is bringing “Wynn Fairly, Champeen Rasler!” to near sold-out audiences this weekend at Kenaston Place in an effort to raise funds for maintenance costs for the village hall. The comedy-melodrama is scheduled for two shows April 12 and 13 as part of Kenaston’s annual dinner theatre production, which will see over 70 volunteers cater to close to 250 patrons each night as they enjoy cocktails, dinner and dessert before being entertained by the Billy St. John play that features local actors in the production.

Melanie Kerpan, chairperson of the community dinner theatre, said the group hopes to raise between $5,000 and $6,000 over the two nights for the “upkeep” of Kenaston Place. She said the annual spring fund-raiser, which has been held for over 15 years, will have 30 tables spread before the stage with the eight spectators seated at each table being treated to a catered meal by Well Seasoned along with hors-d’oeuvres and desserts provided by members of the community before the play begins.

“We’ve had a really great response in the past (with the dinner theatre) and people keep coming back for it,” said Kerpan, noting tickets are pretty much sold out for the Saturday showing, but there are some still available for Friday night. “We have groups from both Davidson and Outlook who like to come here and enjoy it as well.”

To read more please see the April 8 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

featured, Kenaston

Kenaston puts a stop to speeding

Slow down is the message concerned residents of Kenaston are trying to get across to speeders in their community, but not all Kenastonians seem to be taking kindly to the means.

Carmen Fowler, administrator of Kenaston, said the village has recently installed three new four-way stops, one on 3rd Street at the first block coming into Kenaston and two on 2nd Street about two blocks apart, to go along with their original four-way stop near Kenaston School in an effort to prevent a possible accident involving a speeding car and children heading to class.

“We had a lot of speeders going downtown, so it’s basically to slow people down because there is a crosswalk where kids go across Main Street (3rd Street),” said Fowler. “There is a hill where you come into town and you go up that hill to get downtown. Kids cross there that go to school, so we wanted to slow people down before they go to that street and possibly hit kids because the kids can’t see the traffic very well there.”

Fowler said 2nd Street comes off Highway 11 just as 3rd Street does and they have been getting complaints from residents about people speeding on it as well, so that is why they decided to erect two four-way stops there too.

“People come off the highway and they keep going,” she said. “They don’t slow down because they can curve coming into town off the highway. This way we’re hoping that it’ll slow them down because they know there is a stop sign there now.”

The decision to put up the stop signs was made by the previous village council headed by former Mayor Dan O’Handley, but current Mayor ML Whittles agrees entirely with the stop signs and said “they are not being removed” despite some opposition from residents unhappy with the new stops.

“We have that hill and (the RCMP) were clocking people at around 80 to 100 kilometres at times going down Main Street,” said Whittles, noting it’s a 40 km an hour limit. “It is a means of safety.”

The new stop signs were recently brought up at a community meeting held Jan. 29 at Kenaston Place by some residents wary of the change, but Fowler said putting up the signs was a council decision in an effort to make the community safer and people unhappy with the change need to recognize that.

To read more please see the Feb. 11 print edition of The Davidson Leader.