All posts by admin

Davidson

Dundurn Centre faces delays

Construction of the Dundurn International Exhibition Centre will not begin this spring and no firm start date has yet to be presented.

Fred Wilson, Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Dundurn, said negotiations between the RM and Brightenview Development International Inc., which is building the massive wholesale outlet, are ongoing. He said they spoke to Brightenview April 8 and the company did not indicate when construction would begin.

“Everything is still progressing,” said Wilson. “It’s a multi-million dollar project and there is a lot of things that have to fall in place.”

Construction on the 155-acre site located a half-mile north of the Highway 211 and Highway 11 intersection on the east side of the highway was slated to begin in the fall of 2013 and last for 18 to 24 months. Once completed, the centre would potentially house 350 Chinese businesses that would sell wholesale products to buyers in North America and employ over 1,000 people.

“Everything is moving along,” said Wilson. “I’m not starting to get buck fever or anything. I think it is still going to happen, but it’s just taking a little longer maybe than what originally the plans were. Whether they’ll get started this summer, I can’t really (say). But I still feel quite confident that the project is still going to happen.”

In addition to the Exhibition Centre, Brightenview also pledged to help the community build a multi-million dollar community centre in Dundurn that would house a skating rink, swimming pool, hall and office space through a donation towards the costs of the project. Wilson said the new community centre is still in the plans.

“We’ve had some preliminary discussions on it, but we haven’t come up with all the financing on it yet,” he said. “It’s still part of the project.”

Wilson noted there are many people saying ‘I won’t believe it till I see it,’ but he is still confident the centre will become a reality. He said they are just not in a position to “put an exact date or timeline” on construction of it as of yet.

featured

Spring runoff water floods into Craik

The Rural Municipality and Town of Craik is coping with a deluge of water this spring that has already flooded a number of homes in the town, washed out two or three grid roads in the RM and is threatening to overflow the dam.

Hilton Spencer, reeve of the RM of Craik, said they have “piles of trouble all over” the area due to frozen ground, farmers draining sloughs, a drainage ditch around town that wasn’t cleaned out, quick warmth outside and a large amount of water runoff that their culverts could not handle.

“It’s different from last year,” said Spencer, noting there is water flowing over roads in several places in the RM and town. “We had more snow last year, but the ground wasn’t froze up (and) quite a bit of it soaked in. It got a little bit warmer (last week) and I think there is just an abnormal bunch of water in the snow this year.”

Craik Mayor Rick Rogers said their drainage ditch around the town overflowed the afternoons of April 8 and 9, which let water stream through the Craik School yard and down Ferguson Street flooding out some houses. He said residents of town could see the water coming before the floods hit when the temperature reached the teens in the middle of the week.

“There (are) probably six houses that are in trouble,” said Rogers. “They had a lot of water in their basement.”

Erin Stephens’ house on Ferguson Street was one of the homes affected.

She said late Tuesday afternoon water was pouring in through the basement windows.

“By 4:30 p.m., walking in our driveway, water was up to our knees.”

Besides flooding their basement, water also flowed into their garage. She said by 10 p.m. Tuesday they had cleaned up the water in the basement. Then Wednesday afternoon more runoff came into town from the fields to the west flooding the Stephens home and others on Ferguson once again.

Their finished basement sustained water damage and many items in the basement and garage are wrecked.

She said their insurance doesn’t cover flood damage. She hopes the town will provide compensation.

“We’ll be expecting the town to do something for us, but nobody has told us anything yet,” she said.

She and her husband and two kids have lived in the house for 10 years and this is the first time they’ve been flooded.

“It’s frustrating because it could have been prevented,” Stephens said, referring to the town not cleaning out the drainage ditch in front of her home.

To read more please see the April 14 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Teen pledges locks to aid sufferers

Sarah Nykiforuk, 17, has decided to make a difference in the lives of those suffering from mental illness and cancer.

Sarah is running an online donation campaign to raise $1,000 by June for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). She is also pledging to cut her long golden hair shortly after she reaches that goal and donate it to a foundation that makes wigs for financially disadvantaged people suffering from cancer.

“I’ve set up a page on the Canadian Mental Health Association website (www.cmha.ca), so people can go on it and search for ‘Sponsor Sarah Nykiforuk,'” said Sarah, who is a Grade 12 student at Davidson School. “If people want to pay with cash or cheque they can give those to me and I could enter their cash or cheque onto the website and they would get a tax-deductible receipt for any donation they contribute.”

Sarah began her campaign to raise funds for the CMHA on April 2, which is Autism Awareness Day, because of her interest in the brain development disorder and the new options medical personnel are using to help people touched by it. However, she said the decision to go forward with the fund-raising campaign happened near the beginning of the school year when she became more serious about supporting the overall cause of better treatment of mental illness.

“I’ve met a lot of people who have struggled through different mental health issues such as bipolar disorder and depression and I’ve just seen the ways those issues have affected them and their families,” she said. “Those are people that I’ve seen who’ve been getting help. I know there are a lot of people out there who aren’t getting help and if I can have some part in helping them to have access to that I really want to.”

During her campaign, Sarah is also spending time researching different charitable organizations to find one she could donate her shorn hair to when she cuts it in mid-June.

To read more please see the April 14 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Pool committee plans for fun auction

The Davidson Swimming Pool community auction being held this Thursday at the Davidson Rink is shaping up to be one of the biggest fund-raising projects the new pool committee has held to date.

Jessie Foster, a member of the new Davidson Swimming Pool committee, said there will be a full bar, midnight lunch, appetizers, door prizes, a silent auction and the main live auction during the evening. She said the cost to get in to the adult-only event is a $10 charge at the door, which covers the midnight lunch and entry into the door prize contest, but the chance to bid on some of the hundreds of “amazing” donated items is worth the price of admission in itself.

“We’ve got quite a variety,” said Foster, noting more auction items are still coming in. “We’ve got everything from meals to the field and homemade baking to services like Bobcat (Landscaping) or trucking to spa packages, concert tickets, flight packages and Rider tickets. We really have a good variety of items for everybody.”

Foster said the committee has raised close to $500,000 so far solely through fund-raising events and community donations. She said to reach their goal of having $1.3 million by 2015 they are going to begin focusing on applying for grant money to try and find some funding from outside the community to get closer to the final total.

In the meantime, the committee is taking a closer look at the initial plans of the new pool design and would be getting some technical drawings made up. Foster said once everything is ready they’d like to invite the entire community to an open meeting to take a look at what is being proposed along with a breakdown of the costs.

She said after the auction the committee is planning on holding a spring bottle drive. There are a few other community events in the works as well, but for now they’re concentrating their efforts on putting together an enjoyable evening this Thursday at the Rink and hoping for a good turnout from members of the community.

“We are going to have fun surprises during the auction that I think people are going to enjoy,” said Foster. “It’s going to be a fun evening to come out and bid and socialize and have a good time.”

Davidson

Skating Club looks for increased membership

A Dundurn recreational institution is in danger of fading into history if its participant numbers are not increased in the near future.

Shannette Classen, coach of the Dundurn Skating Club, said they need more parents in the community to enrol their kids in the Club’s learn to skate classes this fall if they hope to survive. She said there are many helpful skating programs available for kids in Dundurn and people need to take advantage of them.

“There are so many new people in the area that don’t know we’re here,” said Classen, noting the long-time Club’s membership has dwindled from 37 kids in 2012-2013 to 12 kids in 2013-2014. She said the Club provides a learn to skate tot class as well as Can Skate levels one to nine classes and a pre-power early hockey skills program, but the low enrollment puts offering these lessons in the future in danger.

Classen said they plan on getting the word out about what the Dundurn Skating Club has to offer this spring and summer in an effort to improve next season’s enrolment. The coach, who has been teaching classes at the Club since 2008, said these efforts would include placing advertisements in the Dundurn community newsletter, distributing brochures at the town office and passing out handouts at the elementary school.

She said the Club is also saluting long-time helpers to show their appreciation for all those who have kept the program going strong in Dundurn since it began back in 1967.

“We made a presentation to Vera Falk (March 22) for a lifetime achievement award,” said Classen. She said they also raised almost $2,000 later that day at a steak supper fund-raiser at Big Mur’s Tavern in Dundurn, which would be used to keep future enrolment costs down.

Falk said it would be “sad” to see the club she helped start with four or five other community members over 46 years ago, come to an end. She said the Club has been great for kids in the community looking for a chance to learn how to skate over the years and it has to keep going.

“The kids have got to learn skating when they’re five and six years old, three and four years old, (and) as soon as they can stand on skates,” said Falk, whose three daughters Abby, Jessie and Natalie skated with the Club in previous years. “We had a lot of kids involved (earlier). It was a big club and we had professional skaters, teachers, come from the city. It was a good club.”

To read more please see the April 14 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Spring minor football program comes to town

The sounds of the gridiron will be heard in Davidson this spring.

A junior athletic association Davidson-based minor football team is going to take the field during the months of May and June as part of the Saskatoon Six-a-Side Tackle Football League. The official kickoff for the Davidson club will occur April 26 with a football camp at the Kinsmen Field featuring on-field instruction from some members of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and Saskatoon Hilltops as well as a couple of former Saskatchewan Roughriders before a community fund-raising supper is held.

Blair Frederickson, coach of the Davidson team, said the program involves 13- and 14-year-old players in grades 7 and 8 practising in town every Monday and Wednesday beginning in early May and playing one game every Thursday night at the U of S. He said the seven-week spring season would end with a jamboree at the U of S on June 21.

“We’ve got about 10 players (signed up) from Davidson, four players from Kenaston, four players from Loreburn and we’re open to Craik,” said Frederickson, noting there is room on the roster for more kids to join and they could do so by contacting him at the school. “With minor baseball being inactive here and soccer just for young kids there wasn’t really a program for teenagers, so we’re hoping this is going to give them an outlet. The ulterior motive is I’m going to, as one of the high school coaches, use this program to build a base for future development of my high school program.”

Frederickson said the games would run with a “shoot out” format where each team gets a set number of plays to drive to the end zone from the 35-yard-line. He said if a team scores they go back to the 35-yard-line and keeps playing offence until their set number of plays is over and they switch to defence.

“Coaches are on the field,” he said. “It’s almost like a controlled scrimmage/game situation. The kids are getting game experience, but at the same time every huddle I can run out and stick my head in and pat the kids on the back and try to correct any problems that need to be straightened out.”

This is not the first time Frederickson has participated in a league like this, as the coach was also involved with a Kindersley team that played spring minor football. He said the program is great for the kids as it gives them time on the field with experienced football coaches such as Jason Low, Trevor Ouellette, Ryan Johnson and John Jamieson.

Frederickson said the April 26 football camp kickoff is going to be open to any players of all ages that want to attend. He said they’re looking at bringing some Huskies and Hilltops players to Davidson to talk to the kids and work with them before having a couple ex-Riders take part in the afternoon session.

“They would stay around and we would have a community supper to help as a fund-raiser for the football season that evening,” said Frederickson, noting it would be open to the public. “The Riders, they would each give a motivational speech at the supper and any funds that we raise would be used to provide for equipment for future seasons, uniforms and other things you would need to run a program.”