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Hanley outdoor enthusiast competes in Yukon River Quest

Amy Peters admits she was a little concerned before she embarked on an essentially non-stop 715-kilometre canoe race through the lakes of the Yukon earlier this summer, but the idea of confronting that challenge and raising some money for a good cause was too much for her to pass up.

“It is very much in line with the mission of Outward Bound and one of the mottos that we use is that there is more in you than you think,” said Peters, a former outdoor leadership trainer with the organization. “A lot of times as we’re working with students, whether they’re hiking or canoeing, they are very challenged physically and we always see them do amazing things and push past the limit they think they have.

“A piece of (this) is just exploring that for myself.”

Peters, 31, tested her limits by competing in the June 26 to 29 Yukon River Quest “Race to the Midnight Sun” along with nine other former staff and alumni of Outward Bound Canada in a mixed voyageur canoe of the same name. The team finished third in their class and 12th overall in the 62-team race completing the trek with a time of 50 hours and 20 minutes and also managed to raise around $16,000 for abused women in the process.

“One of our goals was to raise money for a program that we run called Women of Courage and it is typically about eight days of an expedition that is offered to woman survivors of abuse,” she said, adding at last count they had raised around $16,000. “We found that (the program) is part challenge for them, which helps them. It helps people to realize how strong they are and it’s just also part of the healing journey as they recover from abusive relationships.”

As far as she knows, Peters was the only Saskatchewan resident to compete in the race that brings together around 180 of the top paddlers from around the world. All of these outdoor enthusiasts complete the course in one of the different classes of tandem canoe, tandem kayak, solos and voyageur canoes, but have the same goal in mind of crossing the finish line first.

“The first stretch we did was 22 hours in the boat without getting out and then we had our first rest stop which was seven hours,” she said, noting the race began in Whitehorse and the first stop was at Carmacks. “Then again you get in the boat and you go again until your second rest stop.  You get a quick three-hour nap in and then you finish it off.”

Peters said the second time in the boat was around 20 hours before the last three-hour rest at Kirkman Creek, but she can’t be sure because things were getting “a little fuzzier” during that time. She said the team then hit the water again completing the last 100 miles in about eight to 10 hours before finally crossing the finish line at Dawson City.

To read more please see the Aug. 12 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Dundurn leaders complete trade mission to China

A massive new wholesale outlet planned for Dundurn is one step closer to opening day after a successful trade mission to China last month by a contingent of local officials.

Fred Wilson, Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Dundurn, said 12 local representatives headed to Beijing, Chongquing and Hangzhou July 7 to 15 on an invite from the mayors of those cities to show Chinese investors the 155-acre Dundurn International Exhibition Centre is for real. He said while in China the officials met with potential investors and entrepreneurs in an effort to drum up interest in the centre.

“My understanding is it was very successful,” said Wilson, noting Dundurn Mayor Doug Narraway and Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison were part of the 12-member contingent that went to China. “The language barrier restricted our exposure considerably…but just by talking to the Brightenview staff and other people that were there, they were very pleased with the reception that we had.”

Wilson said each member of the group made a presentation when arriving in a new city to extol the virtues of doing business at the wholesale outlet that could potentially house 350 Chinese businesses and employ over 1,000 people once construction is completed in late 2014. He said the mission was “helped out quite a bit” by the participation of the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) when it came to the marketing of the centre and the area.

“It’s a little bigger than Dundurn, it’s a regional thing now,” he said. “Their participation is very (much) needed.”

Narraway said the mission was “very well attended” by Chinese businesses and city representatives at all the group’s stops and everyone they met in China seemed really interested in the project. He said this should go a long way in showing potential investors the Dundurn International Exhibition Centre is a good way to develop their business.

“At the end of the day it was all a SREDA driven mission and the Chinese believe pretty firmly in titles and so on, so having the mayor and the reeve and the mayor of Saskatoon definitely showed our support of SREDA and the Brightenview project,” said Narraway. “SREDA also represents the Town of Dundurn and the RM of Dundurn, so they are the ones that are helping us to better ourselves to get the growth growing and to bring in companies to help us.”

To read more please see the Aug. 12 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

West Nile virus infection risk escalates in Heartland and Five Hills health regions

The risk of infection of the West Nile virus has escalated to moderate in the Heartland and Five Hills heath regions, but the possibility of the risk increasing to severe is high.

Dr. David Torr, consulting medical health officer for Heartland Health Region, said this is the peak season for contracting the virus in the region because the migrating birds that bring in West Nile are in the area, the Culex tarsalis mosquitoes are here in high numbers and there are more people active outdoors during August. He said there have been no cases of the West Nile virus reported in humans yet, but if people do not take precautions that is going to change.

“We identified (West Nile) in the birds and the mosquitoes are around and are biting or will have bitten infected birds and that will lead to human infections,” said Torr. “As much as we haven’t seen (human cases) we are expecting them. We are hoping that if people take the appropriate precautions that we will see much less or much fewer cases.”

Torr said people need to wear protective clothing, use insect repellent containing DEET, clean and empty containers that collect water and keep screens on windows and doors in good shape. He said reducing time outdoors between dusk and dawn is also important because the Culex tarsalis mosquito that transmits the virus is an evening and morning biter.

“The Culex tarsalis requires some warmth, but it doesn’t like the mid-day heat,” he said. “It’s rare that you’ll be bitten by it in the mid-day sun although it can happen in shady areas. The other mosquitoes, the nuisance mosquitoes, come all the time (and) anytime, but they are not responsible for spreading the virus.”

To read more please see the Aug. 12 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Cyclones partner with new Davidson Swimming Pool fund for auction

The new swimming pool in town is $19,000 closer to reality thanks to a successful partnership last month between the new pool committee and the Davidson Cyclones senior hockey team.

Jessie Foster, new Davidson Swimming Pool fund committee member, said the Cyclones helped move along the construction of a new pool by allowing the committee members to auction off a few items at their annual golf tournament and a few of the guys even donated their hair to the cause.

“Everything was really successful,” said Foster. “The group that comes out to support the Cyclones were also very supportive of the pool, so it was a great partnership between the two groups.”

Foster said Colton Allan, Keith Lawson and Brayden McNabb offered to shave their heads for donations to the new pool fund, which proved very prosperous for the committee. She said the auctioning off of the CASE IH Scout utility vehicle that was previously donated to the committee by Young’s Equipment really helped move them closer towards their final goal as well.

The committee has now raised $218,000 towards their goal of $1.3 million, which they hope to raise over the next year-and-a-half in order to start construction on the new 84 feet long by 35 feet wide six-lane pool by 2015. The next fund-raiser organized by the committee is coming up on Oct. 19 when they would be holding the Harvest Hoe-Down at the Davidson Communiplex.

“That is where we will be doing the Duck Drop,” she said, noting people can still pick up their ducks through Danielle Schneider. “There will be 12 cash prizes we’ll be giving away for that. It’s also going to be a family event, so there will be lots of activities for the kids and the families.”

Foster said the group is also going to be having the King Farmer competition at the Hoe-Down where entrants will be tested on various fun farm skills on equipment donated for the contest by John Deere.

“We’ll do things such as parallel parking combines and the farmer that can do it in the fastest time without hitting any of the objects that we’re going to place around the course will win a trophy and have the bragging rights of being Davidson’s King Farmer.”

Davidson, featured

Council approves “small” tax rebate

Davidson town council is issuing ratepayers a rebate on their residential taxes this year after receiving numerous complaints over the past few weeks about the huge jump in people’s tax bills.

Davidson Mayor Clayton Schneider said council decided to approve the rebate, which comes to $1.24 per $1,000 of a homeowner’s taxable assessment on their property, at their monthly council meeting last Tuesday because an error was made when preparing the 2013 taxes. He said $49,650 that should have been put on commercial taxes was put on residential instead resulting in Davidson homeowners being overcharged and town businesses being undercharged.

“It can’t be reversed, so that’s why we went with that rebate,” said Schneider. “They couldn’t be reissued. I wish. That was the first thing I asked was can we, whoever has paid their taxes, give them a credit and just redo it and reissue taxes. The answer I guess was no.”

Schneider said the main reason people are seeing such a jump in their tax bill is because this is a reassessment year and most properties went up in value. He said the six per cent increase in municipal taxes instituted this year was not the culprit.

“I think what was overlooked was the assessment year,” he said, noting the town’s residential assessment doubled this year to $40 million. “We weren’t prepared for an assessment that hasn’t been as high as 1997. It jumped that much. Davidson is not the only (town) facing these concerns right now. It is the entire province. Talking to people from Leader, Outlook, all those places, they saw the same thing we did. It’s a gigantic jump.”

Bud Prpick said his residential tax bill for his home on McGregor Street was $1,000 higher this year than last. He said the jump came as a shock because he received no warning this was coming.

“I expected a raise, but not $1,000,” said Prpick. “I think I can get by with it, but we’re senior citizens and actually we’ve got no more income coming. Just a little bit of pension and stuff.”

Davidson councillor Jason Shaw said a committee has been formed with council members and administration to try and figure out where the changes are in the rates from last year to this year and what council can do to help. He said the main problem that council has faced about this situation is homeowners have been asking questions about why their taxes went up and councillors don’t have a solid idea of what the tax situation in Davidson is.

To read more please see the July 22 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Community leaders raise concerns with rural health minister

Saskatchewan Minister of Rural Health Randy Weekes stopped by the Davidson Health Centre July 12 in an effort to discuss the pressing issues on the minds of this community’s leaders and promote a new health care model for rural Saskatchewan.

Davidson Mayor Clayton Schneider said the message Weekes received in Davidson was clear. He said the minister was told a second doctor for the town is needed to help ease Dr. Lang’s workload and 24-hour emergency care in the community needs to be maintained.

“The things I brought up, my number one was letting him know that my biggest concern was retaining and adding a physician that meets everyone’s needs,” said Schneider. “What I mean by that is it meets everyone’s needs as in the doctor’s, the region and of course provincial and municipal. The second thing was maintaining a 24-hour emergency service. Currently Davidson is doing 10 days a month and one thing I know is if you do lose something, it is hard to get it back.”

Weekes said the discussion with the community leaders was “very positive” and the suggestion he had was Davidson is a good location for a Collaborative Emergency Centre (CEC). He said a CEC is a form of family health care that keeps emergency open and has flexible hours.

“As an example, keeping emergency care open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. by a registered nurse and an advanced paramedic in consultation directly with a emergency physician somewhere in the province, so patients that would come in to emergency would be triaged (and) they would be asked to come back for same day or next day appointment with a physician or nurse practitioner,” said Weekes.

“Some would be treated and released and the true emergencies would be sent on by ambulance or STARS and dealt with by a physician in a hospital, an emergency physician.”

Weekes said the other key component of a CEC is the physician, nurse practitioner and health care team would provide 12-hour clinics to people during the day seven days a week, so there would be a need for another physician in the town. He said this gives emergency care to patients and also allows the physicians to not be on-call.

To read more please see the July 22 print edition of The Davidson Leader.