Property owners in and around Imperial began the long process of cleaning up last week after a vicious July 5 storm that featured fastball-sized hailstones, torrential rain and a monstrous tornado blew through the area.

Helen Abrey, who lives southeast of Imperial with her husband Ted, said they are alive to tell the tale of the storm for three main reasons. She said they have to thank their daughter Amy for preparing them for the upcoming storm by texting them updates from Saskatchewan Tornado Watch in addition to being lucky enough to reside in an old and heavy T. Eaton house and also having a row of poplar trees beside their home.

“We were very fortunate (because) I think if the trees hadn’t taken the brunt of the force of the tornado that went through, the house would have gone,” said Abrey, noting trees on the north side in front of the house were snapped in two either above or at ground level and ones on the east side of the home were also toppled. “That was the fortunate part, but it has created damage and it has created a lot of mess.”

Abrey said the trees that were taken down by the tornado subsequently fell onto the house, which has resulted in their four points of entry into the home being reduced to one along with puncture holes in the roof of the porch, a destroyed balcony railing and damage to all portions of the fascia. She said the tremendous force of the twister even embedded one branch into part of their veranda and blasted other “big timbers” over the house onto the far side of the yard.

“It was quite frightening,” she said. “We’ve lived in the house for 30 years and we’ve never headed to the basement before, so this was the first time that we felt that we maybe should take cover. I love to watch storms, but I guess not this time.”

Norman Lucas, a farmer living northwest of Imperial, said they are going to have to completely re-side the house and roof after “fastball sized” hailstones rained down on his property. He said there are over 100 holes in the roof due to the storm and some of the hailstones even went through the roof and into the wood underneath it.

“When it first started to come down it started as pea-sized hail and then it went up to popcorn size and then it kept going,” said Lucas a couple days after the Saturday afternoon storm. “It went to golf ball and then right to fastball. We have divots in our lawn. I just actually finished mowing up all the trees, but it drove (some ice) into the ground four inches (deep). There are holes all over. It did that in town too. It was one I don’t want to see again.”

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

Upkeep at the Davidson Cemetery was non-existent this year until town workers and a private company got onto the grounds last Monday to try and bring it up to reasonable standards of expectation and that is not sitting well with one town leader.

“It was in terrible shape,” said Davidson councillor Gerald Kenny. “It was (in) really bad shape. It was probably the worst cemetery for miles around. Lots of it was underwater, (so) they couldn’t maybe do something with it. They’ve hired somebody to go in there, but no it was in bad shape before Monday.”

The Davidson Cemetery looked abandoned until July 7 with uncut grass towering close to the top of most headstones, numerous weeds growing throughout the grounds and the roads in the cemetery appearing to be almost impassible. In addition, some graves that were not filled in with a slight mound had sunk resulting in a possible tripping hazard for people walking in the cemetery as well as holes appearing over the graves where water could lay.

According to a July 8 Facebook post by the Town of Davidson, town workers have been busy with other things this spring including garbage pickup issues and problems with the lagoon pivot. The Town states the garbage trucks have been fixed and are ready to go to pick up any garbage and the pivot is fixed and it shouldn’t be too long before issues are worked out at the lagoon.

Kenny said town leaders have talked about moving to private maintenance options for the cemetery instead of the current practice of having Davidson employees look after the upkeep, but he is unsure if there is an organization around that would be available to do the work. He said one option could be hiring somebody for the summer to look after cemetery maintenance, which would allow town employees to focus on other pressing issues.

He said the weather drying up and the “pressure” put on the town to do something at the cemetery finally forced them to hire Summit Excavating to haul gravel in and gravel the roads along with fill in the sunken graves. Kenny added the town employees who began work there last Monday cutting grass and trimming around monuments have helped better the condition of the grounds, but more work needs to be done to improve the reputation of the Davidson Cemetery.

“The weeds in the past haven’t been controlled good enough,” he said. “We’ve got to do a better job of that if we’re going to do (maintenance). We just have to. As far as I am concerned as a councillor there is no ifs, ands or buts about it. We just got to do it (and) have a little more respect for our deceased people. Most of them are the ones that probably developed this community at one time whether it was farming or working in town as a business person.”

Gary Edom, administrator for the Town of Davidson, said maintenance work did not begin at the cemetery until last Monday because the ground was too wet. He said they are “not proud” of how the cemetery looked this year, but could not do anything about it with water laying in “a good part” of the cemetery grounds.

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

The Town of Davidson has approved a request from Emergency Medical Services and STARS to pay for and install a gate in the left field fence of the senior baseball diamond, so air ambulances can land closer to the hospital.

The gate would be a forerunner to a future landing pad for STARS helicopters in the left field of the ball diamond. EMS and STARS initially approached the town with the plan to have a landing pad in the field because according to their own policy they are not allowed to land at the Davidson Communiplex.

“They’ll be right behind the hospital (at) that senior ball diamond,” said Gary Edom, administrator for the Town of Davidson. “They hope to just be able to wheel somebody out from the back door of the hospital to the senior ball diamond. You wouldn’t even need an ambulance to transfer.”

Edom said the Heartland Health Region would be in charge of clearing a pathway in the winter from the health centre to the gate. He said Davidson is requesting the health region also keep the area from the gate to the landing spot free of snow, as initially it was supposed to be the town in charge of clearing this area.

“If they’re going to clear up to the gate, it only makes sense to go a little further while they’re there,” he said. Edom confirmed the pathway from the back door of the hospital to the new landing spot must be cleared 24 hours a day, seven days a week in case of an emergency.

“From my understanding all we’re really committed to right now is putting the gate in,” said Edom, noting there is no timeline as of yet on when this will happen. “There will be lots of details to work out I’m sure as we go.”

Old Fashioned Saturday Night is scheduled for July 19 in Davidson, but the people who are trying to put on the festivities still need some volunteer help to ensure a good show.

Jess Palmer, president of the Old Fashioned Saturday Night committee, said the day is a community event and they need more members of the community to lend a hand. She said the more people who take an interest in the festivities the better the day will be.

“We’re definitely calling for volunteers this year,” said Palmer. “The day before (Old Fashioned Saturday Night) come down to the town hall around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. to get a rundown on how things or the children’s carnival games work. We need those people even if (they’re) 12 years old.”

The lineup for Old Fashioned Saturday Night this year begins with the annual parade at 11 a.m. following by a children’s festival at Arnold Park. During the afternoon a cribbage tournament is planned for the Town Hall along with a 10- to 14-year-old scavenger hunt through town and a “Funtazim Science Show” for the kids at 4 p.m.

A potluck supper at the hall will start at 5 p.m. before a beer garden would be set up near by in the early evening. The final events include a family street dance beginning at 7 p.m. and a pie and ice cream dessert available at the Davidson Seniors’ Centre taking place at the same time.

Palmer said the committee, which also includes Chantal Wightman and Brenda Townsend, decided to “scale back” the festivities this year due to the arrival of the newest member of the Palmer household, Henry, two-and-a-half months ago. She said they are focusing on what worked for them at Old Fashioned Saturday Night last year to get the 2014 version going, while also looking ahead to a more elaborate summer celebration in 2015.

“We’re looking at next year to do a Christmas in July idea and change things a smidge,” said Palmer, noting they are hoping to attract more committee members to help plan this event. We’ll “maybe have an evening parade or a twinkle parade…and see if we can haul Santa from his northern workshop.”

She said one thing they did change for this year was to schedule Old Fashioned Saturday Night one week earlier than when it usually occurs. She said this summer’s July 19 date ensures it doesn’t fall on the same weekend as the Elbow rodeo, so any revellers looking to enjoy the festivities in Davidson have a better opportunity to do so.