All posts by Tara de Ryk

featured

Schmit and More plead guilty to second-degree murder

Devin Schmit and Darak More both pleaded guilty to second-degree murder at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Regina Sept. 28 in the death of Rob Vicente of Bladworth.

Schmit has been sentenced to life with no parole eligibility for 20 years, while More has been sentenced to life with no parole eligibility for 15 years. Both men also face mandatory lifetime bans on possessing firearms and must provide DNA samples.

Schmit and More were each going to trial to face first-degree murder charges in the death of Vicente after a quick preliminary hearing Sept. 10 and 11 at a Regina Provincial Court that ended after two days when it was decided there was enough evidence to head to trial.

Vicente, 25, was last seen in Davidson on Oct. 10, 2010.

On Oct. 12, Hanley RCMP was notified that he was missing.

Police reported on Oct. 14 that Vicente’s burned-out car was found in a vacant farmyard about 29 kilometres west of Davidson on Oct. 12.

Meanwhile, family and friends and many people from Bladworth and the wider community took part in extensive ground and air searches for Vicente.

On Feb. 11, 2011, Schmit and More were charged with first-degree murder and robbery. On Feb. 14, 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.

featured

Stats Canada corrects mistake

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.

Craik

Craik Farmers Market closes

Last week the overhead door closed for good on Craik Farmers Market.

After seven years, the small core group of volunteers who were keeping the market going decided this would be their last season. Friday, Sept. 21 was the market’s last sale day.

Last Tuesday, market founder Pauline Dixon, original vendor Joyce Miller and helper Marlene Stubbington were busy in the fire engine bay of Craik’s old town hall, packing up all that remained of the market’s “garage sale” merchandise.

These garage sale items were a mainstay at the farmers market, since it started the summer of 2006. The market’s purpose was to raise money to restore Craik’s old town hall and to give locals a place from which to sell their products, whether they be baked goods, garden veggies or local honey. Dixon, Miller, Carol Styles, Henry Dyck and Lyle and Gertie Bligh were the founding members.

Miller said prior to Craik’s farmers market, she used to sell her home baking at the farmers market in Moose Jaw. She recalled the days when she worked as a cook at Toppers restaurant in Davidson.

“I would work all day and come home and bake and then take 20 pies, plus cinnamon buns, tarts, cookies…I don’t know what all I took…up to Moose Jaw,” Miller said.

When Craik’s market opened up, every Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Miller was able to sell her baking in Craik. She was a vendor for a few years and then became a volunteer.

Dixon said they decided to call it quits due to health reasons.

“Joyce can’t do it anymore for health reasons. Art and his brother Hritis aren’t kind to me. It’s sad to see it go, but my husband and me sometimes spend three days a week here…” Dixon said.

In the absence of a new contingent of volunteers coming forward, they opted to close the market.

To read more please see the Oct. 1 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Raiders tame Wildcats in junior football

The Davidson Raiders junior football team took it to the Watrous Wildcats at The Ranch last week in a decisive 35-14 victory.

On the first play of the game, the Raiders Addison Ouellette returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and the team didn’t look back. The Raiders, playing their first game of existence on Sept. 26, performed like seasoned veterans in defeating a Watrous team that featured some players who already had two years under their belt in football.

“I knew the guys were going to be a little hesitant, so I wasn’t sure of what to expect,” said co-coach Trevor Ouellette. “For the most part the defence played well and the offence played well. The guys did what they were supposed to do, so it was a pretty good game.”

The Raiders, which enlist grades 7-9 Davidson School players, was up against the odds as they were facing a seasoned team that had players who have been involved in football since Grade 5. They stood up and proved Davidson has a future football age in the works by pounding the Wildcats on defence by never backing down from a hard tackle and hitting the offensive marks through an air and ground offence.

“It was fun,” said Raiders co-coach Jason Low. “It was a really good introduction of junior football to Davidson. The boys were so excited and so revved up. They played really well and it was nice to get some points and give the fans something to cheer about.

“It’s a real promising step for the future of our football program here in Davidson.”

Low said the junior football program at Davidson School is different from the seniors in that it is more focused towards developing the players and keeping them safe instead of just letting them run plays on their own out on the field. He said there are coaches on the field with the players at all times, just to help them “understand the game,” and to correct any mistakes that might occur after a play.

“It just makes it more a teaching and learning experience for them,” he said.

The junior Raiders will play an away game in Watrous this week, but no set schedule is done up for the season. They will play at a jamboree tournament in Hague on Oct. 13 that should get them into three games on that date and their coaches hope another few games on the side, before or after then, can be set up.

Davidson

Schneider happy to be mayor

Clayton Schneider is proud to call Davidson home.

The new mayor of Davidson, who will take over the honour from Mary Jane Morrison after the Oct. 24 municipal election, said he chose to run for the position because he wants to maintain “what Davidson has offered me” through his 35 years of walking down the town’s streets and enjoying all its comforts.

“The community is moving forward right now, so keeping that momentum that has already been in place for the last few years is my goal,” said Schneider, who was elected by acclamation. “I’ve been here my whole entire life and when I first ran for council, the reasons I had were to make sure that services were maintained. It is great to be part of those decisions.”

Schneider, who has been a councillor for Davidson the past two terms, said he feels he can offer some experience to the rest of town council over the next four years through pushing ahead with a proven agenda instead of re-fighting past battles. He said there are “pros and cons” to working with new faces around the council table, which may include three to five new councillors out of six seats depending on the vote outcome, but feels the policies and procedures are already in place to move the town forward.

“When I started we were all new except one person, (councillor) Jeff Alexander,” said Schneider, adding new councillors are good because they bring new ideas which help inform the discussion, but he is not endorsing anyone. “With a new council, they ask lots of questions. When you’re dealing with a new council there are no blinders on, so a lot of good can come out of that.”

To read more please see the Oct. 1 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Dundurn hopes to make old fire hall a memory with new bulb campaign

“Proudly serving our community” is the motto of Dundurn’s Emergency Response Team.

While they may serve proudly, they are less impressed with the state of their fire hall. The roof leaks, despite many attempts at fixing the problem and a windstorm a few years ago pulled the building apart, separating the north wall from the west wall.

The damage was repaired as best it could, but when winds are gusting, emergency responders worry that if they have to open a door to take out a truck, the building will blow away, says Terry Benson who has over 37 years with the department.

They say their insurance company has refused to insure the current building.

The fire hall, located adjacent to the CN Rail tracks in downtown Dundurn, was built in the 1960s and began its life as a fertilizer shed for Esso.

“Do we spend a whole bunch of money to re-do an old fertilizer shed?” asks Glenn Cline.

The Dundurn-area rancher and former RM of Dundurn councillor doesn’t think so, which is why he’s heading up a fund-raising drive to raise money to build a new fire hall. Called

The Christmas Memory Tree 2012 campaign, for $20 people may buy a bulb in memory of a loved one. The bulbs will be hung on a large evergreen tree outside Dundurn’s Community Hall. All the bulbs will be lit in mid-November until January in honour of those for whom the bulbs were purchased.

The Dundurn Emergency Response Team will hold a tree lighting night in November with a presentation of all the names of the people honoured on the tree.

Proceeds from the sale of bulbs will go to a reserve fund to be used towards building a new fire hall.

Ideally, the new building will have seven bays and measure about 60 by 120 feet to house the department’s fire trucks and rescue vehicles.

The emergency response team fights fires and responds to medical emergencies.

“What we’re trying to do with Glenn’s program is to raise money, but also to make the community aware of volunteers and the service they are providing,” Benson said.

Cline said he hopes that the Christmas Memory Tree campaign shows the municipalities that emergency responders are committed to seeing a new fire hall and are willing to contribute to the fund-raising effort.

They have approached municipalities for funding and hope that all four will agree to help.

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