All posts by Tara de Ryk

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Schmit and More are headed to trial

Devin Schmit and Darak More are going to trial.

The two men are each facing first-degree murder charges in the death of Rob Vicente of Bladworth.

Schmit and More were at their preliminary hearing, which began Monday, Sept. 10. The hearing was scheduled for three weeks, but ended the next day, Tuesday, after it was decided there was enough evidence to proceed to trial.

There is a publication ban that prohibits reporting on evidence heard at the preliminary hearing.

At Monday’s hearing, Schmit, wearing a black Saskatchewan Roughriders T-shirt under an unbuttoned collared shirt, and More, in a plain grey sweatshirt, appeared at the hearing. They sat in a glassed prisoner’s box at the side of the room. They have remained in custody since their arrest Feb. 11, 2011.

Members of Rob’s family, including his parents and brothers were at the hearing, which took place in a small courtroom in Regina Provincial Court.

On Thursday, Rob’s mother Pam said the abrupt end to the hearing caught them by surprise.

“We sure weren’t expecting it,” Pam said.

Pam and Ferd Vicente have been waiting nearly two years, and had prepared themselves, to hear the Crown’s evidence and to learn what is alleged to have happened to their son Rob, who was 25 when he was last seen at the Shell gas station in Davidson on Oct. 10, 2010.

On Oct. 12, Hanley RCMP was notified that Rob was missing. While family and friends tried to locate Rob, on Oct. 14, 2010 police reported that on Oct. 12 Rob’s burned-out car was found in a vacant farmyard about 29 kilometres west of Davidson.

Meanwhile, many people from Bladworth, Davidson and the wider community took part in extensive ground and air searches for Rob, with no success.

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

More and Schmit will stand trial in the Court of Queen’s Bench in Regina on first-degree murder charges and robbery with a firearm in connection with the death of Rob Vicente. Schmit and More have pleaded not guilty.

No trial date has been set.

Davidson, featured

Police investigate crime spree

The liquor store in Davidson was broken into during the early morning hours of Sunday, Sept. 9.

The culprits threw a rock through the front plate glass window to gain entry to the building, which is armed with a security system and video cameras.

The thieves stole a quantity of liquor and fled the scene, leaving a mess of broken glass and broken liquor bottles.

Later that Sunday morning, at about 7:30 a.m., Craik RCMP members responded to a report of a single vehicle collision near Girvin on Highway 11 after a car had rolled in the ditch and caught on fire.

Police report that passing motorists helped free the vehicle’s occupants, four males, from the burning car, perhaps saving their lives.

One occupant had to be airlifted to hospital in Regina while the other three were transported by ambulance to Regina.

Craik RCMP is investigating the collision. Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the collision.

Back in Davidson, Logan Tennent was asleep, unaware that his 2006 Pontiac G6 was missing from the driveway of his Washington Avenue home.

Tennent said the car had been stolen and was one involved in the single vehicle collision.

“It was in impound before I knew it was gone,” Tennent said.

This car was similar to a vehicle eyewitnesses reported seeing, at about 7 a.m., parked on 3rd Street in Davidson.

The eyewitnesses watched as three unknown males transferred goods including golf clubs and a flat-screen television from a maroon-coloured mini van into a silver car.

One witness said they had tried to put a mini-bike into the trunk of the car, but gave up, leaving it on the street, opting to take the TV instead.

The witnesses did call 911.

RCMP Cpl. Rob King said the matters are still under investigation.

Davidson, Sports

Raiders volleyball team get the blues

The Davidson Raiders senior girls volleyball team kept the score close against a talented Outlook Blues team at Davidson School last Wednesday, but couldn’t “catch any breaks” in the two games played losing 3 sets to 2 in the first match and 5-0 in the second.

Tony Baldwin, volunteer coach of the Raiders, said the team “earned every point” against the Blues and generally played good, but the girls still have some work to do in gelling as a team and getting more serves on target as the season progresses.

“It’s just the first week of the season, so there is a lot of rust there, but I thought the young girls played well and they’re in the process of learning how to play together,” said Baldwin. “Some of those girls have played for a couple years in senior ball and some of them have never played a senior game until (this one), so that is what the start of the season is about in getting them all hooked up.”

The coach said the older girls on the team are doing a great job in coaching the younger ones on good position play and it is “really exciting” for him to see how well the Grade 10 students understand the defensive structure already.

He said the main struggle against the Blues in the second game was the Raiders’ serves and in senior volleyball “you can’t miss serves,” so that is something they’ll be working on in practice. Other problems that occurred against the Blues could partially be due to the fact Outlook is a bigger school than Davidson and organizes their team into an A squad and B squad.

To read more lease see the Sept. 17 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Provincial rink grants “a pebble in a lake”

The Davidson Communiplex is applying for two $2,500 community rink affordability grants for their skating and curling ice surfaces, but that’s still a couple goals short of a win in trying to keep their utility costs down.

Trevor Ouellette, town recreation director, said the money would help because “$2,500 is $2,500,” but when you factor in the actual power costs for running the Communiplex during the busy winter months it doesn’t come out to much.

“SaskPower, for 2011, we spent $32,000 on just power alone on the skating side and on the rink side it’s another $10,000,” said Oullette. “Just power for the Communiplex is $42,000. So $2,500 sure goes to help it, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a pebble in a lake type of effect.”

Ouellette said they should qualify for two ice surface grants for the skating rink and the curling rink, but he’s “not banking on it until we see it.” He said they should be eligible because both ice plants are running on separate meters.

The Government of Saskatchewan is doling out $1.9 million to ice surfaces across the province fulfilling a promise by the Sask Party in the 2011 provincial election. The grants will be administered and delivered by the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association.

Ouellette said since they started a program of sending in reports on utility usage and capital projects to the government in 2009, SaskPower has “actually been a leader” in helping the Communiplex reduce power costs, even though the program is run by the provincial government.

“The provincial government is committing $1.9 million, which does seem like a lot of money in the big budget, but when you have 700 eligible participants in that program to divide it up evenly, that’s where you get the $2,500 from,” he said. “If (utility bills) go down, every little bit helps I guess.”

Davidson

Optometrists set sights on Davidson

Doctors Joanna Keall and Chantel Kaytor will look you straight in the eye and tell you the hard truth. Don’t take it against them; they’re just doing their job.

Keall and Kaytor are the new optometrists in Davidson. The two doctors will be running a satellite clinic at the Davidson Family Practice every second Thursday, with the next one scheduled for Sept. 27, where they will be conducting eye exams as well as taking measurements on and dispensing glasses.

“We’re very excited,” said Keall. “We’ve worked for a good year to be set up here and we’re excited to be open finally. People will not have to drive (to the city) for exams and it’s an opportunity to make it easier on them.”

She said their first day on Sept. 13 was a bit slow, but that was “perfect” as it gave them a bit of time to get organized. The two doctors work fulltime out of InSight Vision Care in Regina and also practise in satellite clinics in Indian Head and Balcarres.

Donna Bessey, community development coordinator for Davidson, said the goal of the town is provide its residents with as many health services as possible. She said they will be looking into bringing the duo over more often once they have built up a big enough clientele, but for now it’s just great having them here at all.

“It will enable people to access services that otherwise they’d have to drive to Saskatoon or Regina or over to Outlook for,” said Bessey. “Especially for seniors it can be quite difficult for them or even for people who don’t drive, so it’s providing a needed service.”

Mary Jane Morrison, Mayor of Davidson, said bringing in the optometrists is part of a broader health plan that she hopes will see more caregivers from all areas of medicine come to town to practise including dentists, occupational therapists and podiatrists. She said if the town and the health region could work together and try to bring these services to Davidson and find space for them everyone from young people to seniors will benefit.

“It’s a little bit of a slow process,” said Morrison. “It’s not like we have the funding to build a building, but we’re certainly aware that if we could have a professional building it wouldn’t have to house all of these people at the same time. It could be rotating.

“Whether we work with the health region to try and do something more at the Health Centre or try to get a professional building on Main Street, we have our eyes and ears open for those opportunities. We’ll do what we can to make that happen.”

Keall said for now they are happy working out of the Davidson Family Practice and anyone can book an appointment with them by calling 567-1000 or just “mosey in” on their scheduled days to browse the selection of glasses on display.

Obituary

Frances Hoffman, February 19, 1920 – August 9, 2012.

Frances Alma (Neuberger) Hoffman passed away peacefully Thursday, August 9, 2012 at the Davidson Health Centre at the age of 92.

Frances was the first born to John and Helen Neuberger and raised in the Wyandotte district east of Hanley with her three brothers. Frances married Delbert Hoffman of Kenaston on October 22, 1943. They raised two children on their farm in the Allan Hills district east of Hanley. In 1956 the family moved to Kenaston and took over the telephone exchange and Del became the rural lineman. In 1946 Del became an agent for Saskatchewan Government Insurance, Frances continued selling until 1992. Frances was an avid reader, always learning through the Elderhostel programs – history, art, poetry, archaeology, aboriginal culture and photography.

She was a skilled seamstress and helped with the 4H sewing program. She was a contact for community college classes where she learned many crafts, painting, macramÄ, batik, photography, making wood clocks and rock tumbling from her collected driftwood and rock collection. She made sure her grandchildren were exposed to art by taking them to the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon; to the U of S observatory to see the stars and taught them bread making. Frances enjoyed going to the Saskatoon Symphony, the ballet and musical shows. She learned to curl, golf, swim and drive the combine. She was a member of the Kenaston seniors.

Frances’ greatest passion was travel. Delbert and her travelled many times into Mexico, the United States and Canada. After Delbert’s passing, Frances continued her travels to many parts of the world. She walked on the Great Wall of China, rode a camel in front of the pyramids in Egypt, saw penguins on the southern tip of Argentina; the music and architecture of Austria-Hungary, the Acropolis of Athens and saw the icebergs and polar bears in the high Arctic. She loved her Elderhostel trips to Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, Chaco Canyon and Albuquerque. At age 70 she spent one week tenting and white-water rafting on the Nahanni River, NWT and wondered not long ago if she could do that again.

Frances moved into Primrose Chateau in Saskatoon in 1992 where she enjoyed playing cribbage, the bus outings and her all important morning coffee. In April of 2010 Frances moved to the Davidson Health Centre among the kind, teasing and caring staff. She enjoyed coffee, music and the car rides out into the country. Her last ride was to Jeanette and Bill’s 50th anniversary.

Frances was predeceased by her husband Delbert (1987), parents John (1947) Helen (Linder) (1983) Neuberger, her three brothers John and Grace, Albert, Margaret and Ina Mae, Herbert and Doris, her three sisters-in-law Leona and Gus Nygard, Esther and Irwin Lundy, Jenece and Leonard Singbeil, nephew Darryl Neuberger and her two special friends Nita Tweet and Joan Greggersen.

Frances is survived by daughter Jeanette and Bill Holder, son Albert and Joanne Hoffmann all of Kenaston; six grandchildren Rob and Cathy Holder, Johanna and Jamie Branigan, Tim and Vickie Holder, Brad Hoffmann, Blair and Pam Hoffmann, Alison and Rob Kraft, thirteen great-grandchildren – Amanda Holder, Brett Holder (Kristin), Shayne and Holly Branigan, Logan, Jorden and Brandon Holder, Avery, Teah and Faith Hoffmann, Connor, Reese and Kaylea Kraft, nieces, nephews and friend Pearl Holder.

A celebration of life was held on August 28, 2012 at 2 p.m. at Kenaston Place, Pastor Gene Whitehead officiated. At the register was her niece Judy Leswick, ushers were Clark Tweet and Cindy Carss. Urn bearers were grandson Rob Holder and Albert Hoffmann.

Grandchildren Johanna, Tim, Brad, Blair and Alison paid tribute to grandma by recalling her teaching how to look at the arts, nature, the northern lights and the prairie sky; appreciating those times they went for a swim, baking in her kitchen, going to the art gallery or just a drive. Always admiring the beauty of nature. They all had many special memories. “Do you want to go for a drive?”

Great-granddaughter Holly chose to play Cello Suite 1 by J.S. Bach. Johanna and Shayne prepared a PowerPoint presentation. A medley of favourite music was chosen, including Ava Maria by Nana Moskouri and Danny Boy by Mario Lanza.

Interment was in the Kenaston community cemetery. The Kenaston seniors served lunch. Hanson’s Funeral Service was in charge of arrangements. Memorial donations may be directed to Kenaston Seniors Inc., Kenaston Cemetery Fund or donor’s choice.

A service of remembrance was held at the Davidson Health Centre on August 31. Johanna Branigan of Pickering, Ontario gave her tribute to her grandmother and great-granddaughter Holly played several cello selections.