All posts by Tara de Ryk

featured

RCMP advise boaters to batten the hatches

The Southey/Strasbourg RCMP detachment is asking all vacationers along Last Mountain Lake to be vigilant when it comes to suspicious activity around their resort communities.

The force has seen increased calls for service since the hot weather brought on more traffic along the lake and if anyone sees anything out of the ordinary, a call to police with a description of the perpetrators involved could be really helpful in solving a few unsolved thefts, while also decreasing the chance of more happening.

“We’re really trying to impress on the public that if you see any suspicious activity, especially the full-time residents in our resort communities, to let the police know,” said Cpl. Conrad Logan of the Southey RCMP. “If you see vehicles out of place, give us a call and we’ll check it out.”

Police are asking citizens in the area be mindful of suspicious vehicles or people around their properties after a number of thefts in the Strasbourg Resort area occurred over the past few months. The latest incident happened July 9, when a pontoon boat docked at Glen Harbour was robbed of electronics and fishing equipment.

“The best thing to do is write down the description of the suspicious vehicle and write down the plate number if you can get it,” said Logan. “If you can’t get the plate number, the vehicle might have an interesting characteristic, such as it’s got the big overhead lights or a big grill on the front of a truck, or maybe a sports car and it’s got spoiler on it or things like that.

“These are very good descriptions for us and for police officers, people always like to know what we drive, well we have a very good idea of what the locals drive. There are a lot of things that we can pick up.”

Logan said there are a variety of ways to protect your property when at a resort, but the main thing to remember is that even though you might be on vacation the weather and criminals will not.

“If you’ve got a boat on your lift, make sure it’s up out of the water high enough, so if the wind does get up the waves aren’t splashing against it,” he said. “Tie up you boat and don’t leave any valuables in your boat if you’re leaving it on your lift or in the dock.

“There are a lot of resort communities here on Last Mountain Lake where the shoreline is actually owned by the communities themselves and lots of members of the public walk up and down those shorelines. Late at night, you never know if there might be people down there walking and maybe somebody is just up to no good.”

Davidson

Clarence Torguson, Nov. 28, 1932 – June 24, 2012.

It is with great sadness that the family of Clarence Torguson, age 79, announce his peaceful passing at the Luther Special Care Home on Sunday, June 24, 2012, with his loving wife by his side. Clarence is survived by his loving wife Gerry; sister Lorraine Austman; brother Wes Torguson; brother-in-law Bill (Carol) Wick; sister-in-law Lorraine (Gerry) Cooper, numerous nieces and nephews and other family members and friends. He was predeceased by his parents Jens and Aago Torguson; sister Anne Leonard and brother-in-law Stan Austman; father- and mother-in-law Olaf and Elizabeth Wick.

A very special thank you to all the special care givers on second floor at Luther Special Care Home for all the loving and extra special care given to Clarence.

The celebration of Clarence’s life funeral service was held on Friday, June 29, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. from the Hanley Centennial hall, Hanley, Sask. with Rev. Andrew Appledore officiating.

Interment in the family plot, Hanley Cemetery, Hanley, Sask.

For friends so wishing memorials in memory of Clarence may be directed to the Hanley United Church fund or to the Sask. Alzheimer’s Association.

Hanson’s Funeral Home, Davidson, Sask. in care of arrangements.

Bladworth, featured

Twisters touch down

Lawrence and Margaret Ann Beckie got the shock of a lifetime last Tuesday when a tornado touched down on their Allan Road farm, five miles east of Bladworth.

No one was injured in the violent storm, but it did tear apart trees, move their barn off its foundation, and throw around huge grain bins like they were baseballs.

Lawrence said the couple could see something serious was coming their way before the twister hit as very black clouds starting rolling and moving in fast towards them from the northwest. He said they heard a continuous rumbling, but saw very little lightning and decided to head inside the house before the storm got worse.

“The tornado hit about 2:30 p.m. when the hail started,” said Lawrence. “The heavy rain started about 2:00 and it was ferocious. I’ve never been scared of a storm before, but I was scared of that one.”

Once inside, the couple couldn’t feel the devastation taking hold outside or the funnel cloud ripping up their yard only a few feet away from their home. They said the power went off and they looked for a candle, but taking more precautionary measures didn’t occur to them at the time.

“We have a basement, but we never even thought about going down there,” said Lawrence. “If the house went, we didn’t care if we went either.”

The whirling winds caused widespread damage to rows of trees lining their farm, toppled over one grain bin and picked up another and threw it on top of a tree. The twister also moved their barn off its foundation on its north end and damaged its east wall.

“The most serious damage is to the barn, but that is covered by insurance,” he said. “We have two tractors in there and we’re lucky they didn’t go. That would have been a serious loss.

“We didn’t get any damage to the house though and that’s a good thing, a real blessing.”

The Beckie family has been on this corner section of Allan Road since 1916, starting with Lawrence’s grandfather, but this is only the second time Lawrence can remember a tornado barrelling through. His said the first time was in 1976 when a large barn that he used as a granary was completely flattened.

The cleanup was well on its way only a day after the storm, thanks in large part to their grandson Jory Cooper, 17, and full power has been restored to the farm after SaskPower removed a tree that fell on a line.

The tornado that struck the Beckie farm was one of three confirmed twisters that touched down in south-central Saskatchewan July 3 according to Environment Canada.

Kenaston

Federal funds to flow west

Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, came home last Thursday to announce new funding for upgrades to existing infrastructure in Western Canada.

The announcement held at the Kenaston Swimming Pool saw the Kenaston resident and Conservative Party MP for Blackstrap announce $46.2 million in funding allocated towards community facilities including local arenas, community centre’s and sports fields over the next two years.

“This money is targetting community points of interest,” said Yelich. “It is not very easy to get money. Swimming pools are very expensive to run, so when they need an upgrade any money they can access for the upgrade is significant. (By holding the press conference at the pool) we’re trying to demonstrate the idea of what kind of community infrastructure would be able to apply for this funding.”

The money will be paid out to a community by regional agencies after a project has been completed and is in line with their proposal to Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), an agency run by Yelich’s department. Only existing infrastructure that is in need of upgrades need apply.

Dan O’Handley, Mayor of the Village of Kenaston, said applications would be going out to WD towards getting a new filtration system for the pool as well as gaining a grant for upgrades to their hockey rink. He said that he wasn’t aware that money would be flowing west this quick, but was happy to have Minister Yelich back to announce the new spending.

“In rural Saskatchewan, money is hard to come by,” said O’Handley. “We’re not like the big places where they get a lot more grants. When we do get one, we’re always appreciative.”

Yelich said the money is only going towards existing infrastructure upgrades because funding new projects is just too expensive in a time when the government is trying to get out of deficit and into a balanced budget.

“In the meantime, all these communities may need is maybe a pump or a roof or an upgrade of some sort that will make a significant difference to that community,” she said. “Whether it’s seniors, the Legion, or the library, if there is something that needs an improvement then that’s what we will do.”

Davidson, featured

Primary-care model needed to cure what’s ailing rural medicine

Dr. Francisco Lang needs help. The number of patients that are walking through his doors at the Davidson Family Practice seeking assistance along with those coming to emergency services at the Davidson Health Centre are increasing every day and he simply can’t keep up.

Lang said this growth in problems that he is dealing with is due to the “migration of doctors” in nearby communities to group practices in bigger centres such as Saskatoon or Regina or even to other provinces. The fact that these patients are coming from different health regions other than Heartland Health is of no importance.

“As a result, there is an accumulation of the need for medical services here and you immediately realize that you are not enough to support and satisfy those expectations from the community,” said Lang. “It’s not that the community gets more illnesses; it’s not that the community is losing their healthy status. It’s simply that the volume and the problems around the communities are getting more complicated. This reason is why in rural communities or small communities, sole practitioners disappear.”

The Davidson Family Practice has seen a steady increase in patients since the doctor in Imperial left a few years ago and is likely to get a huge boost when Dr. Narinda Maree leaves for Moose Jaw at the beginning of August. Emergency services at the Davidson Health Centre have also seen a wide growth and will continue to do so considering all emergency services run out of Craik will now be shifted to Davidson when their doctor leaves.

Lang said a new primary-care model is needed to fix this situation or the same result will occur where a sole practitioner simply burns out. He said a team of doctors is needed to cover such a large area with two ideally placed in Davidson and a third operating out of Craik with basic emergency services at a minimum in that town.

“Patients do not consider the boundaries to move around to get medical services that are needed,” he said in reference to the existence of the different health care regions. “As such, a doctor in a community may not consider those boundaries either in terms of geographical division. Medically, I find it inappropriate for me to not treat a patient from Craik just based on the fact that patient belongs to another health region.”

To read more please see the July 9 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Bylaw controls use of fireworks

The days of impromptu late night fireworks displays in Davidson have come to an end.

At its meeting last Tuesday, Davidson town council passed a bylaw to control the use of fireworks within town limits.

From now on, no one may discharge fireworks within the town except for special occasions and with prior written consent from town council. As well, no one in town may sell fireworks to children under the age of 18.

Town administrator Gary Edom said council decided to adopt a fireworks bylaw because people are buying them in town and the town had requests from people asking if they could set some off in town, so council decided to pass a bylaw controlling their use.

The bylaw legislates where and how people may use fireworks and it gives town officials or the fire chief authority to suspend fireworks displays deemed dangerous to the public or property.

Covered in the bylaw are all types of fireworks including squibs, firecrackers, rockets, torpedoes, roman candles, sparklers and other pyrotechnics of all description.

If people violate provisions within the bylaw they are subject to fines set out in the town’s General Penalty Bylaw and could be liable to a fine of up to $2,000 for an individual and of up to $5,000 for a corporation.