Like much of the rest of the province, Davidson and district was coated in a dense haze of smoke on Monday morning, caused by ongoing forest fires in northern Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.
Environment Canada has issued alerts for most of the province this morning, including the cities of Regina, Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, and the areas between them.
According to the alerts, visibility has been reduced to less than two kilometres in many areas, particularly in the northern and central regions of Saskatchewan.
The smoke has also resulted in poor air quality; the alerts state that smoke near the ground may cause potential high health risk conditions. Environment Canada also said the smoke is expected to persist over the next couple of days.
DAVIDSON — The owner of a building on Davidson’s main street said it’s a miracle no one was hurt after a fire broke out in one of its apartments last weekend.
The fire began in the kitchen of an upstairs apartment above the former Midway Store on Washington Avenue around 4 p.m. on June 20.
Businessman Terry Dieno, who owns the building, said the apartment’s three residents had come home after working a shift and were asleep when the fire started.
One woke up and alerted the other two, he said. All three, as well as the other inhabitants of the building, escaped without injury.
The residents extinguished the blaze before the fire department arrived, but their apartment suffered smoke and water damage.
“You couldn’t breathe in there,” said Dieno. “How they didn’t succumb to it (while) sleeping, I don’t know.”
Dieno said two apartments located below the first one also suffered water damage. The building was evacuated and its 16 residents found other places to stay on Saturday night.
He said insurance adjusters were in the building on Monday. Power and gas services were cut off after the fire but have since been restored.
The three affected apartments have been gutted, while the other residents have since returned to their apartments. Of the 16 residents, seven are still unable to return to their homes.
Dieno said the water and smoke damage was extensive, but credited the residents and the fire department with saving the building. He also said he was thankful that no one was injured or killed.
Clayton Schilling, chief of the Davidson Volunteer Fire Department, said they received the call at 4:20 p.m. and confirmed that the fire had already been extinguished when they arrived.
He said firefighters cooled down the hot spots and determined that the fire started in the kitchen near the stove.
Dieno said a burner left running on the stove was responsible for the fire. Schilling said the department did not determine the cause of the fire.
The building’s apartments are all occupied by employees working for the Davidson A&W and Fast Toys for Boys, Dieno said.
From left, Jacob Schilling, Tiara Shaw, Hunter Wightman, Shayda Boychuk and Noah Schneider are pictured in a scene from “Rapunzel,” presented at Davidson School on June 20.
By Joel van der Veen
DAVIDSON — After an intense week of learning and rehearsals, Davidson families got to enjoy the fruits of their children’s labours in the form of a stage musical last weekend.
The talents of 42 students were featured in “Rapunzel,” presented on June 20 as a production of the Missoula Children’s Theatre company, before a crowd of 150 in the school gymnasium.
Theatre employees Chelsey Campbell and Eli Halterman worked at the school throughout the week leading up to Saturday, holding workshops for students in grades 1 through 8 during the day and rehearsing for “Rapunzel” in the afternoons.
Teacher Arlene Low said the final product was outstanding and showed the hard work that students and other contributors had put into it.
“They are a wonderful group and they work and communicate with kids so well,” she said. “They (the students) learned so much about the theatre . . . So did I.”
The production was open to students in grades 1 through 12. All 42 students who auditioned on Monday were given parts in the play, which told an expanded version of the Grimm brothers’ classic fairy tale of the girl with the long golden hair.
This version moved the story to France and added a large cast of characters, including wood elves, the Billy Goats Gruff, ogres, unicorns, the Three Bears, a beaver named Bucky, mushrooms, ears of corn and a potato.
Campbell played the role of Frenchy, the narrator, while Halterman served as the director. The play featured several songs sung by the students, who were accompanied by pianist Pearl Unger of Craik.
Students stayed after school for between two and four hours each day throughout the week as they familiarized themselves with their lines, staging and directions. The sets, props, makeup and costumes were furnished by the theatre company.
At the play’s close, Halterman thanked the school and students for hosting them and working with them, and noted that after taking a week off, they would be headed overseas to lead workshops in Turkey, Portugal and Germany.
Low said that the process of bringing the Missoula, Mont.-based theatre company to Davidson took about a year and a half.
A four-member committee was established and solicited donations from local service clubs and businesses to cover the cost of the program — around $2,500 in U.S. funds, or just over $3,100 in Canadian funds.
Low said the committee hopes that the money collected at the door will allow the school to bring the company back on an annual basis.
“We have some talented kids,” she said. “I think it’s just wonderful that we have an opportunity for them to shine.”
The Missoula Children’s Theatre company (MCT) has been conducting its tours for four decades. According to the company’s promotional material, this year alone the company will work with 65,000 children in more than 1,200 communities across the U.S. and 17 other countries.
Jordan Matheson of the Davidson peewee girls team safely slides into third base during a game against the Lasers on June 21.
By Joel van der Veen
SASKATOON — Two local minor softball teams competed in city playoffs in Saskatoon last weekend, facing tough challengers and coping with game cancellations on account of rain.
In addition to the local teams, several players from Davidson and district competed with other teams, including the Conquest Coyotes, who won gold in the Bantam B division, and the Twin City Angels, who took silver in the Bantam A division.
The Saskatoon Minor Softball League held its championship from Friday, June 19 to Sunday, June 21, but Saturday’s games were cancelled due to rain.
This complicated matters for the Davidson peewee girls team, who played in the B division and defeated the Twin City Angels 13-12 on Friday night.
Saturday’s games were cancelled, said coach Kendall Wightman, and “Sunday morning, they had scaled it down to a single knockout format.”
The team faced the Electric Lasers that morning; that game began as a tight match, with neither team scoring in the first two innings, but ended with a 10-3 loss for Davidson.
“They held them off for the first couple of innings,” said Wightman. “They battled hard, but they couldn’t quite hold out long enough.”
That single loss was the end of the line for the team; they finished third in their division, but with only 11 players they won’t be competing in provincials.
Wightman said he was pleased with the progress made this season. He said the girls learned lots and played well as a team.
The Davidson squirt girls team also competed in Saskatoon over the weekend. Like the peewees, they only played two games due to rain.
Coach Richelle Palmer reported that the team lost one game and won one game, both against Hustlers teams.
Conquest Coyotes
Emily Read of Davidson and Jenna Sincennes of Kenaston were part of the roster on the Conquest Coyotes bantam girls team, which took gold in the Bantam B playoffs.
Their schedule was also affected by the rain, which forced officials to move from a double knockout format to a single knockout format.
On Sunday the team played the Raiders black team, defeating the fourth-place team 7-5.
Later that day they played the Lasers. Both teams were held scoreless for the first two innings, after which they played several tight innings with the lead going back and forth.
The Coyotes were down by one run at the bottom of the sixth. Both teams failed to score in the sixth; Conquest then scored two runs in the seventh inning to take the lead and the victory at 6-5.
Read’s mother, Leanne, described the match as “a very exciting and tense game.”
The Conquest team also includes players from Delisle, Dinsmore, Outlook and Beechy.
Twin City Angels
The Twin City Angels, part of the Warman Minor Softball Association, took silver in the Bantam A playoffs in Saskatoon.
The team also featured some local talent — namely, Miranda Farrell of Davidson and Ann Ulmer of Kenaston.
Raymond Deidrich Heinrich was born March 3, 1934 in the Wynyard District. He was the fourth of five children born to Ethel and August Heinrich. The family moved back to Davidson in 1941, where Ray attended Kent School. As a young man — besides helping on the family farm — Ray worked for many local farmers. Other jobs included skid cat operator at bush camps, night foreman during construction of the Gardiner Dam, and road construction in many of the local municipalities. He always came back home to assist on the family farm.
In the spring of 1959, Ray met Pauline Frances Ubell. He proposed in June and they were married on Oct. 21, 1959. Ray was the father of five children: Frances Grace (1960), Betty Katherine (stillborn, 1962), Arlene Joan (1963), Helen Winona (Nonie, 1965) and Michael Deidrich (1969). He always took time out to enjoy special family times.
Ray had a passion for farming, and began living it full time in the spring of 1961. Long days and tough times were the norm for Ray, but he rarely complained. His passion for farming and soil conservation were a cornerstone of his life’s career. He truly believed that what he did today, had to be sustainable tomorrow. “Pay it forward” wasn’t just a cliché. Proud of his farming heritage, in 2014 he was delighted to accept a Century Farm Award — 109 years after the fact. Yes, he was also a procrastinator!
Ray was an avid hunter and fisherman. He loved to play cards of any sort. His winters were spent curling and “bonspieling.” He especially enjoyed tractor pulls where he would perform the “Heinrich Hustle” on his John Deere 80 tractor.
Community minded, Ray served the RM of Willner as Reeve for 12 years, he was a councillor in Arm River, and president of many organizations, including Prairie Diamond Credit Union, Davidson Co-op and Carlton Trail Community College. He was instrumental in securing local doctors and building the municipal doctor’s office, as well as the community centre. He drove the scraper that shaped the Davidson golf course, was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Kinsmen and K-40s. Through his contribution of time to several service clubs, Ray helped initiate the building of the Davidson swimming pool and was an avid curler. Community fund raisers were a mainstay of Ray’s — including acting in dinner theatres that contributed to building the current hockey rink and helping to see a new curling rink take shape.
In Ray’s later years he enjoyed playing cards, reading, following current events, watching his grandchildren in their activities and keeping a watchful eye over the farm.
Ray is survived by Polly, his wife of 55 years, their children and grandchildren: Grace (Ian Sutherland) — Adrian, Nicole and Erik; Arlene (Doug Tetlock); Nonie; Mike (Susanna) — Geena, Jacob and Reggie; brother Ron (Mil); numerous nieces, nephews and relatives.
Funeral service was held on Friday, June 12, 2015 at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church with Father Joseph officiating. Donations in Ray’s honor may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Diabetes association or a charity of your choice.
DAVIDSON — The Town of Davidson will scale back on its pavement plans for this summer as it attempts to shoulder other unexpected costs, council heard at its meeting last week.
Administrator Gary Edom said during council’s regular meeting on Tuesday that the town needs to recover about $80,000 in its budget, following an unplanned string of street repairs caused by a high water table and subsequent frost boils.
“Our street repairs have just gone through the roof,” said Mayor Clayton Schneider, explaining that town needed to revisit the budget to find funding to “cover these surprises.”
Edom recommended that the town’s pavement budget be reduced from $200,000 to $120,000 for the current year, though he said this would sharply reduce the number of projects the town could afford to tackle.
“I think we’re just going to have to cut back as much as we can,” he said, explaining that he couldn’t find any other areas in the budget to target for reduction.
“We’ve had so darn much street work to do this year,” he told the Leader on Wednesday. “We’ll just have to play it by ear as we go.”
Edom said the town would still aim to resurface a couple of sections along First Street, including the two blocks from Washington Avenue to Garfield Street, and one block between Grant Street and Francis Street.
United Paving, based in Swift Current, has been recruited to complete the paving. Edom said the company had initially scheduled the work to begin June 1, but then came up against delays as employees finish the pavement at the Riverbend Co-op’s new service station on Highway 11.
Coun. Tyler Alexander remarked that if the water table continues to stay high in future years, council members may “have to revamp our whole thinking on it.”
In response to a query from Coun. Gerald Kenny, Edom noted that there had been very little wiggle room in the budget, with a budgeted surplus of $1,819.
