DAVIDSON—Donors from Davidson and district did their part Oct. 1 at a Blood Donor Clinic to boost Canada’s blood supply.
Describing Canada’s blood inventory as critically low, on September 30 Canadian Blood Services appealed to all eligible donors to make a blood donation immediately. All blood donors were needed, in particular those with type O and A blood.
Canadian Blood Services Clinic in Davidson saw 106 people attend to donate blood with 87 units being collected. The turnout was better than organizers had expected, given the fact that many people in the area were still busy harvesting their crops.
This was up from the February clinic when 75 units were collected. There is room for improvement. The quota for the Davidson Clinic is 100 units of blood.

DAVIDSON—Last Tuesday the public got its first look at Davidson’s new swimming pool.
Drawings and plans for the $1.5 million pool project were unveiled at the first in a series of three open houses being held to inform people about the pool and collect people’s input.
Attendance at the Oct. 7 open house was poor with four people turning out.
By not attending the community missed a chance to see its new pool. In coming up with a design, the committee attempted to meet the needs of every potential user of the pool from toddlers to teens, adults, older people and people with disabilities.
“I think it’s exciting and hopefully we’ll get people to future meetings. We want people to voice concerns and suggestions,” Davidson swimming pool steering committee member Brenna Siroski said.
The pool plan is for an El-shaped pool that has a surface area of 3,821 square feet. Depth ranges from a zero depth beach entry to 12 feet in the deep end. Included in the beach entry area are $10,000 worth of water features that are sure to appeal to toddlers and young children. The beach entry area, which starts at zero and gradually reaches a depth of 3 feet, narrows where it meets with a rectangular shaped junior Olympic 5-lane pool.
The plans include two diving boards. One will be 1 metre above the water surface and the other diving board will be 3m above the water.
That 3m diving board adds to the cost of the project because the depth of the deep end must be 12 feet to make it safe, whereas the 1-m diving board is safe at 9 feet.
“That extra 3 feet adds about $25,000 to the cost of the pool,” Trevor Ouellette, Davidson recreation director, said.
It is a worthwhile expense if it attracts more users to the pool, particularly high school age swimmers.
Pool committee member Jessica Foster said diving boards topped the wish lists in surveys completed by teenaged respondents.
A beach entry was another desired feature, according to responses to surveys the committee sent out to the community at large.
For the complete story, please see the print edition of The Davidson Leader. A digital edition is available for $29 per year. Email davidsonleader@sasktel.net or phone 306-567-2047

By Kevin Gilby
CRAIK – Town officials approved a fix-fee charge to determine the necessary actions required to resolve limitations in its water treatment plant. The plant has under-performed since its installation and the town has been under a boil water advisory since 2010.
The town had been in contact with Randy Schatz of Element Water Systems, a Regina-based company that specializes in water treatment systems.
During the last town council meeting, Oct. 7, members reviewed the results from interviewing his references from other communities. Results were very supportive of his experience and convinced the town to approve the $3,500 fee be awarded to produce a work plan to resolve the issues of the treatment system.
“We asked the three references and they were all very happy with his work, “ Mayor Rick Rogers said, adding, “One town in particular has the same plant as us, and the same problems as us, and he fixed it. So hopefully he can fix ours.”
Randy is expected to initiate his work within a week. His solution will be provided in about a month’s time.

DUNDURN—Work is expected to start this month on the first-phase of a new 300-lot residential development in Dundurn.
Developers Ed Weening and Carman Dodman unveiled the plans for Sunshine Meadows at a meet-and-greet in Dundurn Sept. 30. Weening purchased 90 acres on the southeast edge of Dundurn a few years ago with the intent of creating a new development consisting of residential and mixed commercial.
Weening said the first phase of the development, which will see 102 residential lots varying in size from 50 feet and up, is scheduled to begin soon. The “solar friendly” subdivision will be serviced by City of Saskatoon water and the layout includes green spaces, walking paths and a water feature that will handle runoff water. Within the development 4.17 hectares has been designated for commercial use and another 6 acres has been deeded to the Town of Dundurn for future recreation facilities and new municipal offices.
Dodman, owner of DDD+ Construction, said the first part of construction is to build a berm around the area alongside Highway 11.
When complete, Sunshine Meadows has the potential to double the size of Dundurn and will be the town’s first residential development in more than 10 years.

DAVIDSON—Ideas continue to brew on how to best preserve Davidson’s iconic coffee pot, but action has yet to be taken.
The coffee pot is showing its age.
The two painted murals that display images of community hospitality and local history on the coffee pot are faded. The mural on the east side depicting a community in motion is particularly faded with the red paint that once coloured the transport truck and Canada flag worn away.
Given the fact it has stood by the highway for 18 years, exposed to the hot summer sun and all manner of storms from wind, hail, rain to winter blizzards, “It’s actually fared very well,” said Austin Eade who engineered the coffee pot.
The 5,000 pound, 24 feet high steel pot was built in 1996 at Harvest Services in Craik.
Eade said the rusting of the metal is due to the paint having worn off and if the paint had lasted longer, the pot wouldn’t have rusted.
“It’s like any metal product,” he said. “It will deteriorate if it isn’t weatherproofed soon.”
Restoring the coffee pot continues to be a topic of discussion around Davidson town council’s table.
At its meeting in September, town council discussed some options.
Ideally, any restoration would preserve the painted murals that are symbols of Davidson’s history, rural hospitality and its motto of a “community in motion”.
Artist Kelly Thorson, who painted the murals 18 years ago, had previously suggested having vinyl panels of the murals made and installing them on the pot.
Mayor Clayton Schneider said he looked into the costs of having vinyl wraps made of the murals. These would be similar to vehicle wraps like the ones used on STC buses, he explained.
Cost of the wraps is about $4,500 plus installation costs of about $5,000. Schneider said the wraps are not a permanent solution because they last four or five years.
At $9,500 the wrap option was deemed too expensive for something that was good for only a few years.
“As far as that goes, we’ll try and figure something else out,” he said.