Approximately 400 smart meters will be replaced in the Davidson area in the next six to nine months in an effort by SaskPower to ensure the safety of their customers.

The decision comes on the heels of nine smart meters being linked to fires across the province and will be part of the around 105,000 smart meters that will be replaced with the old-style meters that SaskPower has been using for the past 10 years.

Robert Watson, president and CEO of SaskPower, said no smart meters have failed in the Davidson area and there is actually only one smart meter installed in Davidson itself. He said the majority of the 400 meters in the area are installed in Chamberlain and Craik.

“We’re starting with those customers who’ve requested a meter removal first, followed by the areas that have experienced meter failures to date,” said Watson, about when the smart meters will be removed. “We estimate that the entire process will take (six to nine months), although we’re looking at ways to speed up the meter removals so that the timeline is closer to (six) months. Certainly we want to do as much as we can while we have good weather. We are able to exchange more meters in the summer months than winter months. However, we will not sacrifice safety for the sake of speed.”

Watson said the crown corporation is currently investigating the cause of the meter failures with two independent labs along with Sensus, the manufacturer of the smart meters, to determine the root cause. He said the investigative process may take several months to complete, as there are a number of contributing factors that have to be considered.

He said the cost to replace the existing smart meters is $15 million, while the total cost-to-date of installing and deploying the smart meter program is an estimated $32 million, which is in addition to the costs of replacing the meters and brings the total price tag to $47 million. In an Aug. 5 statement posted on the SaskPower website, it is stated the cost to replace the smart meters will not impact rates and the crown corporation would work within their budget to correct the issue.

Watson said customers with smart meters will receive a letter approximately two weeks before they replace the meter. He said SaskPower employees would also notify all customers in person on the day of the installation and send a letter to their mailbox once the meter is replaced.

“Customers are invited to contact SaskPower at any time with their concerns by calling 1-855-877-0975,” said Watson. “We have committed to being as responsive to customers as possible.”

If it weren’t for Kim Stonehouse, Verna Zwarich may have never lived to see her 90th birthday.
Stonehouse, who was Zwarich’s next-door neighbour in Hanley for 10 years, was part of a two-man search party who saved Zwarich from hypothermia last October. Stonehouse, and Ben Collins, Hanley’s town foreman, had gone to Zwarich’s farm northeast of Kenaston in search of Zwarich who had been missing for days. They found her, late at night, laying in grass near her truck, near death after she’d broken her hip and was unable to call for help.
“When they found me, I turned to Kim and said, ‘Thank you Jesus.’ And he said, ‘I’m not Jesus.’ I loved him almost like a part of my family.”
On July 31, Zwarich, with a heavy heart, attended Stonehouse’s funeral in Saskatoon.
He was 45 and had died one week before in a July 24 fire that destroyed his Garfield Street home.
Provincial fire investigators have determined the fire was accidental.
It started in a brick fire pit in the backyard of the home and spread to a woodpile that was stacked against the exterior wall of the house and then caught the house on fire, said Jay Teneyecke, communications officer with Office of the Fire Commissioner.
He said this fire should serve as a reminder to people to never leave a fire unattended and ensure that it fully extinguished.
“You might think it is out, but it could spark back up,” he said.
Since Stonehouse died Zwarich says she gets up “with a heavy, hard feeling” in her chest.
“It’s a very lost feeling. He was always there. He always looked out for me,” she said.
She said Stonehouse lived alone and had a pet cat, kept his yard neat and had numerous houseplants. He worked in Saskatoon as a courier.
“He was a good neighbour. I really miss him. It hurts inside to think he’s not there anymore.”
At about 1:30 a.m., July 24 Zwarich was woken by a loud bang. She looked out her window and saw a red glow.
“The flames were up in the air and the wind was terrific. I’ll never forget it,” she said.
Zwarich phoned Collins for help.
Zwarich said Collins phoned Hanley’s fire department and then went to the burning house to see if anyone was inside.
To read more please see the August 11 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Paddlers of all ages embarked on the fifth annual canoe trek on Arm Lake July 30.
The 20 participants enjoyed a leisurely paddle, taking in the sights and sounds of the local lake.
Canoes and kayaks, 13 boats in all, were launched from the Arm Lake Conservation Area, a wildlife refuge created by Don Wilkins when he donated about 170 acres he owns in the Arm River Valley to Ducks Unlimited. He has another 320 acres of nearby pasture that he’d like people to use for horseback riding.
There are signs on the east side of Highway 11 about midway between Girvin and Craik signaling the way to the conservation area, which is about 3 kilometres down the gravel road that turns into a prairie trail and dead ends at the launching point.
Wilkins has put much thought and effort into making it accessible to people. He hauled in some sand and gravel to fill low spots on the trail so vehicles can easily make it to the canoe launch.
After launching the boats, paddlers followed the meandering, leisurely course set by the Arm River until it emptied into Arm Lake.
Wildlife abounded. High atop the east bank a stag watched the paddlers’ progress. Above pelicans flew overhead while on the west bank red angus cattle took a break from grazing to watch the group glide by on the water. Waterfowl were everywhere. Off in the distance the low hum of tires on Highway 11 broke the silence at times, reminding everyone that not far away, the pace of life is much faster.
On the lake, the diverse group of local paddlers, the youngest aged 12, enjoyed the moment, chatting, laughing and making connections they may otherwise not have had the time or the moment to make.
All the while some members of the party kept watch for Peter Farden’s murmogs, an aquatic creature that apparently only he has seen. Near McCaw’s cabin, by the bird watching area where the group stopped for lunch before paddling back, someone asked what a floating mass of green out on the lake could be. Farden was quick to verify that it was, in fact, a school of murmogs. No one paddled out to confirm the sighting.
That could have spoiled the magic.
It was a beautiful prairie lake, a perfect summer day and the kind of place in time where a mythical creature could thrive.

The Watrous department of the RCMP is reminding drivers to be cautious when encountering flooded roads after a traffic accident earlier this month claimed the life of a 39-year-old Imperial man.

“People need to be aware of (their) surroundings,” said Watrous RCMP Sergeant Earl LeBlanc. “We advise people not to cross any roads that have water on it.”

At approximately 10 p.m. on July 11 an unidentified male driver of a F-350 pickup truck, who was accompanied by his 10-year-old son, veered off the east side of a rural grid road and into a slough about four kilometres south of Highway 15 in the Rural Municipality of Wood Creek. At the time of the accident, about 200 metres of the road was covered with water from a nearby slough that had overflowed due to recent flooding in the area.

Once the truck began to submerge in the deeper water, LeBlanc said the driver made sure his son got out of the vehicle first and began to swim to safety. He said the son made it to dry land and is physically unhurt, but the driver was unable to reach land safely once he exited the truck.

The body of the deceased male driver and the truck was located and removed the next day from the water with the assistance of the RCMP Underwater Recovery Team. An autopsy has been ordered by the office of the Chief Coroner to determine the exact cause of death.

LeBlanc said speed was not an issue in the accident and there is no indication right now that alcohol may have been a factor. He said police have concluded that driver error is the cause of the crash, but their investigation remains open until a cause of death is determined.

The Watrous RCMP receives reports of vehicles entering sloughs every now and again due to the many bodies of water that line roads and highways in the province, said LeBlanc, but they don’t hear of many vehicles veering into sloughs off of flooded roads. He said residents of a particular area may feel comfortable crossing roads that have water on them due to their familiarity with them, but the RCMP would like to make it clear their advice is to stay off any flooded roadways.

When the Cycling4water team biked into Davidson last Monday they had already travelled over 2,000 kilometres and raised enough money to build 20 water wells in four African countries, but they still had a long way to go.

The four-man cycling team of Timo Itkonen, Richard Blaschek, Rob Montgomery and Mike Woodard are biking from Victoria, B.C., to St. John’s, Nfld., over the course of 54 days this summer with a goal of raising $510,000 or enough money to build 60 water wells in Benin, Togo, Tanzania and Ethiopia. The goal supports the work of Global Aid Network (GAiN), a Christian worldwide humanitarian relief and development organization that has already provided 829 water wells to needy communities around the globe.

“On average each well delivers water to about 1,000 people,” said Montgomery, who decided to bike across Canada for a worthy cause as a way to celebrate his 60^th birthday this year and initially proposed the idea to Woodard. “They are not just little residential wells. They are for whole communities or villages and so with the wonderful work (GAiN’s) doing we decided that we wanted to partner with them.”

Woodard, who admitted he needed about three months to decide he’d accept the offer to bike across Canada, said the fact that caught his attention and forced him into action is the World Health Organization note that a child dies from water-related diseases every 21 seconds. He said the thought of contributing to the goal of providing 60,000 people with clean water motivated him to sign up for the ride.

“One of the things I was contemplating just riding into this community is the 20 wells that are pledged now really have been championed by somebody,” said Woodard, noting people can donate through their cycling4water.ca website. “About a week ago a friend of mine said ‘you know we’re going to sign up for a well. We don’t have $8,500, which is how much one well costs, but we’ve got lots of friends and relatives and we’re just going to ask them to come together to provide water for one village and transform that village as a team effort.'”

Montgomery said when he turns 60 on August 19 and the four-man team is completing their final leg of the tour on the East Coast, his hope is to have a cake with 60 candles on it not so much to celebrate his birthday, but to celebrate the building of 60 wells. He said the ride across Canada is a great way to reach that goal because it also gives the team a chance to experience the beauty of Canada and they’ve already seen some great sights so far.

To read more please see the July 21 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Property owners in and around Imperial began the long process of cleaning up last week after a vicious July 5 storm that featured fastball-sized hailstones, torrential rain and a monstrous tornado blew through the area.

Helen Abrey, who lives southeast of Imperial with her husband Ted, said they are alive to tell the tale of the storm for three main reasons. She said they have to thank their daughter Amy for preparing them for the upcoming storm by texting them updates from Saskatchewan Tornado Watch in addition to being lucky enough to reside in an old and heavy T. Eaton house and also having a row of poplar trees beside their home.

“We were very fortunate (because) I think if the trees hadn’t taken the brunt of the force of the tornado that went through, the house would have gone,” said Abrey, noting trees on the north side in front of the house were snapped in two either above or at ground level and ones on the east side of the home were also toppled. “That was the fortunate part, but it has created damage and it has created a lot of mess.”

Abrey said the trees that were taken down by the tornado subsequently fell onto the house, which has resulted in their four points of entry into the home being reduced to one along with puncture holes in the roof of the porch, a destroyed balcony railing and damage to all portions of the fascia. She said the tremendous force of the twister even embedded one branch into part of their veranda and blasted other “big timbers” over the house onto the far side of the yard.

“It was quite frightening,” she said. “We’ve lived in the house for 30 years and we’ve never headed to the basement before, so this was the first time that we felt that we maybe should take cover. I love to watch storms, but I guess not this time.”

Norman Lucas, a farmer living northwest of Imperial, said they are going to have to completely re-side the house and roof after “fastball sized” hailstones rained down on his property. He said there are over 100 holes in the roof due to the storm and some of the hailstones even went through the roof and into the wood underneath it.

“When it first started to come down it started as pea-sized hail and then it went up to popcorn size and then it kept going,” said Lucas a couple days after the Saturday afternoon storm. “It went to golf ball and then right to fastball. We have divots in our lawn. I just actually finished mowing up all the trees, but it drove (some ice) into the ground four inches (deep). There are holes all over. It did that in town too. It was one I don’t want to see again.”

To read more please see the July 14 print edition of The Davidson Leader.