Upkeep at the Davidson Cemetery was non-existent this year until town workers and a private company got onto the grounds last Monday to try and bring it up to reasonable standards of expectation and that is not sitting well with one town leader.

“It was in terrible shape,” said Davidson councillor Gerald Kenny. “It was (in) really bad shape. It was probably the worst cemetery for miles around. Lots of it was underwater, (so) they couldn’t maybe do something with it. They’ve hired somebody to go in there, but no it was in bad shape before Monday.”

The Davidson Cemetery looked abandoned until July 7 with uncut grass towering close to the top of most headstones, numerous weeds growing throughout the grounds and the roads in the cemetery appearing to be almost impassible. In addition, some graves that were not filled in with a slight mound had sunk resulting in a possible tripping hazard for people walking in the cemetery as well as holes appearing over the graves where water could lay.

According to a July 8 Facebook post by the Town of Davidson, town workers have been busy with other things this spring including garbage pickup issues and problems with the lagoon pivot. The Town states the garbage trucks have been fixed and are ready to go to pick up any garbage and the pivot is fixed and it shouldn’t be too long before issues are worked out at the lagoon.

Kenny said town leaders have talked about moving to private maintenance options for the cemetery instead of the current practice of having Davidson employees look after the upkeep, but he is unsure if there is an organization around that would be available to do the work. He said one option could be hiring somebody for the summer to look after cemetery maintenance, which would allow town employees to focus on other pressing issues.

He said the weather drying up and the “pressure” put on the town to do something at the cemetery finally forced them to hire Summit Excavating to haul gravel in and gravel the roads along with fill in the sunken graves. Kenny added the town employees who began work there last Monday cutting grass and trimming around monuments have helped better the condition of the grounds, but more work needs to be done to improve the reputation of the Davidson Cemetery.

“The weeds in the past haven’t been controlled good enough,” he said. “We’ve got to do a better job of that if we’re going to do (maintenance). We just have to. As far as I am concerned as a councillor there is no ifs, ands or buts about it. We just got to do it (and) have a little more respect for our deceased people. Most of them are the ones that probably developed this community at one time whether it was farming or working in town as a business person.”

Gary Edom, administrator for the Town of Davidson, said maintenance work did not begin at the cemetery until last Monday because the ground was too wet. He said they are “not proud” of how the cemetery looked this year, but could not do anything about it with water laying in “a good part” of the cemetery grounds.

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

The Town of Davidson has approved a request from Emergency Medical Services and STARS to pay for and install a gate in the left field fence of the senior baseball diamond, so air ambulances can land closer to the hospital.

The gate would be a forerunner to a future landing pad for STARS helicopters in the left field of the ball diamond. EMS and STARS initially approached the town with the plan to have a landing pad in the field because according to their own policy they are not allowed to land at the Davidson Communiplex.

“They’ll be right behind the hospital (at) that senior ball diamond,” said Gary Edom, administrator for the Town of Davidson. “They hope to just be able to wheel somebody out from the back door of the hospital to the senior ball diamond. You wouldn’t even need an ambulance to transfer.”

Edom said the Heartland Health Region would be in charge of clearing a pathway in the winter from the health centre to the gate. He said Davidson is requesting the health region also keep the area from the gate to the landing spot free of snow, as initially it was supposed to be the town in charge of clearing this area.

“If they’re going to clear up to the gate, it only makes sense to go a little further while they’re there,” he said. Edom confirmed the pathway from the back door of the hospital to the new landing spot must be cleared 24 hours a day, seven days a week in case of an emergency.

“From my understanding all we’re really committed to right now is putting the gate in,” said Edom, noting there is no timeline as of yet on when this will happen. “There will be lots of details to work out I’m sure as we go.”

Old Fashioned Saturday Night is scheduled for July 19 in Davidson, but the people who are trying to put on the festivities still need some volunteer help to ensure a good show.

Jess Palmer, president of the Old Fashioned Saturday Night committee, said the day is a community event and they need more members of the community to lend a hand. She said the more people who take an interest in the festivities the better the day will be.

“We’re definitely calling for volunteers this year,” said Palmer. “The day before (Old Fashioned Saturday Night) come down to the town hall around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. to get a rundown on how things or the children’s carnival games work. We need those people even if (they’re) 12 years old.”

The lineup for Old Fashioned Saturday Night this year begins with the annual parade at 11 a.m. following by a children’s festival at Arnold Park. During the afternoon a cribbage tournament is planned for the Town Hall along with a 10- to 14-year-old scavenger hunt through town and a “Funtazim Science Show” for the kids at 4 p.m.

A potluck supper at the hall will start at 5 p.m. before a beer garden would be set up near by in the early evening. The final events include a family street dance beginning at 7 p.m. and a pie and ice cream dessert available at the Davidson Seniors’ Centre taking place at the same time.

Palmer said the committee, which also includes Chantal Wightman and Brenda Townsend, decided to “scale back” the festivities this year due to the arrival of the newest member of the Palmer household, Henry, two-and-a-half months ago. She said they are focusing on what worked for them at Old Fashioned Saturday Night last year to get the 2014 version going, while also looking ahead to a more elaborate summer celebration in 2015.

“We’re looking at next year to do a Christmas in July idea and change things a smidge,” said Palmer, noting they are hoping to attract more committee members to help plan this event. We’ll “maybe have an evening parade or a twinkle parade…and see if we can haul Santa from his northern workshop.”

She said one thing they did change for this year was to schedule Old Fashioned Saturday Night one week earlier than when it usually occurs. She said this summer’s July 19 date ensures it doesn’t fall on the same weekend as the Elbow rodeo, so any revellers looking to enjoy the festivities in Davidson have a better opportunity to do so.

The Prairie Spirit Board of Education is pleading for additional funding from the provincial government after approving earlier this month what they are calling the most challenging budget the school division has ever faced.

Larry Pavloff, chair of the Prairie Spirit Board of Education, said they approved the 2014-15 “status quo” school division budget because they don’t want to negatively impact any more students or staff despite a decrease in funding. He said the board is proud of student achievement at Prairie Spirit that places kids above the provincial average and they want to keep the good work that is going on continuing, but in order to do that the division needs resources.

“We are using reserve funds to balance our budget, but we want that to be a one year (thing) because it’s not sustainable to use reserve funds for operations,” said Pavloff. “This year to offset our shortfall in the budget we have to take $2.5 million of reserve funds and put that to operational costs, so adjust spending in other operational areas to achieve that balanced budget.”

In a media release issued by the Prairie Spirit School Division, it is stated the division is in a deficit position of $2.9 million with a status quo budget that includes operating expenses of over $111 million for the school division’s 45 schools and over 10,000 students in 28 communities surrounding the City of Saskatoon including Hanley. It further states the provincial government did provide additional funds to Prairie Spirit in the new budget, but this funding increase does not cover annual increases in operational expenses such as salary increments, new agreements and utility costs.

Pavloff said this is the ninth consecutive year of enrolment growth in the school division and they are projecting at least 130 more students next year. He said their focus is on supporting student learning and supporting adult learning such as staff having the opportunity and time to increase their knowledge, but this is in jeopardy if their funding does not allow them to continue with these programs.

“An analysis of the provincial funding allocated to our school division of Prairie Spirit reveals that on per-student funding we are decreased by $45 per student when compared to last year,” said Pavloff. “It is important to note that last year our per-student funding was decreased as well, so the funding model has consistently decreased funding to Prairie Spirit for our operational costs.”

He added there was also a recent spring directive from the Ministry of Education requiring all school divisions to find further efficiencies in their general operating budget in addition to the other spending reductions the division already made. Pavloff said Prairie Spirit’s efficiency reduction was more than $400,000 and they are expecting further provincial funding cuts in the 2015-16 school year forcing them to determine where changes can be made in the future to balance their budget.

To read more please see the June 30 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

This year Dundurn School’s triathlon contained an extra element of fun: mud.
It’s what covered many of the 180 kids by the time they completed Dundurn School’s sixth annual triathlon held June 20 at Blackstrap Provincial Park.
They had to splash, spin and dash through a steady downpour. Although there were some shivers at the start, before they got going, after they had warmed up with the exertion most were happy, enjoying an after-competition hotdog, watermelon and Booster Juice.
“Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, it was muddy,” says Will Gogel, Grade 6 student, as he patiently answers an obvious question. He is covered in mud.
“I wiped out 20 times,” he says.
Answering another question, he say he’s not going into the nearby lake like hoards of other students to wash his mud encrusted clothes and skin.
It’s obvious that his mom, who stands next to him, has other plans.
The triathlon was a welcome event this spring. It was great to see that steady rain that has put a damper on most outdoor sports and caused the cancellation of countless baseball, soccer and football games enhanced Dundurn School’s major sporting event.
Besides nearly 200 participants, it takes countless volunteers, about 100 of them, to ensure it is fun, successful and safe.
It was a community effort with school staff, friends, family, Hanley Composite School’s Grade 9s, Blackstrap’s First Responders and members from CFB Dundurn all pitching in for the cause.
At the start kids waited under large tents set up by the military to shelter them from the elements.
It was easy to motivate children, despite the pouring rain.
Before giving the command for the Grade 1s to start the triathlon, Kirsten Lester, emcee and Dundurn School’s vice principal, encouraged the kids from grades one to six gathered on the main beach.
“Who wants to get wet today?” she asked. The question was rhetoric because thanks to the steady rain, getting wet was unavoidable.
“Who wants to get muddy today?” Lester continued and earned an outpouring of loud cheers.
“Who wants to do extra laundry tonight?” she asked. All the moms groaned.
Then Dundurn School’s triathlon got underway with a splash, a spin and a dash.

To read more please see the June 30 print edition of The Davidson Leader.