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.

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.