Officials with the Heartland Health Region public inspection program are asking homeowners in Davidson, Kenaston and area to contact them about conducting radon gas testing on their homes in an effort to reduce the carcinogen that is found in basements throughout the region.

Vanessa Amy, public health officer with Heartland Health, said high levels of radon gas has been detected in particular areas of the region, but it is unknown how elevated levels of the radioactive gas is around Davidson and Kenaston because no testing has been done. She said radon gas is formed through decaying uranium and seeps through the soil into basements and because it is a carcinogen causes lung cancer when people are exposed long-term to it when it builds up during the winter.

“Radon gas is heavier than air, so it will collect in the basement,” said Amy. “It doesn’t go up and fill up your whole house, but in the wintertime when you run your furnace the furnace draws air from the basement and hot air rises out the chimney. You create negative pressure in your basement, so that air pressure in the soil surrounding your house is going to be higher than in your basement (and) that radon gas is drawn from the soil into your basement. It doesn’t occur very much during the summer months when you’re not running your furnace, (but) we can see levels of radon building up in your basement during the winter heating months.”

Amy said the amount of radon gas collecting in a basement has nothing to do with the age of a home, but it does have to do with the type of soil surrounding a basement and the condition the basement is in. She said a wood framed basement or a cracked concrete basement surrounded by heavy clay soil would draw more radon gas into it than a sound concrete block basement, but it is impossible to predict how much radon is in a home without it being tested.

“Heartland is actually offering free radon tests to homeowners in the health region, so people can contact me,” she said noting she can be reached at 306-882-2672 ext. 2288 or by email at public.health@hrha.sk.ca. “We’ve arranged for testing to be provided to people in the area because we know that it’s been a concern.”

To read more please see the January 20 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The winter storm that roared through Davidson and area Jan. 3 also struck northeastern Saskatchewan forcing a group of four fishermen to tough out a night in the cold and their local RCMP detachment to issue a warning about travelling in winter weather.

Deschambault Lake RCMP Sergeant Dion Eddy said the four fishermen survived their ordeal thanks in part to taking a few precautions before heading out into the wilderness, which can serve as a lesson for other travellers in the province during the winter months.

“Let someone know where you’re going and when you’re going to be back, so if we have to come and attempt to find you that we have a starting point or a location to look for you,” said Eddy. “One of the big things is to dress appropriately. Also take extra supplies. These guys had extra heat. Make sure your car is full of gas in case you do hit the ditch and take a look at the weather and road conditions not just right now, but what they’re forecasting that is coming because it could be nice where you’re leaving from and then all of a sudden you’re in the middle of a big storm.”

The four men, who were all between 30 and 40 years old, provided details to family members staying behind indicating where they were going and at what time they would be back before embarking on an ice fishing excursion in the Deschambault Lake area. When the travellers failed to make it back home by midnight their family issued a complaint to the RCMP and a search party comprised of on-duty police and community volunteers set out to find the missing fishermen.

The search party used available resources and snowmobiles to comb Deschambault Lake in weather that fell below -30˚C with the wind chill the next morning before eventually locating the four men close to seven kilometres from their entry onto the ice. Their truck was stuck in the snow and ice and the travellers had stayed with the truck throughout the night.

The four fishermen were returned to shore at approximately 11:30 a.m. Jan. 4 a little chilly, but uninjured and happy to see their rescuers.

“They made some good decisions to save their own lives,” said Eddy, noting calls to find missing travellers is a common occurrence for most RCMP detachments due to cars getting stuck or people deciding to change their plans and stay an extra day somewhere that their family doesn’t know about. “They made the decision to stay with their vehicle. Had they gone walking it would (have been) harder to find them afterwards.”

A resurgence in “emergency” phone scams in the area has prompted the Craik detachment of the RCMP to warn residents to be alert about suspicious phone calls.

Craik RCMP Constable Kam Hay said the telephone scam making its way across the Craik detachment area has people phoning senior citizens posing as a nephew, niece, grandchild or other family member asking for money to help them out of a emergency situation. He said the fraudsters claim they have just been in a car collision or are having trouble returning from a foreign country or that the police arrested them and need money for bail.

“It seems to dupe a number of people,” said Hay, noting police would never request money to be sent to them in order to guarantee a release or dropping of charges. “I mean they feel stupid afterwards, but (the scammers) are convincing enough and…they’ll use all sorts of different stories. They’ll use a second party sometimes who is reported to be a lawyer. They’ll call back and they’ll play whatever game or tell them whatever they need to hear in order to get them to send money.”

Hay said to avoid becoming a victim of fraud people need to confirm who is on the other end of the phone line, not give out any personal information and don’t send money unless they know for sure who is really asking for it. He said this is not easy to do as the fraudsters mask their voice to sound similar to the person they claim to be or say their voice has been altered due to an accident or assault.

“In some cases they (provide personal information),” he said. “Whether they’re getting that information from social media is a possibility or (from) other sources, but in lots of instances they do know a little bit of a family background.”

The constable, who has been a member of the RCMP for about a decade, said the “emergency” phone scam has been around for years. He said it is re-emerging in the area as the detachment has received more complaints in the past few weeks with at least one recent confirmed victim.

To read more please see the December 23 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

A request from Dr. Abe Chaukla for $1,500 and approval to install electrical outlets at the end of the islands in the Davidson Dental building on Washington Avenue divided town council last Tuesday.

In a 4-3 vote, a motion by councillor Gerald Kenny to give Chaukla permission to install outlets at the end of the isles in the taxpayer owned building, but refuse him funding from the town to do so was passed.

It was learned at council that Chaukla initially approved the location of the outlets when viewing specifications of the building’s design while it was being renovated earlier this year. The vote means he can put in outlets at the ends of the islands now if he chooses, but he’ll have to pay for the work himself.

In other town council business discussed at the Dec. 17 meeting:

• Council passed a motion to borrow $160,000 to pay out two previous $80,000 loans, which then moves the borrowed money into one loan. The two $80,000 loans cover the purchase of the former CTRC building on Washington Avenue earlier this year and the subsequent renovations of the building to turn it into a medical services building. The town’s portion to buy and renovate the building actually came to $180,000, but they have already paid $20,000 of this off.

• Town hall complex rental rates are being increased effective Jan. 1. Every rental rate involved with the community centre including the auditorium, meeting rooms, kitchen, bar and miscellaneous items are being raised on average 60 to 65 per cent. For example, the current local rate of renting the auditorium for a supper and dance or dance/wedding is $200. Effective Jan. 1 that amount will go up to $300. Local rental rates are currently lower than outside rates and will remain so. An example is the current outside rate for a supper and dance or dance/wedding at the auditorium is $250. That will rise to $400. There are some exceptions to the rental rate increases as organizations that have long-term leases for the space and any bookings that are already done would still pay the current rental rates. Organizations that are not charged to rent the town hall complex such as Communities in Bloom, Fire Board and Donors Choice among a few others would continue to not have to pay.

• The wooden doors at the far side of the auditorium are being replaced at a cost of $2,500 plus taxes and costs to install the new doors. This is being done because the current doors do not close properly allowing cold air into the auditorium. A generator is also being installed at the town hall that would provide a backup power supply to the town hall building. The costs of both of the projects come to around $40,000. A portion of this cost is coming from an unused federal government grant that was previously earmarked to go towards the installation of an air conditioner in the town hall auditorium. As heard at the town council meeting the air conditioner has been “kyboshed.” The costs of installing the air conditioning unit and the expense involved with replacing the doors and putting in a generator amount to roughly the same.

Interested students at Chief Kahkewistahaw Community School made major strides in the game of basketball last month thanks to a clinic run by a few Davidson School students and one graduate.

Grade 12 students Kim Baldwin and Matthias McCreary joined up with Grade 11s Jill Rettger and Grade 10 kids Tina Stone, Cheyanne Nordmarken, Huck Rettger, Sydney Booker and Gabe Ebenal along with 2012 Davidson School graduate Sydney Willner to run the Nov. 29 and 30 basketball clinic at Chief Kahkewistahaw Community School (CKCS). During the clinic the Davidson School kids imparted their knowledge of dribbling, shooting, basic defensive and offensive plays and the rules of the game to the group of aspiring players.

“Volleyball is a really big thing in (Kahkewistahaw),” Kim said. “The principal (Evan Taypotat), who interned here a couple years ago so we know him pretty well, was trying to get basketball started in their community, so they wanted a couple kids who had been playing basketball for a while (to help).”

Kim said they first received notice Taypotat hoped to get a basketball clinic going when he approached Tony and Sandra Baldwin in late October when the Raiders senior girls volleyball team were playing in a CKCS tournament. She said Sandra then organized how the clinic would operate before asking a few kids if they’d like to go and they were all for it.

“The first day and part of the second day we split everyone up and went over basics,” Kim said. “Then at the end of the second day we had a scrimmage, so we split the kids into two teams and they just played and some of our students played and me and Matthias coached the teams. It was really fun.”

Jill said the Davidson kids were able to show the CKCS students “little tricks” how to approach plays in a different way during the clinic. She said they were also able to give them a quick lesson what to do at different moments in a game.

“They got really good,” said Tina. “Everything they got pretty good at, but they were originally pretty good.”

Tina said this was the first time the Davidson School students have ever done anything like this before, but they would take part in coaching another clinic if given the chance.

Kim said they planned on conducting the basketball clinic at Kahkewistahaw for free, but their good will was rewarded by the generosity of CKCS students at the end of the second day to their complete surprise.

“We had lunch with them the second day (and) they supplied breakfast for us,” she said. “They also gave us all gifts. They gave us all a (CKCS) t-shirt, a pad and a pen and $40. It was really cool.”