Category Archives: Davidson

Davidson, Sports

Raiders volleyball team loses in regionals

Raiders senior girls volleyball team captain Courtney Read crashed to the hard gym floor after making a spectacular diving save in the dying seconds of their second game against the Regina Harvest City Reapers in an effort to prolong her team’s season at the regional volleyball championship Nov. 10, but it turned out to be all for not.

Moments later the Reapers would score the deciding point in extra time, winning the second game out of a best of three match-up 28-26 and eliminating the Raiders chances of advancing to the next round in the 2012 West Regional 2A Girls’ Volleyball Championship held Nov. 10 at Davidson School. The loss also spelled the end of the Raiders season.

The Raiders had to win two straight games against the Reapers in order to advance after losing two straight earlier in the day to the Herbert Laurels. They won the first game 25-17, but despite their enthusiasm and determined play at all areas of the court in the second game, they were just unable to put Regina Harvest City away.

“I thought we played really good,” said Read. “We were excited and we really wanted to win because we knew that we had to win the first two games to advance. I think we played the best game that we could have played.”

The Raiders were all over the court in the second game against the Reapers, continually putting themselves in harm’s way by diving for any balls that had a chance of hitting the floor on their side of the net. Middle Taylor Wightman was particularly outstanding, getting to any shots that came her way and stopped any points against with numerous touches in the long volleys that occurred throughout the match.

“It was a little bit heartbreaking (losing in extra time), but what do you do,” said Wightman. “It was good. We played awesome. We couldn’t have asked for a better last game.”

The Reapers went on to lose the third-place game to the Leader Saints, while the Laurels and Asquith Athletics advanced to the final, thus securing themselves each a seat in provincials.

To read more please see the Nov. 19 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Federal funds roll in for community centre upgrades

The Town of Davidson has been earmarked for $29,875 in federal funding, which will go towards upgrades to the electrical system at the community centre as well as the installation of a rooftop heating and cooling unit for the centre.

Gary Edom, administrator for the Town of Davidson, said the federal funding would cover half the costs of improving the wiring system and installing an air-conditioning unit for the centre. He said the total bill has been costed at $59,749 for the improvements with half of this amount coming back to the Town once the upgrades are completed and the progress report and invoices are sent in.

“For the first phase what we are going to do is put a bit of wiring in here,” said Edom. “It’s all kind of outdated and we’re still on breakers. This first phase has to be done by next March…but they are going to pay the full $17,000. Then the second phase, which is going to be (worked on) after April 1 is the air-conditioner for the auditorium and they are going to pay $12,000 towards it, but they’re paying half of the whole thing altogether, which is nice to get.”

The cost of the wiring improvements will amount to $17,050 and must be completed between July 30, 2012, and March 31, 2013. The government, through the Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund, which is delivered through Western Economic Diversification Canada, will cover the whole amount of this work.

The second phase of the project of installing an air-conditioner for the community centre comes at a cost of $42,399, and another $300 for signs. This work must be done between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2014. The government will cover $12,674 for the air-conditioning improvements and $150 for the signs, totaling $29,874 or half of the total amount of $59,749.

Edom said the Town applied for this funding after Lynne Yelich, minister of state for Western Economic Diversification, announced in Kenaston in early July that $46.2 million has been allocated towards repairs and improvements to existing community facilities in Western Canada over the next two years. He said the funding they are receiving is everything that they applied for.

“The big thing is for the auditorium as it’ll be nice to have air-conditioning in there especially for the summer with weddings,” said Edom. “It gets so terribly hot in there for big functions in the summertime.”

He said the rewiring is a major project that needed to be completed because they are currently having trouble in the kitchen with “throwing breakers” when the coffee machines are turned on.

“We’re going to try adjusting some of that,” he said. “Get some new electrical panels put in, some new breakers and some wiring changed around. It would certainly work better.  We even had meetings in the council chambers where they plug in a bunch of laptops and they throw breakers. We hope to upgrade things, so that’s not a problem anymore.”

Davidson

Communities in Bloom get spicy at chili cook-off fund-raiser

The Davidson Communities in Bloom first annual chili cook-off raised close to $3,200 for its operating expenses as a good crowd of around 50 people came out to the Davidson community centre Nov. 3 to taste the nine different chilis and judge the best minced beef and beans stew in the area.

Teams of nine competitors measured their own chili recipes against each other and by popular vote based on colour, aroma, consistency, taste and aftertaste the prize of a round of golf with cart and “a really nice hat” went to Rance Anderson and Tony Billett, who can now pronounce themselves the top chili chefs in Davidson.

This was the last event of the year for the not-for-profit Communities in Bloom, but they will be back in the spring to help beautify the town with public flowerbeds and gardens.

Davidson

Influenza vaccine clinics back up and running

The influenza vaccine clinics are back up and running after a short shutdown due to concerns raised about the flu vaccine by Health Canada.

The Heartland Health region resumed its vaccination clinics last Wednesday after being shuttered for six days following a request by Health Canada after the flu vaccine made by pharmaceutical firm Novartis, which is the only vaccine used in Saskatchewan, was discovered to have clumping of particles in the vaccine in Europe.

Dr. David Torr, consulting medical health officer for the Heartland Health region, said the temporary ban on distribution of the vaccine was only a precautionary measure by Health Canada after one batch was found to have some particles in it. He said the batch used in Canada is safe and anyone who has received the vaccine already need not feel worried and do not need to get another shot.

“The batch that was in question is a different batch than the one we have here, it’s just the same manufacturer,” said Torr. “With the Canadian stock, nothing was seen here that was seen in Italy.”

Torr said following testing of the Canadian batch, Health Canada and Novartis have reiterated the optimal safety of the Canadian stock and he encourages anyone who has not yet been immunized to head to an influenza immunization clinic and get a shot.

He said that any clinics that were suspended will be rescheduled in the near future and all upcoming clinics will go on as planned.

“We should be able to catch up,” said Torr. “It was only a week that we went out.”

Davidson, featured

Davidson School’s “Jail and Bail” a big success

The new hardwood floor appears to be a reality for Davidson School’s main gym thanks in large part to last Wednesday’s hugely successful “Jail and Bail” fund-raiser.

Sandra Baldwin, a grades 10 to 12 math and science teacher at the school, said the “prisoners” raised $26,000 at the event, which had 17 locals locked up in classrooms at the school desperately working the phones to try and raise bail money. She said $13,000 came in physically through cheques and cash, while another $13,000 was pledged.

“If the money from the pledges come in that will bring us pretty close to $37,000,” said Baldwin. “We’ll be right there.”

The school started a Sea of Blue campaign last month to try and raise $40,000 by next March so they can upgrade from a rubberized floor in the main gym to a hardwood one. The Sun West School Division will replace the floor next summer and the school was given the option to upgrade if they could raise the additional money that a hardwood floor would cost.

Davidson School kids and teachers started a “Buy A Tile” campaign where 4,000 tiles from the old gym floor would be sold for $10 each. In just less than two months, the campaign raised over $10,000. Once all the money from the pledges are forwarded to the school or the prisoners, the school can send it on to the school division coming close to their final goal.

“The ‘Jail and Bail’ exceeded any of our expectations,” said Baldwin. “People had a great time with the kids. It was so much better than anything we could have imagined.”

Local school kids and even an abiding RCMP officer rounded up the prisoners by force or they could just turn themselves in at the school at the start of afternoon classes. They were then given a bail kit, a nametag and a card that read out their offence, before being led to their cells of school classrooms where they had to work the phones in trying to raise bail.

To read more please see the Oct. 29 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson, Sports

Davidson Cyclones ready to hit the ice

The Davidson Cyclones senior hockey team is ready to hit the ice for their first game of the 2012-13 regular-season next week.

The team, who will essentially keep their core together from their Long Lake Hockey League (LLHL) and provincial “C” division championship season of last year, face off Nov. 9 against the Drake Canucks in Drake in a rematch of the championship finalists. The team will open up their home schedule at the Davidson Communiplex on Nov. 17 against the Lanigan Pirates.

Jason Shaw, head coach of the Cyclones, said the team only lost five players from last year due to a couple retirements and a few moving away, but the core of the team including 2011-12 league MVP Steve Dasilva, Derek Allan, Brady Willner, Mark Zoerb, Brett Siroski, Kevin Johnson, Chad Manz and Colton Allan are back to try and repeat as league and provincial champs.

“We’ve had a pretty good run in the past three years and it would be nice to repeat as league and provincial champions, but we’re quite a ways from that at the start of the season,” said Shaw. “Championships are what we’re looking for, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done between now and then.”

The Cyclones senior hockey team, who has played out of Davidson under different names since 1905, won their first league championship in the LLHL last season. The team came over to the LLHL in the mid-1990s after competing in the River Lake Hockey League and many others throughout the years previous.

The team has won three straight provincial titles including the “D” division championships in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons and the “C” division championship last year.

Shaw said the team plays a high-tempo offensive game as evidenced by their league leading 172 goals for last season, but that is not the only aspect of their game.

In the 22 regular-season games last year in which the club won 18 and only lost one in regulation, the team also posted a second best total of 96 goals against and the second most penalty minutes total of 420 in the six-team league that also boasts clubs from LeRoy, Lanigan, Watrous, Drake and Nokomis.

“We’d like to be up there in scoring again, but the penalties we’d probably like to rein those in a bit,” said Shaw. “We’re more of a wide open and free-skating team. We’ve got the biggest rink in the league ice surface wise, so with our talent we’d like to play more of an open game and not quite as tight-checking.”