Category Archives: featured

Davidson, featured

Staff shortage could mean reduced hours at pool

webLeaderLogoDAVIDSON—Swimmers should expect reduced hours at Davidson Swimming Pool this summer due to a shortage of staff.

As of last Wednesday, Davidson recreation director Trevor Ouellette said he has two lifeguards for next season and he’s received an application for the manager position.

The pool usually has eight lifeguards on its payroll. This helps with scheduling and allows the pool to be open on evenings and weekends.

With a staff of three, Ouellette said the pool’s hours would be limited to Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This will allow for lessons in the morning and public swimming in the afternoon.

To entice lifeguards to work at the pool Ouellette asked town council to increase wages of swim instructors.

“I have no problem increasing wages. It’s a niche job and they are looking after our kids’ lives,” Coun. Tyler Alexander said.

Mayor Clayton Schneider cautioned council that if wages for one sector of the town’s payroll increased, other workers would want a raise.

As it stands Ouellette said there are only four lifeguards in the community eligible to work under the junior program and two of those individuals do not want to. He said with a wage increase, it might attract senior lifeguards back to work at the pool.

The shortage in staff is due to the demographics of the region, which has a scarcity of teens aged 14 to 17. Another factor is the positive economy and some teens do not need to have a summer job or choose not to have one. A challenge, Ouellette said, is that some would prefer to spend their summer at leisure.

It’s put Davidson pool and other pools in local communities in a difficult position as they seek qualified lifeguards and instructors.

Davidson, featured

Aggressive coyote put down

A coyote came to town and was found dining on garbage in the alley behind Davidson swimming pool.
A coyote came to town and was found dining on garbage in the alley behind Davidson swimming pool.

DAVIDSON—A problem coyote is no more.

In late February, Angela Shaw noticed the coyote when she was taking out her garbage and saw the coyote down the back alley close to the swing sets by the pool.

She hopped in her vehicle to get a closer look and to confirm the animal was a coyote and not a dog. She took a few pictures and told her husband Jason, who checked it out. By then the coyote had moved closer to their house eating the garbage she’d put out.

Pest control officer Lee Storey was called in.

Storey said his plan was to chase the coyote out of town with his truck.

“Normally coyotes are fairly timid. This one, I went within 20 to 30 feet of it and it growled at me, then returned to eating.”

Because of its bold and aggressive nature, Storey shot the coyote.

“In my opinion this one would have been a problem. He was fairly skinny,” Storey said.

The concern was the coyote could have been a threat to children and pets.

Davidson, featured

Health centre north wing being converted into clinic

A portion of the north wing of Davidson and District Health Centre is being renovated into the Davidson Primary Care Clinic.
A portion of the north wing of Davidson and District Health Centre is being renovated into the Davidson Primary Care Clinic.
DAVIDSON—Heartland Health Region is in the midst of renovating a portion of the north wing at Davidson and District Health Centre and converting it into a medical clinic that will be known as the Davidson Primary Care Clinic.
The clinic is being designed so that two physicians can work there.
Its first resident will be Dr. Olamipo Bamigboje, or as she’s come to be known, Dr. Ola.
She is practising out of a temporary clinic in the health centre’s boardroom.
The goal is to have the renovations completed by the end of March, said Cathy Hinther, care team manager at Davidson and District Health Care Centre.
The north wing of the health centre was built in the late 1960s as part of the Prairie View Lodge nursing home. It was left untouched when renovations and construction in 2000 created the health centre.
Much of the wing was mothballed and used for storage except for four rooms at the south end of the hallway, closest to the nursing station that are designated for respite care.
Those respite rooms will remain as will a couple of rooms for storage. The remaining two-thirds of the wing is being converted into the clinic. A door has been installed to separate the health centre from the clinic. Access to the clinic via the health centre and vice versa will be limited to health care professionals. Four former resident rooms in the north wing will be used as clinic rooms. There will be Tele-Health room and a consultation room, a reception room and an office.
Hinther said the work is nearly complete.
Heartland still needs to look at the parking situation.
Parking spots for the clinic are limited. There isn’t a parking lot outside the north wing’s entrance so people will have to park in the health centre parking lot and walk around the facility, following the sidewalk that cuts between the health centre and the Elks Housing Units.
Hinther said in the spring, once the snow and ice is gone, Heartland’s facilities personnel will come out and look at the parking situation to see if a parking area can be created closer to the new clinic’s door.
“Because we started in the middle of winter, it’s difficult to assess,” Hinther said.
She said the health region would have signs posted guiding people to the primary care clinic.

Craik, featured

Craik designates spots for handicap parking

By Kevin Gilby
CRAIK—In response to concerns brought toward the town council, a new traffic bylaw was enacted to permit installation and enforcement of two handicapped parking stalls in the community.
During the March 11 Town Council meeting, members addressed a request for handicapped parking to be made available in front of the Craik Community Hall entrance on 3rd street.
Some councillors questioned if additional stalls would be required in front of businesses along 3rd street. After discussion, it was accepted that people typically park for a short periods of time in front of the businesses and that people would be willing to ‘drive around the block’ or visit another business before attempting to park again.
The two handicapped parking stalls and signage are to be installed at both sides of the existing ramp directly in front of the community hall. The bylaw, entitled 2015-01 The Traffic Bylaw, was passed unanimously and was effective immediately.
To read more Craik Town Council briefs, please see the March 16, 2015 print edition of The Davidson Leader. To subscribe, email davidsonleader@sasktel.net

featured, Sports

Hanley curlers compete at provincials

HANLEY—Hanley Composite School’s senior girls curling team were in Prince Albert March 6 and 7 looking to defend their provincial championship.
The team of skip Hanna Anderson, third Jill Kroeger, second Ashley Randall, lead Kirsten Cory, fifth Jasmine Heagy and coaches Scott Anderson and Melissa Koroll opened the tournament with convincing 13-0 win over the host team from St. Mary’s High School.
Next, the Hanley rink came up against a tough team from Maple Creek that went to an extra end. The exciting game ended with a Hanley 8-7 win.
In their third game of the championships, Hanley came up against a strong team from Lumsden, who handed the Hanley squad its first loss of the tourney. To advance to the semi-finals, Hanley had to play a tiebreaker against Maple Creek. This time Maple Creek was able to squeeze out a 4-3 win, ending Hanley’s run at provincials. Lumsden, who went undefeated in pool play at provincials, beat Maple Creek 7-1 in the gold medal game to win the 2015 provincial championship.
Hanley is proud of its senior girls’ team and their coach and congratulates them on making it back to provincials, a fitting end to an excellent season.

featured, Sports

Novice Huskies win Fertile Hockey League championship

OUTLOOK—The Davidson Novice Huskies beat their Fertile Valley Hockey League rivals when it mattered most to win the league championship.
The only defeats suffered by Davidson Novice Huskies all season came courtesy of the Outlook Icehawks.
The Huskies solved that problem last Wednesday by beating the Icehawks 7-6 to win the Fertile Valley Hockey League ‘A’ final.
It was the third game in the best of three-games series. The Icehawks beat the Huskies 15-5 in Game 1 in Outlook March 2. The Huskies battled back in Game 2 in Davidson March 6, to win 9-8 in overtime to even the series and force Game 3 in Outlook March 11.
Outlook got off to an early 2-0 lead, thanks to a powerplay goal two minutes into the game and another goal at the 13-minute mark. With 2:35 remaining, Mason Palmer scored to end the period with the Huskies down by one.
Less than a minute into the second period Kaden Berry scored to tie it 2-2. The Icehawks fired back to score and regain the lead. The Huskies mounted a comeback with Palmer scoring the tying goal 10 minutes into the period. Berry, from Palmer, scored soon after to give the Huskies the go-ahead goal. Palmer, from Nolan Kearns, added another to give the Huskies a 5-3 lead heading into the third period.
The Icehawks scored first to close the gap to 5-4. Palmer responded scoring two more goals for the Huskies to give them a 7-4 lead. The Icehawks poured it on in the third. In the last minute of the game, Icehawks got one puck past Huskies goalie Daxton Tichit and then kept up the onslaught to score another goal with 2 seconds remaining. Time ran out and the Huskies had the win and the league championship.