Category Archives: featured

Craik, featured

Floating cheques prompts questions in Craik

The mayor of the Town of Craik said they are “trying to get on track” after a concerned resident presented a number of questions to council May 14 about the living situation among members of the community along with a claim her grandson and a few of his friends found cheques made out to the town by residents floating in a ditch.

“I’m not too sure how it’s going to go, but we’re working on stuff in town to get the town going too,” said Craik Mayor Rick Rogers when asked if the situation involving the found cheques could eventually end up in court. “Yeah, I remember Marlene (Stubbington) coming to the meeting on Wednesday night. She had lots of topics. Too many to answer at one meeting, so we photocopied and we said we’d answer all of her topics and questions for her.”

Rogers confirmed Stubbington brought up the found cheques at council, but said he personally didn’t see them or the boys who found them. He said he didn’t know when asked how cheques made out to the Town of Craik by residents could end up in a ditch.

“Well we’re having a little bit of trouble here in town and I’m not allowed to talk about some things that are going on in town,” said Rogers. “So this is getting right on borderline, so I’m not allowed to talk about this topic I think you’re getting at there.”

The mayor confirmed cheques should be sent straight to a bank once received by town officials, but he doesn’t “know really what happened” in this incident. He said his lawyer has told him not to talk about the situation when asked whether the town has taken any measures to look into the found cheques and investigate further.

Rogers confirmed Craik administrator Jeff Murray has also been put on leave and the two situations are related. When asked when and why the administrator was put on leave, he replied “well that’s what my lawyer told me not to talk about.”

Stubbington said her grandson and a few of his friends found the cheques that were written to the Town of Craik “floating in a ditch” in mid-April after water flooded over some streets in the town. She said some of the cheques were then returned to the town administrator and some were also brought to the bank.

She added her approach to council May 14 stemmed from wanting Mayor Rogers to open up an account at the bank for her to pay her bills because the town office was not “looking after them right” when handed in. Stubbington said the response she received was ‘nothing could be done’ because the matter was under investigation.

“I don’t know,” Stubbington said when asked what she hoped going before council would accomplish. “I want my money to be safe, that’s for sure.”

Craik RCMP Constable Kam Hay said they do not have an investigation going on right now into the found cheques or anything that may be related to them. He said nothing has been reported to the police about this situation as of yet.

To read more please see the May 26 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Craik, featured

Thieves target farm residences during B&Es

Craik RCMP is asking for the public’s assistance in solving three separate break and enters that occurred in the Craik, Girvin and Holdfast areas earlier this month.

An officer with the Craik detachment of the RCMP said it is unknown right now if the thefts are linked, but at the moment it is not believed they are.

The first break and enter occurred sometime between May 5 and May 8 at a residence and two outbuildings at a farm just south of Girvin. It is unknown if anything was stolen from the farm property.

A break and enter also happened May 8 sometime between 1 and 7 p.m. at a farm residence just west of Craik. Several items were stolen including two Stealth Game cameras, two Moultrie Game cameras and a Range Finder.

Numerous pieces of jewelry were also taken from the residence including a black and white precious stone necklace, a gold ring with a small princess cut diamond and a sterling silver necklace with a black pearl pendant. An IPad and laptop were reported stolen during the break and enter as well.

The third break and enter occurred on May 13 at around 2:30 p.m. when two males travelling on ATVs were found rummaging through an old farm house they had broken into. The house is located just off Highway 2 between Holdfast and the Highway 11 junction.

The two males are described as between 30 and 40 years old, dirty with an unkempt appearance and burly in stature. When confronted the males claimed they were looking for historic items before quickly boarding their ATVs and fleeing east to Hwy. 2 and then south towards Hwy. 11.

The males had pulled some old copper wiring out of one of the out-buildings on the property, but it is unknown if they succeeded in stealing anything else.

One of the males was riding an early 1980s Honda Big Red style three-wheeler, while the other rode a red Honda four-wheeler. Both ATVs had boxes mounted on the back and neither male wore a helmet while riding the machines.

The Craik officer said people need to remember to lock up their property when they leave. He said this is a rule most people know, but not enough homeowners follow.

If anyone has any information that would assist the RCMP in the investigation they are asked to contact the Craik RCMP detachment or Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers.

featured

Farmers waiting for Mother Nature to cooperate

Farmers around Davidson may finally be able to get into the field this week to begin spring planting, but that is only if Mother Nature abides.

Davidson farmer Kevin Farden said producers are facing cool and wet conditions and the start of seeding this year really depends on how much heat the area gets in the next little while. He said the sloughs are “just huge right now” because the frost hasn’t come out of the bottom of them yet, so farmers first need some warmer weather to help the water drain.

“I think within a week there’ll be some action hopefully,” said Farden. “We have some land at the Outlook area and we’re hoping to maybe start over there (this week), but it also depends on the soil temperature and how things progress with the heat.”

Farden said the late start this spring is similar to what farmers experienced last year and that actually seems to be the trend over the past few years. He said seeding beginning later in the year hasn’t changed their planting intentions, but the grain backlog in the western provinces has.

“I’d say we’ve cut back on our wheat because we have a lot of wheat in the bin still,” he said. “We’ve cut back on our acres we’re going to plant to that and some cereals I guess for that reason.”

Shannon Friesen, regional crop specialist with the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, said they’ve heard from producers and crop reporters around the province that there may be quite a few more soybean acres going in this year along with more flax and canola. She said that has to do with producers not being able to move grain, so farmers are thinking about other crops they’d like to seed and harvest this year.

“Certainly we may see some decreased acres (of wheat), but of course there is still some time,” said Friesen. “If the ground remains wet we may see those cereal acres go up a little bit because you can seed them a bit later and still have plenty of time for a good harvest.”

Friesen said dry field peas seem to be “gaining a stronghold” again this year after many producers moved away from the crop in the last couple years. She said peas are a fairly easy crop to grow, so there seems to be a renewed interest in it.

Another crop that may be gaining acreage this year appears to be feed corn. Friesen said there is more interest in corn not only for seed, but also on the grain side and Saskatchewan producers have seemed “interested” in it for the last couple years.

To read more  please see the May 12 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson, featured

Commercial property taxes take a hike

Property taxes are going up for commercial property owners in Davidson.
Overall, the municipal levy is up about 5 per cent, or $47,000, to raise $1,074,998 in revenues from property taxes to help balance Davidson’s 2014 $2.2 million operating budget.
Council approved the budget at its April 24 meeting.
Commercial property owners will see the biggest increase in their tax bills. Council decided to raise the commercial millrate from 21.41 to 25.61 and increase the base tax by $50. The base tax charged on vacant lots is going up from $400 to $450 and the base tax charged on a lot with improvements will now be $500.
Meanwhile, council reduced the residential millrate from 13.55 to 12.93 and the agricultural millrate from 15.28 to 14.52.
Most residential property taxes will remain about the same as last year, town administrator Gary Edom said.
Instead, council decided to shift the tax increase onto commercial ratepayers.
This news may appease residential property owners, some of whom, saw substantial tax increases in 2013 due to new assessments taking effect.
Edom said, as a result of the reassessment, residential property values went up significantly, while some commercial properties values decreased.
The town raises the remainder of its revenues needed to operate and maintain the municipality from federal and provincial operating grants, water and sewer rates and various fees and charges. Council transferred $304,000 from reserves to help balance the budget, which also contains a small surplus of $5,150.
About $200,000 of those reserves are coming from the recreation reserve fund and will be used to pay for repairs to the town hall roof, work that was completed this winter, which is why the item, although budgeted for in 2013 appears again in 2014.
Council also decided to withdraw about $100,000 from the utility reserve to cover costs of repair and maintenance work on the water tower as well as to install a new water line that will connect the reserve tanks at the water treatment plant.
To read more please see the May 5 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson, featured

Drops pour in at swimming pool auction

The new Davidson Swimming Pool committee rode a tidal wave of support from members of the community earlier this month to raise an overwhelming amount of funds towards their effort to finance the building of a new pool and pool house.

Committee member Jessie Foster said the group raised $239,000 at the April 17 community auction held in the Davidson Rink. She said this amount includes a generous donation during the auction of $10,000 each from Western Sales and Young’s Equipment as well as a $100,000 donation from the Davidson Kinsmen.

“Our group was surprised and delighted with the attendance and the support that was given,” said Foster, adding 281 people came to the rink for the social evening. “It was amazing. The energy there was amazing.”

Foster said there were so many people at the rink that some were forced to stand at the back, but that didn’t stop anybody from frequenting the bar run by the Kinsmen and purchasing the many hot appetizers such as chicken wings and pizzas that were auctioned off during the night.

“People just drank and ate and visited and had lots of fun,” she said. “There was lots of visiting and happiness happening.”

The generosity displayed by the bidders for the over 100 items during the live portion of the auction was evident from the start, noted Foster. She said this was proved by the $1,200 price tag that a selection of homemade buns went for in the early going.

“That set the tone of the event that this was for charity and it was for building the pool and people were there to support that,” said Foster, adding another high early bid was the $3,000 paid for a John Deere Weber barbecue and JMR meat package. “It was wonderful to start off the night like that.”

In addition to the committee’s upcoming annual bottle drive, Foster said the next event they are looking into is holding a Drive Ford event where Ford brings new vehicles to town for people to test drive and then donates money depending on how many vehicles were driven. Until that time, she said the committee would just like to show their appreciation to everyone who came to the auction and made it such a resounding success.

“We really want to thank everybody who helped make the night so amazing.”

featured

Craik military heroes presented with Service Pins

Fourteen Canadian Armed Forces veterans and one current member were honoured for their sacrifices to represent our nation and to defend the principles of peace, freedom and justice last Wednesday at the Craik and District Health Centre.

Craik and area military men and women Cleve Bennett, John Duff, Wendy Elliott, Harve Fridel, Garry Gilbertson, George Hamilton, Sebastian Lang, Robert Leslie, Allan McCooeye, Lloyd Probert, Frank Taylor, Frank Watkins, Alex White, Frank Wright and Ryan Eyre each received a Lieutenant Governor’s Military Service Pin. The Pin symbolizes the gratitude of the Crown and the people of Saskatchewan for those who have served with honour and valour.

“For a long time I felt that military men and women who served the nation have not been recognized as they are in other countries and I think that it’s time within this country that we did that,” said Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan Vaughn Solomon Schofield after she presented the honour to the 11 deserving men and women who were able to attend the ceremony. “This was I think the best way that I could find to honour them, so it’s my intention to give one of these pins to absolutely everyone in the province who has served in the military at one time or another or who comes from Saskatchewan who is serving in the military somewhere else.”

Royal Canadian Air Force veteran Cleve Bennett was the first veteran presented with the Military Service Pin by the Lieutenant Governor in front of a packed crowd of family and friends who all crammed into the Health Centre common room to view the occasion. Bennett enlisted with the RCAF in 1940, deployed to England in 1941 and worked with transportation services during the Second World War until his return to Canada in 1945.

John Duff received the pin for his service as an RCAF policeman and his work in radar surveillance in both Canada and Germany with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Schofield presented Wendy Elliott with the honour for her 26-year-career with the Canadian Forces, which included postings across Canada before her retirement as a petty officer first class in 1995.

“It’s an honour,” said Elliott, who will proudly display the Edwardian Crown pin on her civilian clothing as it is meant to be worn. “It’s nice to know some people recognize what we’ve done.”

To read more please see the April 21 print edition of The Davidson Leader.