Voters in Elbow will be heading to the polls in October to elect a new mayor following the resignation of William Nike late last month.

According to the minutes at the July 25 special meeting of Elbow Village council the last act Nike undertook as mayor before resigning was outlining the abusive and aggressive behaviour towards village staff members that took place during the week of July 15 to 19. After handing in his resignation and leaving council chambers shortly afterwards, the first decision Elbow council passed was a policy that aggressive and abusive behaviour would not be tolerated towards village staff and a notice of this policy would be placed in the village office, shop and on the village website.

Colleen Hoppenreys, acting mayor of Elbow, said it is with great regret that council had to accept Nike’s resignation. She said Nike’s time on village council first as a councillor and then as mayor was never connected with individual gain.

“He was there for the village and wanted the best for the village,” said Hoppenreys. “He was always trying to improve things here.”

Hoppenreys could not comment on what policy changes made by council that prompted the threats, but said no other members of council were subject to the abusive behaviour exhibited by some ratepayers.

“I think if you try to make changes, they’re just not happy about some of the changes,” she said. “I think that is what really brought this on. I think it’s more just verbal abuse and changing our policies that is not acceptable here.”

Yvonne Jess, chief administrative officer of Elbow, said the threatening behaviour by ratepayers towards Nike, his wife and village staff members occurred in the office, the village shop and in the evening when the mayor was out in public. She said the RCMP is currently collecting statements from people in the village about the matter and could not comment further on what happened.

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

Amy Peters admits she was a little concerned before she embarked on an essentially non-stop 715-kilometre canoe race through the lakes of the Yukon earlier this summer, but the idea of confronting that challenge and raising some money for a good cause was too much for her to pass up.

“It is very much in line with the mission of Outward Bound and one of the mottos that we use is that there is more in you than you think,” said Peters, a former outdoor leadership trainer with the organization. “A lot of times as we’re working with students, whether they’re hiking or canoeing, they are very challenged physically and we always see them do amazing things and push past the limit they think they have.

“A piece of (this) is just exploring that for myself.”

Peters, 31, tested her limits by competing in the June 26 to 29 Yukon River Quest “Race to the Midnight Sun” along with nine other former staff and alumni of Outward Bound Canada in a mixed voyageur canoe of the same name. The team finished third in their class and 12^th overall in the 62-team race completing the trek with a time of 50 hours and 20 minutes and also managed to raise around $16,000 for abused women in the process.

“One of our goals was to raise money for a program that we run called Women of Courage and it is typically about eight days of an expedition that is offered to woman survivors of abuse,” she said, adding at last count they had raised around $16,000. “We found that (the program) is part challenge for them, which helps them. It helps people to realize how strong they are and it’s just also part of the healing journey as they recover from abusive relationships.”

As far as she knows, Peters was the only Saskatchewan resident to compete in the race that brings together around 180 of the top paddlers from around the world. All of these outdoor enthusiasts complete the course in one of the different classes of tandem canoe, tandem kayak, solos and voyageur canoes, but have the same goal in mind of crossing the finish line first.

“The first stretch we did was 22 hours in the boat without getting out and then we had our first rest stop which was seven hours,” she said, noting the race began in Whitehorse and the first stop was at Carmacks. “Then again you get in the boat and you go again until your second rest stop.  You get a quick three-hour nap in and then you finish it off.”

Peters said the second time in the boat was around 20 hours before the last three-hour rest at Kirkman Creek, but she can’t be sure because things were getting “a little fuzzier” during that time. She said the team then hit the water again completing the last 100 miles in about eight to 10 hours before finally crossing the finish line at Dawson City.

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

The Community Pasture Patrons Association (CPPAS) is calling on the federal government to grant an option of a one-year delay in the transfer of the first 10 federal community pastures to patron controlled operations for the 2014 grazing season.

Ian McCreary, chair of CPPAS, said pasture patrons groups looking to develop business plans to take control of the pastures are not able to do so due to inadequate business information that is being provided to them. He said patrons groups do not know if the federal non-reversionary land on the pastures will be part of the pastures in the future, whether non-fixed assets including bulls and machinery should be included in the patrons business plans and if it would be the patrons responsibility to cover the costs of invasive and noxious weeds.

“Put yourself in our shoes,” said McCreary Your being asked to go into business with 30 to 50 other people depending upon which pasture you’re in to take on the lease of some land (and) it’s not clear how much land, it’s not clear whether or not you get the headquarters, it’s not clear whether or not you should be building the bulls into your business plan and you have to have it done by the end of October and this is your busiest time of the year. That’s not reasonable.”

The first 10 federal community pastures scheduled to transfer to patron operation for the 2014 grazing season are: Estevan-Cambria, Excel, Fairview, Ituna-Bon Accord, Keywest, Lone Tree, McCraney, Newcombe, Park and Wolverine.

McCreary said it is the federal government that has the capacity to put this transition in a delay, as it was the federal government that initiated the process. He said the government must recognize that their time frame for the transition of these first 10 pastures is unreasonable.

“If the federal government continues to be completely unreasonable then it puts an unreasonable pressure on the province and then we have to try and work with the province to try and find a way to bridge the difference,” he said. “That becomes more complicated (and) certainly not very fair to the province. Certainly we would try and work with the province to make that happen if the (federal community pastures) remain in transition.”

To read more please see the July 15 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The RCMP is focused on improving seatbelt use among drivers and passengers in vehicles this summer and will be handing out $175 tickets if they see someone not buckling up.

Craik RCMP Constable Kam Hay said the number one reason for injuries in a collision is not wearing a seatbelt. He said seatbelt use among motorists driving in towns around this area is pretty bad and this needs to change.

“Seatbelts are really important to me,” said Hay, who has been on the force for 10 years with detachments in Craik and Wynard and also with Lanigan Traffic Services. “I’ve been to a lot of collisions and the chances of survival are amazing if you stay in that vehicle without being thrown out.”

Hay said a $175 ticket is going to be handed out to drivers found not wearing a seatbelt or not wearing a seatbelt properly as well as any passengers in a vehicle not buckling up. He said if there are any passengers under the age of 16 who are not wearing a seatbelt the driver is going to get the ticket and multiple tickets can be issued at the same time if more than one person in the vehicle is in violation of the law.

“Vehicles are designed nowadays with a survival space,” he said. “Everything is designed to protect occupants of the vehicle. If a person is wearing a seatbelt they can stay in that survival space, which adds to their survival chances in a collision.”

A recent two-day traffic blitz in the province sponsored by SGI and involving multiple police agencies resulted in a total of 412 tickets being issued. Of that total, 95 were for seatbelt violations.

Kelly Brinkworth, manager of media relations for SGI, said in more than one-third of all traffic fatalities in the province, the person killed was not wearing a seatbelt. She said in 2012, improper or non-seatbelt use contributed to 47 deaths and 274 injuries.

“It’s quite crazy to think that around 100 tickets for non-seatbelt use are issued every month,” said Brinkworth. “It’s such a simple thing to do. It doesn’t prevent a collision, but it does reduce the risk of being injured or killed in one.”

According to RCMP statistics, Saskatchewan has the second highest seatbelt usage in Canada at over 90 per cent, but in rural areas this drops to below 60 per cent.

Hay said the excuse he often hears from motorists caught not wearing a seatbelt is that if their vehicle goes into the water or if it catches on fire they could become trapped if they are wearing a seatbelt.

“If you do go into the water and you’re not wearing a seatbelt you’ll probably get knocked out and won’t be able to get out of the vehicle, whereas if you are wearing a seatbelt you’ll remain conscious and be able to get out,” he said. “I have never come across a scene where someone was severely injured from wearing a seatbelt.”