Category Archives: featured

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Locals receive Jubilee medal

Jason Shaw and Gerrid Gust were honoured Oct. 10 for their strong volunteerism throughout the years. Each man received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal at Government House in Regina.

Milan Puckett was also awarded with a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work on Davidson town council first as an alderman for four years starting in 1976 and then as mayor of Davidson from 1980 to 1988.

During her tenure as mayor, Puckett was able to upgrade badly needed infrastructure in the town including a lift station, treatment plant, new well, streetlights and pavement. She regularly worked from early in the morning to late at night to help build the town into what it is today.

Puckett was unable to attend the ceremony due to health reasons, but will be presented with the medal here in town by Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre MP Tom Lukiwski at a later date.

Gust said it was “really nice to be honoured” for his national and provincial agricultural work. He was nominated by Lukiwski and presented with the medal by Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan Vaughn Solomon Schofield at the ceremony.

“There is a lot of people that maybe should get it and didn’t, but it was really nice to see the volunteer work that I do get recognized,” he said.

Gust is currently the chair of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, which is a voluntary farm policy organization that is dedicated to creating a more profitable and sustainable agriculture industry. He is also the Wheat Growers representative on the board of directors for the Western Grains Research Foundation, which is a farmer funded and directed non-profit organization investing primarily in wheat and barley variety development to benefit western Canadian farmers.

Shaw’s name was put forward for the medal by Bladworth resident Marj Crabbe in recognition for his continued dedication to the town in the form of volunteering with numerous sports clubs and serving as a town councillor for the past six years.

“The (Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal) was to be given to people who went above and beyond the call of duty in their communities and I thought that he actually was a perfect match because of everything he’s done over the years,” said Crabbe. “It’s not just this year that he has volunteered, he’s volunteered as long as he’s been an adult.”

Shaw presently coaches the Davidson Cyclones as well as minor baseball, is the secretary of the Davidson Junior Athletics Association, volunteers with the Kinsmen Club and was instrumental in organizing a group to re-vamp all the Davidson ball diamonds.

The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals were created to honour the Queen’s 60th year on the throne and are presented to deserving Canadians who have made an important contribution to a portion of Canada.

Davidson, featured

Lairds leave legacy to library

The Davidson branch of the Palliser Regional Library received a substantial donation this past week after being informed the late Elmer Laird had bequeathed $50,000 to the library for capital expenditures.

September Brooke, Davidson librarian, said the library is very appreciative of the thought given by Laird and his wife Gladys “for all they have contributed to the library in the past and continue to contribute” and in acknowledgment will create a new reading room in their memory.

“We’re actually going to name that room the Elmer and Gladys Reading Room in honour and recognition of their contribution to the library,” said Brooke in reference to the current large-print room. “We recently purchased some furniture and created a little reading corner, so we wanted to name that room specifically after them.”

Elmer and Gladys have long been contributors to the library’s success and survival with Gladys serving as a volunteer with the library for over 30 years starting back in 1964.

The couple were also instrumental in helping the library survive after a fire burned down the Town Hall in 1971, where the library was headquartered at the time, by arranging to borrow 1,500 books from the Saskatchewan Provincial Library and then travelling to Alberta and buying enough used books themselves to keep the Davidson library in existence.

“The only request in his will was that the money be used for capital improvements and also that we develop a special section in memory of his wife on the rights of working women,” said Brooke. “That was something that was very dear to her.”

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

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Craik RCMP officer injured in Chamberlain car crash

A member of the Craik RCMP detachment is in a Regina hospital with serious injuries after being involved in a fatal motor vehicle collision south of Chamberlain.

The officer, a 47-year-old male whose name was not released, was sitting in a marked 2010 Chevy Tahoe with its emergency equipment activated at approximately 2:35 p.m. on Sept. 28 when the collision occurred.

While investigating a single-vehicle rollover, the officer parked on the side of the road in the northbound lane of Highway 11 about 1 kilometre south of Chamberlain where the highway splits.

At the same time, the RCMP Divisional Operational Communications Centre (DOCC) began receiving complaints of a vehicle driving erratically and at high speeds southbound through the community of Chamberlain. It is suspected by the RCMP this is the same vehicle that collided with the police SUV.

The driver of the vehicle, a 35-year-old male from Saskatoon, whose name was also not released, was travelling southbound on Hwy 11 when it crossed over into the northbound lane crashing into the marked police vehicle head-on.

“The RCMP member was then taken away in serious condition by STARS air ambulance to Regina, where he still remains in hospital,” said RCMP Cpl. Rob King.

The Saskatoon man was pronounced dead at the scene.

King said it is not yet known if alcohol was a factor in the crash.

“We’ll have to wait for the re-constructionist report to be completed and for toxicology reports from the autopsy to know that,” he said.

In addition to the RCMP re-constructionist who travelled to the collision, emergency personal and members of the Craik, Lumsden and Regina RCMP detachments also descended on the scene to help in the investigation and provide relief of traffic congestion.

“The northbound lane of Hwy 11 was closed for about seven hours (after the crash),” said King.

This is the second serious motor vehicle incident involving the Craik RCMP in September and the third involving a Saskatchewan RCMP member while on-duty since July.

On Sept. 2, a 35-year-old constable with the Craik RCMP was air lifted to hospital in Regina after rolling his police car while responding to a domestic disturbance call. He was travelling west on the 732 grid road in the RM of Sarnia when he lost control of his car around 11 p.m. and entered the ditch.

King said he is still in hospital and is in stable condition.

The RCMP member employee assistance program is providing comfort to family and members of the Craik RCMP detachment and officers from other detachments are being brought in to help officers in Craik deal with the call load.

On July 20, Const. Derek Pineo was killed when his cruiser hit a moose 7 kms west of the town of Wilkie while reporting to a call.

Davidson, featured

Davidson Co-op Food Store addresses deadly E. coli beef infections

Davidson beef is safe to eat.

The Davidson Co-op Food Store has pulled all its beef products that were processed at the XL Foods Inc. plant in Brooks, Alta. that is at the centre of the new E. coli infection scare, but want to assure all customers the meat that is on the counter today is safe.

Dale Firby, general manager of Riverbend Co-op, said the plant in Brooks is their “preferred supplier,” but once the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued the recall; the grocery store “immediately” pulled all the products that were specified from the counter.

CFIA first issued the recall in September and further expanded it to dozens of additional products including roasts and sausages last Monday.

“When we were informed of the recall, we addressed it,” said Firby. “Anyone that was asking about the product, we had encouraged them to bring the product back for a full refund and all product was isolated and returned back to the supplier.”

There were 13 E. coli infection cases being investigated in September, which differs sharply from the usual zero to four during that month, by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health to see if they are linked to beef processed at the XL Foods Inc. plant. There have been five confirmed cases in Alberta linked to the processing plant.

The Heath Ministry is reminding consumers to use safe beef handling and cooking procedures such as thorough hand washing when handling or preparing food and making sure that all meat is cooked thoroughly.

People with an E. coli infection will experience symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, watery or bloody diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea and headaches with little or no fever. These symptoms usually appear within three to four days, but can occur up to 10 days later and last about five to 10 days. People most at risk of developing serious complications from E. coli are pregnant women, people with compromised immune systems, young children and the elderly.

To read more please see the Oct. 8 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

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Schmit and More plead guilty to second-degree murder

Devin Schmit and Darak More both pleaded guilty to second-degree murder at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Regina Sept. 28 in the death of Rob Vicente of Bladworth.

Schmit has been sentenced to life with no parole eligibility for 20 years, while More has been sentenced to life with no parole eligibility for 15 years. Both men also face mandatory lifetime bans on possessing firearms and must provide DNA samples.

Schmit and More were each going to trial to face first-degree murder charges in the death of Vicente after a quick preliminary hearing Sept. 10 and 11 at a Regina Provincial Court that ended after two days when it was decided there was enough evidence to head to trial.

Vicente, 25, was last seen in Davidson on Oct. 10, 2010.

On Oct. 12, Hanley RCMP was notified that he was missing.

Police reported on Oct. 14 that Vicente’s burned-out car was found in a vacant farmyard about 29 kilometres west of Davidson on Oct. 12.

Meanwhile, family and friends and many people from Bladworth and the wider community took part in extensive ground and air searches for Vicente.

On Feb. 11, 2011, Schmit and More were charged with first-degree murder and robbery. On Feb. 14, RCMP said they had discovered human remains in a farmyard on the edge of Davidson.

The remains were later confirmed to be those of Rob Vicente.

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Stats Canada corrects mistake

The Village of Aylesbury is out $7,500 or 50 per cent of their revenue this year after Statistics Canada miscounted their population size in the last census.

In the 2011 Canada wide census, which is conducted every five years, Aylesbury was reported as having a population of 10 residents and five private dwellings in use.

The actual number is 42 residents and 23 private dwellings, recently corrected by Stats Can and posted to their website. Unfortunately for Aylesbury, their provincial and federal grant money will still be based on 10 residents and five dwellings for this year, resulting in the $7,500 loss.

Jeff Murray, administrator for the Village of Aylesbury, said they are getting no help for the wrong numbers from the provincial or federal government, which was not the village’s fault in any way, and will just have to suck up the revenue loss.

“They are not going to be doing anything for it,” said Murray. “I’m not sure why, but that’s the way it is I guess.”

Murray got the population numbers corrected by submitting an ISC map showing the boundaries of Aylesbury and all the utility bills of the residents that had a civic address on it to Stats Can, so when the gas tax fund is distributed next June the village will get its actual amount.

“The (village) is not going to get their money (lost this year) in lieu,” he said. “Next year, they’re not going to increase it by the amount they should be, so (Aylesbury) lost that funding.”

Murray said the village did not increase its millrate to compensate for the mistake and will be dipping into savings this year to bandage the loss.

Laurent Roy, Statistics Canada manager of formal reviews of population counts, said this is “common” for a Stats Can census. He said in 2006, when the last census was conducted, 100 municipalities out of about 5,000 in Canada were found to have wrong numbers and had to be corrected.

“It looks like it will be the same amount this year,” said Roy. “There are 5,000 municipalities, so it is still a small amount of 100 corrections.”

He said it is the provincial government that deals with the grant money for municipalities, so Stats Can has no say in whether Aylesbury will be compensated for its loss.

Roy said the province will use the corrected numbers on the Stats Can website next year so any difficulties that were encountered this year should not be repeated.