QU’APPELLE—The only disadvantage Charmaine Tweet foresees on her way to a featherweight championship at Invicta FC11 in Los Angeles this Friday is that in her role as challenger, she’ll be the first one in the cage.
She doesn’t like going into the cage first. She prefers to go in second, the better to intimidate her opponent.
“As soon as I start walking towards the cage I lock eyes with my opponent and I don’t look away until the fight starts,” Tweet says.
At 6 feet tall and fighting in the 136 to 145 pounds division, Tweet presents an imposing package of hard angles and chiseled muscle.
Who wouldn’t be intimidated?
Tweet’s fans, friends and family in Kenaston will be hoping that Cris “Cyborg” Justino will succumb to the stare down when she gets an eyeful of Tweet.
Their fight is the main event in the Invicta women’s fighting championships for mixed martial arts. Justino (12-1, 1 no contest) is the current women’s world featherweight champ.
Some in the MMA world view Justino’s fight with Tweet as a stop the Invicta champ has to make on her road to a UFC contract and a fight against UFC bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey.
“We’re going to put a stop to that,” Tweet said. “Underestimate me. I’m cool with that.”
Tweet says she knows better than anyone how well she fights.
To read the full story, please see the Feb. 23 edition of The Davidson Leader.
Category Archives: Kenaston
Winter road warriors trek across Canada
By Tara de Ryk
KENASTON—Rare is the day when a dinky Honda C90 turns the head of a Harley Davidson man.
That day came last Monday for Bill Hannah who was all agog at the sight of two of those puny rides parked at the pumps of the PetroCan station in Kenaston.
“No windscreens,” Bill exclaimed, still excited about seeing the motorcycles, which look like a cross between a moped and a Vespa scooter. He was amazed that someone would venture out for a ride on the windswept Prairie in February.
He was even more impressed after going into the PetroCan and meeting their owners Rachel Lasham and Ed March, who are in the midst of a two continent trek from Alaska to Argentina.
“I got excited. I phoned home to Erna (his wife) and told her, ‘You won’t believe what I’ve seen,’” Bill says, adding it was cold out, about minus 22.
Lasham and March are from England and a couple months ago, they shipped their Honda C90s to Anchorage, Alaska, the start of their trip south to Argentina. When they reached Vancouver, they decided to veer off their planned course and make a cross-Canada trip as well, which is how they ended up in Kenaston Feb. 9.
“I walked into the PetroCan, they are nice young kids, I talked to them and took two pictures. I can’t believe what I saw.”
Bill said he and Erna both ride Harleys and he talked to Lasham and March about motorcycling.
“Bikers always connect with other bikers,” Bill said.
Hannah admits to feeling a little soft after meeting the two Brits. Bill said he and Erna ride in the summer when the roads are dry and free of ice and snow. They also ride Harley Davidson Road Kings and likely wouldn’t want to trade nearly 1600cc of power and cruising comfort for the Honda Cub’s 90ccs of output.
Immunize or mask policy takes effect
Starting Monday, Dec. 1, people who haven’t had their flu shot will have to wear a mask when they enter Davidson and District Health Centre as well as other Heartland Health Region facilities where patient care and services are provided.
To minimize the spread of infections, Surgical/procedure masks will be available to people who have chosen not to be immunized against influenza. Instructions on how to put on and take off the masks will be posted to help people unfamiliar with wearing masks.
The requirement to be immunized or wear a mask is part of a new province-wide influenza immunize or mask policy in effect in all Saskatchewan health regions and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency. The purpose is to further protect the health and safety of patients. It also serves to further protect healthcare workers, their colleagues, families, friends and communities.
All people are expected to immunize or mask if they come into hospitals, long-term care facilities, primary health care sites, public health locations and other sites where patients, residents or clients typically access health region care or services. It includes common areas in these facilities such as hallways, lobbies, and waiting rooms, as well as patient rooms, wards, units, departments and other areas where patients, residents or clients typically access care or services.
It is not too late to get your influenza immunizations. Public flu clinics continue in Heartland Health Region through December. From January 2015 to March 2015, flu shots are available at public health offices.
The immunize or mask policy remains in effect until April 3, 2015, the approximate end of the annual influenza season.
Kenaston celebrates new playground
KENASTON—Kenaston School celebrated its new playground structure Oct. 3 with a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony.
Dignitaries were on hand to officially open the structure that was constructed on the Labour Day weekend thanks to the efforts of many volunteers.
Oct. 3 also marked the dedication of Purves Field in honour of former Kenaston School primary teacher Linda Purves.
“It was very humbling and greatly appreciated,” Purves said of the School Community Council’s decision to name the field in her honour.
Purves taught at Kenaston School since 1980. During her tenure she headed the school’s recycling and environmental programs, leading the Blue Green Team. She harnessed the enthusiasm of elementary-aged students to promote recycling and at the same time collecting recyclables to raise money for school initiatives.
Purves retired from teaching in 2010. She said that year her Blue-Green Team did its final campaign, donating proceeds from recycling to the library.
Purves said at the time she’d asked then school principal Darren Gasper to designate any money left over in the account to go to elementary students because those were the students on the Blue-Green Team.
“It wasn’t until after I retired they talked about revamping the playground,” she said. “My vision became a reality.”
Tornado-toppled monuments restored
It took a July 4 tornado mere seconds to topple monuments that have marked graves in St. Andrew’s Cemetery for nearly a century.
Thursday, it took a crew of two from Remco Memeorials in Regina a day to return most of the grave markers to an upright position.
The company has some experience putting headstones to rights, mostly due to vandalism, said Jay Carnall, production operations manager with Remco Memorials in Regina.
He said this was the first time he had to re-erect monuments due to a tornado and never so many at once.
Carnall and fellow Remco employee Michael Schlosser, an installer, spent most of Thursday restoring the headstones. The process involves propping up the heavy granite stones and then putting straps around them so a hydraulic boom truck can carry the weight of the stone, some weighing 1,000 pounds and then lower it onto its base.
A few of the stones, mostly old weathered marble monuments that had their crucifixes that adorned them snapped off, will have to be replaced. Carnall said the marble is like powder and difficult to repair.
Gerard Zdunich, a member the St. Andrew’s Cemetery committee, said it will be up to families to repair or replace monuments that Remco was unable to fix. One of the affected marble monuments belongs to his great-grandmother.
Zdunich and St. Andrew’s Cemetery committee appreciates Carnall and Schlosser’s work at the cemetery. Remco volunteered its services, free of charge.
“Kenaston has always dealt with Remco and we wanted to help out, give back and do our part,” Carnall said.
Zdunich said others are pitching in as well. Locals are repairing the gates and he said they will try and do something with the spruce trees that were pushed over.
Zdunich had watched the tornado from his farm about two miles north of Kenaston.
He said it came from the west. When it reached Highway 11, the twister turned south, following the highway and then crossed the highway, turned east and headed straight for St. Andrew’s Cemetery. The tornado knocked over spruce trees and toppled 45 granite and marble monuments before it brought down the gates and metal arch marking the cemetery entrance. It then skipped across Highway 15, plowed through a tree row and then was gone.
“All we can say is how lucky it missed the village and that farm,” Zdunich says, pointing to the farmyard of Matt and Lynne Yelich that sits across the road.
He is grateful no one was hurt.
“Some of the stones (the tornado toppled) are 800 pounds, some are even bigger, think of the force. What would it do to you or to me?”
Kenaston Dinner Theatre Troop to tame Wild West
Available tickets have dried up like a puddle in the desert for this Saturday’s performance of Kenaston Dinner Theatre’s “Taming the Wild Wild West in a Dress or Let’s Give the Villain the Slip” by playwright Billy St. John, but anyone looking to enjoy the show still has a good shot at grabbing a seat for Friday’s entertainment.
Melanie Kerpan, co-director with Kathy Enns of “Taming the Wild Wild West in a Dress,” said there are still some full tables open for their March 28 showing and anyone looking for a good catered meal courtesy of Zdunich and Company along with a funny performance of the St. John western is welcome to attend.
“We haven’t done (a western) for a long time,” said Kerpan, noting all funds raised from the annual dinner theatre performances go towards upkeep of Kenaston Place. “We were looking for a theme and something that was humorous. We had this play for a while and had not done it because it was similar to some others that we had done in a row, so we wanted to wait and get a variety.”
“Taming the Wild Wild West in a Dress or Let’s Give the Villain the Slip” centers on the lead character of Clarence Rawlins (played by Andrew Lynsley) and his theater company when they head west to Lucky Lady, Nevada, to inherit a supposed saloon. Unfortunately the saloon is actually a beauty palour and the group now must go to absurd lengths including raiding a costume trunk to make the salon a success. The theatre company’s luck runs out when two crooks played by Ryley Enns and Allison de Hoop decide to acquire Clarence’s salon as part of a scheme to rob the bank next door.
Kerpan said there isn’t a set goal on how much the Dinner Theatre committee hopes to raise with the two-day performance, but going from previous years they usually average around $5,000 each time. She said there would be about 50 volunteers helping make the dinner, which normally attracts around 250 people each performance, a success and that doesn’t include the 25 people involved with the cast and crew.
“We have lots of really good support that we appreciate from Davidson, Outlook and Bladworth (and) other communities as well,” said Kerpan, adding they have been practising to get the play ready for audiences since January. “This is a large cast this time and we have been having difficulty getting everybody together, but we’re doing the best we can and it’ll be ready on that day.”