Rural Roundup — Nov. 17, 2022

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This article was published 17/11/2022 (1231 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SHOAL LAKE

The Shoal Lake Playground Committee has received a $5,000 donation from the Canada Post Community Foundation (CPCF). The donation will go towards a multi-phase project on the Shoal Lake School grounds.

Chantelle Shwaluk, a parent on the committee, said every dollar counts when it comes to the new project.

“The funds will be used to purchase new swing sets, which will truly have an impact on the school grounds, as the present ones have seen their day.”

The CPCF aims to improve the lives of children by building the capacity of local registered charities, initiatives and school program that support them, whether through increasing access to healthy food, libraries and play areas, enhancing support for special needs and education or aiding in the recovery from abuse, neglect or conflict.

The funds for the committee foundation come from annual in-store campaigns, sales from special fundraising stamps and employee donation support, said Amanda Goertzen, Shoal Lake postmaster.

“Families are the backbone of a community,” Goertzen said.

Grants from the foundation are available for projects that have three areas – community, education and health. Community projects include those that support better futures for children, including social services, arts and culture; education ones include projects that support education, therapeutic and rehabilitative programs; and health ones include projects that support the health and physical activity of children from vulnerable communities or with disabilities or illnesses.

» Crossroads This Week

CYPRESS RIVER

The Cypress River Agricultural Society building has received a major upgrade.

Built in 1911, the building has been the site of many community events spanning decades. Over the years, upgrades have been done to the building, but more critical ones needed to be made due to issues with its concrete floor.

Members of the board of directors of the agricultural society worked together to send out grant applications and make plans should the grants be awarded. They were eventually able to replace the old floor and add piping to the building. The board hopes to install a new washroom in the near future.

» The Gazette

GLENBORO

Preparations are underway to make the Saunta Claus Parade Day on Dec. 3 in Glenboro even more memorable than last year’s.

Sarah Smith, who is organizing the event with help from the Glenboro Community Development Corporation, said many craft and sale vendors will gather together for the festivities, which will take place from noon to 4 p.m., at the Glenboro Community Hall. Smith is hoping that around 30 to 35 tables will be booked for the occasion.

Another part of the day’s fun will include a cihldren’s movie to be played at the Glenboro Gaiety Theatre around 2 p.m. Candy bags will be available for children and Santa Claus is planning to stop by to hear their Christmas wishes.

Smith is hoping that she’ll be able to organize sleigh rides for attendees, as long as the weather cooperates, with the help of Larry Robinson and his horse-drawn sled.

There will also be bonfires set up in the parking lot across from the Glenboro Pharmacy, and the parade will start at 5:30 p.m. The Glenboro Legion will have apple cider and hot dogs available to warm up visitors.

» The Gazette

NINETTE

Gavin Garabed, a 15 year old from Ninette, was awarded for his skills as a sailor at a ceremony by Sail Manitoba in Winnipeg on Nov. 10.

Garabed, who started sailing lessons at the Pelican Lake Yacht Club when he was just five years old, was awarded the Under 15 Optimist Champion of Manitoba.

Garabed’s said he enjoyed the “Learn to Sail” program his parents, Dustin and Loran Garabed, enrolled him into.

“I just like being on the water,” he said.

Garabed is a Grade 10 student at Killarney School, and assists coaches in their work training new sailors in safety and the operation of sailboats at the Pelican Lake Yacht Club.

Lorna Garabed remembers being inspired to enroll her son in sailing lessons when she was looking out a window in her home, located across the street from the yacht club.

“I was on maternity leave, and my youngest son had actually been born only a week before that. We looked out of the window and saw all the little boats on the lake. I thought, ‘hey, that looks like something Gavin could do,’” Lorna said.

After her husband walked over to the club and talked to an instructor, they discovered that their son was more than welcome to begin taking lessons.

“This was a Friday. We brought him in Monday and he was just hooked,” Lorna said, adding that the members of the Pelican Lake Yacht Club were very attentive to both the training and well-being of her son as he learned to sail.

“It was great, all the members watching over him when he was out there. Knowing we have that community there is great,” Lorna said.

Children under 15 are trained in an Optimist Dinghy, a sturdy boat with a sail, and when it was time for Gavin to get his own boat, he paid for half the costs with his lawn-mowing money and money he saved from doing other odd jobs.

“Both grandmas and grandpas helped ups pay for the other half,” Lorna said.

In addition to the Optimist Champion award he received, Gavin also earned a respectable showing at a national meet in Nova Scotia earlier this year, placing 23rd out of 126 competitors in an event conducted by the Canadian Optimist Dinghy Association.

Lorna things sailing is a worthwhile skill to learn at any age, and she’s confident Gavin will be able to utilize that ability as a hobby or possibly an occupation some time in the future.

» The Gazette

KILLARNEY

Both town and residents of Killarney-Turtle Mountain will soon have access to fibre internet, after a deal was signed at the end of October between the municipality and Chris Kennedy, chief operating officer of RFNow, a fibre internet company based in Virden.

Installation of the fibre internet is part of a three-year financial investment by the municipality, and the initial connection fees will be free thanks to capital funding by the municipality of $325,000, said Meghan Cuvelier Klassen, chief administrative officer of the municipality, which will be paying $125,000 the first year, $100,000 the second and a further $100,000 the third. “This means that fibre internet will become available to everyone in the municipality, all the way to the [United States] border,” Cuvelier Kalssen said. RFNow, which was established in 2000, will be waiving the fee for the remaining costs of installation, Kennedy said. “We are committed [to] up to $2 million in costs in running the fibre to residents in the municipality of Killarney-Turtle Mountain,” he said.

The average installation fee would be upwards of $700 per household, he added, depending on the distance of a homeowner to the fibre network. “We will be helping to cover this cost … it’s a great idea, because it means we will have customer for many years to come, and their monthly fees will generate revenue for us. It’s a positive partnership for both parties.” The internet service included a minimum of 300 Megabits per second, with a monthly usage fee of around $140, Kennedy said. Residents will be able to sign up later this fall.

» The Guide

The Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipal council has unanimously approved a final motion for the Killarney Multi-Family Development Corporation to build a four-storey, 32-apartment project on local greenspace. Councillor Janice Smith said that she had been in discussions with a resident who had questioned the transparency and legalities of the planning process thus far. “I explained that everything was done to the letter of the law,” Smith said. During the planning, the municipality never disclosed the names of the project’s investors, local or otherwise, other than their company name of the Killarney Multi-Family Development Corporation. Next, the paperwork will be returned for final approval to the Brandon Community Planning office. The apartment complex will be build on a .79 acre site, on Lot 1 of a greenspace facing Mountain Avenue. Running adjacent to it is a .68 acre site, a playground greenspace area facing Broadway that council has agreed to protect.

“We will retain this lot, as a condition of the subdivision approval, as a public reserve, for use as a park and open space purpose,” said Meghan Cuvelier Klassen, chief administrative officer for the municipality. “It would make it very difficult to change to a different use of that space in the future.”

» The Guide

Following the retirement of a local doctor and the upcoming departure of another to a new role in emergency care in Brandon, Killarney’s health clinic will soon be short-staffed for doctors.

Longtime practitioner Dr. Anton Pio retired on Oct. 27 after over 20 years of service at the Killarney Medical Centre. Dr. Sushma Sudigala, who had also worked at the clinic for many years, will be leaving the practice at the end of November to join the Brandon Regional Community Hospital as an emergency doctor. Her husband, Dr. Srinivas Sudigala, will remain for the present at the Killarney Medical Centre.

Dr. Aisha Jan and Dr. Saheed Balogan, who joined the clinic practice just last year, will also remain on staff. This will leave three fulltime doctors on at the local clinic. Five to six full-time doctors are needed to fill the local requirements. At a recent meeting, the Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipal council discussed ways of recruiting two to three more doctors. The options discussed included using the services of the European-based Waterford Global company once more. The municipality previously successfully used the company a number of years ago to recruit new doctors to the community.

“Waterford Global has sent us a proposal, and fee structure, for their recruitment services,” said Mayor Janice Smith. “We are looking at those numbers, and we are also in consultation with Prairie Mountain Health (PMH).”

In the interim, PMH will be assisting in providing locums until the doctors are replaced.

» The Guide