Estevan Mercury

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By Chad Saxon and Jordan Baker

The voters of Estevan have given Trevor Knibbs a strong mandate to fill the vacant seat on city council. Knibbs was the runaway winner in last Wednesday’s byelection, earning 686 votes. The owner of Power Dodge, Knibbs said he was both surprised and excited by the support he received. “I didn’t think it would be quite that big of a margin,” Knibbs said during a media scrum shortly after he was declared the winner. “I’m really excited to serve the city of Estevan.” A total of five candidates put their name forward to fill the seat vacated by former councillor Chris Istace. But it was Knibbs who launched the most aggressive campaign with a barrage of advertisements throughout the city and in

editor@estevanmercury.ca

A 27-year-old woman is dead after what local police are calling Estevan’s first murder since 2008. Leslie Erin Dwyre was found dead in her Petterson Drive home April 21 after the Estevan Police Service were notified of an incident at 10:30 that evening. The following morning, the EPS alerted the public of a suspicious sudden death and confirmed last Wednesday that the case was a homicide. Nathan Mullen, who had been in a relationship with Dwyre, was charged with second-degree murder and made his first appearance in provincial court on Thursday. EPS Chief Paul Ladouceur said the investigation is ongoing and at this time his department cannot release any of the particulars surrounding Dwyre’s murder. “Anytime there is an investigation like this, leads keep coming in and information still keeps coming in and there is a number of evidentiary items that we have to handle,” Ladouceur said. “Sometimes these investigations can go from weeks to months, although the charges have been laid.”

Nathan Mullen made his first appearance in provincial court Thursday to answer to charges of second-degree murder. (Photo by Chad Saxon) A post mortem was conducted last Wednesday to confirm that Dwyre had been murdered and a follow up autopsy was also carried out. Ladouceur said the autopsy did determine a cause of death, which he did not divulge. Dwyre, who was originally from Brockville, Ont.,

had lived in the area for the past couple of years and was a teacher at Hillcrest School. Mullen, 30, is originally from Ottawa and according to his Facebook profile, had been living and working in Estevan for at least two years. We a r i n g a b r o w n sweater and handcuffs,

Mullen was escorted into the Estevan courthouse last week, where he met with Legal Aid lawyer Robert Grimsrud, who represented him during his first appearance. Mullen entered the courtroom and took a seat in the jury box. → A2 Accused

Young educator fondly remembered By Norm Park normpark@estevanmercury.ca

Fellow staff members and students at Hillcrest School and administration of the South East Cornerstone Public School Division were first recovering from the shock of sudden loss and then holding out fond memories of educator Leslie Dwyre last week. The 27-year-old Grade 8 teacher at Hillcrest was

Leslie Dwyre in her second year of service with the Cornerstone division, having taught at Weldon School in Bienfait

before transferring to Hillcrest for the current school year. Dwyre was found dead in a condo on Petterson Drive and Nathan Mullen, a man known to her, has been charged with second-degree murder. A native of Brockville, Ont., Dwyre was one of those teachers who could be relied on by other educators who worked with her, said Hillcrest principal David

Gillingham. “Hillcrest was a better school with her in it. She had one of those positive, bubbly personalities, a great sense of humour, and she was definitely dedicated to the kids,” said the principal. “She was one of those teachers who wouldn’t hesitate to seek an alternative way to reach a student if she saw they weren’t getting what they needed. She handled → A2 Counsellors

local media outlets. He acknowledged the approach “didn’t do any harm” and the numbers support that, as he captured almost 40 per cent of the votes cast. Marge Young placed second with 391 votes while Stewart Miller received 345. Former councillor Lynn Chipley placed a surprising fourth with 330 votes and Mohammed Waseem was fifth with 81 votes. Knibbs was thrown to the fire almost immediately as he was officially sworn in during Monday night’s regular meeting of council. The married father of two sons said his first order of business is to learn the proper council procedures. “First of all, I need to see what’s all entailed,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing, getting → A2 Automated

Property taxes to rise 20 per cent One year after getting hit with a significant increase, Estevan property owners are getting dinged with another major tax hike. Council approved a 1.8 mill increase at Monday’s regular meeting, a hike of roughly 20 per cent. The increase will result in an extra $2.2 million of additional tax revenue for the City. “Unfortunately, we went for too many years without raising the mill rate and now we are paying the price,” Mayor Roy Ludwig said after Monday’s meeting. “We are hoping after this second increase, which is a fairly large increase again this year, that we can go back to more reasonable increases in the future. Ludwig added the extra revenue from the increase will go towards helping the City complete projects such as the Estevan Leisure Centre parking lot and Highway 47 rehabilitation as well as debt reduction. The City’s current debt is in the $38 million range. Asked if he felt it was fair for the City to hit taxpayers with a large increase for a second straight year, Ludwig said raising taxes is never an easy decision but was needed to help Estevan turn a financial corner. “I know it is not a popular decision but we will turn this debt issue around,” he said. “This is a commitment we made and we are following through with that.” For more on the tax increase, please see next week’s edition of the Mercury.

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