Vol.109–No. 17 • 14 Pages
Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Wednesday, April 25, 2018
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Ag, Oil & Business • 2
Opinion • 4
Sports • 6
Obituaries/Classified • 10
Kraplenka members perform a Transcarpathian dance
Review Photo 7411 — Greg Nikkel
Senior dancer Dalton Molnar swings around two younger dancers as part of a dance from the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine, a part of the Vesna spring celebration held on Saturday afternoon at McKenna Hall. The dancers are part of the Kraplenka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble of Weyburn, and their three age levels of dancers performed for parents and friends at the traditional celebration of spring.
Council keeps the status quo on city speed limits By Greg Nikkel City council shied away from making any changes to the speed limits around Weyburn on Monday night, opting instead to keep the status quo for the most part, including the school zone speed of 30 kilometres an hour 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Council was also given an option to increase the speed limit of Railway Avenue to 50 km/h, but councillors decided to keep this discussion for another time when all arterial roads in the city could be discussed as to whether the speed limit should increase or not. The option was suggested for school and playground zones to limit the 30 km/h zone to between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., but council wouldn’t support this change, with only Mayor Marcel Roy voting in favour of it after some discussions that at times heated up.
Asked why this time limit was suggested, engineer Nader Keshta explained that staff checked with the school zone speeds in 10 Saskatchewan cities, and found some left it in effect 24/7, but most cities limited the time, such as from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Humboldt on weekdays, to a 40 km/h zone in Regina from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Coun. Jeff Chessall said he was not in favour of the suggested time limit, noting that children are in playgrounds after 6 p.m., especially in the summer. He noted he might support it if there were flashing lights to remind motorists of when the speed zone was in effect. Coun. Dick Michel said he also could support flashing lights, but balked at raising the speed on Railway Avenue to 50, noting there are businesses along there where customers back into the road to exit the parking lots, making it dangerous to have a higher speed limit.
RCMP investigate scene of two deaths in Midale
Mayor Roy said to an extent the responsibility to be safe lies with the drivers, and pointed out that city polls favoured going to a higher speed. His voice rising, he demanded of both Chessall and Michel if they were going with their points of view instead of the expressed wishes of city residents in the polls. “You’re not going to listen to what the people say? Do you believe in polls or not? Do we do away with polls or no?” he asked. Coun. Chessall said he might put more stock in the polls if the poll questions were worded better, and more information had been given to those voting in the polls. Coun. Brad Wheeler agreed with not changing the speed zones for schools and playgrounds, but wanted to see arterial roads have their speeds increased to 50 km/h. Continued on Page 3
Review Photo 7131 — Greg Nikkel
Members from the RCMP Major Crimes Unit South were on the scene at the Midway Restaurant in Midale on Friday afternoon, along with members from the Forensic Identification Section and the Weyburn and Estevan RCMP, investigating two suspicious deaths in the restaurant. Police responded to the scene at 8:30 a.m., and were on the scene for several hours investigating and collecting evidence at the scene of the deaths. More information will be provided as updates come in.
RCMP continues to investigate Midale deaths The RCMP Major Crimes Unit South is continuing with the investigation into the suspicious death of two individuals at the Midway Restaurant in Midale, with autopsies held on Monday and Tuesday in Regina. The scene was released by the RCMP late Saturday afternoon. There are still several steps in the investigation to complete over the next few weeks. The results of the post-mortem examination will confirm information that is crucial to the investigation. The Regina Major Crimes Unit still has interviews
planned over the next few days with individuals who may have some information that could be vital to the investigation. Once the investigation is complete, the Major Crimes Unit will meet with each of the respective families of the deceased to present the results of the investigation. At this time, the families are requesting privacy. As for now, the investigation is still ongoing and at this point the RCMP is not seeking new suspects, but would still encourage anyone with information about the inci-
dent to come forward with any information by contacting Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477, or submit a tip online at www.saskcrimestoppers.com. Members from the Weyburn and Estevan RCMP detachments first responded to the scene at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The Major Crimes Unit was assisted by members of the Weyburn and Estevan RCMP detachments, along with members of the Forensic Identification Section who collected evidence at the scene of the deaths.