Yorkton This Week 2022-10-12

Area woman to receive honour from St. John Ambulance

By Tyson Off Staff Writer

YORKTON—An area woman is set to receive the Priory Vote of Thanks from the St. John Ambulance on Oct. 15 at the organiza tion’s Investiture at Government House in Regina.

“The Priory Vote of Thanks is a National Award bearing the seal of the order and signed by the chancellor,” said Susan Mould, recipient of the award, adding, “it is an expression of

gratitude in recognition of exemplary dedicated service, assistance of support to the order of St. John in Canada on a particular occasion or over a significant period of time.”

Mould, who lived in the UK prior to moving to Canada in 2007, esti mates she’s spent 10-11 years volunteering with the group between her time in the two coun tries.

“It was a total sur prise,” said Mould of her reaction upon hear ing the news, noting that

she was unaware anyone had nominated her for the accolade.

“The acceptance of the community—going out and fulfilling our duties at the community events—having a won derful team to go out there with,” said Mould of the impact volunteer ing has had on her.

“She’s not only a vol unteer—she started in 2015 as a volunteer and then she had worked her way into a leader ship position where she was nominated as the Unit Chief—so she leads

the volunteers here in Yorkton and area,” said Shauna Jewhurst, Manager of St. John Ambulance Training Centre in Yorkton.

Jewhurst went on to add that Mould has vol unteered 120 hours of her time in 2022.

“Obviously someone had recognized that she was doing a great in her leadership role— she was serving a lot of time—120 hours of volunteer time she put into our volunteer group that we’ve got here in Yorkton,” said Jewhurst.

Mould said she has an idea of who nominated her for the award, but couldn’t say officially.

“I’m honestly grate ful for the recognition I’ve received and the work I’ve done with St. John Ambulance,” said Mould, adding, “receiv ing this award would not have been possible without the inspiration I received from col leagues for whom I have the deepest respect and for whom I have derived the strength to challenge myself and perform bet ter at each stage.

“I would also like to thank Shauna here, because she’s been my strength right through out this...the [Medical First Responder] team that work alongside us... we team build and we work together and we socialize together as well,” said Mould, not ing that her son is also volunteering as an MFR with the organization.

“On behalf of St John Ambulance staff, I would just like to thank [Susan] for her dedication to St John Ambulance,” said Jewhurst.

City splitting its insurance sources

By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer

The City of Yorkton will split its insurance between two local firms, but it wasn’t a unanimous decision by Council at its regular meeting Monday.

At the meeting, fol lowing a protracted dis cussion Council unani mously chose to award Westland Insurance Group Ltd. a contract for commercial auto exten sion insurance services and motor licensing sup port for a five-year term from Jan. 1, 2023 through to Dec. 31, 2027.

And Council also chose to award Lakeview Insurance Brokers (Yorkton) Ltd. in part nership with EQUA Specialty Risk Partners Corporation; the Risk

Management and Insurance Brokerage Services contract. However, Councillors Chris Wyatt and Darcy Zaharia sat opposed.

The decision to split the services came about as City administration looked into the current services being provided.

What Administration found was a volatile mar ket, explained Marlene Hauser – Business Systems Analyst, with the City at Monday’s meeting.

“The City of Yorkton Insurance premiums for property and liability have risen by 50 per cent in the past five years,” she said.

“These changes are due, in large part, to the insurance marketplace entering a “hard market” cycle in late 2020.”

During a “hard mar ket” positive financial results become more dif ficult for insurance com panies. Insurers have less desire for growth and place more restric tions in the marketplace as they embark on reevaluating their book of business, risk appetites, and the capacity they are willing or able to provide. To correct adverse loss ratios developed during a “soft market” period, underwriters impose and adhere to much stricter standards, explained Hauser.

“Additionally joint and several liability, in some cases, can leave a municipality paying a much greater share of a court ordered award than is reflective of their per centage of responsibil

ity. These higher award settlements coupled with the effects of climate change, Covid-19, and the trend towards a more liti gious society are putting an undo strain on muni cipal insurers,” she said.

“These factors have driven insurance rates higher and, as well, the number of insur ance companies willing to offer coverage has dropped as the actuarial data shows municipal ities as an unprofitable line of business.”

Given the complex ity of the products and services required as part of the city insur ance brokerage services and the time needed to market the City’s insur ance portfolio prior to the Jan. 1, 2023 expiry date, a comprehensive

Request for Proposal for Risk Management and Insurance Brokerage Services was issued on Aug. 15, 2022, said Hauser.

Based on excel lent past performance and customer service provided by Westland Insurance Group Ltd., Yorkton Branch (formerly Farrell Agencies Ltd.), in the area of Commercial Auto extension insur ance services and Motor Licensing support, these services were not part of the Request for Proposal, she added.

Hauser said insur ance, in particular liability insurance, is increasingly complex, so managing of the City of Yorkton’s Insurance portfolio requires a high level of technical exper tise, industry experience,

excellent business rela tionships with a wide range of markets and innovative negotiation skills. These strengths combine to allow a broker to obtain optimal pricing, adequate policy limits and comprehen sive coverage tailored to the risk.

In the end the City of Yorkton received six proposal packages from insurance firms.

The proposals were evaluated based on a number of factors, by an evaluation team of city staff.

“At the end of the evaluation process Lakeview Insurance Brokers (Yorkton) Ltd. in partnership with EQUA Specialty Risk Partners Corporation had the

Susan Mould (left) pictured here with Yorkton SJA Training Centre Manager, Shauna Jewhurst. Mould will accept her award at SJA’s Investiture in Regina on Oct. 15.

highest score and is being recommended as the successful proposal,” said Hauser.

Coun. Randy Goulden said she has seen insur ance increasingly become a municipal issue.

It’s “a trend we’re

seeing provincially and nationally,” she said, add ing it is on the agenda of both FCM and SUMA.

However, Zaharia said he was having a hard time understanding why the services were split, and why a request for propos als was not requested on

the auto side.

City manager Lonnie Kaal pointed out that for contracted services such as legal, accounting, aud iting and insurance there is no requirement for the municipality to go to ten der.

Hauser also noted that

since auto insurance is ultimately handled by SGI, there is little expect ation of a better deal from another firm as fees are listed publicly.

However, while ultim ately supportive of the change, Mayor Mitch Hippsley also noted not

taking auto insurance to a RFP was disquieting.

“Really, I would have liked to have been able to tender that out,” he said.

But, Wyatt was not pleased either.

“I am not happy here the way this is playing out right now,” he said.

Wyatt would later sug gest Council be informed when administration is looking to undertake such a process, not after it has occurred.

The total cost of insurance for the City of Yorkton is approximately $494,000.

CEO of AGT Foods speaks at Chamber of Commerce Business Dinner

By Tyson Off Staff Writer

YORKTON— Saskatchewan entrepre neur, Murad Al-Katib, was in the city on Oct. 5th to speak at the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce Business Dinner.

“As the President, CEO and board member of AGT food and ingredi ents, he has received recognition and many awards for his entre preneurship includ ing being named as [Ernst & Young] World Entrepreneur of the year in 2017, the Globe and Mail’s Innovator CEO of the year 2020; and the Canadian Western Agribition’s top 50 in Canadian Agriculture in 2021,” said Juanita Polegi, Executive Director with the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce.

“My journey actually started when my par ents made the decision in 1965 to immigrate to Canada—I’m a first gen eration Canadian—I was born in the Davidson Hospital in Davidson, Saskatchewan,” said Al-Katib in his address to attendees of the dinner.

Al-Katib, the son of Turkish immigrants, reflected on his youth, noting the pride in his rural Saskatchewan roots.

His father was a coun try doctor who trained in the United Kingdom and served 55 years as a fulltime rural physician. In 1976 his mother was the first woman immigrant Muslim elected to an RM council in Canada.

Al-Katib said his moth er came to Saskatchewan in 1967 as a young bride who didn’t speak a word of English, but learned the language through watching the children’s

program Sesame Street with Al-Katib and his sib lings. She would go on to serve on the town council of Davidson for 27 years.

“That was kind of the fabric of my upbringing,” said Al-Katib.

Al-Katib said that in 1982, as a 10-yearold growing up in rural Saskatchewan, the talk of rural communities was focused on the closure of wooden elevators.

“Everywhere was clos ing and there was a race to the terminals – who ever landed the concrete terminals would sur vive,” said Al-Katib, add ing, “the hospitals would survive, the schools would survive, the com munity would flourish,” noting the idea was that those without concrete terminals would not sur vive.

Al-Katib said that as a 10-year-old those conver sations about the termin als impressed upon him the importance of agri culture.

“Everything that was a part of our community... agriculture was at the foundation of that,” said Al-Katib.

Al-Katib would go on to achieve a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Finance through the University of Saskatchewan and later a Master’s Degree at Arizona State University.

Al-Katib said his very first job was at the “geo political center of the world in Washington D.C. at the Canadian Embassy.

“I decided that my training was going to be in International busi ness,” said Al-Katib, adding, “the world was growing and there was going to be this massive transformation in the world...geopolitics and governments were very

important when it comes to agriculture and food security.”

From Washington, Al-Katib continued to pay attention to the goingson in his home province and would find himself writing a letter to then Premiere, Roy Romanow.

“I wrote a let ter to Premiere Roy Romanow...and I said, ‘look, Saskatchewan has what the world wants and if I was in charge of International Trade in Saskatchewan this is what I would do’,” said Al-Katib.

“I was 23-years-old and one day my phone rang and it was the Deputy Premiere of Saskatchewan who said, ‘I read your proposal, I’m intrigued, come see me’,” said Al-Katib, adding, “at the age of 23 I moved back to Saskatchewan and I got a leadership role with the Saskatchewan gov ernment to head up the Emerging Markets Trade Group.”

“I travelled to 68 countries around the world when I was with the Saskatchewan gov ernment over six years,” said Al-Katib, adding, “I was a young man—still 28 years old—there were all kinds of forces pulling me to Toronto, to London, to New York but my pas sion was right here in the province.”

Al-Katib said he experienced a big fish –little fish dilemma.

“I wanted to be in the big pond of the world, I wanted to be a big fish one day, but there were opportunities right here in Saskatchewan to do something that I couldn’t do maybe in Toronto or London or New York.”

Al-Katib said that at 28-years-old, with his wife six months pregnant

with twins, he quit his sixfigure job as an Assistant Deputy Minister and started a lentil company.

Al-Katib said after coming up with a propos al, he walked into a Farm Credit Canada office and the FCC lent him 1.4 mil lion dollars.

In 2021, AGT Foods did just shy of $ 2.2B in sales, according to Al-Katib.

His first vision, the processing plant in Regina, has grown to 46 manufacturing process ing facilities located in five continents around the world.

“When we started processing red lentils in Regina there were only 40,000 tonnes growing in the whole country and we built a 100,000 tonne processing capacity,”

said Al-Katib, add ing, “we had to give the farmers the feeling that they could have a mar ket out of it—that they could not only grow it, but make money growing it—we had to create local demand.”

“No region of Saskatchewan knows that better than Yorkton with the success that we’ve seen storied in the world in the canola industry,” said Al-Katib, adding, “value added agricul ture is certainly a game changer for all of us.”

Al-Katib said that, “in the next 40 years we’ll have to grow the same amount of food as the world grew in the last 10,000 years—that’s not anecdotal, that’s quanti fied.”

“That scares the heck

out of me,” said Al-Katib, adding, “when a baby is hungry, they cry, when a 19-year-old-man is hun gry and unemployed they protest.”

“We’re seeing in the world today we’re on the verge of food insecurity for maybe the first time again in years,” said Al-Katib.

“Entrepreneurs and farmers together will solve that problem and we’ll be able to react to the opportunity to feed ten million people by 2050,” said Al-Katib, add ing, “we have to find a way to get ourselves out of the commodity ghetto and into the value-added sector more and more in the province.”

“It’s a generational opportunity that we’ve never seen.”

Saskatchewan leads Canada in export growth

Saskatchewan’s econ omy remains strong, with Statistics Canada reporting today that merchandise exports increased by 54.7 per cent in August 2022 com pared to August 2021, ranking first among the provinces.

“Today, in a world where energy and food security are a leading concern, Saskatchewan is confidently playing its part as a critical, indispensable sup plier of food, fuel, fer tilizer and technol ogy,” Trade and Export

Seniors, Parents, Children!

Development Minister Jeremy Harrison said.

“These latest mer chandise export num bers show that exports remain a crucial part of Saskatchewan’s current and future economic strength.”

In the first eight months of 2022, Saskatchewan’s mer chandise exports increased by 44.3 per cent, the second high est increase among the provinces. The value of exports in August was $4.51 billion.

Metal ores, nonyear-over-year

of 174.1 per cent and 55.3 per cent respectively.

Recently, Saskatchewan has led the nation in several other key economic indicators, including investment in build

ing construction, which jumped by 81.8 per cent between July 2021 and July 2022, and whole sale trade growth, which jumped 72 per cent in July 2022 compared to July 2021.

Murad Al-Katib, President and CEO of AGT Foods, gave an hour-long presenta tion at the Chamber of Commerce Dinner held on the evening of Oct. 5th. AGT Foods did just shy of $ 2.2B in sales in 2021 according to Al-Katib.

Up Front

Mental Health Advocate speaks at Sask Abilities Conference

By Tyson Off Staff Writer

YORKTON—On Oct. 5, Sask Abilities host ed their first Mental Health Conference at the Gallagher Centre.

“We’re very excit ed to have our first— which we’re hoping to be annual—Mental Health Conference,” said Aleks Hoeber, Regional Director with Sask Abilities.

“For a long time we’ve been planning on bring ing together individuals who experience mental illness or addictions...to be able to have the con versation around mental health as well as to start to reduce the stigma in our communities as well as in our businesses of work,” said Hoeber.

Hoeber said that tick

ets for the event, which featured several guest speakers and activities, sold out within six weeks of it being announced.

“There is 140 people here today who have come to listen to a var iety of speakers who have great knowledge and vast experience in the mental health field,” said Hoeber, adding, “I believe the reason we sold out is that everyone in that room is impact ed by mental illness or addictions in one way or another—so whether it’s through people’s profes sional lives or personal lives or both.”

“I think everyone is here today wanting to learn how can they help and how can they take care of themselves as well as those they love and those around them,”

said Hoeber.

Hoeber said the event was made possible by several sponsors includ ing the Good Spirit and Christ the Teacher school divisions as well as Hearns Pharmacy and the The Elias Giannoulis Memorial Hockey Tournament for Mental Health.

“We were able to bring in some really wonderful speakers...that we were able to have here due to the sponsorship that we received.”

Of those speak ers was Allan Kehler, the Opening Keynote Speaker for the event.

“What was cool for me—what stood out—was that they actually sold out in six weeks,” said Kehler of the event, add ing, “for me, my takeaway was that, ‘wow, we are

totally moving the right direction.’”

“Five years ago—I’ve been speaking for about 13 years—there’s no way that something that had words like ‘mental health’ in the title would have drawn that many people in,” said Kehler.

Kehler is an author and mental health advo cate who struggled with addiction and mental health.

“I was a functioning addict—I was hammered with all the labels with mental illness and then I struggled with addiction for a long time—I kind of got to that one pivotal place where I realized if I didn’t do something dif ferent I wasn’t going to be around much longer,” said Kehler.

“A doctor had actually given me a month to live if I didn’t change what I was doing and I real ized pretty quickly that I had to understand how to be vulnerable, I had to understand how to ask for help and how to put a voice to my pain,” said Kehler.

Kehler said that being given an expiration date on his life was the turn ing point for him.

“I started to use my experiences to not only help myself but also once I started speaking in jails and treatment centres and schools and [for com panies] I realized there’s so many other people who have the same chal lenges and that technic ally we’re only alone when we choose to be

alone,” said Kehler.

“The keynote title this morning was ‘Mental Health: Finding Your Voice’ and I think that— especially for ourselves as men—that’s something that we struggle with, we fear the potential repercussions the stigma, the shame,” said Kehler, adding, “the two key things that we focused on today was empowering people to use their voice in times of need and talk ing about how to create a safe space where other people feel comfortable putting a voice to what it is they need.”

“When I was given a month to live I was teaching at a junior high school in Edmonton,” said Kehler, adding, “what is unique about that was there honestly wasn’t a single person

who knew— because I hid behind that proverb ial mask—it speaks to how many people really suffer in silence.”

Kehler said that a city the size of Yorkton has its benefits.

“Yorkton is small—it’s connection in realizing ‘wow, we’re not alone –here are the supports’— and that’s what I’ve seen today – that conversation really accelerating.”

“Yorkton—to me, it’s a city—but it’s a small town,” said Kehler, not ing he grew up in small town Saskatchewan.

“For me, from where I came from, it’s just hope fully empowering people to have those conversa tions and understand that vulnerability equals strength.”

Goals for KidSport program kicks-off in Yorkton

The Goals for KidSport program, a province wide initiative, had its Yorkton launch Wednesday.

The program, kickedoff locally in City Centre Park, has SaskEnergy teaming up with KidSport Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) to help more kids partici pate in sport.

KidSport Provincial Coordinator Tammy Hoffart was in Yorkton for the event. She said the money raised is important as it helps their organization fund “sports registration fees for kids.” She added KidSport helps youth ages 5 to 18 to be able to participate in sport.

“We know the kids in these communities dream of being on the ice for their team where their role models skate out to play. We love that we can provide the opportunity, through this initiative, for more kids to get on the ice to work toward their dreams,” in a release issued at the kick-off.

The money helps “make sure all kids can play,” echoed SaskEnergy’s Community Engagement Supervisor Allix Schweitzer.

Schweitzer said being involved with

the annual fundraiser is a great opportun ity for SaskEnergy to be involved in the vari ous SJHL communities. Engaging in local com munities is important she added.

“It’s a good part nership,” said SJHL Director of Marketing and Partnerships Jacob Faith, adding with a smile there have been “lots of home goals,” already this season

across the league.

Faith said it’s import ant the league give back at the grassroots and the KidSport partnership is one way to do that.

Under the Goals for KidSport program, SaskEnergy will donate $20 to KidSport for every home goal scored by an SJHL team during the league’s 2022-23 regular season—up to 1,000 goals or $20,000.

KidSport will use

the funding in its mis sion to provide grants to help cover the costs of enrollment so that all kids aged 5-18 years in Saskatchewan can play a season of sport.

During its first eight seasons, Goals for KidSport raised nearly $210,000 to help more Saskatchewan youth par ticipate in sport across the province.

This year’s Goals for KidSport program fea

tures 11 SJHL Game Nights that will include intermission activities— such as “Shooter Tutor” and “Chuck-a-Puck”— to help get the crowd involved. All funding raised during the Game Nights will stay in the home team’s community.

The Game Nights begin on Oct.7, with the Yorkton game set for Feb. 28, and Melville Jan. 21.

As part of this year’s program, the KidSport

Cup will be awarded to the SJHL team that scores the most home goals during the season. In addition, Volunteer Champion Awards will be presented to deserv ing volunteers in each SJHL community. And the SJHL player who scores the symbolic 1000th goal—repre senting a $20,000 dona tion from SaskEnergy to KidSport—will also receive an award.

Staff Photo

Aleks Hoeber, Regional Director with Sask Abilities.

Staff Photo

Mental health advocate and author, Allan Kehler, was the Opening Keynote Speaker at the Sask Abilities Mental Health Conference.

Members of the public gathered in City Centre Park in downtown Yorkton on the afternoon of Oct. 5 to kick off the Goals for KidSport Program.

population numbers mask old problem

Politics

There’s good news on the population front: Saskatchewan grew by 6,465 people in the second quarter of this year, pushing the prov ince’s population to 1,194,803.

For this we should mostly thank the many from around the world that chose to make Saskatchewan and Canada their new home.

As pointed out by Trade and Investment Minister Jeremy Harrison in a somewhat gloat ing recent press conference, Saskatchewan has not seen a quarter with this much population growth since Statistics Canada began logging quarterly numbers in 1971.

In fairness, maybe Harrison’s Saskatchewan Party government gets to crow a little. After all, no party has invested as much political capital in growing the province as the Sask. Party.

As most of us already know, Saskatchewan was the third-most populated province behind Ontario and Quebec as late as the early 1930s. But then along came the Great Depression, farm mechanization and crop price stagnation. These economic developments were not only incentive for new immigrants to bypass Saskatchewan but also cause for people already here to seek work elsewhere.

The latter point became our political nar rative, as election after election was fought on notion of bringing the children home from Alberta and B.C.

In the early 1980s, Grant Devine’s Progressive Conservatives ran on the campaign slogan “There’s so much more we can be”, that high lighted stories about an old couple that circled Easter on their calendar because that’s when the kids and grandkids were coming home from Alberta.

Devine would be rewarded with Saskatchewan crossing the million-person bar rier in 1983. However, by the end of his tenure in 1991 the province would slide back under one million people again because of a poor oil and agricultural economy in the late 1980s. In that 1991 campaign, it was the Roy Romanow’s NDP running political ads of a bus pulling up in front of a rural farmyard to take the daughter way.

Unfortunately for this province, population growth remained slow for most of the 16 years of NDP government. We wouldn’t top the millionmark again until July 2007, just a few months before Brad Wall’s Sask. Party took over in November 2007.

Wall ran under the promise of growing the province by 100,000 people in the first 10 years of his government — roughly, one per cent a year which was, at the time, about the nation’s average population growth. As was done in past campaigns, Wall and the Sask. Party blamed the stagnation of the governing party of the day.

“Since (former NDP premier) Lorne Calvert took office, Saskatchewan lost 35,000 people to out-migration — most of these young people,” Wall said in Sask. Party 2007 campaign litera ture.

Given the province’s history, it was chancy to gamble his government’s political fortunes on growth, but Wall and the Sask. Party were rewarded. Saskatchewan hit 1.1 million people well ahead of the 10-year goal.

Sadly, Saskatchewan hasn’t done quite as well since.

While those recent quarterly numbers are a positive sign, they still leave Saskatchewan shy of the goal made a decade of 1.2 million people by 2020. And it doesn’t seem likely we will come close to Premier Scott Moe’s even bolder predic tion of 1.4 million by 2030.

It’s about here where one needs to take a deeper look at Harrison’s population boasts because there are problems.

Those numbers represented the third-lowest growth rate in the nation. In fact, as percentage of the nation’s population, Saskatchewan has slightly fallen to 3.06 per cent from 3.07 per cent.

Even more unnerving, those same quarter ly statistics also reveal Saskatchewan lost a net loss of 7,902 to that age-old problem inter provincial migration. Only 15,323 people from other provinces moved in compared with 23,225 Saskatchewan people moving out.

Yes, Saskatchewan’s population has rebounded a little because of immigration.

But that may only be masking our age-old problem of out-migration.

Murray Mandryk has been covering provin cial politics since 1983.

Time for more art features in city

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If

would applaud the request.

you follow social media, and most likely do at some level, you may have noticed more than a few posts regarding the teepee sculpture installed in City Centre Park.

Most are favourable, posting they like the piece, or recognize how recog nizable it will be as a landmark in the city.

Others have written of concern over the city paying for such a project, which of course is simply not being aware that the project was funded by the Yorkton Tribal Council, something that was made quite clear from the first time YTC representatives spoke before Yorkton Council and reported in Yorkton This Week at the time.

Others still have questioned why highlight one culture and not others?

There are a couple of obvious answers to this one.

To begin with the First Nations are a founding culture of this land, here long before settlers arrive, so marking their history and culture does hold some thing of a special place in terms of the lands Yorkton exists on.

The teepee does not stop other sculptures and art from being created in the city.

While no one can speak for Council but the seven we elect, it is likely that should another cultural group step for ward with the funds to erect a com munity-acceptable art work dedicated to their culture – perhaps a Ukrainiandecorated egg – it is highly like Council

And, if we delve back in time just a little there was once talk of a ‘sculpture park’ in Shaw Park, with pieces on the four corners around ‘Doorways to Opportunity’ by artist Lionel Peyachew which was gifted to the city by the prov ince in 2005.

Imagine if cultural groups, or com munity groups such as the Kinsmen and Lions funded four pieces for the park how much of a tourist draw it could be, and just around the corner from the Godfrey Dean Gallery as well.

And imagine the art which we could see created in Yorkton with just a little push – maybe a tax break, akin to the one that has been offered for façade upgrades in the downtown?

Would long-standing community businesses such as the Cornerstone Credit Union and Legacy Co-op create feature pieces for their parking lots –not unlike the great piece now in front of the Painted Hand Casino.

Or, imagine the Philippines-inspired mural which could be created on the north wall of the old bus depot in Yorkton, now home to the Philippines Product Store.

The opportunities to add art, enhance our community’s culture, attract tourists, and just simply make Yorkton a nicer place to live are count less, we just need to collectively work to make it happen.

Maybe the teepee will be the inspir ation.

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Welcome to ‘Wordy Wednesday’ brought to you by our friends at Yorkton Public Library, (including Slow the friendly sloth), and appearing here courtesy of Yorkton This Week.

Happy Wordy Wednesday! Meeple is the word of the week, which means a small figure used as a playing piece in board games, especially the stylized human form. According to Wiktionary, meeple was coined in November 2000, by Alison Hansel during a board game called Carcassonne. She fused “my” and “people” to describe the small wooden person-shaped figures used by each player in that game. It was then spread among the board gamers and also on the internet. Over time, the meeple has become the symbol of modern board games (happymeeple.com).

Join us Tuesdays at 7 pm starting this week, to be part of Board Game Nights with the Meeple Guild! They own approximately 1000 games and are excited to share them with all participants! Please use the North Entrance if you come after 8pm.

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Letters to the Editor

Green Party of Canada: Why I’m not giving up on it and neither should you

I’m writing this letter on the heels of yet again another Green Party of Canada drama played out on national news platforms and splashed around on social media. As a Green Party member and candidate for the YorktonMelville riding I’d like to take this time to respond with my perspective.

The Green Party is much more than a Political Party with politicians who fight to get elected. The Green Party of Canada is similar to still waters in a river, the roots run deeper than you think.

Greens are grassroots organizers.

Greens are collaborative.

Greens are honest.

Greens are committed to transpar ency.

Greens believe top-down power structures are backwards.

Greens are committed to achiev ing Proportionally Representative Governments.

“Greens” are individuals around the world and throughout this country who are deeply aware of and concerned about the health of the planet. Greens are working towards policies and laws that will make life worth living for every individual, wherever they may live and work.

Green Parties around the world share the same core values of Sustainability, Social Justice, Ecological Wisdom, Participatory Democracy, Non-Violence, and Respect for Diversity. These values are meant to be considered together when making decisions. These are good values to fight for.

Elected Greens are servants to their constituents, not their Party Leader. Greens do not believe in whipping votes; Greens believe that power should lie with the voters. Green MP’s should listen carefully to their constituents after being elected and lead with pur pose and determination to fulfill their

constituent’s wishes and represent them to the best of their ability.

Greens believe in honesty and trans parency. This is part of the problem you are seeing smeared across social and mainstream media right now. Internal party disagreements have been shared openly with the public. Don’t be fooled, other Political Parties have similar dis agreements, they just have much strict er muzzling rules of their members and their elected representatives. Which tactic is better? At least as a voter, you see who you are electing with a Green candidate, there are no scripts created to tow the party line. What you see is what you get, and you as the voter can make an informed decision.

The Green Party does not believe in top-down power structures, and think the power of the Prime Minister’s office should be drastically diminished. This a big paradigm shift for voters. Voters in Canada tend to vote for the Leader

of a Party instead of their local can didates. Until voters see the power that would be generated in their local communities with a bottom-up power structure, we will be stuck in a backand-forth type of political swing (Left to Right) every election. This is not beneficial for anyone. Representatives from across the political spectrum need to work together instead of being adver saries.

Proportional Representation would drastically change this. Voters would see their vote count and would be much more motivated to vote for the candi date that would make the best repre sentative, instead of voting against a Party to “get them out of power”.

Therefore, I’m not giving up on the Green Party and I believe you shouldn’t either.

Valerie Brooks, Yorkton-Melville GPC Candidate valerie.brooks@greenparty.ca

Youth Resiliency Project holds four objectives

By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer

The Youth Resiliency Project that has been collecting data over the past few months will now focus on building a bet ter picture of the local situation.

That was the mes sage Yorkton Council heard Monday as SIGN Community Youth Worker Darran Teneycke made a presentation at its regular meeting Oct. 3.

The project has four main objectives, reminded Teneycke.

Those are;

*Cultivate Community Readiness, Energy & Commitment

*Risk Reduction

*Positive Youth Development *Effective Treatment & Support for Youth with Greater Needs

The key step so far has been to have a Developmental Asset Profile Survey complet ed in the spring with stu dents in grades 6-12, said Teneycke.

The Developmental Asset Profile survey (DAP) is a 58 question

survey that asked stu dents about their experi ences with their family, school and community.

Overall, 1406 students were surveyed with 1280 surveys considered valid.

Of the respondents 638 identified as male, 535 as female, 67 as transgender and 37 as being not sure.

In terms of ethnic identification 68 per cent stated white, 15 per cent First Nations, seven per cent Asian or Pacific Islander, two per cent black, two per cent South Asian and four per cent multiracial.

Teneycke said when the Young People’s Composite Assets score is looked at, the survey reveals that 34 per cent of youth scored in the Adequate and Thriving levels combined.

On the other end of the spectrum, 22 per cent of our youth scored in the lowest category (Challenged).

In addition, they have received a commitment from 17 Community Based Organizations or Ministry Departments to be part of Yorkton’s Alliance of Asset Champions.

A number of work shops have been pro vided to various schools and community-based organizations called Everyone’s An Asset Builder, he added.

As a follow-up they have facilitated commun ity feedback sessions with Community-Based organizations, School Community Councils and school staffs.

The next important effort is to have feed back sessions with youth discussing the survey results, and that process has already started, said

Teneycke.

Moving forward Teneycke said they will continue to gather feed back from youth on the survey results.

That effort will be fol lowed by the creation of the Yorkton Alliance of Asset Champions comprised of youth and adults from the commun ity, he said.

They will also provide more community infor mation sessions to share survey results, and then follow that with the cre ation of a Community Plan.

Saskatchewan grew by 6,465 people in the second quarter of 2022 - the largest population jump in any three-month period since Statistics Canada started releasing quarterly population counts in 1971.

“Saskatchewan’s economy is firing on all cylin ders and creating thousands of new jobs,” Trade and

The Government of Saskatchewan is taking decisive action to help address the growing need for veterinarians across the province, par ticularly for large ani mal and mixed animal veterinarians in rural Saskatchewan. In 2023-24, the province will increase the number of subsidized student seats from 20 to 25 at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM).

“This investment will see more Saskatchewan students receive a highquality education in vet erinary medicine, right here in Saskatchewan,” Advanced Education Minister Gordon Wyant said. “We’re grateful to have the WCVM right

in our backyard to edu cate more students who will provide much need ed veterinary services across the province.”

In 2022-23, the Government of Saskatchewan will pro vide $11.9 million to the WCVM. The new com mitment to add seats will mean an investment of $539,000 in 2023-24, increasing annually to $2.2 million by 2026-27 when fully implemented over the four-year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.

“Today’s investment in additional student seats demonstrates our government’s com mitment to address ing the shortage of vet erinarians across the

Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison said. “That’s attracting more people than ever to our prov ince.”

“Saskatchewan has plenty of opportunities, wel coming communities and a more affordable cost of liv ing than most other places in Canada,” Harrison said.

province,” Agriculture Minister David Marit said. “This initiative along with the expan sion of the Saskatchewan Loan Forgiveness for Veterinarians and Veterinary Technologists, will ensure that ranch ers have access to the veterinary experts they need to provide the high est level of care for their animals.”

The WCVM is an inter nationally-recognized centre for veterinary education, research and clinical expertise that’s located on the University of Saskatchewan (USask) campus.

“I’m really excited for the future of vet erinary medicine in Saskatchewan. I think

this is a great opportun ity for our province, espe cially with the shortage of veterinarians,” secondyear WCVM veterinary student from Stoughton and president-elect of the Western Canadian Veterinary Students’ Association Jackson Goudy said. “This is a great way to increase the number of vets deliv ering animal health care in Saskatchewan.”

“We welcome this commitment from our provincial partners that will help to address Western Canada’s urgent need for more veterinar ians in both rural and urban communities,” WCVM Dean Dr. Gillian Muir said. “The prov ince’s support allows

“A strong economy and a growing population means a better quality of life for all Saskatchewan people.

“That’s growth that works for everyone.”

There were 1,194,803 people living in Saskatchewan as of July 1, 2022, according to Statistics Canada and more than 15,000 job postings today on SaskJobs.ca.

Largest quarterly population increase ever recorded in Saskatchewan Province adding seats for veterinary students

more students from Saskatchewan to achieve their dreams of a career in veterinary medicine. It’s also a sound invest ment in protecting the health and wellness of all animals - from compan ion animals and wildlife to livestock that play a critical role in Canada’s agriculture industry and the country’s economy.”

“Further expanding USask’s capacity to train veterinarians will con tribute to the sustain ability of the profession and allow us to further enhance our leader ship role in the veterin ary sciences and in One Health,” USask Provost and Vice-President Academic Dr. Airini said.

“The increase in provin

cial funding is so appre ciated and will allow us to deliver essential veter inary medical education, advance interdisciplin ary collaboration and research, and amplify our contributions to the health and wellness of western Canadian com munities.”

For more information about the Saskatchewan Loan Forgiveness for Veterinarians and Veterinary Technologists program, visit https:// www.saskatchewan.ca/ residents/education-andlearning/student-loans/ loan-forgiveness-for-vet erinarians-and-veterin ary-technologists.

For more information about the WCVM, visit https://wcvm.usask.ca.

Flu vaccines available at clinics, pharmacies and some medical offices

Saskatchewan residents can now begin booking their influenza vaccinations at clin ics that will begin next week.

Starting Oct. 11, flu shots will be administered at public health clinics, local pharma cies and some physician and nurse practitioner offices.

“Getting your flu shot is a simple thing you can do to stay healthy and prevent

transmission to friends and family - especially those most at risk for severe outcomes,” Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said.

Residents will have the con venience of booking and receiv ing their flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same appoint ment again this year. All vac cinations are voluntary. Being up-to-date on your COVID-19 booster doses is the best way

to limit COVID-19 transmission rates this fall and winter.

Children aged six months to five years can only be immun ized at a SHA public flu clin ic, public health office or by a physician or nurse practi tioner. Only select physicians’ offices offer influenza and/or COVID-19 vaccines.

This year, all residents 65 years of age and older are eli gible to receive the Fluzone High-Dose influenza vaccine.

Previously, this vaccine was only provided to residents in long-term care and personal care homes.

Also new this year, residents will have the option of book ing vaccinations for the entire family in one appointment through the SHA’s online book ing tool available at www.4flu. ca. Individual and group bookings can also be made by telephone at 1-833-SASKVAX (1-833-727-5829).

Participating Saskatchewan pharmacies will once again have influenza vaccinations available free of charge to any eligible resident of the prov ince five years of age and older. Residents can also receive the COVID-19 vaccine at partici pating pharmacies at the same time.

For further information on influenza symptoms and when to seek care, call HealthLine 811 or visit www.4flu.ca.

Mental Health Walk for SIGN

By Tyson Off Staff Writer

YORKTON – Around 100 people gathered at the Medicine Shoppe in Yorkton on the evening of Oct. 4 to participate in the Walk for World Mental Health Day.

“The Medicine Shoppe and SIGN are partnering to host a walk for mental health in honour of World Mental Health Day which is on October 10th,” said Andrew Sedley, Executive Director for the Society for the Involvement of Good Neighbours, adding, “for every person that arrives

and walks [the Medicine Shoppe] will be giving $5.00 and that money will go directly to our Rapid Access Counselling.”

“Rapid Access Counseling provides counselling when people need it—they can walk in, call in, they can book online and get same day counselling—they can talk to somebody about any kind of mental health issues they may be experiencing and to get them the help they need in a timely manner,” said Sedley.

“Services are priori tized for individuals who do not have access to

workplace benefits, who live on a fixed or low income, and who would otherwise often experi ence long waits for pub licly funded services,” read an article on SIGN’s website.

A spokesperson for the Medicine Shoppe said the organization raised just under $1,000 for the walk that saw participants trek down Hamilton Rd, up Palliser Way, through Kelsey Bay, down the walk ing path running adja cent to Broadway, and eventually back to the Medicine Shoppe by way of Lawrence Ave.

“We’re just so grateful of Tricia and Brad and the Medicine Shoppe— this is the fourth year now that we’ve part

nered with them to raise funds for the Rapid Access Counseling—it just shows the commun ity spirit that they have

and the belief that they have in promoting good mental health within our communities,” said Sedley.

Saskatchewan providing tuition-free education for displaced Ukrainian students

The Government of Saskatchewan has made amendments to The Education Regulations, 2019 to ensure that all Ukrainian school aged students arriving through the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) Program receive tuition-free

Kindergarten to Grade 12 edu cation.

“I am pleased with how our province has been able to welcome Ukrainian citizens dealing with unimaginable cir cumstances to Saskatchewan,” Education Minister Dustin Duncan said. “Providing

tuition-free education for these students is an essential step to ensuring these newcomers are able to settle as easily and comfortably as possible.”

To date, more than 400 stu dents from Ukraine enrolled through the CUAET pro gram have registered in

Lowest unemployment rate in Canada

Unemployment Rate At 4.1 Per Cent, The Lowest Among The Provinces And 6,000 Jobs Added From A Year Ago.

Recently released September 2022 job numbers from Statistics Canada show strong year-over-year job growth in Saskatchewan, with 6,000 jobs added compared to September 2021. All new jobs were full-time employment.

Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate fell to 4.1 per cent as of September 2022, the lowest among the provinces, and well below the national average of 5.2 per cent (seasonally adjusted). This change showed a decrease from 6.4 per cent in September 2021, and a decrease from 4.9 per cent in August 2022.

“Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate is the lowest in the nation, thanks to the hard work of Saskatchewan people and confidence shown by job-creators across the province,” Immigration and Career Training Minister Jeremy Harrison said. “Our economy is creating opportunities for our residents and those moving to our province which is growth that works

for everyone.”

In September 2022, full-time employ ment increased by 9,100 jobs (+2.0 per cent) and part-time decreased by 3,100 jobs (-2.8 per cent) compared to September 2021.

Over this same period, private sector employment increased by 4,600 jobs (+1.4 per cent). The youth unemployment rate was 7.6 per cent (seasonally adjusted), lowest among the provinces, and below the national rate of 9.8 per cent.

Off-reserve Indigenous employment in Saskatchewan was up 3,800 jobs (+6.3 per cent) for 22 consecutive months of year-over-year increases. Indigenous youth employment was up 700 jobs (+5.5 per cent) for eight consecutive months of year-over-year increases.

Significant year-over-year gains were reported for health care and social assistance, up 7,700 jobs (+8.8 per cent); accommodation and food services, up 4,800 jobs (+16.1 per cent); professional, scientific, and technical services, up 4,600 jobs (+16.5 per cent).

Saskatchewan schools.

The CUAET program was specifically established to sup port Ukrainians and family members fleeing the ongoing war. This new program offers Ukrainians and their family members free, extended temporary status and allows

people to work, study and stay in Canada for up to three years if they continue to meet the cri teria of the CUAET program.

More information on sup ports for displaced Ukrainians can be found at https://www. saskatchewan.ca/residents/sas katchewan-supports-ukraine.

Around 100 people participated in the Walk for World Mental Health Day.

SHA volunteer positions available provincially

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) Volunteer Services team is looking for volunteers to assist staff, patients, clients, families and visitors in its acute care facilities, long term care homes and community programs. Support care in your community by vol unteering to help host recreational and

pet support programs, assist patients navigating through acute care settings, or support local Meals on Wheels pro grams.

“Prior to the pandemic, the SHA had a strong volunteer base,” said Bernie Doepker, SHA’s director of Volunteer Services. “As with every sector, we are

in the rebuilding phase for our vol unteer team. We are asking people to consider volunteering with one of our programs across the SHA as we work together to improve health and wellbeing. Every day. For everyone.”

The SHA is recruiting volunteers provincially and has a range of differ

ent positions available. Volunteer shifts typically range from two to four hours, and most programs require volunteers to come in a minimum of two times per month. Interested volunteers are encouraged to match available volun teer positions to their skills, interests, experiences, and availability.

Seasons change but ticks remain

The Ministry of Health is reminding Saskatchewan residents to remain vigilant for ticks on themselves and their pets this fall.

While blacklegged ticks (lxodes scapu laris) are rare in Saskatchewan, they remain active throughout fall. Blacklegged ticks are found in tall grass, brush or wooded areas. In this province, any ticks found in the fall are likely to be blacklegged ticks, which can cause Lyme disease.

“It’s important to stay vigilant against ticks when outdoors, even though summer is over,” Deputy Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Julie Kryzanowski said. “The risk for contracting Lyme disease in Saskatchewan is low, but not zero. Remember to protect yourself, your family and your pets against ticks.”

Precautionary meas ures include:

• Wear light-coloured clothes so ticks can be seen easily.

• Wear pants, longsleeved shirts and shoes that do not expose your feet.

• Pull socks over your

pant legs to prevent ticks from crawling up your legs.

• Use insect repel lents that contain DEET or Icaridin. Apply repel lent to clothes as well as your skin. Always read and follow the directions.

In Canada, clothing that has been treated with the insecticide permethrin has been approved for use by people over the age of 16.

Shower or bathe as soon as possible after being outside to wash off loose ticks and inspect for attached ticks.

Do full body tick checks after being out side on yourself, your children and your pets.

If you find a tick attached to your skin or on your pet:

• Carefully remove it with fine-tipped tweez ers and grasp the mouth parts of the tick as close to the skin as possible.

• Pull slowly upward and out with a firm steady pressure.

• Be careful not to squeeze, crush or punc ture the body after removal as it may contain infectious fluids.

• Do not put Vaseline,

gasoline or other nox ious substances on an attached tick which may cause it to regurgitate.

Submit photos of your tick using eTick (www. etick.ca), Saskatchewan’s image-based tick identi fication system.

Hang onto your tick in case it is requested for further testing. Ticks can be euthanized by placing it in a bag and storing it in the freezer for 24

hours.

Between January 1 and August 31, 2022, eTick received 1063 valid tick submissions. Of these, 11 were identified as black legged ticks. Most ticks found in Saskatchewan

are American dog ticks (Dermacentor sp.). This species is active from mid-April to the end of July and is not capable of transmitting Lyme dis ease to people.

For more information

on ticks and Lyme disease, including how to submit a tick for Lyme disease testing, visit saskatch ewan.ca/lyme or https:// research-groups.usask. ca/ticks/#Passivesur-veil lance.

Taking meals

the case with 11-year-old Taylynn Novak who captured this picture when they were taking supper to the field.

Submitted Photo by Taylynn Novak

Agriculture

Education is key for agriculture

Regular readers may recognize that I hold limited faith in a day, week, or month being designated to mark a particular thing hav ing much impact these days.

Perhaps having a National Brussel Sprouts Week bumps sales a bit for a few days, but people soon real ize the mini cabbages aren’t that good unless drenched in gooey cheese, and go back to buying their usual meal time fare.

So, when the province annually designates October as Agriculture Month I’m unsure if it has a great impact.

That said, on this one I am also conflicted.

Having grown up on the farm, and have writ ten about it for the past 30-plus years I recognize its critical importance, and the fading aware ness from more and more people about what the industry does.

If there was any ques tion about the declin ing knowledge it was brought into focus by Sara Shymko the dir ector of Agriculture in the Classroom when she spoke at the recent Yorkton Mill Heritage Society supper fund raiser.

Shymko related how in her role with Agriculture in the Classroom she was handing out seeds stu dents could take home

Agriculture

Calvin Daniels

and plant when one young student came up and asked for seeds for cheese. At that moment she said she fully under stood the need for her organization.

That seems ridicu lous in a province where everywhere you travel you see farmland, and so much of the business of communities big and

small trace back to the ag sector, but increas ingly urban dwellers do not spend time on farms learning about the sec tor first hand.

That is scary from the farm perspective because urban residents hold sway in provincial legislatures and the fed eral Parliament, and may well enact legisla

tion which negatively impacts farming based on a lack of understand ing about the agricul ture industry.

So, when in a release Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit stated, “Saskatchewan’s agri culture industry can not thrive without the dedicated individuals that make up the valuechain. They have a pas sion for producing the healthy, affordable food that we share with our families everyday. I encourage everyone to show support by cele brating this innovative, resilient and sustain able industry,” there is more to it than rhetoric.

We need to have an

appreciation for those who produce our food.

So maybe an annual nudge in that direction by designating a month is part of growing that appreciation.

But, ultimately it is finding a way to recon nect more people with where their food comes from.

That is where having school tours at events such as the upcoming Grain Millers Harvest Showdown in Yorkton, or Agribition in Regina come into play as important, as are the efforts of Agriculture in the Classroom.

Education is always a key to better under standing and that includes agriculture.

Good weather pushes harvest forward

The weather over the past week was excellent for harvest.

The province now has 90 per cent of the crop in the bin, up from 81 per cent last week and well ahead of the five-year average of 82 per cent.

Some producers have been struggling with heavy fog and dew in the mornings that has delayed their harvest activities until the after noon, making for short days and less progress.

High humidity in many parts of the south east, east-central and northeast is making it dif ficult to combine and has also led to grain coming off at higher amounts of moisture than normal.

Producers must dry down the grain in order to store it properly.

East-Central Saskatchewan:

• Crop District 5 – Melville, Yorkton, Cupar, Kamsack, Foam Lake, Preeceville and Kelvington areas

• Crop District 6A –Lumsden, Craik, Watrous and Clavet areas

There was good har vest progress over the past week, even with shortened days due to heavy fog and dewy mor nings delaying produ cer starts until the early afternoon.

Harvest progress has reached 81 per cent just ahead of the five-year average of 76 per cent.

Producers are pre dicting that harvest will be wrapped up in about a week to ten days as long as the weather holds out and no rainfall is received.

The majority of crop left to combine is can ola and producers are reporting that yields have improved greatly in some areas when com pared to last year.

There were only trace amounts of rainfall reported this past week, most moisture came from the early morning fog and dew.

While most of the

region received greater amounts of precipitation over the growing season than last year, after sev eral weeks without a sig nificant rain, producers have found their fields to be drying up very quickly.

Cropland topsoil mois ture is rated as one per cent surplus, 29 per cent adequate, 50 per cent short and 20 per cent very short.

Hay and pasture land topsoil moisture is rated as 25 per centadequate, 52 per cent short and 23 per cent very short.

Yield estimates for the region show a large improvement over last year and many producers are extremely happy with the amount of grain they have in the bin. Hard red spring wheat is estimated to yield 46 bu/ac, durum 40 bu/ac, flax 27 bu/ac, canola 39 bu/ac and len tils 1,361 lb/ac. Hard red spring wheat was also reported to be graded as 72 per cent 1CW, 26 per cent 2CW, one per cent 3CW and one per cent 4CW/feed.

The majority of crop damage this week was due to wind, waterfowl and rain.

Some of the crop is coming off tough and being placed into aera

tion bins or grain dryers. Farmers are busy com bining, harrowing, haul ing grain, hauling bales and applying post-har vest herbicides

Provincially Harvest in the south west and west-central regions is virtually com plete with mostly flax waiting to be harvested, which will likely occur after the next heavy kill ing frost. The northwest has 94 per cent of their crop off, the northeast 87 per cent, the southeast 86 per cent and the east central 81 per cent.

Harvest of lentils and field peas has finished. Ninety-eight per cent of durum, 97 per cent of chickpeas, 93 per cent of spring wheat, 90 per cent

of barley, 82 per cent of canola and 66 per cent of flax has been combined across the province.

Once again, there was very little rain this past week, with only trace amounts being recorded for most regions. Some parts of the southwest received two to three mm but it did very little to improve soil mois ture conditions. All areas of the province are reporting that they are either extremely dry or becoming drier each week. This includes the southeast and east-cen tral regions, which start ed the season with an abundance of moisture.

Cropland topsoil moisture is rated as 28

per cent adequate, 41 per cent short and 31 per cent very short. Hay and pasture land topsoil moisture is rated as 22 per cent adequate, 41 per cent short and 37 per cent very short.

Limited moisture throughout much of the harvest season has allowed crop quality to remain high, especially Hard Red Spring Wheat which is being reported as 75 per cent 1CW, 23 per cent 2CW and two per cent 3CW. The tenyear average for Hard Red Spring Wheat is 39 per cent 1CW, 35 per cent 2CW, 17 per cent 3CW and nine per cent 4CW/feed.

The majority of crop damage this week was

due to wind, water fowl and wildlife. Wind continues to impact unharvested crops by blowing swaths around, as well as shelling out crops and causing lodg ing.

Producers are busy combining, hauling grain and bales and moving cattle. Some producers are also starting other fall field work, such as postharvest weed control and harrowing. Winter cer eals are not able to be planted in many areas due to the lack of soil moisture. Fall fertilizer applications are also not possible in many regions due to these dry condi tions.

This will be the last Crop Report until the final report is issued October 20, 2022. This will allow time for appropri ate information gather ing and preparation until harvest is completed.

A complete, print able version of the Crop Report is available online at https://www. saskatchewan.ca/cropreport.

Follow the 2022 Crop Report on Twitter at @ SKAgriculture.

Sp orts

Book shows battle to emerge from the darkness

When you are a sports fan, and a jour nalist doing a regular column you tend to read a lot of books on sport,

And, when I first cracked the cover of The Save of My Life: My Journey Out of the Dark Kindle Edition by Corey Hirsch and Sean Patrick Conboy, I was expecting a look inside Hirsch’s career in hockey.

Well there is a glimpse of that career, but this is not really about the game. It is about a much bigger and far more important topic – mental health.

Yes, Hirsch had a pretty solid NHL career, but it might have been a truly outstanding one if he has not fought mental health issues his entire time playing for teams such as the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks, but that’s enough about hockey, this is more important.

“I am about to drive my car off this cliff,” is the first line of the book.

“I am going to end my life.

“I am past the point of thinking about it. It’s done. I don’t even have the energy to ask why anymore. There is only how. How can I make this pain go away? How can I escape from the prison of my own mind? How can I stop these ceaseless thoughts? This bottomless, bottomless, bottomless darkness. This infinite loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop, loop that is my broken brain.

“I don’t want to actually die—not really. Not rationally. Not if I had a choice to live a normal life. But at this point, I can’t stop the

thoughts. They won’t negotiate with me. They don’t respond to my tears or my begging. They don’t listen to me. They just scream at me. They will not, will not, will not, will not, will not willnotwillnotwill notwillnot stop.

“They tell me. You are a monster. You are worthless. You are broken. You are sick. Sicksicksicksicksicksicksick.”

By this point I was cringing. I was unset tled. I honestly wasn’t sure how to react.

This book is a very frank, raw, smash you in the face telling of a story by a man who came with a few dozen feet of going over that cliff, and it’s not a pleasant trip.

Hirsch said he is keenly aware the story is edgy.

“It’s intense. I know that,” he said in a recent interview, adding he also knew “. . . it was going to be powerful.”

Hirsch has OCD (Obsessive-compulsive disorder) which many think of as having a compulsion to wash their hands, or repeat edly turn a light switch on and off, or have their desk just a certain way. But, OCD has other forms, and for Hirsch it is thoughts of things always about to go very wrong.

It is a condition that threatens lives if not treated.

“Most of my friends with OCD have made at least one attempt on their life,” said Hirsch.

Now through treat ment Hirsch is on a more even keel, the broken mind not ever fully healed, but he has found a regime that

allows him to function.

While Hirsch finally opened up and found hope, he said many still do not.

“Mental health issues can be deadly . . . We need to educate people,” he said.

That is why Hirsch decided to tell his story.

“I believe through hockey I have a plat form,” he said, adding he realized years ago it was time someone wrote about the condi tion, to show help does exist.

Hirsch said he keen ly recalls when he was “feeling lost” and went

CALVIN DANIELS Sports

looking for help going to the library hoping there was a book that would point him to the help he needed. There wasn’t, and he promised him self then if he survived he would write one.

“I said I would make sure something was out there that people can latch onto . . . For me it’s important to get the mes sage out there,” he said, reiterating the existing system isn’t educating people enough about how to deal with mental health issues.

The book, and his podcast ‘Blindsided’ are part of his promise to

himself.

The book is just hit ting shelves, but Hirsch knows he’ll be getting feedback that often relates the hardships others have faced before getting help, knowing in too many cases the stor ies may end with a loved one having taken their own life.

“It is hard to hear other people’s stories. My heart goes out to them,” he said, adding the positive though is the book may encourage others to get the help they need.

But, in the book Hirsch cautions there is no easy fix for many mental health issues.

“In getting diag nosed, there was no magic fix. I had a long way to go to recover. Someone once told me that mental health is a marathon, not a sprint, and they were so right. I needed to unravel the giant ball of yarn that was woven inside my brain from not get ting an early diagnosis.

When a person is diag nosed with cancer, the best chance of recovery is from early diagno sis. Mental health is no different. It’s so much easier to treat in the early stages. Cancer at Stage 4 is not good. Early diagnosis at Stage 1 is the easiest to treat. Same as if the thought of suicide and suicidal ideation is in Stage 4,” he wrote.

And the first step is to ask for help because you cannot face it alone, but to ask for help you need to take life and recovery one day at a time.

“If a person is ever finding it hard to go on, I want them to think

only about making it through “one more day.”

Not tomorrow, not next week, or next month, but today,” notes the book. “The best a per son can do on any given day might be getting out of bed, and if that’s all they can do then so be it, they should applaud themselves for it. Society pounds into us that having a high-powered career, making lots of money and having the perfect family defines success. Bullshit! Success is the best you can do at any given moment, and that may be as much as get ting up, getting out of bed and getting dressed. There are days for me that getting up and hav ing a shower is as great a victory as any win I ever had in the NHL.”

If the book helps someone start the path to recovery, Hirsch said he is not looking for credit.

“Don’t thank me. Pay it forward. Go help someone else,” he said.

In the end Hirsch just wants the book to help.

“I wanted to make an impact,” he said, add ing he hopes people see there can be a better end, that there is hope.

And again from the book, Hirsch has one final hope for his read ers.

“And if you are that person thinking those thoughts, and you’re afraid to say something, all I can do, for the last time, is beg you to tell someone, anyone, these three words: I need help. There are 60,000 words in his book. If you hold on to just three words from this book, please make it those three.”

Terriers go 1-1 against Millionaires

By Tyson Off Staff Writer

YORKTON—The Terriers faced off against the Melville Millionaires in back-to-back games on the 7th and 8th of Thanksgiving weekend.

Game One In the Friday night of their weekend series the Terriers visited the Millionaires in Melville. The team scored twice late in the first period with the first goal coming by way of Greg Nelson at 18:47 during a powerplay effort and the second at 19:41 by Cade Kennedy making it 2-0 game head ing into the second.

Melville shot back early in the second with

a goal from Noah Mills at 0:41. Several minutes later, at 3:56, the Terriers’ Dylan Ruptash would put another on the board dur ing a powerplay effort. The Millionaires would close out the second period with a goal com ing by way of Brayden Fryfogle at 14:34 making it a 3-2 game going into the third.

The third saw little scoring action until late in the third when Ruptash would put another one past the goalie for the Terriers at 14:58 during a power play effort. The Millionaires Zach Cain would fire back with two consecutive goals coming in at 15:28 and 17:46, tying the game and forcing the overtime.

The overtime per iod saw no scoring from either side and the game was decided by a shoot out which the Terriers’ Karsten Kruska capital ized on.

5-4 shootout win for the Terriers.

Calleb Allen was in net for the win, facing 54 shots and saving 50.

Jared Thompson was in net for the Millionaires, facing 31 shots and saving 27.

Game Two

The Terriers host ed the Millionaires on Saturday at Westland Arena.

The lone goal of the first period came by way of the Millionaires’ Zach Cain at 18:00, making it a

Terriers will play host to the LaRonge Ice Wolves this week.

1-0 game heading into the second.

The second period saw power play efforts from each side with nei ther team capitalizing. Still a 1-0 game going into the third period.

The lone goal of the

third came from the Millionaires Nicolas Samson at 6:12 resulting in a 2-0 loss for the Terriers.

Caleb Allen was in net for the Terriers, blocking 23 of the 25 shots taken.

Clement Labillois

Curling school for youths

By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer

When it comes to sports youth today in Yorkton have a long list of options.

Curling is hoping to tip things a bit more in its favour with a pair of upcom ing workshops in the city.

“We’re trying to get kids back to curling,” offered Dave Baron one of the local organizers.

With that in mind a curling school will be held in Yorkton at the curling rink Sunday, Oct. 23.

The school is for youth who already have at least a basic understanding of the sport, and have an interest in refin ing their skills, explained Baron.

The school is for youth Grade 6-12, and will run for 5-6 hours that day.

There is room for 64 participants.

“That would fill the rink right to the rafters,” smiled Baron.

There is a fee of $75, and interested people can call Baron at 306-641-5180.

Then on the following day Monday, Oct. 24, a ‘learn-to-curl’ session, which is more geared to beginners, with little,

or no experience on the ice, said Baron.

There are 32 schools in the area which have been contacted to have students involved in the Monday ses sions, which will include on-ice and off sessions.

Well known Saskatchewan curl er Pat Simmons will be one of the instructors for the sessions arranged through CURLSASK, said Baron.

Simmons, as a skip, represented Saskatchewan in four straight Briers from 2005 to 2008 and again in 2011.

At the 2014 Brier with the Kevin Koe

blocked 29 shots for the shutout win.

The Terriers will host the Nipawin Hawks on Oct. 11th at Westland Arena and the La Ronge Ice Wolves in consecutive games on the 12th and 15th.

rink Simmons won first Brier title. The team finished fourth at the 2014 World Men’s Curling Championship. It was the first time Simmons represented Canada internationally.

Also Monday a luncheon will be held through the local Chamber of Commerce, said Baron. The speak er will be Saskatchewan curler Kirk Muyres who was part of the 2011 Canadian Junior Curling Championship team. Muyres was play ing third for the Braeden Moskowy-led foursome.

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Councillor: RM #245 OF GARRY (Municipality) Division No. 4

The returning officer or nomination officer will receive nominations of candidates for the above office(s): (a) during normal office hours from Thursday, October 6, 2022 (Close of withdrawal period) until Wednesday, October 19, 2022 (4:00 p.m. on the second Wednesday following the withdrawal period; at #245 RM of Garry Municipal Office, Jedburgh, Saskatchewan (Place)

Your locally owned and operated full-service funeral home.

Nomination forms may be obtained at the following location(s):

#245 RM of Garry Municipal Office, Jedburgh, Saskatchewan

Dated at Jedburgh, SK , this 6th day of October , 2022

Notice of Abandonment of Poll (Section 77 of The Local Government Election Act, 2015)

The Rural Municipality of Saltcoats No. 213 Municipal Elections 2022.

306-783-7552

Whereas Scott Haas, nominated for the office of Councillor for Division No. 2, is the only candidate, I hereby give notice that no voting will take place on November 9th, 2022.

Whereas Les Trowell, nominated for the office of Councillor for Division No. 4, is the only candidate, I hereby give notice that no voting will take place on November 9th, 2022.

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Whereas Joe Skitcko, nominated for the office of Councillor for Division No. 6, is the only candidate, I hereby give notice that no voting will take place on November 9th, 2022. Dated at Saltcoats this 12th day of October, 2022.

Ronald R. Risling, Returning Officer

Notice of Advance Poll

Wallace

Dated at Yorkton,

day of October,

OF

No.

(a) during normal office hours from Thursday, October 6, 2022 (Close of withdrawal period) until Wednesday, October 19, 2022 (4:00 p.m. on the second Wednesday following the withdrawal period; at #245 RM of Garry Municipal Office, Jedburgh, Saskatchewan (Place)

Nomination forms may be obtained at the following location(s):

#245 RM of Garry Municipal Office, Jedburgh, Saskatchewan

Dated at Jedburgh, SK , this 6th day of October , 2022

Notice of Abandonment of Poll Rural Municipality of Wallace No. 243

The Rural Municipality of Wallace No.

Elections

Notice of Advance Poll Rural Municipality of Wallace No. 243 PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that:

1. A Poll will be

2.

Dated at

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STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP

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The great room‘s fireplace will ensure a cozy space during the winter months. The dining room and kitchen overlook at covered deck. Stairs from the deck lead to the back garden.

The kitchen includes a prep island that separates it from the dining area. The U-shaped counter configuration means plenty of work space for the cook, and the window over the double sinks has a view to the covered deck. The corner pantry will provide welcome storage space.

A doorway between the kitchen and dining room gives access to the covered deck, making al fresco meals a breeze.

The master bedroom overlooks the front garden, and the window boasts an extra-wide sill.

The luxurious en-suite includes an oval soaker tub, as well as a shower stall and a handy towel cupboard. Double basins occupy a bayed-out area.

The walk-in closet is spacious enough for a couple’s clothing and accessories.

The two secondary bedrooms look out to the back garden and share a three-piece bathroom. The linen closet is located in the corridor opposite the master suite.

On the ground floor, the den features a bayedout corner window with an extra-deep sill. The unfinished basement, with its two bedrooms and roughed-in bath, has a large covered patio and could serve as a mortgagehelper or in-law suite.

The laundry room includes a row of cub-

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Exterior finishes include stucco with wood accents around the greatroom window. Brick accents on the lower storey, and a decorative garage door, add character.

This home measures 47 feet wide and 46 feet deep, for a total of 1,546 square feet.

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General Employment General Employment General Employment General Employment

Letting go of a loved position is hard

A golden ash towers over our backyard. Most of its leaves, welcome shade in summer, have already fallen, strewn across the lawn like cornflakes that missed the breakfast bowl. In the next few weeks, the remainder will surren der to the season and quietly let go. They’ll dance for a time in the space between their home limb and the ground, then come to rest. Effortlessly.

But an odd sight puz zled me this morning. Blowing this way, then that, one amber leaf danced in mid-air. On the way down for cer tain, but never landing. Something, some invis ible gossamer thread,

stopped it. It twirled and spun, seemingly undecided about where to land.

I’ve been on med ical leave from my job almost six months now. Post-COVID, I still have unpredictable crashes that land me on the couch or in bed all day; feeling as though the entire infection has begun all over again.

That happens less fre quently now. My leave is over soon. Thank God, who made our bodies to heal, it seems my health is returning. So could I.

But I’ve made a big decision. It’s time to let go. This is the year. I don’t want to use the “R” word, though I’m the right age, if there

Sunny Side Up

is one. The Preacher needs me. (We need each other.) Half our six grandbeans, who live nearby, are teens approaching adulthood. I want to enjoy them and their younger siblings while they still enjoy me. I have things I hope to accomplish while still able. No one has the guarantee of future health. The pandemic

years have taught us that lesson well.

Nevertheless, like that leaf suspended in mid-air, something invisible keeps me twirl ing too. Unable to land at a place of peace. Did I make the right decision? Why do I still feel so connected? What is the gossamer thing tying me to what I will soon leave behind. A paycheque?

Pride—loss of mistaken ly perceived esteem or influence?

Silly me. I never expected that leaving my position as a parlia mentarian’s constitu ency assistant, which I’ve loved for over eleven years, would feel more like severing a limb than embra cing freedom. And yet, almost everyone I’ve spoken with who has left a long-time career, tells me they felt the same at first.

After I’ve left the office for the last time, I expect I’ll keep writ ing, as I always have. Columns and articles, perhaps an e-book compilation of past published essays. This

morning, I’m doing that from our tiny backyard quiet place, the perfect (for us) cabin Rick and Benjamin built with more love than exper tise. But who knows what God has in mind for the days ahead? I want to stay open to serve as he directs.

Wind’s up today. Ash leaves float past, exquis ite flashes of gold, alone in the air for a brief moment of freedom. No limb to restrict. No guarantee where they’ll land. But there they are, flying. Looking for all the world as though they’re having a grand time.

With God’s help, I have determined to do the same.

Squash makes for tasty meals

The next meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be held on Wednesday, October 19 at the Godfrey Dean, ground floor meet ing room. Please note the change of location for this occasion only! The October meeting is a ‘members only’ meet ing, where we’ll be taking care of business like col lecting memberships for the year ahead, as well as other hort business.

If you have any ques tions about this meeting, please call Liz at (306) 782-2830.

Congratulations to Glen and everyone who worked so hard with the Yorkton Gardener’s Market. It’s a huge com mitment for the garden ers to be there each week over the summer with their lovely pro duce. Think of all the prep work that happens before they bring their harvest to market. Well done! They have all now earned a well-deserved rest till next year!

It’s the time of year when squash seems so perfect on our menus. What is your favorite kind? I love all kinds of squash; one of my favorites would be spa ghetti squash. I have fond memories of Mom putting spaghetti squash to bake in the oven, so that it would be ready when we came in at dusk after the last of the day’s gardening tasks. She cut it in half lengthways, took out the seeds, then dotted the squash with yummy slices of butter and lots of black pepper. It smelled so delicious as it cooked and tasted even better!

Another favorite is the butternut squash, that delicious-looking club-shaped squash. The flesh is very dense in this one, a lovely orange, and so tasty baked in the oven or used in soups.

Do you see a pattern with these two choices? They are both “winter squashes”. What does that mean?

DEBBIE HAYWARD

YORKTON AND DISTRICT HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

Gardener’s Notebook

Winter squashes are part of the Cucurbita family, and we know them by their appear ance. This is the squash family that has the bumpy Hubbards; the football-shaped spaghetti squash; the very pretty green-striped delicata, the exotic kabocha, the unique-shaped butter nuts, our beloved pump kins, and the cute little acorn squashes. But most of all, this covers the var ieties of squash that have a tough skin, not soft like the zucchini, but a hard and robust skin that we can’t pierce with a finger nail. These are the ‘keep ers’, the squash that will last a long time when we

bring them in for the win ter.

What a satisfying task it is to bring in these beauties, knowing that we can enjoy them on a cold winter day! They will store best in a dry, dark, and cool spot in the basement. And guess what, we can eas ily freeze raw squash like butternut squash. Just peel it, cut it into cubes, then spread the cubes onto a cookie sheet and freeze them. Once fro zen, toss them into a bag and they’re ready to use anytime! And we don’t have to thaw them out before use: they’re ready to go into soups or chili!

And not only does the

beautiful squash look like a package of sunshine on a winter day, but it is full of what kind of vitamin, class? Vitamin A and C of course, because that amazing color has lots of great antioxidants.

So not only should we watch for interest ing squash in the pro duce aisle at this time of year, but we can also mark it down in our gar

den notebooks under the heading of “things to plant in 2023”. You can bet it won’t be long till we start getting our seed catalogues for next year!

Visit the hort society at www.yorktonhort.ca and see what’s happen ing. Thank you to our friends at YTW for their fine work. Enjoy your late-fall gardening tasks and have a great week!

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Effective Altruism

YRHS hosts thanksgiving feast for school

By Tyson Off Staff Writer

YORKTON—Students and staff at the Yorkton Regional High School were treated to a thanks giving feast for lunch on Oct. 7th.

Around 1000 people were served for the event that was planned by the Student Leadership Class.

“It’s been an exhaust ing three days...super proud of these guys— they’ve worked hard and done everything I’ve asked of them—lots of last-minute things,” said Lana Stanek-Sebastian, teacher at the YRHS.

“Today was a lot of, ‘OK, go go go!’, and they just go and they look after

the things, so it’s been awesome to work with these guys to make sure that this thing is going to run and they’ve taken a lot of thing off of my plate, which is good,” said Stanek-Sebastian, adding that the event is about student leadership and community and that the project leaders have “proven themselves in spades today.”

“We haven’t been able to do it in the past two years because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, but before COVID-19 we did this yearly for four years,” said Project Leader and Grade 12 Student, Jarren Reaney.

“We are in charge of organizing, sending out letters to businesses

for donations, we’re in charge of getting every thing to the school, we’re in charge of gathering vol unteers, advertising it –hyping it up,” said Project Leader Vinay Junek, adding, “it’s just a really cool opportunity that our school gets to do it – it’s a privilege for our school to be able to put something like this on.”

“It’s really cool being able to put something like this together—most of the students don’t even know how much work it takes to put something like this on,” said Junek, noting, “it’s pretty special because not everyone in this building gets an opportunity to share a meal with their family so we like to share it without family of Raiders.”

Parks and recreation improvements underway

“This feast would def initely not be possible

without the help of our community, everyone who donated, everyone who

is here serving today and our leadership class,” added Reaney.

Student and Project Leaders Hayley Davidson, Vinay Junek and Jarren Reaney.

Around 1000 people were served thanksgiving meals for lunch on Friday.

Volunteers dished up servings for staff and students at the YRHS.

Staff Photos by Tyson Off

Pictured on the left is one of the newly installed tee pads at the Patrick Park Disc Golf Course.

budget included upgrades to the city’s existing disc golf courses at Patrick Park and Rodney Ridge. On the right, construc tion

Deer Park Golf Course clubhouse.

198,000 hectares conserved in Sask.

As the days get shorter and the leaves change colour, autumn is the perfect time to reflect on all we have to be thank ful for, such as friends, family and the way nature enriches our lives.

As the nation’s lead ing not-for-profit, pri vate land conservation organization, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is grateful for the support received from individuals and groups across the country to pro tect habitats and wildlife, including species at risk.

This fall, we invite you to take a journey through some of the greatest examples of Canada’s nat ural areas and to connect with nature. There are four Nature Destinations in Saskatchewan: Asquith, Fairy Hill, Nebo and Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area.

Asquith is NCC’s new est Nature Destination, located approximately 45 minutes from Saskatoon. The property features dense trees and bush es, vibrant grasslands, rolling stabilized sand dunes, and wetlands teeming with waterfowl. Thanks to support from the Saskatoon Nature Society, there is a mowed trail complete with inter pretive signs so you can explore the incredible sights and sounds this area has to offer Fairy Hill is located just 20 minutes north of Regina. Hike the fivekilometre-long inter pretive trail to explore everything Fairy Hill has

to offer — from native grasslands, woodlands, river and flood plains to a breathtaking view of the Qu’Appelle Valley.

Nebo, located 50 minutes west of Prince Albert, offers a place to hike among a remark able transition zone that bridges boreal forest with prairie grasslands.

The geography here is spectacular; rolling hills end in secluded forestfringed wetlands, and a small creek meanders through the property.

Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage

Conservation Area is located 225 kilometres southwest of Swift Current. Sharon Butala, esteemed author and for mer owner of this prop erty, has written about feeling connected with nature here, and you can expect to feel the same. The rolling hills stretch into the horizon, as far as the eye can see. While hiking here, you may see a herd of genetically pure plains bison graz ing the land. Visit the Interpretive Centre and stick around at night, as Old Man on his Back

is a designated noctur nal preserve and offers a stunning view of the Milky Way.

A science-driven organization, the Nature Conservancy of Canada has helped conserve over 15 million hectares of eco logically significant grass lands, forests, wetlands and coastal areas, coast to coast to coast. This has been accomplished through purchases, dona tions and conservation agreements with willing landowners and by work ing with partners.

In Saskatchewan, we

have conserved over 198,000 hectares. We seek opportunities to protect lands that represent the full range of natural habi tats and wildlife found in the province. And we are grateful to the thousands of donors and contribu tors who have supported land conservation and made this success pos sible.

You or your friends may have been to some of NCC’s conservation areas and volunteered your time to help plant trees, build bat boxes, count birds or remove invasive

species. And so, thank you.

Others may have vis ited and enjoyed our sites to hike, view wildlife, take photos, kayak or sim ply recharge, reflect and enjoy time in nature.

Scientific studies have proven that being in nature is good for us and provides both longand short-term men tal and physical health benefits. For more infor mation and directions to a property near you, visit naturedestinations. ca and plan your next adventure today!

October oil and gas rights public offering generates $5.4 million for province

Saskatchewan’s public offering of Crown petroleum and natural gas rights held on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, raised $5,426,564.36 for the province, which more than doubled the October 2021 offering. This brings the cur rent total for the 2022-23 fiscal

year to $34,188,370.54 in rev enue for the province.

The single exploration license and 72 of the 78 par cels posted received accept able bids. The Estevan area saw the most interest, bringing in $4,346,574.09 for 49 leases totalling 4,125.495 hectares.

The highest bonus bid received in this offering is $608,172.96 for a 161.287 hec tare lease south of Oxbow, which was awarded to Adonai Resources II Corporation. A parcel north of Lampman received highest dollar per hectare bid of $6,433.42 per

hectare with Scout Energy Ltd. bidding $419,414.00 for the 65.193 hectare lease. The single exploration license received a bonus bid of $352,333.55 for a 4,345.505 hectare block of land west of Kindersley. The suc cessful bidder was Millenium Land (333) Ltd.

The October sale is the fourth of six oil and gas public offerings scheduled for this fis cal year. The next sale will be held on December 6, 2022, and will feature 133 leases cover ing 18,541 hectares and three exploration licenses covering 5,349 hectares.

Deer Park Men’s Club wraps season

YORKTON—The Deer Park Men’s Club held their 2022 windup at Joe Beveerz on Wednesday, Oct. 5.

The club had another very successful season holding 18 Tuesday night golf matches from midMay to mid-September.

The average attend ance over the 18-week season was 95 golfers every Tuesday night.

Financially they had another successful year with year-to-date prof its very close to $25,000 which will leave them to start off next year with close to $60,000 in their bank account. All of these funds are ear-marked for capital improvements to tee boxes and greens at Deer Park Golf Course.

The year-end priz es were handed out to the 2022 Deer Park Team Champions, Henry Hemmes and Garry Harris. Hemmes and Harris defeated Lawrence and Cale

Wegner in the Team Championship by a 1-point margin over the final 18 holes of the year.

The 2022 Low Gross Champion was awarded to Stephen Oleskiw, who defended his 2021 Low Gross Championship. Oleskiw shot an aver age Low Gross score of 36.071 for his 14 out of 18 lowest scores edging out Chris Burton and Derek Stykalo who were tied for 2 with an average low gross score of 36.643.

The 2022 Low Net Champion was award ed to Dustin Nielsen, who an average Low Net score of 36.286 for his 14 out of 18 lowest scores edging out Henry Hemmes. Hemmes was a close second shooting an average Low Net Score of 36.357 with Scott Piett close behind with an average Low Net 36.500.

Flight Winners Championship Flight Consolation – Logan Coutts and Dylan Johnson

1st Flight Winners –Derek Stykalo and Scott Piett

1st Flight Consolation – Brady Harland and Jim Manovich

2nd Flight Winners –Chuck Orem and Willard Yaremko

2nd Flight Consolation – Damon Syrota and Darryl Flunder

3rd Flight Winners –Brian Weber and Gerry

Smysnuik

3rd Flight Consolation – Ken Burton and Stu Sauser

4th Flight Winners –Mackenzie Shore and Josh Wizniak

4th Flight Consolation – Warren Popick and Doug Jones

5th Flight Winner –Parker Meginbir

5th Flight Consolation – Pat McGerrigle and Neil Pearson 6th Flight Winners –Don Rusnak and Shelby McLelland

6th Flight Consolation – Jamie Holodniuk and Nathan Cherewyk

To close out the even ing, Adelle Sherring from Sherring Optical was

present to make the final three draws of the even ing. Sherring Optical provided sponsorship of three great prizes for year.

John Wasylynka won the Oakley Gift pack age; Barry Neill won the RayBan Gift package, and the winner of the Grey Goose package went

to Brian Andreychuk. Cliff Trombley, out going president of the Deer Park Men’s Club introduced the incom ing 2023 Deer Park Men’s Club Executive. The new executive will consist of Adam Schmidt, Chris Burton, Geoff Jones, Jamie Holodniuk and Justin Guy.

NCC’s Nebo Property in Saskatchewan, 50 minutes west of Prince Albert.

Submitted Photo

Deer Park Golf Course - Yorkton

Photo

Legacy Co-op Tour makes Churchbridge stop

By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer

The second leg of the 2022 Legacy Co-op Tour is in the book with players enjoying the nice weath er Saturday to toss 36 at the Churchbridge Open.

Gage McKay of Regina threw a minus-nine 105 to top the open field, three strokes better than Regina’s Taylor Mountain who shot a 105.

Josh Istace of Moosomin rounded out the topthree shooting a 109. McKay also topped the field in Kamsack, the opening stop on the three-tourney tour.

On the ‘amateur’ side of things Matthew

Verhoog topped things with a plus-13 127, a stroke better than Arlen Nicel of Regina at 128.

Jeri-Ann Brownbridge of Regina rounded out the top-three with a 129.

The final stop will be a Halloween-themed event in Yorkton Oct. 29.

“You don’t have to wear a Halloween cos tume, but we won’t stop you either,” said direc tor Trevor Lyons in a previous interview with Yorkton This Week.

This year, to encour age new participants who just want to come out for fun, the ‘amateur’ cat egory will have an entry fee of $10 and a disc – any disc you have that isn’t

quite what you hoped can be offered up.

At the end of the day participants will be able to select one disc from the pile – starting with the best score to the low est.

“We hope this will get the non-competitive player out,” said Lyons. “We all have discs we’ve bought that don’t quite fit our play style, so you can use it to enter, and take something new home to have fun trying out.”

If you have questions, or want to register con tact Lyons at 306-6203226, or pop on to disc golfscene.com to find an online registration form.

Hyundai supporting Kidsport

Submitted

Yorkton Hyundai has announce they are team ing up with the Yorkton KidSport group for the month of October.

Ron Kaban explains why they chose Yorkton KidSport.

“We are always happy to partner with great local programs that are such an asset to our com munity, especially help ing kids play the sports they love, when other wise they might not be able to,” he stated in a release.

“Yorkton KidSport is a great partnership for Yorkton Hyundai, and we are looking forward to a busy and exciting October!”

Yorkton Hyundai will be donating $100 for every vehicle sold or ordered with their Yorkton Hyundai Breakaway for KidSport campaign.

“We are very happy that Ron Kaban has chosen Yorkton KidSport as a charity that he would like to support,” said Doug Jonassen Chairman for Yorkton KidSport, in the release.

“KidSport is a childrens charity designed to assist children ages 5-18 of families facing financial obstacles to participate in community sport pro grams.

“With the support of businesses like Yorkton Hyundai, we can ensure that All kids can play!”

Whiskers & Tails

What’s behavioural grooming?

Are you looking for a pet groomer?

Before choosing one establishment over another, find out what behavioural grooming is all about.

UNRESTRAINED METHOD

Traditional grooming methods often use restraints to hold your pet in place while they’re being groomed. However, behavioural grooming aims to keep your pet unrestrained while washing, cutting and drying their fur. It focuses solely on your pet’s behavour.

The groomer respects your furry friend’s limits by reading its body language. The goal is to teach your dog to enjoy the experience by taking a respectful and unrestricted approach.

STRESS REDUCTION

Many dogs feel anxious about being manipulated, and the loud sounds of the clippers and the dryer scare them. These emotions are normal, especially when

your pet doesn’t know what to expect. Behavioural grooming respects your dog’s limits. For example, techniques like positive reinforcement and increased motivation ease your dog into the experience. Are you interested in learning more about behavioural grooming? Contact a groomer in your area that offers this service.

Photos by Trevor Lyons