It is a time-honoured journalistic tradition at this time of year to look back on the year that was. The following stories were the biggest news of 2015 as judged by the editorial staff of Yorkton This Week.
10. Hospital laundry closes
The Sunrise Regional Laundry was closed for good in June.
The facility had been scheduled to close Sept. 11, as the province moved to a single provincial laundry located in Regina for all health regions.
However, citing identified safety requirements, the Sunrise Health Region Executive and Regional Health Authority took the decision to accelerate the planned closure of the laundry facility to June 19.
Pearl Blommaert, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees 4980 said the early closure was unexpected.
However, safety was cited as the core reason.
“Safety for everyone is our number one priority,” said president and CEO, Suann Laurent at the time. “In Sunrise Health Region we promote a culture of safety and we need to stop the line every time safety is in question.”
9. Canadian gold event hosted
It was a dominant week for British Columbia golfers in August at Deer Park Golf Course in Yorkton.
At the end of four rounds in the Canadian Junior Girls Championship, Michelle Kim of Surrey, B.C. stood alone atop the leader board with a 6-under-par 286.
“This is probably the biggest achievement that I’ve ever made,” she said. “I still can’t believe it. It feels amazing especially because it is my last junior tournament and I’ve worked really hard.”
The win gave Kim a berth in the 2016 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at the Ken-Wo Golf Club in New Minas, Nova Scotia July 26 to 29 and exemptions into the 2016 season’s three Canadian Women’s Tour events.
The 18-year-old had no plans of turning pro, however. Next year she plans to start school at the University of Idaho where she will play NCAA golf.
Kim’s teammate and fellow Surrey resident Hannah Lee carded a two-under 71 in the final round Friday to claim solo second place and the Juvenile Division title for girls 16 and under.
The Saskatchewan team which included Melville’s Chloe Sies along with Hobson and Kayla Sawchuk of Prince Alberta finished 36-strokes back in a tie for sixth with Team Alberta and Team Nova Scotia.
Jason St. Jacques, a spokesperson for Golf Canada said Yorkton and Deer Park did an excellent job of hosting.
“Deer Park was great,” he said “The course was in awesome condition.”
8. New MP elected
The big news nationally of 2015 was, of course, the federal election and a generational change in government that saw Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party sweep most of the country and form a majority government.
Saskatchewan, and the local riding of Yorkton-Melville not surprisingly bucked the trend, but still sent a new MP to Ottawa. Last year, Garry Breitkreuz announced he was retiring after serving as the riding’s representative for more than 20 years.
In November 2014, the Yorkton-Melville Conservative Association elected Cathay Wagantall, an Esterhazy businessperson, as its candidate for the October 19, 2015 general election.
Although Wagantall’s margin of victory was less than prior Conservative victories, she still bested the competition—Doug Ottenbreit (NDP), Brooke Brooke Malinoski (Liberal) and Elaine Hughes (Green)—with more than double the votes of the three others combined.
“On the larger scale, of course we’re disappointed in the outcome, but at the same time, Canadians have spoken and they’ve spoken in huge numbers, so we’re prepared to go to Ottawa and I have a lot to assimilate yet and hear exactly how we’re going to proceed, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity to hold the new government accountable,” Wagantall said.
7. Former Yorkton cop charged
Alan John Davidson was a Mountie in Yorkton from 1987 to 1991. In March 2014, the former hockey and baseball coach was charged with sexual offences against eight youth from B.C. that allegedly occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s before he became an RCMP member.
Authorities reached out to other communities where Davidson had lived and, in March 2015, laid three new charges related to incidents with youth that allegedly occurred in Yorkton while he was stationed here.
Davidson appeared in Yorkton court on April 2 and was released on $2,500 bail.
He is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing in Yorkton April 20 and 21, 2016.
6. Yorkton serial killer?
On May 9, 2014, when police charged former Sacred Heart High School student Clayton Eichler with the murder of Richele Bear, he officially became a suspected serial killer as he already faced a first-degree murder charge in the death of Kelly Goforth.
Goforth was found in a dumpster in September 2013. Bear’s body was never found, but police believe they have enough evidence to support charges of both murder and defiling a dead body by having sex with it.
In 2015, police confirmed they were also investigating a connection between Eichler and the disappearance of Kim Cruickshank, another Regina woman whom was friends with Eichler and sometimes took care of his young son.
Eichler appeared in Regina Provincial Court on November 2 for what was supposed to be a two-week preliminary hearing, but defence consented to going directly to trial. The defendant elected to be tried by judge at jury at Court of Queen’s Bench. A trial date is yet to be set.
5. Major Mosaic expansion
A$1.7 billion expansion of Mosaic’s K3 potash mine project at Esterhazy announced in March was seen as having a hugely positive affect Yorkton according to Mayor Bob Maloney at the time.
“Any development in potash is good news for the city of Yorkton,” Maloney said.
“It will result in more jobs and more jobs means more business for Yorkton; you get more people shopping here, more people building homes. We build subdivisions when Mosaic announces something. Miners make good money and they live in houses; they don’t live in apartments for the most part.”
As it is, 133 of the operation’s permanent employees and their families already live in the city.
Mosaic had not released how many permanent jobs the expansion might create because that is approximately eight years in the future. However, in the interim, Sarah Fedorchuk, senior director of public affairs, said at least 300 skilled trades people and up to 600 will be employed in the construction.
“We anticipate it will be really, really great for the local economy,” she said.
Maloney saw a lot of spin-off benefits for Yorkton.
“When you look at those kinds of dollars, some of it will be spent in the local region,” he said. “Mosaic always does a good job of trying to make sure that they support local suppliers because then they’ve got ongoing assistance as they develop.”
4. Dracup project approved
In July, Yorkton Council approved a major expenditure in road improvements.
At its regular meeting July 13, Yorkton Council took the unusual step of discussing a near $6.5 million expenditure in-camera, out of the view of both the public and media.
It was during the in-camera session Council decided to extend the Acadia Paving Ltd. contract to complete roadway improvements on Dracup Avenue North ($2,184,000), a round-about at the Dracup/Darlington intersection ($966,000) and Dracup Avenue South ($1,752,400) for a total cost of $4,902,400.
Acadia had earlier been awarded the contract on the work being done on Highway #10 in front of the Parkland Mall and Mayhew.
Council also authorized a budget for underground infrastructure work for Dracup Avenue North ($2,212,500) and Dracup Avenue South ($4,225,000) for a total of $6,437,500. Work is to commence immediately on Dracup Avenue North, and tenders to be brought back to Council for Dracup Avenue South.
City Manager Lonnie Kaal called the process in this case was “untypical”, noting generally budget items are discussed in strategic planning sessions, not in an in-camera session. However there was some urgency with this decision, if it were to proceed this year, she said.
3. GSSD v. CTTCS and the Province
After 10 years, a dispute between the Yorkton public and separate school divisions over the school in Theodore finally got under way November 9.
In initial 2005 suit, launched by what was then the York School Division, plaintiff alleged the creation of a separate school division in Theodore contravened the Education Act.
Minority religion education rights are protected in Saskatchewan by the Canadian Constitution. Good Spirit School Division, however, is arguing that the Catholic school in Theodore was created not to serve the minority Catholic population, but to circumvent the public board’s decision to close the school and bus students to nearby Springside based on the fact that most of the students are non-Catholic.
Christ the Teacher Catholic Schools maintain it has “the right to decide to admit non-Catholic School students and to determine the extent to which their admission allows us to maintain a truly authentic faith-based Catholic school system,” according to an open letter circulated just before the trial began. “Our faith is a journey that includes inquiry of non-Catholics and growth of existing members. This requires inclusion and a welcoming spirit.”
The case is ongoing.
2. Mildenberger guilty in Usherville murder
In March 2009, Gwenda Gregory was found brutally murdered in her Usherville home.
In June 2012, her neighbour, Jaycee Mildenberger, was charged with first-degree murder.
His trial was scheduled to start in January 2015, but was adjourned.
Finally, on June 8, more than six years after the crime and exactly three years after Mildenberger’s arrest, the trial began with the stunning revelation police had cracked the case with an elaborate seven-month long Mr. Big operation leading to two videotaped confessions.
The first confession took place in a warehouse in Winnipeg where Mildenberger laid out the grisly details of the crime to a phony organized crime “fixer.” The second, corroborating confession was delivered to investigators at RCMP “F” Division headquarters in Regina.
At trial, prosecutor Andrew Wyatt painstakingly laid out the evidence for a jury and culminating with the two confession videos.
The defence countered by putting the defendant himself on the stand to recant his confessions. Saskatoon defence attorney Brian Pfefferle argued Mildenberger lied because investigators manipulated him into believing his family would be in danger if he didn’t tell them what they wanted.
The jury didn’t buy it taking just eight-and-a-half hours to convict Mildenberger of first-degree murder.
Madam Justice C.L. Dawson wasted no time pronouncing the mandatory life sentence with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. With time-served, and barring a successful appeal Mildenberger will be in prison until at least June 8, 2037. He will be 71 years old.
1. Trades & Technology Centre opens
After years of planning, and months of construction Parkland College opened its new Trades & Technology Centre in September.
The $19 million facility allows the college the better needs of students in the area, and better meet the needs the students in the area, said Dwayne Reeve, president of the Parkland College. There are 100 students in the facility right now, with plans for 300 training spaces.
“It’s a really wonderful teaching environment, and it’s also a wonderful facility in terms of what we have for equipment and programs.”
The facility means the College can offer more programs, Reeve said, as well as offering more in depth programming, and allowing students more time to get practical experience with equipment. While the Power Engineering lab, one of the cornerstones of the new college, is not completely finished, Reeve said it would be one of the best facilities in the province.
“We will be able to train highly skilled workers that will then go back into the workforce, be employed by many of the industries and small businesses in our communities, and ultimately create vibrant communities, and that’s what everyone wants, the region to continue to grow, expand and develop.”
The expected cost was $15 million, but Reeve says that the extra cost came in a lot of the intricate equipment required for much of the programming.
The provincial government was a partner in the facility. Other partners included the federal government, industries in the area like Mosaic and PotashCorp, the City of Yorkton as well as the local businesses.
Past president Fay Myers was also an instrumental part of getting the facility off the ground. The planning began six years ago, and Myers says that much of the very early planning involved talking to people and finding out what they needed for their industry.
“It started six years ago basically by talking to people and putting a small group together at the college and putting a plan and a vision together.”
Myers admitted it was a little bit surreal to be stand in the centre on the grand opening.
“I’ve seen it through the sod turning all the way through the construction, all of the planning, all of the people involved in planning room to room to room, it’s a wonderful building, a wonderful concept and a wonderful college for this region. I know that the Parkland College will go forward and do more.”
The official opening took place in November.
