Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Cutting locks for Taylor

Lindale School rallies around fellow student diagnosed with leukemia

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

Diane Therrien of Hair Expressions cuts Scout

Panko’s hair for Pantene Beautiful Lengths

at Lindale School on Jan. 27, 2017.

By Lisa Goudy

As Scout Panko’s long hair was cut short on Friday, she exclaimed, “This is for you, Taylor!”
Panko joined fellow Grade 4 students Kaylee Hogeboom and Zoey Meger in cutting their hair for Pantene Beautiful Lengths at Lindale School on Friday in the name of fellow Grade 4 student Taylor Duncan, who has leukemia. 

Taylor’s mother also cut her hair on Friday. Pantene Beautiful Lengths uses donated hair to make wigs for people with cancer.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Lisa's Corner: Reconnect to what matters

By Lisa Goudy

I’m a huge fan of old movies.

Take Alfred Hitchcock for example. His thriller films show why he’s the Master of Suspense and I love them. His films are great, with standout cast members and an intriguing story.

The same goes for other earlier films, apart from just Hitchcock.
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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: NDP criticizes Warren Michelson over email correspondence

Moose Jaw North MLA defends his actions, saying information in the individual’s email was ‘inaccurate’

Crystal Schick/Times-Herald

Moose Jaw North MLA Warren Michelson

stands outside his constituency office.

By Lisa Goudy

On Thursday, the Saskatchewan NDP criticized Moose Jaw North MLA Warren Michelson over email correspondence with constituent Shawna North.

“I don’t like what I’m seeing from the provincial government. Their privatization agenda and ongoing budget cuts are ultimately going to cripple our community and province,” reads the email. “We cherish our Crowns and public services, and residents all over Saskatchewan rely on them every day.”

Michelson’s response was, “I have no idea where you are getting your information, but it is totally inaccurate and false,” his email reads. “I can tell you that we are working hard to get back to a balanced budget, which may include tightening in areas, but to this point there are no ‘cuts.’”

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Bee-ing a spelling champion

Sunningdale School holds second annual spelling bee for Family Literacy Day

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

Daniel Cowan, Grade 3 student, spells a word during

the Sunningdale School Spelling Bee on Friday. He

won the Grade 3 portion with the winning word of ‘surface.’

By Lisa Goudy

Whispers of excitement echoed in the Sunningdale School as students, many dressed in yellow and black, waited for the school spelling bee to start.

As soon as it did, the chatter died down to silence. One by one, each student finalist stepped up to the microphone and attempted to spell the word given to them by one of the School Community Council (SCC) parents on the panel. Regardless of whether they gave a correct answer, the student body cheered on each student.

It was Sunningdale School’s second annual Spelling Bee on Friday, which was Family Literacy Day, a national awareness initiative that first started in 1999.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Former Moose Jaw judge’s take on Louis Riel

Submitted photo

David Orr, who was a judge in Moose Jaw from

1996 to 2007, has written a book about Louis Riel.

By Lisa Goudy

When David Orr was a boy, an older Metis fellow, Harry Hourie, used to come into his father’s store in Regina.

“He was a huge old man, 6’6” or so.  He wore a cowboy hat and a buckskin jacket. He would’ve been 85 years old,” he said. “He told my dad stories of the old west,” said Orr.

“Listening to this old guy’s stories made me interested in the rebellion. He remembered it. He remembered the Mounties in their red coats. He remembered the militia in their red coats. He had actually seen Riel and it turns out his own brother, Tom Hourie, was the scout who captured Louis Riel after the battle of Batoche and that’s historically true too. I looked it up and that got me interested. I thought, ‘This old man actually remembers this incredible thing.’”
 
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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Local man wins $100,000

Photo courtesy Saskatchewan Lotteries

Keith Brenner of Moose Jaw recently discovered

that he won $100,000 with his lottery ticket.

By Lisa Goudy

Keith Brenner is now $100,000 happier.

Using the WCLC mobile app, he checked his Lotto Max ticket, Saskatchewan Lotteries announced Wednesday. He discovered he won $100,000 on the Dec. 23 Extra draw.

"I was scanning a few of my tickets with my phone,” he said in a release. “The last one I scanned was the winner. I called my wife over and we scanned it again. We just started jumping up and down and hooting and hollering. We were so happy.”

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Politicos talk in favour of Keystone

Politicians say pipelines are still safest transport, despite recent oil spill

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan

 Conservative MP is pictured.

By Lisa Goudy

Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski was pleased to hear of U.S. President Donald Trump’s revival of the Keystone XL pipeline.

“We’ve long been advocating for the Keystone XL pipeline as you know. So this is good news for Saskatchewan,” he said. “It’ll mean economic prosperity and I think, assuming the Keystone actually goes forward, that it’s going to be a very, very good news story for everyone in Western Canada and across the country.”

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Andrew Scheer has a fresh vision for the Conservatives

Party leader hopeful stops in Moose Jaw to talk about his message and why he stands out

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

Conservative Party leader hopeful Andrew Scheer

stopped in Moose Jaw on Monday night at Grant Hall.

 By Lisa Goudy
 

In four years, Conservative MP Andrew Scheer is hoping to be the next prime minister of Canada and he’s doing it for his five kids.

“I can’t let Justin Trudeau do the same thing to my kids that his father did to my generation and that is leave them with a legacy of debt that they’ll spend their whole working lives working to repay and that’s what happened to me,” said Scheer, as he sat in a private room in Grant Hall Monday night. 

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: A case of CO poisoning

Mortlach woman seeking to help her brother recoup some expenses for CO poisoning treatment

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

The new hyperbaric chamber is shown

in the Dr. F.H. Wigmore Regional

Hospital on March 4, 2016.

By Lisa Goudy

For a while, Jordan Ridley had been suffering from headaches.

Before Christmas, his siblings were unable to reach him, said his oldest sister Jean Perry, who used to live at Old Wives and now lives in Mortlach. Her brother went to school in Moose Jaw.

“We weren’t able to reach him and my sisters and everyone had been calling him and getting no answer. So I phoned the Lumsden RCMP,” said Perry.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Lisa's Corner: Work together for NAFTA’s future

By Lisa Goudy

Today, a new era begins in the United States and if you think this doesn’t affect us here in Canada, think again.

Today is Inauguration Day where, after sitting down with Barack Obama for a traditional tea or coffee meeting and carpool to the Capitol, Donald Trump will take the oath of office and so the first day of the Trump administration begins. For me personally, this could possibly be a scary thought. 

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Health Canada seeks input on lead levels in drinking water

City of Moose Jaw says it will work with the Water Security Agency

Crystal Schick/Times-Herald

A photo of potable water, also know as drinking

water, in Moose Jaw, on January 18, 2017.

By Lisa Goudy

 

The Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water (CDW) is planning to update its drinking water guidelines for lead.

The document, Lead in Drinking Water, is for public consultation taking place from now until March 15, 2017. Some residents in Moose Jaw still have lead water lines that need to be replaced. Josh Mickleborough, director of engineering, estimated that the city has 2,100 lead service connections.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Rounding up junior business achievements

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

Brendan Seida (left) and Yanic Fortier, 

co-presidents of No Bother Baking, present their final

shareholder’s report at their board of directors meeting

at Vanier Collegiate on Thursday.

By Lisa Goudy

After two months, a group of students at Vanier Collegiate now have a taste of what it’s like to start up and run your own business.

Being a part of the Entrepreneurship 30 class, in conjunction with Junior Achievement (JA), is an experience that the 34 students in the class said they benefitted from.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Feeding deer can cause harm, warns gov’t

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

Seven deer were spotted in front of the Lt.-Col. 

D.V. Currie VC Armoury on Main Street on March 26, 2014.

By Lisa Goudy

If you see deer wandering around, the Ministry of Environment is advising you not to feed them as it could harm the deer.

While temperatures these past few days have been moderate, the government is cautioning that nasty weather with extreme cold and high wind chill values are expected to return.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: New Century Club kicks off in Moose Jaw

Crystal Schick/Times-Herald

Aletha Davis smiles for the camera at the

Century Club country saloon social at Bentley

seniors home in Moose Jaw on Jan. 18, 2017.

By Lisa Goudy

Aletha Davis was all smiles as she listened to Harry Startup perform songs at the Bentley Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s wonderful,” said Davis, who will be 95 in April. “It’s a lively place full of things to do … I love people.”

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Sask. sets provincial standard for stroke care

Five Hills has had a stroke pathway in the region for the past 10 years

Submitted photo

Lisa Parker, director of emergency ICU medical unit

and clinical education at the Dr. F.H. Wigmore

Regional Hospital, is seen at the hospital.

By Lisa Goudy

After three years of work from a province-wide team, Saskatchewan now has a provincial Acute Stroke Pathway map.

“This isn’t a huge change for us. We’ve had a stroke pathway here in Five Hills since 2006. So we’ve been following a plan very similar to this for 10 years already. We did a lot of ground breaking work back in 2006. So now this just brings it wider to the whole province,” said Lisa Parker, director of emergency ICU medical unit and clinical education at the Dr. F.H. Wigmore Regional Hospital.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Union expresses concern over federal, provincial health funding agreement

Health Minister says the agreement isn’t what Sask. gov’t wanted, but they are pleased to have reached a deal

By Lisa Goudy

The province and the federal government reached a health funding agreement for $348.8 million over 10 years and SEIU-West president Barbara Cape has some concerns.

The $348.8 million will be split with $190.3 million to improve home care and $158.5 million to support mental health initiatives. The deal was reached one day after the federal government announced deals with Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador reached deals in December.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Feeding hungry children

Sacred Heart School nutrition program receives boost

Submitted photo

Sacred Heart School nutritionist Amber Montgomery

prepares a hot lunch for students, after cooking

two turkeys at home over the weekend.

By Lisa Goudy

Every weekday, starting at 8 a.m., food is cooking in the Sacred Heart School kitchen.

“We know it’s the main meal for those children of the day,” said Principal Elaine Oak. “Lots of times there’s nothing in the home at night. So that lunch is their main meal.”

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Moose Jaw housing sales down, but market remains stable

Association of Regina Realtors releases housing market update for the area

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

The Moose Jaw housing market remains stable,

according to the Association of Regina Realtors.

By Lisa Goudy

Housing sales and listings in Moose Jaw last year were down compared to 2015, according to new data from the Association of Regina Realtors.

In 2016, there were 619 multiple listing system (MLS) residential sales in Moose Jaw, compared to 669 in 2015. This is a decrease of 7.5 per cent. 

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: New gas usage record tied

Eight of 10 natural gas usage records taken place so far this winter

File photo/Times-Herald

SaskEnergy tied for a province-wide

natural gas consumption record last week.

By Lisa Goudy 

Thanks to last week’s cold snap, natural gas usage tied for a province-wide record.

“What that means is basically because it was so cold, people had to turn up their thermostats,” said Vanessa Beaupre, spokesperson with SaskEnergy.

During the period from 9 a.m. Thursday to 9 a.m. Friday, daily natural gas consumption tied the previous record set in December 2016 of 1.33 PetaJoules (PJ) of natural gas. The 1.33 PJ record is three per cent higher than the record set in January 2016.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: RuBarb seeks to further fundraising

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

RuBarb student Brooke Zarubin, 13, shows off

RuBarb’s moveable pillar as part of the Pillar Project.

By Lisa Goudy

Next time you are at a RuBarb Productions performance, you’re going to notice a three-dimensional pillar there as well.

The local non-profit company has launched their Pillar Project, a new fundraising campaign to support three of RuBarb’s student programs: RuBarb JAM with Junior Ambassadors participating in events in Saskatchewan on their ABC Tour for acceptance, belonging and courage, launching special needs programming and supporting their student subsidy program. Built by Ed Koop, RuBarb staff can roll it up the street.

“It’s to raise funds to lend stability to the RuBarb operations,” said Glenn Hagel, board chair.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Thank you, Darian

By Lisa Goudy

I was shocked when I heard Friday morning the Saskatchewan Roughriders traded Darian Durant to the Montreal Alouettes.

I know he really wanted to stay and, to be honest, so did I. I know I am not alone in this. Even Riders’ head coach and general manager Chris Jones said he wanted Durant to stay. I really thought they’d come to an agreement.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Riders trade Durant to Montreal

By Lisa Goudy

The next game Darian Durant plays in the CFL, he will not be a Saskatchewan Roughrider.

Friday morning, the rights to the Riders’ veteran quarterback were traded to the Montreal Alouettes. In exchange, the Riders picked up a fourth-round selection, 32^nd overall, in the 2017 CFL draft and a conditional second-round pick in the 2018 draft.

“We feel that we got a good, fair deal,” said Riders’ head coach and general manager Chris Jones.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Planning for potential school bus cancellations

Parents need to have a backup plan for kids in case a bus is cancelled, say school divisions

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

Buses in the Prairie South School Division and

Holy Trinity Catholic School Division were

cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday.

 By Lisa Goudy

Because of the extreme cold warnings in Moose Jaw the past two days, Clarke Baker has been starting work at 4 a.m. to see if he’s going to cancel school buses.

“I make a call around probably five or six in the morning,” said Baker. “We don’t want kids waiting because they can freeze.”

For the last five years of his eight total years working at Prairie South School Division (PSSD), he’s been the transportation manager and part of his duties include deciding when to cancel a bus.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Preventing suicide on social media

“Live.me” app needs user moderation to prevent tragedy, says volunteer

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

Norm Price live streams a

video in the Times-Herald office.

By Lisa Goudy

Norm Price says he spends an average of 18 to 20 hours per day using the “Live.me” app on his cellphone to help kids.

The free app allows users to broadcast live videos and watch other users’ live streaming videos. Price uses it to help find and report cyberbullying to police around the world.

It’s a mission that Price (who lives in Aneroid, Sask., 75 kilometres southwest of Gravelbourg) got started after he heard of a disturbing video of Katelyn Davis, 12, who allegedly live-streamed her suicide on the application on Dec. 30, 2016. 

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Plunging for a cause

Local Saskatchewan Law Enforcement Torch Run district to hold Polar Plunge for Special Olympics

Submitted photo

The Moose Jaw district of the Saskatchewan Law

Enforcement Torch Run are holding a Polar Plunge next month.

By Lisa Goudy

Const. Landon Giraudier has never plunged into a bin of cold water, but 2017 will mark his first time.

“Hopefully we have good weather for it and it’s going to be seasonally overwarm,” he said. “People ask me, ‘What’s the temperature going to be?’ I say, ‘I don’t know because I don’t care. I’m plunging either way. It’s going to be fun.’”

Members of the local Saskatchewan Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) district are holding Moose Jaw’s first Polar Plunge as a fundraiser for Special Olympics Saskatchewan

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Police find cocaine, methamphetamine in home

 By Lisa Goudy

Three people have been charged after local police executed a search warrant on Sunday and discovered cocaine, methamphetamine and a firearm in a residence.

Members of the Moose Jaw Police Service executed a search warrant on the 1200 block of Iroquois Drive, during which they took five people into custody. 

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Looking back at two Sask. government controversies of 2016

Wakamow Valley is pictured. File photo/Times-Herald

By Lisa Goudy

Moose Jaw MLAs Greg Lawrence and Warren Michelson saw a lot of highlights this past year, but also many tough decisions.

Wakamow Valley funding cut

For Lawrence, MLA for Moose Jaw Wakamow, having served on the Wakamow Valley board, supporting the decision to cut the province’s $157,000 in funding to the valley was one of his most difficult choices.

“We had tough decisions, but (it was) compared to closing a school or closing a hospital or cutting long-term care beds, which the previous government had some really tough decisions to make,” said Lawrence.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: DFFH board hires two consultants

Lisa Goudy/Times-Herald

Mosaic Place is pictured.

By Lisa Goudy

The Downtown Facility and Fieldhouse board has hired two consultants to reviews the operations of Mosaic Place and Yara Centre.

George Fowler, manager of the city-owned facilities at the Moose Jaw Exhibition Grounds, and Will Antonishyn, who worked at the Credit Union Centre, (now called SaskTel Centre) as the director of finance and ticketing, will investigate the two facilities’ operations.

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Fighting for ‘honesty’

File photo/Times-Herald
Saskatchewan NDP Interim Leader Trent Wotherspoon is pictured.

Sask. NDP Opposition Leader Trent Wotherspoon looks back on 2016

By Lisa Goudy

The first words that come to mind for Trent Wotherspoon when thinking about 2016 are “interesting” and “really building.”

The year didn’t get off to a great start for the Saskatchewan New Democrats after a “very difficult election result,” said Wotherspoon, interim leader of the Official Opposition. In April’s election, the Sask. Party was re-elected with 51 seats and NDP won 10 seats. Former leader Cam Broten failed to win his seat and resigned his leadership. Wotherspoon has served as interim leader since April 23.

“I’m enjoying it. I’m proud and thankful to work with our impressive team of MLAs who are fully invested in this work,” he said.

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