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The MGEU is fighting forward once again for the Dauphin jail.
The group has set up a meeting with the legislature to present the hundreds of names signed on their petition to stop the closure.
MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky is hoping to see some steps forward.
“The most responsible thing that can come out of this petition presentation is that this government will acknowledge that the Dauphin Jail is a necessity. It is needed, not just for Dauphin and surrounding areas but for all of Manitoba. Our goal and our hope is that this government will cease the closure until the new structure is built.”
She adds that this is the largest petition that they’ve had.
“Many, many Manitobans outside the area have contacted us to be able to sign. Families of inmates have gotten copies to get signatures towards this. It’s not just the folks that work in the jail. It’s not just the community, but it’s also the inmates and their families.”
Gawronsky will be at the meeting along with correctional officers and concerned and affected citizens.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
Pharmacist Awareness Month has arrived and that means you’ll have a chance to win great prizes through the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy.
March is a celebration of the important contributions pharmacists make to the Canadian health care system.
Barret Procyshyn, Pharmacist with the Dauphin & Winnipegosis Clinic Pharmacy says you can win pharmacy packages and Dauphin Kings tickets through weekly Facebook contests that started yesterday.
“A big part of our pharmacy philosophy is supporting the community we serve. There’s going to be lots of local flare in our prizes and events.”
Going forward, Procyshyn believes the health care system is going to have to rely on pharmacists a lot more.
“I think pharmacists are the most trusted healthcare professional, we like to brag about that. We are doing more for patients than ever before, so if you ever have questions about your health or your family's health, don’t be scared to talk to a pharmacist.”
For more information about the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy, click here.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
Gilbert Plains has had three water main breaks in the past two and a half weeks.
Michael Steven, the urban lead hand, says the water main breaks have been caused by aging infrastructure.
When a water main break occurs, Steven says they have to locate where the water is surfacing and then they have to excavate the site until they find where the break in the pipe is.
Yesterday’s two water main breaks were both repaired by 8 pm.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The World Day of Prayer is this Friday.
The Dauphin First United Church is bringing people together to pray for and recognize Zimbabwe.
Every year, a different church holds the event, and a new country is recognized.
Coordinator for the World Day of Prayer for the Dauphin First United Church, Linda Marlin says that it’s a time where people come together for that country.
“It’s an inter-church event where we all recognize one country. This year the country is Zimbabwe. Everybody gets together and prays for the country but also just for all women in the world and the women of world council.”
The event has been held for 98 years, with 170 countries taking part.
For more information visit wicc.org
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
Early in the morning on February 27th, a break-in occurred at Dauphin Speed & Sport.
Two Black and green snowmobiles were stolen from a locked compound at the business.
The first snowmobile is a 2019 Polaris 800 Titan XC SC and the second is a 2019 Polaris 800 Indy XC 129 SC-Select.
On Facebook Dauphin Speed & Sport reports being broken into two other times.
On January 24th around 3:30 in the morning, Speed & Sport says 2 suspects broke into the compound and stole 2 snowmobiles a 2019 Red Polaris 850 XC, a 2019 Black with Blue Polaris 800 Assault and a 2018 Black with Orange Polaris Razor High lifter 1000 XP.
Two more break-ins occurred on Main Street in Swan River.
Sometime overnight, the suspect(s) broke into the lot and stole two snowmobiles.
On March 2nd, there was a break and enter at the same business on Main Street in Swan River.
The suspect fled prior to arrival.
There was damage done to some machines and an ECM tether cord was stolen.
Anyone with information regarding this break and enter is asked to contact the Dauphin RCMP at (204) 622-5020, Swan River RCMP at(204) 734-4686, call Manitoba Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, submit a secure tip online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com, or text “TIPMAN” plus your message to CRIMES (274637).
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Last night, the Mountain View School Division held their budget meeting.
Bart Michaleski, secretary-treasurer, shares his thoughts on the budget.
“I think the draft budget, as we’ve proposed it, strikes a balance between meeting the needs of education in the division and trying to keep costs at a responsible level. I think overall, the decisions that we’ve had to make, while they’re tough, they have met our first goal and that is maintaining front line services.”
Overall MVSD’s revenues have increased by 708,726 dollars compared to this school year’s budget.
Michaleski says ratepayers will notice a change in how much they pay MVSD because property assessment values have gone up.
“We’ve seen an increase of 9 per cent on property assessments across the division and that’s not balanced increases. We know, again, similar to two years ago, that farm land property assessment has increased the most out of all of our assessment categories. So unfortunately, that sector will bear more of the cost of the levy increase.”
The MVSD mill rate has gone from 15.63 to 14.73, but due to property assessment increases, the school division expects to receive 463,425 dollars more than the 2019-20 budget.
Michaleski says the biggest change to the budget is an increase in the number of teachers by 3.
“We have, for whatever reason, seen enrollment growth. In the last two years, it’s increased 132 students, we’re projecting to be up a small amount next year, so over the course of a three year period, we could be up 140 students. So, we have been managing with staffing levels, but it’s been difficult.”
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Over 2 million contraband cigarettes were seized at multiple retail stores in Winnipeg on February 13.
Manitoba Finance’s Taxation Special Investigations Unit, along with the Winnipeg Police Service seized 2,050,300 cigarettes not marked for Manitoba Tax purposes.
This is the largest single seizure in the history of the Special Investigation Unit.
Along with the cigarettes, $93,230 in cash and two motor vehicles were also seized.
Two men and a female have now been charged and are facing significant fines.
Two of the accused have had prior convictions.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
11:10 am Update:
Gilbert Plains public works is currently working on the second water break today.
There's currently a disruption in water service while the break is being fixed and it isn't clear how long the disruption will be for.
The areas affected now are Findlater Avenue and every residence south of highway #5.
The municipality apologizes for any inconvenience this causes.
9:15 am Update:
The water main break is now only affecting residents of School Street S in Gilbert Plains.
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The south side of Gilbert Plains is experiencing a water main break.
Mike Steven, with Gilbert Plains, says it affects the residents that live between School St. and Heath Ave.
Expect disruptions in water pressure.
A boil water advisory is not in place at this time and there is no word how long the repairs will take.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
This Thursday is the Dauphin Ag Society’s Farm Outlook 2020.
John Gavloski, a provincial entomologist, will be presenting on the main insect threats from 2019.
“We’re going to be trying to forecast or project which of those could be threats in 2020. We’ll be focusing on three major insect pests from last year, flea beetles, grasshoppers, and cutworms. We’ll touch on three other insects that were minor concerns, bertha armyworms, diamondback moths, and thistle caterpillar.”
How bad the three major insects will depend on the weather and natural enemies. For grasshoppers, timely rains in their juvenile stage can be detrimental, for flea beetles, you would hope for quick growing conditions so the crop goes from seed to the stage of 3 or 4 leaves, and cutworms go through 3 or 4-year cycles where they’re bad until natural enemies catch up. Gavloski says last year was quite a bad year for cutworms and hopes we’ve peaked in that cycle.
Gavloski says there’s really nothing you can do to avoid the insects.
“But there are things they can do to reduce their risk, the biggest being, for all three of them, scouting. Make sure you start your scouting, for cutworms, you need to be starting as soon as your crop is coming out of the ground. One of the species that we had a lot of, last year, dingy cutworm, lives overwinter as a partially grown larva. So they will be feeding as soon as the crop starts germinating, so you need to be out there scouting early.”
Gavloski also recommends scouting early when it comes to dealing with flea beetles even though you may get three weeks out of your seed treatment. If it’s a very dry year, it’s harder for the seed treatment to get up into the seedling and the plant might start taking feeding damage much earlier.
For grasshoppers, scout around the field and pasture edges, areas with lush, green vegetation late last year, and start the scouting in late May or early June.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
We reported on Friday that the Dauphin Correctional Centre Coalition group received a letter from Justice Minister Cliff Cullen.
Larry Budzinski, a co-founder of the group, says the letter tries to provide the rationale for what he thinks is a very terrible decision.
“We don’t agree with the points made and we think it’s even misleading at some points. But none the less, that’s the minister’s stance. I think he misses the whole point of our request, which is why are we doing this in the first place? There’s a better way of doing this and we just need to slow down.”
Budzinski says while the group was at the mall Friday, they received unanimous support from across the region.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. People are upset and concerned about the decision, we don’t see it as being necessary at all, financially, socially, or any other reasons that the minister has said. We just think it’s bad and his letter just doesn’t address what we really requested.”
In the letter, Cullen said his office would reach out to set up a meeting and that meeting is happening on Thursday.
Budzinski says they’ll talk about why this is a terrible decision, why they should pause and work with the local partners in the region to build something innovative and creative, rather than destroy things.
“We’re quite willing, there are models out there, we’re convinced there are partners to build a correction wellness centre, treatment centre. There are plans that have been in the works for years, we have the land, there’s no reason to rush into this decision. Just put it on pause 'til we can plan and have the region move towards replacing this and not causing so much social and economic problems. I feel for the families involved, I feel for the businesses in town and a simple decision, he could just stop this now and put it on pause until we find something better.”
Budzinski says if you’re disturbed by the decision and think you can help out, email them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Grand Rapids RCMP are investigating a fatal vehicle-pedestrian collision.
Yesterday around 6:50, the RCMP received multiple calls of a man walking in the middle of the road on Highway 6, north of Devil’s Lake.
While en route, officers were notified the man had been struck by a semi-trailer.
When the officers arrived on scene, a 29-year-old man from Cross Lake was pronounced dead.
It's believed that the driver of the semi-trailer, a 61-year-old man, was travelling south on Highway 6, when he was unable to avoid the pedestrian and collided with him.
Grand Rapids RCMP along with a Forensic Collision Reconstructionist, continue to investigate.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
