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Parkland residents with unwanted firearms or ammunition are encouraged to participate in the provincial gun amnesty.
Taking place all month, you can call the Dauphin RCMP Detachment and make plans for an officer to safely take your unwanted guns.
Constable Rob Tuff with Dauphin’s RCMP spoke with us about the program.
“We encourage people to phone the detachment before trying to turn over any firearms. They can give the detachment a call at 204-622-5020, we will make arrangements to either pick up the firearms at that point or make arrangements for the person to deliver them to the detachment.”
Tuff encourages people to think about if they really need or will use their guns again.
“If you do have firearms in your home, in your garage, wherever they may be stored and if you are really never going to be using them again, do you really need to be keeping them? The message was, if the answer is “no” to that question, then we encourage people to make the call.”
The police won’t lay charges against anyone turning in a weapon unless it was used to commit a crime or was stolen.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The 136th edition of the Manitoba Summer Fair has begun in Brandon.
There are a variety of events to check out during the fair including both outdoor and indoor activities.
There are 5 jam-packed days of events until this Sunday with a mixture of indoor and outdoor horse shows including Hackney, Miniature, and Draft horses
This year’s competitions will feature only the horse show because the cattle one is cancelled this year due to low entries.
Tickets are 40 dollars for a day pass.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Mountain View School Division’s International Student Program didn’t suffer from a decision made by the Province.
The provincial government decided to cut back on medical coverage for foreign students.
Bart Michaleski, Secretary/Treasurer for MVSD, tells us the amount the division had to pay for this year.
“The shortfall we will be facing for the fall, because this comes into effect in the fall, is about $4000 for the year; simply because when we are recruiting students, we’re typically recruiting them as much as a year in advance. We have to have our tuition schedules in place a year in advance, so we had already set the fees for medical insurance for next year is it’s about $4000.”
The division will increase the fees for the fall of 2019, and it will only go up by 1 per cent to cover medical insurance.
Despite having to pay more, Michaleski noted students are coming out a head, because thanks to insurance companies, they will be getting more medical coverage than before.
The increase in fees didn’t deter anyone from participating in the program and this coming year is looking like one of the division’s most successful ones.
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As a part of Bike Week, the Dauphin Derailleurs Cycle Club is putting on a special presentation.
The Master Trails Concept will be presented on Thursday evening at 7:00 at the Countryfest Community Cinema.
Melisa Stefaniw with Tourism Dauphin, tells us how this got started.
“We’ve sort of had a subcommittee working through Dauphin Economic Development and Tourism for the last several years that’s been working with Riding Mountain National Park to determine how we can expand trails on the north end. So after the closure of the Agassiz and with the challenges faced with maintaining throughout the whole park, we really wanted to get some people together to work directly with Riding Mountain on seeing where we could go with the trails.
The event is free for the public to attend with a licenced bar and concession.
The overall goals that the Dauphin Derailleurs Cycle Club would like to see, is for Dauphin to become a cycling destination for tourist and create some world class competing mountain bike trails.
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The proposed changes for the Manitoba Electoral Boundaries would see Dauphin and Swan River together.
Brad Michaelski, Dauphin MLA, is just focusing on this term before coming to any decisions.
“Right now my focus is on the rest of the term, to represent the Parkland region and again it’s too early to make any assumptions of what it’s going to look like in a year’s time or in six months’ time. So there’s nothing that I am going to do any differently and I know Rick and I work together on Parkland issues, so we work together as a team and will continue to do that.”
Rick Wowchuk, Swan River MLA, is focusing on serving the people right now.
“You know right now, I think my biggest focus being the priority to represent the people who elected me as their representative in the Manitoba Legislature and that is where my focus is right now instead of looking ahead to what if.”
A public hearing allowing people to make presentations is scheduled for September 13 in Dauphin at the Lions’ Den.
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Students’ mental health in the Parkland is on par with the rest of the province.
That’s the findings from of the Grade 5 Mental Health Survey conducted in the 2015-16 school year.
The survey asked 25 core questions relating to topics including prosocial behaviour, emotional symptoms, and peer relationship problems.
Superintendent/CEO Donna Davidson spoke with us about some of the findings the division received.
“Our data results indicate that we are on par with the province and in some areas we are above the average. We reported, for example, with no difficulties especially the teacher completed it was higher than the average reported across the province. In that regard, we were pleased with those results.”
One aspect the division needs to work on is mental health and support. Davidson says they have been working on reducing the amount of anxiety and depression reported by students.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Some residents in Pine River are struggling to have a reliable form of phone communication.
Debbie Soloway, a resident of Pine River, tells us about the most recent issue.
“Every time it rains, we seem to have a lot of problems with our phone lines and on May 25 we had a rain of just over an inch. This time the phone lines went out, and we’re talking land lines, and some customers have not had any service from BellMTS and as of today, they still have not come out and repaired those land lines.”
There is very poor cell phone service in the area, and almost all of the residents rely on landline telephones.
Soloway has been placing calls on an old cell phone with a booster for seniors and those who don’t have cell phones. She is worried for those who may have an emergency and need to make a call but can’t.
“Well I just think in this day and age, and that is our communication system and we do pay hefty, hefty bills to have the service, the least they can do is look after the area. They’ve known for many years that these lines that we have here in Pine River, have been depleted to the point where they don’t work good. Everybody’s phone is chattery on a good day, never mind give it a little rain or snow, and then we lose the entire service. I think it’s time they come and fix the lines.”
A representative for BellMTS responded by saying they're only aware of four customers experiencing service interruptions.
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In the death of Sagkeeng First Nation teen, Serena McKay, the teen who filmed the beating and also attacked her, received her sentence yesterday.
After pleading guilty to second-degree murder, she received 40 months in custody followed by 23 months of community supervision.
The judge said initially after watching the video he was prepared to enforce the maximum time behind bars,
He then took into consideration the teen’s traumatic past and fact that she had no prior criminal record.
The second teen, which pleaded guilty to manslaughter, is still awaiting her sentence.
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You can now register for a colourful fundraiser in support the Ste. Rose Arena.
The 1st ever Colour Fun Run in the community is raising money for the accessibility upgrades the area needs to allow everyone to easily use the building.
Madison Connolly, the Ste. Rose Recreation Director, explains where this colourful event is taking place.
“The fun run we are doing is 5 km and you don’t have to run. It’s going to start at Burnside Park in Ste. Rose. That’s basically the baseball diamond fields there, so we are going to start there.”
You can find registration forms online at sterose.ca. It costs $10 for 14 and up, $5 for ages 6-14, and is free for anybody 5 and under.
It takes place on the 17th at 1 in the afternoon.
Colour Fun Run sign up forms can be found online at the sterose.ca or picked up at the municipal office.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Yard sales and garage sales are popping up around Dauphin and there are some rules you should know about before you start advertising.
The City of Dauphin’s By-Law Enforcement Officer is going around town looking for improperly posted signs.
City of Dauphin Assistant CAO, Sharla Griffiths explains the rules around posing your signs advertising your sale.
“It is the City of Dauphin’s direction not to place them on public property or public land. That public land is the boulevards and side of the road, ditches. People are to place sale signs on private property. So, in front yards as an example or on fences. If those signs are placed in someone else’s yard please get their permission first.”
The bylaw enforcement officer is out in the community a couple times a day and more on Thursday and Friday looking for any improperly posted signs.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The Manitoba Metis Federation wants a judicial review of the provincial government's ending of a hydroelectric development agreement with the Metis.
The federation went to court wanting a probe of last year's decision to kill the deal that would’ve seen the M-M-F get $67 million in return for supporting new Hydro projects, including a transmission line to Minnesota.
The federation says the government doesn't have the right to cancel a legally binding agreement.
An initial court hearing is set for June 25th.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
