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Swan River RCMP are investigating after they received a complaint of theft from the Swan River Golf and Country Club last Monday, August 15th, at around 9:30 a.m. 

According to the RCMP, the theft occurred sometime overnight with the suspects entering onto the property and stealing a John Deere Gator — which was missing a muffler — with a Buffalo Turbine Cyclone blower attached to it.

The RCMP are asking anyone who may have information regarding this theft to contact the Swan River Detachment at 204-734-4686, call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, or submit a secure tip online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com.

A photo of the stolen Buffalo Turbine Cyclone blower can be found below.

Stolen blower

Memorial events will be taking place tomorrow to honour Dauphin's contributions to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

Local Historian Al Gray says that the first event will take place at the Riverside Cemetery at 10:30 a.m. and that it will be a commemoration of the airmen who lost their lives during Dauphin's training years, 1941 through 1945.

"Dauphin was host to two air schools... the Service Flying Training School... and the... Bombing and Gunnery School, which was located [around 13 km] east of Dauphin... During the four years, we trained collectively over 9,000 airmen... Unfortunately, during the four years of training, forty-nine airmen from all over the world... were involved in aircraft-related incidents and gave their [lives] in training," he adds.

Gray went on to say that of the forty-nine airmen who died here in Dauphin, fifteen of those airmen — three Australians, three New Zealanders, eight Britons, and one Canadian — remain at the Riverside Cemetery and that they will erect a memorial tablet listing their names to highlight that they came from all over the world.

After the commemoration, there will be opening ceremonies starting at 12:30 p.m. at the Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker VC Airport in Dauphin.

"We will give about a twenty-minute presentation on the history of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and including the history of the two Dauphin air schools," Gray adds.

According to Al Gray, the airport was renamed in honour of Dauphin-born William George Barker, the most decorated Canadian airman in history, for his efforts during World War I.

After the opening ceremonies, there will be a Remembrance Day-style ceremony at 1 p.m., which will include the unveiling of the memorial granite that will be donated to the airport for the public to see.

Gray says that events will be free to attend and that visitors will be able to visit the airside of the airport terminal.

"We will have three vintage WWII aircraft here in attendance. The Harvard, the Tiger Moth and the Cornell aircraft will be brought in... We have pre-sold twenty flights on these three aircraft..., so they'll be flying over the skies of Dauphin [if the weather permits] starting at nine o'clock in the morning," Gray adds.

Gray warns that visitors should arrive around fifteen minutes before the start of the events to guarantee themselves a seat and recommends that they bring a lawn chair if they can.

He went on to say that they'll be providing snacks and drinks and that visitors will get a few keepsakes to take home with them.

After a successful fundraising golf tournament, Ryan Rauliuk sat down to add up just how much money was raised for the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund. Rauliuk says he was in disbelief when he figured out the total was $14,446.35.

"I was aiming for about five thousand dollars and when we started adding up the totals we had to double check it just to make sure."

The tournament was a fun-filled day at Gilbert Plains Country Club, where the score didn't matter, as long as everyone was having a good time. Rauliuk says he was amazed by how many people showed up from across the Parkland.

"To see the results of what we've done, or what the people of the Parkland did because basically, we had all four corners of the Parkland at the golf tournament, it was amazing."

Jim Perchaluk, the President of the Ukrainian Folks Arts Centre says that because of donations like these, the fund has now grown to over $230,000.

"Fifteen families have come in. We targeted for twelve, and a few extra have come in at the last minute when we found them places to stay."

The fund is still accepting donations, and they hope to help as many families come to the Parkland as possible. For more information on the fund, you can call Larry at 204-648-5904, or Karen at 204-648-3567.

Ron Ryz is very pleased that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the RM of Dauphin didn't lay off any workers, the roads were graded and the snow was plowed in the winter. This all when Ryz served as reeve.

While Ryz has decided to step away from being reeve after the upcoming election, he is still wanting to make a difference which is why he's running for council for the RM of Dauphin.

He first ran eight years ago when he decided it was time for the RM to get rural water which they have since received. He also wanted to continue building on what the council had achieved in previous years.

Calling the RM of Dauphin a great place to live, Ryz loves to give back and he wants to continue making the area a better place.

"We did complete phases one and two of the rural waterline project," said Ryz. "I would like to continue with one more phase which should see mainline coverage for most of the municipality." 

Ryz believes he has proven himself as reeve and he would love another opportunity to serve the RM.

"I've lived here myself and I like to think I'm an honest, caring and dedicated man," said Ryz. "I believe I can do a good job and I count on people supporting me by coming out to vote."

During the last municipal election, there was about a 30 percent voter turnout in the RM and Ryz would like to see that much higher come October. 

You can still register to run for Mayor or council until September 20. 

The Dauphin and Sifton Fire Departments both responded to a structure fire south of Sifton around 3 a.m. this morning. When crews arrived, the house was completely engulfed in flames, and its walls had collapsed.

Crews remained on the scene for several hours to ensure the fire didn't spread to other structures on the property. The cause of the fire is under investigation and anyone with information can call the RCMP at 204-622-5050.

As harvest quickly approaches, many producers are worried that an early frost could hurt late-seeded crops. LeftField Commodity Research recently took part in a field tour across the prairies and Vice-President Jon Driedger says frost wasn't the only concern producers had.

"Across most of western Canada, farmers have been pretty cautious about making forward commitments with sales, and that's no surprise. Of course, last year was such a challenging year, early spring was challenging for different reasons, very dry in the western part of the prairies, excessively wet and delayed in the eastern part, and so farmers by in large are a little undersold here at this point in the summer compared to where they might otherwise be."

Canola seems to be very mixed across the prairies according to Driedger.

"In the eastern half of the prairies, the canola looks pretty good, although late, and so there's some risk of frost because of the later developing crop. As you look more in the western part of the prairies, the canola's generally a little below average, maybe the one that a lot of farmers cited as being the worst on their farm."

It's not all bad, however, as Driedger says they saw a lot of crops doing very well.

 "The cereals tended to be looking the best of the different crops. Something like spring wheat kind of looking at an average plus, again depending a little bit on the region. Generally the barly looks really good, I think the oats tended to look quite good, although didn't look as closely at oats, but certainly, the cereals tended to look the best."

 

Dauphin Kings Bingo Returns tonight, with doors opening at 5:30 at the Dauphin Friendship Centre. There are lots of prizes to be won, and the team's Business and Marketing Manager Derrick Brucks is hoping lots of people will be out to support.

"We are super excited to have it back, and we're excited to have people out there. Bingo hasn't been on for a few years and it's a great fundraiser for us as well."

The Dauphin Co-op is still looking for volunteers to help bring the Citizens on Patrol Program (COPP) to Dauphin.

Safety Manager Richard Ives says that they are in need of at least six more volunteers.

"I handed out approximately thirty-five information packages in the two short days that we were in the food store and I received about six or seven of the applications back, which is... good, but we're always looking for more," he adds.

Ives is inviting anyone interested in becoming a volunteer to stop by the administration office at the Co-op Food Store. They can give him a telephone call as well at 204-648-3698.

"If there's an interest for us to have another table in the food store and just share some information a couple [of] days a week, we can certainly do that as well. That information is here. We can hand it out and certainly recruit folks in all sorts of ways," he adds.

Richard Ives says that once they get enough volunteers, the next steps would be to apply for a group with Citizens on Patrol and then coordinate it with the RCMP.

"Citizens on Patrol will come out in person or do some virtual training for the volunteers just so that they are aware of what the policies and procedures are [and] their responsibilities... Then we can go from there," he adds.

He then went on the say that the main focus of the program is to deter crime by being the eyes and ears on the ground while leaving interception to law enforcement.

As the Habitat for Humanity Dauphin Chapter's most recent build continues on 7th Avenue NE, the organization is having trouble finding the help they need. Chapter Chair Rodney Juba says they're looking for two different kinds of volunteers.

"We're looking for volunteers that we can add to our database who would be able to be called upon to help with jobs on the site. We're looking for volunteers that could spend two or three days in a row, depending on what's going on at the site, and we're also looking for companies or businesses to come to the site for a day and have their staff work on our site on design projects that our contractor has outlined for them."

Individual volunteers will need to read and sign a form, watch a safety video, and take a brief safety quiz before entering the site. Anyone interested can reach out to Habitat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Dan Mazier, MP for Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, attended the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the signing of Treaty 2 on Skownan First Nation last Wednesday.

Mazier says that he was truly impressed by the new partnership between Skownan First Nation and Mossey River Municipality that was announced at the event.

"[They] entered into [the] agreement... to try to start talking about the common issues that are in their jurisdictions at the local level, which, having 38 municipalities in the riding and 14 first nations... I have to say is very commendable. I really like that type of approach... It was really good to see those communities talking about those issues right away," he adds.

Mazier looks forward to the many discussions coming forward while saying that the role of municipalities and First Nations is much more in tune with what local needs are.

According to Mazier, this partnership is a positive thing for reconciliation.

"It's about learning about each other and what are those issues... In this particular case, it's two neighbours basically trying to reconcile or [trying] to figure out what is their common need... That's really at the heart of... a good path of figuring out how to reconcile things for the community," he adds.

Mazier says that he would like to see more of these partnerships across Canada, especially in the riding he represents.

"I think we've got a huge challenge of getting [the] government's attention, especially in Ottawa... and rural areas are forgotten about... It's part of my job, but it definitely works better when... neighbours are talking amongst themselves and they have a unified voice of what they need in their jurisdictions... I think it's a really good model for all of Canada to look at and it would work anywhere there's municipal and First Nation jurisdictions living right beside each other," he adds.

Mazier also says that they would help bridge the rural-government divide to make rural Canadians feel less left out.

Bev Sarkonak wants the provincial government to step up as crime rates have spiked in Dauphin over the past little while. From cars getting broken into to things getting stolen from yards and everything in between, Sarkonak says crime is a big issue.

That's why Sarkonak has decided to run for city council ahead of the municipal election which takes place on October 26. Bev wants to see change and although she knows the RCMP is doing what they can, more can be done.

"There isn't enough of them for the entire Parkland area," said Sarkonak. "I believe we need more and many people have come to me to share the same concern. Safety is a huge issue in this community and it's something that has to be focused on."

If elected, Sarkonak also wants to see Dauphin grow and become an even better place to live. Born and raised in Dauphin, Sarkonak says Dauphin is a tremendous place to live and she wants to spend the rest of her life here; however, she does believe there needs to be growth as well. 

"We need more industry. We have Vermillion Growers which is great and that's coming along nicely," offered Sarkonak. "There's open space on Industrial Road and I believe it's time that something happened there for the people of Dauphin. If we can get some industry going, it's beneficial for everyone in the community."

Sarkonak says she is ready to listen.

"We have an amazing community and I know there are ways to make it even better," ended Sarkonak.

You can join the race alongside Sarkonak until September 20 by visiting City Hall or if you want to run in the RM, you can visit the RM office.