An unfortunate event happened in the Otineka Mall last week, that led to a small fire breaking out in one of the units on the main south floor. The fire was not caused intentionally or through vandalism, but rather a mishap.
“The fire started just after midnight on July 9,” said Otineka Mall Manager Gloria Asmus. “It happened in one of the units and was caused by an e-bike plugged in that had a battery explode while it was charging.

While the excess moisture the Dauphin area has received this spring and early summer has been a nuisance for many, for agricultural producers the impact has been far more significant.

As a result, the Rural Municipality of Dauphin council passed a resolution at its July 9 regular meeting declaring a state of agricultural disaster.

“Just look outside. With the moisture that we’ve had starting prior to Apr. 1, the fact that producers couldn’t finish seeding, the fact that we’re losing crop every day, the fact that there’s a whole bunch of people under undue stress that is caused by all this, we had to make a decision,” Reeve Ernie Sirski said.

“That was the decision we made.”

Sirski said the councils of Mossey River and Gilbert Plains have passed similar resolutions.

 “We’re hoping that in conjunction with our sister municipalities . . . we could put some pressure on the provincial and federal governments, saying ‘look, there is a problem here. Let’s try and come to some sort of understanding that we need to do something’,” he said, adding what that “something” is as yet undetermined.

“What’s the something? First of all acknowledging the fact that there is an issue, that’s the first thing. The second one is, is there something that we can do within the existing programs, whether it be AgriInsurance, AgriInvest or AgriStability, to try and help the producers that are affected. The third one is an ad hoc program that government has done in the past to try and alleviate and help the producers that are affected.”

And it is not simply agricultural producers that are impacted, Sirski said, adding municipalities are seeing their budgets take a hit on roads, bridges, culverts and other drainage infrastructure.

“This whole thing goes beyond the producers themselves, the farmers. It goes into what we’ve had to spend as municipalities to try and make sure that people can get to where they’re going,” he said.

In the Dauphin area, total rainfall, according to the Hydrological Forecast Center, is officially recorded as 223 millimetres between  Apr. 1 and July 1, approximately 137 per cent of normal. Those numbers do not tell the whole story.

“We had significant snowfalls in March, which people seem to forget about and significant amounts of precipitation,” he said, adding it   added up to a late start to the crop year.

“We started the crop and our soil moisture content here locally was full and then we had all this precipitation.”

While it is hard to quantify the extent of the problem across the region, Sirski said it is reasonable to expect that many other producers are experiencing the crop year similar to his operation.

Read the full story in this weeks Dauphin Herald.

The new CT Scanner at the Swan River Hospital has been an investment well worth the while. It has been reducing both wait and travel times for people in the Valley to receive diagnostic services. The CT Scanner has been operational for just over a month and has completed over 200 scans.
“The new CT scanner in Swan River scanned its first patient on May 15, 2024, as part of training exercises, with the system formally coming online on June 17, 2024,” said a spokesperson for Shared Health. As of July 8, 2024, 283 patients had received CT scans in Swan River.
“In the first three weeks of operations, approximately a dozen scans per work day have been completed on patients who would have otherwise had to leave the Swan Valley area and travel to Dauphin, Brandon, The Pas or Winnipeg for care.”
Thanks to the local contributions, half of the costs of the CT Scanner was funded from the Valley, with the remainder from the provincial government.
“Community groups raised more than $1 million towards the $2-million-plus capital project, which includes equipment, installation and renovation of the space,” said a spokesperson for Shared Health. “Shared Health assumes ongoing operational costs.
An open house for the Swan River CT Scanner is being planned for the near future.

Treaune Severight from Cote First Nation travelled to participate in Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation’s Traditional Pow Wow last Tuesday, (July 9) in front of Chief Derek Audy Memorial Hall...

Police are warning the publicas they search for a man believed to be a high risk to offend in a sexual manner.

Clay Byron Starr, also known as Chad Crate, Clayton Starr, Richard Starr, Clay Richard, and Byron Richard, is wanted for breaching conditions imposed upon him when he was released from federal custody, June 2.

Starr, 33, is to reside in Sandy Bay First Nation, but is evading police and is believed to frequent the Winnipeg and Brandon areas.

He is considered violent and should not be confronted. Starr is also considered to be a high risk to re-offend in a sexual manner and females are at risk of sexual violence.

He is described as six feet tall, weighing 262 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He has scars on the bridge of his nose and his chin, and lettering tattoos on his neck. Starr also has sleeve tattoos on each arm.

If you have information on his whereabouts, call the Manitoba High Risk Sex Offender Unit at 204-679-2257, or 204-471-2811, any RCMP detachment, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, or submit a secure tip online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com.

Dauphin native Myles Fee helped guide the Florida Panthers to a Stanley Cup victory, June 24, when th Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1 to capture first title in franchise history.

Heading into the series, Fee said the team was confident.

“I think the confidence level was always high. You get to that point in the season and you’re the last two of 32, so you’ve got to believe in yourself, or you shouldn’t be there. But we were feeling good about ourselves, no matter what the situation,” he said.

After the Panthers won the first three games of the best-of-seven series, the confidence level was at an alltime high.

“It’s impossible to put into words when one more game and that’s your victory. So confidence was high, hopes were high, expectations were high. Sometimes it works for you and sometimes it doesn’t,” Fee said.

“It’s another four games to figure it out.”

Losing always hurts, Fee said, especially in the playoffs. But after the Oilers came back to tie the series to force a game seven, the confidence level never wavered for Florida.

“It doesn’t hurt your confidence. At some point it turns to anger and motivation, especially when you get to see them the next night or two nights down the road. Everything is attainable and you just get more focused and more driven as the games go on,” he said.

The game seven victory, Fee said, was just a matter of will. The hardest game in the world to win is game four, he said.

“And we had three of those to play. But I think the pressure finally shifted back to an open playoffs type format rather than a pressure-filled format. We just play freely. Played our game. Played with purpose and, obviously, the outcome was good for us. But it was just the freedom to play,” he said.

Read the full story in this weeks Dauphin Herald

Children in The Pas will once again have the chance to experience a storytime-like opera through the Manitoba Underground Opera as the organization resumes their summer tour throughout rural and northern Manitoba..
“Manitoba Underground Opera’s Neighbourhood Opera Tour, which was previously known as our Opera for Children Tour, is a summer tour presenting a short opera in English to families across Manitoba,” said Manitoba Underground Opera Tour Coordinator Mélanie Dupuis. “The tour’s goal is to make sure that no matter where people live or what they can afford, they get a chance to experience opera.
“Our performances are presented in library meeting rooms, gymnasiums, community centres, or whatever is available all at no cost to audience members and host locations.

Local Indigenous fashion designer and creator Shauna Ponask stunned a crowd yet again with another one of her designs. This time Ponask’s creation was modelled at this year’s annual Nellie McClung Lilac and Lace Luncheon in Winnipeg at the Fort Garry Hotel. The event took place on June 20 and showcased the Threads in Time fashion show, which Ponask’s creation was a part of.
“I was contacted by Suzanne Barbeau from the Aseneskak casino, who then put me in contact with Giselle MacDonald in Winnipeg,” said Ponask.
“The name of the outfit is Northern Beauty. It consists of a shawl, a wrap skirt, wrap-around moccasins, and caribou tufted earrings. Each piece is made from white deer hide, and plum-coloured Melton wool, completed with white floral beadwork. Each item is completely stitched by hand.”

Accessibility is a huge factor in determining how welcoming a community can be, especially towards those with disabilities. One resident in The Pas has faced some challenges and an encounter that no one should have to go through, but she remains positive that improvements can be made to make The Pas a more inclusive community.
Stella Lathlin experienced a health condition as a young adult that eventually led to her losing a lot of her mobility.
“I had my daughter at the age of 18 and a few months later I started to have symptoms,” said Lathlin. “I had heard of MS, but it was the last thing on my mind. My daughter was six to seven months at the time when I started to go blind and lost hearing in one ear. It was a very traumatic and scary time in my life.

Just last week The Town of The Pas passed the resolution to appoint a new fire chief for The Pas Fire Department as the position was vacant. This allowed the department’s current deputy fire chief to step into that role.
Byron Shangraw is the perfect candidate to lead The Pas Fire Department, for he found his passion in helping people and keeping both his team and the community safe.
“There’s the sense of duty and knowing you can make a difference in someone's worst moment, that you can be one of the ones who help them through a crisis,” said The Pas Fire Department Fire Chief Byron Shangraw. “That's a powerful motivator. Second, there's the camaraderie. Firefighters are a family but not only the firefighters, but their spouses, parents and children are part of the fire family as well, and that bond is forged in the heat of the moment. You trust the person next to you with your life, and that creates a special kind of teamwork.