Linda Turko from McCreary laid seige to the Dauphin Consumers Co-op meat counter as she power shopped through her three minutes as the winner of the Parkland Humane Society’s Co-op Shopping Spree lottery.

When the smoke cleared Turko put through $865.12 worth of meat through the till without a vegetable in sight.

Other draw winners included Amanda Balak, who won a $200 Co-op gift card, and Ina Clouson, who took home a $100 Co-op gift card.

But it wasn’t all over in three minutes as the PHS also took home a prize with Co-op donating a shopping cart full of pet food and supplies for use at the local shelter.

A hallmark of Dauphin’s history is coming down and it couldn’t be in better hands.

Troy Angus of The Den is currently on site at the Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker VC Airport dismantling one of the hangars originally erected as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan’s #10 Air Service Flying Training School, which operated locally from 1941 to 1945.

The Den, based in Pierson, Man., is a supplier of authentic barnwood sourced from rural resources. The business sprang from Angus’ reverence for old structures, their stories and the resources they provide.

“Authentic barnwood that’s my business. We’re just into sourcing, salvaging and reclaiming of antique wood,” Angus said, adding he uses those resources, and his expertise, to supply the do-it-yourself market. “And that’s what will lead us to buildings like this wherever they are. It’s the experience, it’s the adventure.”

When it became obvious the building, a portion of which was collapsed, had to come down, its owner approached Angus after learning about his business through media reports on projects such as the dismantling of The Lake of the Woods Milling Company grain elevator in Elva, Man., which stood for 125 years.

“In his research he came across our website and contacted me and from there, we worked through a deal to make this actually happen,” Angus said. “It was getting into pretty rough shape.”

In fact, when he first saw the building, there was a 9,000-square foot section which had collapsed.

Given that, some might think that bringing in some heavy machinery, demolishing the structure and hauling it to the landfill might be the easiest solution to disposing of them.

In Angus’s opinion, however, such an approach would almost be criminal. In his mind, deconstruction is the only way to go.

“You just can’t get (wood like) this, so that’s why. It’s a limited supply,” Angus said. “We’re trying to save every board.”

Angus has been on site since early December, cleaning up the collapsed section of the building and getting ready to begin the process of bringing the structure down, piece by piece.

“I wanted it to look good from the highway at the very least, because there was just stuff everywhere,” he said.

The clean up has resulted in some piles of quality wood he hopes to vend locally.

“It was sort of a slow start to clean up that collapse site and get ourselves ready. And out of the collapse site is what we’re ready to set up, a small wood market on site. We have wood on the ground that we’re hoping will satisfy the local wood market for do-it-yourself type stuff,” Angus said. “This is where the seed money is coming from to make this thing happen.”

There is some quality wood in the building, Angus added. In fact, he can identify where the wood originated based on milling marks he has found. The wood used in the hangar came from the now closed Youbou sawmill, which was situated on the shores of Lake Cowichan in British Columbia.

“I can say for sure that is where wood came from,” he said.

And milling marks aside, Angus is learning about the history of the building virtually everyday through the stories of locals visiting the site.

“I call the gate the story gate because if I leave that open I’ve got stories coming in,” he said. “Someone will pull in and be like ‘hey did you know in 1941’ and out come some facts.”

But there is not a lot of time to talk as Angus hopes to have the project wrapped up in four-to-six months, meaning things at the site will be quite busy. Especially since there is a learning curve to this sort of project, as every one is different, Angus added.

“The roof is kind of the conundrum here. We have got 14 plans, we’ve just got to get them down into one. There’s so many ways that it can be done,” he said. “There’s 91 sections of the roof left. Once we get into the 15th or so, it should be clockwork. So we’ll just go piece by piece.”

Angus is currently working solo, but will be joined by his partner and one other employee when things kick into full gear, with the possibility that other workers could be added and subtracted as needed.

“We’ve talked with the job banks looking at some people that maybe haven’t worked for years to come out here, give them something to do and some pocket money, and maybe something on their resume. I can be a reference for them, or my partner. This is a short-term project, so maybe we can kind of light a fire and help someone. But we’ll just go day by day on that,” he said. “Anything more, the skilled stuff, special talents, we’ll just bring that in as we need. There’s just a small core of three of us and then the rest are kind of auxiliary. We’re going to try and be as lean as possible, that’s the only way to make this profitable.”

And nothing will go to waste, Angus added, as he has already been offering as firewood pallets of material that is not suitable for anything else.

“And what I’ve asked is just a donation. I don’t care how much it is. If you like my story give me a lot, if you don’t give me a little,” he said, adding those proceeds will be used to dispose of the things which cannot be recycled such as the asphalt and tarpaper from the roof.

In the end just how profitable things become is very much up in the air.

“We don’t know until it’s down and in stacks. I mean you can guess all you want, but there’s a lot of things that can happen and a lot of risk trying to take this apart,” Angus said. “So whatever we get, we get and we’ll know when the dust settles.”

A 21-year-old man from Roblin said it frightened him when he learned that the emergency department at the Roblin District Health Centre will be closed on some days, and have reduced hours on other days, effective immediately.

And that’s why Cole Nickell said he decided to write a letter to Premier Wab Kinew asking why the decision was made.

Check out the rest of the story in this week’s Review.

Many are enamoured with the ranching lifestyle since shows like Yellowstone have made its debut.

But former San Clara resident Erin (Paul) Boily and her husband Jason have turned their dream of running a ranch into a reality.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

In the expansive realm of education, every role contributes significantly to molding the future of our youth.

Among these roles, there exists a group of unsung heroes who play a pivotal part in the daily lives of students – the school bus drivers.

Read this week’s Mountain View Matters to find out more.

It was a year marked with celebrations and wondering what could have been when it comes to sports in 2023.

Dauphin Kings

The Dauphin Kings finished the 2022-23 season in fourth place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division, with a 32-21-3-2 record, just nine points out of first place, which was occupied by their Parkland rival, Swan Valley Stampeders.

The two teams met in the quarterfinals, where the Stampeders needed six games to dispatch the Kings and advance to the semifinals.

This season, the Kings started strong, but began to fade as the new year drew close. They enter 2024 in third place with a 16-11-1-0 record.

Parkland Rangers

With a 12-25-7-0 record, the Parkland Rangers missed the playoffs in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League.

This season, the Rangers are in the midst of the playoff race, sitting in 10th place with a record of 9-11-2-1, but they are only one point out of a playoff spot and sit just seven points out of sixth place.

Check this week's Dauphin Herald for more!

2023 is a year that will be looked back on by many as a difficult one from a global perspective. While good news grabbed its share of the headlines, the year was marred by major armed conflicts, unprecedented weather events and natural disasters, all of which exacted a tremendous toll of lost lives, destroyed property and damaged infrastructure.

In Dauphin, as it was everywhere, we had our share of good and bad news throughout the past year.

Here is a recap of some the people and the events which made local headlines in 2023.

January

Dauphin Regional Health Authority welcomed its first baby of the year early on with Major Donald Franklin Beardy arriving at 5:18 a.m., Jan. 1.

Dauphin and District Community Foundation hit a special milestone when it added a $4.75 million sticker to its thermometer at the corner of Main Street and First Avenue North.

Public Works and Operations director Mike VanAlstyne had to go back to city council for more money after the purchase price of a new, previously ordered garbage truck jumped by more than $74,000. Council approved the increased expenditure.

Manitoba’s Independent Investigation Unit launched a probe following the death of a 29-year-old man after an interaction with RCMP in Ste. Rose du Lac.

A group of Parkland residents were presented Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals. Receiving the honour were Kay Slobodzian, Michelle Mazurkewich, Tony Safronetz, Bev Harvey, Carole Shankaruk, Alex Lytwyn, Al Gray, Rodney Juba, Brian Damsgaard and Jim Perchaluk.

City council slightly changed the makeup of the local RCMP detachment removing an officer assigned to the Crime Reduction Enforcement Support Team (CREST) and reassigned them to general policing duties.

February

A review of Dauphin Fire Department operations began as part of the province’s Municipal Services Delivery Improvement Plan. The work, done in partnership with a third-party consultant, aimed to find operational improvements which did not raise taxes or reduce front line services.

Read the full year review in this week's Dauphin Herald!

Even though the amount of snowfall has been less than normal this year, Swan River resident Ed Maga was still able to construct a snowman as tall as his house in his front yard, collecting as much snow as he could from his property and his neighbour’s property on Sixth Avenue North. While the warm weather and rain has caused some shrinkage on the dimensions, the frosty giant stands strong as ever.

Dauphin city council has identified recreation as one of its priorities. And with discussions concerning the 2024 financial plan well underway, the City is hoping it’s partners at the Rural Municipality of Dauphin join them in addressing a longstanding funding shortfall to the system.

The Dauphin Joint Recreation Commission was formed in 1992 through an agreement, based on population, which called for 78 per cent of recreation funding to be provided by the City, with 22 per cent coming from the RM.

In 2017, the RM of Dauphin pulled out of the original agreement, which over the years, mayor David Bosiak said, has resulted in about a cumulative $650,000 shortfall in recreation funding.

“We’re talking to them and we’re inviting them to revisit the original funding agreement when the DJRC was formed in 1992. We’re just asking them to consider that,” Bosiak said.

That is not to say the RM has not contributed to recreation over the years. Intially the council of the day set the contribution at $250,000 and it has increased annually with cost of living adjustments with this year’s funding expected to be around $300,000.

RM of Dauphin reeve Ernie Sirski said recreation is a topic of discussion at his council table and it is a subject the RM takes seriously.

“Recreation is important, not just for the City of Dauphin, it’s important to our citizens, as well, and that’s why we’ve continued to fund them. It’s not at the level that it was in 2017, but we’ve continued to fund it and we’ve continued to allow for inflation in that funding so it’s not as if we’ve been stagnant in our total funding,” Sirski said.

“We still contribute to the capital x, to the repairs and maintenance. That’s a nonissue. It’s the operating procedures that we’re talking about. “What it boils down to is, is this where we stay? If no, then, where are we going to go going forward? That’s the issue and we haven’t come to that conclusion yet.”

The RM has requested information on Dauphin Recreation Services operations and will take the time needed to digest that information. The cutback was put in place by a previous council, Sirski said, and the current council is working to understand why that decision was made.

As a result, he is unsure of when RM council will make a final decision on the City’s request.

“It’s not going to happen this year. We’ve got one more meeting this year and we’re going through all the information that we’ve been provided. It’s such a big file that we have to give it due diligence,” he said. “What we’re looking at is usage. We’re looking at who uses the facility and we’re trying to get a feel of all aspects of the organization.”

Even so there will be around a $100,000 shortfall in programming money in the DRS’ nearly $2 million budget this year, Bosiak said, adding he would like to see the RM reconsider its level of participation in the system, hopefully getting back to the original agreement, which would ease the burden on urban taxpayers.

“Because, in addition to contributing our 78 per cent of operating capital based on the rec commission’s annual budgets, we’ve also, since 2017, made up a majority of that RM shortfall,” he said. “It’s really crimped the rec commission’s ability to operate the way they’d like to. To provide recreation services for all citizens and to provide a lot of free or easily accessible recreation opportunities for our citizens.”

As the community’s recreation director at the time of the DJRC’s formation, and having worked 11 years as a private recreation consultant, Bosiak confidently calls the existing agreement “very, very fair.”

“We were viewed by many in the province and the provincial government at the time, as the best recreation commission in Manitoba, because of that relationship,” he said. “I saw how many communities constantly struggled when they were trying to negotiate municipal partnerships. Some based on taxation, some based on land, some based on other agreements that were very, very difficult to determine. It caused annual angst and discussion. So we had a great situation.”

Just last week, Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute (MBCI) held a special recognition for some of their staff that are retiring and have hit milestones in terms of years of service.