Editors Note: Dr. Witzke has also written letters regarding the current proposal before Tri Roads to:
MLA Rick Wowchuk, the Minister of Environment, Dept of Fisheries and Manitoba Tourism
Dear Sir ;
My name is Dr. Ronald W Witzke, a retired surgeon and RCAF veteran who has chosen your region as my retirement home (Cottage Cove at Asessippi Ski Hill) .
This community, which began as a skier’s alpine village, has evolved over the decades to become a permanent home to many families who are here because of the unique ecology, natural beauty and serenity of the Shell River Valley that cradles us.
A skiing resort in winter (a major local industry) and a fishing, boating and hiking destination in summer (another major tourist industry) has made this area attractive to retirees and investors alike.
All of this is now facing an existentialist threat by an application to destroy the valley by placing a gravel pit adjacent to the Shell River, less than half a kilometre from our quiet community. There is already a gravel pit a few kilometres north of our settlement and the river, which, although annoying at times for the noise it produces, does not significantly impact the river and the bucolic beauty of the valley (which is often used as a background for the wedding venue business located nearby).
We have already approached local municipal and provincial representatives with our concerns, but I worry the coalition of big business (Russell Redi Mix and Concrete) and a socialist government will result in money trumping environment.
Therefore, I am writing to you, as the local Member of Parliament (copying the Hon Julie Aviva Debrusin), pleading for any intervention to prevent this environmental disaster. The river provides a hatchery for the spawning of walleye, perch and pike that feed the Lake of the Prairies (a huge tourist attraction) and I fear the dust and industrial waste produced by the gravel pit equipment leaching into the river will destroy this fishery. The river also provides recreation to locals and tourists alike, who enjoy the kayaking, hiking and boating in the serenity of natural beauty provided by the valley.
There is a boat dock by the bridge, the TransCanada Trail runs through the valley and kids can watch pelicans, eagles and vultures soar above while they fish with their grandparents from the old bridge across the Shell. I can’t imagine any of this existing adjacent to a huge gravel pit crushing rock and hauling gravel daily. In the winter, Asessippi Ski Resort is a major tourist destination, attracting busloads of kids and thousands of skiers (bringing millions of tourist dollars) to its pristine runs and quiet setting. Imagine the impact of gravel dust on the clean snow and the cacophony of the pit grinders on the quiet hills; the operation of a gravel pit cannot coexist with this kind of recreation. There must be hundreds of other gravel deposits in Manitoba that are not as existentially impactful to surrounding ecology, economy and environment. There has been no environmental impact study, no fisheries department study, and no economic impact study; surely that is the least that should be done prior to any consideration of this application. Please help us preserve this beautiful unique part of Manitoba in any way you can.
Sincerely,
Ronald W Witzke CD

If - you love fishing Lake of the Prairies
• you enjoy skiing at Asessippi Ski Resort
• love the unspoiled environment of the Shell River Valley
• you own a business that profits from the tourism attracted to these recreations you might want to know more about the recent application by a large local business to tear up the valley adjacent to the Shell River less than half a kilometre from the Ski Hill and Cottage Cove, to open yet another gravel pit.
If you live near an active gravel pit , you know how much noise, dust and traffic is produced hourly, and what it does to the local ecology and environment.
Dust , machinery effluent and grinder noise cannot coexist with a fragile fish spawning ground, a recreational river (fishing, boating) and hiking trails through unspoiled forest teeming with deer, bear, and nesting eagles, hawks and vultures.
Nor can it coexist with a winter wonderland of unspoiled snow on quiet ski runs, polluting the snow with gravel dust and filling the hills with the cacophony of its grinders.
Surely, there are many other locations for gravel pits that will not devastate such a valuable, irreplaceable natural resource and deprive our future generations of the joys of the area as it currently exists.
Please help those of us who live in this valley oppose this application and thereby help your own community preserve this invaluable resource.

Dr. Ron Witzke
Cottage Cove

Editors Note:
The Letters to the Editor printed in this issue have been received through the online submissions to our Russell Banner website. One submission came directly to our office. Both methods are certainly acceptable.

To the Editor,
I am writing as Chair of the Cottage Cove Association. Our entire community sits directly south of the proposed gravel pit, and every home lies within the 1 kilometer buffer commonly used across Canada to separate gravel operations from residential areas. Some homes are as close as 400 meters. For a project this close to where people live, the proposal submitted to the RM was extremely thin, with almost no detail about how the operation would run, what protections would be in place, or how long the activity would continue. It is difficult to understand how a project with the potential for long term damage to the valley could be presented with so little information.
Residents have asked for basic due diligence studies that are standard in many municipalities, including a dust study, a noise study, a traffic and safety assessment, a visual impact assessment, an environmental impact review, and a cumulative effects assessment. We have also asked for clarity on where this gravel is needed, how it benefits the immediate area, and how those benefits outweigh the risks to residents, the valley, and the tourism corridor. To date, none of that information has been provided.
Another major concern is the lack of any plan for the existing pits in the area. Several have been left open with no clear reclamation or beautification strategy. Before approving a new pit, residents believe it is reasonable to expect a plan for restoring the land already disturbed.
It is also important for the public to understand that this is not just a Cottage Cove issue. Multiple provincial and regional assets lie within the impact zone, including campsites in Asessippi Provincial Park, recreation areas along Lake of the Prairies, the Shell River corridor, and the broader valley community.
One of the region’s largest tourism draws, Asessippi Ski Hill—which also serves as a major summer wedding venue—also falls within this zone. All of these areas are close enough to experience the effects of noise, dust, lighting, fumes, and visual disturbance. With prevailing northwest winds blowing directly toward Cottage Cove and the recreation corridor, these impacts will be felt daily.
The cumulative effects of multiple pits in one valley cannot be ignored. Noise does not exist in isolation. Dust does not exist in isolation. Diesel fumes, lighting, truck traffic, and visual disturbance all stack on top of one another. Without long term planning or limits, residents fear this could be the first step toward the valley being gradually torn up over time—and once that happens, the natural character that draws people here, cannot be restored.
At its core, this is a question of stewardship. In simple terms, stewardship means taking care of the land so it stays healthy for the people who live here now and for the generations who will come after us. A gravel operation in the middle of a recreation and tourism corridor does not align with that responsibility.
These concerns are not political. They are about protecting a shared provincial asset and ensuring development decisions reflect the long term interests of the region.
Thank you for providing space for community voices on an issue that will shape the future of our valley.

Sincerely,
Tim Barlow
Chair,
Cottage Cove Association

By Terrie Welwood
Russell Banner
Chris Radford and Don Betke have been part of the business community in Russell for their entire careers.
For most of those years, they’ve worked together, starting off at Clement Farm Supply and moving through a few other positions until the opportunity came up to take on the Napa business.
They decided to jump in and opened up in December of 2015.
After just a little over 10 years, they are now retiring, but not going anywhere.
“Neither of us are going anywhere,” Chris Radford said. “You will see us both in the community, just a little more relaxed now……maybe.”
As of March 1, Owen Orsak has assumed ownership of Southend Auto & Ag.
“After a few casual comments a year or so ago, that both Don and I would need to retire someday, Owen thought he would like to diversify from the farm he and his parents operate,” Radford explained.

Read more of this story on pages 1 and 2 of this week's Russell Banner.

Residents of the Cottage Cove housing development at the Asessippi Ski Resort are raising concerns about a proposed gravel pit in their backyard.
Cottage Cove sits directly south of the pit proposed in a Conditional Use application to the RM of Riding Mountain – dated August 23, 2025 – by Russell Redi-Mix.
Want to know more? Check out this week’s paper.

Not surprisingly, Dauphin residents can expect to see a slight increase in their property tax bills for 2026.

At a special meeting last night, council began the process of adopting the financial plan, which includes a five per cent increase over last year.

The 2026 mill rate of 19.021 is expected to raise just over $8.1 million compared to 2025 when 18.196 raised slightly more than $7.6 million.

When other sources of revenue are added in, the balance sheet for 2026 sets income and expenditures at $23,377,468.

Some of the other revenue sources include taxes added of $50,000; municipal service fees of $12,500, Accommodation Tax income of $440,000; business licenses of $87,500; fines totalling $100,000; sales of goods and services totalling just over $1.8 million; a provincial municipal operating grant  of $1,133,307; a provincial public safety grant of $1,228,312.

“I think the budget reflects investments in our community,” mayor David Bosiak said, adding it reflects council’s commitment to moving the community forward “one step after another.”

“That’s what I like to believe and that’s what we’ve heard from the public. We’re not spending money crazily and we’re not spending money on ourselves in the sense that this is for the community. This is stuff that some people in the community would say, ‘Hey, I wanted that sooner,’ or ‘I wanted more.’ And that’s where we say ‘well, we can only do so much, but we’re doing something.’ So, here it is.

“Council was, I would say, unanimously in agreement to what we came up with in the budget.”

Read the full story in this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

The Swan Valley Sport Fish Enhancement Inc. held their 39th Annual Fish Fry and Banquet this past Saturday (May 2), at the Swan River Community Centre. The sold out event showcased many games of chance, various auction tables and amazing food.  Here, Mayor Lance Jacobson (right), and wife Coralie Gaudet-Jacobson (middle), sample various appetizers set out for all to enjoy.  

With the weather finally warming up enough to let the meltwater loose, the Swan Lake watershed has been saturated and the river systems have been flooding their banks. While some houses in the area packed some precautionary sandbag walls, there have been no reports of major housing damage as of yet. Pictured here, Dvorak Park on Duncan Crescent is inaccessible to those without tall galoshes or hip waders as the Swan River flows faster and higher than normal.

Chris Radford will return to the Municipality of Russell Binscarth council table after being voted in by a large
margin at last week’s municipal by election.
Chris Radford 299 votes
Leanne Bily 142 votes
Dale Sawchuk 124 votes
Nick Foisy 42 votes
This by election however brought out a dismal 30 percent voter turnout where only 608 people bothered to vote.

Over 60 charges have been laid, and five people have been arrested—including the rapper Decepti Kon and his girlfriend Kristen Frankow—after a massive drug trafficking investigation in Yorkton, Bredenbury, Bangor, and the RM of Orkney.
On April 24, Saskatchewan RCMP’s Yorkton Saskatchewan Trafficking Response Team executed search warrants at four residential properties in Yorkton, Bredenbury, Bangor, and the RM of Orkney, and were conducted as part of an ongoing drug trafficking investigation.
During the searches of the properties, officers located a number of illicit substances and weapons. The illicit substances seized by officers included approximately:
-340 grams of cocaine;
-1,035 grams of methamphetamine;
-251 grams of psilocybin;
-49 grams of heroin;
-25 LSD blotters;
-2,282 pharmaceutical-style opioid pills;
-23 grams of dimethyltryptamine;
-1.1 kgs of illicit cannabis;
-5000 illicit cigarettes; and
-5000 pharmaceutical-style Xanax pills.

Turn to page 3 in this weeks Russell Banner  for the full story.