The council of Russell Binscarth met on Aug 25th in council chambers in Russell for their second regular meeting of the month.

This meeting drew 29 spectators to the chambers and the lobby of the buildng.

While Councillor Baseley brought a number of questions to the floor the highlight - which will be dealt with later in this acticle, were the delgegation to council brought forward by Mrs. Jamie Bradshaw, as printed on page 2.

Councillor Cadieux also fulfilled a promise made at the last meeting after Len Derkach brought an issue to floor with a delegation pertaining to a resolution brought forward by Councillor Cadieux that banned Mr. Len Derkach and Mr. Nick Foisy from running in the upcoming election. (See coverage of this meeting and Derkach’s delegation in Aug. 16th issue of The Russell Banner.)

Read more details in this week's Russell Banner!

The Russell Ag Society unveiled their new ground’s sign in preparation for the celebration of 141 years.

Russell Ag Society is very excited to see the arena grounds being utilized more as the next generation of parents and youth are growing and becoming more involved.

Membership continues to grow, as the Ag Society actively has around 40 members or 17 different families. The Ag Society is coming alive again.

They were very excited for the weekend of festivities planned and all the excitement that comes with full grounds. The arena remains to be used by many Ag Members for practice as well as the many events that are starting to come back to the Ag Arena. With the growing interest and the revival of rodeo in our community also comes many benefits and opportunities.

The Ag Society grounds extend from the north side of Russell Swimming Pool and encompass the ball diamonds all the way to the back alley of Mather Street.

Get the full story in this week's Russell Banner!

The Dauphin Kings took the first step towards defending their Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) championship when the reigning Turnbull Cup titlists hosted a rookie camp, this past weekend.

About 50 players hit the ice at Credit Union Place, hoping to impress the coaching staff enough to earn and invitation to this weekend’s main camp.

According to Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley, the team limited the number of players at the camp to include their list players and draft picks, as well as mostly local players.

Hedley like what he saw on the ice.

“I liked the work ethic, I liked the compete, I liked the speed. They’re working hard,” he said, adding Carter Zalischuk had a great camp and some of the local players such as Cohen Smigelsky and Sam Swanton also had good camps. “We’ve got a good cycle of good talent coming up through the ranks in the Parkland and we’re hoping these guys can end up wearing our crest sooner or later,” Hedley said.

About 16 players will join the team’s main camp, which will be held, Sept. 2 to 4, culminating with the JoFo Cup intrasquad game. Hedley said there will be similar numbers at the main camp, enough for three teams.

“It should be some great competition and should make for some great speed and some good entertainment next weekend,” he added.

Some players, such as local products Kyan Grouette and Zalischuk, will be notably absent from the main camp because they will be attending Western Hockey League camps.

“It’s going to be interesting, because main camp could be totally different two or three weeks down the road depending on who returns and who doesn’t,” Hedley said. “But I know we have some good talent coming in. Some good imports coming in and some good kids from Manitoba, so it should make for some good entertainment next weekend.”

A lot of focus will be on the Kings as defending MJHL champions. With the bar set at a high level, Hedley wants it to stay there.

“People look around and say we’re going to be in tough this year. But at the same time, we thought that last year. We lost some real good players the year before with (Grady) Hobbs and (Kolby) Morrisseau. And our top six guys were all gone,” he pointed out. “And the guys came in and filled in and did a great job.”

Hedley feels the defence will be a strength like it was last year, led by Owen Wareham, who turns 20 in October. After the experience of playing at last season’s Centennial Cup, Dauphin’s coaching staff saw what it takes to compete at that level.

“Speed is your key ingredient. You have to be able to skate, you have to move the puck. Playing fast. So we want that in our main camp,” Hedley said. “We’re going to talk to our guys before we start. The compete level and the speed and just the ability to move the puck as fast as you can and to get to hard places as fast as you can is going to be key. And that’s what we’re going to focus on in main camp.”

The Kings will play four preseason games this year, the first coming, Sept. 6, in Swan River against the Stampeders at 7 p.m., followed by a game, Sept. 7, when the Kings host the Superior International Junior Hockey League’s Wisconsin Lumberjacks at 7:30 p.m.

Dauphin will then travel west to face the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Melville Millionaires, Sept. 10, and the Yorkton Terriers, Sept. 11, with both games in Melville.

Inter-Mountain Watershed District (IMWD) has developed new Memorial Park and held a ceremony honouring its first two inductees, Ernie Bayduza and Wes Bernat.

IMWD’s new Memorial Park is located in the yardsite of its office near Ethelbert and is intended to honour the volunteers instrumental in founding and building the district into what it is today.

According to IMWD general manager Jeff Thiele, tremendous growth has been accomplished during Bernat’s and Bayduza’s time with the district, and their work constitutes important building blocks for the next generation which will be working and volunteering in conservation.

Bayduza was a long-time councillor, reeve and farmer in the RM of Dauphin. His conservation ethic led him to become a subdistrict member with the Turtle River Watershed Conservation District 1986, and he was integral in the formation of Intermountain Conservation District (IMCD) in 1997. With the new district, Bayduza became chair of the Wilson River subdistrict and served as chair of IMCD between 1999 and 2004. Bayduza remained an active member of the main board of directors until he stepped down in 2011. He continued on as chair of the Wilson River subdistrict until his death in 2019.

During his time on the board, Bayduza also served as chair of the Manitoba Conservation District Association’s board from 2001-03. He received the Conservation Builder Award in 2004 and Bayduza and his wife Alvina were the district’s Conservation Award winners in 2008.

Bayduza also played an important role with the Dauphin Lake Advisory Board and Dauphin Lake Integrated Watershed Management Plan.

“We would like to acknowledge Ernie’s many years of commitment to the district by recognizing him today as a founder and builder of IMWD,” Thiele said.

Bernat grew up and farmed in the RM of Dauphin and also had a long-time career with the City of Dauphin. He was first employed by the City as the Engineering clerk and went on to become the personnel director. Bernat was later elected as a city councillor. He was a member of the IMCD since its establishment in 1997, when he was appointed as the City’s representative on the Vermillion River sub-district.

Bernat was appointed as Chair of the Vermillion River sub district in 2013 and remained an active member of the main board of directors until his passing in 2016.

Bernat participated in many district events such as the annual water festival, conservation district conferences and meetings and was instrumental in the creation of the district’s water retention strategy as well as the implementation and expansion of conservation programming.

Bernat was chair of the Personnel Committee and was instrumental in developing the district’s human resource policies and procedures.

“We would like to acknowledge Wes and his wife Stephanie’s many years of commitment to the district by recognizing him today as a builder of IMWD,” said current chair of IMWD, Jack Bremner. “Both Wes and Ernie were very passionate about conservation and the health of our watershed. It is important for us to recognize their contributions in our new Memorial Park”.

IMWD is in a partnership with the Province of Manitoba and the fmunicipalities of Alonsa, Dauphin (City); Dauphin (R.M), Ethelbert, Gilbert Plains, Grandview, Lakeshore, McCreary, Mossey River, Mountain South, Riding Mountain West, Roblin, Rosedale and Ste. Rose.

These partnerships enable IMWD to deliver a variety of soil, water and educational programs in the area.

IMWD was recently created after the amalgamation of Turtle River Watershed Conservation District and Intermountain Conservation District. Check out its website at imwd.ca for more information.

History was on display at the unveiling of the Airport Memorial 80, honouring the men and women who trained locally as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

Two five-foot-by-three-foot pieces of granite provides a history of the air training plan, as well as the history of the two air training schools which operated in the area, while the names of those who died during training are displayed on the back of each piece.

The day began with a morning ceremony at Riverside Cemetery, where 15 of the 49 airmen killed in training are buried, and continued with the dedication ceremony at the Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC Airport in the afternoon.

Also on display were three vintage military aircraft used as part of the Plan, a Harvard, a Tiger Moth and a Cornell.

Those interested were able to purchase flights over the community in the historic aircraft.

The memorial was conceptualized and realized through the efforts of local historian Al Gray.

Most of us get pretty excited to get front row seats for our favourite concert or live theatre production. But former Roblinite Jeff Boguski has the best seats in the house when it comes to events like these.

Boguski has been working behind the scenes as a production manager for several music artists and entertainment productions all over the world. Although it wasn’t a career he had in mind when he first ventured out, it definitely became the experience of a lifetime.

Find out who he's toured with in this week's issue.

Hundreds of Manitobans who are waiting for hip or knee replacement surgery will be able to access care more quickly with three new agreements recently signed by the Manitoba government.

The province is partnering with Big Thunder Orthopedic Associates in Thunder Bay, ON; Sanford Health in Fargo, North Dakota; and a clinic in Cleveland, Ohio to help address surgical wait times.

Find out more in this week's Review.

A group of community-minded moms are stepping up to the plate to try and raise funds to upgrade the playgrounds off Newton Bay – known as the Lions Park, and on 2nd Street N.W., aka the Children’s Legacy Park.

There were some discussions last year about forming an actual committee and now it’s on to the next portion of planning and fundraising.

Read all about it in this week's Review.

The Municipality of Roblin’s new recreation manager says she knew the community was struggling a bit in the recreation department.

The on-again, off-again search to find a replacement for long-time manager Trish Boguski hadn’t been going too well and she had been thinking about applying for the job.

Find out more in this week's Review.

During Opaskwayak Indigenous Days (OID), a display was set up in the Otineka Mall with all 50 beaded crowns from OID’s 50th Anniversary. Mother and son duo, Tracy Desjarlais and Cory Constant, beaded the crowns for the anniversary celebration. Desjarlais’ beading talent was recognized locally, after she had designed and beaded a crown for a contestant in one of the pageants.

“I was asked by a friend from Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) to make her little girl a crown because she was in the Angel Princess pageant,” said Desjarlais. “She knew I did bead work and she wanted a crown and moccasins for her daughter who was running as Little Miss Big Eddy. I beaded a crown and moccasins for her, and it wound up being the very first crown I had ever made. I had to figure out a design and how I was going to actually make it.

“From her wearing it around the community that weekend and her mom running the Angel Princess and Little Miss Sweetheart pageants for a while, I was asked to make the crowns for those categories and it went on from there. I believe I started in 2012 when I made my first crown for the Angel Princess, the next year was for the Little Sweetheart Princess, and then I wound up making them for all the pageant categories.”

Get the full story in this week's paper!