For those involved in planning or coaching activities, keeping youth and adults active is a very important endeavor.
It can be difficult to stay off the couch and get moving at the best of times in this busy world. It is harder when the temperatures are freezing and the snow is piled high. But there are activities for all ages to keep one’s joints moving in Boissevain and area, and people need to think of it as a priority.
Although perhaps a quieter year by some standards, there were quite a few changes in Boissevain in the past year, some at the very top.
For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the community was led by someone other than Ed Anderson in 2018, with veteran councillor David Stead taking on the reigns. However, it was an election year, with many possibilities abounding. The community would see a new era take shape in the fall.
The Boissevain Resettlement Committee is looking to “keep it in the family” for the next while.
The group, which has already brought two Eritrean families to Boissevain, is continuing its work with refugees. Instead of bringing someone completely new, they are trying to bring people together.
“We’re keeping on,” said committee member Heather Goertzen, “but we’ve changed our focus a little. We brought over two full families, and they are now both officially independent. Our commitment to them is done.”
Despite being a relatively small program, band and music at Boissevain School are an important part of education.
On December 11, the annual Band Christmas concert was held at the school. Music and band teacher Megan Pokrant is in her second year at Boissevain School, and has seen the impact music has on local students. She said a lot of work goes into preparation for concerts like this.
“Weeks of preparation goes into a concert for our students,” Pokrant said, “and as their director, that looks like many months for me. Planning, score study, instrumentation, skill level and interesting music all take a very long time to sort out. I started looking at music for this year’s concert last April, hoping to find content suitable for our bands to perform.”
It is taking time, but Manitoba Hydro is diligently working to get power back on in Southwest Manitoba after a curious weather turn this past weekend.
The area saw some heavy frost recently, which might make everything look like a winter wonderland, but creates havoc for our electrical provider. Last weekend, the foggy conditions added to the load, which caused some serious problems. According to Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen, the utility was on top of the situation as soon as they saw it move in from the west.
“It moved through Southern Manitoba,” Owen explained, “in a band from Virden right to the border, to almost Highway 75 before it stopped. They never had it in the Steinbach, Morden area. It came out of Saskatchewan, where it did a lot of damage.”
With nearly 210 tonnes of material dealt with at the local recycling depot, the volunteers continue to make a major contribution to the community.
In their facility north of town, the recyclers have been turning used materials into gold for many years now. According to Clayton Fisher of the committee, it continues to go well.
“Everything is going good, pretty steady,” Fisher said. “The numbers are all pretty steady with other years. Some bounce around a little, but they are all still good.”
The biggest change for the group was the addition of the new building in 2015. Fisher said the difference is really in size, saying the new facility allows the volunteers to get all of the recyclables together without bumping into each other.
Those promoting an assisted living project in Boissevain have set themselves an ambitious goal, but one they feel is doable in order to get the job done.
On November 14, the committee trying to build a complex for seniors in the community met with a packed room in the Community Centre. With the local MLA and a Boissevain accountant joining them, they presented their plans and different ideas for donors with the hope of sparking greater interest.
The new water rates in Boissevain-Morton might not be what anyone wants to see, but the municipality says they are necessary to make the utility self-sustaining and to help alleviate past deficits.
This fall, the municipality received permission from the Public Utilities Board to raise the water rates. This is the first increase since 2009, and has been a long time in coming. The rates, as explained in the letter sent out to ratepayers with the November water bills, will take effect on February 1. According to Head of Council Judy Swanson, the move was absolutely necessary.
Despite now being 100 years since the end of the “war to end all wars”, it is as appropriate as ever to remember the epoch-shaping conflict.
This November 11 will mark the armistice that silenced the guns on the Western Front and ended military operations in what was the called the Great War. With millions dead since its beginning in 1914, after the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a South Slav nationalist, the war would shake the world to its foundations and make terms like Tannenberg, Verdun, Ypres, Passchendaele and Gallipoli synonymous with a mechanized slaughter humanity had never seen.
It will not be long before staff and students at Boissevain School will be able to see the fruits of their sacrifices this fall.
Starting last spring, the educational institution began the process of renewal and renovation. Originally built in 1962, with more added in subsequent years, the school needed some work and got quite a bit. The bricks on the wall of the east end of the building, as well as windows are changing, with new roofing, work on the southeast side and a new furnace system. Horizon Builders and subcontractors have been working away throughout the summer and fall, and Turtle Mountain School Division Superintendent Tim De Ruyck said practical completion is upon us.
Manitobans headed to the polls October 24, 2018 to elect representatives for municipal councils and School Board. We will be updating results in our readership area as they become available.
MUNICIPALITY OF BOISSEVAIN-MORTON
Mayor
Acclaimed Judy Swanson
Councillor - Six Seats
ELECTED George Heide VOTES 600
ELECTED David Stead (incumbent) VOTES 572
ELECTED Doug Troke VOTES 568
ELECTED Rhonda Coupland (incumbent) VOTES 538
ELECTED Eric Reichert (incumbent) VOTES 537
ELECTED Rob Adams (incumbent) VOTES 461
Doug Robertson (incumbent) VOTES 440
Lonnie Graham (incumbent) VOTES 403
Elmer McCallum (incumbent) VOTES 359
Amanda Racine VOTES 297
Lloyd Leganchuk VOTES 244
Plenty of interest was shown by Boissevain-Morton voters ahead of the October 24 election, as the candidates presented their views and visions of the future.
The Boissevain Community Theatre was packed as ten out of the eleven hopefuls running for the six available council seats faced the public in the first ever Boissevain & District Chamber of Commerce Candidate’s Forum. According to Chamber President Ken Hole, it was an impressive outing.
“It’s my first kick at the cat and it wasn’t our idea, it was brought to us,” Hole explained. “I’m very impressed. I have been in business 25 years and I have never seen a town meeting like this and I thought it went very well. There were lots of great ideas, lots of great answers, it was great to see the seats filled. There was a wide variety of people here.”
Although voters may have some concerns about issues like taxes, they should also remember the high contributions members of current council and those in the past have made to the community.
This is the message of Rob Adams, a 16-year veteran of the council for the Town of Boissevain and later Boissevain-Morton. Seeking re-election for another term on October 24, he said he thinks the good work done over about twenty years is sometimes forgotten.
“We were thinking maybe I would break one more, and I guess I got one.”
So said Glen Vandoorne about his and wife Audrey’s newest addition to their family. Whisper, an American ex-pat who crossed the border illegally in August took some time to bring under some semblance of control. Work continues, but she is becoming more responsive and friendly and has a good future.
It is quite unusual for an employee to leave a business and then be asked to take it over the next day, but Franz Hoerl had that very experience.
Hoerl and his partner Suzie Rice are the new operators of Border Town restaurant in Boissevain. He had been working there for eight and a half months before leaving mid-September. Hoerl was not gone for long.
“Tuesday was my last day,” Hoerl said, “and then on a Wednesday, I got an offer to take it over. We talked it over and I was approached again and we thought we should try it. I have a feeling for it, and it’s a good restaurant and otherwise it will close.”
With an election looming, taxation in Boissevain-Morton has become one of the issues of the year. For some, changes are badly needed, and it has not gone unnoticed around the council table.
Property owners are the ones who take it on the chin when it comes to paying for things like roads, streets, sewers and schools. No one likes it when fall comes around and the tax bills are due. This has been especially true recently, with a couple of developments occurring.
For one, this was a re-assessment year, meaning that the Province took a look at properties and decided what their new values were. In Boissevain, the assessments went up 8.6%, while in the Morton ward, they increased 8%. This alone will give a tax bill a jump.
Minto will soon be losing its financial institution.
Sunrise Credit Union recently announced it would be closing the doors at their branch in the town. The decision was made in August, and according to Sunrise President and CEO Tim Klassen, changes in technology played a major role.
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The school experience will be a little different to start for both staff and students in Boissevain School this fall.
With classes starting on Wednesday, September 5, everyone will have to work their way around the ongoing construction. Crews started work on the building last spring on a project that included siding and windows on the east side of the building and a new heating system. As predicted, there is still ongoing construction on both the in and outside. According to Boissevain Principal Stephanie Emberly, the seeming chaos in much of the building is no cause for concern.
Harvest has started during a hot, dry and smoky summer that is not looking to provide much relief.
Summer is usually a warm time, but this year has been a bit much for many people. Warm temperatures started mid-May, but most recently have gotten out of hand. By the beginning of August, heat over the 30 degree Celsius range had become pretty commonplace, with temperatures reaching as high as 40 degrees on the weekend of August 10-12. Strangely, the summer has also had some below normal temperatures as well. Overnights in particular have been difficult to figure out. One night will not cool down below 20 degrees, but another hot day will produce lows that dip to single digits (like the morning of August 14), almost threatening frost. Overall, the heat keeps coming.
Duane Latimer of Boissevain proved his mettle in Whistler, British Columbia on July 29. He participated in the Ironman Canada race, starting at 6:20 am and not finishing until 10:51 pm. The race included swimming, biking and running, and it was a challenge to say the least. The temperature was a burning 34 degrees and many people did not finish due to heat exhaustion. There were 2,000 people signed up and only 1,190 completing the race, with Latimer saying he saw many people passed out on the side of the road for the bike/run portion.