Life in the fast lane

Jason Kerr
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Life in the fast lane

When Dale Anderson sits in his back yard it’s hard to escape the sounds of vehicles speeding down 12th Street Northwest and Fifth Avenue.

Anderson has lived near the intersection, located in the Nordale area of Prince Albert, since 1994. He’s one of several local residents who say the intersection is becoming a danger for motorists and pedestrians.

The intersection is surrounded on several sides by towering evergreens, which makes it difficult to identify oncoming traffic. It’s also near a school bus pick-up and drop-off area, so it sees a high volume of pedestrian traffic.

Anderson is worried the intersection is a disaster waiting to happen.

“Some kids are going to get killed,” he says.

Motorists driving through the area face a speed limit of 40 km/h, but Anderson estimates that many drivers hit at least 50 to 60 mph.

Another resident says the drivers near his house are going even faster. Brad Dent lives just down the street from Anderson. He says drivers are hitting speeds of 80 km/h by the time they pass his residence. Like Anderson, he’s concerned about safety.

For more on this story please see the Jan. 14 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald.

CORRECTION:

A previous version of this article mistakenly identified the intersection as on 12th Street Northwest and Sixth Avenue. The correct location is Fifth Avenue.

Digging into the issues

Jason Kerr
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Digging into the issues

With another ward neighbourhood meeting in the books, city administrators are turning their attention to tackling some of the problems identified on Thursday, and in some cases it’s a complicated process.

That’s especially true for Ward 2, which held their first neighbourhood meeting of the year on Jan. 12 at City Hall. The ward is the largest and most diverse in the community, and while that has it’s benefits, it also brings some challenges

“You’ve got a real rural part north of the river, so that’s very much a different flavor,” city planning director John Guenther said. “It’s an not an urbanized area, it’s a rural area.”

Guenther said it’s good for city’s to have as much variety as possible, but fixing some of the ward’s concerns may take some time.

In particular, questions raised about the state of Little Red River Park will have to wait until November, which the city officially presents its Parks and Recreation Action Plan.

“We’ll have a committee or structure that’s reporting to council that will help implement (the plan),” Guenther explained. “That will happen later in the year. You don’t want to jump ahead of those things too quickly.”

For more on this story please see the Jan. 14 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald.

Life saving program comes to P.A.

Jason Kerr
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Life saving program comes to P.A.

After seeing use in Alberta and British Columbia, the Take Home Naloxone program is expanding to Saskatchewan.

On Monday, the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region announced that 50 of the kits would be made available to Prince Albert residents, along with the required training.

The kits are designed to help lower the number of deaths caused by overdosing on opioids, like fentanyl. It’s a model that local healthcare workers say is long overdue in the city.

“For us to have this (program) available, it’s part of the service we need to provide the community,” said Steven Mah, the nursing unit manager at Access Place in Prince Albert. “It’s very important, and I’m very proud to be able to offer this kit through our site.”

The kit includes doses of Naloxone, an antidote to painkillers such as fentanyl, morphine, heroin, methadone and oxycodone, as well as a syringe, alcohol swab and plastic gloves. It’s designed to allow anyone to postpone the damage caused by overdosing long enough for the patient to receive medical treatment.

Anyone who wishes to use the kits will have to undergo a training program that lasts between 15 and 30 minutes. An addictions councilor and a registered nurse will provide the training.

For more on this story, please see the Jan. 10 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald.

Foodie fairway

Jason Kerr
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Foodie fairway

Inaugural mini-golf challenge lets local residents play with their food

When administrators from the Gateway Mall came to Prince Albert Food Bank director Wes Clarke with their latest fundraising idea, he couldn’t wait to say yes.

The food bank and mall are partnering together for the city’s inaugural Canned Food Mini-Golf Challenge, an event Clark said they’re excited to begin.

I like the fact that it was a fun thing for people to do, and the fact that it was family oriented,” he explained. “Those two items, children and family, that is our mandate here at the food bank. That’s where our focus is.”

While most mini-golf courses utilize bricks and wood, this one will be built out of something different: food. Sponsors will be tasked with designing one hole of mini-golf using nothing but donated cans and boxes of food for the boundaries and obstacles.

For more on this story, please see the Jan. 6 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald.

New direction for Wolf Back a Beer

Jason Kerr
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New direction for Wolf Back a Beer

The Mann Art Gallery’s Wolf Back a Beer fundraiser will have a different focus this year, and organizers couldn’t be happier.

The annual event began six years ago to raise money for the purchase of a bronze wolf sculpture by Joe Fafard. The sculpture was officially installed last spring, but the fundraiser it inspired is still going strong.

“We’re happy to move on,” Mann Art Gallery curator Jesse Campbell chuckled during an interview on Thursday.

“We received such good feed back from the community, and people were a little bit concerned when we installed the sculpture that the fundraiser would no longer exist,” Campbell explained.

Instead of focusing on one major project, funds from the 2017 event will go towards the gallery’s day-to-day operations. Campbell said there’s always a need for dollars to fund the various gallery programs, and that funding isn’t always easy to come by.

For more on this story, please see the Jan. 6 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald.

Aiming big

Jason Kerr
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Aiming big

The Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan is looking for bigger and better things from the Walk for Alzheimer’s.

The annual fundraiser is scheduled to kick off on Jan. 22 in Prince Albert, and Angela Klaassen, the society’s event coordinator, said they’re hoping to expand an already successful event.

“We all know someone who has the disease, or is suffering with another dementia,” she explained. “I think (the issue) is near and dear to a lot of people.”

Last years event brought out roughly 50 walkers who raised $4,400 for the society. The event was one of five held across Saskatchewan, and in total, fundraisers combined to amass $1750,000.

Organizers are hoping to see those numbers increase again this year. The goal is to hit the 100-walker attendance mark in Prince Albert, and raise $200,000 province-wide.

Rules of the road

Jason Kerr
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Rules of the road

Council concerned about liability as it considers making Diefenbaker Bridge wheelchair accessible

The City of Prince Albert has put a plan that would make Diefenbaker Bridge more wheelchair accessible on hold while they consider safety and legal obligations.

Currently, only the northbound approach from 12th Street West is wheelchair accessible, but control access roadways are making it difficult to change the other three access points.

According to a report written by the city’s manager of capital projects, those roadways give cars the right of way over pedestrians, and there is concern this could prove dangerous to pedestrians using a wheelchairs or walkers.

Mayor Greg Dionne expressed a desire to make the bridge more accessible, but was concerned about potential legal ramifications.

“If we leave it, and we have a sign there, ‘cross at your own risk,’ and they cross and get hit, is there some legal ramifications (for) to the city?” Dionne said during a debate on the matter in city council. “That’s my question, because if there isn’t any, then take (the barrier) down.”

For more on this story, please see the Dec. 31 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald.

Temporary delays at Victoria Hospital

Jason Kerr
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Temporary delays at Victoria Hospital

Space is at a premium in the Victoria Hospital, after the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region (PAPHR) announced several inpatient units were operating at overcapacity on Thursday.

PAPHR CEO Cecile Hunt made the announcement on Thursday afternoon, and asked residents to be patient as staff worked through the backlog.

“We’re at overcapacity on several of the inpatient units, and because of that, the wait time in the emergency department is currently extended,” Hunt said. “We want to make sure any patients coming to the emergency room with non-emergency or nun-urgent health concerns know that they may experience an extended wait time.”

Typically, the hospital’s inpatient units operate somewhere between 85 and 100 per cent capacity. On Thursday, that number jumped to 105 per cent, although Hunt said it changed throughout the day.

She added that they hoped the problem would not be long-term, but they were looking at it on a day-to-day basis.

For the immediate future, Hunt recommends that residents visit family physicians or walk-in clinics for treatment. Hospital staff will prioritize patients who visit the E.R. with life-threatening or serious health concerns.

Looking ahead

Jason Kerr
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Looking ahead

Parks, food security and public safety on agenda as city prepares for neighbourhood meetings

With another year of neighbourhood planning meetings set to kick off in January, the city’s director of planning and development wants more input on public safety, youth, food security, and parks and recreation.

Department head John Guenther said the city wants to add to and update several sections of its community plan during the next calendar year, and to do that they’ll need lots of involvement from local citizens.

Parks and recreation is the biggest issue this year, as administrators begin to create a department master plan.

The first neighbourhood meeting will take place in Ward 1, at Parkland Community Hall on Thursday, Jan. 5. The second is scheduled to take place in Ward 2 at City Hall on Thursday, Jan. 12. Both meetings start at 6:30 p.m.

For more on this story, please see the Dec. 30 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald.

A New Year’s special

Jason Kerr
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A New Year’s special

An annual New Year’s tradition is starting to gain a large following in Prince Albert.

In January 2016, the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) held its first New Year’s meal for the less fortunate. The event proved so popular that the executive decided to run it again in 2017

“We had such a high attendance,” said Sheryl Kimbley, the PAGC’s special events coordinator. “We realized that there was a need for it. We knew that if we just opened it up to everybody and didn’t put a limit on who was going to be served, just did the best we could, that we could make it happen.”

The New Year’s meal is one of two free dinners put on by the PAGC during the holiday season. The first meal, held on Dec. 22 at the Margo Fournier Centre, attracted roughly 450 people, well above the 300 to 400 who attended the year before.

Kimbley said they’re expecting roughly the same total for the New Year’s meal, which will be held on Jan. 2 erin 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Prince ALbert Indian and Metis Friendship Centre. The meal is open to everyone.

For more on this story, please see the Dec. 29 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald.

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