10. Improved imaging
In health technology, a decade can seem like an eternity. Computer Tomography (CT) scanning has advanced in leaps and bounds since Yorkton got its first CT scanner in 2006.
In May, Sunrise Health Region unveiled its new scanner paid for by a $1.2 million federal/provincial grant with the local third, $600,000, being raised by the Health Foundation of East-Central Saskatchewan.
The new scanner provides resolution greater by nearly an order of magnitude, 128 slices compared to the 16 of the old scanner.
In addition to the vastly improved detail, scans are much faster, which reduces radiation exposure for clients. The new scanner has additional safety features, including a closed-circuit camera that enables technologists to view clients during the exam. Quicker scans are more comfortable for clients, and the new scanner bed can handle people who are larger in terms of both height and weight.
9. Controversial release
It took more than three-and-a-half years for the murder case of Richard Lesann to make its way through the legal system, but less than a year for the man to be released from custody after being found not criminally responsible.
Lesann killed Tammy Kulaway and her dog on March 12, 2011. This was never in dispute, but Lesann told police he had killed her because she was “the devil.”
During the two-week trial in May 2014 at Court of Queen’s Bench in Yorkton, defence attorney David Rusnak convinced Justice C.L. Dawson that Lesann was not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder. Dawson delivered that verdict September 30, 2014 and the case was turned over to the Saskatchewan Review Board for disposition, which could have ranged from absolute discharge to indefinite detention in a psychiatric facility.
At its first review hearing in January 2015, the board gave Lesann unsupervised outings within the community of North Battleford where he was housed at the Saskatchewan hospital.
In April 2015, the board denied Lesann’s release on the basis he was not fully engaged in his recovery from addiction and mental health issues.
By February 2 of this year, however, the board decided he was ready for full release.
Following that decision Mandy Kulaway, Tammy’s sister, spoke out in a lengthy interview with Yorkton This Week essentially saying the family believes Lesann got away with murder.
8. Incovenient delays
In the spring, the largest infrastructure improvement season in Yorkton’s history got underway.
Pegged at $12.3 million, the complete reconstruction, both underground and above, of the Dracup Avenue corridor with additional resurfacing on Mayhew Avenue was scheduled to be completed by the end of September including a traffic circle at Dracup and Darlington Street to replace the four-way stop.
The project was controversial from the start when the City decided to use concrete instead of asphalt. The administration fought back against the perception that concrete was more expensive, but delays, mostly weather-related, annoyed affected businesses and motorists.
The announcement that construction would have to be suspended for the year came at the worst possible time for incumbent councillors, right in the middle of the municipal election. It is difficult to tell if or how much the problems affected the outcome of the election, but there was an almost complete turnover in council on election day.
All underground work has been completed, but resurfacing of Dracup between Smith and Broadway, the Dracup-Darlington traffic circle and the north section of Mayhew Avenue remain to be done starting in spring of 2017.
7. Historic sale
Yorkton This Week first reported the local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion was in financial trouble in early September. The hall, built in 1961, was in need of significant upgrades to the tune of half a million dollars and revenue was not keeping up with operational expenses.
During the summer, the Provincial Command had intervened and recommended selling the historic building on Broadway Street and downsizing.
The Legion executive took the recommendation to the membership at a special meeting September 14. Despite an emotional debate, members voted 90 per cent to sell.
Things moved fast and by the end of October the branch had accepted a conditional offer of $375,000 with a one-year free lease of the basement. The sale ran into an insurmountable roadblock, however. In order to change the occupancy of the building to a retail/assembly mix, prohibitive renovations would have been required.
The Legion agreed to forgo the lease and sold the building as is with a vacant occupancy date of April 1 or sooner.
An auction has been scheduled for February 4, 2017 to dispose of much of the building contents.
6. Terror defined
The execution of a Canadian businessman who grew up in Yorkton was not just a low point of the year for this community, but for the nation.
John Ridsdel, along with three other people including another Canadian Robert Hall, were abducted from a marina in the Philippines in September 2015 by a militant group called Abu Sayyaf in that southeast Asian nation. The Philippines government considers the outfit a band of outlaws with a self-proclaimed loose affiliation with ISIL.
On April 15 of this year, the terrorists released a video demanding $8.3 million to release the hostages and threatening to start beheading them if a deadline of April 25 was not met.
That day, at approximately 7 p.m. local time (5 a.m. Saskatchewan time), two men on a motorcycle dumped the head of a Caucasian man wrapped in a plastic bag on a street in Jolo City on Jolo Island in the southern Philippines.
Canadian officials later confirmed the victim was Ridsdel.
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