Battlefords News-Optimist

FRANCIS: Laurie Jean Francis of Battleford, Saskatchewan passed away on Sunday, April 20, 2014 at the Battlefords District Care Centre following a lengthy illness.

SWISTUN: Katherine Swistun, April 15, 1912 - April 19, 2014, Kate passed away peacefully in North Battleford, SK at the age of 102.

Security camera footage is being distributed by Maidstone RCMP as they investigate the theft of a quad and dirt bike from a storage facility on Highway 17 north of Lloydminster, Sask. Police say two men entered the Storage 4U compound at 8:41 a.m.

LEVESQUE, Hariette Cecile: With both sorrow and gratitude, we say "good-bye for now" to our wonderful mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister and friend.

Juno Award winner Mitch Dorge, former drummer of Grammy-nominated Crash Test Dummies, is bringing his In Your Face and Interactive presentation to John Paul II Collegiate in North Battleford Wednesday, April 30 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

WHELER, ELLIOT CHARLES: Elliot Charles (Slim) Wheler, 1930 - 2014. Elliot was born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan and passed away peacefully at Battlefords Union Hospital on Monday, April 7, 2014.

The rain let up, and the mayhem ramped up as Battlefords RCMP responded to more than 30 calls for service/occurrences between 6 a.m. Monday, April 28 and 6 a.m. Tuesday, April 29.

Trash talk has been prominent in the newspaper of late. The City of North Battleford's changeover from a communal dumpster system for garbage disposal to rollout bins for garbage and recycling has been an ongoing story.

Ah, nothing like April showers to bring May flowers. I had a heavy rain marked on my hoar frost calendar for April 24. It started May 23 and we must have received two inches. Don't ask me how much that was in metric because I'm not bilingual.

Before beginning my daily chores, I scan through the news in hopes that I might have escaped the usual reports of war, of suffering, of injustice and of grand-scale tragedies.