Pam Fedack

After years of dreaming, planning, and delays brought on by the pandemic, the first baseball game was played Friday on Arctic Field in Winkler.
    
Arctic Field, the home playing diamond of the Whips senior ball team of the Border Baseball League, underwent a major transformation during the past off-season.
    
Since the project got underway last August, the infield was dug up, the old dirt removed, and a softer sod infield was put in. New dugouts and padded fencing have also been installed all the way around the field.
    

Last year the RM of Stanley made it a priority to expand the pathway system in Schanzenfeld, connecting it to the City of Winkler's pathway network.

The new path is ready for use, as the majority of the work was completed last fall.

Some cleanup work will be done shortly, as well as the completion of landscaping. 

Stanley received a $104,000 grant through the province's Building Sustainable Communities Program last year to help cover the cost of the project.

With the addition of brand new speed slides to look forward to this summer at Winkler's Aquatic Centre, there will be another feature that won't be available for pool goers.
    
After much consideration, the City of Winkler has decided to decommission the two hot tubs adjacent to the splash pad area and dressing rooms.
    

A two-hour event Friday night brought a celebration of cultural dance to the Access Event Centre stage in Morden.
    
The Multicultural Dance was put on by the Multicultural Winterfest Committee, thanks to a Healthy Together Now grants from Southern Health - and the MB Government's Community Celebrations Grant.
    

The Prairie Rose School Division (PRSD) is in the second year of a four-year Applied Commerce Education (ACE) program.

The ACE program consists of 14 courses between grades 9-12. In addition to their course work, the program's highly engaged students participate in scholarship competitions, as well as commerce competitions around the province.

Earlier this spring, 42 students attended the Manitoba High School Case Competition in Brandon. It was hosted by Hamiota Collegiate and Crocus Plains High School.

Ideal weather conditions are in the forecast this May long weekend, perfect for a backyard fire.
    
Based on the Fire Danger Level in Winkler, Fire Chief Richard Paetzold says, "It's all systems go."

Paetzold explains the Fire Danger Levels are broken into 'Levels 1-4' with a 'fire pit ban' coming at the end of '4'. 

Because everything is greening up, Paetzold says it takes a lot longer now to get to a higher danger level. "Level 1 for us, it's probably less than," answered Paetzold when asked what the Level was on Friday (May 19th) morning.

Fourteen years ago, a horrific highway accident changed the course of 21-year-old Amanda Legault's life.
    
The traumatic injuries Legault suffered were critical and needed a fast response. 

It was that spring, significant flooding in Southern Manitoba prompted the province to bring a STARS helicopter and crew from Alberta to assist with flood-related emergencies. The air ambulance and its crew were put into action a number of times while in Manitoba that spring, including the mission that is greatly attributed to saving Amanda Legault's life in 2011.

Fourteen years ago, a horrific highway accident changed the course of 21-year-old Amanda Legault's life. 
     
The traumatic injuries Legault suffered were critical and needed a fast response.  

Fourteen years ago, a horrific highway accident changed the course of 21-year-old Amanda Legault's life.
    
The traumatic injuries Legault suffered were critical and needed a fast response. 

It was that spring, significant flooding in Southern Manitoba prompted the province to bring a STARS helicopter and crew from Alberta to assist with flood-related emergencies. The air ambulance and its crew were put into action a number of times while in Manitoba that spring, including the mission that is greatly attributed to saving Amanda Legault's life in 2011.

The Garden Valley School Division has approved a new 5-year capital plan. Superintendent Dan Ward says it's a fairly comprehensive plan.

"We have obviously a number of new schools in Garden Valley we're very, very happy about, but we have some aging infrastructure and some older schools as well," said Ward. Over the last number of years, Ward says building a new school took up a lot of the board's time and the administration's time. He says that's one of the advantages of not being involved in a school build right now.