Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Issue 36
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
Hamann pleads guilty to two counts in connection with 2017 drunk driving death fatality By Brian Zinchuk brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net
Debra Hamann, 60, entered guilty pleas to two counts regarding a drunk driving incident near Bienfait on June 24, 2017, that took the life of taxi driver Bisho Kalappurakkal and injured the passenger, Dylan Gonas. Hamann, who is not in custody, was in Estevan provincial court on Jan. 8. She entered a guilty plea to
having consumed alcohol to the point where her blood alcohol level was over .08 per cent, causing an accident which resulted in the death of Kalappurakkal. The Crown stayed proceedings on related charges of impaired driving causing death, and dangerous driving causing death with relation to Kalappurakkal. Hamann also pleaded guilty to a similar charge of operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol
level in excess of .08 per cent, causing bodily harm to Gonas. A related charge of driving while impaired causing bodily harm was also stayed. Noting it would take roughly six weeks for a pre-sentence report, owing to the fact she is not in custody, Judge Lane Wiegers adjourned the matter for sentencing until Feb. 26 at 1:30 p.m. Hamann’s lawyer, Kathryn Gillis, told the judge she expects a lengthy
sentencing hearing and presentence report. Police reports at the time indicated a westbound sports utility vehicle collided with a southbound car at the intersection of Highways 18 and 39 west of Bienfait. The car was a taxi. The collision occurred before the intersection was reconfigured as part of a recent Highway 39 twinning project between Estevan and Bienfait. The SUV was travel-
ling on Highway 18, but rather than taking the turnoff that would allow it to later merge with traffic on Highway 39 and head for Estevan, the SUV continued towards the intersection and went through a stop sign. A GoFundMe page was set up for Kalappurakkal. The money was to be directed to help his body be returned to his family in India for the final rites. Funds will also cover funeral costs and unexpected
expenses that come with a sudden loss. Any excess money was to be donated to his family back home. He is survived by his wife Joby, mother and sister. As of June 27, the campaign had raised $45,525, which was well above the $30,000 goal. More than 700 people contributed. It took just one day to raise the money. The campaign is now closed.
Fire department activity levels increased in 2017 By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
The Estevan Fire Rescue Service’s (EFRS) call volumes and overall activity levels continued to climb in 2017. According to data supplied to the Mercury, the fire department had 253 emergency calls last year, which was up slightly from the 246 calls they had in 2016. Firefighters participated in 33 training activities last year, including bi-weekly training sessions and new recruit training nights, and 30 special activities, such as public relations appearances and community events, for 316 total incidents and activities. It worked out to about six activities per week. In 2016, the department had 36 training activities and 13 specialized activities to go along with calls, for a total of 295 activities. Among the calls in 2017, 105 of them were for commercial and residential activated fire alarm responses, which includes false alarms. That number was almost identical to the 104 in 2016. Feser noted at least half of the alarm calls were for “preventable” false alarms. “There is actually smoke in the building, or faulty detection devices,” said Feser. “When you take a look at a commercial or residential property, obviously these are man-made devices, electronic in nature and subject to failure.” Periodically, the department will be called to a home, whether it be for carbon monoxide or smoke, and they’ll find a detection device that is at least 10 years old, or the battery is dead. Feser is encouraged that false alarms represent a diminishing number of calls for the department.
A grass fire outside of Estevan in September was among more than 250 calls received by the Estevan Fire Rescue Service last year. File photo “That has a lot to do with public education as well,” said Feser. “When we do attend these particular types of calls, we’ll educate the homeowner on the proper notification procedure, making sure they are indeed the first point of contact when the alarm goes into activation.” If the homeowner is the first contact, that can prevent the fire department from being called out, because the department won’t have to be notified. “If it’s just a cookingrelated matter, the alarm company will make contact with them, verify with them and we can go from there,” said Feser. Firefighters were called to 71 motor vehicle collisions, which was more than triple the 23 they responded to in 2016. He believes the weather conditions in the first few months of 2017 contributed to the spike. “We also saw a very active vehicle versus wildlife season here too in the fall, which we normally haven’t seen for quite some time,” said Feser. “And this just could be due to people reporting them on a more frequent basis.” The fire department also handled 21 fires, including structure, grass, wildland and
dumpster fires. Grass fires were up last year, thanks to timber-dry conditions that necessitated fire bans in the three rural municipalities the fire department serves. “If we don’t get any more snow during this winter season … we’re going to see a continuation of that, because there won’t be the ground runoff moisture content that’s going to be required to keep it to a manageable level,” said Feser. Among the other calls, the fire department had 13 carbon monoxide reports, 12 calls for smoke in a building, 11 elevator rescue calls, five calls to assist police or emergency medical services, seven chemical spills or gas leaks, five noxious odour calls and three electrical fires. While the firefighters dedicated some of their training nights to renovating their new building so that it could be converted from a vehicle dealership to a fire hall, a lot of the time they spent working on the building won’t show up on the reports. Operations shifted to the building in mid-November. Feser estimates the firefighters dedicated thousands of hours to the renovations. “There was no way we could have moved in here without those … men and
women dedicating the time that they did,” said Feser. “They save the taxpayers so much money.” Also last year, emergency calls for the fire department shifted to the provincial 911 call centre in Prince Albert from the Estevan
Police Service, freeing up the local dispatchers to focus on police-related calls. Feser said there weren’t any issues, other than local knowledge from the dispatchers in the call centre. “When these dispatchers are getting directions,
obviously they don’t know the lay of the land around here, so it’s a little more difficult for them to relay that,” said Feser. It means people need to know their land location and rural road numbers when calling the provincial centre.
Council tentatively approves work for Civic Auditorium By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
Estevan city council has taken another step towards reopening the Civic Auditorium, although it is still waiting for the goahead from its insurance provider. Council tentatively approved a $32,000 bid from CA Reed and Associates for the detailed structural assessment of the Civic during Monday night’s meeting. The work is contingent on the city receiving the necessary insurance coverage. “We don’t want to go ahead with this if we cannot get liability insurance on the building,” said Coun. Shelly Veroba. CA Reed and Associates will give a de-
tailed assessment of the 60-year-old building, and supervise the steel rod adjustments that need to be carried out before the Civic will reopen. Their proposal did not include labour costs. Four firms, including CA Reed and Associates, responded to the city’s request for proposals issued last month. Their bid was the highest of the four, but Rod March, the manager of parks and facilities for the city, said the firm represented the best choice based on council’s objective to have an analysis that provides options for both the short-term and longterm stability of the Civic. “This is based on their extensive background in this type of building structure, and having previous
knowledge and comprehension of the building’s issues,” wrote March. Mayor Roy Ludwig said the money to be paid to Reed doesn’t include construction or labour costs for tightening or loosening the rods. Ludwig isn’t sure whether the work on the Civic will be tendered out, or if the firm will be responsible for selecting who does the work. “We will be having that conversation with Mr. Reed to see how that moves forward,” said Ludwig. “Of course, we would like to see that tendered out.” There will also be a discussion on the repairs that are needed for the glulam columns, to keep them from continuing to decay and sink. A2 » CIVIC
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