Twenty one teams faced off against one another in Snow Lake’s 63rd-annual ladies bonspiel on the weekend of Feb. 5-7. The curling club’s Pam Wiwcharuk advises that this amounted to four more teams taking part than did last year; however, local participation was down with only five full local teams in the annual spiel this year.
With a theme that focused on dressing the part of any “Fabulous Foursome” that came to mind, costumes filled the clubroom and all the laughter, great curling and memories that go along with any such event were again a part of this one. “It was a fun-filled weekend; everyone seemed to enjoy the sportsmanship and camaraderie,” said Wiwcharuk in providing an overview of the spiel.
The winners in each event were: Hudbay first event: 1st - Lorna Rice team, Kyla Rierson throwing fourth stones, Denise Davis throwing third stones, Deb McCombie throwing second stones and Lorna Rice acting skip, throwing lead stones from Flin Flon. 2nd - Lori Salahub, Sara-Lynne Koop, Dodie Johnston, Loraine Poirier from Flin Flon. 3rd - Cecile Martin, Coral Bennett, Terra Valois, Shannon Ethier from Thompson. 4th - Lorelle Weiss, Donna Sitco, Karlee McLaughlin Stephanie Reid from Thompson. In the USW Local #7106 second event: 1st - Terry Kennedy, Victoria DuRussell, Shirley Neault, Connie Baginski from Flin Flon. 2nd - Lilsa Hyytiainen, Katja Hlady, Shirley Frederickson, Bonnie White from The Pas. 3rd - Lynn Campbell, Kim Hominick, Joanne Kellington, Delphine Kerwin from The Pas. 4th - Norma Moodie, Bonnie Wesner, Myrna Ducharme, Maggie Moodie from The Pas. In the Snow Lake Motor Inn third event: 1st - Jodi Cockle, Larissa Burton, Colleen. Cairns, Jackie Jones from Snow Lake. 2nd - Judy Peterson, Sandy Reeves, Donalda Gale, Carrie McIntosh from Snow Lake/The Pas. 3rd - Sheryl Bernstrom, Janis Fjermestad, Debbie Sheppard, Marie Wadelius from The Pas. 4th - Sheri Horning, Colette Hykawy, Sherri Alexander, Joan Verhaeghe from Thompson.
Other winning teams were for biggest end, and for out-of-town it was the Sheryl Bernstrom team from The Pas; for local teams, the Jodi Cockle Team took honours. The draw to the button, which was sponsored by Northland Ford Flon Flon and Koop Geotechnical Services, was worth $300 for first place and went to Lorelle Weiss, Donna Sitko, Karlee McLaughlin Stephanie Reid from Thompson. Second place worth $200 was picked up by Judy Peterson, Sandy Reeves, Donalda Gale, and Carrie MacIntosh of Snow Lake/The Pas. First out honours for out-of-town went to the Michelle Sicotte team and for local competitors it was the Pam Erven team.
The folks at the curling club advised that they were very appreciative of all who participated and donated to the 63rd-annual bonspiel.
In other news … back in October of 2015, local resident Rupert Klyne was having problems in respect to ordering items online through Amazon.ca. He was being charged freight as if he lived in a remote community with nothing other than fly-in mail service. Klyne advises that he placed an order with Amazon.ca and when it arrived, the freight cost was almost double that of the product he bought. He called them and they explained that the reason the freight was so high was because Canada Post had deemed the community of Snow Lake a remote location.
Klyne got off the phone with them and called Canada Post … he couldn’t get through, but did eventually get a call back from the Crown corporation and a fellow left a message for him. The message advised Klyne that Canada Post did have a designation for remote locations and it was “anywhere in the country where mail must be airlifted for six months of the year, because surface transportation isn’t available.” Clearly that does not include Snow Lake, which is served by all-weather road. When Klyne eventually caught up with the caller, he explained his circumstances … his location in Canada, and the fact that Snow Lake really didn’t fit into the designation of remote community, but was being treated as one. He was eventually urged to take the matter up with the minister responsible, who at that time was Lisa Raitt.
Like a dog with a bone, Klyne kept at it and eventually received the following email from Canada Post on behalf of Minister of Public Services and Procurement Judy M. Foote. In it, they sincerely apologized for the surcharge being applied to shipments sent to the community and confirmed that Snow Lake is not, and has never been, designated a remote (airstage) community for the purposes of mail delivery. “No surcharge of $50 should be applied to any shipments sent to you through Canada Post,” the letter read. “It appears that this may have been a temporary error in our retail point of sales system, which has since been corrected.”
Determination pays dividends once again…
