Spiro’s touched by community kindness
An early-morning phone call from an unknown number is never usually good news, but a disaster was averted and Spiro’s was touched by community kindness, all within 36 hours.
It was a typical Monday morning for Maria Kokonas, owner of Spiro’s Restaurant in the 1400 block of 50th Ave. That is, until a few minutes after 7 a.m.
“I was awakened at 7:07 a.m. by a call with no caller ID, and we know that when you see no caller ID, it’s never good. It was a constable on the phone letting me know my restaurant was on fire, and she was really kind. From what they could tell, It was located in the kitchen, and I needed to get there as quickly as I could,” explained Kokonas.
She grabbed the nearest coat, and living just a block away, arrived at the family business within minutes.
“I was in disbelief when I saw the fire trucks, the convoy of police cars and the paramedics, I was gutted, I was literally gutted.”
She has the highest praise for the firefighters who did their job professionally and for the Sysco food delivery driver, who didn’t mess around and called 9-1-1 when he saw the fire.
“I walked up to him (the driver), and I just grabbed him, and I hugged him, and said, ‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,’” said Kokonas.
The aftermath of a fire for any business is overwhelming, “When you see a fire, you don’t know if you’re ever going to open again.”
So when a team led by her son-in-law, Jeremiah Young, said they would be open by the next day, she was shocked and thought there was no way … but they found a way.
“I know I had just about every trade go through here yesterday. I know Bioclean Disaster Services was here within the very early hours of this potential disaster, they took charge of it, along with my son-in-law,” recounted Kokonas.
“I give so much credit to every single person that was here yesterday, the support we had from them and the community has just been unreal.”
Her gratitude to the community is endless.
Games economic impact significant, says City staff
It was a long time coming, and the economic impact of the Sask Summer Games on the Lloydminster economy is expected to be significant, according to city staff.
“I have heard many comments from our food and beverage sector, from our hotels, they are extremely busy and loving seeing the summer games visitors and participants in their community,” said the City of Lloydminster’s economic development officer, Katlin Ducherer.
“I know I’ve always contributed to my local economy and a few of my favourite spots have taken far longer than they usually do because of the influx of visitors and spending.”
Residents and visitors realized you couldn’t go to many places last week and not see the impact it was having on our community. Favourite restaurants were busier than normal, hotels were packed, and area campgrounds received boosts because of the games. When city council decided to get on board with the Games, the estimated impact on the community was going to be roughly $5M. But what does that mean in real dollars and cents and how do we get to that specific impact number?
“We’re members of Sports Tourism Canada, they have their own methodology when it comes to measuring impact,” stated Ducherer.
“They come up with their own methodology, which is very accurate, instead of coming up with willy nilly numbers, it’s tried tested and true.”
U17 Liners on road to nationals
The U17 Liners softball team’s season is nearing its end as they head to the U17 Girls Canadian National Championship in Calgary this weekend.
The team has been training together since October and qualified for Nationals at the Alberta Provincial Championship in Calgary at the end of June, where they placed third, beating the Calgary Adrenaline 7-5 in extra innings.
The team is playing in a new league this season, which has proven to be a learning curve for players and coaches.
“It’s been a challenge not being able to play in our regular league we play in every year, so our schedule has been a little bit different,” said head coach Kelly Thiessen. “We had early provincials and nationals, which shortened our season, but I think we’ve been really successful.”
Sask RCMP report increase in violent crime
Saskatchewan RCMP have released their latest crime statistics showing a continued increase in crime across Saskatchewan.
“The reality of the situation is, crime continues to increase across Saskatchewan RCMP jurisdiction,” said Rhonda Blackmore, commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP.
Some key stats released as part of the data include the staggering increase in homicides by 275 per cent over the last 10 years and a 271 per cent increase in the number of violent firearms offences.
Violent crime across Saskatchewan has steadily increased over the last 10 years with the biggest jump being in the north district accounting for 56 per cent of the total violent crime reported.
The north district of Sask also accounted for 62 per cent of the total Assault offences reported, 53 per cent of the total homicides reported and 70 per cent of the total violent firearm offences reported.
As the data shows, crime continues to rise across Sask and particularly in the north district, however, Blackmore says the province is committing to funding a full complement of staff.
Read more: Column: A time to look back
