Mother Nature unleashed wrath yet again on the Valley last week. After several inches of rain fell for the second time in three weeks, Valley residents were forced to head for higher ground...

On June 17, at approximately 3:30 a.m., RCMP responded to a report of an assault occurring at a residence on Augusta Street East, in Russell.
Officers learned that a 20-year-old female had attended a party at a nearby home when she was repeatedly punched and kicked by another female. Paramedics subsequently treated the female for her injuries.
RCMP went to the home where the party was still in progress and were greeted by a 29-year-old male who was known to police. After initially trying to shake an officer’s hand, the suspect punched the officer in the side of the head. The officer took the suspect to the ground and arrested him.
Officers then located the female suspect in the initial assault and took her into custody.
Maverick Oudie, 29, of Dauphin is charged with:
• Assaulting a police officer; and
• Resisting a peace officer.
Tanis Cooke, 25, of Waywayseecappo First Nation is charged with assault.
Both were released, with a future court appearance scheduled.

Read the whole RCMP Report in this week's Russell Banner on page 3.

Brian and Bernadine Brown are quite literally lucky to be alive. At about 7:30 pm on Sunday June 28th, Brian Brown headed into the century home he and he wife had been restoring for the last decade, after purchasing it in 2004.
Brian Brown told The Brandon Sun said he just come in from the shop in furious rain and hail when he noticed a tree falling and yelled at this wife to stay away from the windows and hit the floor. The tornado itself lasted about 10 seconds the 76 year old couple told The Sun. The damage done to their circa 1904 home was extensive, leaving debris throughout the home and pictures simply disappearing off the walls.
Shirley Kalyniak, the mayor of Rossburn described the Brown’s farmyard as ‘war zone’ adding that forest of trees that were more than a 100 years old had been snapped liked twigs with the Browns belongings strewn all over the yard Their neighbors home, about 300 yards away had their detached garage and shed destroyed along with damage to the roof of their home.

With files from CBC and The Brandon Sun

To get the whole story, pick-up this week's Russell Banner and turn to page 2.

Thunderstorms brought close to 140 mms of rain to the area June 28, 29 and 30 leaving flooded basements, sewer back-ups and washed-out roads in its wake. Coupled with an already high water table and super-saturated soil pretty much everywhere made things much worse than the recent flooding of the Boggy and the Shell River.
Overland flooding caused a massive landslide near Deepdale which took out the CN’s trestle bridge.
Check out the photos in this week’s paper.

Due to rapidly rising water levels along rivers and deteriorating conditions throughout the municipality, residents are strongly advised not to travel on any municipal roads unless absolutely necessary. Conditions are changing quickly, and many roads may be unsafe or impassable. Please be aware that not all road closures and hazards have been barricaded, as some affected locations cannot be safely accessed by crews at this time.
Traveling on municipal roads may place you at significant risk. Water can conceal washouts, road damage, and other dangerous conditions. Residents are urged to remain in a safe location and avoid unnecessary movement until conditions improve.
Public Works crews continue to monitor the situation around the clock and are responding to emergencies and reports as they are received. However, ongoing flooding and inaccessible areas may delay response times.
If you choose to voluntarily evacuate for your safety, please contact the Municipality at 204-638-4531 to register your evacuation location and contact information. In an emergency, call 911 immediately. For municipal emergency concerns related to flooding or infrastructure, contact the RM of Dauphin Emergency Line at 204-701-8523.
Residents are strongly encouraged to monitor local radio stations, media outlets, the RM website, and the RM of Dauphin Facebook page for updates. Conditions remain serious and may worsen with little notice.

Due to the significant rainfall, the City of Dauphin's wastewater system has reached capacity.
Although all lift stations and pumps are operating as designed, they cannot keep up with the volume of water entering the system.
Residents are being asked to reduce water use until further notice immediately. Your co-operation is critical to reducing strain on the wastewater system and minimizing the risk of sewer backups.
Please help by:
* Postponing laundry and other water-intensive activities
* Delaying the use of dishwashers
* Limiting unnecessary use of showers, sinks, and toilets
* Ensuring sump pumps discharge directly outdoors and are not connected to the sanitary sewer system
The situation is being closely monitored as this weather event continues.

On June 30, att 9:40 a.m., the Rural Municipality of Dauphin declared a State of Local Emergency due to significant and unprecedented rainfall causing overland flooding.
Public Works crews are actively monitoring the situation and responding to calls as they are received.
We caution our residents not to cross flooded roads and be prepared to evacuate if necessary. Please limit travel to only necessary situations.
In case of emergency, please call 911. If it is a municipal emergency, please call the RM of Dauphin Emergency Line at 204-701-8523.
For further information contact:
Reeve Ernie Sirski 204-638-1833
CAO Grady Stephenson 204-638-4531

The Gilbert Plains Country Club is set to host two Golf Manitoba tournaments this week, with close to 100 golfers from across the province taking part.
The Diamond Athletic Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship and Diamond Athletic Ladies Amateur will take place, July 1 to 3, at GPCC.
Scott McCallum, GPCC general manager and golf professional, said the tournaments coming to Gilbert Plains came about after the facility hosted the golf event during the 2024 Manitoba Summer Games.
“I think they were quite impressed with the product, so they wanted to bring another event out here,” he said, adding champiosnhip tournaments were confirmed in December.
Hosting the events will be great advertising for the golf club.
“Obviously, its the recognition to have probably 100 of the better golfers in the province come out to play your golf course and then, hopefully, go back and tell their friends what a great facility we have. It’s really good that way,” McCallum said.
The board and staff, McCallum said, have been working hard to get the course in the best shape possible.
“I can’t say enough about the grounds crew and what they’ve done to the golf course to prepare for this event. It’s always exciting times,” he said, adding the course is in fantastic shape.
“We’re obviously watching the weather pretty closely, praying that we dodge some of the big cells that are coming. But it will be in good shape,” he said.
The grounds crew paid special attention to some of the smaller details, such as getting the greens to a certain speed.
“All those types of things are things that you pay close attention to,” McCallum said.
A number of local golfers will be taking part in the men’s tournament, while Swan River’s Crystal Zamzow will be one of the favourites to win the ladies event.
There is an expectation that McCallum and his staff have for the golf course, but they don’t really feel any added pressure in hosting the provincial tournaments.
“Pressure is just what we put on ourselves. But we want our golf course to showcase well,” he said.
“I’m just looking forward to a good week.”
Early Tuesday afternoon, Golf Manitoba announced the cancellation of both tournaments due to severe rainfall, widespread overland flooding, and the forecast for additional significant precipitation. Several roads between Neepawa and Gilbert Plains have been impacted by flooding, and the Rural Municipality of Gilbert Plains has declared a State of Emergency.
Any decisions and potential rescheduling of the championships, will be communicated as soon as they are finalized.

Although Sunday’s headline show was shutdown early due to an emergency weather alert, it was another successful Dauphin’s Countryfest and president Duane McMaster couldn’t be happier.
McMaster said this year’s ticket sales were stronger than last year, although the final numbers have yet to be tabulated.
“More than twice as many tickets were sold this year than last year. So we’re happy with ticket sales,” he said.
“I’ll never say I’m totally satisfied with ticket sales. Unless I don’t have any left to sell, I’m not totally satisfied.”
McMaster was pleased with how the weekend had gone heading into Sunday’s performances, noting there were few problems.
“Everything has gone smoothly at the gates. What problems we have had have been relatively minor and dealt with efficiently by the staff and the volunteers,” he said.
The entertainment, McMaster added, was fantastic, noting there have been a lot of positive comments about the shows.
Although he doesn’t know the numbers, McMaster was impressed with the crowds in the amphitheater, noting the stands were close to, or at capacity, both Friday and Saturday.
“That was a great crowd (Saturday) night. And it was so great to see everybody out there having a great time. I posted online, I said it’s been a few years since I’ve seen the stands looking like that. It was really great to see it back like that,” he said.
“Countryfest has been around for an awful long time and we just love having a huge crowd, people here enjoying what we work every year so hard to present to them.”
New to Countryfest this year were metal detectors at the entrances, which were part of a partnership with Manitoba Provincial Exhibition.
“Obviously, we can’t afford them on our own, so we did make an annual arrangement to do that, again try and promote safety in our venue. Make sure people aren’t bringing in stuff that shouldn’t be present in the area,” McMaster said.
Along with a new and larger VIP tent, Countryfest also had new vendors and activities including a poker derby, miniature golf and a horse shoe pit.
McMaster noted there were also the old standard favourites, such as helicopter rides, a flip cup competition and perogy eating contest.
“Everything has been really good. I always strive to offer a different and better experience to our patrons from year to year,” he said.
With rain forecast for Saturday, the schedule for the main stage was adjusted with performers hitting the stage earlier than advertised.
“That was pretty challenging. I’m not really heavily involved in the production side of it. But going in and working with Rob and Shelley (Waloschuk) and the production team a little bit when we tried to adjust the schedule, there’s an awful lot of moving parts and that was quite a challenge,” he said.
“It would have been nice if we didn’t have to make that change, but we managed to pull it off and everything worked out. We got everything done.”
McMaster feels they lucked out, because rain was forecast for Saturday and Sunday, but it held off until Sunday’s final main stage show.
“It’s been a really good year. (Saturday) night’s entertainment was just phenomenal. I’m sure (Sunday) is going to be fantastic and Friday night was great,” he said.
“I believe that pyro and everything with Jelly Roll’s show, that was pretty much next level. We may have raised the bar at Countryfest. It’s going to be hard to top that one.”
One of Countryfest’s goals has always been to promote local Manitoba artists. That was the case when Dauphin’s The Wet Towels was the first band to perform at Thursday’s kick off party.
“I loved that. We’ve always tried to develop and promote local music, Manitoba music. We used to have the talent contest years ago. We still do the Battle of the Bands up here. I think last year we had a Battle of the Bands in Winnipeg for a chance to play up here,” McMaster said, noting local bands The Wet Towels, Revolving Doors and Kate’s Outlaw, which has two albums out and made their main stage debut last year, all performed at this year’s Countryfest.
McMaster said it is sometimes a struggle to book performers, especially big name acts, because they are often in such big demand.
“It’s quite something for us to be able to say, ‘performing for the first time at Countryfest.’ That’s a bit of an oddity for us,” he said.
McMaster was most impressed with the concert experience provided by Saturday headliner Jelly Roll.
“He’s a pretty amazing individual. Watching that and seeing how he interacted with the crowd and the crowd interacted with him was pretty special. I think it was pretty cool to be there for that,” he said, adding it was a special moment when Jelly Roll recognized a fan for celebrating 7,162 days of sobriety.
After being invited for a number of years, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and his wife Lisa, who used to live and practice medicine in Dauphin, attended this year’s event.
After his show, Jelly Roll threw his hat into the crowd. Kinew was the first to get to it and he immediately gave it to a young fan sitting in the front row, bringing the youngster to tears.
“That was really cool. It was nice to see them here and just enjoying the show and being regular people. Out here to have a good time like the rest of us and enjoy some good country music,” McMaster said.
With the challenge to book entertainers, planning for next year began two months ago.
“You have to start planning that far in advance, because there are already people who are booked for that weekend. When you get to the bigger names, there’s a lot of demand for them,” McMaster said.

George Panko can not help but be impressed with the community’s connection to agriculture and how that connection manifests itself into the incredible support received by the Dauphin Agricultural Society (DAS) at its annual fair and exhibition.
The DAS president reflected on that support as the 2026 fair wound down around him this past weekend.
“Our core is the agriculture part of it and it’s just nice to see all the participation. Everybody comes to Dauphin this weekend and it’s great,” Panko said.
“It’s the excitement of bringing agriculture back to the community and and then tying in with the midway. That’s always fun when the midway is full, the lights are flashing and the music is going and there’s lots of cotton candy and everything else. It’s been a huge success.”
While that success was evident in the crowds which flocked to the gates on all four days of the event, Panko’s measure of success extends beyond the number of tickets sold.
“Our Friday, for being the last day of school and considering the weather was kind of hit or miss, our gates were strong. Saturday is always our big day and then Sunday is a little smaller day, but people come out and all the activities are here,” Panko said.
“So the attendance is great and we appreciate the community and the communities around us coming to our fair, but our participation in all the events has increased year after year. The 4-H show on Thursday night was a huge success. Over 50 kids, over 70 animals. The light horse show had over 75 entries over the last three days. We have 21 chuckwagons here and 16 chariots. They’re putting on a heck of a show. It has just been great.”
That success was also not guaranteed with the weather forecast looking threatening leading up to the event. Panko said he stopped checking weather maps early in the week before he drove himeself crazy.
“What’s going to happen is going to happen,” he said.
“There’s nothing you can do about it.”
In the end, Mother Nature co-operated for the most part, as a brief downpour Friday afternoon, which delayed chuckwagon races for less than an hour and sent midway patrons scrambling for a few minutes shelter inside Credit Union Place arena. Rain predicted for Saturday did not materialize and Sunday, although cool and overcast, remained relatively dry.
Panko was pleased the weather co-operated with all of the organizers and volunteers, who work tirelessly to make the fair and exhibition happen each year.
“Our committee, they work hard all year long to put this all together. Our board of directors, we meet once a month to make the plans. Hats off to them because they’re volunteers. They’re in the community. They don’t have to be there and they come out every month and they come out at fair time. It’s just amazing,” he said.
“And the volunteers that come out and help and also the businesses that give us sponsorship. Without them we we wouldn’t be able to put the fair on. Without their support, we wouldn't have fairs.”
Not being ones to rest on their laurels, Panko said the team is diving right back into planning for 2027.
“Come Sunday night, we look at where we had the highs and lows and if we need to fill a gap somewhere or something like that. We’re working on it basically year round,” Panko said, adding new people with new ideas are always welcome to join the fold.
“We’re always looking for different ideas, different changes. If there’s people out there that have any ideas, they’re more than welcome to come and join a meeting.”