Gifts Of Light Shine In New Healing Garden 
As always, December was a month of family gatherings, food, and age-old traditions. In the spirit of Christmas tradition, five hundred people filled the new Bethesda Healing Gardens for the Gifts of Light Tree Lighting Event; a fundraiser that garnered over $60,000 this year.

Community Christmas Need At All-Time High
Steinbach Community Christmas Chair Roger Blatz says their need this year was at a record high. Nevertheless, the southeast did not disappoint and donated approximately 1,000 hampers to those in need.

Mailboxes Broken Into At Steinbach Post Office
Post Office Broken Into Again
The Holiday season was not without its crimes. The Canada Post Office in Steinbach endured significant vandalism and had numerous packages stolen after it was broken into twice on two consecutive nights.

Driver Faces Severe Charges Following Check-Stop
Steinbach RCMP helped keep the streets safe with their annual holiday check-stops. This December’s check-stops yielded numerous convictions including one man who was caught with counterfeit money, drug supplies, and break-in-tools while driving a stolen vehicle.

SRSS Brings The Hobbit To The Stage
Under the direction of Naomi Stobbe, the SRSS brought The Hobbit to life on their stage with a theatrical production filled with extravagant costumes and sets largely designed by students.

Steinbach Gymnast To Compete In Canada Games, Two New Bothwell Brothers Fight Their Way To Canada Games
Also in December, three residents from the southeast qualified for the Canada Games. Isaiah Klassen will represent Steinbach in trampolining and brothers Kaidon and Keldon Christ will fight for Blumenort in Judo.

Arson Forces Evening Evacuation At Ste. Anne Elementary
Evening programming at the Ste. Anne Elementry School was put on hold on December 7 after someone lit the girls’ washroom on fire in an act of arson. “Somebody clearly wanted to cause a disturbance in the school, and they did a good job at that,” observes Fire Chief John Desrochers.

City Of Steinbach Takes in $730,000 In Net Added Taxes
Steinbach property tax roll grew more than expected this year bringing in $730,000 from new homes and businesses.

World's Largest Snow Maze Being Built In Southeast
The owners of Amaze in Corn began construction on what they hope will be the world’s largest snow maze. If all goes according to plan the maze will measure 4,200 feet, which is 80 percent of a mile. He hopes to open early January. 

Keeping The Dream Of Twinning Highway 59 Alive
The Village of St. Pierre is gathering support from local municipalities to once again lobby the Provincial Government to twin parts of Highway 59. “The ultimate dream would be to have it twinned all the way down to the US border but I don’t think I'll be alive when that happens," comments St. Pierre Mayor Raymond Maynard.

Mult-Million Dollar Lagoon Expansion Planned For Ste. Anne
The Town of Ste. Anne is eyeing a multi-million dollar lagoon expansion in the near future. Operations Manager John Desrochers says this renovation will add a third cell to the lagoon. He hopes to see construction begin by early 2019, but notes that timing depends on government funding.

Steinbach Crews Deal With Winter's First Dump Of Snow
Winter officially began on on Friday, December 21 and was immediately met by a massive snowfall. Steinbach crews spent a large chunk of the Christmas week clearing roads. Meanwhile, the Town of Niverville also implemented their first ever snow route parking ban to enable their snowplows to properly clean the roads. Operations Manager Ryan Dyck says the new snow-clearing policy has been effective so far and most people have been quite compliant.

Niverville crews spent much of late December plowing the streets and parking lots