JANUARY
PROFESSIONAL SCOOTER RIDER WANTS SKATEPARK EXPANSION
A local skatepark enthusiast is hoping to see an expansion in the new year.
The current 14,000-square-foot concrete plaza, including a skate bowl, is one of Southern Alberta’s most popular parks of its kind. However, avid user Deven Rasberry, said it’s beginning to get overcrowded.
“I think our skatepark is amazing and us locals try to keep it as well kept as possible, although for the amount of kids, teens, summer camps and amateur riders coming (and) going, the park is getting quite small for the crowds it receives in the summer or competitions like the ones hosted by Vermin Scooters June 2018. In other words, the park needs an extension,” Rasberry said.
“I use the park almost every day from spring to as far as December if weather permits because I use scootering as a career choice and a hobby, I’m often told it’s too small for how busy it gets or how it’s missing some colour but that’s it’s an amazing part of the community of Cochrane and really brings young adults such as myself together.”
CAR PROBLEMS CARRY OVER TO NEW YEAR AFTER CENTEX GAS MISHAP
“It’s kind of got messy at the moment,” said James Niblock.
About six months have passed since the Bearspaw Centex gas station sold contaminated gas to commuters along Highway 1A. Those that fuelled up within the week of July 19, when it was discovered as faulty, said in just hours to days their vehicles all experienced similar symptoms.
It usually began with the car starting to shudder. The engine light would come on at some point and then, for most, the vehicle would quickly shut down.
Dozens of drivers faced bills between a couple hundred to several thousand dollars worth of repairs, towing and substitute transportation, including Niblock, whose bill for his 2016 Chrysler Town and Country is upwards of $16,000.
COCHRANE FAMILY LOOKS TO CREATE AWARENESS, FUNDRAISE FOR RESEARCH FOR RARE GENETIC DISEASE
Kaydence Hindes squeals with delight as she throws a purple ball back and forth with her mom, Jessica, who is all smiles as she plays with her eight-year-old daughter, who is anything but ordinary.
With a soul-filling belly laugh and a grin to match, Kaydence expresses a pure joy that reminds her mother of the simple things in life that might otherwise be taken for granted. And even though Kaydence can’t tell you how she feels, she shows it.
It’s a beauty the Cochrane family has found as they explore day-to-day life with their Grade 2 Glenbow Elementary School daughter, who was finally diagnosed with an extremely rare disease last year – Beta-propeller Protein-associated Neurodegeneration or BPAN, which is a variation of Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NIBIA) that causes severe childhood delays, seizures and adult onset mobility issues including dystonia and parkinsonism once regression typically hits in early adolescence or adulthood.
“It was a relief in a sense but at the same time it opens up a whole can of worms – how do we deal with this? How do we treat this?” explained Jessica, who had been trying to get to the bottom of her daughter’s condition since she noticed Kaydence beginning to regress by nine months of age.
TYREL BAUER SCORES FIRST WHL GOAL
Forty-four games into his first season with the Seattle Thunderbirds, Cochrane defenceman Tyrel Bauer scored his first Western Hockey League (WHL) goal on Jan. 27 against the Kamloops Blazers.
The goal that took place at the 2:53 mark of the second period turned out to also be the game winner as T-Birds forward Sean Richards got the puck to Bauer at the right point, Bauer took a wrist shot with traffic in front of Blazers goaltender Dylan Garand ... his shot deflected off a Kamloops defenseman and beat Garand on the glove side to give Seattle a 3-1 lead in an eventual 5-2 victory.
“They announced it as Rybinski but I was just happy that we got ahead in that game,” Bauer said in an interview with Thunderbirds reporter Andy Eide. “The play was a D-to-D, one-timer but they had a guy flexing out hard and I thought I’d just throw it toward the net and it paid off.”
FEBRUARY
PARKS AND REC WORK PLAN TO INVESTIGATE HOSTING MAJOR SPORTS EVENT
The Parks and Recreation Committee work plan, approved by council on Monday, could see a major provincial sporting event hosted in Cochrane in the next four years.
One of the three initiatives in the plan was investigating Cochrane's potential to host either an Alberta Summer Games, Alberta Masters Games or Alberta Winter Games.
Committee member James Darby floated the idea at the council meeting. Darby, who has been involved with the circumpolar Arctic Winter Games, hosted in the Northwest Territories last year and is working with Airdrie for its hosting of the Alberta Winter Games, said a successful bid of one of those events could come with a lot of positive spin offs to the town.
Susan Eymann, executive director with the Lethbridge Sport Council, said when the city hosted the Alberta Summer Games in 2012 the economic impact was estimated in the neighbourhood of $3.5 million compared to the total game cost of $1.4 million. Lethbridge is scheduled to host the games again in 2020 and Eymann is projecting the same cost/benefit ratio.
GRIFFIN'S NINE-YEAR SENTENCE UPHELD
The mother of the two children involved in a nine-year legal saga with convicted child sex-offender Allan Dean Griffin is relieved the issue has been finally put to rest but says their fight isn't over.
The Alberta Court of Appeals unanimously upheld Griffin's guilty verdict stemming from the assault of his two stepdaughters, who are now adults, back in August and last week denied another appeal stating errors were made when deciding the length of his sentence. He was given nine years for sexually assaulting the two girls - one for eight years beginning when she was six.
The Crown had originally sought a sentence of 10 to 12 years compared to the defence's request of four to five years before Griffin was handed the nine-year prison sentence minus 57 days post conviction credit.
Lisa Fox, the mother of the two children Griffin was convicted of assaulting, said her family is relieved by the decision but added with Griffin up for parole as early as this year they won't get much time to rest.
LOCAL GIRL TO LOP OFF LOCKS TO COMBAT CANCER
The countdown is on for twelve-year-old Shelby Fenton.
The Grade 7 St. Tim's student is braving the barber and shaving her lid for kid's cancer on March 15.
"I heard about Shave your Lid for a Kid on the radio and I thought about it for a few hours and decided I would do it, because if I ended up with cancer it would be nice if people thought about me," said Shelby, who as three younger siblings.
"It was all her idea," laughed mom Valentina, who has spearheaded fundraising thousands of dollars for the Calgary NICU over the last several years. "We try to foster that thankful and empathetic heart."
With a goal of $2000, Shelby has raised nearly half of her fundraising goal and is starting to get "a little nervous" about the looming lop of her locks.
PUCKS FOR THE WIN, DESPITE COLD TEMPERATURES
Baby, it was cold outside.
The frigid temperatures of last weekend – dipping into the high minus thirties with the windchill – didn't stop the 11th annual Kimmett Cup from surpassing their fundraising goals of $125,000 for the Children's Wish Foundation and $25,000 (already over $50,000) for the Children's Cottage Society.
"We're still working on final numbers but we can confidently say we exceeded both those totals," said co-organizer Reid Kimmett of the 3-on-3 ice hockey tourney that filled Mitford Pond and Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre over the weekend.
Reid took time over the weekend to remember the heart of it all – his late sister Dr. Lindsay Leigh Kimmett, who was killed on Feb. 17, 2008 by a distracted driver.
Held in high regard by everyone who knew her, especially her family, Lindsay's philanthropic heart, passion for children and hockey and her tenacity to go above and beyond is what inspired her family to launch the Lindsay Leigh Kimmett Memorial Foundation in the wake of her death.
Since then, the annual Kimmett Cup charity hockey tourney and the annual Tournament of Aces – of which the Rotary Club of Cochrane has now taken the event reins – have combined raised over $2.5 million for local and international charities.
MARCH
ACCESSIBLE, ELECTRIC REGIONAL BUS SERVICE A STEP CLOSER
New provincial funding is being proposed to help Cochrane develop an accessible regional bus service connecting the town to Calgary.
Cochrane will receive $2.125 million of the $215 million that is slated to aid 33 communities develop green transit solutions. A majority of the funding, $141 million, was earmarked from the province's Climate Leadership Plan.
The Alberta Community Transit (ACT) Fund, which was announced yesterday, will be used to expand the current regional On-It Service to include an electric fleet of accessible buses, expand the schedule, connect with Cochrane’s local on-demand transit service and increase stop options in Calgary.
“The expansion of the regional service and integration with the local on-demand service is another small step to reduce the number of low occupancy vehicles travelling between Cochrane and Calgary each day,” explained Mayor Genung. “Investing in electric regional buses furthers Cochrane as a leader in green technology, research and innovation.”
MEASLES CASE CONFIRMED IN COCHRANE
Alberta Health Services has notified the public that people in Cochrane might have been exposed to an infectious case of measles.
AHS has confirmed that an individual with lab-confirmed measles has been in public settings in Cochrane and Calgary while infectious.
Individuals who were exposed on March 12, in the locations and time frames noted above, AND who have no history of receiving any measles-containing vaccine, will be offered immunization tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. – as a preventative measure – at Brentwood Mall AHS Immunization Clinic. It is imperative that only those who are eligible, as per this above criteria, attend this clinic. This ensures AHS has the opportunity to immunize those who can still benefit, at this time, from the preventative treatment.
Individuals who were exposed on dates other than March 12, are no longer eligible for preventative vaccine; however, they are still encouraged to review their immunization history, and call Health Link for advice or to book an appointment at their local community health centre.
ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION CHANGE LIVES FOR THE BETTER
For Michelle Hounslow it wasn’t so much a matter of if she’d need a kidney donation but when.
“I have been dealing with kidney disease and damage for three-quarters of my life. I was quite sick when I was young with an autoimmune disease,” said Hounslow.
Although Hounslow experienced a remission during her high school years, the condition of her kidneys began to decline rapidly about five years ago. With her kidneys functioning at 25 per cent of their potential, her doctors decided it was time to look for a transplant.
Living donors are the best option for a kidney transplant and Hounslow was lucky enough to have friends and family who were aware of her issue and more than willing to be her organ donor.
“My doctor told me that that only six per cent of people who need a transplant find an appropriate donor before they need to go on dialysis,” said Hounslow.
“But he said, ‘you’ll be one of those six per cent’.”
MCNEICE BROTHERS WIN NATIONAL MEDALS
The McNeice brothers have done it again. The brotherly duo of Callum and Connor McNeice took part in the 2019 Senior and Junior Canadian Wrestling Championships on March 22 to 24 in Saskatoon with Callum taking home the crown of national champion and Connor bringing back a bronze medal.
In the senior men's 79 kg division, Callum defeated Miles Kent in round one, Sam Barmish in round two and Brayden Ambo before taking a 6-5 decision over Ontario's Juwan Burgess in the final match to take the gold.
McNeice said this is something he's been thinking about for a long time.
"Man, it's awesome. It's something I've always dreamed of. This is the first national gold medal I won so it's pretty special," McNeice said of his tournament win. "I certainly couldn't have done it without my family, teammates and coaches. It's an unreal feeling."
APRIL
JACK TENNANT MEMORIAL BRIDGE WILL HONOUR LATE COCHRANE EAGLE PUBLISHER
“Unless you’re dead or living in Edmonton” – to quote the man himself – you already know that Cochrane’s largest infrastructure project to date will be named in honour of Jack Tennant.
The legacy reveal of the Jack Tennant Memorial Bridge was delivered in council chambers on Monday night, with the family of the late Cochrane Eagle founder/publisher in attendance to learn of the honour.
A lengthy public engagement process arrived in its final phase at the end of February, when 2,130 people voted on their favourite moniker out of a shortlist of 11 possible names. While Jack Tennant Memorial Bridge came in with the most votes, second place was Chief Walking Buffalo Bridge (Tatanga Mani) and third was Veterans Bridge – the first name that was put forward by Coun. Morgan Nagel over a year ago.
“A man whose tireless commitment to Cochrane touched just about every corner of our community, including our neighbouring community to the west – the Stoney Nakoda Nation ... Jack was a connector, a man who had a talent for creating links and overcoming barriers,” said Mayor Jeff Genung, ahead of the unanimous vote that would officiate the public decision.
NAKODA ELEMENTARY CELEBRATES DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Nakoda Elementary School held its first Inclusion Education Celebration on April 4 to honour special needs students.
“[It’s] to help give the special needs kids the self-esteem and self-confidence to know they’re different but special and everyone is different and special,” said Tracy Topolnisky, special needs educational assistant at Nakoda Elementary School.
The event was inspired by a drawing made by Jarelle, a special needs student in Grade 4 at Nakoda Elementary.
“Jarelle was sitting at the table and drew this picture of him and Brendal eating spaghetti and then we were like, ‘oh this could go on an anti-bully T-shirt’,” said Topolnisky.
The drawing was entered in an anti-bullying T-shirt design competition for anti-bullying day where it tied for first place.
PREMIER KENNEY SWORN IN, APPOINTS 19 CABINET MINISTERS AND THREE ASSOCIATE MINISTERS
Premier Jason Kenney of the UCP was sworn in today as the 18th Alberta premier.
At the Government House in Edmonton this morning (Tuesday, April 30) Kenney was sworn in by Lieut. Governor Lois Mitchell in a ceremony that is "focused on getting to work on day one" with Kenney said to be launching the UCP strategy to "get Albertans back to work" later today.
The slate of 22, headed by Kenney who will also serve as Minister of Intergovernmental Relations, includes seven women and has a median age of 43, with most new to public service.
“This is a young, energetic and diverse team with deep experience. With an average age of 43, most members of this cabinet are new to public service," said Kenney in a recent press release.
"They ran for all of the right reasons: because they want to work hard to reverse years of economic decline and stagnation, and to get our economy moving again. This is a team that will be obsessed with creating jobs, showing the world that Alberta is open for business again, and fighting for a fair deal in Canada.”
RIVAL BOXING HOSTING CHARITY EVENT FOR WOMEN'S SHELTER
Rival Boxing Gym is making its presence known as they'll be hosting their Boxing Beauties event on April 27 at the Cochrane Lions Event Centre.
"The event itself is a boxing show. The ladies are going to be competing in the ring with boxing headgear with the red and blue corner. There will be three rounds, each of which are two minutes long and will be sanctioned by Boxing Alberta," said event organizer Anne Garrido. "It'll be what any normal amateur boxing show would look like ... it's open to all ages as long as you've purchased a ticket."
Rival has done many formal and charity events in the past such as the Rumble at the Ranche which as included both men and women, but this event is the first event where the roster of boxers are all female.
"It's the first (fully female event) here, it's the first one in a long time. Even in Alberta there's not a lot of events where it's strictly for women ... the reason behind it was due to the cause. This is a fundraiser for the (Big Hill Haven) women's shelter," Garrido said.
