NERVES OF STEEL
FAREWELL TO BORGNINE
Troy Gibb uses personal experience to help golfers, skiers C3
Oscar winner worked until the end C5
CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
TUESDAY, JULY 10, 2012
Clouds, rain give way to ‘heat wave’ BY BRENDA KOSSOWAN ADVOCATE STAFF Normal highs are starting to feel like a heat wave after what has seemed like an eternity of grey weather. Central Albertans are hitting the beaches, the ice cream shops and the hardware stores, seeking ways to cool down as the heat rises. It’s not surprising that it feels like a heat wave after a month of rain and cloud, said Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Wray from his office in Vancouver. June was a month of dark skies, with rain falling 15 out of 30 days, Wray said on Monday. The 91.8 mm of total rainfall was just a shade below the 92 mm that is normal for June, and it was well spread out with only two days of heavy rain, he said. Environment Canada is predicting a high today of 30C with a “slight” chance of thunder showers in the evening, followed by a few more days of temperatures in the high 20s, said Wray. That’s still a few degrees short of any records for this time of year, he said. However, with daytime temperatures considerably warmer than they have been, people are looking at the summer of 2012 from a brand new perspective. Sandy beaches were such a big draw that people had to be turned away from the shores of Gull Lake on Sunday. Susan Johnson, communications officer for Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation, said the dayuse area at Aspen Beach quickly filled over capacity on Saturday morning and again on Sunday, to the extent that people had to be turned away to prevent the large number of vehicles from becoming a safety hazard. Conservation officer were worried that emergency vehicles would not be able to get through the congestion, so suggested that people go to Jarvis Bay or Red Lodge Park instead. Jarvis Bay was busy but did not run out of room, said Johnson. Richard Barker, manager of the Rona Home Centre at the south side of Red Deer, said his store is getting a sudden influx of people looking for fans and air conditioners. That’s good news for the store, which did not sell a lot of air conditioners last summer because the weather was so much cooler than normal, said Barker. Stock that had been sitting still in the past is now heading out the door in a steady stream, he said. Greg Little, co-owner with his wife Krista of the Little Ice Cream and Soda Shop on Michener Hill in Red Deer, was among those having only limited success finding a fan on Monday. That aside, he said the past weekend was the best so far this year for their shop, with the warmer weather bringing a significant increase in the number of people looking to cool off from the inside out. Along with the sunshine come other risks.
Please see WEATHER on Page A2
Photo by RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff
Jaycob Hoedel, 4, runs from a splashing by his parents’ friend Chad Fraddette as the Red Deer families join other Central Albertans on the Ebeling Day Use Area beach at Gull Lake’s Aspen Beach Provincial Park Monday.
Council requests report on dandelion management BY LAURA TESTER ADVOCATE STAFF The City of Red Deer will take some time on how to better attack dandelions that have been allowed to spread on city turf. Red Deer city council decided on Monday that an administrative report will come back on Aug. 20 to address options for enhanced dandelion control. Coun. Frank Wong, who issued a notice of motion about weed infestation at the June 25 meeting, was disappointed the city wouldn’t address the situation sooner. “We should have acted on this a long time ago,” said Wong, the sole one to vote against the motion. “A lot of residents wanted us to spray a month ago.” In 2010, the province removed dandelions from the Weed Act and Regulations, resulting in changes to city practices with respect to dandelion management. Wong said he had received more than 10 phones calls, plus 10 emails in regards to the issue. Nearly everyone was in support of seeing enhanced dande-
PLEASE RECYCLE
Fans and air conditioners may be of little use as a high demand for electricity forces the Alberta Electric System Operator to shed power loads by cutting off supplies. At 2:15 p.m. on Monday, the City of Red Deer initiated a program of rolling power outages to reduce its share of the load on the provincial grid, under instructions from the AESO. Jim Jorgensen, manager of Electricity, Light and Power for the City of Red Deer, said he had been informed that high demand was forcing the AESO to cut power across the province. The city was put on alert at 1:30 p.m. that it may have to reduce its power consumption. The order was issued at 2:15 p.m., said Jorgensen. To reduce Red Deer’s power demand, his department set up a series of rolling outages across the city. Outages had originally been planned to last about 15 minutes in each sector, but had to be lengthened to up to 30 minutes, Jorgensen said at about 3:30 p.m. He said there was no way to know at the time whether the entire city would be affected or if the cycle would have to be repeated.
See OUTAGE on A2
SYLVAN LAKE
Crestview Outline Plan approved
CITY COUNCIL
BY JESSICA JONES ADVOCATE STAFF
COUNCIL FAVOURS VOTES EVERY FOUR YEARS A3 lion control. A number of residents are complaining because they are treating dandelions but nearby city lands are allowing the weeds to grow and then spread their seeds. Wong said he goes on walks in his neighbourhood and no matter the direction, he can smell the sprays from different companies getting rid of dandelions in people’s yards. People are spending a lot of money controlling their own dandelions, Wong said. “We back off on a park and I was told that I would have to wait until the fall to kill weeds and that the city doesn’t see dandelions as a toxic weed, so therefore I was told that the city won’t be spraying for weeds,” said Julie in an email to Wong.
Considerable opposition wasn’t the linchpin for Town of Sylvan Lake council after they unanimously passed Lamont Land Inc.’s Crestview Outline Plan. Council also carried amendments on Monday night in the hopes to safeguard mature trees running east to west that would separate the Pierview subdivision and the new development. Calgary-based Lamont owns the quarter section east of 50th Street and north of the Memorial Trail. The first phase of the Crestview development would consist of about 70 lots for smaller single-detached homes, south of the existing Pierview subdivision. Developers hope to hit ground this fall. But controversy and concerns about the loss of the mature trees were voiced right from the start during the packed council meeting after Mayor Susan Samson welcomed residents’ comments.
Please see WEEDS on Page A2
Please see CRESTVIEW on Page A2
WEATHER
INDEX
Mainly sunny. High 30. Low 14.
Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B3 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5,A6 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D4 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C5 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4-B6
FORECAST ON A2
AESO STARTS ROLLING BLACKOUTS AS ELECTRICITY DEMAND SOARS ACROSS THE PROVINCE
ALBERTA
BUSINESS
PREMIER DOESN’T EXPECT MULCAIR TO CHANGE HIS TUNE
GREEN POWER PLAYER
Alberta’s premier says she’s not holding out hope that the federal NDP leader will change his tune on the oilsands and it doesn’t look like the two will meet during Stampede. A2
As a business owner, Charlie Bredo is keenly aware of the importance of the healthy bottom line. But the former Red Deer resident also has a green side, which helps to explain why he’s a proponent of renewable power. B1