Serving the Heart of Central Alberta for 105 years
VOLUME ONE HUNDRED SIX
PM40011853 R08546
NUMBER FORTY-FIVE
STETTLER, ALBERTA
November 7, 2012
PRICE – $1.09 Plus GST
Friends, family remember Turigan for zest for life, propensity for fun JOHN MACNEIL Independent editor Lane Turigan made the most of his 18 years. Friends and family members remember the young Stettler man who died last week as a carefree and fun-loving sort who lived life to the fullest. He died at Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary last Thursday from injuries sustained in an Oct. 13 highway accident about 20 kilometres from Stettler. Turigan was the driver of the truck that left Highway 11 at the precariously sharp turn just before the Highway 12 intersection in foggy conditions during the wee hours of that Saturday morning. Three passengers, including Turigan’s girlfriend Kendra Grams, survived the crash. The friends were en route home from Red Deer. Stettler RCMP reported alcohol was not involved in the accident, but cited speed and heavy fog as possible factors. Turigan’s funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday at the Stettler Funeral Home. “Lane is remembered as a fun-loving, energetic young man,” said Patti Marsh, partner of Turigan’s father Colin. “He enjoyed living life to the fullest. “He did stuff with his friends and he worked hard for his dad, welding, and he was very good at that. Anything that Lane set his mind to accomplish, he became very proficient at it.” Marsh said Turigan liked drawing, music and gaming with his friends, along with horseback-riding with his family, trips to the mountains and vacationing. “Many family stories say he had a passion for digging holes,” she said with a laugh. “And he had a hole in the yard here the size you could bury a car in.” Family friend Rayleen Paschke, who works with Turigan’s mother Debbie, said she knew Lane all his life. “He lived every day to the fullest — definitely,” Paschke said. “Absolutely, every day like it was the last. Live for today. Always.” Turigan’s family was at his side during the almost three weeks he was hospitalized in Calgary. Back home in Stettler, the community rallied in support of his family.
Paschke set up a drop box at Hauck Vision and Hearing Centre, where people are still invited to leave family donations. She has also managed a Facebook page, the Lane Turigan Family Fund, which has been loaded with tributes and well-wishes and contained updates on Turigan’s condition during his hospitalization. “It’s definitely a good showing of community support for them,” said Paschke, who wanted to help Turigan’s family members with costs for gas, meals and lodging while commuting to Calgary. This week, his friends reflected on Turigan’s penchant for fun. “He always liked to have fun,” said Mackenzie Rost, 18. “He had a lot of fun and was carefree. He was just a good friend. “I went to school with him for all of elementary and what not, but it’s just this last year that I got really close with him. We became pretty good friends. He was a good friend of one of my good friends (Brendan Grover).” Last winter, one of Rost’s Grade 12 classmates, Koralea Boettger, died in a truck crash just outside Stettler. Just like last February, the latest fatality hits home for young and old alike in Stettler. “You appreciate (the fragility of life),” Rost said. “You’ve got to appreciate everybody that’s around you. They can be gone like that.” Grover, 18, considered Turigan as one of his best friends. He went to Calgary last month to visit with Turigan in hospital. “We grew up together,” Grover said. “The last two years, we were pretty close buddies. We liked to hang out and party together. We’d go over to his house, play video games and hang out. It would be pretty fun.” Grover said it was by chance that he wasn’t with his longtime friend — and the others — the night of the accident. “It just so happened I didn’t go to Red Deer with them that night. “This is all pretty overwhelming right now.” Turigan’s girlfriend paid tribute to him on Twitter last Friday. “It’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved, at all,” Grams tweeted. “Rest in paradise, Lane.”
Contributed photo
Lane Turigan, who died last week from injuries sustained in an Oct. 13 crash, is remembered by friends and family for his cheerfulness and carefree attitude.
Communities vow fight to save ‘small schools’ LES STULBERG Independent reporter Donalda residents fear their community is in jeopardy if the Clearview School Division goes ahead with tentative plans to close Donalda School and two other “small schools” in the district. “We will fight it,” Donalda Mayor Bruce Gartside said after a community meeting last Thursday to discuss Clearview talks of closing Donalda, Byemoor and Brownfield schools. “Without a school, we wouldn’t be much.” At a school board meeting a week ago Monday, the Clearview trustees were presented with preliminary data from administration on financial outcomes that would result from school closings. “We should add a column for killing
communities,” said board trustee Cheri Neitz. But not all trustees linked the well-being of communities to the Clearview board’s mandate. “We are not here to save communities,” said trustee Patty Dittrick. “We are here to educate children.” Byemoor, Donalda and Brownfield schools are in jeopardy of being closed, because of mounting financial losses, the board reported at its Oct. 25 meeting. Peter Simons, one of the trustees, introduced a motion of “closure,” which under the provincial School Act could mean the elimination of an entire school or “a program or block of grades.” After debating the issue, the board decided to postpone further consideration of possible school closings until its Nov. 15 meeting. That 2:30 p.m. meeting is open to the public, and many of the stakeholders vow they
plan to attend. In his motion, Simons cited an estimated operating deficit of about $900,000 in the 2011-12 financial year and a budgeted operating deficit of $1.76 million in 2012-13. The board also directed superintendent John Bailey to prepare a report on the potential school closures. Donalda was the first of the affected communities to host a community meeting to plan a course of action. Byemoor and Brownfield hosted similar meetings this Monday. A full-house crowd at the Byemoor meeting heard many of the same concerns expressed in the Donalda and Brownfield gatherings. Parents said from budget information presented by the small schools, it appears it’s not those small schools causing the $1.7-million deficit mentioned in Simons’ closure motion. See ‘School’ on Page A2
JOHN MacNEIL/Independent editor
IT’S HARD TO KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN — Swarmed by Sylvan Lake Lakers, Tyler Stewart of the Stettler Wildcats hangs onto the football during the Wildcats’ 57-28 victory in high school playoff football action last Saturday. See Page B1.
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