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CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 5, 2012
Drug house shut down INGLEWOOD ‘FINALLY, SOMETHING IS GETTING DONE. THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY.’
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Al Jacobs of Riteway Fencing Inc. in Red Deer works to fence in a drug house at 51 Ibbotson Close in Red Deer on Tuesday. BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF Inglewood residents are breathing a sigh of relief after police shut down a drug house that caused neighbours to feel unsafe in their own homes. Safer Communities and Neighbour-
hoods (SCAN) closed the house at 51 Ibbotson Close in Red Deer on Tuesday, after two investigations and numerous complaints over four years. “There has been constant criminal activity, drug use, drug abuse, drug trafficking,” said Billy Kerr, manager of SCAN South, a division of Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams.
“There were numerous people coming from the address from all times of the day and night bringing undesirable people into the community.” SCAN was granted a one-year Community Safety Order on Nov. 16 to board up the house and install a fence around the property and evict all tenants for 90 days.
Elisa Covert
The owner, who is known to police, does not face any charges related to the order. He will be allowed back into the house in March. Police did not name him. “Hopefully when he returns in March his activities will stop and the residents can live here without fear,” said Kerr. Police will continue to monitor the community. The Safer Communities and Neighbourhood Act, enacted in 2007, allows residents to report suspicious behaviour anonymously. Elisa Covert, a mother of two young children, has watched the constant comings and goings of “sketchy” looking people for the five years she has lived in the neighourbood. “Finally something is getting done,” said Covert. “There’s been a lot of suspicious activity. I don’t even feel safe having (my two children) ride their bikes around this close. In the summer time that’s where they want to be.” Jayme McKay, who also has two children under the age of five, lives directly across from the house. Her husband works out of town and she was frightened for her family’s safety. McKay said she is relieved the only action she will see outside her window will be children playing. “There was a lot of traffic.” said McKay. “Police have been monitoring our close ever since the (2009) murder. There’s tons of police.”
Please see HOUSE on Page A2
Penhold residents flirt with Housing going tax free for reality show project PINE LAKE
BY MURRAY CRAWFORD ADVOCATE STAFF
Penhold is one of a final few Canadian cities that may soon be put under the microscope for a social experiment courtesy of reality television. The tentatively titled Axe the Tax asks residents of a town to live without the services provided by what they pay in taxes. They would instead be given the money they would have been taxed and would then have to spend it on what they need. “In it’s most simple form it is, what would you have if you had no more taxes,” said Nicole Lawson, Force Four entertainment director of development. “What would it look like if you didn’t have taxes and you had to provide for yourself.” When participants needed to use a municipal service, such as a road or sewer, they would be penalized from the money they have, in lieu of paying taxes. Lawson and two of her colleagues were in Penhold at the regional multiplex yesterday discussing the potential reality TV show with residents. Penhold Mayor Dennis Cooper was positive about the show’s message of showing people exactly how their municipal tax dollars are spent. “If we work towards improving and getting people to understand where
PLEASE RECYCLE
nixed BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Tara-Lee Novak, left, a development producer with Force Four Entertainment speaks with Penhold resident Joelle Klinck at the Penhold Multiplex Tuesday night. A television team was in Penhold to see if there is enough interest in the town to produce reality TV show in Penhold. the tax dollars all goes,” said Cooper. “Everything from conserving water to well if you drive on the roads you pay a penalty. You forget the roads and the streets are all things the town supplies.” Penhold is one of a handful of mu-
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Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B3 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6,A7 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D4 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C6 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4-B8
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nicipalities being considered for the show, Lacombe is another. “We’re looking forward to it, we’re open,” said Cooper.
A proposed 380-lot housing development on Pine Lake has been rejected by Red Deer County council. Mayor Jim Wood said on Tuesday he’s not opposed to development around the lake but the project was just too big and would have a negative effect on the Pine Lake community. “I think we need to be very mindful of what density and what size of development we’re going to have,” said Wood, shortly before council unanimously voted against an area structure plan necessary for the project to go ahead. Coun. Dave Hoar also had problems with the scale of the development. “It is my belief that 300 or 400 houses on 100 or so acres will definitely change the character of the community,” said Hoar. He encouraged the group of landowners behind the project to consider a smaller project with fewer homes and more land preserved in its natural state.
Please see SHOW on Page A2
Please see PROJECT on Page A2
ALBERTA
BUSINESS
POLITICIANS WANTED ACCESS TO ‘FIXERS’
INTEREST RATES STAY PUT — FOR NOW
The former chief executive of Alberta’s health superboard says he took flak from provincial politicians for not having ‘fix-it’ people in place to help some people get preferential access to care. A3
The Bank of Canada is holding fast to its view that the economy is poised for a comeback and that interest rates will need to rise at some point in the future. B1