Serving the Heart of Central Alberta for 106 years
VOLUME ONE HUNDRED SEVEN
PM40011853 R08546
NUMBER THREE
STETTLER, ALBERTA
January 16, 2013
PRICE – $1.09 Plus
Byemoor women witness Airdrie standoff LES STULBERG Independent reporter
JOHN MacNEIL/Independent editor
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT — Erskine and Stettler Middle School face each other during the SMS junior high basketball tournament on Saturday at the high school gym. For photos from boys’ and girls’ play, see Page B1.
Clearview issues directive after ‘critical’ Calgary case LES STULBERG Independent reporter Clearview School Division has acted on an Alberta Education directive in response to a near-tragic incident involving a Calgary student and a lanyard. Clearview superintendent John Bailey said all school-issued lanyards would be replaced with the “breakaway” types that pull apart when stressed. Students in all Clearview schools have been “encouraged” to trade in all non-compliant lanyards for the safer replacements. The mid-December incident at the Bearspaw School in Calgary
sent a Grade 3 boy to a Calgary hospital in critical condition when he was accidentally choked by the lanyard in a washroom stall. A lanyard is a strap usually worn around the neck that’s used to hold identification badges, keys, whistles, computer thumb-drives and other such items. Bailey said the use of non-breakaway lanyards has been strongly discouraged. He said students bringing lanyards from home that aren’t of the quick-release variety will be asked not to wear them around their neck, but rather to put them in a pocket. “Student safety is of the utmost concern,” Bailey said.
In a pre-Christmas memo to Stettler-area parents, William E. Hay Composite High School principal Norbert Baharally said the school would be “reinforcing the message to our students that it is absolutely unacceptable to bring, or have, lanyards in our school that are not the breakaway ones.” Baharally’s letter is posted on the William E. Hay website. “We are asking students to return all lanyards that were issued by our school to their TAs or into the office as soon as possible,” Baharally said in the memo. “Keeping our school safe for all students is a priority for us and we will take the steps necessary to achieve this.”
RICHARD FROESE/Independent reporter
Drumheller-Stettler MLA Rick Strankman (second from right) met with councillors last week, including County of Stettler Reeve Wayne Nixon (left), deputy reeve Terry Schiffner and Stettler town Coun. Peter Simons.
MLA visits town, county councils RICHARD FROESE Independent reporter Health care was a major issue as Stettler’s new MLA, Rick Strankman, paid his first formal visit to town and county councils last week. “My top priority locally and provincially will be health care and funding allocations,” said Strankman, who met with the Town of Stettler
council last Tuesday night and the County of Stettler council last Wednesday morning. Elected as the MLA for Drumheller-Stettler last April, the Wildrose member opened the door to work closely with municipalities, even as he serves in Opposition. “We want to continue modernization of Stettler Hosptial and Care Centre,” said Mayor Dick Richards. “We’ve made Stettler an education, economic and healthcare hub of the region, so we have to make sure our facilities are in sync
with that philosophy.” To improve health care, Strankman suggested that the centrallyoperated Alberta Health Services be scrapped and that the province introduce a “competitive model,” a system that’s working effectively in Europe. “I don’t want to say private, but some form of competition,” he said. Stettler-region councillors urged the MLA to support local applications for grants from the Community Facilities Enhancement Program and the Community
Initiatives Program, the mayor later told the Independent as he summed up last week’s meeting. “These are important for local groups in furthering their projects and for the MLA to support them to secure grants would be appreciated,” Richards said. While a new MLA and party has created a new approach to communicating with the provincial government, council is prepared to make that an effective relationship, the mayor said. See ‘MLA’ on Page A6
A seemingly routine lunch for two young Byemoor women last Saturday ended in an ordeal they likely won’t forget in their lifetime. In what was to be a “quick bite to eat,” for Kary Lyn Keith and Rebecca Schofer at the Toad ’n’ Turtle pub and restaurant in Airdrie turned into a four-anda-half-hour standoff between heavily-armed police officers and two robbery suspects. The Airdrie Echo r e p o r t e d t h e t wo m e n were suspected of committing multiple robberies and a hit-and-run in Calgary. They attempted to hide out from police by accessing the rooftop patio of the restaurant. “It was a little unnerving,” said the 26-year-old Schofer. “You never know what to expect in something like this.” Keith, 25, who works at the Stettler mental health office, said the mood of the 50 restaurant patrons sequestered inside the building “was mostly calm, but there was a range of emotions.” “There were some scary moments,” she said. Keith said that init i a l l y, t h ey c o u l d s e e the sniper on the roof of the building across the street, along with officers in swat-gear and an armoured police vehicle. When they were told to move to the side of the building with no windows, some people feared something “serious” was about to happen, Keith said. Later, they heard what they thought sounded like smoke bombs exploding on the roof. “That was a bit scary,” Keith said. At one point, Keith said, the police stormed in with guns raised, believing the suspects had entered the building and they were checking out people’s faces. Schofer said the roof of the Toad ’n’ Turtle was under reconstruction and covered in tarps. The fugitives apparently got under the tarps, out of police sight, and were believed to be holed up under the roof. “This ordeal totally restored my faith in the police,” Keith said. “They handled the situation well and kept us informed on what was going on.” The two women, both expectant mothers, were able to make contact with their husbands in Byemoor — Tyson Keith and Lenard Schofer — by
sending text messages. Schofer said that while about half of the people seemed concerned, others treated it lightly. “Some of the younger men were upset that alcohol wasn’t being allowed to be served,” she said. Keith noted the lengthy stalemate, from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., was a bit much for the smokers to handle — some were smoking in the washrooms to ease their tensions. Const. Jen Morin of the Airdrie RCMP told the Airdrie Echo that two men went on a crime spree in northeast Calgary on Saturday morning. The pair then drove to Airdrie and crashed their white pickup truck on the offramp from Highway 2 to Yankee Valley Boulevard. Const. Morin said witnesses told police that two men ran up a small hill and across a field from the off-ramp to the strip mall area near the pub. During their surveillance of the area, police were told by other witnesses that two men were on the roof of the pub. “A t t h a t p o i n t , w e immediately contained the scene,” Const. Morin said. “We activated our emergency response t e a m o u t o f C a l g a r y. They got here as quick as they could, as well as our police dog services. Calgary Police Service also attended to assist, as well as Airdrie Municipal Enforcement to assist us with traffic.” A sniper was placed on a rooftop across from the pub and multiple officers sporting body armour, riot shields and brandishing assault-type weapons were seen both on the roof of the pub and around both sides of the building. A small, helicopterlike drone flew above and around the building for most of the afternoon, presumably taking pictures of the suspects. A large camouflaged armoured police vehicle was also seen moving on the south side of the building. A loud bang was heard at about 4:15 p.m., presumably from a stun-type grenade. Eventually, police moved in and arrested the pair without incident. “It was the best outcome we could have hoped for,” Const. Morin said. Keith said that when she got home, her husband told her, “Now we have a story to tell our baby.” “That part might be cool,” Keith said, “but I am glad it’s over and it is just a story now.”
Readers can also find the Stettler Independent at stettlerindependent.com