CANADA WINS
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Defeats Russia in Hockey Challenge
Jane Fonda penning new material geared towards young people D8
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CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 15, 2012
TOMORROW PROJECT
Study hunting cancers’ causes BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF
we’ll have to shut down half of the intersection to do the work that we need to do,” said Williston. Some drivers are now heading into Sunnybrook to avoid the 32nd Street and 40th Avenue intersection. The city dropped off about 1,200 mailouts to residents in Sunnybrook, Mountview, Anders and Morrisroe who would be directly affected by increased traffic. More focused residential updates will occur leading up to the major reconstruction start-up, Williston said. The budgeted $9.2-million improvements will see right-turn lanes built at 32nd Street and Spruce Drive westbound. Right-turn lanes will also be built at 40th Avenue — for eastbound 32nd Street traffic heading onto southbound 40th Avenue, as well as for drivers on 40th Avenue who are turning onto westbound 32nd Street. Turn lanes will be done around the end of August, but they may not be fully open to traffic then.
Cancer will affect half of us and kill one in four. In Alberta Health Services Central Zone, nearly 2,000 people were diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and 846 died from the disease. Those kinds of sobering statistics are behind a major study designed to learn more about the causes of cancer, called the Tomorrow Project. The goal by 2013 is to enrol 50,000 Albertans aged 35 to 69 who have never had cancer. Since the project began in 2001, just over half that number has been reached so a big push is on. As part of that effort, a temporary study centre was set up in the Red Deer Lodge on Tuesday. By the end of the week, 180 Central Albertans will be asked questions about their health and lifestyle, have basic measurements taken, and provide small amounts of urine and blood or saliva. “It’s a preventive cancer research study,” said Laura Cameron, a Tomorrow Project research assistant. “So what we’re doing is we’re trying to look at what causes cancer. We’re trying to look at the lifestyle, genetic and environmental factors, and why some people get cancer and some don’t.” The confidential information gathered will go into a database to be used by researchers. In 2008, the Alberta effort became part of the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project, which will pull together information on 300,000 Canadians. The information gathered may also support research into other conditions. Red Deer’s Fiona Cowie said she decided to participate because she has rheumatoid arthritis and her 10-yearold son has Type 1 diabetes. “There are immune issues in our family. So I thought the more that I can give input to a huge study, the better it could be for future generations,” said Cowie.
Please see DETOURS on Page A2
Please see STUDY on Page A2
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
City of Red Deer Electric Light and Power employees work on installing a new power pole at the corner of 32nd St. at 40th Ave. A major redevelopment of the roadway in the area is underway.
Detours likely during major upgrades to 32nd Street BY LAURA TESTER ADVOCATE STAFF Drivers can expect detours into neighbourhoods when major rebuilding of 32nd Street gets underway early next month in Red Deer. Crews are adding turning lanes and other improvements at the intersections of Spruce Drive and 40th Avenue. However, the major work will involve completely redoing the road that’s been around for several decades and sees about 30,000 vehicles on it every day, said City of Red Deer transportation engineer Michael Williston. “We understand it’s going to impact a lot of people, but people want to see this — they want to see 32nd Street fixed,” said Williston on Tuesday. “And the good news is that it’s going to be basically done this year.” The major road upgrade will start just west of 47th Avenue, heading east to just past 40th Avenue. It involves replacing part of the road. “We’re actually digging down a foot for the entire roadway, both the north and south side,” said Williston. “It’s a
major reconstruction effort.” The traffic detours will begin in early September, weather dependent. Crews will shut down the south side of 32nd Street first, so that there would be two-lane traffic on the north side of the road. Then the construction will switch to the north side. No widening of the road is occurring, Williston said. Each phase of construction will take about a week. “Access to the neighbourhoods will be changing as the detour goes along because we have to shut down the road in segments,” said Williston. Detours will be marked. There will also be lots of advance warning with signs, including at Taylor Drive, so people can choose to take other routes, Williston said. A lot of drivers use 47th Avenue to shortcut to Bower Place Shopping Centre, but that access will be temporarily closed except to local traffic. Drivers will have to use Gaetz Avenue instead, Williston said. “When we get to the 40th Avenue intersection (for rebuilding the road),
Oily river spoils gold panning operation BY JESSICA JONES ADVOCATE STAFF Gary May would rather have seen the sheen of gold in his panning equipment, not the sheen of oil. The avid gold panner was testing his luck on the quiet shoreline of the Red Deer River near the Innisfail bridge about four km west of the Town of Innisfail on Monday when his sluice box became coated with oil, with the potent smell of crude. May, 67, has been mining for gold in the area for about 11 years and was none too pleased about what covered his equipment that is used to trap heavier gold particles. He was using his equipment along the shoreline, about 1.5 metres from the water’s edge. “I said to my friend, ‘What the heck is in my box? It’s a bunch of grease’ and he said, ‘That’s not grease, that’s oil.’ ” The sight of the oil has concerned May so much that he has vowed not to drink the City of Red Deer’s water, which comes from the Red Deer River. “I’m not drinking it. I will drink bot-
PLEASE RECYCLE
tled water,” he said. May is also disappointed about the fact that he will be unable to mine for gold in the area, explaining that oil makes gold float. “I won’t be able to retain the gold in my equipment. I am not very happy,” he said. On June 7, up to 3,000 barrels (475,000 litres) of light sour crude oil was released into the Red Deer River from Plains Midstream Canada pipeline about one km north of Sundre. May can’t confirm if the oil he found in his equipment was in fact related to the spill but can’t see another logical option. “What is it doing there?” he questions. While City of Red Deer environment services manager Tom Warder understands the concern surrounding drinking water, he said that samples from the water treatment plants, at the intake and distribution system, never exceeded drinking water standards. He said if there was a risk, the plant would be shut down.
Please see OIL on Page A2
WEATHER
INDEX
Clearing. High 19. Low 5.
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Photo by RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff
Gold panner Gary May shows oil residue on his pan and sluice after panning in the Red Deer River near Innisfail Tuesday. LOCAL
ALBERTA
TAKE A PUNCH FOR CHARITY
REDFORD SAYS NO TO ROYALTIES FOR B.C.
The Red Deer and District Boxing Club is looking for white collar male and female boxers to get in the ring and put up their dukes for Rumble in Red Deer 4. C1
Alberta Premier Alison Redford has not and will not be meeting with her B.C. counterpart to discuss any sharing of Alberta royalties from the proposed multibillion-dollar pipeline project. A3