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Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013
Carolyn Martindale, City Editor, 403-314-4326 Fax 403-341-6560 E-mail editorial@reddeeradvocate.com
Residents must move TENTATIVE SYMPHONY CONTRACT DOESN’T CHANGE COMPANY’S INTENT TO TERMINATE DEAL WITH THE PROVINCE TO PROVIDE BEDS FOR 49 PEOPLE
POND HOCKEY TOURNAMENT The annual Red Deer Pond Hockey Tournament takes to the ice this weekend. Hundreds of players between the ages of six and 17 will be at six outdoor rinks today and Sunday. Pond Hockey is a low-cost, family-oriented no-hit league for boys and girls that iced 44 teams this year. Those who want to watch the action can see games at the following rinks: ● Riverside Meadows, 6014 57th Ave. ● Grandview, 4415 46th St. ● Oriole Park, 5 Oldbury St. ● West Park, 3814 55th Ave. ● Pond Hockey East and West, Kinsmen South Community Hall. For more information on Red Deer Pond Hockey, go to www. reddeerpondhockey.com.
OLDS SERVICES DIRECTORY The Town of Olds’ new Family and Community Support Services directory is now available. The annual publication is a guide to services and supports provided to town residents. This year’s edition is printed on recycled paper and has an updated trail map, plus photos of Olds facilities and events. Free copies will be available at the Town of Olds office, Olds Aquatic Centre and Olds Municipal Library. It’s also available online at www.olds.ca/ community/commdir.pdf. Copies can be reserved by calling the town at 403-556-6981.
OWL PROWL Search for owls and learn more about the nocturnal hunters on Thursday. A Kerry Wood Nature Centre interpreter will lead an Owl Prowl from 8 to 10 p.m. in the Burbank area southeast of Blackfalds. Cost is $15 plus GST for members, $17 plus GST for non-members and pre-registration is required by 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Call 403346-2010 for more information.
CORRECTION Some incorrect information appeared in a story in Thursday’s Advocate. Aaron Guilbault, 31, faces a charge of second-degree murder in the death of his father, Tim Guilbault, 58.
GIVE US A CALL The Advocate invites its readers to help cover news in Central Alberta. We would like to hear from you if you see something worthy of coverage. And we would appreciate hearing from you if you see something inaccurate in our pages. We strive for complete, accurate coverage of Central Alberta and are happy to correct any errors we may commit. Call 403-314-4333.
BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF Forty-nine residents at Red Deer’s Symphony Senior Living at Aspen Ridge will be moving to other facilities in Central Alberta. Despite reaching a tentative agreement with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) on Friday, Symphony confirmed it will not renew its contract to provide the assisted living and transition beds for Alberta Health Services. The Ontario-based company announced on Monday that it is discontinuing its AHS contract at the Aspen Ridge facility in Red Deer. About the same time, 130 AUPE members walked off the job and were locked out by the employer because of failed contract talks. “It takes us in a worse position to take Alberta Health Services beds,” said Lisa Brush, Symphony Senior Living Inc. chief executive officer, referring to the tentative deal. “I know it sounds counter intuitive . . . financially it just doesn’t work.” The contract will expire in about a year, making the facility entirely privately operated and funded. Brush said in Ontario they do not have these kind of issues, for example, in longterm care. “I think it is an absolute shame that AHS, the Alberta government and AUPE and the rest of them don’t sit down and hammer something out that is going to be logical in the future where there can be private pay involvement in these type of beds,” said Brush. “Instead, it is AUPE getting their way. I am really shocked. This is Alberta. I thought it was a conservative province. Ontario is a helluva a lot more conservative. I think Quebec is more at this point.” Details of the tentative contract were not released. In the meantime, AHS says will re-examine its bed capacity across Central Alberta to find space for the dislocated resi-
Photo by RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees sing on the picket line outside Symphony Senior Living at Aspen Ridge on Friday. The workers will vote on a tentative deal to end the strike today. dents and create a smooth transition plan for the residents. Cal Dallas, MLA for Red Deer South, said they have a year to find appropriate facilities for the residents. Dallas said the patients will not be placed at the bottom of any waiting lists. “These patients have been assessed and require some very specific health-care supports and they will absolutely be transitioned to new environments where they will have services that meet their needs,” said Dallas. “I have some real empathy. I really feel for the individuals and families.” Dallas acknowledged the need to be creative in taking care of Alberta seniors in light of the province’s growing and aging population. He said there is no magic solution and the future will include options involving components of the private sector and public service delivery in private-run facilities. Over the next year, 237 new continuing care beds will open in Central Alberta, including the 100-bed Villa Maria in Clearview. Mary Anne Jablonski, MLA
for Red Deer North, said the new facilities coming on board will help relieve some of the capacity pressures. “People who had to come to Red Deer because they had no place to go in Central Alberta locations will be able to go back to their home areas,” said Jablonski. “It does take some pressure off Red Deer when we have facilities in Central Alberta.” Despite reassurances from the province, family members of the residents living in the Symphony facility are not sure where their loved ones will end up in a year’s time. R. Dean Cowan, 65, visits his wife Doreen twice a day since she moved into Symphony in April. His wife is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. “I don’t know where she is going to end up,” said Cowan. “The waiting list is 18 months and if you take 49 beds out of the marketplace, it is going to increase that waiting list. Someone on the waiting list is now going to the end of the line. That’s maybe not fair but that’s reality.”
Doug Janssen, vice-president of the Central Alberta Council on Aging, said there is definite concerns that the 49 residents will be scattered across Central Alberta. Janssen said he hopes the new facility in Clearview will accommodate the displaced residents. “The transition of these 49 people, it is not 49 beds,” said Janssen. “It’s 49 grandmas and grandpas. The transition can be done as humanely as possible. Given the beds coming up in Red Deer and Lacombe, they could be absorbed. What it does for any plans that exist at the facilities is kind of up in the air.” Symphony staff will vote on the tentative agreement today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The results of the vote will be released late afternoon. “I would be highly shocked if they didn’t (accept it),” said Brush. “They have gotten all their monetary items in exchange for some language that protects residents against incidents. We’re happy with it. They should be too.” crhyno@reddeeradvocate.com
Guilty plea trims sentence for repeat offender BY BRENDA KOSSOWAN ADVOCATE STAFF An early guilty plea has saved a young Calgary man with a lengthy criminal record from a very long stay in a federal prison. Caleb Costello, 25, was arrested in Red Deer on Nov. 16 by RCMP investigating complaints of a suspicious pickup truck stopped in a downtown parking lot. Police found the truck with its back window broken out and a man and woman napping inside. Costello and his companion, 20-year-old Kelsey Pitton from Kitimat, B.C., were arrested. They were charged with 22 offences, including vehicle theft, theft over $5,000, theft under $5,000, possession of stolen property over $5,000 and possession of stolen property under $5,000.
LOCAL
BRIEFS Trial ordered on murder charge An Edmonton man has been committed to stand trial in Red Deer on charges laid after a woman’s body was found in a ditch near Innisfail. Dana Jane Turner, 31, was reported missing from her home in Fort Saskatchewan on Aug. 16, 2011. Her remains were discovered nearly two months later, on Oct. 9. Mark Damien Lindsay, 26, was arrested and charged in Port Coquitlam, B.C., on March 15, 2012. Adopted son of former Edmonton police chief John Lindsay, he has pleaded not guilty of second-degree murder, interfering with human remains and obstructing justice. Evidence against Lindsay was weighed in a preliminary hearing in Red Deer provincial court before Judge Bert Skinner, concluding just before noon on Friday. Evidence submitted in a preliminary hearing cannot be made public until it has been introduced at trial. Turner’s mother, Wendy Yurko, attended all five days of the hearing, along with members of her family. Lindsay previously asked to be tried by Court of Queen’s Bench judge and jury on the murder charge. Defence counsel Robert Shaigec advised court on Friday that his client wants to be tried by Queen’s Bench judge alone on the other charges.
An additional charge of theft under $5,000 was laid based on a video showing someone fuelling the truck at a gas station and then driving off without paying. Represented by Edmonton lawyer Arnold Piragoff, Costello pleaded guilty in Red Deer provincial court on Friday to 12 of the 23 charges against him as well as a shoplifting charge laid in Calgary. The remaining charges were withdrawn. Costello admitted to stealing the pickup truck and the trailer hooked to it, stealing fuel for the truck and having a number of stolen items in his possession, including a chequebook, credit cards, loyalty cards and licence plates. Crown prosecutor Wayne Silliker entered a past record totalling three pages, noting that most of the charges were for property offences. Silliker and Piragoff presented Judge Jim Mitchell with a joint sentencing sub-
mission, asking for a global sentence of 12 months minus 57 days for time served on the Red Deer charges, plus an additional 20 days for shoplifting, satisfied by the balance of the time he has been in custody. Mitchell agreed to the submission, giving Costello an extra three days of credit for the time he has spent in remand. “It’s a shame. Here you are again, going back to prison for a lengthy sentence,” said Mitchell, who acknowledged Costello’s early guilty plea as an important factor in his sentence. “If you had forced a trial, you’d be going to a federal penitentiary, no doubt about it, so you’ve done yourself a large favour. It’s not too late to turn things around. Quit being a criminal. “Do something useful.” Pitton has yet to enter a plea. She returns to court on Feb. 27. bkossowan@reddeeradvocate.com
Those details are to be sorted out during his arraignment, scheduled for March 4.
Nielsen returned to the store where the ticket was purchased, Red Deer Mohawk at 5407 49th Ave., the next morning and had her win confirmed. “The win is a godsend!,” said Nielsen. Nielsen plans to share the winnings with family and a few selected charities. The money will also help her to move. She picked up her winnings on Jan. 11.
Liquor store robbery probed RCMP are looking for a robber armed with a knife who held up North Hill Liquor Merchants early on Friday. At 1:50 a.m., Red Deer City RCMP responded to the robbery at 71st Street. A male allegedly entered the liquor store with his face covered and demanded cash from staff. He left with an undisclosed amount of money. No one was injured during the robbery. The suspect is described as an Arabian who spoke with an accent. He was about 1.6 metres (five feet and three inches) tall and wore a black jacket, black tuque, blue jeans, and black runners with a white and red stripe down the side. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Red Deer City RCMP 403-343-5575. To remain anonymous call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or report it online at www.tipsubmit.com. If the information leads to an arrest, tipsters are eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.
City woman wins $100,000 A Red Deer woman thought she won $10,000, but then she realized the winnings were 10 times more. Wanda Nielsen’s Scratch ‘n Win ticket showed $100,000. “I thought I had won $10,000 and I was quite excited!” said Nielsen. She had scratched off the Stocking Stuffer ticket at home. When she took a closer look, she realized it was actually the far bigger amount.
Cenotaph a historic resource The Ross Street cenotaph that’s long been a treasured landmark in downtown Red Deer is now officially a designated provincial historic resource. Alberta Culture Minister Heather Klimchuk said this designation was made to ensure that future generations learn of the sacrifice made by local soldiers and take pride in their stories. “The Red Deer cenotaph honours the selfless service of Alberta’s military men and women, and serves as a reminder of how these Albertans helped shape the history of our province, this nation and the world,” she added. The stone sculpture of a First World War unknown soldier facing west was unveiled on Sept. 15, 1922, by Lord Byng, governor general of Canada. The statue is one of the earliest and best known works of sculpture by Maj. Frank H. Norbury, a native of Liverpool, England. He was a decorated war veteran and skilled carver, who tried to capture the weariness and resolute purpose of soldiers who served far from home. The cenotaph was installed on Red Deer’s main street, near the former Canadian Pacific Railway station, which was the embarkation point for young men on their way to the European front. It is now one of more than 350 provincial historic resources in Alberta.