Red Deer 1913 — 2013 Create Celebrate Commemorate
LITERARY LICENCE TO THRILL
FEARS FOR A NATION Local restaurateur worries about the future of his homeland, Syria C1
Mash-up mixes super spy with Son of God D1
CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
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THAT’S A LOT OF PI
FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013
WATER CONFERENCE
Pipeline break not so bad: speaker BY RANDY FIEDLER ADVOCATE STAFF
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Eastview Middle School teacher Jeremy Clevette reacts after having a number of whipped cream pies tossed in his face on Thursday. The Grade 7 students in the school celebrated Pi Day by seeing who in each class could recite the most digits of Pi. The winner from each class got the chance to toss a pie in the face of vice principal Lisa Spicer and teachers Penny Vollmin and Clevette. Jennifer Yu, who is in Clevette’s math class was the ultimate winner of the challenge, reciting Pi to 189 decimal points.
Last year’s pipeline break spilling 3,000 barrels of oil into the Red Deer River near Sundre is equal to one second of the river’s flow during flood, an expert told a water conference Thursday. “Far more oil enters rivers being flushed off sidewalks and roads from our cars and lawnmowers, but they’re more dispersed,” said Stewart Rood, a University of Lethbridge environmental science professor. “We need to put these things in context. It’s a pulse: people see it and smell it.” A researcher who’s studied the Red Deer River floodplain for 20 years, Rood spoke during the final day of Water and the Environment: Watershed Planning and Management in Alberta. The first annual three-day conference hosted by Canadian Water Resources Association Alberta and Alberta’s watershed planning and advisory councils, which includes the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance, was held in advance of Canada Water Week March 18-24 and World Water Day on March 22. Rood and his team studied three sites between Sundre and Glennifer Lake just days after the Plains Midstream pipeline broke June 7. Weeks after, oil coating leaves had evaporated into a chalky, asphaltlike, non-toxic residue identified using infrared photographs. Despite some leaves dying, by late August the balsam poplar, sandbar willow and wolf willow remained alive and cloning with shoots, though their growth had slowed. “It’s similar to an out-of-season frost or an insect outbreak. This is how the system responds without our intervention. The relevant interval to recovery is weeks, not months.”
Please see SPILL on Page A2
Mother affected by suicide speaks out BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF A Red Deer mother whose son committed suicide last year has a word of caution for parents. “If a child says they’re going to hurt themselves, take them seriously,” said Maryanne Nonay. Her son Brett Watts, 17, killed himself last May. “He gave me the words and I thought he was being a dramatic teenager. He gave me the words and I didn’t believe him.” Nonay, 48, said they were arguing when he threatened to commit suicide — and he did — without any warning. Watts, a Hunting Hills High School student, had never attempted suicide before. She said he was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a type of autism, when he was in middle school and was bullied. He didn’t socialize. He was a
PLEASE RECYCLE
loner. And he had to deal with issues that came from his parents’ divorce. “His self-esteem was very brittle.” Even though Nonay attended a support group for people impacted by suicide, she was surprised that so many teens in the Red Deer area had committed suicide in the past year. “It’s bad enough for yourself, but to think other people have to go through that to, it’s horrible.” Six local suicides were reported online in February by youth trying to bring awareness to the issue. Nonay said she has been reading the sad stories people have posted on the Facebook page that was created and has posted comments herself to let people know how much suicide impacts those who are left behind. She said there were probably different triggers for each of the teens who died.
Please see SUICIDE on Page A2
WEATHER
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FORECAST ON A2
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Maryanne Nonay of Red Deer lost her son Brett Watts, inset, to suicide in May of 2012.
CANADA
ADVOCATE VIEW
FLQ MEMBER ROSE DIES AFTER STROKE
WHAT’S COOKING?
Convicted terrorist Paul Rose, who died Thursday of a stroke, is best known as an architect of the 1970 October Crisis. A5
Lisa Ray is host, and Mark McEwan is head judge on ‘Top Chef Canada,’ returning Monday on Food Network Canada. C1
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