Serving the communities of Rimbey, Bentley, Bluffton, Winfield, Alder Flats and Buck Lake
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Volume 15 Number 12
www.rimbeyreview.com
Young service dog finds new home in Bentley By Treena Mielke Carla Schneider will never know why she was in the wrong place at the wrong time that fateful day in June 2004 when, without warning, life as she knew it, changed forever. She only knew she was. One minute she was behind the wheel, a confident driver, delivering automotive paint in Red Deer. But, in less than a heartbeat, her entire world was shattered when another driver went through a red light smashing into the passenger side of her truck. Although she was unconscious through the entire ordeal, she found out later rescue workers worked frantically for an hour and a half to release her trapped body from the crumpled vehicle using the Jaws of Life. She was transported to Red Deer Regional Hospital, then flown via STARS to an Edmonton hospital with a nurse and a paramedic continually flushing dangerous amounts of automotive paint from her eyes. The accident left the woman, then in her late 30s, with eye damage and loss of sight in one eye, problems with balance and depth perception, permanently damaged lungs and a brain injury resulting in memory loss and difficulty in learning new tasks. Months of rehabilitation helped but some of the damage caused by the accident was irreversible. Continued on Page 9
Carla Schneider and her new service dog, Nikolas share some quiet time. Nikolas came to live with Carla and her husband Les in February, replacing their beloved service dog, Gus, who died suddenly last year. The Carla Schneider Service Dog Fund account to help with training Nikolas has been set up at any Servus Credit Union branch. Treena Mielke Photo
County undecided about funding Rimbey library and racetrack By Amelia Naismith Further decisions among Ponoka County councillors on funding Rimbey’s Municipal Library have been shelved for a later date. County council has approved its 2013 budget but has not decided whether to fund Rimbey’s library and racetrack projects. At their March 12 meeting, Rimbey library manager Jean Keetch made a presentation to council requesting $275,000 for the library’s expansion. “We have been short of space for some time,” said Keetch. “The biggest concern for me as a manager is safety.
She says last summer 165 children came to the library for the summer reading program and that the library is lacking shelf space, mobility space for those with walkers or wheelchairs, and it’s too noisy. The Rimbey Municipal Library also doesn’t meet power resources supply standards due to the lack of space. “Library standards now say that 45 per cent of all soft seating should contain access to power. Zero per cent of our soft seating contains access to power, so we have extension cords running around on the floor. As a library manager that terrifies me,” said
Keetch. She also told council if the situation continues without action she could be considered criminally negligent. Each year the county provides the library with $150,000 and council wants to make clear that should they decide not to provide expansion funding it isn’t due to lack of generosity or support for what each councillor feels is a wonderful asset to Rimbey — with exceptional funding. “I think we have shown some generosity and support,” said Ponoka County CAO Charlie Cutforth. One of the reasons council decided to
delay their decision is because the library’s expansion and the sale of the Rimbey Town Office for $1 created a division situation within the town that has not yet been settled. Last year the town decided to sell their portion of the building to the library board for $1 and relocate the town office to the Provincial Building at the west end of town. This action created a flood of letter to the editors in the Rimbey Review with two main positions; some people are for the action and feel the library’s expansion is a benefit to the town. Continued on Page 3
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