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Vol. 61, Issue 116
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Two stabbed early Sunday SALLY MACDONALD Townsman Staff
Two young Cranbrook men were stabbed on Saturday night in what RCMP believe is a case of mistaken identity. According to an RCMP statement, the two men in the 20s were walking in the area of 17th Avenue North and 8th Street North in Cranbrook just before 4 a.m. on Sunday, June 16. As they were walk-
The man who admitted abducting three-year-old boy will find out in October if he is going to be considered a dangerous offender
FINDLAY CREEK SEARCH
Missing men’s truck located The search for two men missing in the Findlay Creek area since Saturday, June 8 has taken a new turn. RCMP and Search and Rescue have located the truck in the fast-moving creek, but conditions are such that they cannot get to it. “They are still missing but we were able to positively locate the truck,” said Cpl. Chris Newel of the Kimberley Detachment. “It’s in a really dangerous spot and the current is just too swift and too strong. “We can’t get down to it and
at this time, won’t be able to get it out. We can’t ascertain if the two men are in it or not.” Search and Rescue and police remain on the scene, Newel said, and are doing their best to come up with some options for the families. “There are a lot of theories as to whether they are in the truck or not,” he said. “They may not be.” The velocity of the river is not likely to decrease any time soon as the freshet continues and there is rain in the forecast. Newel says the water did clear over the weekend and
REMINDER: YOU STILL HAVE LIFE IS DISCOVERIES MEASURED TOMOMENTS MAKE IN
that’s why they were able to locate the truck, but the velocity is not slowing. He says the loss of a Search and Rescue worker in Creston in late June of 2011 is very much on the minds of those working on this case. “It’s a serious concern for all of us,” Newel said. The two men, Stephen Thomson, 21, of Canal Flats, and Nicholas Hoefnagels, 18, of Carstairs, Alberta, left their campsite at Whitetail Lake around 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 8. Police were called when
they still hadn’t returned by 2:30 a.m. On Sunday, Search and Rescue and RCMP found a spot on Findlay Creek Forest Service Road where it appeared that a vehicle had left the road down a steep embankment into Findlay Creek. A Search and Rescue team combed the area and found personal items on the bank of the creek. At that time there was no sign of the vehicle. Findlay Creek Forest Service Road meets Highway 92/95 west of Canal Flats and leads to Whitetail Lake and the Blue Lake Centre.
See TWO MEN , Page 5
Randall Hopley a threat to society?
BARRY COULTER PHOTO
The saw-off was only one event at Sam Steele Days’ Rocky Mountain Lumberjack show that that crowds of hundreds roaring with approval, Saturday, June 15, in downtown Cranbrook. See Pages 15 and 16 for special photo features, including the list of parade winners. See Page 4 for a Sam Steele Days wrap-up.
CAROLYN GRANT editor@dailybulletin.ca
ing, the pair was approached by an unknown man who accused them of trying to steal something. The suspect became more and more belligerent and attacked both men. It was only after the suspect left that the two men realized they were bleeding and had been stabbed by a sharpedged weapon.
SALLY MACDONALD Townsman Staff
Sparwood child abductor Randall Hopley will have a dangerous offender hearing in Cranbrook Supreme Court starting on October 7. Hopley pleaded guilty last March to abduction of a child under 14, and break and enter with the intent to commit an offence. The charges stem from the September 2011 abduction of thenthree-year-old Kienan Hebert from his bed in
TOWNSMAN FILE PHOTO
Randall Hopley is escorted from Cranbrook Court in September, 2011.
his parents’ home in Sparwood.
See HOPLEY , Page 5
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