Red Deer 1913 — 2013 Create Celebrate Commemorate
TASTE OF TOP PROSPECT MARYLAND Rebels’ Fleury named to U18 squad B5
Heady days for stands featuring local produce
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CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER
BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM
Michener families still reject move plan 40 RELOCATIONS IN PLANNING STAGES
TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2013
Sailboat capsizes on Gull Lake
BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Michener Centre still has a full house despite the efforts to relocate 125 out of 229 residents from the centre for the developmentally disabled. In June, Alberta Human Services reported 20 private guardians were interested in exploring other housing options, with the first person leaving Michener possibly by the end of the month. But so far, no one has been moved. Currently, the province says 40 relocations are in the planning stages. Lee Kvern, whose 55-year-old sister Jody lives at Michener Centre, said according to about 80 families and guardians who attended a July 20 meeting, most people still reject the plan to move residents. “Someone asked the question at that meeting — who still wants to fight. Almost everybody put their hands up. We just know what we have at Michener,” said Kvern, of Okotoks. on Monday. In March, without any discussion with parents and guardians of Michener residents, the province announced that 125 residents will be relocated starting in September. Fifty of them, who are medically fragile, are to be moved to seniors care facilities. Another 104 residents who live in Michener Hill group homes were being allowed to stay. The province has since decided that 79 of the people in the group homes will be able to remain in place, while 25 will have to leave Michener. About 30 residents living on the centre’s north and south sites will be considered to fill the group home vacancies. The province previously promised that nobody would be forced to leave Michener and that residents, whose average age is 60, could live there until they died. Kvern said parents and guardians are talking to Michener’s transition team, but all people receive are vague reassurances. “The truth of the matter is once our people leave Michener, they no longer are the government’s responsibility so it’s neither here nor there what the government says. It’s between you and the private provider.”
Photos by SCOTTY AITKEN/Freelance
Blackfalds-based Aquatech Diving Service works to recover a sailboat that capsized on Gull Lake on Sunday. BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF Sailboaters had to be rescued from their foundering craft on Sunday afternoon when a storm whipped up waves over a metre high on Gull Lake. June MacIntosh, who manages the Sunset Legion Campground on the west side of the lake, said campers reported seeing a sailboat in trouble about 2 p.m. “The waves were so high they couldn’t get out to get at them,” said MacIntosh. While campers watched another boat got out to the stricken craft and rescued those on the sailboat. MacIntosh said it is believed a couple from Red Deer were rescued. The sailboat later capsized about five km out in the lake. MacIntosh, who has been at the lake for 15 years, said sailing conditions were as bad as she’s seen. “It was very windy. There were three- to four-foot waves in that lake yesterday. I haven’t seen that before.” MacIntosh, who swore off boating on the lake after weathering a storm a number of years ago, said the popular boating destination can be unpredictable.
“Gull Lake is very unforgiving. It can be nice one minute and five minutes later it can be a horrible storm. “When you see clouds and blackness get to shore now. Don’t try to get home, just get to shore.” Blackfalds-based Aquatech Diving Service was on the scene for the recovery operation on Monday. “They hauled (the sailboat) with a pontoon boat to our launch this morning.” The boat was still being baled out later afternoon before it could be
hauled ashore. MacIntosh was told only part of the mast and the bow were sticking out of the water when divers went out to recover the boat from about 10 metres of water. Blackfalds RCMP Sgt. Jim Derouin said the owner of the boat called police about 7:15 p.m. to alert them that the boat had turned over. “He said don’t worry about it, I’ve got guys out tomorrow who are going to pick it up,” said Derouin. pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com
Please see MICHENER on Page A2
Red Deer’s CKGY marks 40 years on the airwaves BY HARLEY RICHARDS ADVOCATE BUSINESS EDITOR On July 20, 1973, the static at 1170 on the AM dial gave way to Tennessee Ernie Ford’s rendition of Turn Your Radio On. A week later, Red Deer’s CKGY marked its official launch — and the country music has been playing ever since. There were plenty of country tunes at the Red Deer Golf & Country Club on Sunday, as CKGY founder Rod Stephen gathered with about 80 of his former employees and their spouses to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the station. Although many have moved on to other broadcasters and even other industries, their commitment to Stephen — who sold the station in 1986 — remains.
PLEASE RECYCLE
“He was the greatest thing that ever hit Red Deer,” praised Hoss Hammer, the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame inductee who worked as a broadcaster and salesman at CKGY dating back to 1974.
“Rod Stephen is the most incredible leader you’ll ever meet in your life, because he’s the kind of guy who knows instantly whether you’ve got character or not — and he hired those types of individuals.”
‘ROD STEPHEN IS THE MOST INCREDIBLE LEADER YOU’LL EVER MEET IN YOUR LIFE, BECAUSE HE’S THE KIND OF GUY WHO KNOWS INSTANTLY WHETHER YOU’VE GOT CHARACTER OR NOT — AND HE HIRED THOSE TYPES OF INDIVIDUALS.’ — AL REDEL NEWS DIRECTOR, CKGY
“He was a good radio man, let me tell you.” Al Redel, who joined the station in 1980 and is currently its news director, was also gushing in his praise.
WEATHER
INDEX
Mainly sunny. High 19. Low 7.
Two sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A7-A8 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B8-B9 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B11 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A12 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B5-B7
FORECAST ON A2
Ken Kilcullen, who was known to CKGY listeners as Ken Cullen during his time at the station between 1984 and 1991, credited Stephen for its success. Now the general manager of two
radio stations and a television station in Prince George, B.C., Kilcullen said the lessons he learned from his former boss remain with him. “What we did back in the ‘80s when I was working here has impacted me to the point where I still operate in the way that Rod operated.” That includes a commitment to the communities being served. For instance, CKGY used a mobile station to broadcast from a different town every afternoon. “I was really impressed by the fact that Central Alberta is made up of a lot of very vibrant smaller communities,” explained Stephen of his motivation. “That was the cornerstone of our community philosophy was to include all of those smaller communities, because none of them had a radio station of their own at the time.”
Please see CKGY on Page A2
CANADA
BUSINESS
MOUNTIE CLEARED OF PERJURY
KNIVES OUT FOR VERIZON
It is impossible to say for certain that one of the four Mounties who confronted Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver’s airport worked with his three colleagues to concoct a story about what happened that night, says a judge. A5
A group of CEOs and a major union are the latest to oppose any special treatment for U.S. company Verizon when it comes to buying small Canadian wireless companies and radiowaves used to operate the cellphone networks. A7