Red Deer 1913 — 2013 Create Celebrate Commemorate
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Red Deer Advocate TUESDAY, SEPT. 17, 2013
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Council passes on lanes LEAVES FATE OF CONTROVERSIAL PILOT PROJECT IN THE HANDS OF NEXT CITY COUNCIL BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF The next Red Deer city council will have its say on the controversial bike lanes. City council voted 7-2 to keep the existing lanes pending a further review by the next council with future planning documents and to consider standards and policies for bicycle infrastructure with the proposed Transportation and Trail Master
Plans next year. Transportation engineer Michael Williston told council that the city reached its objectives with regards to bike lanes which included creating better cycling connections throughout the city and creating and testing various forms of on-street bicycle facilities. Williston said the city learned from the experience and the changes were implemented in response. “Safety had greatly improved for cyclists,” said Williston. “To my knowledge over the past two years, there
have been no accidents related to the bike pilot.” City staff will develop a detailed evaluation report on the pilot. Findings from the pilot will be used in future planning documents. “We definitely got bang for our buck,” said Williston. “For the $800,000 that was approved for this to get 20 km plus or minus infrastructure you couldn’t get that doing anything else. You couldn’t expand a roadway a kilometre for that type of price.”
Please see COUNCIL on Page A2
Power cut terrifies woman VENTILATOR, TELEPHONE INOPERABLE BY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF A Red Deer woman with breathing problems said her life was jeopardized when Enmax cut off electricity to her apartment on Monday, leaving her stranded without a working ventilator or telephone. “It was pretty terrifying, wondering if someone was going to check on me,” said Linda Stilling, whose power was shut down at about 10 a.m. because of an unpaid bill. It wasn’t until 1:30 p.m. that Stilling’s situation was discovered by her niece Crystal Dmitruk. Dmitruk was worried after being unable to reach her sick relative by telephone, and asked the building manager to unlock her aunt’s apartment door at 2936-50th Ave. She said she found Stilling too scared to leave her bed.
Please see POWER on Page A2
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Linda Stilling, who relies on electricity for her Lifeline telephone system and a respirator, was without power Monday when the power company disconnected the power to her Red Deer apartment. Stilling is recovering from a spinal injury.
Thirteen killed in shooting rampage at Navy Yard GUNMAN IDENTIFIED AS DEFENCE EMPLOYEE OBAMA LAMENTS ‘YET ANOTHER MASS SHOOTING’ A9
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — A former Navy reservist went on a shooting rampage Monday inside a building at the heavily secured Washington Navy Yard, firing from a balcony onto office workers in the cafeteria below, authorities and witnesses said. Thirteen people were killed, including the gunman. Authorities said they were looking for a possible second attacker who may have been disguised in an olive-drab military-style uniform. But as the day wore on and night fell, the rampage increasingly appeared to be the work of a lone gunman, and Navy Yard employees were gradually being released from the complex and children were let out of their locked-down schools.
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Please see SHOOTING on Page A3
UN says sarin gas used in Syria UN inspectors reported Monday that rockets loaded with the nerve agent sarin had been fired in Syria. Story on PAGE A9
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Investigators said they had not established a motive for the attack, which unfolded about 8:20 a.m. in the heart of the nation’s capital, less than four miles from the White House and two miles from the Capitol. As for whether it may have been a terrorist attack, Mayor Vincent Gray said: “We don’t have any reason to think that at this stage.” But he said the possibility had not been ruled out. It was the deadliest shooting rampage at a U.S.based military installation since Maj. Nidal Hasan killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others in 2009 at Fort Hood in Texas. He was convicted last month and sentenced to death.
President Barack Obama lamented yet another mass shooting in the U.S. that he said took the lives of American patriots. He promised to make sure “whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible.” The FBI took charge of the investigation and identified the gunman killed in the attack as 34-year-old Aaron Alexis of Texas. He died after a running gunbattle with police, investigators said. Authorities were investigating how he got onto the base. Officials said he may have had a badge that allowed access. At the time of the rampage, he was working in information technology with a company that was a Defence Department subcontractor.