Red Deer 1913 — 2013 Create Celebrate Commemorate
A MATTER OF TASTE Farm-raised versus wildcaught salmon
THE GREAT GROCERY GIVEAWAY IS BACK!
SOULS SOLD TO THE ROYALTY GODS
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Red Deer Advocate TUESDAY, OCT. 1, 2013
www.reddeeradvocate.com
Your trusted local news authority CANADA WINTER GAMES
Dialing up the past
Radford to chair bid group BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF A Red Deer delegation will head to Edmonton for the next step in the city’s bid to host the 2019 Winter Games today. The five-person group will learn more about the bid process, community expectations, timetables and the proposed funding from the federal and provincial governments. On Monday, city council approved 13 appointments to the 2019 Winter Games Bid Planning Ad Hoc Committee including community builder Lyn Radford, who was named chairperson. “Red Deer is definitely poised to take on this task,” said Radford. “I don’t think we’ll ever be readier.” Mayor Morris Flewwelling said this is an exciting time as the city moves forward in its attempts to host the sporting winter event. Red Deer lost its bid to host the Winter Games in 1995 to Grande Prairie. In the past, the federal and provincial governments have committed $3 million each in capital funding. In terms of operating, in the past games both governments have contributed $8.1 million each. Council voted in August to host all sports locally except for synchronized swimming which will be hosted at an off-site venue and athletes village likely in Calgary. The shortlist of cities will be announced in February 2014. In September 2014, the successful community will be announced. The city must submit its intention by the end of November.
Please see GAMES on Page A2
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Tourism Red Deer is adding an interactive feature to seven of the Ghosts in Red Deer.
TOURISM RED DEER IS USING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY TO CONNECT WITH SOME NOTABLE RESIDENTS BY HARLEY RICHARDS ADVOCATE BUSINESS EDITOR
You soon won’t need a crystal ball or Ouija board to communicate with Red Deer ghosts. A smartphone will do the trick. Tourism Red Deer is using 21st Cen-
tury technology to connect with some notable residents from the city’s past, including Rev. Leonard Gaetz, Hazel Braithwaite, Francis Galbraith and Julietta Sorensen. Those still among the living will be able to scan a symbol posted next to seven of the bronze statues in Red Deer’s historical Ghost collection, and obtain a first-person narrative from the piece’s namesake about his or her role in the city’s past. In addition to Gaetz, who helped found Red Deer; Braithwaite, who was a women’s rights advocate; Galbraith, the City of Red Deer’s first mayor and founder of the Red Deer Advocate; and Sorensen, who along with her husband Gordon helped create the city’s transit system; other Ghosts being brought to life include Doris Forbes and her famous pet beaver Mickey, a pair of
firefighters responding to a call with their horse-drawn wagon, and a railway worker trying to retrieve his money from a dog. Liz Taylor, executive director of Tourism Red Deer, said the ghosts will come to electronic life early this month. The initiative, which was funded by the Hotels Red Deer consortia and Travel Alberta, grew out of a Red Deer 2013 Centennial Committee project that saw local actors assume the identities of the Ghost characters for public events this summer. “We got so excited about what the Centennial Committee was doing with the Ghosts,” said Taylor. “It was such a cool idea, we thought if we could capture that and make it permanent. . . .”
Please see GHOSTS on Page A2
Families in disbelief after vandals strike cemetery Vandals ran amok in Red Deer’s Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery on the weekend, smashing memorial angels and crosses and leaving flowers strewn around the grounds. “I just couldn’t believe somebody would do that,” said David Bouchard, president of the Knights of Columbus committee that maintains the cemetery off 67th Street just west of 52nd Avenue. “Some of the monuments had angels sitting on top of them that were smashed and scattered. There’s crosses that are broken. “Somebody came along there with a
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baseball bat.” The damage happened sometime overnight Saturday after 10 p.m., said Bouchard. Families had come and taken away some of the damaged memorial statues by Monday. But there are still a number of broken angels, flower holders and other mementoes lying in pieces, including a pair of small ceramic dogs that had been next to one memorial. Bouchard estimated the damages in the thousands of dollars. It is, by far, the worst vandalism at the cemetery since the Knights took over maintenance in 2000, he said. A few headstone were damaged three or four years ago, but nothing like this.
Please see VANDALISM on Page A2
INDEX Two sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . A7,A8 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6 Classified . . . . . . . . . . .B8-B10 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B12 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . .A12 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B5-B7
Photos by PAUL COWLEY/Advocate staff
Pat Burke of the Knights of Columbus surveys some of the damage done at Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Red Deer overnight Saturday.
Tories pressured to fix veterans’ charter The Conservative government faced mounting pressure Monday to close lingering gaps in its veterans legislation. Story on PAGE A6
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BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF