Red Deer 1913 — 2013 Create Celebrate Commemorate
COOKBOOKS 2013
A11
Choosing the year’s best from an uneven field
Red Deer Advocate TUESDAY, DEC. 17, 2013
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Snow buildup on roofs a potential problem
Cattle killed when barn collapses
SEVERAL OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE TO REMOVE IT BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Winter roof maintenance has started early this season. Greg Sikora, manager of the ‘LOTS OF City of Red Deer OLDER Public Works Department, HOUSES said early heavy HAVE snowfalls meant staff have alTHINNER ready been up on PLYWOOD, the roof at City Hall and the CivWHICH ic Yards. MAKES IT “We’ve been on the roof, not POSSIBLE worrying about FOR THE the snow load, but providing ROOF TO ventilation acCOLLAPSE.’ cess and clearing around drainage — MYLES SMITH to prevent any SMITTY’S ROOFING ice jam issues, or potential drainage issues when the snow starts to melt,” said Sikora on Monday. “Typically we’d be doing this in February as the snow accumulated.” Myles Smith, owner of Smitty’s Roofing, and his crew have also been busy clearing snow from residents’ roofs and fixing leaks due to ice jams. “Probably a foot (of snow) is getting bad weight-wise. Also we’ve had a lot of wind. It goes drifting into one spot so that’s putting more weight into one area,” Smith said. “Lots of older houses have thinner plywood, which makes it possible for the roof to collapse.” He said deep snow surrounding whirlybirds can prevent the turbines from spinning and will affect roof ventilation. Smith recommended homeowners make it a habit to have deep snow removed before it melts and possibly gets trapped beneath shingles. Russell Crosby, owner of Crosby Roofing Ltd., said Red Deer is lucky it doesn’t get a lot of wet snow. “This winter is the worst we’ve had for a long time. There’s been a lot of snow, but it’s a dry snow. You could have a lot of snow, but not much weight,” Crosby said.
Please see SNOW on Page A2
WEATHER
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
A dairy barn that collapsed Sunday afternoon sits empty on Tom Wyntjes’s farm south of Red Deer. BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF Recent snowstorms are being blamed for a pair of barn collapses in Central Alberta that required rescue operations for trapped livestock on Sunday afternoon. About two dozen dairy cows died in Lacombe County when about half the roof of a barn caved in. “It was a portion of a barn, probably about a 150-foot section, with 100 cattle in there that came down because of the snow load on the roof,” said Bentley Fire Chief Todd Gustafson. Volunteer firefighters from Bentley,
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volunteer firefighters and rescue team members in Red Deer County were called into action for a similar emergency. Volunteers were called to the dairy barn on Range Road 272, about six km south of Red Deer, about 3:45 p.m. On arriving, they found that the roof of the barn that held 114 cows had collapsed, trapping some inside. “Pretty much the whole length of the barn collapsed in a V-formation,” said Ric Henderson, the county’s director of community and protective services.
Please see COLLAPSE on Page A2
Festival of Trees fundraiser sets record BY MYLES FISH ADVOCATE STAFF Another year, another record, another grateful hospital department benefiting from some Red Deerian generosity. The 2013 iteration of the Festival of Trees brought in $1.28 million for the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation, besting the event’s previous record of $1.22 million set last year. The holiday-themed fundraiser has now run for 20 years, raising nearly $10.8 million; 2013 marked the fourth time over $1 million has been raised in a single year. The majority of the funds raised this
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Clearing. High 2. Low -15.
Lacombe and Ponoka were called in and managed to rescue about 75 cows from the farm on Woody Nook Road about 15 km southeast of Bentley. Given the extent of the damage to the barn and the number of animals inside “how many cows walked out of there was kind of mind boggling,” he said. About 25 firefighters were involved in the rescue operation, including Ponoka’s emergency livestock trailer, that began about 3 p.m. and didn’t wrap until 1:30 a.m. There were people inside the barn at the time of the collapse but they got out safely. At almost the same time on Sunday,
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year will go towards purchasing new equipment for the Diagnostic Imaging and Urology departments and the operating room at Red Deer Regional Hospital. The big item, at $650,000, is a flat panel detector that will improve imaging quality, allow for faster diagnosis and treatment, reduce patient radiation exposure, and allow for treatment of bariatric patients who presently cannot be treated due to weight restrictions on the existing unit. The three departments collaboratively will be able to benefit from the technology, which aids in the detection of prostate issues, cancers, and other procedures requiring a surgical environment, including the removal of kidney stones. The device will be the first of its kind for urology treatment
in Alberta Health Services when it is installed in summer 2014. For the festival’s 20th anniversary, the fundraising total was not the only record to fall — attendance was also at an all-time high with 24,300 guests attending the series of festival events. After a very successful 2012 event, the organizing board kept a lot of things the same, and the public responded again. “Last year we had a lot of changes, so this year we were definitely on track with the same thing. We were quite happy that we were able to pull it off again,” said Health Foundation project officer Alaine Martin.
Please see FUNDRAISER on Page A2
Stampeders lose trio of players to Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks selected Calgary quarterback Kevin Glenn in the first round of the CFL expansion draft.
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