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Red Deer Advocate FRIDAY, AUG. 22, 2014
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Deaths draw concerns REPORTS SAY FIVE FORMER MICHENER CENTRE RESIDENTS DIED SOON AFTER MOVING OUT OF FACILITY BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Calls to stop the closure of Michener Centre are ricocheting around Alberta after reports that five former Michener Centre residents died soon after moving out of the Red Deer facility. So far 43 residents have moved since the province announced its controversial decision in March 2013 to close older buildings on Michener’s north and
south sides, forcing the relocation of 120 of Michener’s severely developmentally disabled residents. The decision came as a shock to families who had long been promised that residents could live out their lives at Michener. According to the Society of Parents and Friends of Michener Centre, the five deaths occurred this year within two to four months of the residents leaving Michener. “There can be no question that shuffling around highly fragile individuals has created untold horror stories and declining health outcomes for residents,�
said Wildrose human services critic Kerry Towle, at a press conference at the Legislature on Thursday. “To be very clear, we are not saying the province caused these deaths at all. What we’re saying is that they didn’t need to be moved and the move itself was cruel, and cruel to the families.� Towle said Premier Dave Hancock has the power today to put an immediate end to moving Michener residents and to commit to keeping the facility open.
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n o i t a u t i s t r a Street
DECEASED ARTIST BRONSON WILSON’S WORK IS ALL OVER RED DEER, BUT WHAT SOME CONSIDER ART OTHERS CONSIDER VANDALISM BY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF Bronson Wilson’s supporters say he provided beautiful, thought-provoking street art free-of-charge to anyone passing through the streets and alleys of Red Deer. But what was considered intriguing art by some people was obviously unwanted graffiti to others. Most stencilled images that Wilson spray-painted onto public and private property in Red Deer were painted over or wiped out over the last few years. Now nearly all of his street art is gone, and so, sadly, is the young artist. Wilson died of cancer at the age of 27 on May 31, leaving friends and family members lobbying to save his few remaining works from being removed by graffiti removal volunteers from the Central Alberta Crime Prevention Centre. Considering the huge public reaction to preserving the artist’s works (some 866 likes were added to a Facebook page as of Thursday), Sydney Schur, a friend of the late Wilson, said centre staff have been co-operative. The non-profit centre’s executive-director TerryLee Ropchan pledged to leave his few remaining street artworks out of Thursday’s graffiti abatement campaign. She said this will give supporters time to figure out how to purchase images Wilson created on
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INDEX Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . C3,C4 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5,A6 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . D4-D7 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D8 Entertainment . . . . . . . . D1-D3 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B8
Sebastian Clovis stars in “Tackle my Reno,� premiering Tuesday on HGTV Canada
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the covers of public utility boxes and garbage dumpsters — which is the only way to ensure their survival for posterity. For the two years that Ropchan’s group has been targeting graffiti that crops up on buildings, bridges, etc, she said Wilson’s detailed work was always recognized as something special and not removed. This week, centre volunteers were even given photos of Wilson’s stencilled images to ensure they weren’t touched because of sensitivity surrounding the artist’s death. “This has never been about removing art,� said Ropchan. But the fact is, most of Wilson’s street art has been obliterated. Either private property owners, city public works staffers, or other city residents fed up with graffiti must have viewed it as just another act of vandalism. All art, of course, is subjective. But this situation begs the question: Where does the boundary lie between street art and graffiti? Now that guerilla artists such as the U.K.’s famed Banksy are seeing their satirical stencil works sell for thousands of dollars, is it time Red Deer recognized the value of its own street art? Or is any image, no matter how artistic, fair game for removal if it just pops up on private or public property?