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Vol. 63, Issue 227
1
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PHOTO COURTESY JASON RANSOM
Cranbrook was represented at the National Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa on November 11, 2014. Darynn Bednarczyk of Cranbrook (fourth from right) was one of the Royal Canadian Legion’s youth representatives at the ceremonies, having won first place in the Legion’s national poster and poetry competition (black and white poster category). See Page 5 for Darynn’s account of her experience. Pictured above are Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Royal Canadian Legion Dominion President Tom Eagles with the four contest winners and the three top Canadian Cadets. Left to right: Joo Hee Chung (colour poster winner), Hareem Masroor (essay winner), Warrant Officer 2nd Class David Joiner (Air Cadet), Prime Minister Harper, Chief Warrant Officer Teegan Martin (Army Cadet), Darynn Bednarczyk (black and white poster winner), Chief Petty Officer 1st Class David Ficht (Sea Cadet) Sarah Butler (poetry winner) and Tom Eagles, Dominion President, Royal Canadian Legion.
Celebrate transit with a free ride ARNE PETRYSHEN
To celebrate the beginning of the 15th year of public transit in Cranbrook, all trips will be free on Wednesday, Dec. 3. The free rides apply to both the fixed route and handyDART services. The fixed-route service was first introduced in Cranbrook in December 2000. “Since that time passenger trips have more than doubled,” noted Merideth Burton. “In 2001/02, BC Transit supplied nearly 100,000 passenger trips. In 2013/14, those passenger trips climbed to more than 217,000.” Burton said some of the major milestones for transit services in Cranbrook over the years include the introduction of the UPass at the Col-
lege of the Rockies in 2006, the unveiling of the new downtown exchange in 2008 and the expansion of weekend service with longer hours on Friday and Saturday evenings in 2014. Fourteen years ago, on Friday, Dec. 1, 2000, Cranbrook joined other cities in the Kootenays like Rossland, Castlegar, Trail, Creston and Nelson with a new public transit system. In fact, at the time, Cranbrook was the last large community in B.C. to get a fixed-route transit system. Sandy Forman, the Senior Planner the Municipal Program for BC Transit at the time, called the transit system a great step forward for Cranbrook.
See CRANBROOK, Page 3
IN COURT
Cheyenne Learn trial underway in Cranbrook T R E VO R C R AW L E Y
A new trial for Cheyenne Learn began on Monday in Cranbrook Supreme Court, starting with witness testimony from an ex-girlfriend. Crown counsel Lianna Swanson spent the day questioning the witness for the court in front of Justice Dev Dley. Brent Bagnell is representing Learn as defence counsel and will cross-examine the same witness on Wednesday. In 2009, Learn was convicted of second-degree murder in the
shooting death of Tammy Ellis that occurred in December 2007. The conviction overturned on appeal in May 2013. The trial is expected to run until early next week. The ex-girlfriend answered all of Swanson’s questions, which covered topics such as the nature of her relationships with Learn and Ellis and the timeline of events that took place on the night of Dec. 17, 2007. Leading up to the shooting, the witness testified she had an argument with Learn at a trailer
he was living in earlier in the evening. Later, she returned home, but Learn was in the driveway. She said she ran past him and went into the house, refusing to speak to him. Ellis went outside to speak with him and “put him in his place,” the witness testified. Less than a minute after the conversation between Learn and Ellis, Learn entered the residence, carrying a firearm.
See LEARN , Page 3