FAREWELL, STEPHEN COLBERT And hello to the real Colbert (the 50-year-old, husband and father-of-three)
AMAZONS HEAD INTO BREAK ON FIVE-GAME LOSING SKID
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Red Deer Advocate TUESDAY, DEC. 23, 2014
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Betrayal energizes party BY MURRAY CRAWFORD ADVOCATE STAFF
WILDROSE PARTY
An attempt to cripple a once strong opposition party is instead galvanizing the party, at least in one Red Deer riding. Since last Wednesday’s exodus of nine MLAs from the Wildrose caucus, the party’s Red Deer South constituency association has seen a large influx of people looking to join. “In the last week I have never seen so much interest for people wanting to be part of the board,” said
FORSYTH NAMED INTERIM LEADER A3 Calvin Goulet-Jones, president of the Wildrose’s Red Deer South constituency association. “From my view, this is sparking a little bit of a resurgence. Usually it’s election time when people come forward and want to help out. This seems to have motivated people to want to be a part of the party at the board level and bring change that way.”
Housing shortage plaguing shelter
On Monday, 21-year Alberta legislature veteran Heather Forsyth was named the party’s interim leader. Goulet-Jones called her the obvious choice. Forsyth has already announced that she would not seek re-election in the next Alberta general election. “The reality is if she is retiring and we’re going to go into a leadership race, she’s a person that can remain the most unbiased,” said Goulet-Jones. “I think that’s probably the best thing for the party, to have a person that is going to cheer for the party and cheer for our principals.”
Please see WILDROSE on Page A2
TAG! YOU’RE IT!
BY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF For the first time in a long while, the Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter will be full of women and children over Christmas. It’s far from an ideal situation, since families usually prefer to be in their own places for the holidays, said the shelter’s executive director, Ian Wheeliker. But he estimates about 30 mothers and kids will be spending Christmas at the 40-bed facility because “there’s nowhere for them to go” — due to a shortage of affordable and safe housing in Red Deer. The local housing shortage has been plaguing the shelter since 2013. Usually the emergency shelter has been able to take in annually about 600 women and kids who are fleeing domestic violence. But in 2014, Wheeliker said the overall number is expected to be only about 500 because clients have had to stay at the shelter longer, due to a local housing shortage. It was roughly the same situation last year, he added. Wheeliker noted clients are now spending an average of 22 days in the Red Deer shelter, which is about on-par with the length of stays in Calgary and Edmonton shelters. This is much longer than in previous years, when clients spent an average of 14 days in the shelter before moving into an apartment or townhouse. At the same time, Wheeliker notes the area’s population has been steadily growing. But the Alberta government has decided not to fund any shelter expansions. This means that even if private fundraising could pay for bricks-and-mortar expansion costs, no extra government money would be provided for higher operational expenses. The government believes the market should step in to deal with demands for more affordable housing. But Wheeliker said the reality is there’s not much money in developing low-cost housing. That’s why government grants are generally needed to stimulate these projects. He’s not sure how many of these grants will be provided in 2015, since the price of oil is so low. “The economic reality will have an impact. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” Although he estimates 400 to 500 affordable housing units are badly needed in Red Deer, “most of the housing that’s been built here in the past five years is in the $400,000 to $500,000 range for a single dwelling. That’s not affordable for our clients. “There hasn’t been any new apartments or fourplexes built.” With clients forced to stay longer at the shelter, Wheeliker said there’s been less space to accept other women and children leaving volatile domestic situations. When possible, they are referred to shelters in Rocky Mountain House or Camrose. To try to avoid more “turnaways” in future, a triage system is being developed by shelter workers to help families remain longer in the community, and to prioritize those who need to be admitted because of a high safety risk.
Please see SHELTER on Page A2
WEATHER Increasing cloudiness. High -1. Low -8.
FORECAST ON A2
INDEX Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . C5,C6 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6,A7 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D2 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D3 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . D5 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B8
Photo by ASHLI BARRETT/Advocate staff
Brody Mcgowan, 4, is caught by his uncle, Chad Scotvold while playing tag on the ice at Bower Ponds on Monday afternoon. Many families headed to Bower Ponds to enjoy the 3 C weather and avoid holiday traffic.
Businessman, company fined $95K for flooding neighbours farmland BY BRENDA KOSSOWAN ADVOCATE STAFF Fines totalling $95,000 have been levied against a Red Deer business operator and his company for an unauthorized water diversion that flooded neighbouring farmland. Auto Body Services Red Deer Ltd. and its primary shareholder, Harry Harm Veenstra, 74, were convicted on July 25 of charges arising from an incident in the summer of 2010, when neighbouring farmland was heavily damaged by flood water pumped from an industrial site. Judge Gordon Yake pronounced sentence in Red Deer provincial court on Monday. The water was pumped off a section of the Auto Body Services property, located north of Red Deer and near the Blindman River, said Yake. An oilfield company leased a portion of that property from Auto Body Services and was doing site preparation under Veenstra’s direction, including pumping water into a ditch when rainwater flooded the site, he said. Veenstra began diverting water off the site without an approved stormwater management plan, despite knowing from past experience that such a plan would be required, said Yake. The result was that water from Auto Body Services began to pool on privately-owned property next door, eventually causing a landslide that destroyed trees and vegetation on an escarpment separating two fields.
The escarpment remains unstable and the property owner is still unable to farm the lower area of his field, said Yake. It was not until this year that he was able to plant a crop in the upper area, said Yake. He described Veenstra as a “relatively sophisticated” man, familiar with Alberta Environment’s requirements because of his previous dealings with them. Yake ordered Veenstra to pay fines totalling $15,000 for infractions under the Alberta Water Act and the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA). His company was fined $80,000 for the same infractions. Crown prosecutor Peter Roginksi of Calgary had asked for fines of $200,000 against the company and $20,000 against Veenstra, while defence counsel Sean Parker of Edmonton had suggested penalties of $10,000 against the man and $30,000 against the business. Additionally, Parker suggested a creative sentence, in which a portion of those monies would be directed to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Yake commented that corporations face a maximum penalty of $1 million under the Water Act, while the maximum available to individuals is $100,000 in fines and up to two years in prison. The EPEA carries maximum penalties of $500,000 for corporations and $50,000 for individuals. Veenstra was given until April 30 to pay the fines against him or face up to three months in prison. Auto Body Services was given until Dec. 30, 2015 to pay its fines.
Please see SENTENCE on Page A2
Garbage truck veers out of control, kills 6 Six people were killed and several others injured when a garbage truck crashed into a group of pedestrians in Glasgow. Story on PAGE A8
PLEASE
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