Red Deer Advocate, January 12, 2015

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REBELS WIN TAKEN 3 TAKES BIG AGAINST THE BOX OFFICE WHEAT KINGS PAGE D5

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Red Deer Advocate MONDAY, JAN. 12, 2015

www.reddeeradvocate.com

Your trusted local news authority TIME TO CLIMB

PINES

AltaLink project starts today BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF

Photo by ASHLI BARRETT/Advocate staff

Trace MacNeil tries his hand at rock climbing Saturday afternoon in the Collicutt Centre’s Field House. The Collicutt Centre is the only indoor climbing facility in Red Deer, with two climbing features and a bouldering structure.

STARS saves the day BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Krista Dryden remembers “bits and pieces” aboard a STARS air ambulance after she was shot by a gunman over two and half years ago on a quiet street in Stettler. “I can remember (the STARS paramedic) and talking to him. I don’t remember getting on the helicopter. I was kind of in and out through the whole thing,” said Dryden, 41, who was shot with a 357 magnum long-barrel revolver from a distance of about four metres. “It was like a Dirty Harry gun.” The horrifying attack happened at about 9 a.m. on Monday, May 28, 2012, near Hwy 12, after she drove her family’s riding lawnmower to a dealership for maintenance. The mother of four was just about to text her husband regarding picking her up when a stranger pulled up in a vehicle. “He stood beside his car door and asked me to get in his car and I said no. And he asked again and I said no. Then he pulled his gun out and actually held it on the top of the car door. Then he said, ‘I have a gun and I’m going to shoot you.’ “I just got turned around and started running and he hit me and I hit the ground hard.” She said nobody else heard or saw the shooting. “I honestly didn’t think he’d hit me. He had pretty good aim.” The bullet pierced her left lung, pretty close to her spine, and went out her left shoulder. Luckily, the gun was angled upwards, she said. “If it had went straight, it would have got my heart.” Despite being shot, Dryden struggled to her feet and ran. “I knew my lung had been hit. So I knew I had to get up to the highway and get some help so I got up

INDEX

Sunny. High -10. Low -15

FORECAST ON A2

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and started running.” She said she could feel cold air rush through her lung and was losing a lot of blood. Before she reached the highway, a Stettler resident driving by spotted her and pulled over. “He came running to me. My husband was second or third on scene, along with my neighbour who stopped. They treated me in the ditch before the ambulance came.” At the same time Dryden was driving the lawnmower in from her family’s nearby acreage, her husband, Steve Brown, was taking in their truck. The two dealerships they visited were only a few buildings apart. He left the truck, got a ride home, hopped in their other vehicle, and was only a few minutes away from Dryden when she was shot.

Please see STARS on Page A2

The world rallies behind France More than a million march for unity in Paris, in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris. Story on PAGE C4

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WEATHER

Contributed photo

STARS patient Krista Dryden and her daughter Abby, 14, enjoyed some sun during a winter vacation earlier this month.

AltaLink crews will begin replacing power lines through the Pines neighbourhood today as Mayor Tara Veer and affected residents expressed their disappointment. An 11th-hour effort to force the Alberta Utilities Commission to reconsider its rebuild plans in the neighbourhood fizzled late last month when requests for a review of the project by Pines residents and the City of Red Deer were rejected. Pines residents have lobbied for an alternate route that would move a stretch of power lines to a less intrusive location at the bottom of the escarpment. Mayor Tara Veer issued a statement on Friday expressing the city’s unhappiness with the outcome. “We are disappointed as the city strongly supported the alternate route suggested by the Pines Group,” said the mayor, who met with Pines residents earlier this week. “We were hopeful that the AUC would rule in favour of the alternative route, which would have meant lower impacts for residents in the Pines neighbourhood; however, the city acknowledges that the decision of the AUC stands given their quasijudicial status.” Kerrie-Anne Brewster, one of about 50 Pines residents, that had lobbied for a different route was downbeat. “I’m so disappointed,” she said. Residents had held out hope that they could get AltaLink to reposition the line if they helped pay for the move through tax increases, similar to the local improvement taxes that have been used to pave back alleys. It does not look like that will happen, she said, adding she is still waiting to get more information from the group. “I don’t understand why AltaLink can do this,” she said. “I thought we had a hope, but I guess it doesn’t look like we do.” The upgrade of the power line through the Pines neighbourhood is a small part of a $350-million upgrade of transmission capacity in the Red Deer region to keep pace with growth. While the lines have been in place since the 1950s, before the Pines neighbourhood was built, residents saw the upgrade project as a perfect opportunity to move the lines to a better location. Residents made their case at a public hearing in Red Deer last spring, but failed to convince the AUC panel to direct AltaLink to choose the alternate route over the company’s preferred route, which maintained the status quo. AltaLink said the preferred route makes the best economic and environmental sense and uses an existing right-of-way. Residents have expressed frustration that their concerns about having larger towers with highercapacity lines were ignored. Besides removing unsightly power lines from the middle of the neighbourhood, the residents’ proposed route would have reduced electromagnetic frequency (EMF), noise and radio interference. AltaLink said on Friday it will be notifying residents of the upcoming work schedule. There will be temporary road and trail closures at various times from now until spring in the area between 67th and 82nd Streets. Meanwhile, work continues on replacing lines between 67th Street and Taylor Drive and is expected to wrap up in mid-February. pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com


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