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Country singer Mickey Gilley is touring Canada for the first time in 30 years
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Red Deer Advocate FRIDAY, FEB. 27, 2015
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Your trusted local news authority SPEED SKATING MARATHONS
HUNTING HILLS
Massacre threat nets probation BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF
and dotting our i’s and working with system.” In 2014, a hospital committee made up of council members from Rocky Mountain House, the Village of Caroline and Clearwater County, released a proposal calling for a new hospital.
A student who threatened to unleash a high school massacre last spring was sentenced to 15 months of probation on Thursday. Before delivering his sentence, Red Deer provincial court Judge Jim Mitchell scolded the teen and his family for failing to appreciate the gravity of the threat. “Have these people never heard of Columbine? Have they never heard of Sandy Hook?” Mitchell asked, his voice rising. Addressing the teen’s mother, who was watching from the gallery, he continued, “Think about those incidents, ma’am. “Then you can perhaps understand why this sort of conduct is considered very serious in the 21st century in our educational institutions. “Do you still think it’s ‘blown out of control’?” he said, quoting a comment attributed to her from a pre-sentence report prepared by a probation officer. She acknowledged she understood. The teen, who was 17 at the time of the offence and can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, pleaded guilty of uttering threats last October. He left a note written in pencil on a desk threatening to shoot staff and students at Hunting Hills High School at 3 p.m. on April 15, 2014, just prior to the start of the Easter long weekend. The note was written at some point during the day, but indicated a specific time for the shooting to take place.
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Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
With a setting sun behind them, Stacey Mateika leads Brian McArthur through a corner at the Central Lions Speed Skating track in Red Deer on Thursday. This weekend the Foothills Speed Skating Marathon Association is hosting the 2015 Red Deer Nutrisource Speed Skating Marathons on Saturday, Feb. 28, with 5-km and 10-km races at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. On Sunday, March 1, the 25-km race begins at 11 a.m. All types of skaters are welcome and can register online at www.sylvanicemarathon.com.
Rocky hospital needs assessment overdue BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF The wait continues for an assessment on the need for a new hospital for Rocky Mountain House. Rocky Mountain House Mayor Fred Nash said Alberta Health Services was suppose to have the needs assessment
finished last August. That was first delayed until October. Now it’s due out sometime before the end of winter. “From our point of view, it should have been done in October and we should have the results but government works at its own pace,” said Nash. “We’re very hopeful. I don’t have a date, but we’re crossing all our t’s
Omission of target shooting from Winter Games prompts appeal BY GREG MEACHEM ADVOCATE SPORTS EDITOR
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Dayton Smythe, of Red Deer sights in a target at the Red Deer Archery Centre. Although he is only 10 now, Smythe will be eligible to qualify for the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer in 2019.
30% flurries. High -10. Low -20.
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Seussical The Musical Cat in the Hat fans and devotees of the Grinch and Horton Hears a Who can now see Seussical The Musical at New Life Fellowship Church.
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Red Deer HOME SHOW
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Target shooting will not be included in the 2019 Canada Winter Games and Red Deer Fish and Game president Douglas Wood isn’t taking the negative news sitting down. Wood plans to appeal the decision to omit target shooting from the Games, which will be staged in Red Deer. He’ll present his arguments to the powers that be, starting with a visit to Red Deer city council. His stance revolves around the success of the Fish and Game youth shooters, three of whom — Belle Medicraft of Red Deer, Ashley Pikkert of Blackfalds and Lacombe’s Andrew Thacker, with Pikkert and Thacker each winning a gold medal — attended the Canada Winter Games in Prince George last week and his belief that more young shooters should be given a chance to compete in or very near their home-
town in 2019. “I’m hoping to talk to the City and the people who made the decision just to let then know that it’s too bad that these kids won’t be able to (compete) in 2019,” said Wood. “By the time the next (Canada Winter Games) happen (beyond 2019) somewhere in Canada, they won’t be teenagers any more.” The Red Deer Canada Winter Games committee was informed by the Canada Games Council last year — even before Red Deer won the bid to host the Games — that target shooting and archery are considered ‘cusp’ sports, lower on the totem pole than the likes of hockey, curling and skiing. Thus, due to financial restraints and a possible lack of human resources, just one of the two would be included in the 2019 Games to fill the quota of sports. The Red Deer committee chose archery.