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Red Deer Advocate TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015
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Burk found dead RED DEER-AREA WOMAN DISAPPEARED ON MARCH 12
The mystery deepens as the tragedy unfolds. At one point it was thought that Roze Burk might be headed to Manitoba, where she had relatives. The sad truth we now know is the 68-yearold woman and her dog ended up nowhere near there. Still, they were a found very long way from home. Roze’s body was found near a tiny hamlet called Niton Junction, 156 km west of Edmonton on the Yellowhead Hwy. That’s about 260 km drivMARY-ANN ing from her farm home just BARR east of Red Deer. Her little dog, Jewel, who went everywhere with her, was found alive near where Roze was discovered. The death of Roze, a mother, grandmother and
BARRSIDE
widow who lived on the family farm just east of Red Deer, was confirmed by her family on Monday. She disappeared on March 12, last seen that evening at the Deer Park Co-op grocery store at about 8 p.m. After she went missing — in her grey 2008 Ford Escape — it was revealed that Roze may have suffered from undiagnosed dementia, which could have played a role in her disappearance. Yet the night she went missing no one noticed anything unusual. Roze chatted with the best man at the wedding of the one of her sons while she waited for food to be prepared at the Co-op store deli. She had run into him at the store coincidentally. Nothing seemed out of sorts at the time, based on what the friend said later. Yes, Roze was moving a little slower since he had last seen her but she suffered more and more from arthritis, so this was to be expected. It wasn’t until the next day that her family realized something was wrong and called police. Roze and her son Wayd have homes in the same farm yard.
NO INJURIES IN RESIDENTIAL FIRE
A week later, family and friends organized a search by vehicle. Then RCMP called in the Red Deer County Technical Rescue Task Force as well as civilian aircraft to scour the surrounding Red Deer area. Police said at the time that it was difficult because they had no real starting point to search for her, such as finding her vehicle somewhere and going from there. Tamara Burk, married to Wayd, said the family felt Roze Burk “devastation” when they received the news of Roze’s death of Friday afternoon. They announced her fate on Facebook on Sunday evening.
Please see BURK on Page A2
SYLVAN LAKE
Urgent care centre funded BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF
certainly determining factors in its decision. The library in Ecole Barrie Wilson Elementary School opened in September. On Monday council signed a new Inglewood School Partnership Commitment agreement with the Red Deer Public School District. The $600,000 will be used for community space within the school. Red Deer Public School Board of trustees chairperson Bev Manning said the board was disappointed that the library did not come on board. She said the door is open to allow them to come on board down the road. The design of the library space in the school is innovative and flexible and could easily accommodate a public library in the future.
Sylvan Lake is finally getting an urgent care centre after five years of intense lobbying. On Monday, the province announced funding for the TORIES BUDGET $3.4B centre and other major cap- FOR HOSPITALS A3 ital health projects around the province that were included in last week’s budget. An urgent care centre was also announced for Beaverlodge. Details for the Sylvan Lake facility were not available. “(The province) has $2.7 billion set aside, starting now for the next five years, for ongoing and new major construction. Sylvan Lake is specifically named where some of that new construction money is going to go,” said urgent care committee chair Susan Samson on Monday. “The government recognized that that model is going to work for us. Anything beyond that, we have to wait until further conversations occur with Alberta Health.” Samson doesn’t expect it will take five years to get the centre with so much research already completed by the local committee. “We’re absolutely not starting from square one. We’re well passed that.” Sylvan Lake, along with Bentley, Eckville, five local summer villages, and Red Deer and Lacombe counties, have been pursuing an urgent care centre for the 18,000 residents in the area, as well as the one million annual visitors to Sylvan Lake. Urgent care is for non-life-threatening injuries and ailments. Samson said the urgent care committee envisions a centre with doctors on staff, with lab and X-rays onsite, and observation beds. It would be open seven days a week with extended hours. “If you’ve had a heart attack or you’ve been in a car accident, you’re going to the nearest hospital. You’re not coming into urgent care. Urgent care is for non-life-threatening injuries.” Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Kerry Towle said Sylvan’s urgent care centre will change how health care is delivered and greatly reduce the burden on Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre’s emergency department. “Emergency should be for the most emergent cases. Urgent care facilities can deal with a lot of significant issues without having to go into a hospital and they’re more efficient to run,” said Towle, who has been an advocate for a centre in Sylvan. “It’s going to be incredible. We’re ecstatic.”
Please see SPACE on Page A2
Please see CARE on Page A2
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
City of Red Deer firefighters work on the scene of a residential home fire at #2 McCullough Cres. in Red Deer Monday afternoon. The home was fully involved when fire crews arrived on the scene said Red Deer Emergency Services Platoon Chief Pat Mulrooney. The fire had the front of the house fully involved extending into the interior and into the attic, said Mulrooney. Three pumper trucks, the Bronto aerial truck and an ambulance with a total of 16 firefighters had the fire knocked down very quickly, Mulrooney said. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The residents were outside the home when the fire department arrived and there were no injuries.
Inglewood elementary school to feature flexible community space BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF
CITY COUNCIL
A public library branch will not be part of the new elementary school in Inglewood. Instead the planned school at 99 Irving Crescent will feature a flexible community space such as a gym, conference room or a community kitchen. Council allocated $600,000 in capital funding to go toward a new library in the planned southeast school. At the time, council anticipated a similar agreement to the one that it has with the Red Deer Public Library and Red Deer Public School Division for Ecole Barrie Wilson Elementary School would be developed. However the library board voted against adding a public library at the school in December and reaffirmed its position earlier this month. Coun. Lawrence Lee, who is the council liaison on the board, told council it was not an easy decision for the board. He said the timing and location were
WEATHER 60% showers. High 17. Low -1.
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INDEX Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . B5,B6 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5,A6 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D3 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D5 Entertainment . . . . . . . . C4,C5 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B4
CASINO PARKING APPROVED A3
Crash landing prompts probe Investigators spent Monday sifting through the debris of a plane crash in Halifax and documenting the site. Story on PAGE A5
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