FURIOUS 7 KEEPS PACE AT PAGE D5 BOX OFFICE
SPIETH WINS THE MASTERS PAGE B1
Red Deer Advocate MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2015
www.reddeeradvocate.com
Your trusted local news authority
First major roundabout on its way
BEACH PARTY
CONSTRUCTION LIKELY TO START NEXT MONTH BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Construction will likely begin on the city’s first major roundabout at 30th Avenue and 67th Street in late May. But it won’t be fully connected to those busy roads until summer 2016. “It’s going to be the first multi-lane roundabout like this in Central Alberta so we’re aware it’s going to be new for people. But we think it’s going to work well and we’ll try and make sure everyone is as comfortable as possible before they have to use it. Hopefully they’ll agree with us,” said Cory Edinga, city project engineer, who was fielding questions on the roundabout at the city’s Let’s Talk event held Saturday at Bower Place. One focus of the education campaign will explain the difference between a roundabout and a traffic circle. Edinga said unlike a traffic circle, a roundabout doesn’t require possible lane changes while driving in the circle. “In a roundabout, it’s like any other intersection. You get into the appropriate lane before you get to the roundabout. You don’t actually have to change lanes. You just follow the lane and exit where you want to exit.” He said roundabouts are proven to reduce the severity of collisions compared to signalized intersections because the tight circles require slower speeds and collisions are often side-swipes.
Please see ROUNDABOUT on Page A2
Photo by ASHLI BARRETT/Advocate staff
Ruby Lindsay-Roberts, 7, shows off her hoola hooping skills at the third annual Spring Break Beach Party at the Red Deer Public Library’s Dawe Branch on Saturday. Children were invited to take in puppet shows, scavenger hunts, crafts and other spring and summer-themed activities.
Adapted recreation programs Disappointment with government now available in Red Deer led Prentice back BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF
to public life
Adapted recreation programs geared to children with developmental delays are now available through the City of Red Deer. The groundwork began about a year ago when parents with the local chapter of the Alberta Autism Society approached the city for a swim program. By January, four children were part of a six-week adapted aquatic class at G. H. Dawe Community Centre. This spring adapted classes are available for T-ball, basketball, parent and tot yoga, a pre-school play group, along with more swimming and summer camps. Jackie Muddle said her son Chase, 6, has heightened senses and all the splashing and activity in a typical swim class was over stimulating. “He couldn’t concentrate on learning how to swim when there was so much going around,” said Muddle, of Red Deer. The adapted aquatic program at G. H. Dawe had fewer children, skills were broken down for easier learning, and a schedule using pictures helped to communicate with the young swimmers. “A lot of the kids learn best visually. They don’t learn as well through hearing so having a visual schedule helps to communicate better, especially if the child is non-verbal. It’s comforting them too because they know what’s coming. It kind of helps to reduce the anxiety,” Muddle said. Instructors understand the stress children may experience and how they may react and work with them to get them back on track, she said. “These kids when they have sensory issues, it’s just overwhelming to put your face in the water, never mind blowing bubbles.” Three swimming instructors at G. H. Dawe have been trained to teach adapted classes. Come fall, the six-week swim class will be extended to 12 weeks. “It’s great that they’re included in the programming because it’s such a life-saving skill,” said Denise Papineau, with the Dawe aquatic program.
BY THE CANADIAN PRESS
WEATHER Sunny. High 11. Low 0
FORECAST ON A2
INDEX Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . C4,C5 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5,A6 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . D1-D3 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D4 Entertainment . . . . . . . .D5,D6 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B6
Siblings were also able to participate in the adapted swim program which is open to all children. All the city’s recreation programs, including adapted, are inclusive. “It’s all about inclusion. We want everyone to participate in it,” Papineau said. Red Deer parent Jessica Schurman said her daughter Matea, 6, became more comfortable in the water, had fun, and made a new friend. “She learned some new songs. And she started to dive under the water. That’s something she typically hadn’t done before. She learned the skills to go all the way under the water and open her eyes looking for different objects so that was really big for us,” Schurman said.
MAYCROFT — Jim Prentice says it was disappointment with previous Progressive Conservative administrations in Alberta that ultimately led him to re-enter public life. The incumbent Tory premier didn’t mention any of his predecessors by name in an interview with the Canadian Press as his campaign bus rolled through southern Alberta last week. But he made it clear his concern wasn’t limited to former premier Alison Redford, who resigned after her government was rocked by a series of spending scandals. “I was disappointed by what I was seeing in our government over the last several years before I ran,” Prentice said. “Albertans were disappointed and so was I.” Prentice is the seventh person to serve as premier since the Progressive Conservatives took power in 1971. He will attempt to extend that four-decade dynasty May 5, having just brought down a budget that hikes taxes for the first time in years and runs a record $5 billion deficit. He pitched his plan as an attempt to get the province off the roller-coaster of oil prices that has dictated the government’s fiscal fate in years past. Prentice was asked if he felt any anger towards his predecessors, particularly Redford and the controversies that surrounded her use of government aircraft. “Yeah, I was very concerned, the same way all Albertans were concerned,” he said. “I was concerned about what was going on with the airplanes and everything else, and so we were all disappointed and clearly our province was headed in the wrong direction and it was time to set things right and that is why I ran.”
Please see ADAPTED on Page A2
Please see PRENTICE on Page A2
Photo by ASHLI BARRETT/Advocate staff
Danielle Woods helps her son, Owen Woods, 5, put toppings on a pizza pinwheel during the first adapted Little Chefs class at the G.H. Dawe on Saturday.
Artifacts tell pre-confederation story Some artifacts found at Parliament Hill are shedding some light on life in the area in the 19th century. Story on PAGE A5
PLEASE
RECYCLE