Red Deer Advocate, April 29, 2015

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PAIR OF CHIEFS HEADING TO NATIONAL CAMP

SONGBIRD LANDS IN KELOWNA/C7

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Red Deer Advocate WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015

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Rampage in Rocky THREE PIT BULLS ATTACK TWO DOGS ON POPULAR WALKING PATH

Contributed photo

Theresa Kokesch, 86, and her daughter’s injured golden lab, Shelly. Kokesch was out for her daily walk when she encountered two pit bulls, which started dragging Shelly into the bush. Two women — one an 86-year-old senior, the other a 27-year-old jogger — fought desperately with everything they had to save their dogs from separate vicious pit bull attacks along a walking path in Rocky Mountain House on Monday. “I was hollering like a mad banshee. ‘Get away! Go home! Stay away!’ and I kept swinging this big stick,” 86-year-old Theresa Kokesch told me on Tuesday. Likewise, “I started screaming as loud as I could cause I didn’t know what to do,” said MARY-ANN Jenna Ellefson, 27. If it weren’t for a number BARR of Good Samaritans coming to their rescue, the women believe the two attacks by loose, marauding dogs could have

BARRSIDE

been worse. The owners of the injured dogs now face hundreds of dollars in veterinarian bills. The incidents began when Ellefson was out on for a jog with her dog Dakota on the Loop, a popular five-km trail in Rocky. Ellefson had Dakota, a five-year-old Belgian shepherd cross, on a leash. She heard other dogs viciously barking at another dog on other side of the fence. This isn’t good,” she decided, and turned around, but suddenly dogs that she describes as three pit bulls charged toward her and Dakota. “At this time, I’m terrified. I know what’s going to happen and they attacked my dog, and all this barking, growling and biting her, and she’s yelping and they’re like literally dragging her away from me. “I looked around and found a stick and was hitting one of the dogs that had Dakota around the neck. “The stick was like breaking on (the attacking dog’s) back. So I had no stick left so I start kicking them cause I’m thinking they’re going to kill her. There’s three of them.

‘I’m alive, I’m safe’ BEVERLY WILLIAMS MANAGES TO CONTACT PARTNER BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF A Red Deer woman caught in the earthquake in Nepal is safe. Beverly Williams was able to contact her longtime partner Michael Dawe early on Tuesday morning that she is OK. “We don’t have any details,” said Dawe on Tuesday morning. “All we did was got an email that said, ‘I’m alive, I’m safe.’ ” Dawe, who is running as a Liberal and Green candidate in Red Deer North, said he was driving to Tuesday morn- Beverly Williams ing’s election forum at the Golden Circle when he got a

WEATHER 60% showers. High 10. Low 1.

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“I kicked so much that I could hardly even kick anymore because I was so exhausted. “They weren’t letting go. ... It was like I was a fly or something, so I’m just screaming as loud as I possible can.” Three high school students showed up, as did two men, one of whom saw what was happening as he drove by on the highway. He stopped his white van and ran to help. One of the students called 911. “Finally we got the dogs off. ... It took all those people kicking and hitting them.” But it wasn’t quite over. One of the attacking dogs came back. “We had to beat him off again. “At that point I just realized holy crap what just happened to me and I just burst into tears. ... “There’s kids and babies and strollers and families on (the Loop). Like you wouldn’t think that it wasn’t safe,” said Ellefson.

Please see RAMPAGE on Page A2

CRIME SURVEY

Red Deerians feeling less safe

phone call from the wife of Beverly’s business partner, who is in Kathmandu, confirming the news. “I’m not sure where she is, but she was not killed or badly injured in the earthquake — and that’s all I needed to know.” In a brief Facebook post, she wrote: “Hello everyone. Finally on line for one second. I was in the earthquake and it was horrible. Write later.” Dawe and other family and friends had been anxiously waiting word since the massive quake shook Nepal on Saturday, killing more than 5,000 and injuring at least 10,000. “I was watching CNN at one o’clock in the morning on Friday night and early Saturday morning and they said there was a big earthquake and I realized that’s exactly where she was.” But for days he had no word, hoping the silence was due to chaotic communications rather than bad news. “We hoped for the best,” he said.

Red Deerians feel less safe in the city than they did four years ago, according to the city’s 2015 Perceptions of Crime Survey. The city released details from the survey that polled 475 residents about their feelings on safety and policing this week. Respondents were polled on safety overall, neighbourhoods, downtown Red Deer and crime concerns. The poll was conducted by phone and online in January. The last safety perception survey was conducted in 2011. On the subject of violent crime in neighbourhoods, 66 per cent of respondents felt extremely safe or very safe, compared to 79 per cent in 2011.

Please see WILLIAMS on Page A2

Please see SURVEY on Page A2

BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF

Auditor takes aim at Ottawa The quality of health care in remote First Nations is sorely lacking, the federal auditor general reported Tuesday. Story on PAGE A5

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