MYRNA PEARMAN LOOKS AT BIRD NESTS, BABIES
ARCHITECT OF TRASH TALK
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Documentary examines legacy of Morton Downey Jr.
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Red Deer Advocate THURSDAY, AUG. 20, 2015
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TRADES SAMPLER CAMP
TRYSTAN SORENSEN
Masyk admits guilt in death BY MURRAY CRAWFORD ADVOCATE STAFF Fourteen months after Trystan Sorensen was run down and killed as he longboarded west of Penhold, a woman has admitted her guilt. Jessica Lyn Masyk, 26, entered guilty pleas to three charges on Wednesday, cutting short a trial. Masyk, of Penhold, pleaded guilty to the three charges laid against her: driving while unauthorized, failing to remain at the scene of a collision and public mischief for filing a false police report. She appeared in Red Deer provincial court on Wednesday before Judge John Holmes. Sorensen, 18, was killed while longboarding with a friend. His mother, Amy Sorensen, said she carries Trystan with her all the time. “He’s with me right here,” she said, pointing to a heart shaped necklace outside the Red Deer Courthouse. “Trystan had a tremendous sense of humour. He loved making people happy. I miss him tremendously, he was a wonderful kid.” Amy Sorensen has attended every one of Masyk’s court appearances. She puts a series of items on the bar that separates the public gallery from the lawyers, judges and clerks. Among them is an urn with Trystan’s ashes and a picture of Trystan. Masyk, her hair died pink, stood silently with her hands behind her back as Crown prosecutor Ed Ring read the facts of the case into the record. Just after 10 p.m. on May 20, 2014, Sorensen and his friend Roman Black were longboarding on Hwy 592 west of Penhold. Sorensen stood at the crest of a hill and watched as Black rode down. Black stopped and got off his longboard. Sorensen then rode down the hill. Masyk crested the hill in her Dodge Durango and struck Sorensen.
Please see MASYK on Page A2
Photo by ASHLI BARRETT/Advocate staff
Austin Nagy, left, and Tyler Menzel work on installing a light switch during an electrical course at the Trades Sampler Camp at Red Deer College on Wednesday afternoon.
City unable to collect millions in outstanding fines BY MARY-ANN BARR ADVOCATE STAFF The City of Red Deer is owed $2.69 million but there’s nothing it can do to collect it. The sum is from hand-issued tickets, and photo radar and red light camera tickets. A report to city council this week indicated that for the past seven years, the outstanding amount of unpaid tickets has consistently been about $3 million. The problem is that the city has no control over the collection of these fines because they are administered by the province. There’s no mechanism in place for the city to go after errant traffic violators. To make matters worse, the province writes off unpaid tickets after sev-
eral years. That meant that from July 2014 to June 2015, the government of Alberta wrote off $212,352 that should have gone to city coffers if the fines had been paid. The report states that for eight years now, the fine revenue from photo radar has never met the projected budget. Initially, that was because of optimistic budgeting by city policing leadership. But the shortfall is now being blamed in part more on the strategic positioning of photo radar to help make streets safer rather than maximizing revenues. City manager Craig Curtis told council this week that the actual revenue has not been maximized because city RCMP management has taken the safety approach rather than placing photo radar at “fishing holes” just for the revenue.
Since 2011, there has been a decrease in serious injuries and fatalities on city streets. During the 2015 budget discussion, administration recommended that council add $900,000 in ongoing funding to the police budget to make up for the fine revenue shortfall. Council decided to add $560,000 annually instead. This year to date, there is already a projected fine revenue shortfall of $300,000, which is expected to increase before the end of the year. The City of St. Albert has taken to disguising its photo radar to look like utility boxes, and the equipment is operated remotely. That city defends the practice because it says it makes streets safer but some people argue it is a cash cow.
Please see FINES on Page A2
Centennial Plaza pool drained, cleaned daily BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF
Photo by ASHLI BARRETT/Advocate staff
A lady on a morning walk passes by a homeless man lounging near the Centennial Plaza Park spray fountain and wading pool, located near the downtown McDonald’s restaurant and Alexander Way on Wednesday morning. There have been allegations that the city’s homeless community use the fountain and pool to bathe and wash their clothes.
WEATHER Mainly cloudy. High 20. Low 10.
FORECAST ON A2
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An allegation that Centennial Plaza Park is a spray park by day — “bum bath” by night — does not hold water. The city shuts off and drains the water at 6 p.m. each night. Recently a Kijiji message warned of “filthy homeless” washing themselves and their clothes in the water at the Alexander Way park and using it for a toilet. In the message, that spread quickly but has since been removed from online sites, a mother said her friend saw a lot of activity there one night at about 8 or 9 p.m. After visiting the park with her son and both of them becoming ill, the
mother worried it was due to contaminated water. She said a city worker told her the water is not drained. But Sarah Cockerill, the city’s director of community services, said the spray fountain and wading pool is in fact drained daily. “We clean it and we drain it every day. We refill the system around 11 a.m. and noon and we drain it every night at 6 p.m.,” Cockerill said on Wednesday. She said treated tap water recirculates for the six hours and the site is Alberta Health Services approved. “We are very diligent to make sure that it’s safe.”
Please see PARK on Page A2
‘You are free to go’ Nigel Wright heads back to his executive life in London after a six-day stint in the witness box at the Mike Duffy trial, leaving in his wake a new set of political questions. Story on PAGE A7
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