SIMONOVA FINDING SUCCESS ON THE TENNIS COURT
D1
Derrival Indie band has sentimental yearning for ’90s
PAGE B2
Red Deer Advocate FRIDAY, AUG. 28, 2015
www.reddeeradvocate.com
Your trusted local news authority
Hive raid BY S SUS USAN AN ZIE Z IELI LINS NSKI KI ADVOCATE STAFF Talk about sticky fingers. About 600,000 honey bees belonging to Nixon Honey Farm were stolen, along with the bees’ 12 hives, from a farmer’s field south of Red Deer near Hwy 2. The theft was discovered on Wednesday morning when Nixon Honey Farm staff when out to service the hives. Three pallets, with fo our hives per pallet, were stolen from the locattiion that had 12 pallets. Kevin Nixon said the theft is a first for the Innisfail-area farm. “We’ve had bees here since 1998. We’ve had the odd case of vandalism, but we’ve never had hive v theft,” said Nixon, one of the owners of the ffa ami m ly hon honey ey ffar arm, m, o on n Th Thur ursd sday ay..
THOUSANDS OF BEES STOLEN FROM FARMER
Thos Th ose e hi hive vess we were re pre previ viou ousl sly y ch chec ecke ked d by sta stta aff ff on Aug. 10. “I don’t even know what to think. There’s no reason to steal a person’s livestock. For som me it’s cows — for us it’s bees.” He said the hives would have been stolen at night when bees weren’t flying around. But the he e bees would have been agitated when moved d, so whoever took them would have required at least a veil and gloves for protection. “Whoever stole them will have to manag ge them to get them through winter. They jusst don’t do it on their own. They need to be fed d and cared for. For the rest of the year, we’rre basically looking at getting them ready for win nter with treatments, medications and feeding ng g them.”
Please see THEFT on Page A2
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Kevin Nixon of Nixon Honey has lost 12 hives containing 48 bee boxes to theft from a location south of Red Deer.
Anger, addictions issues sweated out at boot camp BY MURRAY CRAWFORD ADVOCATE STAFF Bringing military-style structure, discipline and confidence to prisoners has been the aim of a boot camp program at the Edmonton Remand Centre for the past two years. And for one Red Deer resident, it has had a lasting impact. Matthew John Ridsdale has struggled with addiction and anger issues all his life and has had his runins with the law. Earlier this year, he was serving time at the Edmonton Remand Centre when he got into the boot camp program. In a letter to the Advocate, Ridsdale writes: “It has helped me with the anger problem that I’ve had for most of my life. It has also helped me by building my self-esteem and confidence in my self, my overall health and the way I act and treat others.” Correctional Peace Officer Glenn Vey, a 33-year Canadian military veteran who now works at the Edmonton Remand Centre, has been with the program since Day 1. Employing some techniques from basic training, the boot camp program has a cornerstone in communication, with other important factors being structure, guidance and leadership. “We try to educate, coach and support the inmates and lead them by motivation,” said Vey. “It’s a military style. They do drill, they do physical fitness, they do more courses like anger management, parenting, they get education such as their GED.” There are rewards to motivate inmates ranging from popcorn night to movie night. “I spend a lot of time sitting with the inmates,” said Vey. “In the old days, you’d never see that.” Structure plays a big role. Monday to Friday, the days are always the same: the inmates wake up at 7 a.m. for breakfast and then they will clean their “houses” — their cells are referred to as houses. The “houses” are inspected and the inmates stand at attention until they are counted,
WEATHER Smoke. High 24. Low 11.
INDEX Four sections Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . C3,C4 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6,A7 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . D5-D8 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C6 Entertainment . . . . . . . . D1-D4 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1-B8
INNISFAIL
Council questions validity of census HEAD COUNT SUGGESTS TOWN GROWING SLOWLY
“
Everyone who was a gang member before they came onto the unit was asked to leave their gang colours outside. And they do. — Matthew Ridsdale then they can stand at ease. Then physical training starts at 8:30 a.m. Throughout the day, they attend a series of counselling programs. Ridsdale was in the program for six weeks. “What it teaches a person is to work together as a team, no matter what colour your skin is. Everyone who was a gang member before they came onto the unit was asked to leave their gang colours outside. And they do. “Whenever someone has an issue with another inmate, instead of going into a cell and fighting it out, they get put into a room to talk about it like adults. “I watched two big men who were almost ready to kill each other talk about their issues, say sorry to each other and give each other a hug. If it wasn’t for the program, those two men would have beat each other to a bloody pulp.” Both Vey and Ridsdale point to the Positive Energy Action Knowledge program, which the inmates in the boot camp program started themselves.
Please see BOOT CAMP on Page A2
BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF Innisfail’s latest census shows little growth in the community — if the numbers are to be believed. The town’s recent head count puts the population at 7,953 — only 31 more people than were tallied three years ago. However, that number has been questioned by officials, considering that a large percentage — 13 per cent — of households did not participate in the census online and could not be reached by enumerators. “Some of us on council are questioning it, that’s for sure,” said Coun. Doug Bos. “There were a lot of new houses built.” “It’s hard to believe. Even if nobody moved into town, we should have had more babies born than that. “I know there were more babies born than that because my son had one of them,” quipped Bos. “To me, (the count) doesn’t seem right. There’s got to be something wrong.” Short counts are bad news for municipalities because many provincial and federal grants are based on per capita calculations. Innisfail’s supposedly limp growth is also at odds with other communities in Central Alberta. Blackfalds’ recent count showed a stunning 12-per-cent population surge in one year, to 8,793. Sylvan Lake showed strong growth. The town’s latest census counted 14,310 residents, up just under 10 per cent and 1,295 from the last count in 2013. The City of Red Deer’s latest census showed the population hit 100,807 — up 2.2 per cent from last year, and following 1.5 per cent and 5.7 per cent increases.
Please see CENSUS on Page A2
Hair salons helping to mop up Discarded hair from Copper Lane hair Studios in Red Deer and Lacombe is being used in oil spill cleanups. Story on PAGE C3
PLEASE
RECYCLE