MEDIEVAL FAIR
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REBELS GET WIN AGAINST TIGERS IN SHOOTOUT
Red Deer Advocate MONDAY, NOV. 2, 2015
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Remembering their sacrifice EXHIBIT RECOUNTS WW1 EXPERIENCE OF LOCAL SOLDIERS RED DEER MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF They were sent to fight in the muddy trenches of the First World War with rudimentary gas masks and guns that jammed. But a hundred years ago, Central Albertan soldiers were still “gung-ho” about leaving farm fields behind for hand-to-hand combat in Belgium and France. “There was a huge fervor to get in the game. Boys were running away to enlist… They wanted to get there before the war was over, so they could be part of the action,” said Lorna Johnson, executive-director of the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery. “It was seen as a glorious adventure…” Yet the grim realities faced by local soldiers in Europe are recounted in Red Deer and the Great War— 1915: The King Will Take His Hat Off to the Canadians. It’s the second of five annual Remembrance Day-themed exhibits mounted at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery, marking each year of The Great War. One of the harshest conflicts of 1915 was the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium. It featured the first mass use of poison gas by German forces, and resulted in about 100,000 casualties. Johnson said the battle was significant to Alberta because many local soldiers helped Canada achieve the first victory for a former colonial nation over a European power on European soil. “The King will take off his hat to the Canadians” is a diary quotation from soldier Cecil B. Whyte, referring to public elation over the important Ypres victory.
Please see EXHIBIT on Page A2
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery executive director Lorna Johnson looks into a display case in the gallery of an exhibit with artifacts from World War I.
Blue-green algae may become more common BY MARY-ANN BARR ADVOCATE STAFF
LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF
The recent discovery for the first time of bluegreen algae in Red Deer’s park system may be the beginning of a recurring problem. The City of Red Deer issued a blue-green algae advisory on one of the ponds at Three Mile Bend in September. Signs were posted there alerting the public. Trevor Poth, City of Red Deer Parks superintendent, said the blue-green algae, which was still present in the pond last week, was unique for any of the city’s ponds. It is expected to diminish with cold weather but there is good chance it will reoccur in the future. In other municipalities where the algae has occurred, it does tend to come back, Poth said. He now believes the city will have to pay very close attention to the matter in coming years. “We’ll certainly be watching it in the spring.” “We’re taking it really seriously but we’re not trying to be alarmist in our approach,” he said. The city has been keeping a close eye on other park ponds such as at Bower Ponds, Mckenzie Trails and Lower Heritage Ranch but has not seen any other blue-green algae. Neighbourhood ponds are far less of a concern because they are attached to the city’s storm drainage system and therefore have flowing water. Blue-green algae can contain toxins that are poisonous. If contact occurs, it should be washed off with clean water as soon as possible. The water in ponds is safe as long as people and pets avoid direct contact with the blue-green algae bloom. If the algae can’t be seen then it’s not there, said Poth. “The really important message around the bluegreen algae is what we want people to do is to look at the water before they actually access it. And if you can’t see the algae, the water is totally safe.” The Central Alberta Freestyle Ski Club, which has a training jump into a pond at Three Mile Bend, has been following the same process of making a visual inspection before allowing any of their athletes in the water, Poth said. It is likely the early dry spring and warm temperatures, and then a lot of rain in August, is the biggest reason the blue-green algae occurred, he said. Also contributing to the problem would be the “high nutrient load” going into the ponds because
WEATHER A few flurries. High 2. Low -6.
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Cook shouldn’t have been hanged: Documentarian
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Signs at Three Mile Bend Recreation Area indicating a Blue-green Algae bloom in the ponds are still in place. For the past few weeks dog owners have been cautioned to keep their pets from entering the water because of the problem. the area is an off-leash dog park. The city does send in a contractor twice a year to pick up dog waste even though many dog owners do follow the rules and pick it up themselves. “A lot of the runoff through the off-leash park probably has a fair amount of fertilizer coming from pet waste,” Poth said. The ponds at Three Mile Bend are located on an old gravel mining site, and are not directly connected to the Red Deer River, so there is no flowing water through them. The city will lift the advisory at Three Mile Bend only after they have had at least one week of no sightings of blue-green algae. Detailed information about blue-green algae can be found on Alberta Health Services website at www.albertahealthservices.ca/10189.asp barr@reddeeradvocate.com
The last man to be hanged in Alberta probably shouldn’t have been, said the maker of the new documentary, The Grease Pit. It’s not that Robert Raymond Cook was innocent of the worst mass-murder in Alberta’s history when the bodies of seven relatives were found in the grease pit of the family Stettler garage in 1959. “I think he probably did do it,” said Edmonton filmmaker Rick Smallwood. But after two years of researching the Central Alberta crime case that’s been polarizing public opinion for more than half a century, Smallwood believes Cook’s death sentence could have been commuted to life in prison on mental health grounds. “It’s certainly changed my view of capital punishment,” said Smallwood, who interviewed long-time Stettler residents, as well as an investigating police officer and one of Cook’s defence lawyers for his documentary. He noted Cook’s affable nature was always the sticking point for people who doubted he could have shot his father Raymond and stepmother Daisy with a double-barrel shotgun, and bludgeoned to death his five half-brothers and sisters. While he was a petty criminal and chronic liar, “he was never known to be violent.” But several months before the killings, Cook was clubbed over the head with a lead pipe by another inmate while in jail for break and enter and car theft. This resulted in a severe concussion. Prisoners who knew him reported a personality change after the incident, added Smallwood. “They said he became fidgety and lost his temper easily… If a severe concussion scrambled his brain, when he did snap, he might have gone homicidal.” The documentarian also noted that Cook had no memory of the killings. He refused to claim temporary insanity, as his lawyers advised to possibly avoid the death penalty, because he insisted he never committed the crimes. Although he turned to religion and had discussions with two ministers, he went to the scaffold proclaiming his innocence. To Smallwood, this suggests Cook could have been in an altered mental state — if he was guilty.
Please see COOK on Page A2
The perils of timely tattoos That Bautista bat flip tattoo may seem great at the moment, but what about years from now? Story on PAGE D5
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