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The roundabout at 67 Street and 30 Avenue is now open.
RED DEER MALLS SENSE OPPORTUNITY DESPITE DOWNTURN
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B5
RCMP AID HUNT FOR KILLERS
AGLUKARK RECOGNIZED FOR HER CONTRIBUTIONS TO POPULAR MUSIC
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ARE YOU ROUNDABOUT READY? Check out the videos at roundabout.how to learn the rules of roundabouts.
GWYNNE DYER POSES THE QUESTION, ‘IS THIS THE END OF THE UNITED STATES?’
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$1.00
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www.reddeeradvocate.com
RCMP officer cleared
FREEZE OR FRY
BY BRENDA KOSSOWAN ADVOCATE STAFF LEDUC — A former Red Deer Mountie has been acquitted of charges laid against him in connection with the arrest of a Red Deer teenager in the summer of 2012. Const. Eric Pomerleau, 30, went to trial in Red Deer provincial court on May 10 and 11 of this year on charges of assault with a weapon, common assault and assault causing bodily harm. The charges were laid after a member of the public accused Pomerleau of using excessive force during the arrest of the boy, whose name is withheld because he was a minor at the time. Judge Marilyn Smith, normally based in Leduc provincial court, heard that Pomerleau had pepper sprayed the youth to subdue him while he was in the back of the police car; pushed him to the floor while taking him to his cell, and bloodied his nose after reentering the cell to conduct a second search. In a decision announced from her courtroom in Leduc on Monday, Smith said she found Pomerleau’s actions were reasonable in each of the three incidents, given that Pomerleau had been confronted with an aggressive and combative “client” and that there were no other police officers available to provide backup. She also pointed out that he is both smaller and lighter than the boy he had arrested and was not aware until later that day that he was only 16 years old. Witnesses testified during the trial that Pomerleau was called at about 4 a.m. on Aug. 19, 2012, to attend a location in the Deer Park subdivision, where two young bicyclists were causing trouble and damaging vehicles. Please see ACQUITAL on Page A8
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Ainsley Quirino, left, of the Catalina Swim Club in Red Deer is given a congratulatory hug from her teammates Dalia Morales, centre, and Kira Lorencz after Quirino won her 200-m freestyle heat at the Recreation Centre on Saturday. Some 320 swimmers aged 5-17 from across the province took part in the 64th Annual Freeze-Or-Fry swim meet hosted by the Catalina Swim Club over the weekend.
Candlelight vigil to speak out against Orlando shooting BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF
Survivor feels guilt for getting out alive Page B7
Central Albertans will gather in solidarity for the LGBTQ community at City Hall Park on Wednesday night. A candlelight vigil will be held that was developed as a local, grassroots response to the Orlando shooting at a gay nightclub early Sunday morning.
The vigil starts at 6 p.m. Everyone is welcome. Crystal McNichols, who suggested the vigil, said she happened to be watching CNN when the story broke. “The gun shots you heard on the TV.
I cannot imagine the poor people who survived,” said McNichols, who is cochair of Central Alberta Pride. “Fifty innocent people got killed over what? When it’s all said and done whether we’re gay, lesbian, transgender, we all have the same blood,” said the transgender Central Albertan. Please see VIGIL on Page A8
Stettler given green light to draw water from river after fuel spill BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
A fuel tanker spilled its load of fuel into the ditch just north of the Content bridge on Hwy 21. Some of the fuel made its way into a creek which drains into the Red Deer River. Workers installed several containment booms to capture the spilled fuel.
Stettler has been cleared to draw from the Red Deer River after a diesel spill forced the town to use its stored water supply. Melissa Robbins, the town’s director of operations, said the municipality was given the green light on Monday morning. “They tested the water and all the results came back clear,” said Robbins. The municipality’s regional water treatment plant has systems in place including outdoor water storage water ponds to avoid from the river, if necessary, for this exact reason said Robbins. “In the spring we don’t pull water from the river when the river breaks up because we don’t want the turbidity
RED DEER WEATHER
INDEX NEWS A2-A3, A5-A8
Local Today
COMMENT A4
60% Showers
and the high colour to come into our plant,” she said. “We do at times of the year when we get large storms, we do switch off the river and treat from our storage ponds until we get nice river water again and we treat right from the river.” On June 9 a tanker truck carrying diesel rolled on Hwy 21, near Content Bridge, and spilled 25,000 litres of diesel into a stream, which feeds into the Red Deer River. As a precaution, the town switched to stored water while tests were conducted on the water. One duck was captured and transferred to a wildlife treatment centre. Surface water and soil sampling are being conducted and on the Red Deer River, according to Alberta Environment and Parks. The contaminated soil has been excavated and disposed at an approved facility.
LOTTERIES
Tonight
Wednesday
Thursday
60% Showers
Sunny
Sunny
MONDAY EXTRA: 5829112
BUSINESS A9-A10
PICK 3: 003
SPORTS B1-B4
Numbers are unofficial.
ENTERTAINMENT B5 CLASSIFIED B6-B7 COMICS B8
15°
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17°
PLEASE
RECYCLE