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Confessions of a Pokémon trainer
MISSING GIRL
Taliyah found dead
ADVOCATE REPORTER MURRAY CRAWFORD IS READY TO HIT THE TRAILS AGAIN AFTER SPENDING SEVERAL HOURS TESTING POKÉMON GO
SUSPECT FACING TWO FIRST-DEGREE MURDER CHARGES
BY MUR URRA RAYY CR CRAW AWFO FORD RD ADVOCATE STAFF It’s addicting, it really is. There I was in my first gym m battle staring down a Growlithe e (a dog-looking Pokémon with a fire based attack). Within a few hours of playing g I had reached a point in the new w Pokémon Go smartphone game e where I was ready to do battle. Or at least that’s what I thought.
THE CANADIAN PRESS CALGARY — Hopes of finding a missing five-year-old girl alive vanished Thursday after searchers combing through a rural property found a body believed to be that of Taliyah Leigh Marsman. At a sombre news conference, Calgary police revealed that by the time they were called earlier this week, the little girl was already dead. They also announced they had charged TALIYAH LEIGH a suspect, Edw a r d D e l t e n MARSMAN Downey, 46, with the murders of the girl and her mother, Sara Baillie, 34. Baillie’s body was found Monday night in the home she shared with her little girl. The next day, an Amber Alert was issued. But on Thursday afternoon, searchers near Chestermere found the girl’s body near a roadway and police issued a news release cancelling the alert. The cause of death was not known an autopsy will be held Friday. “It’s disappointing,” said Insp. Don Coleman. “We were hoping for a different outcome. The family is devastated, clearly.”
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Photo by JESSICA CRAWFORD/Freelance
Please see TALIYAH on Page A6
Playing the new Pokémon Go game involves a lot of walking and searching for signs and landmarks to acquire Pokémon and items.
Blackfalds pressing for more services as population soars BY BRENDA KOSSOWAN ADVOCATE STAFF Population growth that’s six points above the provincial average is the strongest argument possible for more services in Blackfalds, says its mayor. Earlier this week, Blackfalds town council reviewed data from its 2016 municipal census. The numbers show that the town’s population has grown by 250 per cent since 2003 and is now pushing 10,000 people.
Although the growth rate has levelled off somewhat from last year’s boom, Blackfalds is still well ahead of the curve in 2016, growing by 717 people to a total of 9,510 residents. At this time last year, the town’s population had grown by 935 people, which was an increase of almost 12 per cent from 2014. Those numbers support Mayor Melodie Stol’s contention that Blackfalds can support more services and more businesses. “We’re now getting to a population RED DEER WEATHER
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where there is an economy of scale to those services,” said Stol, pointing to the high number of young families living in Blackfalds as an example. This year, the town has almost 1,200 children under the age of five. Stol said the total population was only 2,000 in 1998, when she was first elected to council. “I think Blackfalds could really use a health unit. Look at the number for kids under the age of five. A local service, easy access for those parents and those kids — it makes a lot of sense.”
Stol said the town is also pushing for its own registries office, where people can purchase or renew driver’s licences, vehicle registrations and other permits without having to travel into Red Deer or Lacombe. “We are definitely demonstrating we have enough people within our community that business could open here and be successful.”
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