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Dog bite sends woman to hospital SHELLY FOSS SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS AFTER BEING BITTEN AT JJ COLLETT NATURAL AREA BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF A large bruise surrounds the ugly bite punctures on Shelly Foss’s leg. The gruesome-looking injury came at the jaws of a German shepherd that attacked her while she was strolling in JJ Collett Natural Area near Lacombe on Aug. 21. Signs are posted reminding dog owners that their pets must be on leashes, but Foss estimates 95 per cent of dog walkers ignore the rule. And she paid the price during a supper-time walk alone. As she was approaching two dogs accompanied by their owner they ran towards her. As she watched one dog in front of her, the larger, more aggressive of the pair circled behind her. “Then I felt this searing pain in my thigh,” she said. “I turned around and he had inflicted a nasty — I mean it’s a really nasty bite. It is bad.” The dog kept circling her as she screamed at it and waved her water bottle to try to scare it off. While all of this was going on the owner was slowly walking along, oblivious to the scene ahead of her. “That was the thing that made me the most angry. I’m being attacked by her dogs and she is not even making any effort to get there any faster.” Foss said the owner finally grabbed the dogs’ leashes, which had been trailing on the ground behind them and corralled the animals. The biter continued to snarl and try to get at her. Foss was so rattled she just left without getting the woman’s name. “I was kind of in shock. I just wanted to get as far away from that horrible, aggressive animal as I could and as quickly I could.” When she got home, she realized how bad the wound was and went to Lacombe Hospital The hospital staff “took one look at it and said, ‘Oh boy, we’ve got to report this to animal control.’” An animal control officer questioned her and said they would try to find out who the owner is.
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Kelly Foss is recovering after being bitten by a dog in J.J. Collette Natural Area north of Lacombe near Morningside. Foss’ bite mark shows numerous puncture wounds and deep bruising from the attack that happened August 21. Foss left hospital after getting a tetanus shot and antibiotics. Days later she is still in pain, which jars her awake during the night. JJ Collett sent an email to the natural area’s website and asked for information that might help identify the dog owner. She has not had a response. She did speak with a member of the volunteer foundation which oversees the park, who told her that dogs running free have been an ongoing problem. The board intends to discuss the issue at its next meeting in September. Meanwhile, Foss wants to warn others and convince dog owners to keep their animals under control.
“What I am trying to do I guess is make people aware of what’s going on out there.” It could have been much worse, she said. “There’s lots of people out there with small children. It could happen again. “People treat this as a dog park. It’s not a dog park.” Efforts were unsuccessful to reach the JJ Collett Natural Area Foundation, the volunteer steward group that oversees the park, which includes 635 acres of aspen parkland criss-crossed with 18 km of trails. Alberta Environment and Parks was looking into the incident but could not comment on Friday.
Red Deer gamer takes top spot in competition BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF Mission accomplished for the SetToDestroyX team. The five-person online gaming team, which included Red Deer’s Keynes Ng, emerged as champions of Canada’s first multiplayer national eSports tournament held in Toronto on Aug. 21. As winning team in the Cineplex WorldGaming Canadian Tournament, Ng and his four teammates shared a $50,000 prize. “It was pretty exciting,” said the 18-year-old Ng, who attended Notre Dame High School and goes by the gaming handle X_dex_. “A lot of hard work paid off.” The team, which included four Albertans and a player from Ontario, had to win qualifying and regional tournaments to earn a place among the final eight teams. Teams were pitted against each other on PlayStation’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, an action game based around the adventures of retired fortune hunter Nathan Drake and his accomplices. Ng, who knew all but one of his teammates from previous online gaming, said they spent about four months, five hours a day honing their strategies. Ng works part-time at Best Buy and other players also had jobs so they played mostly in the evenings. “Usually, we’d begin around 5 p.m. up to around 10 p.m. or so,” he said. The art of hitting the top ranks is getting to know the games down to the pixel and identifying where your weaknesses as a player are.
“We know what basically what to work on. (It’s about) putting in the time and making sure you’re working on the right stuff.” The team could also draw on experience in other online gaming tournaments. Ng met teammate Allameen Ally (TheAnonAlly) from Brampton, Ont. at a one-on-one Call of Duty competition. Ally won the $20,000 top prize at that tournament and Ng, and another player who was on his winning Uncharted 4 team, Taber’s Tim Li (P-iston), placed in the top 16. Rounding out the Uncharted 4 team is RED DEER WEATHER
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Photo contributed
Red Deer’s Keynes Ng focuses while taking part in the Cineplex WorldGaming Canadian Tournament in Toronto on August 21. Ng and his four teammates won the tournament and took home a shared $50,000 prize.
Calgary’s Bradyn Gardiyash (Skzzyy) and Edmonton’s Nicholas Brewer (HacKiEE). Ng’s winnings will likely go into rent, he said. He’s apartment hunting in Calgary right now because he is returning to SAIT soon to take his second year of new media production design. The money will definitely come in handy, he said. Meanwhile, the gamers are now setting their sights on their next competition. pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com LOTTERIES
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