The Community
Press ‘Tis The Season
Volume 113, Issue 23
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
$1 Including GST
RCMP receives great response from youth poster contest Leslie Cholowsky Editor
The Killam RCMP Detachment has picked the winners of their Christmas poster contest, and will feature four of the top entries on this year’s Detachment Christmas cards. The winning entries came from Forestburg and Sedgewick, with over 80 entries received in two different categories, from ages up to nine years old, and from 10 to 13 years old. “Unfortunately, we didn’t receive a single entry in the third category, Ages 14 to 17,” says Detachment Admin Deb Albers. So instead of picking one winner from three cateKillam RCMP Detachment Constables Kirk Rafuse and Jake Rains hold the winning entries of the poster contest that ran for the month of November. Each of the winners will be featured on one of the Detachment’s Christmas cards this year. There were 80 entries from local youth received in all.
gories, two winners were picked from the nine-andunder, which received the most entries, and one from the age 10 to 13 category. A runner up poster was also picked, which will be featured on a smaller run of the Christmas cards. Albers says picking a winner was incredibly difficult because there were so many terrific entries. “There are funny ones, really colourful ones; there’s some really good art here.” The winning posters were created by Zayden Stenson from Forestburg, age six, and Luke Freadrich from Sedgewick, age eight, in the nine-and-under category, and Presley Brennan from Forestburg, age 12, in the 1013 category. Runner up was Abigaille Wideman from Killam, who is eight. She says that there was participation from a wider stretch of the Detachment area. “We’re really happy with the turnout. We love the art.” Besides being featured in the Detachment Christmas Cards, the winning artists will also receive prizes, donated from some of the contest sponsors.
December ushers in harsh penalties for impaired drivers Leslie Cholowsky Editor
December ushered in new, strict, impaired driving immediate roadside sanctions (IRS) in Alberta. The program includes serious and escalating consequences for impaired drivers. Some of these include immediate 15-month driver’s licence suspensions, fines up to $2,000, vehicle seizures for up to 30 days, and new mandatory education programs for repeat offenders, as well as ignition interlock for repeat offenders. The Province says, “Most non-criminal, first-time impaired drivers will be able to deal with these penalties through SafeRoads Alberta, a new branch dedicated to providing a speedy method of resolving disputes. “The new process will be significantly quicker, dealing with all matters in 30 days to ensure impaired drivers are off the roads, not the months or years it can take to go through the current administrative and court processes.” The province modelled the new model on similar changes made in BC, where impacts have included a 36 per cent drop in impaired driving incident rates and a drop of 54 per cent in the number of impaired driving fatalities. By removing impaired driving charges from the court system, the province estimates that thousands of hours of police and court time per year will be saved, leaving prosecutors and courts the ability to focus on more serious justice matters. “SafeRoads Alberta will deliver a fast and efficient way to pay for first-time impaired driving charges, but if you get behind the wheel impaired, the toughest and
swiftest penalties in Canada are waiting. “These moves make Alberta roads safer and get police back fighting rural and urban crime instead of stuck in the courts,” says Ric McIver, Minister of Transportation. Repeat offenders and those charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm or death will face criminal charges on top of the roadside penalties. Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police Dale McFee says, “This proven system of addressing impaired driving will reduce the time our officers and the courts must commit to dealing with these serious offences while still holding impaired drivers accountable. “This allows our officers to spend more time focusing on the community to reduce crime and victimization. “In addition, it has been shown that dealing with impairment with sanctions to the subject’s vehicle in the first instance drastically reduces future offences.” Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) also endorsed the new measures, with CEO Andrew Murie saying, “MADD Canada welcomes the implementation of these new measures to address the impaired driving problem, and we thank the Government of Alberta for its leadership. These measures deliver strong, immediate penalties and sanctions to those individuals who continue to disregard the law and put lives in danger by driving impaired. They will reduce impaired driving and save lives." Under the new regulations, when an officer has reasonable grounds to believe a driver has committed an impaired offence, the driver will: -be issued an administrative penalty called the IRS FAIL;
-received an immediate 15-month driver’s licence suspension; -receive a 30-day vehicle seizure; -be issued a $1,000 fine; -be required to complete mandatory impaired driving education. Repeat offenders, or those causing bodily harm or death will receive an escalated penalty and be criminally charged. Drivers can install an ignition interlock device, at their cost, after three months. If they choose not to, they will remain suspended with no ability to drive for the full 15-month term. Police can issue this process in an hour or less. Drivers who wish to dispute their notice can access a website, and also pay the fine, request time to pay, or request a review, which includes a $150 non-refundable fee. Reviews will be conducted by phone or in writing. In the case of criminal charges, drivers may seek judicial review at the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta. If a vehicle was seized after being stolen or taken without the owner’s consent, or if the vehicle is owned by a rental car agency, owners can seek return of the vehicle from SafeRoads Alberta, however registered owners are responsible for all costs involved. Applying for a review does not guarantee the return of the vehicle, and review fees ($150) are non-refundable. Hardship is not considered a ground for review for either licence suspensions nor vehicle seizure. New zero-tolerance consequences for novice drivers and commercial drivers are also being introduced under new legislation.