Red Deer Advocate, January 03, 2013

LOCAL FIRM GAINING TRACTION

IS THE NICKEL NEXT?

GoTire takes the dragons for a spin on Jan. 13 C5

The penny may soon have company A6

RED DEER ADVOCATE CENTRAL ALBERTA’S DAILY NEWSPAPER

BREAKING NEWS ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM

THURSDAY, JAN. 3, 2013

Has justice been served?

PUBLIC OUTRAGE IS PROMPTING SOME COURTS TO IMPOSE STIFFER SENTENCES ON DRUNK DRIVERS This is the seventh in a series of Red Deer Advocate stories on the impact of impaired driving on our community, and the various efforts to put an end to the carnage caused by drunk drivers.

Coming Friday Curbing drunk driving takes more than punishment. We look at how these situations could be prevented.

BY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF

ADVOCATE SPECIAL FEATURE

Society’s love affair with alcohol is enabling the impaired driving problem, says Red Deer Crown prosecutor Anders Quist. “Too many in society are in love with alcohol. We are very permissive with it, and once people get intoxicated, bad judgment leads them

to drink and drive,� said Quist, who has prosecuted many drunk drivers over the years, including assisting with the case against Chad Mitchell Olsen, who killed Red Deer parents Brad and Krista Howe.

The cases he works on can be tough to sit through for spectators in the

courtroom. They involve heart-rending victim impact statements from relatives who face the rest of their lives without their beloved sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mother and fathers.

But after a while, there tends to be a certain sameness about drunk driving cases because the same story is repeated again and again.

Quist said the accused tends to be a motorist — either an alcoholic or a social drinker — who gambled on “sneaking home� after drinking without getting caught by police. Instead, he or she failed monumentally — with life-altering results.

Please see JUSTICE on Page A2

Tiny house a lofty retreat

BY RANDY FIEDLER ADVOCATE STAFF Cozying up is easy for Kyle and Jessica Jang, thanks to their 150-squarefoot home near Three Hills.

The couple have been living in the lofted structure since finishing construction in October. “It was a chance to have our own place, but not settle down,� said Kyle, 25. “It’s like a cabin retreat.�

Inspired by the small house movement, a way to live simpler lives in very small homes, the couple did extensive research before buying plans online last spring. They liked the eco-friendly aspects and were used to small spaces from leading Prairie Bible Institute student groups on educational and hu-

Photo by RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff

Kyle Jang pets cat Shoelace from the dining table in his and wife Jessica’s tiny house east of Three Hills Wednesday. Please see related video at www.reddeeradvocate.com. manitarian intercultural study trips to Guatemala.

Once they bought the 20-foot-long flatdeck trailer for their home’s foundation, they began construction in the backyard of their rented three-bed-

room home in Three Hills.

Doing everything themselves proved tougher than anticipated. “Building is challenging if you’ve never done it before. It’s tiring mentally and physically,� said Kyle, who’s

alone right now as Jessica, 24, visits Chicago. “We wanted it to be a fun, not stressful, project.�

Please see HOUSE on Page A3

Murder shocks neighbourhood

BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF

Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate

Brooklyn Thomas stands with her mother Cassandra Creighton in their home on Ross Street in Red Deer Wednesday afternoon.

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A marked outline on the road of a snow-packed back lane in Eastview is what remains after police reported Red Deer’s first homicide of the year.

At about 5:35 a.m. on Tuesday, Red Deer City RCMP found the body of a male in his late teens or early 20s while responding to a disturbance complaint on the 3700 block of Ross Street.

Police allege he was shot and died of his injuries.

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performed on Wednesday morning.

Police have released no other details about the New Year’s Day death.

But the body was found near a suspected drug house, according to people who live in the area.

Resident Cassandra Creighton, 24, said she didn’t hear any gunshots and was shocked to hear of the homicide. “When I first went out there, around 8:30 or 9 Tuesday morning, a police officer came up to us and said, ‘Go back to your house. This is a crime scene.’ The whole alley was blocked off,�

Creighton said on Wednesday.

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A2 RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Woman avoids jail for her part in robbery A woman who acted as getaway driver in a drug store robbery avoided a jail sentence in Red Deer provincial court on Wednesday.

Amy Jaye Liverseed, 35, of Red Deer pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and was sentenced by Judge Darrel Riemer to 18 months probation and 50 hours of community service.

Liverseed was charged after a masked accomplice armed with a knife went into Sproule’s Mountview IDA on Sept. 17, 2011, and demanded drugs be put into a black bag.

STORIES FROM A1

JUSTICE: Hard to equate drunk driving with murder In other words, the cases are about “people who make selfish decisions to the detriment of others,” said Quist.

He says has been touched by several cases where drivers have been charged with impaired driving causing death. He was particularly moved by the case involving the Howes because their five children were left orphans.

Quist is not among those who would equate a drunk driving death with murder. Clearly, when drunks leave a house party or bar, they have no intent to harm anyone, he said.

“But the dead are just as dead,” added the prosecutor, who is among those who would like to see tougher rules against drunk driving — and he believes Alberta is going in the right direction with new provincial licence suspensions and three-day vehicle seizures levied against people driving close to the legal limit.

Although Canada’s Criminal Code sets .08 (80 mg of blood alcohol, per 100 ml of blood) as the impairment level for motorists, many European countries have a far lower legal tolerance.

Considering Sweden has a blood alcohol level at .02, Alberta’s new ability to suspend licences of those with readings between .05 and .08 is not unreasonable, said Quist.

“Just because you are testing at 50 (mg or .05) doesn’t mean it’s safe to drive.” In fact, he noted that scientists who tested for impairment had originally suggested the .05 level as the legal limit, but politicians decided to cut drivers more slack.

Since impairment occurs gradually, it’s often hard to gauge at which particular point someone is sober enough to drive and at which point it’s dangerous, said Quist.

He noted that studies have shown that impaired drivers who can get home without incident when nothing distracts them, will crash their vehicle if their attention is momentarily diverted from the road by unforeseen circumstances, including a companion’s chit-chat, or turning a radio dial.

“They aren’t good at multitasking.”

They also aren’t good at judging their own degree of intoxication, so if nothing else, Quist hopes that Alberta’s new licence suspensions for people driving close to the legal limit will make more people stop gambling that their blood alcohol levels will beat the RCMP’s breath analysis equipment. People heading to the bars will hopefully either have a designated driver take them home, or catch a cab.

He noted the same lower .05 tolerances rules in B.C. cut impaired driving crashes by 46 per cent.

Longer jail sentences?

When somebody drives while impaired and kills someone, it is life-altering for everyone involved.

Quist said the prevailing view is that motorists who accidentally take someone’s life tend to never drink and drive again.

But the public still wants the courts to send a strong message about the severity of this crime through longer jail sentences against offenders.

Public outrage against the two-year, three-month sentence originally given to Olsen led to his sentence being raised to three and a half years on appeal.

The appeal court couldn’t have raised the sentence higher, because three and a half years was what the Crown had asked for, said Quist. He noted that maximum sentences are reserved for the very worst repeat offenders. Olsen was a first-time criminal offender, who had previously only racked up traffic tickets.

The Crown prosecutor would like the public to understand that half of the law is based on the written Criminal Code and half is based on past court cases and precedence. In other words, he could not have

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Brian Jones, 25, of Red Deer fled with nearly 1,600 oxycodone, morphine and hydromorphone pills. He jumped into a waiting car being driven by Liverseed.

Police arrested the pair several weeks later.

Jones was sentenced in May to two years in prison for his part in the robbery.

Defence lawyer Patty MacNaughton said Liverseed has struggled with mental health and drug addiction issues for many years. She also suffers from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of a sexual assault when she was 13 years old.

She was in a relationship with Jones at the time of the robbery.

Liverseed took some of the pills for her own use

Civil lawsuits more myth than reality

BY LANA MICHELIN ADVOCATE STAFF Everybody knows homeowners can be sued if they allow friends to imbibe at house parties and then drive home drunk — but this is more theory than practice, said a Red Deer lawyer.

“Everybody talks about it, but I don’t see a lot of (successful) cases,” said civil litigator Brent Handel of Red Deer.

While lawsuits are regularly won against commercial bars that don’t do enough to prevent patrons from driving home impaired, Handel said homeowners can only be profitably sued in very exceptional circumstances.

In 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada determined that hosts can’t always be held accountable for their guests — especially if they took reasonable actions, said Handel.

“If you have an adult come to your house, who are you to say, ‘You’ve had too much to drink, give me your keys’? People think, how can I say that to my 50-year-old friend? It puts people in a very difficult situation, where they feel it could jeopardize the friendship,” he added.

At drinking establishments, a patron’s tab will clearly itemize the amount of alcohol that person has already consumed. Handel said servers can’t later argue that they didn’t know. “They have total control of the alcohol.”

But at house parties, hosts can’t always keep track of how much various people have been drinking, as guests often bring their own bottles and leave at different times.

The exceptional case might be one in which a social host has supplied copious amounts of alcohol to minors and then does nothing at all to monitor them, said Handel. “In this case, the host has created a dangerous situation.”

Another exceptional case is if there’s complete negligence — such as if a guest who is clearly “falling down drunk” at four or five times the legal blood alcohol limit is allowed to get into a vehicle and drive away.

A reasonable host would have offered to call his friend a cab, drive him home or let him stay over. If the inebriated guest insisted on driving — a concerned host would have called 911 to inform police that a dangerous driver was on the road, said Handel.

“A reasonable person would be concerned

asked for a 10-year sentence for Olsen when all past Alberta court cases of a similar nature yielded jail sentences in the under four year range.

But Quist noted that Ontario courts have started to impose longer jail times for drunk drivers, who are now getting seven or eight year sentences.

Quist believes that public demand for stronger punishment is prompting other courts, including Alberta’s, to also move in Ontario’s direction. He recalled that members of the Alberta Court of Appeal had stated, upon reviewing the Olsen case, that they would like to look more towards the Ontario precedence in future.

Parole as a transition period Nothing ignites public outrage faster than hearing that an impaired driver who killed another person was released on parole after spending less than half of his jail sentence behind bars. Olsen was released on parole after spending 16 months in prison.

Quist said he’s not familiar with the parameters the National Parole Board must work under when considering this and other releases. The length of time convicts spend behind bars is based on their behaviour, willingness to co-operate, and other factors.

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and sold others.

Her client has been working hard to get help for her addiction and is under the care of a psychiatrist.

“There is hope for this young woman with very little criminal record,” she said.

Crown prosecutor Murray McPherson and MacNaughton asked for 18 month’s probation in a joint submission.

In sentencing, Riemer acknowledged the woman’s struggles and her efforts to get better.

She was ordered to continue getting counselling and treatment and is prohibited from using illegal drugs or alcohol during her probation.

FRIDAY

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about a friend who might drive into a telephone pole and kill himself,” or hit another motorist or pedestrian.

But for a civil suit to be successful, even in this case, the driver’s extra-high blood alcohol level would have to be proven by police or hospital workers, he added.

In the case of parents who leave their teenagers at home only to later discover a house party involving 200 kids happened in their absence, with tragic results, Handel said, specifics of the case would have to be examined.

Did the parents know a party could happen?

What were the expectations for the children they left at home? Were those expectations reasonable? In other words, did the children have a track history of being trustworthy?

It all boils down to the question of whether reasonable actions were taken. “Did they do what reasonable people would do?” said Handel.

“There’s almost this myth that ‘We’re having a party, we’re going to get sued,’ ” he added. But while some civil suits have been brought forward against homeowners, he believes few are ever won.

That is not true of cases against drinking establishments.

Handel said it’s incumbent on bar owners to train their professional serving staff to spot inebriation and stop serving people who are drunk.

When an impaired customer is leaving the bar, staff have a duty to offer to phone for a cab. If they are refused, they are required to call 911 to notify police, said Handel.

Bars are making a profit on alcohol sales, he added. “They are making a large amount of money, so it’s not a stretch to require them to train their staff a little” to try to prevent inebriated costumers from becoming a danger to society.

Of course, the main reason any civil suit happens is to obtain money.

Handel said most motorists carry only $1-million liability insurance in case they cause an accident that disables another person. These days, the courts do not consider that enough to pay for lifelong care and treatment if somebody suffers paralysis or head trauma.

At only a little more annual insurance cost, motorists can acquire $2 million in liability coverage, and Handel thinks that carrying this amount is a very smart idea. lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com cannot be extended beyond the original jail sentence — so Quist believes it’s safer for society if offenders can transition gradually towards regaining their full freedom.

Parole offers a chance to have their behaviour overseen by a parole officer before the offenders are completely released into society again. Parole officers can ensure they live up to conditions of their release — for example, not drinking and driving.

“I would think it was better for them not to go from Point A to Point Z” without some supervision, he added. lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com

MURDER: ‘Time to get out of this area’ “This is the worst. I think it’s time to get out of this area. Too much.”

Resident Kathleen Wettlaufer was surprised to find out about the homicide, but said crime in the area is on the rise.

“This is a bit of a rough neighbourhood. There’s been a lot of break-ins.” szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com

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Olds, Sundre: today, mainly sunny. High 0.

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Edmonton: today, sunny. High -1. Low -13.

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Low -14.

Grande Prairie: today, sun and cloud.

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Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Charges possible in dog attack

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS CALGARY — A bylaw official says charges could be laid against both dog owners after a vicious attack in which three pit bulls killed a dog and injured another in an off-leash park.

Doug Anderson, co-ordinator for Calgary’s animal and bylaw services, says that while it was the pit bulls that did the damage, they were on a leash at the time and were approached by two dogs that were running free.

“We expect all dog owners to have control of their dogs and we do have a charging section for animals not being in control,” Anderson said Wednesday. “That generally is in an off-leash area where somebody does not have the ability to call their animals back.

“There could be possible charges against both parties or just one party.”

A teenage brother and sister were walking their dogs at a park in southeast Calgary on Monday when the attack happened. A Pomeranian named

Patrick died of his injuries, while another dog, a Great Pyrenees named Maximus, was badly injured.

The pit bulls have been seized by Calgary Animal Services and are to have behaviour tests to see whether they should be returned to their owner or be destroyed. After the assessment, a decision will be made on whether to hold a dangerous dog hearing.

The pit bull owner, Stephen Jaquish, is charged with causing a dog’s death and with failing to license his animals.

Anderson said there could be

further charges depending on how the investigation proceeds.

Anderson said his office will be talking to the legal owner of the Pomeranian and Great Pyrenees as part of the investigation.

He said it doesn’t really matter which dog started the scrap.

“Provocation comes into play a bit when we’re looking at a vicious dog hearing as to what options we will look at, but at the end of the day, a dog was killed because of the actions of another animal,” he

said. “The provocation is not going to be high on our list of considerations.

Anderson said the city is not considering a ban on pit bulls as has been done in other jurisdictions, because breed bans don’t work and are tough to enforce.

Pit bulls didn’t even make the top of the list last year when it came to attacks, he said. That spot was held by “herding dogs” such as collies, sheepdogs and German shepherds.

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Idling may be costly

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS EDMONTON — Starting this year, leaving a vehicle idling while parked outside a hospital or school in Edmonton could cost the driver a big fine.

A new bylaw which took effect New Year’s Day prohibits motorists from letting their vehicles idle for more than five minutes per half-hour outside the designated buildings when the temperature is above zero.

School buses, ambulances, taxis and other vehicles licensed for transporting people are exempt.

City council passed the bylaw last May, but it will not be enforced until no-idling signs are posted.

The penalty for not turning off the motor is $250, but community standards branch manager David Aitken says tickets will only be handed out as a last resort.

Coun. Don Iveson says the bylaw is a statement that clean air and the health of vulnerable citizens mater.

Man charged with videotaping girls SHERWOOD PARK— An Alberta man is facing several charges after Mounties say girls and women were videotaped while trying on clothes at a store.

RCMP say a man allegedly filmed customers trying on clothes at multiple clothing stores at Sherwood Park Mall in Sherwood Park, east of Edmonton, and at Londonderry Mall in Edmonton, on Dec. 17.

Police started an investigation after a family member of a 14-year-old girl noticed what they thought was a recording device adjacent to one of the change rooms at a store in Sherwood Park.

Joshua Meilleur, who is 27, is charged with 12 counts of voyeurism, one count of making child pornography and unsafe storage of a firearm, ammunition and a prohibited firearm magazine.

Meilleur has been released on bail with several conditions.

His next court appearance is Feb. 13 in Sherwood Park provincial court.

Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff

After donning her protective eyewear, Grace Lemus , 9, of Red Deer gives a glass of Kool-Aid a stir as she participates in a Food Frenzy program at the Red Deer Public Library on Wednesday.

Lemus and about 20 other children took part in an afternoon of science experiments with food, discovering the science of taste and smell with yummy, gooey experiments and activities. Today from 1 to 4 p.m., gamers are invited to take part in an afternoon of gaming, testing dance moves or guitar and drum skills. Retro Movie Day takes place Friday with a showing of PG-rated adventure comedy The Princess Bride, again from 1 to 4 p.m. Guests are invited to dress in costume for medieval activities and games.

Damaged bridge repair delayed FORT MCMURRAY — Provincial officials say that repair work on a Fort McMurray bridge probably won’t be done until spring.

The Hospital Street Bridge was damaged Wednesday when it was hit by an oversized load on a trans-

port truck. Both lanes of Highway 63 were closed while officials inspected the damage. Officials decided to reopen one lane but said the other will remain closed until major repairs can be conducted in the spring when weather conditions improve.

AThe driver of the load that hit the bridge fled; RCMP say they are asking for the public’s helping in identifying the driver.

Fuel flap in Calgary after gas station diesel mixup

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS CALGARY — Hundreds of people have been forced to park their vehicles after a mixup at a Calgary Co-op gas station between regular gasoline and diesel fuel.

The mistake is likely to cost the company tens of thousands in repair bills.

Spokeswoman Karen Allan told Calgary Metro that Co-op’s fuel supplier mistakenly filled a regular gas storage tank with diesel on Boxing Day. It wasn’t until 26 hours later that Co-op was made aware of the problem.

About 500 vehicles had fuelled up at the gas bar by then. Allan says Co-op membership numbers were used to track down and notify 476 members about the fuel flap.

“We were initially contacted by a member who had had some issues with their vehicle and that caused us to go back and double check, and that’s when we discovered the error,” said Allan. “That’s when we began contacting all the members that had gassed up that day.”

Nearby dealerships were also given the heads up, she said. Calgary Co-Op has also offered to cover the cost of rental vehicles.

“All the repairs, anything that happened as a direct result of having this fuel in their tank, is being taken care of,” Allan said.

Photo by RANDY FIELDER/Advocate staff

STORY FROM PAGE A1

HOUSE: Cost $26,000 The entire cost was $26,000.

Once finished, they hitched up the trailer and pulled the house to a farm east of town.

The main floor is about 125 square feet, with another 30 feet above as their sleeping loft. The combination living and dining room features a clothes closet and box seats to double as storage. A ladder leads to the loft, while behind it lies the galley kitchen, complete with sink, propane stove and espresso machine.

“It takes up a lot of space but Jessica loves her coffee,” said Kyle.

The bathroom has a compost toilet and stand-up shower stall with rain barrel bottom. The home has a water tank, a propane fridge and is heated with

a propane fireplace. They draw electricity from a nearby garage. Natural light spills from numerous windows and skylights, reflecting off the pine panelling throughout.

The hardwood flooring and everything else is easy to clean, an important consideration since their cats Ukelele and Shoelace live with them.

“Cleaning takes five minutes, but it does get dirty faster,” explained Kyle.

“I’m not the neatest person in the world and Jessica likes things neat and clean. You can’t leave any mess because it shows.

Living in such close quarters can pose other challenges.

“You can’t avoid each other so you have to feel things out and work out the tensions. We have to be more creative about that.

“But we work together, too, so we’ve done fairly well in communication.”

An account of their construction is available online at http://tinyhouseontheprairies.wordpress.com. rfiedler@reddeeradvocate.com

30683A3

Kyle Jang locks the door of his and wife Jessica’s tiny house east of Three Hills Wednesday. Please see related video at www.reddeeradvocate.com.

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Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Greater good from within FOCUSING ON INDIVIDUAL GROWTH, ETHICS MAY BE BEST WAY TO INFLUENCE CHANGE It’s good to start the new year with an improvement in the weather, however slight.

Somehow, it’s easier to look forward to the turning of the calendar during a warming trend.

Especially when all this occurs during what we call the dead of winter.

Just think: GREG wouldn’t it have NEIMAN been nicer if New Year’s coincided with the spring equinox?

After all, since calendars are arbitrary constructs anyway, wouldn’t it be better if we celebrated a new year that

INSIGHT

starts with the return of the sun, as opposed to two and a half more months of darkness and cold?

Then again, who wants to worry about losing weight, getting fit or improving humanity when you can finally go outside without a parka?

But that’s just me.

Perhaps starting a new year in the middle of winter forces one to contemplate the near future in more personal terms.

On the whole, 2013 is looking like it will be the kind of year when the positives are going to be personal, rather than economic or societal. With a world economy that can improve itself only modestly at best, and with a social fabric that’s looking rather worn in western societies, maybe it is time people focused on individual growth while we wait for the big picture to cycle round again.

Simply remaining civilized seems to be the major challenge here.

Learning about the insane shooting deaths in the U.S. over the Christmas season was agony. What sort of evil drives people to go into an elementary school and start shooting? Why would a person buy guns and ammunition

for a clearly deranged neighbour, so he could set fire to his neighbourhood and kill the firemen who came to fight the fire?

Worse, why would someone in Alberta choose to use that as inspiration to threaten the same at a school in our province?

There is no good answer to any of that. All we can do is resolve to remain civil and rational in our own lives, while we keep watch over families and loved ones, without succumbing to nameless fears.

Maintaining ethics and integrity is another challenge for 2013.

There’s not much we can do as individuals, while bureaucracies and people in power decide what to do as the chief of the Attawaspiskat First Nation starves herself on the doorstep of Parliament.

Elsewhere, violent revolutions have begun with similar acts (the Arab spring, for example).

But individual Canadians cannot hope to resolve injustices reaching generations back, which are as complex as the identity of the one, the culture of the many, and the machinery of government between.

What we can do is maintain justice in our own affairs, and insist on integrity from our leaders.

I believe that most people in Red Deer — if they had the power —would personally visit Chief Theresa Spence, and agree that a complete revision of our treaty relationship with First Nations is needed. She need not die to see that happen.

We would likely agree that the treaties signed so long ago were not fair and were not kept. New structures need to be created that maintain cultural dignity and right of self-governance for first nations, along with modern standards of democracy and individual responsibility.

Governments, bureaucracies and national representatives don’t seem to act that way.

But while they learn how, we, on our own, can decide we will be civil to each other and pass along expectations that our leaders will do the same.

That would be a good start for 2013, don’t you think?

Greg Neiman is a retired Advocate editor. Follow his blog at readersadvocate. blogspot.ca or email greg.neiman.blog@ gmail.com.

so hungry for the second coming of the party’s messiah — might not be able to resist his admitted box-office appeal.

All in all, a medium-rare Trudeau could become yet another train wreck for a party that’s still reeling from two leadership disasters in a row. Quite honestly, it can’t afford to make another mistake if it ever hopes to regain Official Opposition status, let alone power. How about a genuine, steady and proven Canadian hero, like Mark Garneau? Here’s a guy with no apparent skeletons in his closet, and who — importantly — says the same things to Radio-Canada that he does to the CBC. ● Ontario’s Liberal government needs to steal Tim Hudak’s idea and privatize the LCBO. The world of wine (indeed, all spirits) is so vast it’s mindboggling, but you sure wouldn’t know it from a trip down the aisles of even the biggest Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s beige-on-beige outlets. As a recovering Ontarian, I too was overwhelmed by the cornucopia of choices I discovered in the larger liquor stores in my adopted province of Alberta.

And, hey, the prices are not higher, by the way, unless you need to pop down

to the local corner liquor store at midnight. But, if you live in Ontario, you can’t do that either, can you? ● Christy Clark needs to work on her graceful exit. You know that light at the end of the political tunnel the B.C. Liberals are seeing? It’s actually a freight train of angry British Columbia voters, looking to roll over a government that foolishly bet its future on the harmonized sales tax. Clark surely knows her days as premier are running down. Her duty now is not to leave an ugly legacy for the oncoming Orange Wave, and not to make desperate Hail Mary legislative passes in the hopes voters will forget the sins of Clark’s predecessor, Gordon Campbell. ● PQ Premier Pauline Marois would do her province, and indeed the whole country, a huge favour if she would stop talking about separation. But that’s like asking the NRA to admit that unrestricted gun ownership is a bad idea, isn’t it? Would it be too much just to ask for at least scandal-free government?

Thomas Mulcair must keep his beard neatly trimmed. I was going to suggest he shave it off, but it appears

the federal NDP leader may be on to something. The Journal of Marketing Communications found in a recent study found that men with beards are more credible than those who were clean-shaven. Participants in a study thought men with beards had greater expertise and were significantly more trustworthy. So Mulcair is about as likely to ditch his beard as Alberta Premier Alison Redford is to forgo her pearls. Fair enough. But, if Mulcair keeps the beard, he should at least consider spending more time on an exercise bike.

I know some of these suggestions may seem a bit forward, and I apologize if they have given offence to some of these accomplished individuals.

But they are offered in the spirit of hopefulness and optimism. Much as our leaders have disappointed us time after time, we commoners can only dare to dream of what could be if our leaders put the public good ahead of personal interest.

If only.

Doug Firby is editor-in-chief of Troy Media and national affairs columnist.

See more at www.troymedia.com.

Modest proposals to our leaders WE COMMONERS CAN ONLY DARE TO DREAM OF WHAT COULD BE IF OUR LEADERS PUT THE PUBLIC GOOD AHEAD OF PERSONAL INTEREST

BY DOUG FIRBY SPECIAL TO THE ADVOCATE January is special because it is so early in the year that we have yet to have our hearts broken by shattered political promises, hidden tax hikes, omnibus budget bills that also rewrite our environmental laws and outrageous stories of inflated travel expenses.

With legislatures and Parliament idle, Canadians still feel optimistic about themselves, their country — even their leaders. It’s the same effect the NHL lockout has on diehard Maple Leafs fans. (They’re still in the playoff hunt!)

This is not an emotion to be squandered, but rather to be fed and watered in the hopes that at least some seeds of goodwill will sprout and take root.

In the spirit of the season, let us leap on this fleeting goodwill and concoct a wish list for 2013. Here are a few requests to make this an annus for the ages. ● Stephen Harper should do an Alec Baldwin and quit while he’s on top. Yup, the famous actor says he’s packing it in. Likewise, Harper has had quite a run on the political stage for a guy so bland he makes Greek yoghurt seem interesting. The Conservative Party is in solid shape and needs to install some fresh blood at the top.

A healthy dose of charisma could be the secret sauce that finally transforms the Tories from the least bad option for voters to something they actually like. It would be a selflessness act for Harper; will he take one for the party? ● Brad Wall should move to the national stage. He is, after, all the most popular premier in Canada, showing political smarts, a sense of humour and a common touch that makes him a favourite in his home province of Saskatchewan. He could be the perfect successor to Harper on the national stage. Besides, Saskatchewan has a lot to atone for, after saddling the country with John Diefenbaker. ● Justin Trudeau should bow out of the campaign to lead the Liberal Party of Canada. Sacrilege, I know, but Trudeau is not quite ready for prime time. Yet, if he runs, Grits — who are

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quest is set to start fresh on Jan. 14 in Toronto.

Most of Smith’s final year was spent in segregation being shunted 17 times among facilities in five provinces.

CANADA

BRIEFS

Saskatchewan home of former prime minister Diefenbaker needs repairs

B.C. woman sues husband’s former mistress over harassment VANCOUVER — A Vancouver woman is taking her husband’s former mistress to court over dozens of harassing phone calls and messages she claims local police declined to investigate.

The notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court alleges that following an early 2011 affair, Ger-

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — The Prince Albert Historical Society in Saskatchewan is looking for money to help renovate the home of Canada’s 13th prime minister.

John George Diefenbaker lived in the two-storey, wood-framed house from 1947 to 1975.

Diefenbaker was prime minister from 1957 to 1963 and served as Prince Albert’s member of Parliament from 1953 until his death in 1979.

Deb Honch, president of the historical society, says the group will be going to the provincial and federal governments asking for help with renovation costs.

The house is owned by the city and needs work both outside and inside the structure.

Honch is estimating the cost at anywhere from $300,000 to $400,000.

The house has been operating as a museum during the summer since 1983 and sees around 1,600 visitors every year.

Honch says additional dollars would help update displays inside the house.

“The displays are a little dated ... we would like to update the presentation, put in maybe some video monitors and story-telling techniques REFRIGERATOR that are a little more interactive than what we have now,” Honch said.

Toronto cops, SIU issue competing news releases in public tiff over complaint TORONTO — Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit says it has been forced to close an investigation into a beating allegation against a Toronto police officer because the force is refusing to hand over a key document.

Ian Scott, the director of the SIU, is calling the situation “almost comical” and says the Toronto Police Service may be in breach of its duty to cooperate with the agency.

Toronto police communications director Mark Pugash says Scott is wrong, that the document is not the Toronto Police Service’s to hand over.

Tyrone Phillips, 27, filed a complaint on Aug. 8 with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, alleging he was beaten unconscious when he was arrested outside a Toronto nightclub on July 28.

The OIPRD forwarded his complaint to Toronto police on Sept. 19, and on Oct. 12 the police referred the complaint to the SIU, which investigates reports of death, serious injury or sexual assault.

Scott says the Toronto Police Service refuses to give the SIU a copy of Phillips’ original complaint and he can’t conduct a full investigation without it, but Pugash says Toronto police can’t release a third-party document and the SIU must get it from the OIPRD. No one at the OIPRD was immediately available to comment.

Doctors from outside Ontario granted standing at Ashley Smith inquest TORONTO — The coroner presiding over an impending inquest into the prison death of a troubled young woman has given standing to four doctors who treated her outside Ontario.

Ashley Smith, 19, of Moncton, N.B., died in her cell at the Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ont., in October 2007 after wrapping a strip of cloth around her neck — something she was doing frequently in the months before her death.

The first attempt at an inquest into Smith’s death went off the rails last year, and after more legal wrangling in the past few months the in-

RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013 A5 aldin Arabia Andrade made and sent about 47 phone calls and messages to Josephine Exconde.

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The document says the Vancouver police declined to investigate the issue after Exconde made two separate complaints because officers believed the issue was of a civil nature.

Exconde is seeking damages, lost wages, costs and a court order restraining the Andrade from contacting her directly or indirectly.

The allegations have yet to be proven in court.

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Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Is the nickel next to go?

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — As the penny is set to begin retirement next month, there are already calls to put the nickel out to pasture as well.

The Royal Canadian Mint starts collecting onecent coins on Feb. 4 for melting and recycling of the metal content, with some six billion pennies expected to be surrendered by Canadians over the next six years.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the surprise demise in last year’s budget, saying the penny had become a nuisance.

And a former Bank of Canada economist says the nickel is also becoming obsolete, and should be next in line for retirement.

“We see less and less people now ... digging in their wallets for nickels,” Jean-Pierre Aubry said in an interview.

A retired 30-year veteran of the Bank of Canada, Aubry has been a leading proponent of withdrawing the one-cent piece from circulation.

In papers and presentations for Desjardins Group over the last few years, Aubry used economic models to show that the penny should actually have been killed in about 1982.

That was a tipping point, as more Canadians hoarded the coins and the Royal Canadian Mint was pressed to churn out billions more to keep retailers stocked, costing the government up to $11 million annually.

The last pennies minted on May 4 in Winnipeg were costing about 1.6 cents each to manufacture.

Aubry also estimates retailers, banks and consumers have absorbed about $140 million in handling costs each year, creating an unnecessary drag on the economy.

Even though Finance Canada faces a one-time net cost of $38 million to retire the penny, the long-term savings to government and to the economy will be substantial.

Aubry argues the nickel will soon hit the same tipping point the penny did in 1982, as Canadians hoard them in greater numbers, forcing the mint to distribute up to 350 million each year to meet retail demand.

“It’s a sign that the coin is not well used,” he said.

The Royal Canadian Mint has teamed in recent years with Coinstar Inc. to place automated coinsorting and counting kiosks in grocery stores and other retail outlets to prod Canadians into circulating coins now stuck in jars and drawers. Most of these recycled coins are pennies, but many are nickels.

A spokesman for vending-machine operators told a Senate committee in 2010 that Canada should just dump the little-used nickel.

“As far as our industry is concerned, eliminating

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS

A Canadian nickel is pictured in Ottawa on Wednesday. the penny is a good step and a smart business decision,” said Kim Lockie, then-president of the Canadian Automatic Merchandising Association.

“We suggest the nickel go at the same time. If there is a little bit of a problem, we get it all over with at once.”

A spokesman for Finance Canada, David Barnabe, said Wednesday the government has no plans to eliminate the five-cent coin.

New Zealand successfully eliminated its five-cent piece in 2006, after dumping its one- and two-cent coins. And since at least 2009, the Australian government has been considering whether to follow suit by killing its own five-cent coin, millions of which have actually been manufactured by the Royal Canadian Mint for a profit.

Aubrey, now with the Quebec-based Cirano interuniversity research centre, says eliminating Canada’s nickel could be part of a larger strategy to retool the currency.

Hockey greats, politicians, journalists among newest Order of Canada inductees

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — Forty years after they skated their way into history, two members of Canada’s Summit Series hockey team have now scored an Order of Canada.

Ken Dryden has been named an officer of the order and Paul Henderson a member as the Governor General’s office released the list of the latest inductees.

Both men were members of the Canadian hockey team during the 1972 Summit Series against Russia, though their citations also note their achievements in other fields.

Joining them from the hockey world was Daniele Sauvageau, who coached Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey team to gold at the 2002 Games.

Altogether, Governor General David Johnston

CANADA

BRIEFS

Police identify another victim of U.S. bus crash as girl who was visiting B.C. VANCOUVER — An 11-year-old South Korean girl who was staying with a family in B.C., has been identified as among the dead killed during Sunday’s fatal bus crash in Oregon.

Youmin Kim and another victim, 75-year-old Yongho Lee, a resident of Lynwood, Wash., were named by Oregon police today.

Police say the state’s medical examiner’s office has positively identified another victim, as well, but won’t release that name until Thursday, giving authorities more time to notify next of kin.

Nine people died and 38 were injured when a tour bus travelling westbound in the left lane of Interstate 84, hit a concrete barrier, veered across both westbound lanes and went through the guardrail, plunging about 60 metres down an embankment.

Also killed in the crash were Dale William Osborn, 57, of Spanaway, Wash., and Oun Hong Jung, 67, and his wife Joong Wha Kim, 63, who were staying with relatives in Washington state.

The B.C. company that owns the bus, Mi Joo Tour & Travel, has posted a message on the door of its Vancouver office, saying it shares in the grief experienced by those involved and is focused on assisting and supporting the survivors and their families.

B.C. First Nations leader looks to border rally, predicts more blockades KAMLOOPS, B.C. — The president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs believes the Idle No More movement will continue to gain momentum, and he’s pre-

announced 91 new appointments to the Order of Canada, which was established in 1967 to recognize service to Canada.

There are three levels to the honour: companion, officer and member.

The highest level, companion, can only have 165 living members at any time.

The list of inductees is usually released twice a year.

Others named Sunday include two longtime CBC journalists, Michael Enright and Andrew Barrie, as well as investigative reporter Stevie Cameron.

Among Cameron’s best-known work is an investigation she did into then-prime minister Brian Mulroney’s involvement in the purchase of new Airbus jets.

She was accused of being an informant for the RCMP when they launched their own investigation but those accusations were later recanted. paring for a weekend rally at a major border crossing south of Vancouver.

Chief Stewart Phillip says an event is planned for Jan. 5 at the Peace Arch border crossing in Surrey, B.C. He also predicts continued rail blockades such as the one in Sarnia, Ont., or Sunday night’s nearly five hour halt along the main Via Rail corridor between Montreal and Toronto.

Phillip says grassroots activism will gather strength through 2013 as supporters fight the federal government’s omnibus budget legislation and extend their concerns to broader issues such as inequality and treaty rights.

Idle No More leader Pamela Palmater has already noted protests are evolving to include more civil disobedience, although calls for blockades at CanadaU.S. borders on Saturday have not been endorsed by organizers.

The Idle No More movement has grown in response to a four week hunger strike by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, as she seeks a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Four people killed in collision between car and truck in Quebec park MONTREAL — Four people were killed on Wednesday in a collision between a car and a truck in the La Verendrye wildlife reserve north of Ottawa in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region.

Quebec provincial police Sgt. Marc Tessier said the dead are two adults and two children who were travelling in the car.

“The driver of the truck was injured but we don’t fear for his life,” said Tessier.

The truck and car were travelling in opposite directions and police believe the car veered into the truck’s lane just before the collision happened.

“It’s too early to say what caused the accident,” Tessier said, although he added icy road conditions may have been a factor.

The reserve is about 350 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

That would include creating a new coin to replace the five-dollar bill; adding a 20-cent coin; eliminating the quarter; perhaps creating a $200 bill; and reducing all coin sizes significantly to ease the burden on pockets.

But first, he says, Canadians must be convinced that the disappearance of the penny will have no effect on inflation, as repeatedly demonstrated in other countries that have ditched their lowest-value coinage.

The Finance Department has offered guidelines for rounding off cash prices to the nearest nickel, but will neither set rules nor police retailers. Electronic payments, such as those on credit cards, will not be rounded.

The penny remains legal tender indefinitely, though will gradually disappear from cash-register tills over the next few years. About 35 billion have been minted since 1908.

Canadian woman killed in Pakistan over money

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LAHORE, Pakistan — A lawyer says a CanadianIndian woman missing since August has been killed in eastern Pakistan.

The woman, Rajvinder Gill, went to Pakistan to try to settle a financial dispute but disappeared.

Her father went to the police after she didn’t contact her family for weeks.

The lawyer, Aftab Bajwa, who represents the woman’s father, said the police chief of the eastern city of Lahore told a court Wednesday that a suspect confessed to killing the woman. A police officer said the suspect confessed to working with a German of Pakistani origin who was involved in the dispute, and together they killed the woman.

The suspect said the second man has fled the country.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs says Canadian officials are providing consular assistance to the woman’s family.

Police have not found the woman.

Man who brutally murdered woman who spurned him dies in B.C. prison ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — A man convicted of murdering a woman and scrawling the incomplete phrase “Love Yo” in blood on one of her legs has died in a B.C. prison.

The Correctional Service of Canada says Frank Wilson, 79, died of apparent natural causes Dec. 28 after a long illness at a hospital in the Pacific Institution in Abbotsford, east of Vancouver.

Wilson was a building manager in a Kamloops apartment complex in 1998 when he made a series of romantic overtures to one of his tenants, 33-year-old Yvette Paul, sending her poetry and gifts, and painting the building awning and his bedroom her favourite colour.

After spurning his advances, Paul was found beaten and stabbed to death in her bedroom, with her throat cut.

During Wilson’s trial, Crown prosecutor Geoff Barrow said Paul told her family she was worried about Wilson’s behaviour, but she didn’t call the police.

“She lived a good life and attempted to be kind,” Barrow said. “In part, that’s what led to her demise.”

Wilson was arrested outside the building after he called 911 and said he had killed Paul.

He had slashed his wrists, but ambulance attendants said the wounds were too superficial to be lethal.

Wilson pleaded guilty to second degree murder in January of 1999 and was given a life sentence.

U.S. fugitive convicted in $1.1M health-care fraud arrested in Canada TORONTO — An American fugitive convicted in a $1.1-million health-care fraud scheme in California has been arrested in Canada.

Toronto police say they arrested Leonard Nwafor, 47, on an extradition warrant at his residence on Wednesday.

A7

FOOD

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Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Tasty gluten-free foods on horizon VEGETABLES MOVE TO CENTRE OF PLATE

BY LOIS ABRAHAM THE CANADIAN PRESS An increase in gluten-free cuisine that has fabulous flavour is going to be a big trend in 2013.

Quince and cauliflower should be on your radar, along with finger limes and such delicacies as octopus and grits.

The demand for more gluten-free foods has led to a wider availability of products that can be digested by those with celiac disease or an intolerance for the wheat protein.

Christine Couvelier, who watches food trends through her Victoria-based company Culinary Concierge, predicts more gluten-free items with better flavour in stores and restaurants.

This, in turn, will inspire better-tasting lactosefree products, she adds.

In a move beyond quinoa and with more people on restricted diets and looking at alternative ingredients, grains like barley, millet, buckwheat, rye and amaranth are expected to be more widely available, says Alison Fryer, owner of The Cookbook Store in Toronto.

Vegetables are taking on a bigger role, no longer relegated to side dishes.

“Vegetables have become important to the centre of the plate,” says Couvelier.

“We’ve seen an increase in restaurants for meatless Mondays, we’ve seen an increase and excitement for farmers markets and it all leads us to love our vegetables.”

Kale is everywhere, while cauliflower is on the rise.

“I quite often roast it or broil it in the oven or cut it into cauliflower steaks and put different rubs or marinades or herbs and spices on it and barbecue it or broil it,” Couvelier said. “It’s not just cauliflower as we’ve had in the past, the old-fashioned steam it and put cheese sauce on it.”

Another contributing factor to Canadians’ love affair with vegetables is the growing popularity of Middle Eastern and eastern Mediterranean fare, says Fryer.

A trend Couvelier continues to see in her culinary crystal ball is small bites and big taste. “You can have something that tastes fabulous and it’s an indulgence in a smaller portion.”

In a move beyond the yogurt-covered raisins and nuts of the 1970s and ’80s, yogurt is being used as an actual flavour, not just a base, says Dana McCauley, a judge on Food Network Canada’s reality competition show Recipes to Riches.

Some recent examples she’s seen include muffin batter flavoured with a combination of yogurt and such fruits as cranberry or apple for use by coffee shops, as well as several companies making yogurt versions of their salad dressings, and granola bars drizzled with yogurt.

“It really shows a maturation of our understanding of yogurt, the fact that obviously research is showing that people view yogurt as a motivating reason to purchase and that’s probably new in the last

File photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rice Krispies Treats, from top to bottom, My Essentials, Erewhon, Market Basket, Rice Krispies Brand Gluten Free, Kula Krisp and Regular Rice Krispies are shown. couple of years,” says McCauley, who is also responsible for new product innovation for the frozen foods company Janes Family Foods.

Quince, part of the apple and pear family, and finger limes, which are becoming more widely available, are two fruits picking up in popularity.

“Quince makes great jellies, great jams,” says Couvelier. “You can also peel it and roast them in the oven.” They’re great cooked with or served around pork roast or roast chicken.

Finger limes are smaller than a regular lime, slightly oval and with little bumps on the rind. “On the inside there is almost translucent or pale pink caviar pearls and they burst in your mouth,” explains Couvelier. “They’re fabulous. They add such a punch. You can put them on any seafood, ceviche, salads.”

Eating local has evolved into hyper local, with artisanal cheeses, breads, beers and doughnuts in vogue.

Check your area for food trucks. “Anywhere that food trucks are increases brand and chef and flavour awareness,” says Couvelier.

“It’s such an opportunity for chefs and artisanal food producers to have a chance to try out new flavours and new ideas and new recipes — and to go.”

Some restaurants are simplifying their concept.

“Gone is the everything kind of menu. You’re seeing lots of restaurants opening that are doing one thing,” says McCauley.

So there are eateries that offer just yogurt, grilled cheese or sushi, for example.

The old diners are putting on lipstick and making themselves over.

“An interesting offshoot of the whole food truck and street food trend is that diners are really glamming up,” says McCauley.

People are also expanding their culinary awareness with sightseeing for their tastebuds, Couvelier says.

They’re experiencing new flavours outside of their home base, then watching for them to show up on restaurant menus in their area.

Visitors to many cities can partake of epicurean walking tours or cooking classes, and her company is planning to offer behind-the-kitchen-doors tours of New York, San Francisco and the Napa Valley, as well as a European cruise.

Grits and octopus will feature more on Canadian menus as well as black garlic, which is sweeter than

traditional pungent garlic.

“You just use a knife on your cutting board to mash it up, that’s how soft it is,” says Sophie Doria, a chef at President’s Choice Test Kitchen in Brampton, Ont. She has used it to make black ravioli stuffed with parsnip puree.

Chefs are experimenting with herbs. T here are dozens of varieties of basil while mint can come in many flavours, like lemon, chocolate and pineapple.

“Nepitella is a very different mint flavour than your traditional spearmint,” says Doria.

“You’ll find it in most restaurants actually these days on the dessert platters or even savoury dishes.”

People are still watching their money so they’re thinking about cuts of meat that are a little tougher but can taste great if time is taken to prepare them properly, says Tom Filippou, executive chef of President’s Choice Cooking Schools.

“We’re still in kind of a slow movement where it’s kind of home-cooked meals, braising using tougher cuts of meat. They can be delicious if you braise them nice and slowly,” he says.

Fryer says pressure cookers will continue to heat up.

The appliances used by her mother’s generation have been refined to rectify safety issues. “A lot of chefs use them and are not afraid to say that they use them, so that kind of gives unqualified endorsement,” she says.

Master sommelier John Szabo, author of Pairing Food & Wine for Dummies (Wiley), sees more private wine stores opening across Canada.

“There’s been talk of that for the last 20 years, but there seems to be a bit of a groundswell now, which will, in my view, just expand the options available.”

Next year, Fryer hopes we can move on from charcuterie, pork belly and quinoa salads.

And what about bacon, which became almost ubiquitous over the past year?

“It’s not going away and that’s a good thing,” says Couvelier, noting that people are getting over their “surprise and shock” when they see a bacon cupcake or bacon candy.

“I don’t know if it’s here to stay in the way it is now, but I think we should watch it through 2013 and see some of the innovations that come out.”

On the web: http://www.culinaryconcierge.ca

Entree with quince and salad with cauliflower on trend for 2013 Quince and cauliflower are on the radar of Victoria-based Christine Couvelier, whose Culinary Concierge company watches trends.

The following recipes feature the fruit and vegetable while encompassing several other food trends.

Lamb-stuffed quince with pomegranate and cilantro includes quince, as well as pomegranate, which has been popular for a number of years.

The entree’s origins are Mediterranean and Middle Eastern, another food trend that is expected to be hot in 2013.

The ingredients are cooked together slowly for maximum flavour.

The recipe for Roasted Cauliflower Salad is from Couvelier’s kitchen.

Lamb-stuffed quince with pomegranate and cilantro “This is a stunning dish that we always go back to,” Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi write in “Jerusalem: A Cookbook,” which was published in the fall.

“We regularly teach a simplified version in our Saturday morning classes at Leiths cookery school in London.

There, we don’t stuff the quince but just dice it and cook it in the sauce with the meat filling shaped into meatballs. We recommend doing that if you don’t have the time or the inclination to stuff the quince (it is a pretty hardy fruit!). You could use hard pears as an alternative.”

400 g (14 oz) ground lamb 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 red chili, chopped 125 ml (½ cup) chopped cilantro, plus 30 ml (2 tbsp) for garnish Scant 125 ml (½ cup) breadcrumbs 5 ml (1 tsp) ground allspice 30 ml (2 tbsp) finely grated fresh ginger, divided 2 medium onions, finely chopped (325 ml/1 1/3 cups in total), divided 1 large free-range egg 4 quince (1.3 kg/2 ¾ lb in total) Juice of ½ lemon, plus 15 ml (1 tbsp) freshly squeezed lemon juice

45 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil 8 cardamom pods 10 ml (2 tsp) pomegranate molasses 10 ml (2 tsp) sugar 500 ml (2 cups) chicken stock Seeds of ½ pomegranate Salt and freshly ground black pepper In a mixing bowl, place lamb, garlic, chili, 125 ml (½ cup) cilantro, breadcrumbs, allspice, half the ginger, half the onion, egg, 3 ml (¾ tsp) salt and pepper to taste. Mix well with your hands and set aside.

Peel quince and halve them lengthwise. Put them in a bowl of cold water with the juice of the ½ lemon so that they do not turn brown. Use a melon baller or small spoon to remove seeds and hollow out quince halves so that you are left with a 1.5-cm (2/3-inch) shell. Set scooped-out flesh aside. Fill hollows with lamb mixture, using your hands to push it down.

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan for which you have a lid.

Place reserved quince flesh in a food processor, blitz to chop well, then transfer to pan along with remaining onion and ginger. Add cardamom pods.

Saute for 10 to 12 minutes until onion has softened. Add molasses, 15 ml (1 tbsp) lemon juice, sugar, stock, 2 ml (½ tsp) salt and black pepper to taste and mix well.

Add quince halves to sauce, with the meat stuffing facing upward. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer, cover pan and cook for about 30 minutes. The quince should be completely soft, the meat well cooked and the sauce thick. Remove lid and simmer for a minute or two to reduce the sauce if needed.

Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with 30 ml (2 tbsp) cilantro and pomegranate seeds.

Makes 4 servings.

Source: “Jerusalem: A Cookbook”

by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi (Appetite by Random House Canada, 2012).

Roasted Cauliflower Salad Trend watcher Christine Couvelier says this recipe is one of her favourite ways to prepare the cruciferous vegetable.

1 head cauliflower, broken up into florets (about 2.5 to 5 cm/1 to 2 inches in size) 1 large shallot, thinly sliced 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into diagonal circles about 1 cm (½ inch) wide 15 ml (3 tsp) coriander seeds 20 ml (4 tsp) chopped fresh thyme 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil Salt and freshly ground pepper 1 l (4 cups) each baby arugula and baby spinach 1 granny smith apple, thinly sliced 4 radishes, thinly sliced 1 red onion, thinly sliced (cut slices in half to form semi-circles) 50 ml (¼ cup) raisins 50 ml (¼ cup) cranberries 20 ml (4 tsp) pine nuts, lightly toasted

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60 ml (4 tbsp) crumbled goat cheese Dressing 15 ml (1 tbsp) Dijon mustard 30 ml (2 tbsp) cider vinegar 150 ml (2/3 cup) olive oil Salt and freshly ground pepper On a baking sheet, place cauliflower, shallot and carrots. Sprinkle coriander seeds and thyme over top, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a 190 C (375 F) oven for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring often. Vegetables will be fragrant, tender and starting to brown at the edges.

On a large serving platter, place arugula and spinach. Top with apple, radishes, red onion, raisins, cranberries, pine nuts and goat cheese. Layer roasted cauliflower mixture on top.

Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Drizzle over salad and serve.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Source: Christine Couvelier, Culinary Concierge www.culinaryconcierge.ca.

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BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

A8 RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Fructose may spur overeating, obesity CAN TRIGGER BRAIN CHANGES: STUDY

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Have an app-y holiday

BY ADVOCATE NEWS SERVICES Holiday traditions vary from family to family, but there’s one ritual that’s universal.

“Everyone comes together with the flu, sits around and makes each other sick,” physician Peter Hudson says.

Hudson is CEO of iTriage, a free mobile devices application (available for iOS and Android, and online at Itriagehealth.com) that is one of the most popular products in the emerging mobile health - or mHealth - market.

With more than 8 million downloads, iTriage has tapped into something people want. It’s a combination of a symptom tracker (with information reviewed by Harvard Medical School) and a virtual yellow pages, directing users to nearby doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and more.

“We’ve heard hundreds of stories of people saving time, money and lives,” says Hudson, noting that the top searches each December are for upper respiratory infections and depression.

It’s something to keep in mind if you open up a smartphone on Christmas morning.

Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

High fructose corn syrup is listed as an ingredient on a can of soda. Scientists have used imaging tests to show for the first time that fructose, a sugar that saturates the American diet, can trigger brain changes that may lead to overeating. The study, in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday, is small and does not prove that fructose or its relative, high-fructose corn syrup, can cause obesity, but experts say it adds evidence that they may play a role.

Why caregivers voted to strike at Aspen Ridge On January 2nd, Licensed Practical Nurses, Health Care Aides and support staff voted in favour of strike action at Aspen Ridge, a seniors facility owned by Symphony Senior Living, a private Ontario-based company. ,W ZDV D GLIÀFXOW GHFLVLRQ WR PDNH %XW WKHLU employer left them no choice.

Symphony Senior Living refuses to pay seniors’ caregivers the industry standard wages they are funded by Alberta Health Services to pay, with your taxpayer dollars.

Why won’t Symphony pay nurses, health care aides and other specialized seniors care employees the same rates that are paid in other AUPE continuing care facilities in Red Deer?

Why won’t they pay the wages necessary to attract and retain quality employees who can provide quality care?

Symphony says it is because they refuse to operate without a 30 per cent to 40 per cent SURÀW PDUJLQ 6\PSKRQ\ LV PRUH LQWHUHVWHG LQ SURÀWLQJ RII 5HG 'HHU VHQLRUV DQG VHQGLQJ WKRVH SURÀWV to Ontario than providing quality care for seniors in our community.

7KDWҋV QRW ULJKW &DUH QHHGV WR FRPH ÀUVW Caregivers want to stay at Aspen Ridge.

They want to be familiar faces to residents DQG WKHLU IDPLOLHV 7KH\ҋUH ÀJKWLQJ WR HQVXUH that happens.

Your support during this challenging time is appreciated.

Please visit aupe.org for more information.

Alberta Union of Provincial Employees. Your working people.

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This is your brain on sugar — for real. Scientists have used imaging tests to show for the first time that fructose, a sugar that saturates the American diet, can trigger brain changes that may lead to overeating.

After drinking a fructose beverage, the brain doesn’t register the feeling of being full as it does when simple glucose is consumed, researchers found.

It’s a small study and does not prove that fructose or its relative, high-fructose corn syrup, can cause obesity, but experts say it adds evidence they may play a role. These sugars often are added to processed foods and beverages, and consumption has risen dramatically since the 1970s along with obesity. A third of U.S. children and teens and more than two-thirds of adults are obese or overweight.

All sugars are not equal — even though they contain the same amount of calories — because they are metabolized differently in the body. Table sugar is sucrose, which is half fructose, half glucose. Highfructose corn syrup is 55 per cent fructose and 45 per cent glucose. Some nutrition experts say this sweetener may pose special risks, but others and the industry reject that claim. And doctors say we eat too much sugar in all forms.

For the study, scientists used magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scans to track blood flow in the brain in 20 young, normal-weight people before and after they had drinks containing glucose or fructose in two sessions several weeks apart.

Scans showed that drinking glucose “turns off or suppresses the activity of areas of the brain that are critical for reward and desire for food,” said one study leader, Yale University endocrinologist Dr. Robert Sherwin. With fructose, “we don’t see those changes,” he said. “As a result, the desire to eat continues — it isn’t turned off.”

What’s convincing, said Dr. Jonathan Purnell, an endocrinologist at Oregon Health & Science University, is that the imaging results mirrored how hungry the people said they felt, as well as what earlier studies found in animals.

“It implies that fructose, at least with regards to promoting food intake and weight gain, is a bad actor compared to glucose,” said Purnell. He wrote a commentary that appears with the federally funded study in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers now are testing obese people to see if they react the same way to fructose and glucose as the normal-weight people in this study did.

What to do? Cook more at home and limit processed foods containing fructose and high-fructose corn syrup, Purnell suggested. “Try to avoid the sugar-sweetened beverages. It doesn’t mean you can’t ever have them,” but control their size and how often they are consumed, he said.

A second study in the journal suggests that only severe obesity carries a high death risk — and that a few extra pounds might even provide a survival advantage. However, independent experts say the methods are too flawed to make those claims.

The study comes from a federal researcher who drew controversy in 2005 with a report that found thin and normal-weight people had a slightly higher risk of death than those who were overweight. Many experts criticized that work, saying the researcher — Katherine Flegal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — painted a misleading picture by including smokers and people with health problems ranging from cancer to heart disease. Those people tend to weigh less and therefore make pudgy people look healthy by comparison.

Flegal’s new analysis bolsters her original one, by assessing nearly 100 other studies covering almost 2.9 million people around the world. She again concludes that very obese people had the highest risk of death but that overweight people had a 6 per cent lower mortality rate than thinner people. She also concludes that mildly obese people had a death risk similar to that of normal-weight people.

Critics again have focused on her methods. This time, she included people too thin to fit what some consider to be normal weight, which could have taken in people emaciated by cancer or other diseases, as well as smokers with elevated risks of heart disease and cancer.

“Some portion of those thin people are actually sick, and sick people tend to die sooner,” said Donald Berry, a biostatistician at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

The problems created by the study’s inclusion of smokers and people with pre-existing illness “cannot be ignored,” said Susan Gapstur, vice-president of epidemiology for the American Cancer Society.

A third critic, Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health, was blunter: “This is an even greater pile of rubbish” than the 2005 study, he said. Willett and others have done research since the 2005 study that found higher death risks from being overweight or obese.

Flegal defended her work. She noted that she used standard categories for weight classes. She said statistical adjustments were made for smokers, who were included to give a more real-world sample. She also said study participants were not in hospitals or hospices, making it unlikely that large numbers of sick people skewed the results.

“We still have to learn about obesity, including how best to measure it,” Flegal’s boss, CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, said in a written statement.

“However, it’s clear that being obese is not healthy - it increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and many other health problems. Small, sustainable increases in physical activity and improvements in nutrition can lead to significant health improvements.”

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OUTDOORS ◆ B2 FASHION ◆ B3

HAPPENINGS ◆ B4 SPORTS ◆ B6-B8 Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Cameron Kennedy, Life Editor, 403-314-4363 Fax 403-341-6560 ckennedy@reddeeradvocate.com

Photo by ADVOCATE news services

Sean Sullivan, eight, curls up with Annabelle, a golden retriever, to read The Haze of Bones to her at Beatley Central Library in Alexandria, Va.

In the library, the dogs are all ears

BY SUSAN SVRLUGA ADVOCATE NEWS SERVICES Sean Sullivan chose a book, sat down on the library rug and explained to Tavish that he was going to read him a mystery about a hidden treasure.

Tavish, never one to turn down a good story, wagged his short red tail and put his head on Sean’s knee.

On the other side of the room, tucked into the back of the children’s section of an Alexandria, Va., library, Jonathan Mendez was reading with a Spanish accent to a black Portuguese water dog named Skipper. A golden retriever was sprawled out in another corner, and a tiny toy poodle sat up, bright eyed, as a girl read to him about an alligator.

“If you’re reading aloud in school to a whole class, you might be nervous,” said Sean, who’s 8. “But the dogs are really here to listen.”

A growing number of libraries and some schools are inviting volunteers to bring their dogs in to help children learn, hoping the pets will calm children who are struggling, excite those who are bored and help kids equate reading with fun.

At the Charles E. Beatley Jr. Central Library in Alexandria on a recent night, there was a waiting list for “Paws to Read,” with children clutching books outside the room hoping to get a turn.

Some had learning disabilities, and their parents wanted them to practice in a non-judgmental place.

Some were learning English and liked reading without having their pronunciation corrected with every word. Some were shy about speaking up in class. And some, like Sean and his sister Mary, love reading and had been looking forward all week to reading to Tavish, a Hungarian Vizsla.

“They have so much fun,” librarian Ginny Rawls said. “The kids just light up. It’s really a wonderful program. I can’t say enough good things about it.”

There must be some downsides.

“Well,” Rawls paused to consider. “Shedding?”

It took a while for Cynthia Power — a teacher at Virginia’s Ashlawn Elementary School and a volunteer with People Animals Love, or PAL, a Washington nonprofit group that brings well-mannered, friendly dogs to nursing homes and other places — to get programs started in libraries. She explained the idea at various branches a few years ago and even left business cards from her small fluffy dog, Humphrey. “But no bites,” she said.

She has heard from skeptics: “ ‘This is all we need — people teaching their children to read by reading to a dog.’ “ But it’s not about teaching at all, she said.

“Children never get a chance to read without someone telling them they mispronounced a word or skipped part of the story,” Power said. “We don’t give children that chance to just enjoy reading.”

Marcia Invernizzi, a reading education professor at the University of Virginia, said reading to dogs won’t, by itself, make a child a better reader. But she liked the idea of motivating children, and she noted several potential benefits. Not least, reading aloud is crucial for beginning readers, she said, because children sound out letters and recognize words when they hear them. The more teachers and parents find ways for them to enjoy doing that, the better.

Now, there are lots of places in the region where children can read to dogs, and Rene Wallis, the head of PAL, can’t find enough volunteers to fill all the requests she gets from librarians.

Not every dog is cut out for it: They can’t be biters, barkers, jumpers, growlers.

But you can have a licker. That’s Tavish. As Sean read “The Maze of Bones,” Tavish would jump up

Photo by ADVOCATE news services

Binyam Gebremeskel, nine, of Alexandria, Va., is delighted that Lucy, a toy poodle, seems interested in Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot, the book he’s reading to her at Beatley Central Library. every so often and unleash a long pink tongue. Sean would giggle, dry his face with his sleeve and read on.

Valeria Gonzalez, 7, liked the little dog she was with “because she cares a lot and listens very carefully.”

After a while, Rawls came in to let a different set of children have a chance. Binyam Gebremeskel read with an Ethiopian accent and patted Lucy, a poodle wearing a red velvet cape. A girl brought a story about a dog to Skipper, whose owner noted, “Very topical!” One child didn’t show up for her 15-minute slot, so Sean curled up on the floor with the golden retriever, AnnaBelle, while 10-year-old Diego Diaz-Tello brought “Johnny Tremain” for Tavish.

Some children snuggle with the dogs, some sit cross-legged across from them and then turn the book around after reading each page, showing the dog the pictures as a teacher would to a class. Diego, a smart boy with autism, found a small chair and sat down rigidly, not looking at the volunteer or the book, frowning across the room at a blank wall.

He doesn’t like to read at home, his mother, Julissa Tello, said, but he seemed to relax when they brought in a therapy dog once a week to the Ivymount School; he became more open to trying new things and completing his classwork. She thought he might click with Paws to Read.

After a long silence, Tavish’s owner, Tracy Baetz, asked Diego whether he wanted to give Tavish a treat.

Diego smiled as Tavish licked it out of his hands, and he told Baetz that he has a beagle at home. He began reading, stopping now and then to ask questions about Tavish or to rub his soft ears. Tavish’s little tail thumped.

When Diego was finished, he asked his mom if they could come back soon.

Owners stood up, grabbed leashes. Children gathered armfuls of books to check out at the front desk.

Tavish jumped up, stretched and licked Baetz.

Rawls looked at Sean and started laughing. He was covered in fur, and beaming. “I see you’re really taking the program home with you,” she said.

B2 RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

More regulatory stupidity Deciding Compress, write tight though I might, during my onecolumn festive season holiday, there was no way I could cram into 825 words all the 2012 disasters wreaked on the environment and fish and wildlife by the unholy alliance of big resource business and provincial and federal governments.

Sipping bubbly on New Year’s Eve, I remembered doing likewise, earlier in the year, to toast the end, finally, of the ill-conceived, useless, and ruinously expensive long gun registry, for which the Federal PC’s are being praised for doing what they promised.

But they are not being sufficiently attacked for an agenda they didn’t tell anyone about: the gutting of the Federal Fisheries Act, formerly the strongest piece of environmental legislation we had, and, more recently, the razing of BOB the Federal Navigable Waters ProSCAMMELL tection Act, reducing its protection from all navigable waters in Canada to merely 97 lakes and 52 rivers.

In a column reviewing the 2011 Alberta Guide to Sportfishing Regulations, I wrote: “If nothing else, the “onyear” 2012 regulations must rescind mandatory use of barbless hooks in all of Alberta and let those few anglers who like barbless hooks go on happily pinching and filing.

The majority of anglers hates barbless, and regards it as a bad joke, many calling it a “Ralph” every time yet another fish throws a barbless hook. But Ralph is gone and so is Mike (Cardinal), the SRD minister whom the premier badgered into introducing the measure against the advice of his own biologists and every other biologist in North America that barbless hooks do nothing to increase the survival of released fish.”

On this New Years Eve I was ruefully sipping part of that bubbly to toast the possible and purely accidental end of mandatory barbless hooks in Alberta, simply because our government committed yet another of its frequent acts of gross stupidity.

New Years Eve day my January 2013 copy of Alberta Outdoorsmen arrived.

In the “Ask Fish and Wildlife What’s The Law?” column, a reader asked if she can use barbed hooks in Alberta … “I have heard rumours that the use of barbed hooks is not prohibited or not enforceable in Alberta any longer.”

Despite the fact that the Fish and Wildlife Division no longer exists, someone from the Alberta government replied: “An amendment to Alberta Fishery Regulations pursuant to the Fisheries Act (Canada) removed the prohibition of barbed hooks on Sept.22, 2011.” Yes, 2011!

But the 2012 Alberta Guide to Sportfishing Regulations still told every licenced angler in Alberta that: “It is unlawful to use a hook that is not barbless.” Besides the fact that for some time now Conservation Officers answer to the Solicitor Genera and not Fish and Wildlife, it is no wonder they continued to charge anglers using barbed hooks at such an alarming rate that it became the most common fisheries charge and the specified penalty was reduced from $200 to $100.

Now the government is saying the barbed charge is no longer being made, all existing charges will be withdrawn, all wrongful convictions will be quashed, and all fines will be refunded and seized items returned.

But hold on! Further inquiries have revealed that a bureaucratic mistake, an unintentional error in enacting laws between the federal and provincial governments and not a change in policy, is what resulted in there being no Alberta barbless hooks legislation in force since Sept. 21, 2011.

Whoa yet again; it gets worse!

plant winners

OUTDOORS

Photo by BOB SCAMMELL/freelance

End of bubbleheaded mandatory barbless rule means the “wool test” for snags is out — for now.

There may never have been a valid mandatory barbless hook law in force in Alberta, going back to when Ralph and Mike cooked it up like fast food back in 1998, because Alberta did not comply with federal law which requires that public consultation takes place before new provincial fisheries legislation can be approved by the feds and validly enacted.

No public consultation ever took place about barbless in Alberta; had there been, the law would never have been enacted, at least in its province-wide scope. All scientists, even Alberta’s own were ignored; the push was purely political, based on the gut feeling of Premier Ralph that barbless was wonderful.

So, for 15 years now, Alberta anglers have been harassed, charged, fined, and had equipment confiscated under a totally useless law that was probably totally invalid.

But most of the wrongly charged, convicted, fined and forfeited anglers of Alberta would probably and happily offer the government such a sweet deal: forget the money and the other stuff and just leave it the way it has been since your second mistake on Sept. 21, 2011; no mandatory barbless in Alberta.

Two days before the end of 2012 the hook was sunk deep past the barb on a very bad year in the form of a picture sent by friend and colleague Myrna Pearman of a Sustainable Resource Development sign warning of poison baits set for wolves and coyotes in a Natural Area south of Winfield.

Besides screwing up its own stupidest regulation, SRD has for some time being waging an unholy helicopter and poison war on Alberta wildlife.

But this sign is a fitting tombstone for a bad year: is there anything more mindless, horrendous, hazardous and unnatural than setting poison baits in a public Natural Area?

Bob Scammell is an award-winning columnist who lives in Red Deer. He can be reached at bscam@telusplanet.net

A natural hangover remedy worth trying There is certainly no shortage of craze at this time of year.

From holiday bashes to staff parties, and dinner dates with old friends there tends to be a lot of overeating, likely some excess on the alcohol consumption and the stress of still trying to find Aunt Gene that final Christmas present when all you want to do is sleep in and hang out in your PJs all day.

As our poor bodies receive the digestive disturbances that come with the festivities we might be in search of a perfect remedy to calm the nerves, the digestive system and perhaps even assist with that slight hangover. This may just be the remedy you need.

KRISTIN The kudzu root, native to China FRASER and Japan was brought to North America in the late 1800s — considered a pest in its native land.

Used in Chinese medicine as a digestive aid, fever reducer, immune system builder, fatigue reliever, and known to reduce cold symptoms, its main remedy has been for hangovers and alcohol cravings. … I thought it was worth a shot to try this powdered root for myself. New York has certainly had no shortage of fun to be had.

Even in Natural Foods Chef Training there can certainly be some over indulgences when tasting all of the delicious foods — let alone exploring the city.

Sometimes health seems to slip between the cracks in light of fun to be had. Between school, friends, all kinds of shenanigans in the city, I was starting to feel pretty run

SOMETHING TO CHEW ON

down myself and thought I’d put this remedy to the test as I get back to balance!

From all the stories it seemed to be one that really had good feedback. And I concur! First off, it tasted delicious.

Warm and soothing like apple cider and within 15 minutes I was completely relaxed and ready for a good sleep.

Also a great remedy for insomniacs apparently. Hyperactive children have also been known to benefit from this calming drink.

With all of these benefits, it’s no wonder even Harvard Medical School is studying kudzu as a means of treatment for alcoholic cravings. They sure didn’t have any trouble finding volunteers to test out the theory, setting up a lab complete with television, reclining chair and refrigerator stocked with beer giving the subjects kudzu and some the placebo. It was confirmed with those consuming kudzu only drank 1.8 beers while those who consumed the placebo drank 3.5 beers during their 90-minute sessions. Interesting study.

Kudzu can be purchased at your local health food store or ordered online. Worth having in the cupboard, especially as the holidays come to a wind down and those New Years resolutions kick in to counteract that over-indulgent behavior and get back to some calmness.

Calming Kudzu Apple Cider 1 cup apple juice 1 tsp. kudzu 2 tbsp. water In sauce pan, heat apple juice. Mix kudzu with water separate with fork until incorporated. Add to apple juice mixture, bring to boil and let simmer until slightly thickened (approximately two to three minutes).

Kristin Fraser, BSc, is a holistic nutritionist and local freelance writer. Her column appears every second Wednesday.

She can be reached at kristin@somethingtochewon.ca.

Each year plants are declared All American Selection winners. To become an AAS winner the plants undergo vigorous examinations in many different climates.

Trial gardens are located across Canada and the United States. In Alberta the trial gardens are located at the Devonian Botanic Garden by Edmonton.

Gardeners plant and maintain the plants while judges examine the plants regularly keeping track of how their LINDA growth habits.

TOMLINSON At the end of the growing season results are tabulated and released. To become an AAS winner the plant must perform well in all locations and climates.

The number of plants that obtain AAS distinction varies depending on the outcome of plant trials.

Display gardens, where one can view winning plants are also located through out Canada and the United States. A Display garden is also located in Kyoto Japan.

Display gardens allow anyone to view the plants and make decisions on what to plant next season.

To become a display garden one must have the ability to start plants from seed and maintain the plants producing an attractive healthy garden.

In Alberta display gardens are at the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton, The Calgary Zoo, Olds College and Rotary Park in Medicine Hat. Six different plants have been declared AAS winners for 2013; three flowers and three vegetables.

Canna ‘South Pacific Scarlet’ like all Cannas thrives in a warm moist environment. Start this variety from seed in February for summer blooms.

Plant outside once all danger of frost is past. South Pacific Scarlet will grow tall and should be used at the back of the border or the center of a large pot. Cannas will also thrive in a warm pond.

Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ is a tender perennial in Central Alberta. Planting the seeds by the end of January will insure a wide range of colorful blooms from mid summer into the fall. Cheyenne Spirit is a short plant that will withstand most weather including drought conditions.

Geranium ‘Pinto Premium White to Rose’ has unique flowers that start out white and turn pink as they mature. Plant as soon as all danger of frost is past and watch these plants produce a colorful display all season.

Flowering is continuous even without deadheading. For best results fertilize every other week.

Melon ‘Melemon’ is worth a try for those that like a challenge.

Start seeds indoors about a month before they are to be set outside. Once in the garden cover plants with a poly-spun cloth to protect them from the cool evenings.

Plant in a warm area where the plants can spread and climb.

Expect small tasty fruit at the end of the growing season. Tomato ‘Jasper’ is a small tomato variety with a sweet, rich taste.

Like all tomatoes it requires a warm location with plenty of moisture.

This plant was chosen for the taste and abundance of fruit. Jasper grows tall and requires staking.

Watermelon ‘Harvest Moon’ will be a challenge to any gardener in Central Alberta.

Place seed in a soilless mix about a month before they are to be set out. A temperature of 85 - 90° F is needed to germinate. Plant outside in a well protected area covering the plant with a poly-spun cloth until the plants begin to flower.

Another variety of watermelon must also be planted to insure pollination.

If any of these plants are of interest, go to the All American Selections Web site to locate seeds. all-americaselections.org Linda Tomlinson is a horticulturalist that lives near Rocky Mountain House. She can be reached at www.igardencanada.com or your_garden@hotmail.com

GARDENING

Beans just got a whole lot better As if there weren’t already loads to love about beans, these tasty and oh-so-satisfying legumes are looking even more appealing thanks to a headlinegrabbing new report. Eating beans regularly knocks down high blood sugar, lowers blood pressure and cuts the risk of heart disease by a respectable 8 percent.

A healthy boost for more than 100 million North Americans who have diabetes, prediabetes or a related health risk called metabolic syndrome.

(Other legumes, like peanuts and green beans, are also good for you, but they’re not the beans we are talking about.)

Beans are high in protein and can help flatten your belly and reduce belly (omentum) fat -- the toxin-filled flab that threatens your vital organs.

That’s a stellar payday from a versatile food you can serve cold as a salad, room temp as a party dip, warm as a comfort-food side dish, baked into muffins or piping hot as a hearty main dish!

Inside your favorite bean — whether it’s white, pink, red, black, pinto, lentil or garbanzo — is a squadron of powerful, health-boosting compounds.

A half-cup of beans gives you 6 grams of satisfying fiber: 2 grams of blood sugar-lowering soluble fiber and 4 grams of colon-cleansing insoluble fiber.

But that’s just the beginning. Beans are a starchy food, but the type of starch they contain digests v-er-y slowly.

They have a low glycemic index, which keeps blood sugar lower and steadier than faster-digesting

carbohydrates like refined flour in pasta or bread. In fact, 10 percent to 20 percent of the starch in beans never gets digested at all!

Beans are a great source of the blood pressurecontrolling minerals potassium and magnesium.

They’re also packed with chemicals called phenols that protect cells throughout your body from oxidative damage, which helps explain the mighty bean’s reputation for lowering risk for some forms of cancer and reducing odds for heart disease.

Getting into the bean habit also can cool off chronic, bodywide inflammation — another way they help lower your odds for diabetes, heart disease, cancer and more.

One cup of beans a day delivers their health benefits, and rinsing them thoroughly (either after you soak dried beans or when you take them out of the can) removes gas-generating sugars. (Dr. Mike suggests putting Bean-O in the water you soak dried beans in!)

Still rumbling? You can take Bean-O by mouth before you eat beans; that’ll break down starches in your gut before gas-producing bacteria do it for you.

So now you’re ready to up your bean intake.

Beans at breakfast. Have beans instead of toast with your eggs. Add a little hot sauce, guacamole and fat-free sour cream for a Tex-Mex morning treat.

Take beans to the party. Mix black beans with corn kernels, chopped tomato, pepper, lime juice, olive oil and seasonings for a hearty salsa.

Toss cooked white beans with olive oil and sea-

MIKE ROIZEN & MEHMET OZ

DRS. OZ AND ROIZEN sonings for a great dip. Bake with beans. Trendy, gluten-free bean flour adds flavor, protein and tenderness to muffins, quick breads, even cakes.

Serve a new comfort food. Warm beans seasoned with your favorite spices and a dab of oil are a great replacement for mashed potatoes.

Serve skinless, herbed chicken, grilled salmon, or shrimp skewers on a bed of white beans flavored with rosemary, garlic and a dash of olive oil. Try a meatless or nearly meatless bean entree. Threebean chili, lentil burgers, bean soups and stews — there are plenty of ways to harness the satisfaction of beans in a meatless meal.

Or add a little meat, like lean pork or chicken; you don’t need a lot with this versatile all-star on board.

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Medical Officer at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. For more information go to www.RealAge.com.

B3

FASHION

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Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Pretty in colour COLOURED BRIDAL GOWNS AMONG 2013 WEDDING TRENDS of princess ballgown strapless style with the big skirt, lots of volume,” said McGill. “I think we were long overdue for a bit of a switchup with styles.”

Blushing brides?

Among the options: Make that brides in blush.

Illusion neckline: The sheer overlay Coloured bridal gowns aren’t an en- at the top of the dress connects to the tirely new style phenomenon. But from bodice offering a see-through effect recent celebrity weddings to spring and a “beautiful finish.”

2013 designer runways, fresh creations “It shows a hint of skin while still for the walk down the aisle are emerg- keeping it modest,” said Rucks. ing in shades beyond traditional white, Fanciful backs: From keyhole cutivory and cream. outs to cascading, flowing ribbons, Last fall, actresses Anne Hathaway McGill said a notable trend emerging and Jessica Biel each donned designer is the attention to detail on the backs wedding dresses incorporating pink, of wedding dresses. a year after Oscar winner Reese WithRucks said the illusion effect seen erspoon said her “I do’s” in a blush- in necklines, along with bow details, coloured gown. are among the stylish embellishments No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani was well being showcased on the backs of bridal ahead of the coloured-dress curve gowns this year. when she wore Sleeves: It’s her famed Gallia- ‘I JUST THINK THAT IT IS ALL been nearly two no gown dip-dyed since the INSPIRED BY THE IDEA OF years in hot pink for her Duchess of Cam2002 nuptials.

THE BLUSHING BRIDE, AND b r i d g e w o w e d Future brides with her luxTHAT PINK JUST SEEMS TO many aspiring to be urious lace bridal pretty in pink will BE A BEAUTIFUL NATURAL gown, and the emhave their share brace of sleeved TRANSITION OF THAT.’ of options to sift dresses into the through in 2013, — V ICTORIA RUCKS, DISTRICT wedding wear fold whether it’s a subMANAGER FOR remains strong. tle touch of pale “People are DAVID’S BRIDAL CANADA pastel or a more looking to add colourful creation three-quarter drenched in the length or fullrosy hue. length sleeves to “I just think that it is all inspired a lot of existing gowns,” said Rucks, by the idea of the blushing bride, and noting brides can also pair their dress that pink just seems to be a beautiful with small jackets to strike a similar natural transition of that,” said Victo- effect. ria Rucks, district manager for David’s Vintage: Some designers are revivBridal Canada. ing retro looks from fashion’s glam “It’s really (a colour) that flatters a eras for the modern bride. lot of skin tones as well.”

“We’re definitely seeing that ’50s, Alison McGill, editor-in-chief of ’60s vibe with the tea length cut to the Weddingbells magazine, said the re- hemline, crinoline to give it the poodle cent coloured-dress trend is one that skirt kind of a feel,” said Rucks. has been designer driven.

For brides seeking retro-inspired She started to see a style shift with accessories to accent their wedding respect to gowns and colour with Ve- day ensemble, Rucks said there’s evra Wang’s all-black collection for fall erything from beaded purses to lush 2012. lace covered platform heels and even The New York designer’s bridal col- fascinator-style headpieces channellection for spring 2013 showcased vari- ling the 1920s esthetic. ous tones of red. In the case of both In need an elegant touch to cap off lines, the dresses are also available in your wedding day wardobe? Rucks white, McGill noted. suggested opting to incorporate gloves Fashion legend Oscar de la Renta into the look. and New York-based Canadian design“Whether it’s wrist-length or up the er Romona Keveza also showed brid- elbow, satin gloves ... bring the whole al creations for spring 2013 including picture together.” hues like red and blue.

BRIDESMAIDS “I think it’s designers presenting The selection of more saturated brides with different options because shades is also extending towards other brides want to be able to have some- members of the bridal party. thing really unique for their wedding Rucks said a hot pink hue dubbed day, and having colour in your dress Begonia along with Horizon, a shade of certainly is a very impactful way (to do cobalt blue, are among the new tones so),” said McGill. for bridesmaids in 2013. Pale shades Beyond dresses in bolder hues, sil- of blue and green are alternatives for houettes and dress styles for brides those with an affinity for softer, pastel are also getting a fashion reboot. hues, she noted.

“The same silhouette has been “There are brides who still want a popular for so long and that’s the sort pop of colour on their wedding day,” said McGill, who recently interviewed a bride who had her bridesmaids wear coral for the wedding.

O v e r a l l , McGill said bridesmaid dresses are becoming increasingly simplified in style.

“I think people want their girls to be in dresses that they feel good in they look great in that are somewhat classic,” she said, pointing to the emergence of styles in shades

BY LAUREN LA ROSE THE CANADIAN PRESS

File photos by THE CANADIAN PRESS

Above: A model wears a bridesmaid dress at a bridal shop in Toronto. Right: A model wears a ring.

File photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS

A model wears a wedding gown at a bridal shop in Toronto. Coloured bridal gowns are hardly an all-new style phenomenon, but from recent celebrity weddings to designer runways, a wealth of dress options are showcasing sweeping creations in shades beyond traditional white, ivory and cream. like navy, black and white.

“You’re not seeing a ton of volume, you’re not seeing a lot of gowns. It’s more of a cocktail length that you’re seeing for bridesmaids.”

There are myriad dress options with both subtle and more overt embellishments, with Rucks pointing to one style which featured a halter neckline, beading along an empire waistline, and a high-low hemline.

MOTHER OF THE BRIDE When it comes to helping outfit mothers for weddings, Terrie Tibbetts said there’s one constant — there is no constant.

“We have mothers that come in and want to be seen, want to be noticed. We have other mothers that walk in and just want to wear beige and blend in with the woodwork,” said Tibbetts, who co-owns T. Carolyn Fashions in Houston with her mother, Barbara.

“Really, it’s on a sliding scale. Every mother is different and you just have to read each mother.”

The shop has had some 100,000 dress sales since opening its doors more than two decades ago, and specializes in formal wear for mothers of the bride and groom.

Both Tibbetts and the boutique will be showcased on the small screen in the new series “Mother of the Bride,” which premieres with back-to-back episodes Friday at 7 p.m. on Slice.

Tibbetts offers her suggestions for moms wanting to look stylish for their

child’s walk down the aisle.

Colour: Tibbetts said there are neutral colours that can shine when paired with beading, crystals or “a little bit of iridescence,” but she is a big fan of mature women opting for jewel tones and bold hues.

“Teal looks great, photographs well, especially next to black tuxes.”

Styles: While gowns have ruled the last several years, Tibbetts said short dresses are starting to make a resurgence.

She said knee-length or longer tea length skirts are both great options, especially for destination weddings.

That said, she loves the juxtaposition of soft-fitted bodices with full skirts as well as dresses mixing and layering fabrics, like metallic lace with iridescent tafetta.

For women who may be a bit more modest or seeking a bit more coverage, Tibbetts said they are able to modify certain dress styles which may be more revealing, such as ordering extra fabric to craft sleeves.

While necklines are “all over the place,” she is a big proponent of both one-shouldered gowns and asymmetrical necklines.

“If a woman is more self-conscious about wanting to cover up, maybe her upper body or her arms, an asymmetrical neckline would absolutely be the way to go,”she said.

“It will elongate the torso and give great curves to the bodice, and it’s just so flattering on.”

»

B4

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WHAT’S HAPPENING

Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Fax 403-341-6560 editorial@reddeeradvocate.com

GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION

Photo by RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff

The Red Deer Curling Centre holds its grand opening today. The public is encouraged to take in tours between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. of the building, which recently received nearly $9 million in renovations, giving it 12 curling sheets, a 350-seat lounge and new meeting rooms. A free family dance starts at 5:30 p.m. and children can participate in off ice games with prizes. Free cake, a $5 dinner special and drink and other refreshment specials will also be offered. Door prizes will be given away throughout the event. The centre is located at 4725-43 St. beside the Red Deer Arena.

CALENDAR THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS

Friday ● Forshee Community Hall old time family dance nights are the first Friday of each month starting at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10 per adult, children 17 years and under are free. Evening lunch is included. Live old time music with Country Gold Band. Next dance is Jan. 4. For more information, call Mary at 403-748-3378. ● Red Deer Arts Council and Red Deer Public Library present Borrowing Art: The Red Deer Public Library Art Lending Program in the Kiwanis Gallery of the Red Deer Public Library from Jan. 3 to Feb. 19. The First Friday opening is Jan. 4 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Borrow original, framed artwork in a variety of two-dimensional media by local artists with your library membership. For details contact Diana at the Red Deer Art Council, 403-348-2787, Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ● Potluck supper at Senior Citizens Downtown House at 5:30 p.m. Cost is $5. Bring a meat dish, salad or dessert. For more information call 403-346-4043. ● Flag whist at Senior Citizens Downtown House at 1:30 p.m. Cost is $3. For more information call 403-346-4043. ● Retro Movie Day at Red Deer Public Library Downtown branch, Snell Auditorium, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dress in costume for medieval activities and games, and watch PG-rated The Princess Bride.

Children in grade 1 and older are welcome. Phone 403-346-4688. ● The Hub on Ross is hosting the band The Original Caste, who wrote One Tin Soldier and Mr. Monday, at 7 p.m. Tickets at the door, cash only $15 per person or $30 per family. Proceeds to the MS Society. Phone 403-340-4869. ● Alberta Roots opening reception, at the Hub on Ross from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. A collection of prairie heritage and cowboy art by Christina Drader showing for January. Phone 403-340-4869.

Saturday ● Sierra of Taylor Drive Music Jam is held the first Saturday of every month from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Everyone welcome to play an instrument, dance or simply listen to the music. Next jam session is Jan. 5. Each session $2. No jam session in July and August. Phone Chris at 403-341-3385. ● Free Hot Yoga weekend offered by Bikram Yoga Red Deer, Jan. 5 and 6, at #3, 4940 - 54 Ave. Classes offered both days at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on a first come, first served basis.

Call 403-346-1501.

Sunday ● Linton Family Christmas Spectacular in support of Red Deer Food Bank Society and Red Deer Hospital Pediatric Unit Teddy Bear Program features thousands of lights and sculptures. It is open from dusk to 11 p.m. nightly and is located two miles east of Red Deer on Delburne highway, a half mile south on RR. 270. Drop off non-perishable food items and monetary donations until Jan. 6.

Drive through and enjoy the display (at own risk).

To find out more, phone 403-346-6275.

Monday ● Ladies Auxiliary of Red Deer

Royal Canadian Legion Branch #35 holds general meetings the first Monday of each month at 7 p.m. Next meeting will be on Jan. 7. For a ride please call Harry at 403-598-5331 before noon on meeting day. Meat draw every Friday at 5 p.m. ● Zumba Gold Class will be offered at the Golden Circle Senior Resource Centre on Mondays from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. This is an entry level class designed for older adults. A drop in fee of $4.50 applies. Phone 403-343-6074 for more information. ● Dawe Branch of Red Deer Public Library offers Preschool Storytime for children ages three to five years on Mondays from 10 to 10:45 a.m., and Toddler Play and Learn on Tuesdays from 10 to 10:30 a.m. for parents and caregivers with their newborns to two year olds. Both are dropin programs. No registration is required. For details, phone 403-341-3822. ● 500 at Senior Citizens Downtown House, 5414 - 43 St., Red Deer, Mondays and Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. Cost is $3. Tournament Jan. 28 for cost of $6. For more information call 403-3464043.

Tuesday ● The Central Alberta Mopar Association (CAMA) Car Club meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. at Humpty’s Classic Restaurant in Gasoline Alley. Admirers and owners of Chrysler family vehicles are welcome. Yearly membership is $17 for new members and $12 for current members. For more information contact Glen at 403-318-8388 or visit www.centralalbertamopar.ca/ ● The Parkland Cross Country Ski Club meets the second Tuesday of each month at the Kerry Wood Nature Centre at 7:30 p.m. The next meeting will be Feb. 14. Novice to experienced cross country skiers welcome. Visit parklandxskiclub.org or phone 403-346-1311. ● Drop-in Pajama Storytime invites children aged two to six years to the children’s department at Red Deer Public Library Downtown Branch for stories, songs, finger plays, and crafts at 6:30 to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays. Children under three years of age must be accompanied by an adult. Phone 403346-4688. ● Chess Club at Red Deer Public Library Dawe Branch welcomes all levels of players from beginner to intermediate to learn chess rules and strategies on Tuesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Co-sponsored by Alberta Chess Association. Phone 403341-3822. ● Dances held at Senior Citizens Downtown House, 5414 - 43 St., Red Deer, Tuesday nights at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $6.00. Lunch is provided by donations. Jan. 8 music provided by Gaetz Valley Minstrels. For more information call 403-346-4043. ● Karma Klub (for ladies only), Red Deer Public Library Downtown Branch, Jan. 8, 3:45 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. in the Waskasoo Kiwanis Room. Come and make a handbag out of a hardcover book. Call 403-346-2100. ● Reading For A Change Book Club, Red Deer Public Library Downtown Branch, Jan. 8, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Waskasoo Kiwanis Room.

Book is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Call 403-346-2100. ● Yoga for all ages, at the Hub on Ross, Tuesdays, 5:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Call 403-3404869.

Wednesday

● Epilepsy Association of Central Alberta located at 4811 48 Street holds monthly support group meetings at 5:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month. The next meeting is Jan. 9. Phone 403-358-3358 or email epilepsy. njaskela@telus.net. to suggest topics for discussion. ● Inspirational Ladies Fun and Fellowship meets the second Wednesday of each month from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Innisfail Legion Hall. Cost is $4 per person including refreshments. The group hosts speakers and special guests each time. Contact Elsie Lee at 403-227-3508. ● Boomtown Trail Cowboy Church meets the second and last Wednesday of each month, 7 p.m., in the Elnora Drop-in Centre. Call 403-7492047 or 403-773-3600. Next Cowboy Church on Jan. 9 and 30. ● Central Alberta Pioneers and Old Timers meet the second Wednesday of each month at Pioneer Lodge at 2 p.m. New members welcome. Entertainment and refreshments offered. Next meeting is Jan. 9. For more information call 403-347-1378. ● Central Alberta Photographic Society (CAPS) meets the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. at Golden Circle Senior Resource Centre. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for socializing. Yearly Membership fee is $50. Next meetings are Jan. 9 and 23. Call or text Peter at 403-3504578 or see www.centralalbertaphotographicsociety.com for more information. ● Drop-in Pre-school Storytime is offered from 10 to 10:45 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 2 to 2:45 p.m. on Wednesdays at Red Deer Public Library Downtown Branch in the children’s department. Stories, songs, and crafts for three to five year olds. Phone 403-346-4688. ● Epiphany Mass of St. Francis of Assisi Middle School commences at 10:30 a.m. at St.

Mary’s Parish, 6 McMillan Ave. Red Deer. Everyone welcome. ● Fun Contract Bridge at Senior Citizens Downtown House, 5414 - 43 St., Red Deer, Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. Cost is $3. For more information call 403-346-4043.

Thursday ● Drop-in Time for Twos is offered on Thursdays from 11 to 11:30 a.m. at Red Deer Public Library Downtown Branch children’s department.

Phone 403-346-4688. ● Drop-in Babytimes is offered on Fridays from 2 to 2:30 p.m., or on Thursdays from 10 to 10:30 a.m. at Red Deer Public Library Downtown Branch Children’s Department for children from birth to 24 months of age along with their caregivers. Phone 403-346-4688. ● Living Beyond Suicide Loss support group begins Jan. 10 at 6 p.m. This group, offered through Suicide Information and Education Services, is for anyone grieving the loss of a loved one to suicide. There is no charge, but please register by calling 403-342-4966. ● Cribbage tournament at Senior Citizens Downtown House at 1:30 p.m. Cost is $6.00. For more information call 403-346-4043. ● Golden Circle Senior Resource Centre dance, Thursday, Jan. 10, 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the seniors’ centre. Dance to the music of Five Plus One. Admission is $7. Phone 403-347-6165, 403986-7170, or 403-346-3896.

REGISTRATIONS LOCAL EVENTS AND ORGANIZATIONS ● Support Habitat for Humanity with the purchase of gingerbread cookies from Good Earth Coffeehouse and Bakery at both Red Deer locations until Jan. 3. Phone 403-346-8555, or 403340-1028. ● Alberta Sports Hall of Fame is accepting nominations for the 2012/2013 Alberta Sports Hall of Fame induction. Nominations are accepted until Jan. 31 at 4:30 p.m. Guidelines can be found at www.ashfm.ca or by calling Debbie at 403-3418614. ● Parkland Mall is now accepting applications for the Shades of Ambition Campaign which will be held March 7 to 27. This annual event has three charitable organizations selling pieces of a large mural to raise money for their programs.

Criteria and application forms are available at www. parklandmall.ca under Events and Promotions.

Deadline for applications is Jan. 5. Contact Krista at 403-343-8997 for more information. ● Medicine River Wildlife Centre 2013 calendar is now on sale for $20. Purchase a calendar and be entered to win a Great White Shark Adventure near San Francisco as grand prize. Contact Carol at 403-728-3467, or see. www.mrwc.ca for more information. ● Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery Centennial Club Fundraising Campaign is now on.

Be one of 100 distinguished individuals or companies to make a $2,013 donation in support of the new history exhibition opening at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery on March 25, 2013. Donors will be featured prominently on the donor wall in the exhibition, and receive a special invitation to the Centennial Club reception, enjoy of sneak peak

and more. See www.reddeermuseum.com, email to museum@reddeer.ca, or phone 403-309-8405. ● First Annual Winter Lights Tour at Heritage Ranch begins on Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. and continues to Feb. 2013. Trees will be lit, sleigh rides, hot chocolate, warm blankets, campfire on the deck will be offered. Tickets cost $29 for adults, $12 for children, and $2 for toddlers up to three years of age, available by phone 403-347-4977, or by email at promotions@heritageranch.com. A portion from every ticket sold will go to Shalom Counselling in Red Deer. ● Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum will host a Winter Night at the Museum — an evening of fun for children seven to eleven years. The cost is $40 per child and only the first 30 children will be accepted. The winter themed overnight camp will be held Jan. 3 to 4. This is a great opportunity to learn more about winter sports and Alberta sport history with fun, food and activities. For more information contact Debbie at 403-341-8614 or debbie@ashfm.ca. Visit www.ashfm.ca ● Tree House Youth Theatre 25 x 25 x 12.

2013 is their 25th anniversary. They have a full line up of activities and programs planned, including Red Deer’s official Centennial play. They are asking 25 people to donate $25 a month for twelve months to keep them sustainable. You can become one of the special 25 by visiting www.treehouseyouththeatre.ca or emailing treehousetheatre@ gmail.com or calling 403-986-0631. All donations of $20 or more will receive a tax receipt. Each donor receives a special 2013 calendar and two tickets to the opening night gala in the spring.

Listings open to cultural/non-profit groups. Fax: 341-6560; phone: 314-4325; e-mail: editorial@reddeeradvocate.com by noon Thursday for insertion following Thursday.

B5

LIFESTYLE

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Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Adoptee worried Tablet as teacher how things will go when ‘parents’ gone ILLITERATE ETHIOPIAN KIDS LEARN TO SPEAK, WRITE IN ENGLISH WITH COMPUTERS

BY JASON STRAZIUSO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANNIE ANNIE

HOROSCOPES Thursday, Jan. 3

within your collective. Your approach will be direct and initiative. You will CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS not be afraid to make the first move.

DATE: Mel Gibson, 57; Victoria PrinciVIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Avoid relypal, 63; Robert Loggia, 83 ing on others for financial support as THOUGHT OF THE DAY: you will only be more disapUnexpected news or starpointed if you ask for help. tling information might Keep your focus on your shake our waters today. Be basic needs of survival for prepared to hear shocking, now as this will allow you out of the norm kind of revto prosper professionally or elations. Our thinking will have an increased exposure be anything but according thanks to your own assiduto the norm, which others ousness. might find quite upsetting.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It would be wise to simply You might be inclined totake a break and to avoid wards moodiness today. If any insensitive or harsh others disagree with you, words which we might retake it as a constructive ASTRO gret later. matter on which you can HAPPY BIRTHDAY: If think about rather than DOYNA today is your birthday, for let it get to you personally. the most part of the year you Avoid relying on others too may have more responsibilimuch. ties and more work done beSCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. hind the scenes. You will have a high 21): The typical Scorpio loves to dig sense of what is reasonable and what deep into any matter. Today you posis not in terms of good eating habits, sess great powers of concentration but that doesn’t mean that you won’t when engaging into any interaction or, be tempted to break some of your well even sound convincing whomever you established rituals. Stay focused and may communicate with. You can easily don’t give in bad temptations. influence others with your insightful ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your thinking. daily life may be disrupted by events SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Toyou had not anticipated. It seemed that day you are feeling as if someone is everything was at its place; well sorted watching over you under the magnifyout and organized, but regrettably, you ing glass. You may be predisposed tofind yourself encountering some upset- wards laziness; that’s actually fine beting surprises. cause, you got a pretty positive picture TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You want of your monetary status and this brings the good things in life, but today you you much comfort.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You would be better off by remaining vigilant in terms of extravagance or and have a strong desire to travel and to an inclination towards overspending, get to know some foreign cultures, which might lead you to make a few in- backgrounds and individuals who have a complete upbringing from yours. You opportune moves on your part.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): A friend are in the mood to learn more and edor an acquaintance might suddenly ucate yourself further on matters of reveal a facet of their character which your interests.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Some will not be at all to your liking and will most likely shock you. Take this experi- hidden, secretive information might be ence as an eye-opener warning instead in the talks right now or, it is possible that a revelation from your past may of displaying a distraught reaction.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Relation- actually irritate you. You did not see ships with your co-workers or peers this coming and you were not prepared will not be as cooperative as you had for such occurrences.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Superiwished. You try to communicate with them, even though the other party ors or higher-ups might add up in your seems unresponsive or simply does not work volume making you busier than respect your ideas. If you do not suc- ever. You find it frustrating as you had planned on spending some quality ceed, leave it for another day.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Your need for time alone with your loved one. a comfortable environment and a more Astro Doyna is an internationally synexciting adventure in your life will help you develop many acquaintances dicated astrologer and columnist.

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Dear Annie: I am a 22-year-old adop- sional attitude by containing my emotee. My grandparents raised me from 6 tions, but their rudeness took me by months old and officially adopted me surprise. when I was 10.

The speaker was fully aware of this, They have three sons — my biologi- and his facial expression hinted to me cal father and his two brothers. that he was not pleased by this epiThis is where the problem lies. sode.

My “uncles” have never accepted If I were to attend another such that their parents are my event and get the same parents. treatment, what should I They never refer to me as do? — Deaf Professor their sister and frequently Dear Deaf: This type of refer to my parents as my situation can occur whether grandparents. a guest is deaf or not.

Most of these things I igPeople interrupt, block nore, but there is one thing you from the conversation I cannot. and behave rudely.

My parents are in their An alert host would have early 60s, and the subject of interceded, and the speaker their death comes up often. should have made every efTheir sons have decided fort to be more inclusive. that when our parents die, I He allowed these women MITCHELL have no say in anything. to hijack the conversation.

Annie, these are the only You also could have enlist& SUGAR parents I’ve ever had. I am ed the assistance of the inlegally adopted, so I have a terpreter. legal right as well as a given If you feel you were treatright. ed poorly solely because of How do I calmly explain that they your deafness, please discuss this with are my parents, too? your host at the next such event.

— Their Child Dear Annie: The letter from “HeartDear Their Child: You are not going broken Mother,” whose 36-year-old son to make your uncles treat you like a is a drug addict, hit home. That son sibling. could’ve been me.

They see you as their brother’s I’m glad you told her to take care of child. herself first. I would also like to menAnd although your parents are not tion that that old, it is never too soon to prepare The Salvation Army offers a free, a will and other necessary legal docu- six-month-minimum in-patient adult ments. rehabilitation program.

Your parents’ wishes and the distriIt’s a tough, spiritually based 12-step bution of their assets are things they program that includes a full day of get to decide, and they should discuss hard work and counseling. it with a lawyer.

I have seen so many people who They should also have a family are hopeless and helpless renewed to meeting and make sure that ALL of strong, contributing members of the their children are aware of how they community. want this to be handled.

When one shows up for intake, they Dear Annie: I recently attended a have to test clean for drugs and alcococktail party at the home of a former hol. colleague from our deaf program.

Maybe her son is not ready, but The speaker was a campaign worker there may be thousands more who are for one of the presidential candidates. reading this column.

The party hostess made arrangements It is challenging but literally lifesavin advance for a sign language inter- ing. preter.

The rewards for those who take the When the speaker was done with his walk and for the families who take it presentation, I waited for my turn to with them bring me to tears every time talk to him.

I witness the change and hope that As I got clearance, I was interrupt- come. — Doug ed by three hearing female guests who showed no respect for a deaf Please email your questions to anniesguest while the conversation took mailbox@comcast.net, or write to: Annie’s place.

Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd I managed to maintain a profes- Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

WENCHI, Ethiopia — The kids in this volcano-rim village wear filthy, ragged clothes.

They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts made of sticks and mud.

They don’t go to school. Yet they all can chant the English alphabet, and some can spell words.

The key to their success: 20 tablet computers dropped off in their Ethiopian village in February by a group called One Laptop Per Child.

The goal is to find out whether children using today’s new technology can teach themselves to read in places where no schools or teachers exist.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers analyzing the project data say they’re already startled.

“What I think has already happened is that the kids have already learned more than they would have in one year of kindergarten,” said Matt Keller, who runs the Ethiopia program.

The fastest learner is 8-year-old Kelbesa Negusse, the first to turn on one of the Motorola Xoom tablets last February.

Its camera was disabled to save memory, yet within weeks Kelbesa had figured out the tablet’s workings and made the camera work.

He proclaimed himself a lion, a marker of accomplishment in Ethiopia.

On a recent sunny weekday, nine months into the project, the kids sat in a dark hut with a hay floor.

At 3,380 metres (11,000) feet above sea level, the air at night here is chilly, and the youngsters coughed and wiped runny noses.

Many were barefoot. But they all eagerly tapped and swiped away on their tablets.

The apps encouraged them to click on colours — green, red, yellow. “Awesome,” one app said aloud. Kelbesa rearranged the letters HSROE into one of the many English animal names he knows.

Then he spelled words on his own, tracing the English letters into his tablet in a thick red line.

“He just spelled the word ’bird’!” exclaimed Keller.

“Seven months ago he didn’t know any English.

“That’s unbelievable. That’s a quantum leap forward.”

“If we prove that kids can teach themselves how to read, and then read to learn, then the world is going to look at technology as a way to change the world’s poorest and most remote kids,” he said.

“We will have proven you can actually reach these kids and change the way that they think and look at the world.

“And this is the promise that this technology holds.”

Maryanne Wolf, a Tufts University professor, studies the origins of reading and language learning and is a consultant to the One Laptop project. She was an early critic of the experiment in Ethiopia but was amazed by the disabled-camera incident.

“It’s crazy. I can’t do that. I couldn’t hack into anything,” she said.

“But they learned. And the learning that’s gone on, that’s very impressive to me, the critic, because I did not as-

sume they would gravitate toward the more literacy-oriented apps that they have.”

Wenchi’s 60 families grow potatoes and produce honey. None of the adults can read.

They broadly support the laptop project and express amazement their children were lucky enough to be chosen.

“I think if you gave them food and water they would never leave the computer room,” said Teka Kumula, who charges the tablets from a solar station built by One Laptop. “They would spend day and night here.”

Kumula Misgana, 70, walked into the hut that One Laptop built to watch the kids. Three of them had started a hay fight.

“I’m fascinated by the technology,” Misgana said.

“There are pictures of animals I didn’t even know existed.”

He added: “We are a bit jealous.

Everyone would love this opportunity, but we are happy for the kids.”

Kelbesa, the boy lion, said: “I prefer the computer over my friends because I learn things with the computer.”

Asked what English words he knows, he rattled off a barnyard: “Dog, donkey, horse, sheep, cow, pig, cat.”

Kelbesa, one of four children, is being raised by his widowed mother, Abelbech Wagari, who dreams the tablet is his gateway to higher education.

While the adults appeared grateful for the One Laptop opportunity, they wished the village had a teacher.

Keller said that Nicholas Negroponte, the MIT pioneer in computer science who founded One Laptop, is designing a program for the 100 million children worldwide who don’t get to attend school.

Wolf said Negroponte wants to tap into children’s “very extraordinary capacity to teach themselves,” though she said she has no desire to see teachers replaced.

The goal of the project is to get kids to a stage called “deep reading,” where they can read to learn.

It won’t be in Amharic, Ethiopia’s first language, but English, which is widely seen as the ticket to higher paying jobs.

Keller and Wolf say they are only at the beginning of understanding the significance of how fast the kids of Wenchi have mastered the English ABCs. The experiment will be replicated in other villages in other countries, using more targeted apps.

One might wonder whether the children of Wenchi need good nutrition and warm clothes rather than a second language and no teacher — a question Wolf said has given her some sleepless nights.

She thinks she has arrived at an answer.

In remote regions of Africa and elsewhere, she said, “the mother who has one year of literacy has a far better chance to make sure her child can live to five years of age.

They are savvier when it comes to medicine, to basic health, to economic development.”

“So at 3 a.m. when I’m thinking, if I can do one thing ... using my particular knowledge, which is in reading and brain development and thinking — this is my shot; this is my contribution to the nutrition and health of a child.”

TIME

OUT

B6

SPORTS

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Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Greg Meachem, Sports Editor, 403-314-4363 Sports line 403-343-2244 Fax 403-341-6560 sports@reddeeradvocate.com

Rebels can’t crack Ice RED DEER LOSES IN KOOTENAY TO RUN THEIR LOSING STREAK TO THREE GAMES RAY LEWIS

LAST SEASON FOR LEWIS Ray Lewis will end his brilliant 17-year NFL career after the Baltimore Ravens complete their 2013 playoff run. He has been sidelined since Oct. 14 with a torn right triceps. The 13-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker intends to return Sunday to face the Indianapolis Colts in what will almost certainly be his final home game. Lewis will walk away from the game because he wants to spend more time with his two sons. While working to return from his injury, Lewis watched them play on the same high school football team, and he intends to watch Ray Lewis III perform as a freshman next year for his alma mater, the University of Miami. Which means he’ll pull off his No. 52 uniform for the last time after the Ravens are eliminated or win the Super Bowl.

Today

● Major bantam hockey: Calgary Royals at Red Deer White, 7:15 p.m., Arena.

Friday

● WHL: Vancouver at Red Deer, 7:30 p.m., Centrium. ● Heritage junior B hockey: Blackfalds at Red Deer, 8:15 p.m., Arena. ● Chinook senior hockey: Fort Saskatchewan at Sylvan Lake, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday

● Minor midget AAA hockey: Calgary Blazers at Red Deer North Star, 11:30 a.m., Arena; Calgary Blues at Red Deer IROC, 4:45 p.m., Arena ● Major bantam hockey: Airdrie at Red Deer White, 2 p.m., Arena. ● Bantam AA hockey: Okotoks at Innisfail, 5:50 p.m.; Lethbridge at Sylvan Lake, 6 p.m. ● WHL: Moose Jaw at Red Deer, 7:30 p.m., Centrium. ● Midget AA hockey: Calgary Bruins at Red Deer Pro Stitch, 7:30 p.m., Arena; Calgary Canucks at Innisfail, 8 p.m.; Wheatland at Sylvan Lake, 8:15 p.m. ● Heritage junior B hockey: Ponoka at Three Hills, 8 p.m.

BY ADVOCATE STAFF Ice 4 Rebels 1 CRANBROOK — The Red Deer Rebels suffered from a lack of experienced energy Wednesday in a 4-1 Western Hockey League loss to the Kootenay Ice. “We didn’t play well for two periods. We just weren’t sharp,” said Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter.

Goaltender Bolton Pouliot, who was lit up for six goals in a home-ice loss to Edmonton last Friday and was yanked five minutes into Sunday’s 6-5 setback to visiting Brandon after coughing up a soft goal, showed up to play Wednesday. But in Sutter’s eyes, he was the exception.

“Our goalie played well. Pouliot responded well from his most recent performance, but other than that we never had anybody at the level we need them to be at,” said Sutter.

The Rebels bench boss was clearly pointing a finger of blame at his more experienced skaters, the players he’s holding mostly accountable for the club’s current three-game losing streak.

“It’s concerning, and mostly because of how we’ve lost,” said Sutter. “In the last three games we’ve played one good period. Our compete level and our intensity and emotional levels aren’t where we need them to be, and that starts with your older

players. They have to provide that leadership and understanding of what it takes to be successful.

“It’s weird, it’s been this way since we’ve come back from the Christmas break. We just haven’t been able to get back on track.”

The Ice led 1-0 after one period on Sam Reinhart’s 14 goal of the season and Luke Philp notched his 10th to give Kootenay a 2-0 edge after 40 minutes.

Rhyse Dieno potted his 10th of the season at 8:06 of the third period to pull the Rebels to within one, but Philp potted a power-play marker six minutes later and Jeff Hubic sealed the deal with his first of the campaign at 19:47.

The Rebels were minus the services of three injured players — including powerplay defenceman Brady Gaudet — as well as forward Conner Bleackley and rearguard Haydn Fleury, both playing in the World Under 17 Challenge in Quebec, and No. 1 netminder Patrik Bartosak, with the Czech Republic at the WJC in Russia.

“We have some key guys out of our lineup, guys that we miss,” said Sutter. “But that’s no excuse for the guys who are dressed and they have to pull their weight and play up to their potential. You can’t play the game if you don’t put a commitment into it and work at it and try to get the most out of yourself.”

Pouliot made 34 saves and was named third star of the game. Philp was named

Ross is boss in Raptors win

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS Raptors 102 Trailblazers 79 TORONTO — It was only 23 days ago that the Toronto Raptors hit what the team called the low point in its season — a humiliating 18-point loss to the Portland Trail Blazers that ended a winless road trip and prompted the suggestion that jobs were in jeopardy.

The Raptors turned the tables on the Blazers on Wednesday in a dazzling display of just how far the squad has come.

Rookie Terrence Ross poured in a career-high 26 points against his hometown team — including a buzzerbeating three-pointer to end the first half — to lead the Raptors 102-79 over Portland, the eighth victory in nine games for Toronto.

“Two star players (Andrea Bargnani and Kyle Lowry) getting hurt. Everybody looking at each other crossways.

The whole organization. Everybody talking about firings.

That was a crossroads for us,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of Toronto’s Dec. 10 loss in Portland.

“Our guys looked in the mirror, we all did,and decided ’Hey, we can’t continue this way.’ We started playing the game the right way, started sharing the basketball, starting more focus on the defensive end.”

Wednesday’s game was also the opener of a six-game homestand for the Raptors (1220), a team that was hammered

by a particularly unkind earlyseason schedule.

DeMar DeRozan added 24 points for Toronto, while Ed Davis had 19, Amir Johnson added 17 and point guards Jose Calderon and Lowry finished with 13 and nine assists respectively. And zero points between them.

“I don’t know what kind of record that is, but not too many times you’re going to win with your two point guards getting zero points,” Casey said.

“We were just making the easy plays,” Calderon added.

“Today it was all the guys making those plays, and I’m cool with that.”

Ross drained six threepointers on nine attempts, including the buzzer-beater that brought the crowd to its feet and saw him fall over backwards as he watched the ball fall through the hoop.

Ross, the Raptors’ No. 8 pick in last year’s NBA draft, has been big during this strong stretch for Toronto, playing with a level of confidence that seems to go up whenever he steps on the floor.

He said the confidence to get more involved in the offence has come from his teammates.

“When I hesitate, I come back to the bench and they’re all mad, they’re all like ’Shoot,”’ Ross said. “It’s just something they tell me to do to get my confidence up.”

Damian Lillard had 18 to top the Blazers (16-15), who were coming off a 105-100 victory at New York the previous night.

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS

Toronto Raptors guard Terrence Ross is fouled by Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (right) as he drives to the hoop during NBA action in Toronto on Wednesday.

Louisville topples Florida in Sugar Bowl

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GIVE US A CALL The Advocate invites its readers to help cover news in Central Alberta.

We would like to hear from you if you see something worthy of coverage. And we would appreciate hearing from you if you see something inaccurate in our pages.

We strive for complete, accurate coverage of Central Alberta and are happy to correct any errors we may commit.

Call 403-314-4333.

first star and Ice goaltender Mackenzie Skapski picked up second-star honours with a 29-save outing.

“For two periods tonight our work ethic was very low,” said Sutter. “That’s the responsibility of the older players, the guys who have to step up. I’ve been hard on them, but it’s reality — your best players have to be your best players and again tonight they were not.”

The Rebels are facing a heavy weekend slate with home games Friday and Saturday versus the Vancouver Giants and Moose Jaw Warriors and a Sunday date with the Ice back in Cranbrook.

“We have to get this turned around,” said Sutter. “The players have to understand that there’s a fine line between winning and losing and you have to find a way to stay above that line. Winning breeds success and we had that, but for whatever reason the guys have dropped their guard and we have to get it back.” ● Bleackley picked up an assist for Team Pacific in a 4-3 overtime win over Team West in the World U17 17 Challenge Wednesday. Fleury contributed an assist in a losing cause.

Pacific finished round-robin play with three overtime victories and one loss. Team West was 0-4, with one loss coming in extra time. gmeachem@reddeeradvocate.com

Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Louisville safety Calvin Pryor causes Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel to fumble the ball during the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football game Wednesday in New Orleans.

Louisville recovered and scored on the next play.

Cardinals 33 Gators 23 NEW ORLEANS — Louisville safety Calvin Pryor predicted the Cardinals would “shock the world” against Florida in the Sugar Bowl.

Brave words that he and his teammates backed up from start to finish.

Terell Floyd returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown on the first play, dual-threat quarterback Teddy Bridgewater directed a handful of scoring drives and No. 22 Louisville stunned the fourthranked Gators 33-23 in the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday night.

By the end, the chant, “Charlie, Charlie!” — for third-year Louisville coach Charlie Strong, the former defensive co-ordinator for the Gators — echoed from sections of the Superdome occupied by redclad Cardinals fans.

“They kind of thought we were going to come in and lay down and give them the game,” Floyd said.

“But Coach Strong always preaches that we’re better than any team in the nation if we come out and play hard. Coach Strong believed in us and our coaching staff believed in us and we came in and believed in ourselves Shaking off an early hit that flattened him and knocked off his helmet, Bridgewater was 20 of 32 passing for 266 yards and two touchdowns against the heavily fa-

voured Gators. Among his throws was a pinpoint, 15-yard timing toss that DeVante Parker acrobatically grabbed as he touched one foot down in the corner of the end zone.

His other scoring strike went to Damian Copeland from 19 yards one play after a surprise onside kick by the Gators had backfired badly. Jeremy Wright had short touchdown run which gave the two-touchdown underdogs from the Big East a 14-0 lead from which the Gators never recovered.

Florida never trailed by more than 10 points this season, and the Southeastern Conference power had lost only once going into this game.

The defeat dropped SEC teams to 3-3 this bowl season, with Alabama, Texas A&M and Mississippi still left to play.

Louisville and Florida each finished at 11-2.

Gators quarterback Jeff Driskel, who had thrown only three interceptions all season, turned the ball over three times on two interceptions — both tipped passes — and a fumble. He finished 16 of 29 for 175 yards.

“I look at this performance tonight, and I sometimes wonder, ‘Why didn’t we do this the whole season,”’ Strong said. “We said this at the beginning: We just take care of our job and do what we’re supposed to do, don’t worry about who we’re playing.”

B7

SCOREBOARD

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Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Hockey

Football

WHL EASTERN CONFERENCE East Division GP W L OTL SOL GF Prince Albert 39 24 12 0 3 137 Saskatoon 39 20 18 0 1 134 Swift Current 41 17 19 3 2 121 Moose Jaw 39 14 18 3 4 98 Regina 40 15 21 2 2 105 Brandon 40 14 22 2 2 115 Central Division GP W L OTL SOL Edmonton 38 25 8 2 3 Calgary 39 25 10 1 3 Red Deer 41 22 16 2 1 Lethbridge 41 19 17 1 4 Medicine Hat 39 17 20 2 0 Kootenay 38 13 24 1 0

GF 139 129 115 132 132 94

WESTERN CONFERENCE B.C. Division GP W L OTL SOL GF Kamloops 40 26 10 2 2 145 Kelowna 38 26 10 1 1 160 Victoria 35 19 14 0 2 106 Prince George 37 12 20 1 4 95 Vancouver 37 10 27 0 0 102

GA 114 133 115 125 146 170 GA 94 101 122 124 143 132

GA 110 94 113 133 152

Friday’s game Fifth Place Czech Republic vs. Switzerland, 6 a.m.

Pt 51 41 39 35 34 32 Pt 55 54 47 43 36 27

Saturday’s games Bronze Medal Semifinal losers, 2 a.m.

Gold Medal Semifinal winners, 6 a.m.

RELEGATION BRACKET GP WOTWOTL L GF GA Pt Finland 2 2 0 0 0 13 1 6 Slovakia 1 0 1 0 0 2 1 2 Germany 2 0 0 1 1 1 10 1 Latvia 1 0 0 0 1 1 5 0 Note: Three points awarded for a regulation win, two for an overtime/shootout win and one for an overtime/shootout loss, which is registered in the respective OTW or OTL columns.

Pt 56 54 40 29 20

U.S. Division GP W L OTL SOL GF GA Pt Portland 38 32 5 1 0 172 82 65 Spokane 37 24 12 1 0 147 114 49 Tri-City 38 21 14 1 2 117 107 45 Seattle 38 16 19 2 1 118 145 35 Everett 40 15 23 0 2 97 141 32 Note: Two points for a team winning in overtime or shootout; the team losing in overtime or shootout receives one which is registered in the OTL or SOL columns.

Wednesday’s results Medicine Hat 5 Prince Albert 2 Kootenay 4 Red Deer 1 Calgary 10 Brandon 2 Kamloops at Vancouver, Late Victoria at Kelowna, Late Tuesday’s results Lethbridge 6 Swift Current 4 Saskatoon 7 Medicine Hat 2 Thursday’s game Edmonton at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 4 Moose Jaw at Calgary, 7 p.m.

Spokane at Everett, 8:35 p.m.

Seattle at Kamloops, 8 p.m.

Swift Current at Kootenay, 7 p.m.

Kelowna at Prince George, 8 p.m.

Vancouver at Red Deer, 7:30 p.m.

Medicine Hat at Regina, 7 p.m.

Prince Albert at Saskatoon, 7:05 p.m.

Tri-City at Victoria, 8:05 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 5 Medicine Hat at Brandon, 6:30 p.m.

Vancouver at Edmonton, 7 p.m.

Swift Current at Lethbridge, 7 p.m.

Everett at Portland, 8 p.m.

Regina at Prince Albert, 7 p.m.

Kelowna at Prince George, 8 p.m.

Moose Jaw at Red Deer, 7:30 p.m.

Spokane at Seattle, 8:05 p.m.

Tri-City at Victoria, 8:05 p.m.

Wednesday Summary Ice 4 Rebels 1 First Period 1. Kootenay, Reinhart 14 (Descheneau, Benoit) 8:30.

Penalties - Underwood RD (boarding) 13:54.

Second Period 2. Kootenay, Philp 10 (Montgomery) 11:48.

Penalties - Doetzel RD (holding) 1:01, McPhee Ktn (interference) 3:06, Dumba RD (hooking) 6:40.

Third Period 3. Red Deer, Dieno 10 (Johnson) 8:06.

4. Kootenay, Philp 11 (Leach, Cable) 14:13 (pp).

5. Kootenay, Hubic 1 19:47.

Penalties - Thiel RD (holding) 12:23.

Shots on goal Red Deer 8 9 13 — 30 Kootenay 15 12 11 — 38 Goal— Red Deer: Pouliot (L, 5-6-0); Kootenay: Skapski (W, 12-16- 0).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Red Deer: 0-1; Kootenay: 1-4.

Attendance — 2,218 at Cranbrook, B.C.

Wednesday’s result Finland 8 Germany 0 Thursday’s game Slovakia vs. Latvia, 6 a.m.

Friday’s games Latvia vs. Germany, 4 a.m.

Finland vs. Slovakia, 8 a.m.

World junior scoring leaders UFA, Russia — Scoring leaders at the 2013 world junior hockey championship following Wednesday’s games: SCORING G A P Nugent-Hopkins, Cda 3 8 11 Ma.Granlund, Fin 5 4 9 Trouba, U.S. 4 4 8 Armia, Fin 3 5 8 Galchenyuk, U.S. 2 6 8 Kucherov, Rus 5 2 7 Teravainen, Fin 3 4 7 Huberdeau, Cda 2 5 7 S.Jones, U.S. 1 6 7 Gaudreau, U.S. 5 1 6 Scheifele, Cda 4 2 6 Strome, Cda 4 2 6 Andrighetto, Sui 3 3 6 Miller, U.S. 2 4 6 Arvidsson, Swe 4 1 5 Barber, U.S. 3 2 5 Collberg, Swe 3 2 5 Barkov, Fin 2 3 5 Dano, Svk 2 3 5 Jaskin, Cze 2 3 5 Molin, Swe 2 3 5 Ristolainen, Fin 2 3 5 Simion, Sui 2 3 5 Grigorenko, Rus 1 4 5 Martschini, Sui 1 4 5 Mi.Salomaki, Fin 1 4 5 Yakupov, Rus 1 4 5 Rakell, Swe 0 5 5 Bertschy, Sui 3 1 4 Kunzle, Sui 3 1 4 Matis, Svk 3 1 4 IIHF WORLD UNDER-17 CHALLENGE At Drummondville and Victoriaville, Que. PRELIMINARY ROUND Group A GP WOTWOTL L GF GA Pt Sweden 4 4 0 0 0 24 10 12 Russia 4 2 0 1 1 22 21 7 Pacific 4 1 2 0 1 20 20 6 Finland 4 1 0 1 2 17 21 4 Western Cda 4 0 0 1 3 9 20 1 Group B GP WOTWOTL L GF GA Pt U.S. 4 3 1 0 0 24 11 11 Quebec 4 3 0 0 1 11 10 9 Ontario 4 2 0 1 1 29 9 7 Atlantic Cda 4 1 0 0 3 10 23 3 Slovakia 4 0 0 0 4 5 26 0 Note: Three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime win and one for an overtime loss.

Tuesday’s results At Drummondville, Que. Ontario 11 Atlantic Canada 1 Quebec 3 Slovakia 2 At Victoriaville, Que. Sweden 7 Russia 4 Finland 5 Pacific 4 (SO) Wednesday’s results At Drummondville, Que. U.S. 7 Slovakia 2 Quebec 2 Ontario 1 At Victoriaville, Que. Russia 5 Finland 4 Pacific 4 Western Canada 3 (OT)

2013 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP At Ufa, Russia CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET Wednesday’s results Quarter-finals U.S. 7 Czech Republic 0 Russia 4 Switzerland 3 (SO)

Thursday’s games At Drummondville, Que. Seventh Place Finland vs. Atlantic Canada, 11:30 a.m.

Semifinal Sweden vs. Quebec, 7:30 p.m.

At Victoriaville, Que.

Thursday’s games Semifinals Canada vs. U.S., 2 a.m.

Sweden vs. Russia, 6 a.m.

LOCAL

BRIEFS Caine gets point in Canada loss LONDON, Ont. — Canada West was dumped 11-3 by Finland in a World Under-19 Ringette Championship semifinal Wednesday.

Red Deer’s Kelsie Caine picked up an assist in a losing cause.

Finland will take on Canada East in today’s final. Canada East advanced to the championship match with an 8-4 semifinal victory over Russia.

Canada West will face Russia in the bronzemedal game this morning.

Grizzlys’ Marcinew awarded Olds Grizzlys forward Matthew Marcinew has been honoured as the Alberta Dodger Deal-

Ninth Place Western Canada vs. Slovakia (Pavillon JeanBeliveau), 11:30 a.m.

Fifth Place Pacific Canada vs. Ontario, 11:30 a.m.

Semifinal Russia vs. U.S., 5:30 p.m.

Friday’s games At Drummondville, Que. Bronze Medal Semifinal Losers, 1 p.m.

At Victoriaville, Que. Gold Medal Semifinal Winners, 5:30 p.m.

AHL EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division GP W LOTLSOL GF Portland 32 19 11 1 1 96 Worcester 31 17 11 1 2 86 Providence 30 16 12 0 2 75 Manchester 33 14 15 2 2 88 St. John’s 34 15 18 0 1 82

GA 95 89 82 88 99

Pt 40 37 34 32 31

GF GA 99 70 101 99 69 77 77 92 89 107

Pt 39 37 29 28 28

GF 115 96 85 79 79

GA 88 73 80 85 90

Pt 45 41 34 31 29

WESTERN CONFERENCE North Division GP W LOTLSOL GF GA Toronto 32 20 9 1 2 110 81 Abbotsford 32 16 9 3 4 75 68 Rochester 31 16 12 2 1 105 99 Lake Erie 33 16 14 2 1 106 107 Hamilton 32 11 18 1 2 69 105

Pt 43 39 35 35 25

Midwest Division GP W LOTLSOL Grand Rapids 30 18 10 1 1 Rockford 33 17 14 1 1 Milwaukee 31 15 13 2 1 Chicago 29 14 11 3 1 Peoria 32 14 14 2 2

Pt 38 36 33 32 32

Northeast Division GP W LOTLSOL Springfield 30 17 8 2 3 Bridgeport 32 17 12 1 2 Albany 29 11 11 1 6 Adirondack 31 13 16 1 1 Connecticut 32 13 17 2 0

Syracuse Binghamton Hershey W-B/Scranton Norfolk

GP 32 29 32 31 30

East Division W LOTLSOL 20 7 2 3 19 7 1 2 16 14 1 1 14 14 2 1 14 15 1 0

GF 92 103 83 74 77

GA 80 97 89 81 99

South Division GP W LOTLSOL GF GA Pt Charlotte 33 18 11 1 3 101 91 40 Houston 32 17 10 2 3 99 91 39 Oklahoma City 32 17 11 1 3 107 95 38 Texas 32 16 11 3 2 81 86 37 San Antonio 34 13 17 0 4 86 101 30 Note: A team winning in overtime or shootout is credited with two points and a victory in the W column; the team losing in overtime or shootout receives one which is registered in the OTL or SOL columns.

Wednesday’s results Toronto 6 Hamilton 0 Portland 2 Providence 1 Thursday’s games Charlotte at Lake Erie, 5 p.m.

Chicago at Milwaukee, 6 p.m.

Friday’s games Manchester at St. John’s, 4:30 p.m.

Adirondack at Connecticut, 5 p.m.

Oklahoma City at Grand Rapids, 5 p.m.

Bridgeport at Springfield, 5 p.m.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at Binghamton, 5:05 p.m.

Portland at Providence, 5:05 p.m.

Rockford at Hamilton, 5:30 p.m.

Charlotte at Lake Erie, 5:30 p.m.

Syracuse at Norfolk, 5:30 p.m.

Texas at Houston, 6:05 p.m.

Peoria at San Antonio, 6:30 p.m.

Rochester at Abbotsford, 8 p.m.

Saturday’s games Rockford at Toronto, 1 p.m.

Springfield at Albany, 4 p.m.

Manchester at St. John’s, 4:30 p.m.

Connecticut at Adirondack, 5 p.m.

Lake Erie at Hamilton, 5 p.m.

Binghamton at Hershey, 5 p.m.

Bridgeport at Portland, 5 p.m.

Worcester at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 5:05 p.m.

Syracuse at Norfolk, 5:15 p.m.

Grand Rapids at Chicago, 6 p.m.

Oklahoma City at Milwaukee, 6 p.m.

Peoria at Texas, 6 p.m.

San Antonio at Houston, 6:05 p.m.

Rochester at Abbotsford, 8 p.m.

ers Alberta Junior Hockey League player of the month for December.

Marcinew scored seven goals and added nine assists for 16 points in 12 games in December and is currently riding a 17-game point streak.

Acquired from the Lloydminster Bobcats in a November trade, the 19-year-old Calgary native is ninth in AJHL scoring with 41 points (22g,19a).

The Grizzlys return to action tonight against the visiting Sherwood Park Crusaders. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. at the Sportsplex.

Conference Championships Sunday, Jan. 20 AFC, TBA (CBS) NFC, TBA (FOX) Pro Bowl Sunday, Jan. 27 At Honolulu AFC vs. NFC, 5 p.m. (NBC) Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 3 At New Orleans AFC champion vs. NFC champion, 4 p.m. (CBS) NFL Odds (Favourties capitalized, odds from SportsBetting.ag) Saturday Cincinnati at HOUSTON Minnesota at GREEN BAY Sunday Indianapolis at BALTIMORE SEATTLE at Washington

Odds

O/U

4.5 7.5

43 46

6.5 3

46.5 46

College Football FBS Bowls Thursday, Dec. 27 Military Bowl At Washington San Jose State 29, Bowling Green 20 Belk Bowl At Charlotte, N.C. Cincinnati 48, Duke 34 Holiday Bowl At San Diego Baylor 49, UCLA 26 Friday, Dec. 28 Independence Bowl At Shreveport, La. Ohio 45, Louisiana-Monroe 14 Russell Athletic Bowl At Orlando, Fla. Virginia Tech 13, Rutgers 10, OT Meineke Car Care Bowl At Houston Texas Tech 34, Minnesota 31

Red Deer Optimist Rebels Chiefs defenceman Colton Bobyk was named to the Calgary Mac’s midget AAA hockey tournament second all-star team.

The Red Deer squad posted a 3-2 record in this year’s Mac’s event. Their final game was an 8-5 quarter-final loss to the Vancouver Northwest Giants, who went on to defeat the Carolina Junior Hurricanes 3-2 in double overtime in Tuesday’s championship final.

games could be squeezed in if an agreement was reached this week.

Players voted unanimously last month to give the 30-member executive board the authority to file a “disclaimer of interest” on their behalf. Even if they let the deadline pass, they will retain the option to hold another vote to restore the power in the future.

With the deadline looming, representatives from the NHL and the union met for about an hour Wednesday afternoon at the league’s office. The NHLPA presented a new proposal during the session and received a response when the sides reconvened in the evening. The late negotiating session was still going five hours after it started.

One issue that remained unsolved was the pension fund, which was discussed in a small group meeting on Wednesday morning. The players are seeking to have their pension switched to a defined benefit program but the league wasn’t

enthused about assuming the financial risk that comes with it, according to sources.

On Tuesday night, commissioner Gary Bettman was reluctant to characterize how much progress has been made behind closed doors.

“The fact that we’re involved in a continuous process is something that I’m glad to see, but we’re clearly not done yet,” said Bettman.

However, the commissioner did acknowledge that the league offered some movement in Tuesday night’s offer while adding there were also areas where it refused to budge. It was unclear how many issues still need to be resolved and how far apart the sides are in key areas.

“Nobody is counting,” Bettman said. “We’re not trying to keep score, we’re trying to get an agreement.”

The two sides have exchanged a number of proposals after the NHL presented a 288-page contract offer to the union last week.

Pinstripe Bowl At New York Syracuse 38, West Virginia 14 Fight Hunger Bowl At San Francisco Arizona State 62, Navy 28 Alamo Bowl At San Antonio Texas 31, Oregon State 27 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl At Tempe, Ariz.

Michigan State 17, TCU 16 Monday, Dec. 31 Music City Bowl At Nashville, Tenn.

Vanderbilt 38, N.C. State 24 Sun Bowl At El Paso, Texas Georgia Tech 21, Southern Cal 7 Liberty Bowl At Memphis, Tenn.

Tulsa 31, Iowa State 17 Chick-fil-A Bowl At Atlanta Clemson 25, LSU 24 Tuesday, Jan. 1 Heart of Dallas Bowl At Dallas Oklahoma State 58, Purdue 14 Gator Bowl At Jacksonville, Fla. Northwestern 34, Mississippi State 20 Capital One Bowl At Orlando, Fla. Georgia 45, Nebraska 31 Outback Bowl At Tampa, Fla. South Carolina 33, Michigan 28 Rose Bowl At Pasadena, Calif.

Stanford 20, Wisconsin 14 Orange Bowl At Miami Florida State 31, Northern Illinois 10 Wednesday, Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl At New Orleans Louisville 33, Florida 23 Thursday, Jan. 3 Fiesta Bowl At Glendale, Ariz.

Kansas State (11-1) vs. Oregon (11-1), 6:30 p.m.

(ESPN) Friday, Jan. 4 Cotton Bowl At Arlington, Texas Texas A&M (10-2) vs. Oklahoma (10-2), 6 p.m.

(FOX) Saturday, Jan. 5 BBVA Compass Bowl At Birmingham, Ala. Pittsburgh (6-6) vs. Mississippi (6-6), 11 a.m.

(ESPN) Monday, Jan. 7 BCS National Championship At Miami Notre Dame (12-0) vs. Alabama (12-1), 6:30 p.m.

(ESPN)

Saturday, Dec. 29 Armed Forces Bowl At Fort Worth, Texas Rice 33, Air Force 14

Basketball National Basketball Association EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division W L Pct GB New York 21 10 .677 — Brooklyn 17 15 .531 4 1/2 Philadelphia 15 18 .455 7 Boston 14 17 .452 7 Toronto 12 20 .375 9 1/2

Miami Atlanta Orlando Charlotte Washington

Indiana Chicago Milwaukee Detroit Cleveland

Southeast Division W L Pct 22 8 .733 20 10 .667 12 20 .375 8 23 .258 4 26 .133

GB — 2 11 14 1/2 18

Central Division W L Pct 19 13 .594 17 13 .567 16 14 .533 12 22 .353 7 26 .212

GB — 1 2 8 12 1/2

WESTERN CONFERENCE Southwest Division W L Pct GB San Antonio 26 8 .765 — Memphis 20 9 .690 3 1/2 Houston 18 14 .563 7 Dallas 13 20 .394 12 1/2 New Orleans 7 25 .219 18

Oklahoma City Denver Portland Minnesota Utah

Northwest Division W L Pct 24 7 .774 18 15 .545 16 15 .516 14 14 .500 16 17 .485 Pacific Division W L Pct

GB — 7 8 8 1/2 9 GB

L.A. Clippers Golden State L.A. Lakers Sacramento Phoenix

25 21 15 12 12

7 10 16 20 21

.781 .677 .484 .375 .364

— 3 1/2 9 1/2 13 13 1/2

Tuesday’s Games Dallas 103, Washington 94 Portland 105, New York 100 Detroit 103, Sacramento 97 Atlanta 95, New Orleans 86 Denver 92, L.A. Clippers 78 Philadelphia 103, L.A. Lakers 99 Wednesday’s Games Sacramento 97, Cleveland 94 Toronto 102, Portland 79 Indiana 89, Washington 81 Chicago 96, Orlando 94 Memphis 93, Boston 83 Miami 119, Dallas 109, OT Houston 104, New Orleans 92 Brooklyn 110, Oklahoma City 93 San Antonio 117, Milwaukee 110 Phoenix 95, Philadelphia 89 Utah 106, Minnesota 84 L.A. Clippers at Golden State, Late Thursday’s Games San Antonio at New York, 5:30 p.m.

Minnesota at Denver, 7 p.m.

Friday’s Games Cleveland at Charlotte, 5 p.m.

Sacramento at Toronto, 5 p.m.

Brooklyn at Washington, 5 p.m.

Atlanta at Detroit, 5:30 p.m.

Portland at Memphis, 6 p.m.

Philadelphia at Oklahoma City, 6 p.m.

Indiana at Boston, 6 p.m.

Chicago at Miami, 6 p.m.

Houston at Milwaukee, 6:30 p.m.

Utah at Phoenix, 7 p.m.

L.A. Lakers at L.A. Clippers, 8:30 p.m.

Transactions Wednesday’s Sports Transactions

Bobyk named Mac’s all-star

DEADLINE PASSES FOR NHLPA TO DECLARE ‘DISCLAIMER’ WITH NO ANNOUNCEMENT, NO WORD ON DETAILS OF MEETINGS

NEW YORK — A self-imposed deadline for the NHL Players’ Association to declare a “disclaimer of interest” passed with no indication of what the union decided.

The NHLPA’s executive board had until just before midnight on Wednesday to declare that it was dissolving — a move that could open the door for players to file anti-trust lawsuits against the league.

However, top union representatives remained in meetings with the league beyond midnight, according to sources. It was part of another long day of talks with both continuing to trade proposals in a bid to save a shortened season.

Very few details of what is on the table emerged publicly with both sides closing ranks at a critical stage in negotiations. The league has set a Jan. 11 deadline to preserve a 48-game season and there was still some hope that 52

Divisional Playoffs Saturday, Jan. 12 Baltimore, Indianapolis or Cincinnati at Denver, 2:30 p.m. (CBS) Washington, Seattle or Green Bay at San Francisco, 6 p.m. (FOX) Sunday, Jan. 13 Washington, Seattle or Minnesota at Atlanta, 11 a.m. (FOX) Baltimore, Indianapolis or Houston at New England, 2:30 p.m. (CBS)

Tuesday’s result Houston 4 Oklahoma City 2

Labour talks go into the late evening

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS

NFL Playoffs Wild-card Playoffs Saturday, Jan. 5 Cincinnati at Houston, 2:30 p.m. (NBC) Minnesota at Green Bay, 6 p.m. (NBC) Sunday, Jan. 6 Indianapolis at Baltimore, 11 a.m. (CBS) Seattle at Washington, 2:30 p.m. (FOX)

BASEBALL American League TAMPA BAY RAYS — Agreed to terms with LHP David Price on a one-year contract.

National League CHICAGO CUBS — Agreed to terms with RHP Edwin Jackson on a four-year contract.

NEW YORK METS — Agreed to terms with OF Andrew Brown on a minor league contract.

Frontier League GATEWAY GRIZZLIES — Signed INF Jet Butler, RHP Chris Enourato and INF Brett Zawacki to contract extensions.

JOLIET SLAMMERS — Named Mike Breyman manager. Signed RHP Jonathan Gonzalez.

BASKETBALL National Basketball Association NBA — Fined Detroit F Charlie Villanueva $25,000 for a flagrant foul during Tuesday’s game.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS — Recalled G-F Kent Bazemore and F-C Jeremy Tyler from Santa Cruz (NBADL).

FOOTBALL National Football League ATLANTA FALCONS — Re-signed offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter to a contract extension.

BALTIMORE RAVENS — Announced the retirement of LB Ray Lewis, effective after the Ravens last playoff game.

CHICAGO BEARS — Signed DE Cheta Ozougwu to a reserve/future contract.

NEW YORK JETS — Signed WR Joseph Collins, DE Claude Davis, WR Emmanuel Arceneaux and S Bret Lockett to reserve/future contracts.

OAKLAND RAIDERS — Signed G Jason Foster, LB Jerrell Harris, DB Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, WR Travionte Session, TE Mickey Shuler and T Jason Slowey to reserve/future contracts.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES — Signed DE Everette Brown and CB Trevard Lindley to two-year contracts.

Canadian Football League WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS — Signed SB Cory Watson and G Chris Greaves to contract extensions.

HOCKEY National Hockey League BOSTON BRUINS — Reassigned F Jared Knight and F Tyler Randell from Providence (AHL) to South Carolina (ECHL).

DETROIT RED WINGS — Reassigned RW Andrej Nestrasil from Toledo (ECHL) to Grand Rapids (AHL).

OTTAWA SENATORS — Reassigned F Darren Kramer from Binghamton (AHL) to Elmira (ECHL).

American Hockey League AHL — Suspended Manchester C Andy Andreoff three games.

BINGHAMTON SENATORS — Loaned D Danny New to Elmira (ECHL).

Quebec earns semifinal berth with win over Ontario at U17 challenge

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS Julio Billia was spectacular in net to help Quebec advance to the semifinals at the under-17 world hockey challenge.

Billia made 40 saves as Quebec beat Ontario 2-1 on Wednesday to move on to a semifinal game against the United States.

Carl Neill and Loik Leveille scored second-period goals for Quebec, which entered the final round-robin game tied with Ontario in the Group B standings.

Brett Hargrave scored just three minutes into the game for Ontario, while Matthew Mancina stopped 30 shots in Drummondville, Que. Quebec will play the U.S.

on Thursday, while Russia will play undefeated Sweden in the other semi.

The Russians advanced with a 5-4 over Finland in Victoriaville, Que. Russia had to wait for the result of the Pacific-West game later Wednesday on the same rink.

Brandon Hickey’s overtime goal lifted Pacific past West 4-3, but Russia moved on with more regulation wins during the tournament.

In the early game in Drummondville, the Americans finished the round robin undefeated with a 7-2 victory over Slovakia.

B8 RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Hamilton motivates before semifinal TELLS CANADIAN TEAMMATES ABOUT EXPERIENCE OF HAVING DAY OFF BEFORE PLAYING RUSSIA LAST YEAR

WORLD JUNIORS

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS UFA, Russia — Canadian junior hockey team coach Steve Spott asked his players at a team meeting if anyone had something they wanted to say.

Dougie Hamilton put up his hand.

The Niagara IceDogs defenceman is one of six players on the Canadian team who were stunned to fall behind 6-1 to Russia in the semifinal of last year’s world junior hockey championship.

Canada mounted a third-period comeback in Calgary, but lost their chance at a gold medal in a 6-5 loss. It was the first time in 11 years Canada hadn’t played for gold.

As in 2012, this year’s team earned a bye to the semifinal by finishing first in their pool in Ufa, Russia.

That gave the Canadians a day off from the ice on New Year’s Day, plus a day of preparation while their semifinal opponent — the United States — beat the Czech Republic 7-0 in Wednesday’s quarter-final.

Defending champion Sweden will take on Russia in the other semifinal.

The Russians edged Switzerland 4-3 in a shootout in their quarter-final.

After the players had their day off Tuesday, Hamilton felt it necessary to drive home the message that the bye is not necessarily an advantage in this tournament.

“I just said last year with the time off we had, I don’t think we were prepared for the semis,” the Boston Bruins prospect explained. “You’re 4-0 and have a little bit of expectation that you’re going to just keep winning and think maybe things are going to be easy.

“Russia played the night before and it went into overtime I think. They were ready the next day and hungry and we were just kind of sitting there watching.

“We’ve got to come out tomorrow and come ready to play.”

Defenceman Scott Harrington and forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Ryan Strome, Mark Scheifele and Boone Jenner are the other veterans from that crushing loss to Russia last year.

It’s not a happy memory for them, but one that those players can use Thursday.

“It was in my head for a long time, but after, you can’t do anything about it. This year we don’t want to have that,” Huberdeau said. “What we want to do the most is have a good first period.”

The United States didn’t have to drain their tanks against the Czech Republic. Canada edged the Americans 2-1 in a Pool B game Sunday.

“When we have opportunities to score, we better score,” said U.S. coach Phil Housley. “They haven’t allowed a lot of goals. We’ve got our hands full with Canada.”

Spott turned up the volume in Canada’s practice Wednesday morning with the occasional bark at his players.

“It was important for us to manufacture what the Czechs and the Americans are going to have to go through (today),” he explained. “We had to get back to the level we’d been at.”

Canada was down two forwards to 11 because of suspensions in their round-robin game against the U.S. The Canadians will have the full complement of 13 for the rematch, which in theory should boost Canada’s scoring chances.

Spott intends to leave 17-year-old Jonathan Drouin on Canada’s top line with captain Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Scheifele when Canada is at even strength. It was a move he’d made Monday against Russia and Drouin scored an important goal in the second period.

The semifinal could be another goaltending duel between Canadian netminder Malcolm Subban and U.S. counterpart John Gibson, who were both outstanding in their preliminaryround game. Gibson is Spott’s goaltender with the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers.

The U.S. lineup features eight players out of the Canadian Hockey League, including Portland Winterhawks defenceman Seth Jones — a teammate of Canada’s Ty Rattie — and Tyler Biggs, who along with Jenner plays for the Oshawa Generals.

Jenner was one of the two players

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS

Team USA forward Cole Bardreau runs into Czech Republic and Red Deer Rebels goalie Patrik Bartosak during quarter-final IIHF World Junior Championships hockey action in Ufa, Russia on Wednesday. The U.S. won that game and faced Canada in a semifinal matchup earlier this morning. suspended for Sunday’s game against the Americans.

“We know how good the Americans are,” Spott said. “We know them, primarily a lot of them from the Canadian Hockey League and John Gibson is a player who plays for me.

“We’ve got a good book on them, but they’re very good and we’re going to have to be a lot more disciplined than the Czechs were today.”

Left-wingers John Gaudreau and Alex Galyenchuk inject speed into the U.S. forward lines. Defenceman Jacob Trouba has four goals and three assists in four games.

The U.S. finished seventh in 2012, so this team is motivated to return to the

elite level in this tournament.

“The team that wins the tournament is the team that gets better every game,” captain Jake McCabe said. “We haven’t seen our best hockey yet in this tournament.”

Since the world junior tournament switched to pool play from a roundrobin format in 1996, a semifinal bye was awarded to pool winners with the exception of 1999 and three tournaments from 2000 to 2002. All playoff teams participated in a quarter-final those years.

Three of the last five gold medallists have come through a quarter-final, including Russia (2011), the U.S. (2010) and Canada (2008).

Pettersson plans to defy belly putter ban Jets haven’t decided KAPALUA, Hawaii — Carl Pettersson says the proposed rule to ban the anchored stroke for long putters feels like a “witch hunt,” and that golf’s governing bodies were only reacting to three of the last five major champions using a belly putter.

“It seems silly to ban something that’s been around for 40 years,” Pettersson said in his first comments since the U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient Golf Club announced plans Nov. 28 to outlaw anchored strokes. “It’s unfortunate. I feel like I’m 16 years behind because I haven’t putted with anything else for 16 years.”

Pettersson, who qualified for the Tournament of Champions by winning at Hilton Head, began using a broom-handle putter that he anchors to his chest between his sophomore and junior year at North Carolina State.

Keegan Bradley (PGA Championship), Webb Simpson (U.S. Open) and Ernie Els (British Open) used a belly putter to win their majors.

Two more months of comment period remain before the rule becomes official, and then it does not take effect until the next Rules of Golf is published Jan. 1, 2016.

Even as the long putters were getting more attention, Pettersson made one of the most compelling cases to keep them. It is the only putting stroke he has used during his 10 years on the PGA Tour.

Pettersson long has argued that he has spent thousands of hours practicing the stroke, which did not come naturally to him, and that to start over would put him at an unfair disadvantage.

He was said to be among those who might consider a lawsuit if the rule is adopted, though the easygoing Swede said he would see how this year unfolded.

“I don’t know,” he said when asked if he would challenge the rule. “I haven’t made up my mind yet. I’m just going to sit back and see what happens.”

In the meantime, he has no plans to change putters.

Simpson said he had

been practicing on occasion with a short putter in case of a ban, and Bradley had some fun at the World Challenge last month when he grabbed a short putter on the practice green at Sherwood and made a 20-foot putt.

Both showed up at Kapalua with their belly putters.

“I’m not going to change,” Bradley said.

“I’m not even thinking about it, to be honest. I’m going to wait for the rule to pass first, and then I’ll think about what to do.”

Pettersson said he tinkered with a few grips during his month at home in North Carolina, though not to the point that he practiced on a real green. He also said he was not surprised by the decision, saying it became clear in the last few months that the USGA and R&A were leaning toward a ban.

“It feels a bit like a witch hunt to me,” Pettersson said. “It was a pure reaction to Keegan and Ernie and Webb.

They keep harping on the younger generation using them, but I think they’re going to ban it because it looks bad. But you have strong arguments from other play-

ers, too.”

Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker and Graeme McDowell are on a long list of players who use conventional putters and believe an anchored stroke should go away, saying it takes the skill out of putting because the top part of the club is anchored to the body.

What concerned golf’s top officials is that players no longer were using an anchored stroke out of desperation to improve their putting, but as a way to putt better.

“There’s no argument that it’s a better way to putt because then everybody would be using it,” Pettersson said. “If it was easy, everybody on the PGA Tour would be using it. So I don’t know where they got that from.

It’s just a different way of putting.”

The PGA Tour can set its own rules, and there has been speculation that when the rule passes, the tour would adopt it before 2016 to avoid the long putters getting too much attention over the next few years.

Bradley said a fan called him a cheater at the World Challenge, which prompted a statement from the USGA that reminded fans the

putting stroke remains legal.

A spokesman said PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem would not comment until a players’ meeting in two weeks at Torrey Pines. Pettersson won’t be at the meeting because he does not plan to play the Farmers Insurance Open.

“There’s so much speculation. I just wish people would say what’s going on,” Bradley said.

“From what I’ve heard, the rule is not going in for three years. I haven’t heard what the tour is going to do. I know it’s a touchy subjection. I would prefer for it to go three years so we aren’t rushed into it. I think that would be the fair way to do it.”

Pettersson said he was surprised not to have heard from Finchem, and that his hope was that golf officials weren’t talking only to those opposed to long putters.

He did say, however, that USGA executive director Mike Davis tried to call him a few weeks ago.

“I didn’t know it was him, so it went right to my voicemail,” Pettersson said.

Did he call him back?

“No,” Pettersson said.

on keeping Sparano

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Tony Sparano is still the Jets’ offensive co-ordinator.

And, as unlikely as it seems, there remains a chance he could be running Rex Ryan’s offence next season.

A person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Jets have not yet made a decision on Sparano’s job status despite many fans and media having speculated that Sparano will certainly be fired after one season. That means there’s a possibility, although it would appear slim, that Sparano could remain on Ryan’s staff.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the status of the coaching staff publicly.

Ryan, along with all of his assistants, are off until next Monday as they take a break following a dismal 6-10 season that was capped by general manager Mike Tannenbaum being fired Monday. Ryan, who is vacationing in the Bahamas, and owner Woody Johnson will not address the media until next Tuesday.

While Johnson said in a statement that Ryan will remain the Jets’ coach for next season, there still remains some uncertainty on which coaches will be back and which ones will not as the team searches for a new general manager. San Francisco director of player personnel Tom Gamble, Atlanta director of player personnel David Caldwell, Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross and former Cleveland GM Tom Heckert are expected to be among those interviewed by the Jets starting later this week.

Much of the coaching staff decisions will likely depend on who the new general manager is. It is believed Ryan will be safe regardless of who is hired, but there could be changes made on the coach’s staff. While Sparano’s status is uncertain, defensive co-ordinator Mike Pettine turned down a contract extension earlier in the season, and special teams co-ordinator Mike Westhoff retired after the season finale at Buffalo on Sunday.

on

Selected Hockey Equipment

Canadian Tire #329 C 2510 Gaetz Ave. Red Deer, AB 403-342-2222

Canadian Tire #645 300, 6380 - 50 Ave. Red Deer, AB 403-346-1497

Canadian Tire #655 #200 62 Industrial Trail, Sylvan Lake, AB 403-887-0581

52476L26-A3

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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COMICS ◆ C4 BUSINESS ◆ C5 Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Carolyn Martindale, City Editor, 403-314-4326 Fax 403-341-6560 E-mail editorial@reddeeradvocate.com

PHOTO RADAR LOCATIONS Red Deer City RCMP kicks off its photo radar campaign for 2013 at the following locations, where they will remain until Wednesday, Jan. 15: School zones at 48th Avenue, Lancaster Drive, 55th Avenue, Nolan Street and 43rd Avenue. Playground zones at Davison Drive, Cornett Drive, Niven Street, 59th Avenue and Boyce Street.

Traffic corridors at Taylor Drive, 50th Avenue, 49th Street, 49th Avenue and Riverside Drive. The RCMP reserve the right to change locations without notice.

PRAIRIE SCENES AT LACOMBE GALLERY A special show of stylized paintings of Prairie scenes come to Lacombe’s Gallery on Main in January.

Edmonton artist Marianne Harris will showcase her works in an exhibition opening Jan. 26 and running to Feb. 9. Harris will be on hand for a meet and greet during the opening’s wine and cheese reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Harris works in all media, but relies heavily on watercolours and acrylics. The Gallery on Main is located on the second level at 4910 50th Ave. in Lacombe.

‘GHOSTS’ HELPED SHAPE OUR CITY The ghosts of the past, from Red Deer’s founding to fathers to runaway pigs, helped shape the city and their stories will be the subject of an upcoming talk. Pat Matheson, Red Deer’s public art co-ordinator, is the guest speaker at the Jan. 16 Central Alberta Historical Society Meeting. Starting at 7 p.m. at the Snell Auditorium at the downtown branch of the Red Deer Public Library, 4818 49th St., Matheson will talk about how Red Deer’s pool of interesting and colourful people, animals and moments that helped shape the community’s identity.

Everyone is welcome.

For more information, call Iris at 403-3402588.

SUN ON THE WATER Late afternoon sun plays off the water and steam rising from the Red Deer River at River Bend Golf and Recreation Area. Ducks, other waterfowl as well as bald eagles can be spotted in the area through the winter so long as the river remains open.

Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff

City touting high-speed rail Beaten stop at downtown station prisoner HIGH-SPEED RAIL SERVICE NOWHERE IN FUTURE CAPITAL PLANS

BY LAURA TESTER ADVOCATE STAFF Alberta’s high-speed rail may be decades away, but the province should be acquiring the right-of-way along the Hwy 2 sooner than later, say Central Alberta leaders.

Red Deer Mayor Morris Flewwelling will continue to press the provincial government for high-speed rail to be built along the Hwy 2 corridor — even though it’s nowhere in future capital plans.

Flewwelling spoke this fall with Premier Alison Redford on how such a project would be vital for Central Alberta.

He would like to see a stop be-

low the downtown bus terminal known as Sorensen Station.

“We’re consistent with that message because we believe that, while high-speed rail isn’t going to be here tomorrow or the next day, it will one day become a part of Alberta transportation infrastructure,” said Flewwelling.

Government coffers are tight, Flewwelling said, but this shouldn’t preclude planning and thinking about the high-speed rail and private partnerships.

Flewwelling said the province must drive the project along since it’s very expensive and will continue to get more costly.

There’s urgency to acquire right-of-way and to do preliminary planning.

“When Alberta Transporta-

tion is looking at the routing of highways around Red Deer and the development of our airport, it’s very much tied to the best use of high-speed rail,” said Flewwelling.

Alberta Transportation spokesman Parker Hogan said that one of the first tasks, once the project gets the go-ahead, is to get the right-of-ways in place.

While high-speed trains may have limited crossings in Europe and elsewhere, in Alberta there’s quite a few so that would have to be considered in where it will be routed, Hogan said.

The fast train is not in any future capital plans, said Hogan.

Please see RAIL on Page C2

Contributed image

Florida inventor Daryl Oster proposes to have people travel in car-sized capsules through giant long vacuum tubes at speeds of up to 6,440 km/h (4,000 mph) for continental and intercontinental distances, and local distances at speeds below 320 km/h (200 mph).

Rail ‘tube’ travel concept appears not that far out there

BY LAURA TESTER ADVOCATE STAFF

GIVE US A CALL The Advocate invites its readers to help cover news in Central Alberta.

We would like to hear from you if you see something worthy of coverage. And we would appreciate hearing from you if you see something inaccurate in our pages.

We strive for complete, accurate coverage of Central Alberta and are happy to correct any errors we may commit.

Call 403-314-4333.

A Florida inventor’s space travel on Earth idea could make the Alberta government stop highspeed rail in its tracks.

Daryl Oster believes his Evacuated Tube Travel is the way to go and he and his team are selling licences for the rights to build the tracks and tubes.

People would travel in carsized capsules through giant long vacuum tubes at speeds of up to 6,440 km/h (4,000 mph) for continental and intercontinental distances, and local distances at speeds below 320 km/h (200 mph).

“Just going fast does not affect the human body,” says Oster’s website. “Astronauts in orbit travel faster than 20,000 mph (32,000 km/h).”

The capsules are pressurized and have plenty of air. They move through the airless tube on a magnetic track and all movement is controlled by manipulating the magnetic forces that are at play between the track and the capsule, according to Discovery News.

Prototypes, or production components for all of the individual systems exist now, according to Oster’s website.

Oster said this technology can be built for one-10th of the cost of high-speed rail and one-quarter the cost of a freeway.

The tubes can be made of any durable substance that is capable of holding a vacuum.

Red Deer County resident Kevin Mooney suggested in a letter to the editor, published in the Nov. 17 edition of the Advocate, that “Red Deer has the potential to be a demonstration pilot for evacuated tube transport.”

“The technology exists,” he said. “We just need the political will.”

Mooney said Thursday he won-

dered about this technology ever since he was a boy, when he saw a department store transporting cash via a vacuum tube up to the cash office.

He said this technology would also be good for transporting goods because it would move much faster and with less friction.

“We’re reaching the limits of conventional rail,” said Mooney.

Alberta Transportation spokesman John Lear said it’s an interesting concept.

“Alberta Transportation is always looking at new technologies, but I don’t think this was on our radar,” he said. ltester@reddeeradvocate.com

denied bail

JUDGE WON’T FREE ACCUSED WITHOUT LAWYER

BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF A prisoner tried to convince a Red Deer judge on Wednesday to free him on bail because jail wasn’t safe.

Benjamin Bjarnason, who was appearing from the Red Deer Remand Centre through closedcircuit TV, said he was assaulted while in custody suffering three broken ribs on one side and two fractured ribs on the other.

Bjarnason, 25, told Judge Darrel Riemer that he is in protective custody but still didn’t feel safe behind bars.

Despite the prisoner’s concerns, the judge said he was reluctant to allow Bjarnason to have a bail hearing without a lawyer.

Riemer adjourned Bjarnason’s case until Friday to provide time to have a legal aid lawyer appointed.

Bjarnason is one of four men charged together after RCMP found weapons and drugs during a Dec. 9 bust on Bjarnason’s home.

Cocaine, prescription drugs, drug paraphernalia, a nine-mm handgun, machete and a knife were seized after police executed a search warrant.

Bjarnason faces four firearms- and weaponsrelated offences and one count of breaching conditions of release.

Also in court was coaccused Chase Callihoo, 24, of Red Deer who faces six charges related to weapons and breaching conditions.

Callihoo, who remains in custody, is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 9.

A third co-accused, Devon Watson, 27, of Red Deer faces 13 weapons- and breach-related charges, as well as charges of assault and failing to attend court. He is in custody and will be back in court on Friday for a bail hearing.

The fourth person arrested in the bust, Jamie Symes, 27, of Red Deer was released on bail last month and is due back in court on Jan. 11. He has been charged with two counts of failing to comply with probation and one count of possession of a controlled substance. pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com

C2 RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

RIVER BEND RINK

LOCAL

BRIEFS Blackfalds gas pump damaged

Man arrested in drug bust Four days after being released after alleged drug trafficking, a Lacombe man is back in police custody facing new drug-related charges.

On Monday, members of the Lacombe Police Service executed a search warrant at a motel in Lacombe and seized a significant quantity of drugs, cash and a weapon.

Seized at the scene was about $27,000 worth of cocaine and an undisclosed amount of marijuana, police said.

Police allege evidence at the scene suggested the drugs were being packaged for street level distribution.

The male suspect arrested in the room was released four days earlier and was at large on a judicial recognizance with conditions to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, as well as to not possess drugs.

Bradley McKinnon, 20, of Lacombe, has been charged with possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, possession of the proceeds of a crime, possession of an offensive weapon and two counts of breaching a recognizance.

McKinnon was remanded into custody and will next appear in Red Deer provincial court today.

Lacombe Police said the investigation is ongoing.

STORIES FROM PAGE C1

RAIL: Province has a lot of ‘asks’ Red Deer County Mayor Jim Wood said he recognizes the province has a lot of “asks” ranging from health care and school needs to other infrastructure projects.

“But I do think there will be a point in time where we do have to garner the right-of-way for that rail line, before someone builds a bunch of development on top of it,” said Wood.

“It might be my great-grandchildren who use it, but if we have to dig under the ground and the costs go up so much, it may not even be feasible then.”

Wood said the project is not on the county’s radar right now, other than it’s important to get the right-of-ways in place.

Alberta Transportation Minister Ric McIver told a Chamber of Com-

Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff

River Bend Golf and Recreation Area superintendent Cameron Kusiek clears the way for skaters on the ponds at River Bend on Friday. The rink at River Bend is a new addition to the park this winter with both a snow bank hockey rink complete with nets and a separate skating rink for those who are not playing hockey. The club house is also open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. where hot beverages and food items can be purchased. About 15 kilometres of cross-country ski trails suitable for beginner to advanced skiing are also maintained on the site .

Curling Centre holding grand opening The Red Deer Curling Centre holds its grand opening today.

The public is encouraged to take in tours between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. of the building that recently received nearly $9 million in renovations, giving it 12 curling sheets, a 350-seat lounge and new meeting rooms.

A free family dance starts at 5:30 p.m. and children can participate in off-ice games with prizes. Free cake, a $5 dinner special and drink and other refreshment specials will also be offered.

Door prizes will be given away throughout the event.

The centre is located at 4725 43rd St., beside the Red Deer Arena.

Two suspects hunted in liquor store robbery

Police said the liquor store employees complied with the demand and the suspects left with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The two males were last seen leaving the liquor store on foot, in an unknown direction.

No one was injured during this incident.

Police describe the first male as 1.75 metres (five feet, nine inches) tall, wearing light-coloured pants, a black jacket, dark gloves and a red face mask.

The second male is described by police as wearing blue jeans, a black hoodie with a white logo and the letter P on it, blue gloves and a blue face mask.

If anyone has information that will assist police in identifying the suspects responsible for this robbery, they are asked to call the Red Deer City RCMP at 403-343-5575 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

The New Year’s Eve armed robbery of a Red Deer liquor store has police looking for two suspects.

According to the Red Deer City RCMP, the two males entered the Gaetz Avenue Liquor Store, located in the 3400 block of Gaetz Avenue, at 1:53 a.m. on Monday.

A weapon was brandished and the suspects demanded cash.

New CEO for community foundation appointed

merce audience in Fort McMurray in September that several people had come to his office saying they would build it if the government has the land.

In 2009, then-Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette predicted a highspeed train was 15 years away from having its first passengers.

The high-speed rail study looked at five station stops along the Hwy 2 corridor — the airports in Calgary and Edmonton, downtown Calgary and Edmonton, and an unidentified stop at Red Deer.

That consultants’ report evaluated four types of trains — from the slower 200-km/h diesel electric train, which would take two hours to travel from Calgary to Edmonton, to the 480 km/h magnetic levitation train, which would deliver passengers to their destination in one hour.

The high-speed rail was estimated to cost $3 billion to $20 billion, according to a 2009 study commissioned by the province.

Other factors to consider include long-term viability and whether there is enough ridership, said Hogan. ltester@reddeeradvocate.com

Heritage Ranch visitor’s centre closing for renovations

A new year means a new opportunity for Kristine Bugayong, who has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of the Red Deer and District Community Foundation Board.

BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF The visitor’s centre at Heritage Ranch will be closed from Jan. 14 to May 31 for renovations.

It means washroom facilities and food services at the centre won’t be available during that time for visitors to the park.

But the trails will remain open for use and sleigh rides will be available.

Shunda Consulting and Construction Management Ltd. has the $1-million contract for the project.

“They will probably start fencing the site this week, but physical work probably won’t happen until the 14th,” said Jerry Hedlund, project superintendent with the City of Red Deer, on Wednesday.

He said when the project went to tender in the fall, bids came back over-

30

Fake ID in fraud cases THE CANADIAN PRESS CALGARY — A 32-year-old man is accused of using fake identification to pass stolen or phoney cheques at 13 Calgary banks.

Police say the suspect was charged with 16 fraud-related offences.

Police say a man used false government IDs for a year to create aliases which allowed him to deposit hundreds of stolen or fabricated cheques.

A total of $250,000 was transferred between branches using automated teller machines and Internet banking transfers — the loss to the bank is estimated at $35,000.

Charges against Lamin Krubally of Calgary include fraud over $5,000, uttering false documents, unlawful use of credit cards and possession of stolen property.

Bugayong is originally from Manila, Philippines, and has lived in Red Deer for the past nine years. She has her master of arts in women and development studies from the University of the Philippines.

Prior to her appointment as the CEO, she worked for five years as the co-ordinator for communications and grants for the community foundation, and twice served as acting operations manager for the foundation.

“I am very excited to embark on this new adventure with the community foundation,” said Bugayong in a release.

“In the last five years, I have seen the impact of our work in the community through our grants programs, participation in important initiatives for community development, and providing donors with insight on community needs and issues. I hope we all continue to support the community foundation.”

Ron Woodward, chair of the community foundation’s board of directors, said they are confident Bugayong has the skills needed and can provide leadership for the community foundation.

Established in 1989, the foundation has collected assets of more than $10 million and has granted more than $7 million to the community in support of the charitable sector including the arts, environment, health, human services and youth programs.

budget so the city cancelled the tender and negotiated with the contractor who had the lowest bid.

“We cut back on the scope of the work to get to a budget that was workable for all parties.”

A lot of the money will be spent on updating and adding a 35-square-metre addition to the kitchen, he said.

“It was in real tough shape. It was actually more of a residential-style kitchen than a commercial-level kitchen. We’re reorganizing and giving them much-needed storage.”

Improvements will be made to the washrooms so they will be barrier-free with energy-efficient fixtures.

A little more space will also be added to one of the decks for the outdoor grill.

Hedlund said a small office will be located in the tack building so people can continue to contact ranch staff. szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com

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Police are looking for a suspect who caused significant damage to a gas pump at the Fas Gas in Blackfalds on Christmas Day. Blackfalds RCMP said a lone female pulled her dark-coloured two-door car into the gas station at about 8:10 p.m. on Dec. 25, when the station was closed.

Sgt. James Derouin said the female placed the gas nozzle in her tank and attempted to gas up, not realizing the station was closed.

She walked up to the window of the gas station and realized it was closed.

She then walked back to her driver side door and pulled away with the nozzle still in her tank, causing a significant amount of damage.

“The lady obviously forgot she put the nozzle in the tank and then she drove off,” said Derouin. “There was no intent there.”

Police estimated the damage at several thousand dollars.

The gas station’s pump has not yet been fixed.

Police are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying this female.

If anyone has information in regards to this incident, they are asked to call Blackfalds RCMP at 403-8853300 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-2228477.

»

C3

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ENTERTAINMENT

Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Fax 403-341-6560 editorial@reddeeradvocate.com

‘Tennessee Waltz’ singer Patti Page dies at 85

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

File photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Matt Damon stars as Steve Butler in Gus Van Sant’s contemporary drama, “Promised Land,” a Focus Features release.

Hollywood takes on fracking BUT ‘PROMISED LAND’ NOT A REALISTIC TREATMENT

BY MICHAEL RUBINKAM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The new movie Promised Land digs into the fierce national debate over fracking, the technique that’s generated a boom in U.S. natural gas production while also stoking controversy over its possible impact on the environment and human health.

Written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski, the film comes at an opportune time for a big-screen exploration of the issues surrounding the shale gas revolution, with cheap natural gas transforming the nation’s energy landscape and “fracking” now a household word.

But viewers shouldn’t necessarily expect a realistic treatment of drilling and fracking. It’s not that kind of film.

Lending an air of authenticity, the movie was shot in Pennsylvania, where thousands of wells have been drilled and fracked in recent years as industry heavyweights pull huge volumes of gas from the sprawling Marcellus Shale, a rock formation deep below the surface of the Earth.

But Promised Land spends little time explaining how energy companies actually go about pulling natural gas out of the ground, and what little explanation the movie does provide is simply not very accurate.

The Focus Features release instead concentrates on another aspect of the drilling boom — the battle for hearts and minds as gas companies seek to lease land for drilling while environmentalists warn of the perils of punching a bunch of holes in the ground.

Bewildered landowners, meanwhile, are left to sort out the competing claims and counterclaims.

It’s potentially fertile territory.

In real life, drilling companies injected millions of dollars into moribund local economies, transforming sleepy villages in Pennsylvania and other states into boomtowns almost overnight.

But the industry also sowed division, pitting neighbour against neighbour as some residents complained of ruined water wells and other environmental degradation.

Many others, judging by recent public opinion surveys, heralded the prosperity that drilling creates and the abundant homegrown

energy it produces.

Even here, though, the movie seeks to entertain more than enlighten, with an implausible plot twist undermining what could have been a realistic portrayal of life as it is really lived in the gas fields.

Promised Land follows Steve Butler (Damon), a gas company salesman who shows up in an economically struggling small town in Pennsylvania that happens to sit atop a vast reserve of gas.

His task: To get residents to sign on the dotted line, promising them they’ll become instant millionaires once the gas starts flowing from the shale underneath their land.

Standing in his way is Dustin Noble (Krasinski), an environmental activist determined to convince townsfolk they don’t want what the driller is selling.

Damon’s character repeatedly points out that drilling has brought new life to struggling towns, calls U.S. reliance on foreign sources of energy “insane,” and defends fracking as a technology with a proven track record of safety.

And he seems to believe it himself, at least initially.

But the film leaves little doubt as to where its sympathies lie.

“Nobody’s going to be disingenuous here.

“If you were expecting a profracking movie from Matt Damon, you were probably living in an alternate universe,” Focus Features CEO James Schamus said with a laugh.

But he insisted that “Promised Land” ultimately is not a movie about a highly technical process in which drillers use water, sand and chemicals to break apart gasbearing shale rock — and it should not be judged by that standard.

“The filmmakers didn’t necessarily set out to make, nor did they make, some kind of civics lesson or propaganda movie about fracking,” Schamus said.

Rather, he said, the movie is a Frank Capra-style yarn about “working-class identity, about aspiration, about money and what it does to you,” with fracking as the vehicle that propels the story and a healthy dose of corporate villainy.

Krasinski says he and Damon tried to avoid too much of a political message.

“We really wanted to tell a story about community, about these small towns that are going through very real situations right now, especially with the economic situa-

tion as it is,” he told the AP. Yet industry groups and environmental activists alike see Promised Land very much as a message film about the perils of the gas boom, and are reacting accordingly.

Drillers — who mounted a furious rebuttal of Gasland, the 2010 award-winning, anti-drilling HBO documentary — began pushing back against Promised Land months ago while simultaneously noting that it is indeed a work of fiction.

“We’re taking it seriously, obviously, and we’ll be ready to engage folks who may have questions about the development process as a result of the film.

“But I’m not sure anyone’s losing a lot of sleep over it at this point,” emailed Chris Tucker of Energy In Depth, an industry public relations group.

“They may have Matt Damon and Jim from The Office on their side, but we’ve got the facts, the science, the consensus of regulators, and a 65-year track record of performance and safety on ours.

So we think that’s a pretty fair fight.”

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry trade group, plans to run ads in 75 per cent of Pennsylvania’s movie theatres, encouraging Promised Land audiences to visit a website that it set up earlier this year to answer questions about shale gas.

“It’s difficult to fact-check a work of fiction, so I don’t know if we’re going to be able to do that any more than we can fact-check ’Batman,”’ said spokesman Steve Forde.

“But certainly shale gas development is generating discussion around dinner tables, it’s an important discussion to have, and that’s the angle we are looking at.”

Environmentalists, meantime, are positively giddy over the film’s depiction of an industry they view as dangerous to land, water, air and people.

They are planning their own campaign around “Promised Land,” including the distribution of anti-drilling leaflets, postcards and petitions to audiences leaving theatres.

Rebecca Roter, a Pennsylvania activist who has screened the film, said, “This is a precious opportunity to engage America on a national level about where their cheap natural gas energy is coming from and the associated human costs.”

NASHVILLE — Patti Page, the ‘Singing Rage’ who stumbled across Tennessee Waltz and made it one of the bestselling recordings ever, has died. She was 85.

Page died on New Year’s Day in Encinitas, Calif., according to publicist Schatzi Hageman.

Page was the top-selling female singer of the 1950s with more than 100 million records sold.

Her most enduring songs remain Tennessee Waltz one of two songs the state of Tennessee has officially adopted, and (How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window.

“I was a kid from Oklahoma who never wanted to be a singer, but was told I could sing,” she said in a 1999 interview.

“And things snowballed.”

She created a distinctive sound for the music industry in 1947 by overdubbing her own voice when she didn’t have enough money to hire backup singers for the single, Confess.

She went on to score sell 15 gold records and three gold albums with 24 songs in the top 10, including four that reached No. 1.

She was popular in pop music and country and became the first singer to have television programs on all three major networks, including The Patti Page Show on ABC. In 1999, after 51 years of performing, Page won her first Grammy for traditional pop vocal performance for Live at Carnegie Hall — The 50th Anniversary Concert.

Page was planning to attend a special ceremony on Feb. 9 in Los Angeles where she was to receive a lifetime acheivement award from The Recording Academy.

Page was born Nov. 8, 1927, as Clara Ann Fowler in Claremore, Okla. The family of three boys and eight girls moved a few years later to nearby Tulsa.

She got her stage name working at radio station KTUL, which had a 15-minute program sponsored by Page Milk Co. The regular Patti Page singer left and was replaced by Page, who took the name with her on the road to stardom.

Page was discovered by Jack Rael, a band leader who was making a stop in Tulsa in 1946 when he heard Page sing on the radio.

Rael called KTUL asking where the broadcast originated. When told Page was a local singer, he quickly arranged an interview and abandoned his career to be Page’s manager.

A year later she signed a contract with Mercury Records and began appearing in major nightclubs in the Chicago area.

Her first major hit was With My Eyes Wide Open I’m Dreaming, but she got noticed a few years earlier in 1947 with “Confess.”

Tennessee Waltz, her biggest selling record, was a fluke.

Because Christmas was approaching, Mercury Records wanted Page to record Boogie Woogie Santa Claus in 1950.

Page and Rael got hold of Tennessee Waltz, convinced that a pop artist could make a smash hit out of it.

Mercury agreed to put it on the B-side of the Christmas song.

“Mercury wanted to concentrate on a Christmas song and they didn’t want anything with much merit on the flip side,” Page said.

“They didn’t want any disc jockeys to turn the Christmas record over.

The title of that great Christmas song was Boogie Woogie Santa Claus, and no one ever heard of it.”

Tennessee Waltz became the first pop tune that crossed over into a big country hit.

The waltz was on the charts for 30 weeks, 12 of them in the top 10, and eventually sold more than 10 million copies, behind only White Christmas by Bing Crosby at the time.

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LOS ANGELES — In the world of paparazzi, one image of the rich or famous can be like winning the lottery. But the hunt can be dangerous — even deadly.

A photographer was struck by a car and killed on Tuesday as he darted across a street after snapping pictures of Justin Bieber’s white Ferrari — and the teen heartthrob wasn’t even in the car. Bieber said his prayers were with the photographer’s family.

“Hopefully this tragedy will finally inspire meaningful legislation and whatever other necessary steps to protect the lives and safety of celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders, and the photographers themselves,” Bieber said in the statement released by Island Def Jam Music Group.

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Paparazzo hit by car and killed after taking pictures of Bieber’s Ferrari

C4 RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013 FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE

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Jan. 3 1992 — Miss Canada Pageant scrapped after 45 years, due to changing tastes and politics. Nicole Dunsdon, crowned in October 1991, is the last Miss Canada.

1943 — Canadian Army troops arrive in North Africa.

1941 — Canada and the U.S. acquire air bases at Gander and Goose Bay on a 99-year lease.

1901 — Winston Spencer Churchill speaks at Massey Hall during book tour of Canada; talks about his adventures and exploits in Boer War. 1862 — The Rifle Brigade lands at Saint John.

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TUNDRA

SUDOKU Complete the grid so that every row, every column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 through 9.

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C5

BUSINESS

Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Harley Richards, Business Editor, 403-314-4337 E-mail editorial@reddeeradvocate.com

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SPORT MART CLOSING IN THE SPRING Red Deer’s Sport Mart store is liquidating its stock in preparation for a spring closure. The store, which is located in Village Mall at 6320 Gaetz Ave., is expected to cease operations in March, said an official with owner FGL Sports. A second Red Deer Sport Mart at 2325 Gaetz Ave. closed its doors in August. FGL Sports, which previously operated as Forzani Group Ltd. and is owned by Canadian Tire Corp., announced in May that it intended to focus on its Sport Chek and Atmosphere banners. It said it would close “under-performing, non-strategic corporate banners,” including standalone Sport Mart, Athletes World, Nevada Bob’s Golf, Hockey Experts, Fitness Source and Econosports stores — or convert them into Sport Chek or Atmosphere outlets.

FGL Sports said it expected to add more than 100 Sport Chek and Atmosphere stores across Canada over the next five years. A company official said previously that the Sport Chek store in Parkland Mall and the Atmosphere store in Southpointe Common would not be affected by the changes.

FISCAL DEAL GOOD, BUT RISKS REMAIN: FLAHERTY OTTAWA — Canada’s finance minister says the U.S. economy still faces significant risks despite a last-minute deal to keep income taxes from rising on the middle class and the poor. While Jim Flaherty is welcoming the agreement to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, he says the United States isn’t out of the woods yet.

He says he hopes congressional leaders can keep working together to set the country on a sustainable path. Congress has been deeply and bitterly split over the fiscal deal for months.

The agreement reached late Tuesday night includes a tax hike for Americans earning more than $400,000 a year and couples earning $450,000 or more, while preserving middle-class tax cuts that were to expire in 2013.

Craig Howes, left, explains the GoTire concept to dragons Bruce Croxon, Kevin O’Leary, David Chilton, Arlene Dickinson and Jim Treliving.

Assisting Howes is Branson Lepage, centre, and Heather Murphy, right.

GoTire gains traction

BY HARLEY RICHARDS ADVOCATE BUSINESS EDITOR It’s tough to predict when opportunity will knock.

Craig Howes and Heather Murphy are counting on Jan. 13.

That’s when the Red Deer couple’s appearance on Dragons’ Den — a popular CBC program in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of celebrity investors — is scheduled to hit the airwaves.

They’re optimistic the television exposure will generate national interest in their GoTire Mobile Tire Service.

The business, which Howes and Murphy started in 2011, is a mobile tire-changing and replacement service. GoTire also sells tires, performs auto detailing, and repairs and replaces windshields.

The concept has proven popular with

many vehicle owners, and eight GoTire franchises have been sold to date.

Howes and Murphy decided that Dragons’ Den would be a great way to market their business, but also saw the value of enticing the show’s business moguls — Arlene Dickinson, Kevin O’Leary, Bruce Croxon, Jim Treliving and David Chilton — to invest.

“An opportunity to bring on an investor, any one of the dragons and/or many of them, it could catalyze the business,” said Howes, explaining that the dragons’ deep pockets could prove invaluable.

“As you’re growing, the one thing you can never do is underestimate the cash that you’ll require for growth.”

Earning a spot on Dragons’ Den was no simple matter, with most applicants eliminated during the screening process. Howes and Murphy submitted a professional audition tape and then went all out when in-

vited to meet the dragons on April 25.

“Heather had actually done full reports on each one of the dragons,” said Howes.

“We planned for six months; we had an advisory council.”

They spent $120,000 on a demo van, which they drove to Toronto and brought with them onto the set.

“One dragon, without saying who, actually ran out of his chair and jumped in and said he was quitting his day job,” laughed Howes. “He just wanted to have his own van.”

Howes couldn’t elaborate further prior to the broadcast, but said he and Murphy were pleased with the experience.

“An average pitch is five to 20 minutes, and we were on there for an hour and 25 minutes pitching.”

Please see GOTIRE on Page C6

Agri-Trend Group expands its services

BY HARLEY RICHARDS ADVOCATE BUSINESS EDITOR A Red Deer-based agricultural consulting business has expanded its services to include support for farmers negotiating land deals with energy companies.

Agri-Trend Land Resources is the newest business unit in the Agri-Trend Group of Companies. Through it, certified “LandCoaches” help farmers and landowners with surface rights negotiations, including valuing lands and determining appropriate compensation.

“It could be as simple as a contract negotiation for a right-of-way, to a multi-level, multi-site facility installation, including pipeline access, batteries and rights-ofway,” said Rob Saik, CEO of the Agri-Trend Group.

He pointed out that many farmers find themselves negotiating land deals with energy companies.

“Everybody is dealing with these issues surrounding industry and the energy sector crossing the land or accessing the land, and even government compliance is starting to filter in here,” said Saik.

“It’s fraught with complexity and it’s fraught with suspicion.”

Farmers may not understand the issues involved but have few choices when it comes to seeking help, he said.

“There are only a handful of individuals that are qualified to deal with the issue from the farmer’s perspective as an advocate.”

Agri-Trend Land Resources’ Land-Coaches will be supported by experts, said Saik.

These include advisers who have worked with government, farmers and industry on surface rights issues.

“We’ve assembled a group of high-level expertise to support these Land-Coaches to make sure that the farmers are getting all the proper answers and documentation necessary.”

Saik said that Agri-Trend Land Resources will seek to avoid needless confrontation, and instead work toward a “fair, transparent, equitable arrangement.” But, he stressed, it will represent the farmer.

“The farmer is the one we work for.”

Agri-Trend Land Resources was launched in November.

Please see AGRI-TREND on Page C6

Photo by RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff

Workers install windows on the facade of the new Olds Dodge Chrysler Jeep dealership in Netook Crossing Business Park east of Olds.

Olds car dealership building new home

BY ADVOCATE STAFF An Olds auto dealership expects to be in a new building by May. Olds Dodge Chrysler Jeep is constructing new premises in Netook Crossing Business Park east of Olds. The dealership has operated at its current location at 6207 46th St. for nearly 20 years.

“It’s pretty exciting times for us,” said Dan Wiebe, dealer principal and general manager of Olds Dodge Chrysler Jeep.

“We’ve been in a very small facility for a lot of years here.”

The new building will have a 10-car

showroom, 14 mechanical bays and indoor drive-through service. It will also boast a community room that can be used by nonprofit groups at no charge.

Wiebe said the new dealership will carry a much larger inventory of vehicles, with storage space for about 250 cars and trucks.

He’s optimistic it will draw customers from a much broader area, particularly given its visibility and accessibility from Hwy 2.

“We’re anticipating a huge increase in traffic.”

Wiebe said the project has been planned for about five years.

Phoenix Construction Inc. is the general contractor.

Blue Horizon buys demonstration plant

BY ADVOCATE STAFF Red Deer-based Blue Horizon Industries Inc. (CNSX: BH) has announced that its subsidiary Blue Horizon Bio-Diesel Inc. has purchased a renewable diesel demonstration plant.

A release issued by Blue Horizon Industries said the demonstration plant is located in Reno, Nev. Blue Horizon Industries also announced that another subsidiary, Blue Horizon Energy Inc., has sold an interest in three oil assets in Northern Alberta for $1.2 million.

“It was important to diverse of our oil assets in order to concentrate on the development of the renewable diesel business,” said Don Allan, president and CEO of Blue Horizon Industries. “As well, it allowed us to settle some debts in the oil company.

The purchase of the plant, is a significant step forward in our business plan to be a major producer of renewable diesel.”

In addition to its interest in Blue Horizon Bio-Diesel and Blue Horizon Energy, Blue Horizon Industries owns 74 per cent of Blue Horizon Mining Inc. Blue Horizon Contracting and BH Energy are whollyowned divisions of Blue Horizon Energy.

C6 RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

MARKETS COMPANIES OF LOCAL INTEREST Wednesday’s stock prices supplied by RBC Dominion Securities of Red Deer. For information call 341-8883.

Diversified and Industrials Agrium Inc. . . . . . . . . . . 101.43 ATCO Ltd.. . . . . . . . . . . . 80.40 BCE Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.94 Bombardier . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.85 Brookfield . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.60 Cdn. National Railway . . 90.77 Cdn. Pacific Railway. . . 104.10 Cdn. Satellite . . . . . . . . . . 6.15 Cdn. Utilities . . . . . . . . . . 71.63 Capital Power Corp . . . . 23.00 Cervus Equipment Corp 18.65 Dow Chemical . . . . . . . . 33.05 Enbridge Inc. . . . . . . . . . 43.07 Finning Intl. Inc. . . . . . . . 25.61 Fortis Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.43 General Motors Co. . . . . 29.13 Parkland Fuel Corp. . . . . 19.21 Research in Motion. . . . . 11.57 SNC Lavalin Group. . . . . 41.05 Stantec Inc. . . . . . . . . . . 41.69 Telus Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . 65.20 Transalta Corp.. . . . . . . . 15.29 Transcanada. . . . . . . . . . 47.25 Consumer Brick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.34 Canadian Tire . . . . . . . . . 69.20 Gamehost . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.70 Loblaw Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . 42.00 Maple Leaf Foods. . . . . . 11.99 Rona Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.66

Shoppers . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.68 Tim Hortons . . . . . . . . . . 48.80 Wal-Mart . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69.24 WestJet Airlines . . . . . . . 19.98 Mining Barrick Gold . . . . . . . . . . 35.08 Cameco Corp. . . . . . . . . 19.96 First Quantum Minerals . 22.17 Goldcorp Inc. . . . . . . . . . 36.95 Hudbay Minerals. . . . . . . 10.55 Inmet Corp.. . . . . . . . . . . 75.08 Kinross Gold Corp. . . . . . . 9.73 Potash Corp.. . . . . . . . . . 40.67 Sherritt Intl. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.91 Teck Resources . . . . . . . 37.50 Energy Arc Energy . . . . . . . . . . . 23.92 Badger Daylighting Ltd. . 31.00 Baker Hughes. . . . . . . . . 42.13 Bonavista . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.65 Bonterra Energy . . . . . . . 45.30 Calfrac Well Svcs. Ltd. . . 25.27 Cdn. Nat. Res. . . . . . . . . 29.21 Cdn. Oil Sands Ltd. . . . . 20.18 Canyon Services Group. 11.44 Cenovous Energy Inc. . . 33.67 Central AB Well . . . . . . . . 0.70 Encana Corp. . . . . . . . . . 19.34 Essential Energy. . . . . . . . 2.10 Exxon Mobil . . . . . . . . . . 88.71 Halliburton Co. . . . . . . . . 35.71

High Arctic . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.21 Husky Energy . . . . . . . . . 29.27 Imperial Oil . . . . . . . . . . . 42.44 IROC Services . . . . . . . . . 2.24 Nexen Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.61 Pengrowth Energy . . . . . . 4.92 Penn West Energy . . . . . 10.82 Pinecrest Energy Inc. . . . . 1.49 Precision Drilling Corp . . . 8.47 Suncor Energy . . . . . . . . 33.41 Talisman Energy . . . . . . . 11.50 Trican Ltd.. . . . . . . . . . . . 13.23 Trinidad Energy . . . . . . . . 7.23 Vermilion Energy . . . . . . 52.33 Financials Bank of Montreal . . . . . . 61.19 Bank of N.S. . . . . . . . . . . 58.38 CIBC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.12 Cdn. Western . . . . . . . . . 29.06 Carfinco . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.41 Great West Life. . . . . . . . 24.20 IGM Financial . . . . . . . . . 42.13 Intact Financial Corp. . . . 64.36 Manulife Corp. . . . . . . . . 13.67 National Bank . . . . . . . . . 77.38 Rifco Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.45 Royal Bank . . . . . . . . . . . 60.50 Sun Life Fin. Inc.. . . . . . . 26.75 TD Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.19

MARKETS CLOSE TORONTO — Traders showed they still had some optimism for the economy as stocks moved higher Wednesday in the first trading session since the U.S. Congress agreed on measures to avoid the so-called “fiscal

cliff.”

The S&P/TSX composite index closed 107.24 points higher at 12,540.77, while the TSX Venture Exchange was ahead 18.54 points at 1,239.84.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.99 of a cent to 101.50 cents US.

On Wall Street, the cliff aversion triggered a rally with the Dow Jones industrials jumping 308.41 points to 13,412.55.

The Nasdaq rose 92.75 points to 3,112.26 and the S&P 500 index gained 36.23 points to 1,462.42.

The budget deal, reached just before midnight Tuesday, left several issues unresolved and it was unclear how long markets would be lifted by the agreement.

“The last couple of weeks people were starting to worry whether or not this thing would even get done, and the fact that we did avert the fiscal cliff has put people in a good mood and a buying mood,” said Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer of Sun Life Global Investments.

But Adatia said the positive momentum of traders will likely be tested in the coming sessions.

“I don’t think this rally will be long lasting, but it does help the start of the year.”

The bill that Congress approved calls for higher taxes on incomes over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples, a victory for President Barack Obama. Earnings above those amounts would be taxed at a rate of 39.6 per cent, up from 35 per cent. It also delays for two months $109 billion worth of across-the-board spending cuts that were set to kick in this week.

Though fiscal cliff fears have eased, investors still have a host of issues to worry about — not least the prospect of more debates over unresolved longer-term U.S. budget issues.

The next major debate will involve what is known as the debt ceiling — which is essentially how much the government is allowed to borrow. President Obama has said he will not negotiate the issue.

In commodities, oil prices rose with the February contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead $1.30 to US$93.12 a barrel.

The TSX gold sector was higher as the March bullion contract moved ahead $13 to US$1,688.80 an ounce. Copper prices for the March contract were up 8.4 cents to US$3.74 a pound.

Metals and mining stocks were the biggest gainer, rising 3.8 per cent. Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) was up $1.35 to $37.50.

Shares in Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. (TSX:PBG) fell 91 per cent in the first trading day since the company completed a major reorganization.

The company, now referred to as New Petrobank, announced on Monday it had completed the spinoff of its 57 per cent stake in PetroBakken Energy Ltd. (TSX:PBN), a light oil-focused company. Its stock closed at $1.17, a drop of $11.23.

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (TSX:RIM) shares fell 23 cents to $11.57 as reports surfaced that Apple may be testing its next iPhone model and operating system with a mid-year release target.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS TORONTO — Highlights at the close of Wednesday at world financial market trading.

Stocks: S&P/TSX Composite Index — 12,540.77 up 107.24 points TSX Venture Exchange — 1,239.84 up 18.54 points TSX 60 — 718.62 up 4.90 points Dow — 13,412.55 up 308.41 points S&P 500 — 1,462.42 up 36.23 points Nasdaq — 3,112.26 up 92.75 points Currencies at close:

Cdn — 101.50 cents US, up 0.99 of a cent Pound — C$1.6010, down 1.67 cents Euro — C$1.2990, down 1.27 cents Euro — US$1.3185, up 0.01 of a cent Oil futures: US$93.12 per barrel, up $1.30 (February contract) Gold futures: US$1,688.80 per oz., up $13 (February contract) Canadian Fine Silver Handy and Harman: $31.758 oz., up $0.636 $1,021.02 kg., up $20.45 ICE FUTURES CANADA WINNIPEG — Closing prices: Canola: Jan ’13 $1.40 higher $603.20; March ’13 $2.50 lower $587.40; May ’13 $3.30 lower $581.00; July ’13 $3.40 lower $577.90; Nov. ’13 $2.90 lower $538.40; Jan. ’14 $2.90 lower $540.30; March ’14 $2.90 lower $540.30; May ’14 $2.90 lower $538.20; July ’14 $2.90 lower $535.30; Nov. ’14 $2.90 lower $537.30; Jan ’15 $2.90 lower $537.30.

Barley (Western): March ’13 unchanged $247.00; May ’13 unchanged $248.00; July ’13 unchanged $248.50; Oct. ’13 unchanged $248.50; Dec ’13 unchanged $248.50; March ’14 unchanged $248.50; May ’14 unchanged $248.50; July ’14 unchanged $248.50; Oct. ’14 unchanged $248.50; Dec. ’14 unchanged $248.50;March ’15 unchanged $248.50.

Wednesday’s estimated volume of trade: 218,580 tonnes of canola; 0 tonnes of barley (Western Barley) Total: 218,580.

First Nation blockade on railway line taken down

BY THE CANADIAN PRESS SARNIA, Ont. — A nearly two-week long First Nation blockade of a railway line in Sarnia, Ont., was being dismantled Wednesday night just hours after an Ontario judge ruled that it must come down.

Lawyers for CN Rail launched court action against Ron Plain, a member of the Aamjiwnaang (AWN’-ja-nong) First Nation, alleging that he was in contempt of an injunction to disband the protests on the railway tracks.

The court injunctions were issued on Dec. 21 and 27 and granted police the power to end the blockade to their discretion.

CN also filed a motion for Sarnia Police Chief Phil Nelson to appear Wednesday before a judge to explain what the force was doing about the protest.

Protesters with the Aamjiwnaang First Nation set up the blockade last month to denounce the federal government’s omnibus Bill C-45, which they claim eliminates treaty and aboriginal rights set out in the Constitution.

CN spokesman Jim Feeny said Wednesday night that the blockade was being removed and once that was

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS

First Nations protesters march down the railway tracks after abandoning their blockade of the CN tracks in Sarnia Ontario, Wednesday after a court injunction ordered them to move. The protest, part of the Idle No More movement, has blocked the tracks for 13 days. complete, railway crews would go in to inspect the track and signals.

Following his court appearance, Plain had said that there were no plans

to disband the blockade, but Wednesday night he said the group was leaving after holding a ceremony.

The group alleges the railway tracks were not laid down legitimately.

The Sarnia blockade is one of several actions being taken across the country as part of an aboriginal movement known as Idle No More.

The blockade was in support of Attiwapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, who has been on a hunger strike in Ottawa since Dec. 11 demanding a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Spence hopes that her strike will bring attention to aboriginal issues and secure her a meeting with Harper and the Governor General.

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley had said he was concerned that there might not be a peaceful resolution to the blockade, admitting he was worried patience for the blockade was running out.

“As every day goes by, concern about tensions is rising because there is an economic impact. It’s having a negative impact here on industry,” said Bradley.

The Sarnia police had said its officers would not disband the blockade unless it posed a safety risk.

Cliffhanger: last-minute deal leaves major fights ahead

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — A last-minute deal in Congress to avoid the economy-shaking “fiscal cliff” sent world stocks climbing Wednesday but doesn’t solve the problem of the massive U.S. deficit, meaning other battles on deep spending cuts and the federal debt limit loom in the coming weeks and months.

All the major U.S. stock indexes jumped by at least 2 per cent, and the Dow Jones industrial average saw its biggest surge in six months.

A smiling President Barack Obama said he would sign the law “that raises taxes on the wealthiest two––– per cent of Americans while preventing tax hikes that could have sent the economy back into recession.” Then he left for Hawaii to resume his holiday break.

The deal that squeezed through a sharply divided Congress just hours before most financial markets reopened from the New Year’s holiday keeps income taxes from rising on the middle class and the poor, but it puts off major decisions on more than $100 billion in defence and domestic spending cuts.

Congress also will have to act as early as February on raising the $16.4 trillion federal borrowing limit, which will allow the country to pay its bills.

The U.S. officially hit that debt limit Monday. “If Congress refuses to give

the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic — far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff,” Obama said.

That means more potential drama ahead for those who have marveled at the inability of U.S. leaders to address chronic deficit spending — especially Europeans, who have faced plenty of debt problems of their own.

It also means that fiscal issues risk crowding out ones such as gun violence, immigration and jobs.

Obama warned that he will “not have another debate with this Congress” on the debt ceiling. The makeup of Congress changes on Thursday, when dozens of new members are seated.

If the fiscal deal had not been reached by then, the new Congress would have had to start over, and Americans would have faced automatic spending cuts and tax increases of more than $500 billion in 2013 alone.

The fiscal cliff, with its Jan. 1 deadline, was put in place in 2011 as motivation for the Obama administration and Congress to find ways to reduce the deficit, which now averages about $1 trillion a year.

Economists had warned that the sudden combination of taxes and spending could have swung the country back into recession. Some have said even this limited fiscal deal with hurt

STORIES FROM PAGE C5

GOTIRE: Episode Jan. 13 That pitch will be part of the Jan. 13 episode of Dragons’ Den, with the show to appear on CBC at 8 p.m. Howes and Murphy plan to share the experience with friends, business associates and others.

D I L B E R T

economic growth this year.

The deal to avert that scenario — and put in place the first significant tax increase in two decades — passed a final hurdle when the House of Representatives passed it late Tuesday, despite loud protests from conservative Republicans who hate the idea of raising taxes at all. They wanted to see more spending cuts in the agreement.

“I’m embarrassed for this generation. Future generations deserve better,” said one Republican opponent, Rep. Louie Gohmert.

The deal put off the issue of spending cuts, stopping $24 billion in spending cuts set to take effect over the next two months.

Moments after the vote, Obama strode into the White House briefing room and claimed a victory, though it was Vice-President Joe Biden, a decades-long veteran of the Senate, who was called to the negotiating table to work with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to get the deal through the Senate in the early hours of the new year.

Some liberal Democrats criticized Obama for not sticking to a harder line in negotiations, considering that he no longer faces re-election.

Obama now can sign the bill remotely using a machine called an “autopen,” or the bill can be flown to Hawaii for his signature.

The bill tackles the most sensitive issue, higher taxes. It would boost the

“We’re throwing a bit of a shaker over at the Westerner,” said Howes, adding that the party is expected to start at 5 p.m.

Thereafter, he and Murphy hope the phone will start ringing. They’ve developed custom software to receive and process franchise requests, and have set up a van assembly line and a training system that should allow 100 to 140 franchises to be operational within six to 12 months.

“We’ve spent nearly a million dollars,” said Howes, adding that 20 to 25 per cent of this total was dedicated to the Dragons’ Den bid and follow-up.

“When we made the decision to do this, it was very much an all-or-nothing decision.”

Anyone interested in attending the Jan. 13 broadcast party can call

top 35 per cent income tax rate to 39.6 per cent for households making more than $450,000 a year, while continuing decade-old income tax cuts for everyone else.

In his re-election campaign last year, Obama had wanted higher taxes for households making more than $250,000 a year.

The measure would raise taxes by about $600 billion over 10 years, but it is not balanced enough to shrink the federal deficit. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said it would add nearly $4 trillion over a decade, a calculation that assumed taxes would otherwise have risen on taxpayers at all income levels.

Scores of Republican lawmakers voted for the measure, reversing a quarter-century of solid opposition by their party to raising any tax rates at all.

The most powerful Republican in Congress, House Speaker John Boehner, voted for the bill, an unusual step because speakers seldom vote. Republicans, who control the House, voted against the measure by a 151-85 margin, but Democrats in the House voted by an overwhelming 172-16 for the agreement.

Supporters of the bill in both parties expressed regret that the bill was narrowly drawn and fell far short of a sweeping plan that combined tax changes and spending cuts to reduce federal deficits.

organizer Jenny of Lucky Day Weddings Inc. at 403318-0826. hrichards@reddeeradvocate.com

AGRI-TREND: Surface rights a hot topic among farmers But it’s a service Saik had pondered for years.

He’d noted that the topic of surface rights was always popular with farmers.

So far, said Saik, interest in Agri-Trend Land Resources has been high with farmers. But it’s also gained support from energy companies, which recognize that a professional adviser acting on behalf of farmers can reduce suspicion and delays.

“I’m cautiously optimistic this could be the biggest thing we’ve done at Agri-Trend so far,” said Saik. “The pent-up demand seems to be there.” hrichards@reddeeradvocate.com

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Obituaries LADD Margaret (Peggy) 1922-2013

SEIBERT, Irma Elizabeth 1927-2013

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing o f o u r b e l o v e d m o t h e r, grandmother and great grandmother, Peggy Ladd (formerly of Red Deer). Peggy passed away on January 1st, 2013 at the age of 90 years, while under the wonderful care of the nurses and staff at the Bentley Care Centre.

“Life’s Work Well Done” SYLVAN LAKE AND ROCKY FUNERAL HOMES AND CREMATORIUM your Golden Rule Funeral Homes, entrusted with the arrangements. 403-887-2151 DEBRUIJNE Martin 1930-2012 Martin DeBurijne, passed away at the Pines Lodge on December 30, 2012 at the age of 82 years. A Funeral Service for Mr. DeBruijne will be held on Friday, January 4, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. at the Pines Lodge, 52 Piper Drive, Red Deer, Alberta. Memorial donations in Martins memory may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.

Condolences may be forwarded to the family by visiting www.eventidefuneralchapels.com Arrangements entrusted to Rebekah Sealock EVENTIDE FUNERAL CHAPEL 4820 - 45 Street, Red Deer.

Phone (403) 347-2222

Over 2,000,000 hours St. John Ambulance volunteers provide Canadians with more than 2 million hours of community service each year.

KOCHER Lyle Alton 1918 - 2013 It is with great sadness that our family announces the passing of Lyle Alton Kocher of Red Deer, AB. He passed away peacefully at the Red Deer Regional Hospital on January 1, 2013 at the age of 9 4 y e a r s . Ly l e w a s t h e youngest of six born at Clive, AB on the family farm to Mildred and Willis Kocher.

Lyle will be deeply missed by his wife of 67 years, Sylvia; daughters Sandra Nugent (Pat), and Lori Anne Kocher; sons John (Anneli), Peter (Patty MacNaughton), and Mark (Kluane Dobson); his grandchildren Richard Crozier, Zina (Ian Houghton), Michael, Kye, Ben and Anna. He is also survived by a large extended family of in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins.

He was predeceased by his daughter, Susan Crozier.

Lyle attended Olds Agricultural College before proudly serving in WWII (from 1942 - 1944) with the Canadian Forces in northern Africa and Italy. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for almost 70 years and a member of the Royal Canadian Legion. He enjoyed watching and participating in many sports particularly hockey, curling and baseball.

Lyle was a lifelong learner who influenced many with his warm smile, infectious laugh and quirky sense of humour.

He experienced a variety of occupations including farming in the Clive District and as a real estate agent in Red Deer and enjoyed working as a volunteer at Sunnybrook Farm Museum.

The family wishes to express its appreciation to the staff on Unit 33 at the Red Deer Regional Hospital for the excellent care he was given.

A service in celebration of Lyle’s life will take place at Eventide Funeral Chapel (4820-45 Street, Red Deer) on Friday, December 4, 2013 at 11 a.m. Memorial contributions may be made to Sunnybrook Farm Museum 4701 - 30 Street, Red Deer, AB, T4N 5H7, to the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Alberta, #202, 5913 - 50 Avenue, Red Deer, Alberta, T4N 4C4, or to a charity of your choice.

Condolences may be forwarded to the family by visiting www.eventidefuneralchapels.com Arrangements entrusted to Craig Kanngiesser EVENTIDE FUNERAL CHAPEL 4820 - 45 Street, Red Deer.

Phone (403) 347-2222

After selling her home in Upper Fairview in 2003; she resided at the Pines Lodge until 2008. She then moved to Masterpiece Senior Living before finally moving to the Bentley Care Centre in February 2012.

Peggy is survived by her four children, Bonnie (Daniel) Watt of Kamloops, Larry (Diana) Ladd of Edmonton, Judy (Ronald) Glover of Kamloops, Allen (Jean) Ladd of Gull Lake, fourteen grandchildren, and twenty-three great grandchildren, sister-in-laws, Lois Hyland, and Shirley (Rosaire) Parenteau, as well as, numerous nieces and nephews.

Peggy was predeceased by her parents Andrew and Jean McBain, her husband Judd in 1995, brothers Bill and Andy McBain, Sisters Mamie Maine, Jessie Meaver, and Betty Knight, grandson Justin Ladd, niece Marlene Norman, and brother-in-laws Lionel Hyland and Burrel Ladd.

Peggy touched and impacted the lives of anyone she encountered; she adopted both young and old into her extended family. Peggy was loved and admired by everyone who was blessed to have had her in their lives.

Peggy’s children would like to thank the staff at the Bentley Care Centre for the extra special care she received in her last year. Peggy loved each of these ladies dearly as she shared her special kisses; which have been fondly named “Peggy Kisses”.

We love you Mom, Fly with the Angels.

A Memorial Service will be held at Eventide Funeral Chapel (4820-45 Street, Red Deer) on Sunday, January 6, 2013 at 2 p.m.

In Lieu of flowers Memorial Tributes in Peggy’s honor may be made directly to the Alzheimer’s Society, 104 - 4805 - 48 Avenue Red Deer, Alberta, T4N 3T2, or to a charity of your choice.

Condolences may be forwarded to the family by visiting: www.eventidefuneralchapels.com.

Arrangements entrusted to Craig Kanngiesser EVENTIDE FUNERAL CHAPEL 4820 - 45 Street, Red Deer.

Phone (403) 347-2222

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COLE Jack E. Nov. 13, 1917 to Dec. 20, 2012 Jack Cole of Red Deer formally from Sylvan Lake passed away peacefully at the Red Deer Regional Hospital on December 20, 2012 at the age of 95. Jack is lovingly remembered by his sons Bob (Judy) and Barry (Janet); grandsons Cory, David, and Evan; great grandsons Cody and Kestyn; and his partner for the past 15 plus years I r e n e Wa r d i l l . J a c k w a s predeceased by his wife Bernice; parents Charles and Mable Cole; sisters Erlene, Josephine, Francis and brothers Bill Dale and LaVerne. Jack was a World War II veteran as a wireless instructor in the Canadian Air Force. After the war Jack and Bernice moved to Sylvan Lake in 1946 to open up a butcher shop with brother LaVerne, later building a new grocery and meat store on Main Street Sylvan Lake in the early 60’s and sold in the late 60’s. After selling out, he worked for Bloome’s Hardware and Sylvan L a k e Ve n d o r s . H e w a s approached by Horne and Pitfield and subsequently hired as a meat supervisor and retiring in 1980. After retirement Jack and Bernice spent many years in Mesa, Arizona until Bernice became ill and passed away. Jack and Irene spent some years travelling and spending time in Lake Havasu until Jack could not travel anymore.

Irene spent many hours at Mitchener Extendicare taking care of Jack and was very devoted to him. We would like to thank her for her love, devotion, and care of Dad. A memorial service for Jack was held at the Chapel of the Sylvan Lake Funeral Home 5019- 47A Ave Sylvan Lake, AB on Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 1:00 P.M. As an expression of sympathy memorial donations may be made in Jack’s name to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) #4 5015-48 Street Red Deer, Alberta T4N 1S9

Peggy was born on July 30, 1922 at Irma, Alberta. Her family moved to Mulhurst at Pigeon Lake where she grew up. It was there she met, fell in love and married the love of her life, Judd Ladd on May 3rd.

1941. They raised four children together, moving to Calmar in 1949, then to Red Deer in 1955. While in Red Deer, Peggy joined the work force. She began her career at Kresge’s as Head Floor Supervisor. When the Hudson Bay Co. opened she moved into the positions of Sales Manager and Store Manger for 25 years before she retired in 1984.

Peggy was blessed with many friends and was adored for her great sense of humor. After retirement, she spent many hours enjoying her back deck, walking Bower Pond trails, golfing and spending time with her friends at the Oil Wives Club. She especially enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren whom she loved dearly.

Irma Elizabeth passed away at the Red Deer Regional Hospital on Sunday, December 30, 2012 at the age of 85 years. Irma is survived by her sister, Carole Sullivan, her niece, Pamela (Malcom) Nelson, her nephew, Craig (Jeanne) Sullivan, and great niece, Elizabeth Materi, all of Washington State, also her niece, Jeanette (Ron) Cleveland, great nephew, Kurt (Nicole) Cleveland, all of California, and great nephew, Cody (Chelsi) Cleveland and great, great niece, Payten Cleveland of Pennsylvania, plus numerous cousins in Canada and United States. Irma was predeceased by her beloved husband, Al (George) Seibert, her parents; Joseph and Elizabeth Anton of Medicine Hat, her sister, Emelie (Roy) Trebble, and her brother, George J. Anton of Red Deer, her sister, Henrietta (John) Elkins of Port Orchard, Washington, and her nephew and good friend, Gary Thiesson of Medicine Hat. Born on July 17, 1927, Irma lived her early years on the family farm west of Medicine Hat. In 1940, the family moved to Medicine Hat where Irma completed her education and eventually became employed in the bookkeeping field. In 1949, Irma was united in marriage with Al Seibert. They lived in Calgary until 1953 when Mr. Seibert was transferred to Edmonton where they lived for 8 years both employed in the Office Management and Accounting field. In 1961, Mr. Seibert was again transferred, enforcing a move back to Calgary where they lived until their retirement. Their interest and love of horses prompted the purchase of land in the Cottonwood Garrington district north-west of Olds. They happily adapted to the country lifestyle caring for their horses, growing hay and oats for them, enjoying horse-back riding, gardening vegetables and flowers, and socializing with their good neighbors. They eventually became involved in the thoroughbred horseracing business and under their company and stable name “Cottonwood Holdings Ltd.”, raced their horses on the Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg thoroughbred Racing Circuit, enjoying much excitement and considerable success.

Mr. Seibert passed away in 1990, Irma then moved to Red Deer where she lived until her death. Irma travelled extensively and while enjoying her travels, was always glad to come home a very proud Canadian. She loved and appreciated GOOD MUSIC, often spending hours listening to her favorites in classical, contemporary, and the Big Bands!

As well, the challenge of cross-word puzzles was a great pass-time as well as keeping her mind in tune. Irma leaves a legacy of dignity, a warm sense of humor, precious memories of her enduring love and care of her family, and her great joy in visiting with family and friends. A Graveside service will be held on Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 10 a.m. where she will be laid to rest beside her husband in the Olds Cemetery.

Funeral Service will be held at Eventide Funeral Chapel (4820-45 Street, Red Deer) on Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 1 p.m. If desired, memorial tributes in her honor may be made to the Red Deer Hospice Society, 99 Arnot Avenue, Red Deer, Alberta T4R 3S6 or to the Stars Ambulance Foundation, 1441 Aviation Park N.E., Box 570, Calgary, Alberta T2E 8M7. Condolences may be forwarded to the family by visiting www.eventidefuneralchapels.com.

Arrangements entrusted to Rebekah Sealock EVENTIDE FUNERAL CHAPEL 4820 - 45 Street, Red Deer.

Phone (403) 347-2222

“A division of Memorial Gardens Ltd.”

www.reddeerfuneralhome.com

60th wedding anniversary Celebrate these milestones with an Announcement in the Classified Section of the

403.309.3300

Email: classifieds@reddeeradvocate.com wegotads.ca

In the Red Deer Advocate If you would like your baby featured in this very special section, a great keepsake, look for forms in the Red Deer Advocate & Life Papers, or call 403-309-3300 for more info

In Memoriam TERESA ROSELLE March 9, 1961 - Jan. 3, 2006 Till we meet again Love Mom and all of the family TERESA ROSELLE March 9, 1961 - Jan. 3, 2006 Miss you as much today as the first day. ~Miss you much Arby-dar Sis Love Wendy

D2 RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013 Medical

Oilfield

52

800

54

Lost

LOST: Black Ladies wallet on Christmas Day in Red Deer. Reward offered for its return. **FOUND**

60

Personals

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS 403-347-8650

MISSING: Ann Grace Rowley from London Ont. contact John Thurman facebook -twitter or jnt@execulink.com

64

Bingos

RED DEER BINGO Centre 4946-53 Ave. (West of Superstore). Precall 12:00 & 6:00. Check TV Today!!!!

Start your career!

See Help Wanted

66

Fitness & Sports

Goshinkan JuJitsu.

Practical and Effective Self Defense and Sport programs for Children, Teens and Adults. P. 587315-0620 E. ajitsua@telus. net W. www.goshinma.com

wegot

jobs CLASSIFICATIONS 700-920

Caregivers/ Aides

710

P/T F. caregiver wanted for F quad. Must have own vehicle. 403-348-5456 or 505-7846

Clerical

720

IS looking for a full time

receptionist/ safety coordinator.

Microsoft Windows , flexibility, and a positive attitude required.

Background with ISN and safety training is an asset.

Please apply by: Fax: (403)346-8847, Email: jwhitelaw@ pacificvalve.com, or In Person: 8053 Edgar Industrial Crescent, Red Deer Please no phone calls, only those selected for interviews will be contacted. Thank you for your interest.

Janitorial

770

CCCSI is hiring sanitation workers for the afternoon and evening shifts. Get paid weekly, $14.22/hr.

Call 403-348-8440 or fax 403-348-8463

Oilfield

800

Oilfield

800

800

Oilfield

PRESSURE TRUCK / HOT OILERS $2500. Bonus Every 100 Days IMMEDIATE OPENINGS

NOW PLAYING VLT’S AT

EAST 40TH PUB

Oilfield

F/T / P/T Pharmacy Technicians. Apply w/ resume to: Highland Green Value Drug Mart, Red Deer

50-70

Coming Events

800

“People are our most important asset - their safety is our greatest responsibility.

No job is so urgent that it cannot be done safely.”

OILFIELD CONSTRUCTION COMPANY We are currently accepting resumes for the following fulltime positions.

Oil & Gas Well Testing Supervisors, Night Foremen, Experienced/ Inexperienced Junior Day/Night Operators Must have H2S, First Aid, valid driver’s license.

Pre-employment Drug screening Competitive Wages.

Benefit Package

We are a growing company searching for experienced hot oiler operators / pressure truck operators/drivers in our Central Alberta location.

PRODUCTION TESTING PERSONNEL REQ’D

Field experience is an asset, but we will provide new employees with hands on training in the field.

Minimum requirements include a clean driver’s abstract and Class 3Q drivers license. Email or fax an application along with an abstract to:

RETIREMENT & SAVINGS PLAN BENEFITS

Email: dshannon@ 1strateenergy.ca Fax: 403-887-4750

Join Our Fast Growing Restaurant/ Team!!

Hotel QUALIFIED DAY AND NIGHT SUPERVISORS

EXPERIENCED PIPELINE Please submit resume with HOE OPERATORS references to: (Must be able to Provide apply@wespro.ca or by fax own work truck) EXPERIENCED PIPELINE to 403-783-8004 LABORERS Only individuals selected Successful applicants will be contacted for an will be contacted.

FIELD OPERATORS interview - please do not EXPERIENCED BOOM Valid 1st Aid, H2S, Drivers call the office HANDS DRIVER WANTED License required!!

Safety tickets and Local delivery of parts and Safety tickets required. shipping. Must be 25 yrs. + Standard first aid and H2S Please contact are required.

PIPELINE EXPERIENCE Class 5 license.

Murray McGeachy or NECESSARY. Fax resume & drivers Jamie Rempel RATTRAY Reclamation is BENEFITS OFFERED. abstract to 403-309-4466 by currently looking for exp’d An application form can be Fax: (403) 340-0886 Class 1 drivers, laborers Classifieds...costs so little found on our website. or email and backhoe operators Saves you so much!

Website: with a valid Class 1 license www.wpidhirney.net mmcgeachy@ for the Lacombe and Classifieds or Fax your application or cathedralenergyservices.com Central Alberta areas.

Your place to SELL resume to 403-729-3606 Preferences will be given Your place to BUY or send by email to jrempel@ to those who hold current hr@wpidhirney.net safety tickets such as H2S cathedralenergyservices.com 403-729-3007 Alive, First Aid and Ground website: Disturbance Level II certifiwww. cation as well as a clean cathedralenergyservices. drivers abstract. Drug and com Alcohol policy in affect. We offer competitive wages, GREYWOLF ENERGY Your application will be benefits and a safety SERVICES LTD. kept strictly confidential. bonus program. Work is now hiring experienced consists of oilfield reclama“People are our most Well Testing Operators, Looking for a place tion and lease construction important asset - their Night Supervisors, to live? as well as many other safety is our greatest and Day Supervisors.

Take a tour through the tasks. Please fax resume responsibility.

CLASSIFIEDS to 403-934-5235 or email No job is so urgent that it We are one of the largest to drattray@rattrayrec.com cannot be done safely.” testing companies in No phone calls please.

OILFIELD CONSTRUCTION North America.

COMPANY We pay top wages, have CELEBRATIONS We are currently accepting an excellent benefits HAPPEN EVERY DAY resumes for package, and an RRSP IN CLASSIFIEDS A QUALITY ASSURANCE (Registered Retirement /QUALITY CONTROL Savings Plan) program.

ASSISTANT Road Train Oilfield Candidates must have Transport Ltd Responsibilities include: H2S, First Aid training, is looking for journeyman * Reviewing project and the ability to pass a picker operator.Top wages/ packages, ensuring pre-employment drug benefits. Safety tickets req’d. procedures and records screening. A valid class Fax or drop off resume are followed and completed five driver’s licence with a 403-346-6128 No phone calls. * Must have ability to read clean driver’s abstract engineered drawings is an asset.

TANKMASTER RENTALS Something for Everyone * Understand QA/QC requires CLASS 1 BED Everyday in Classifieds manuals and procedures Southern Alberta TRUCK Operators for * Monitor work in progress residents, submit Central Alberta. CompetiTEAM Snubbing now to ensure compliance resumes to: Email: tive wages and benefits. hiring operators and help* Have knowledge in jliesemer@ m.morton@tankmaster.ca ers. Email: janderson@ Facility and Pipeline greywolfsystems.ca or fax 403-340-8818 teamsnubbing.com construction projects Fax: 1-866-211-0338 * Participate in external audits Northern Alberta residents, Oilfield Compensation for this submit resumes to: position will be discussed Email: with successful applicant. mstoddard@ greywolfsystems.ca Safety tickets required Fax: 780-539-0946 PIPELINE EXPERIENCE LOCAL SERVICE CO. NECESSARY REQ’S EXP. VACUUM Benefits offered.

TRUCK OPERATOR Must have Class 3 licence An application form can be w/air & all oilfield tickets. found on our website.

Has immediate openings for the following positions: Fax resume w/drivers Website: abstract to 403-886-4475 www.wpidhirney.net Fax your application or NEW Red Deer Based resume to 403-729-3606 busy & growing oilfield or send by email to trucking company looking hr@wpidhirney.net for exp. winch truck Roll’n Oilfield Industries is a well servicing company 403-729-3007 drivers. Successful based out of Red Deer Alberta. Incorporated in candidates will receive top 1977, with a wide variety of service rigs from slant wages & benefits.

JOURNEYMEN to heavy double, Roll’n is committed to a safe Valid Class 1 licence is MECHANICS/ necessary & oilfield tickets workplace shown with winning the CAODC class MILLWRIGHTS & is an asset. Must be able B safety award for 2010.

APPRENTICES wanted for to pass a pre-employment service of natural gas Here we provide non-simulated, actual hands-on compressors & engines in drug & alcohol screen test.

Please forward all OLDS, DRUMHELLER training in conjunction with the Enform competency resumes to and/or STETTLER area. program to turn out skilled, quality personnel. danacg@shaw.ca Position closing date 01/27/13 Please email Excellent benefits program, safety awards, and You can sell your guitar resume to AmandaS@ RRSP program, and wages. Must have valid for a song... flomaxcompression.com or or put it in CLASSIFIEDS drivers license. fax to (403) 823-9923 and we’ll sell it for you!

800

EXPERIENCED SERVICE RIG PERSONNEL

Caregivers/ Aides

710

WE are looking for Rig Managers, Drillers, Derrick and Floor hands for the Red Deer area.

Please contact Steve Tiffin at stiffin@galleonrigs.com or (403) 358-3350 fax (403) 358-3326 Start your career!

See Help Wanted

Fax: 403-342-5310 Email: roll_n@telus.net #305, 5208 - 53 Ave. Red Deer, AB. T4N 5K2

279513A3

CLASSIFICATIONS

Oilfield

A non-denominational Social Service Agency is seeking a couple, or an individual living in Red Deer to provide emotional support and life skills training for an adult male diagnosed with Down Syndrome. The young man is a Red Deer College graduate and works part time. The ideal setting would be a home with a basement suite, which he would occupy and pay rent.

820

BOULEVARD Restaurant & Lounge Gasoline Alley Red Deer County Food & Beverage Server

$12.25/hr.

To provide Food & Beverage service, handle cashiering, arrange and setup the outlet. maintain cleanliness and hygiene.

Cook

$14.00/HR. To prepare and cook all food up to standard, clean kitchen and maintain hygiene follow recipes, assist in receiving and storing

Kitchen Helper

$11/hr To clean kitchen following safety and hygiene standards. Clean utensils, cutlery, crockery and glassware items.

Clean floors.

Assist in prep.

All positions are Shift Work & Weekends.

Fax resume 780-702-5051 Buying or Selling your home?

Check out Homes for Sale in Classifieds

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS RED DEER

Is seeking FRONT DESK CLERK * Answer phone calls * Take reservations * Check in/out Guests Balance cash out & Attend to guest needs $14.00/hr.

HOUSEKEEPING ROOM ATTENDANT * Clean and vacuum rooms, public areas, pool etc.

Replenish amenities, linens & towels * Adhere to Holiday Inn safety stardands $14.00/hr.

All positions are Shift work & weekends Fax Resume to: 780-702-5051

HOLIDAY INN Red Deer South, Gasoline Alley Is Seeking

FRONT DESK CLERK * Answer phone calls * Take reservations * Check in/out Guests * Balance cash out & Attend to guest needs $ 14.00/hr HOUSEKEEPING ROOM ATTENDANT * Clean and vacuum rooms public areas pool etc. * Replenish amenities, linens & towels * Adhere to Holiday Inn safety standards $ 14.00/hr All positions are Shift Work & weekends Fax resume 780 - 702-5051

THE RUSTY PELICAN is now accepting resumes for a well experienced F/T SERVER Apply within: 2079-50 Ave. 2-4 pm. Mon.-Fri. Fax 403-347-1161 Phone calls WILL NOT be accepted.

830

1693338 ALBERTA LTD o/a Xtreme Pinook Hiring Salespersons Store at Parkland Mall Red Deer, AB. Good English and communication skills, customer service oriented. F/T, Perm, Shifts, Weekends Salary - $14.00 hourly E-mail: Reachiesales@gmail.com NOMADS Clothing Store in Sylvan Lake is looking for P/T & F/T SALES PEOPLE. days, eves and wknds avail.

Contact Steph or Mark , . 403-887-3119 TECHNICAL Sales Expert required at Digitex Canada Red Deer, AB. Twelve month assignment.

Working hours of 40 hours per week or more.

Required competencies: Must have several years experience in technical sales of Canon digital business equipment and software in a business to business sales environment.

Must be an expert at understanding customer needs, experienced in drafting and completing contracts for selling Canon equipment, previous supervisory experience of technical sales staff, be proficient at large account selling strategies.

Must have completed Canon corporate account training, product & solution selling and be an expert in corporate sales training and solution selling.

Person must be expert in technical training of clients to use Canon products.

Hourly wage CAD $26.44 plus commission.

Duties would include: Promote sales to existing clients, identify and solicit potential clients, assess clients’ needs and resources to recommend the appropriate products.

Provide input into product design where goods or services must be tailored to suit clients’ needs; develop reports and proposals as part of sales presentation to illustrate benefits from use of good or service and estimate costs of installing and maintaining equipment or service. Candidate must prepare and administer sales contracts, consult with clients after sale to resolve problems and to provide ongoing support.

Must be able to troubleshoot technical problems related to Canon photocopier equipment, printers, scanners, etc. and train customers’ staff in the operation and maintenance of Canon photocopier equipment.

Be able to supervise the activities of other technical sales specialists as needed. Send resumes to: mvandale@digitex.ca or fax to 403-309-3384

Trades

850

1ST or 2ND year.

ELECTRICAL APPRENTICE

Fax resume 403-347-5745

850

Trades

First Choice Collision Seeking Journeyman or 2nd /3rd year apprentices.

Positions for body, prep and refinishing technicians needed for our car and light truck division. Top wages, bonus programs and benefit package. Fax resumes to (403) 343-2160; e-mail choice2@telusplanet.net or drop off in person @ #5, 7493, 49th Avenue Crescent, Red Deer.

GOODMEN ROOFING LTD. Requires

SLOPED ROOFERS LABOURERS & FLAT ROOFERS Valid Driver’s Licence preferred. Fax or email info@goodmenroofing.ca or (403)341-6722 NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE! HVAC SERVICE TECH for busy shop. Experience in all aspects of furnaces and air conditioners. Strong trouble shooting skills an asset. For confidential interview phone Brad 403-588-8399 or fax 403-309-8302 or email brad@comfortecheating.com Tired of Standing?

Find something to sit on in Classifieds

Is accepting applications for a JOURNEYMAN HEAVY DUTY MECHANIC based out of the red deer location. Successful candidate will be responsible for the maintenance of ready mix concrete trucks and equipment for our central Alberta operations including Red Deer, Lacombe, Ponoka and Olds. Knowledge of hydraulics and welding is an asset. We offer competitive wages, excellent benefits and training opportunities.

Pre-employment screening is mandatory. Please fax resume to 403-346-6721 or e-mail to cliebrecht@ lehighcement.com NEEDED immed. Journeyman electrician for the AG industry. Competitive wages and benefits.

Please forward resume to info@prolineinc.ca

QUALIFIED ELECTRICIANS NEEDED True Power Electric Requires Residential exp. only Competitive wages & benefits.

Fax resume to: 403-314-5599

STAIR MANUFACTURER Req’s F/T workers to build stairs in Red Deer shop.

MUST HAVE basic carpentry skills. Salary based on skill level. Benefits avail. Apply in person at 100, 7491 Edgar Industrial Bend. email: earl707@telus.net. and/or fax 403-347-7913

860

Truckers/ Drivers APPLY NOW NOW HIRING G.M. tech or ASEP. With good communications skill and work ethics to work with award winning G.M. dealership in Lacombe Alberta.

Good hrs & bonus. for production.( $35.00/hr +) Transmission and electrical an asset.

Training provided .

Apply to confidential email: bert.rumsey@telus.net Central Alberta’s Largest Car Lot in Classifieds

CLASS 1 driver with fluid haulingd experience, local runs. 403-373-3285 or fax resume and copies of all valid tickets to 403-986-2819 CLASS 3 WATER HAULER needed. Only those with Drilling Rig Water Hauling experience need apply.

Need H2S & First Aid tickets.TOP WAGES PAID Fax clean drivers abstract and resume between the hours of 9 am to 6 pm to: 403-746-3523 or call 403-304-7179 Tired of Standing?

Find something to sit on in Classifieds

services

The ideal candidate will demonstrate flexibility in responding to the young man’s needs and work as part of a team.

CLASSIFICATIONS 1000-1430 To Advertise Your Business or Service Here

Applicants will receive an orientation to the Approved Home Program, as well as training allowance for supports given to the individual.

Call Classifieds 403-309-3300 classifieds@reddeeradvocate.com

Interested applicants please contact Catholic Social Services Ph: 403-347-8844 ext. 2917 278666L27-A4

Accounting

800

1010

INDIVIDUAL & BUSINESS Accounting, 30 yrs. of exp. with oilfield service companies, other small businesses and individuals RW Smith, 346-9351

Contractors

1100

BRIAN’S DRYWALL Framing, drywall, taping, textured & t-bar ceilings, 36 yrs exp. Ref’s. 392-1980

COUNTERTOPS

Wes Wiebe 403-302-1648

OPPORTUNITIES FOR:

Sales & Distributors

wegot

278517L21-A3

WHAT’S HAPPENING

790

DALE’S Home Reno’s Free estimates for all your reno needs. 403-506-4301 SAVANNA OFFERS EMPLOYEES

Rig Managers Operators Derrick Hands Floorhands Boiler Hands Entry Level We Welcome Full Crews! (referral incentives)

Escorts

1165

BRING in the New Year with a Bang. 403-550-0470

EDEN 587-877-7399 10am-midnight EROTICAS PLAYMATES Girls of all ages 598-3049 www.eroticasplaymates.net LEXUS 392-0891 *BUSTY* INDEPENDENT w/own car PRETTY & PLAYFUL 403-848-2300 253529G21,22

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Handyman Services

1200

GRANT’S HOME REPAIR If it needs to be fixed, replaced or painted, I do it all.

Reasonable rates.

Call anytime. 403-596-9161

Handyman Services

1200

BUSY B’S HANDYMAN SERVICES LTD. Res/Comm.Reno’s, repair and more. Give us a buzz @ 403-598-3857 Free quotes. WCB, insured.

Massage Therapy

1280

* NEW * Executive Touch.

Relaxation massage for men. 5003A - Ross St. Mon - Fri 9 am -6 pm & Sat. 10am - 3 pm 348-5650

Misc.

Services

1290

FREE removal of all kinds of unwanted scrap metal.

No household appliances 403-396-8629

IRONMAN Scrap Metal Recovery is picking up scrap again! Farm machinery, vehicles and industrial.

Serving central Alberta.

403-318-4346

1310

MASSAGE ABOVE ALL WALK-INS WELCOME 4709 Gaetz Ave. 346-1161

Painters/ Decorators

NEW HOURS Mon. - Fri. 9 am - 6 pm. & Sat. 10 am - 3 pm Asian Relaxation 587-377-1298

PAINTING BY DAVE Interior, Exterior, New Construction. Comm/Indust.

2 Journeyman w/over 50 yrs exp. %15 discount for seniors. Free estimates.

All work guaranteed.

403-307-4798

VII MASSAGE

Feeling overwhelmed?

Hard work day? Come in and let us pamper you.

Pampering at its best. #7 7464 Gaetz Ave.(rear entrance if necessary) www.viimassage.biz In/Out Calls to Hotels.

Open New Years Eve and New Years Day 403-986-6686

Misc.

Services

1290

5* JUNK REMOVAL

Property clean up 340-8666 CENTRAL PEST CONTROL LTD. Comm/res. Locally owned.

403-373-6182 cpest@shaw.ca

Seniors’ Services

1372

ATT’N: SENIORS Are you looking for help on small reno’s or jobs, such as, new bathroom sink, toilets or safety bars in bath tubs. Call James 403- 341-0617 HELPING HANDS For Seniors. Cleaning, cooking, companionship in home or in facility.

Call 403-346-7777 Better For Cheaper with a Low Price Guarantee. helpinghandshomesupport.com

RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013 D3

RONCO OILFIELD HAULING, Sylvan Lake based Rig Movers/Heavy Haulers seeking Winch tractor driver, pilot car driver and Swampers. Top wages and benefits. email: tom@roncooilfield.ca fax: 403-887-4892

RED DEER WORKS Build A Resume That Works!

APPLY ONLINE www.lokken.com/rdw.html Call: 403-348-8561 Email inford@lokken.com Career Programs are

FREE

880

stuff CLASSIFICATIONS 1500-1990

ADULT & YOUTH CARRIERS NEEDED for delivery of Flyers Red Deer Express & Red Deer Life Sunday in

1530

Auctions

Bud Haynes & Co. Auctioneers

Certified Appraisers 1966 Estates, Antiques, Firearms.

Bay 5, 7429-49 Ave. 347-5855

MOUNTVIEW WEST LAKE WEST PARK

EquipmentHeavy

Call Karen for more info 403-314-4317

1630

TRAILERS for sale or rent Job site, office, well site or storage. Skidded or wheeled. Call 347-7721.

ADULT CARRIERS NEEDED for early morning delivery of Red Deer Advocate 6 days per week in EASTVIEW 100 ADVOCATE $525/MO. $6300/YR 2 HRS./DAY

1650

Farmers' Market

BROWN EGGS AND LAMB now has free range pork : gourmet hams and sausage. Great selection of warm woolies.

Phone 403-782-4095 FREE range naturally raised turkey, gov’t. inspected, skinless, boneless turkey breast $5.99/lb, turkey breast steaks $5.99/lb, ground turkey $5.99/lb, drumsticks avail. $10/pkg.

Germane Market Gardens, Gail 403-843-6864

GRANDVIEW 75 Advocate $393/month $4725/yr.

1-1/2 hrs. per day

1660

Firewood

Call Karen for more info 403-314-4317 Service Runner (Part Time)

TOO MUCH STUFF? Let Classifieds help you sell it.

ELECTRICAL panel 10x28 w/Square D forward and reverse control, breaker box and reset switch, 11’ of 220 wire, $200.

403-728-3375 FUR coat, muskrat, long, size 10-12 ladies, very god cond, $150 403-346-0093 SATELLITE 1/2 TON chain hoist, like new $40; Bayco 3/4 “ gas nozzle with 14’ hose, $50, call 403-728-3375

Pets & Supplies

1810

BABY BUNNIES, (3) FREE. 403-782-3130

1830

1840

Dogs

HUSKY WOLF PUPS!!

1st shots, yr. gaurantee.

403-506-3395, 749-2924

Sporting Goods

1860

7 days/wk. 403-304-6472

FIREWOOD. Pine, Spruce, Poplar. Can deliver 1-4 cords. 403-844-0227 Now Offering Hotter, Cleaner BC Birch. All Types. P.U. / del. Lyle 403-783-2275

Household

$75/ea.; 2 man ice fishing tent $100; weight lifting machine $300; treadmill $350; stationary bike $250 403-346-4674

WANTED

Permission to hunt cow/elk from Jan. 3 - 20th, 2013 in zones 322 & 221.

Contact Aaron 403-860-6475

1710

1900

1720

880

NEWSPAPER CARRIERS REQUIRED for In Town of Trochu Morning Delivery 1 hour per day 6 days per week No collection No Sundays The Town of Olds No collecting!

Packages come ready for delivery!

Also for the afternoon in Town of Penhold!

Also afternoon delivery in Town of Springbrook 1 day per wk.

No collecting!!

Please contact QUITCY

at 403-314-4316 or email qmacaulay@ reddeeradvocate.com

NEWSPAPER CARRIERS REQUIRED for Afternoon delivery in Bowden & Innisfail Please contact QUITCY

wegot

rentals CLASSIFICATIONS

3010

Acreages/ Farms

RESPONSIBLE couple for semi furn. house, large yard, in the country, 12 miles SE of RD , ref’s a must. Call 403-886-4185 Looking for a new pet?

Check out Classifieds to find the purrfect pet.

3020

Houses/ Duplexes

BLACKFALDS

Avail now, 2 bdrm, 1 bath house, 2 appl, large yard, $1,100 + util, $1,050 SD, N/S, small dog ok fee, PM 562 ~ 5207 Wilson St ~ Sim Mgmt & Realty 403-340-0065 ext 412 ~ www.simproperties.ca

Condos/ Townhouses

3030

32 HOLMES ST.

1 1/2 blocks west of mall, 3 bdrm. bi-level, blinds, lg. balcony, 4 appls, no pets, n/s, rent $1195 SD $1000 Avail. Feb. 1 403-304-7576 or 347-7545

HALMAN Heights

3 level 3 bdrm. townhouse

Riverfront Estates

Deluxe 3 bdrm. 1 1/2 bath, bi-level townhouse, 5 appls, blinds, large balcony, no pets, n/s, $1195 or $1220 along the river.

SD $1000. avail.

Jan. 2 403-304-7576 347-7545

Manufactured Homes

3040

Lovely 3 level exec.

3 bdrm. townhouse 5 appls, 1 1/2 bath, concrete patio, blinds, front/rear parking, no dogs, n/s, rent $1395 SD $1000 Avail. Immed.

403-304-7576 or 347-7545 SOUTHWOOD PARK 3110-47TH Avenue, 2 & 3 bdrm. townhouses, generously sized, 1 1/2 baths, fenced yards, full bsmts. 403-347-7473, Sorry no pets. www.greatapartments.ca

Manufactured Homes

3040

LARGE, 1, 2 & 3 BDRM. SUITES. 25+, adults only n/s, no pets 403-346-7111 SUITES FOR RENT THREE HILLS Affordable housing for low income, single adults of any age, F/S, water/sewer included. $400/mo, $400 DD.Further information & applications available at www.studiosalberta.com or by calling 1-888-963-5698

Roommates Wanted

3080

MOUNTVIEW, $600. incld’s everything, full house privileges. Avail. immed. 587-877-2058

ROOM in Westpark, n/s, no pets. Furnished. TV & utils incl. 403-304-6436

Warehouse Space

3140

3190

Mobile Lot

LACOMBE new park, animal friendly. Your mobile or ours. 2 or 3 bdrm.

Excellent 1st time home buyers. 403-588-8820 MOBILE HOME PAD, in Red Deer Close to Gaetz, 2 car park, Shaw cable incl.

Sharon 403-340-0225 You can sell your guitar for a song... or put it in CLASSIFIEDS and we’ll sell it for you!

TRAINING CENTRE OILFIELD TICKETS

Industries #1 Choice!

“Low Cost” Quality Training

403.341.4544 24 Hours Toll Free 1.888.533.4544

homes CLASSIFICATIONS 4000-4190

(across from Totem)

Something for Everyone Everyday in Classifieds

4130

4140

HEAVY DUTY REPAIR SHOP located by Sylvan Lake. Well established, turn-key operation with exc. customer base.

Facility licence for CVIP. 2000 sq. ft. bay leased.

Would like to make a quick sale. 403-887-5114 Looking for a place to live?

Take a tour through the CLASSIFIEDS

CELEBRATIONS HAPPEN EVERY DAY IN CLASSIFIEDS

Trucks

FULLY SERVICED res & duplex lots in Lacombe.

Builders terms or owner will J.V. with investors or subtrades who wish to become home builders. Great returns. Call 403-588-8820 Classifieds Your place to SELL Your place to BUY

4170

160 ACRES Hwy. 53 RR40 8 miles west of Rimbey, pavement to land, 85% trees, asking $300,000 250-494-7877

2011 GMC SIERRA 1500 SLT 4X4, sunroof, htd. lthr., 61,557 kms $33,888 348-8788 Sport & Import

Cars

400/month lot Rent incl. Cable

$

2010 GMC 3500 HD 4x4 Duramax Dually, leather nav dvd 54,000 km $49,888 Sport & Import 348-8788

2001 DODGE Ram 1500.

Q/cab. loaded 403-352-6995 1997 CHEV 1/2 ton. Nice, lots of extras. Sitting in storage.

Must sell. $3500 obo.

587-877-3744

Tenders

5030

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who died on November 12, 2012

If you have a claim against this estate, you must file your claim by February 2, 2013 and provide details of your claim with MAURICE GOGOWICH at PO Box 1311 Red Deer, Alberta T4N 7B6 If you do not file by the date above, the estate property can lawfully be distributed without regard to any claim you may have.

6020

JUDICIAL SALE OF MORTGAGED LANDS The following property is offered by sale by tender subject to the restrictions in the existing certificate of title, namely: MERIDIAN 5 RANGE 5 TOWNSHIP 37 SECTION 19 QUARTER NORTH EAST CONTAINING 64.7 HECTARES (160 ACRES) MORE OR LESS EXCEPTING THEREOUT: HECTARES ACRES MORE OR LESS A) PLAN 5511JY ROAD 0.417 1.03 B) PLAN 0524611 DESCRIPTIVE 2.017 4.98 EXCEPTING THEREOUT ALL MINES AND MINERALS The property is an improved agricultural property.

For further details, interested parties may refer to the affidavit of value and valuator’s report filed in these proceedings.

Tenders in sealed envelopes referencing the Court file number 1110-01226, accompanied by your address for notification and a certified cheque, money order or cash for 10% of the amount of the tender must be in the hands of the Clerk of the Court 4909 – 48th Avenue Red Deer, Alberta by 12:00 noon on January 18, 2013.

The balance of the purchase price shall be paid into Court within 30 days, if your tender is accepted. You will be notified of the date and time when the Court will consider your tender. If your tender is accepted and you do not complete the purchase within the 30 days then your deposit will be forfeited.

The successful tenderer shall take the mortgaged lands as is. No warranties of any kind are made with respect to the mortgaged lands. The highest or any tender not necessarily accepted. The deposits of unsuccessful tenderers will be returned to them.

277264L20

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/month

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wegot

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D4 RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

Myanmar military using airstrikes against rebels YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s military acknowledged launching airstrikes against ethnic Kachin rebels in the north and said it captured a hilltop post from where the insurgents had attacked government supply convoys.

The statement broadcast on state television Wednesday contradicted government claims two days earlier that the military was not carrying out offensive air attacks on the Kachin, raising questions about how much control the elected government of reformist President Thein Sein has over the army.

The United States said Wednesday the use of air power in Kachin state was “extremely troubling.” In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urged the government and the Kachin rebel group to cease their conflict and begin a real dialogue for peace.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Myanmar’s authorities “to desist from any action that could endanger the lives of civilians living in the area or further intensify the conflict in the region,” U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Ban called on the government and rebels to work toward political reconciliation.

Myanmar state television, quoting the Defence Ministry, said the military on Sunday occupied a

Kachin Independence Army hilltop post during a mopping-up operation of the area where attacks had been launched against supply convoys.

The government has been seeking to supply a base at Lajayang very close to KIA headquarters at Laiza, the rebel group’s last major outpost.

The government delivered an ultimatum to the Kachin to clear a road by Christmas Day so it could supply its base. The Kachin rejected the ultimatum for fear of a government attack on their own outpost.

KIA spokesman La Nan charged Monday that the supplies being sent to government troops included ammunition as well as rice.

“We will obstruct any army convoy that carries arms and ammunition that will be used against us,” he said. “This is the nature of war.”

Each side blames the other for intensified fighting that began a little over a week ago.

The Kachin said Monday they were being attacked by helicopter gunships and fighter jets, but President’s Office director Maj. Zaw Htay said the aircraft were being used mainly to supply government units whose access to supplies by road had been cut off by the Kachin guerrillas.

“During the attack, the army used air support,” Wednesday’s report said. It added that the military did not want to launch an offensive but attacked the outpost to maintain security and stability.

The report said government troops seized weap-

CAR president facing rebel threat, decade after seizing power THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DAMARA — More than 30 truckloads of troops from Chad line the two-lane highway just outside of Damara, supporting Central African Republic government forces who want to block a new rebel coalition from reaching the capital.

In a display of force, the turbaned fighters hold their rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons they threaten to use if the rebels seeking to oust President Francois Bozize push this far south.

Gen. Jean Felix Akaga, who heads the regional force known as FOMAC, says a push on Damara, just 75 kilometres (45 miles) north of the capital, would be “a declaration of war” on the 10 Central African states.

“For us, Damara is the red line that the rebels cannot cross,” Akaga said Wednesday. “If they attack Damara, we will attack.”

The United Nations called for talks between the government and rebels and the Security Council scheduled closed consultations on the Central African Republic on Thursday afternoon.

The multinational force brought journalists up to Damara, where they touted the strength of the Chadian troops, who along with forces from Republic of Congo and Gabon are helping to stabilize the area.

The rebels, though, appear to be holding their positions after taking a string of towns including Sibut, which is 70 miles (112 kilometres) further north from Damara.

Back in 2003, troops under Bozize seized the capital amid volleys of machine-gun and mortar fire, and he then dissolved the constitution and parliament. Now a decade later it is Bozize who himself could be ousted from power.

On Wednesday, he announced through a decree read on state radio that he was dismissing his son, Francis, as defence minister.

Chief of Staff Guillaume Lapo also was being replaced.

The president already has promised to form a coalition government with rebels and to negotiate without conditions.

It’s a sign of how seriously Bozize is threatened

by the rebel groups who call themselves Seleka, which means alliance in the Sango language.

Bozize says there’s one point not up for negotiation: he does not intend to leave office before his term ends in 2016.

“We can’t destroy the country. I don’t think that a transition is a good solution for the rebels, for Central African Republic or for the international community,” said Cyriaque Gonda, a spokesman for the political coalition behind Bozize.

But mediators for the government and others note the rebels — an alphabet soup of acronyms in French, UFDR, CPJP, FDPC and CPSK — want Bozize gone. And that’s the only issue the disparate group seems unified on. Seleka is a shaky alliance that lumps together former enemies.

In September 2011, fighting between the CPJP and the UFDR left at least 50 people dead in the town of Bria and more than 700 homes destroyed.

“Even if they show unity in the military action, we know that they are politically very disunited, the only thing that holds them together is the opposition to the current president,” said Roland Marchal, a Parisbased expert on Central African Republic.

“If they take control of the capital I think that divisions would appear quickly.”

Gonda, who has negotiated on behalf of the government with the rebels, says some of them couldn’t even accept sitting together as recently as 2008.

Meanwhile, in some parts of the capital, Bangui, a city of 700,000, life continued as normal, while in others the military buildup was evident.

Trucks full of soldiers bounced on rutted roads dotted with shacks where people can charge mobile phones. Police officers stopped vehicles at intersections.

Troops from neighbouring nations have arrived including about 120 soldiers each from Republic of Congo and Gabon to help stabilize the area between rebel and the government forces.

In the Bimbo neighbourhood, traders went about their business, selling everything from leafy greens to meat at

roadside stands.

“We don’t support what the rebels are doing,” said banana farmer Narcisse Ngo, as a young boy played nearby with a monkey corpse for sale along with other meat.

“They should be at the table negotiating without weapons. We are all Central Africans.”

Bozize, who seized power while the democratically elected president was travelling outside the country, managed to win elections in 2005 but in the years since he has faced multiple low-level rebellions that have shattered security across the northern part of this large but desperately poor country.

He won the 2011 election with more than 64 per cent of the vote, though the United States said the voting was “widely viewed as severely flawed.”

The U.S. evacuated its diplomats from Bangui last week.

The most prominent among the rebel groups in Seleka is the UFDR, or Union of Democratic Forces for Unity.

Human Rights Watch, which has documented abuses by both government forces and rebel groups operating in the country’s north, says the UFDR rebellion “has its roots in the deep marginalization of northeastern CAR, which is virtually cut off from the rest of the country and is almost completely undeveloped.”

The rebels, though, also have included some of Bozize’s former fighters who helped bring him to power in 2003 but later accused him of failing to properly pay them, among other grievances, Human Rights Watch says.

For the people now caught in the middle, they want life to return to normal.

“Everyone is suffering here — we have nothing to eat,” said Daniel Ngakou, 55, as he watched the Chadian troops patrol his hometown of Damara.

“The women are searching in the bush all day for food. We just don’t know what will happen.”

The United Nations called on the government and the rebels Wednesday to focus on dialogue that can avert violence and lead to a peaceful resolution of the conflict and respect for the 2008 Libreville Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

U.S. sperm donor fighting effort to make him pay child support

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TOPEKA, Kan. — A U.S. man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple after answering an online ad is fighting efforts by Kansas state authorities to suddenly force him to pay child support for the now 3-year-old girl, arguing that he and the women signed an agreement waiving all of his parental rights.

The case hinges on the fact that no doctors were used for the artificial insemination.

The state argues that because William Marotta didn’t work through a clinic or doctor, as required by state law, he can be held responsible for about $6,000 that the child’s biological mother received through public assistance — as well as future child support.

Angela de Rocha, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, said that when a single mother seeks benefits for a child, it’s routine for the department to try to determine the child’s paternity and require the father to make support payments to lessen the potential cost to taxpayers.

Marotta, a 46-year-old Topeka resident, answered an online ad in 2009 from a local couple, Angela Bauer and Jennifer Schreiner, who said they were seeking a sperm donor. After exchanging emails and meeting, the three signed an agreement relieving Marotta of any financial or paternal responsibility.

But instead of working with a doctor, Marotta agreed to drop off a container with his sperm at the couple’s home and the women successfully handled the artificial insemination themselves. Schreiner become pregnant with a girl.

Late last year, after she and Bauer broke up, Schreiner received public assistance from the state to help care for the girl.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families filed a court petition against Marotta in October, asking that he be required to reimburse the state for the benefits and make future

Powered by

LOS ANGELES — Al-Jazeera, the Pan-Arab news channel that struggled to win space on American cable television, has acquired Current TV, boosting its reach nearly ninefold to about 40 million homes. With a focus on U.S. news, it plans to rebrand the left-leaning news network that cofounder Al Gore couldn’t make relevant.

The former vice-president confirmed the sale Wednesday, saying in a statement that Al-Jazeera shared Current TV’s mission “to give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view;

and to tell the stories that no one else is telling.”

The acquisition lifts Al-Jazeera’s reach beyond a few large U.S. metropolitan areas including New York and Washington, where about 4.7 million homes can now watch Al-Jazeera English. Al-Jazeera, owned by the government of Qatar, plans to gradually transform Current into a new channel called Al-Jazeera America by adding five to 10 new U.S. bureaus beyond the five it has and hiring more journalists.

Al-Jazeera spokesman Stan Collender said there are no rules against foreign ownership of a cable channel — unlike the strict rules limiting foreign ownership of free-to-air TV stations.

child support payments. Marotta is asking that the case be dismissed, arguing that he’s not legally the child’s father, only a sperm donor.

A hearing is set for Tuesday.

Marotta told The Topeka-Capital Journal that he is “a little scared about where this is going to go, primarily for financial reasons.” His attorney didn’t immediately return a phone message Wednesday from The Associated Press.

His attorney didn’t immediately return a phone message Wednesday from The Associated Press, and there was no listing for his home phone number in Topeka.

Listings for Schreiner and Bauer were either incorrect or out of service, and Schreiner did not respond to a message sent by Facebook.

Court records show that Marotta, Schreiner and Bauer signed an agreement in March 2009, with the women agreeing to “hold him harmless” financially.

The agreement also said the child’s birth certificate would not list a father.

But the state contends the agreement isn’t valid because a doctor wasn’t involved.

Under a 1994 Kansas law, a sperm donor isn’t considered the father only when a donor provides sperm to a licensed physician for artificial insemination of a woman who isn’t the donor’s wife.

The result is an incentive for donors and prospective mothers to work with a doctor, de Rocha said.

“I believe that is the intent of the law, so that we don’t end up with these ambiguous situations,” she told The Associated Press.

Also, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in October 2007 that a sperm donor who works through a licensed physician can’t legally be considered a child’s father — and doesn’t have the right to visit the child or have a role in its upbringing — absent a formal, written agreement. But the case involved a sperm donor who was seeking access to a child but had only an informal, unwritten agreement with the child’s mother.

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Al-Jazeera buys Current TV from Al Gore in bid to gain stronger foothold in U.S.

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ons including mortars, hand grenades, mines and 4,000 rounds of ammunition.

The military announcement highlights a seeming disconnect between the government and the military, which retains much power behind the scenes.

An order late last year by Thein Sein to halt offensive operations against the Kachin was not honoured in practice.

The Kachin, like Myanmar’s other ethnic minorities, have long sought greater autonomy from the central government. They are the only major ethnic rebel group that has not reached a cease-fire agreement with Thein Sein’s government, which came to power in 2011 after almost five decades of military rule.

His government has been hailed for instituting democratic reforms.

But tension with ethnic minorities, evidenced by the fighting with the Kachin, is considered a major long-term problem for the government and a threat to the nascent democracy.

Fighting erupted in Kachin state in June 2011 after the KIA refused to abandon a strategic base near a hydropower plant that is a joint venture with a Chinese company.

There have been off-and-on skirmishes between the KIA and government troops, often escalating into serious bombardment by government troops.

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42202L29

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WORLD Syrian civil war drags on » SEE MORE ONLINE AT WWW.REDDEERADVOCATE.COM

D5

Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013

UN SAYS MORE THAN 60,000 DEAD AS REBELS, GOVERNMENT CONTINUE ATTACKS

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Syrian rebel plays football in the Saif al-Dawlah neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday. The United Nations estimated Wednesday that more than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria’s 21-month-old uprising against authoritarian rule, a toll one-third higher than what anti-regime activists had counted. The U.N. human rights chief called the toll “truly shocking.” ganized and effective, seizing territory in the north and establishing footholds around Damascus, the government has stepped up its use of airpower, launching daily airstrikes. The escalating violence has sent the death toll soaring.

The U.N.’s new count of more than 60,000 deaths since the start of the conflict is a third higher than recent estimates by anti-regime activists. One group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more

Pressure rising for Mubarak retrial

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CAIRO, Egypt — An Egyptian factfinding mission determined that Hosni Mubarak watched the uprising against him unfold through a live TV feed at his palace, despite his later denial that he knew the extent of the protests and crackdown against them, a member of the mission said Wednesday.

The mission’s findings increase pressure for a retrial of the 84-year old ousted president, who is already serving a life sentence for the deaths of 900 protesters. But its report could hold both political gains and dangers for his successor, Mohammed Morsi. A new prosecution of Mubarak would be popular, since many Egyptians were angered that he was convicted only for failing to stop the killing of protesters, rather than for ordering the crackdown.

But the report also implicates the military and security officials in protester deaths. Any move to prosecute them could spark a backlash from powerful generals and others who still hold positions under Morsi’s government.

Rights activists said they would watch carefully how aggressively Morsi pursues the evidence, detailed by a fact-finding mission he commissioned.

“This report should be part of the democratic transformation of Egypt and restructuring of security agencies,” Ahmed Ragheb, a member of the commission and a rights lawyer, told The Associated Press. “At the end of the day, there will be no national reconciliation without revealing the truth, and ensuring accountability.”

Morsi, an Islamist from the Muslim Brotherhood, asked the commission to

EGYPT send the report to the chief prosecutor Talaat Abdullah to investigate new evidence, his office said Wednesday.

Morsi recently appointed Abdullah to replace a Mubarak holdover who many considered an obstacle to strongly prosecuting former regime officials.

Some judges criticized the appointment as a political move to continue to wield leverage over the prosecutor post.

The case will be a test whether Abdullah will conduct a thorough process of holding officials responsible. Some rights activists were already disappointed that Morsi didn’t empower the fact-finding commission itself to turn the investigations into prosecutions and avoid political influence.

The 700-page report on protester deaths the past two years was submitted Wednesday to Morsi by the commission, made up of judges, rights lawyers, and representatives from the Interior Ministry and the intelligence, as well as families of victims.

Morsi formed the commission soon after coming to office in June as Egypt’s first freely elected president after campaign promises to order retrials of former regime figures if new evidence was revealed.

The trial of Mubarak and other figures from his regime left the public deeply unconvinced justice was done.

The prosecution was limited in scope, focusing only on the first few days of the 18-day uprising and on two narrow corruption cases. Lawyers have since criticized the case as shoddy, based mainly on evidence collected by battered and widely hated police in the days following the uprising.

Relatives of 9 killed in theatre reject ‘disgusting’ invitation to reopening

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DENVER — Relatives of the majority of people killed in a Colorado movie theatre rejected an invitation on Wednesday to attend its reopening this month, calling it a “disgusting offer” that came at a terrible time — right after the first Christmas without their loved ones.

The parents, grandparents, cousins and widow of nine of the 12 people killed said they were asked to attend an “evening of remembrance” followed by a movie when the Aurora theatre reopens on Jan. 17. They released a letter sent to the theatre’s owner, Cinemark, in which they criticized the Plano, Texas-based company for not previously reaching out to them to offer condolences and refusing to meet with them without lawyers.

“Our family members will never be on this earth with us again and a movie ticket and some token words from people who didn’t care enough to reach out to us, nor respond when we

reached out to them to talk, is appalling,” the letter said.

Cinemark had no immediate comment.

The company announced last month that it would reopen the theatre on Jan. 17 and invite people affected by the attack and other guests, a move that Aurora officials said has strong support in the community. Gov. John Hickenlooper plans to attend.

The Aurora Sentinel reported that plans filed with the city call for turning the theatre into one of the company’s “extreme digital cinema” sites that feature massive screens. It’s not clear from the plans whether there will be a memorial to the victims.

The invitation was emailed to families by the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, which said the offer was being sent on behalf of Cinemark.

It arrived two days after Christmas as Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, the mother and stepfather of Jessica Ghawi, one of the 12 people killed, were housesitting in Denver.

than 45,000 people have been killed.

Other groups have given similar tolls.

“The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement.

She criticized the government for inflaming the conflict by cracking down on peaceful protests and said rebel groups, too, have killed unjustifiably.

Acts by both sides could be considered

Students who escaped massacre return to class at new school

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MONROE, Conn. — The children who escaped last month’s shootings at a Connecticut elementary school will be returning to classes in a neighbouring town in a refurbished school now named after their old one, school officials said Wednesday.

Newtown Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson announced that the students’ new school, the former Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe, has been renamed Sandy Hook Elementary School. She said the Sandy Hook staff made that decision.

“That’s who they are. They’re the Sandy Hook family,” Robinson said after a news conference at a park in Monroe a few miles (kilometres) from the school, which will open for classes Thursday morning. An open house was held for parents and students on Wednesday.

Robinson added that renaming the Chalk Hill school will allow staff and students to keep “their identity and a comfort level.”

The school where the shootings occurred remains closed and guarded by police. Newtown officials haven’t decided yet on the building’s future.

It’s been nearly three weeks since the Dec. 14 massacre, when gunman Adam Lanza killed 20 students and six educators. Lanza also killed his mother at the home they shared in Newtown before the school shootings, which ended when Lanza fatally shot himself as police arrived.

Police haven’t released any details about a motive.

Numerous police officers on Wednesday guarded the outside of the Monroe school, which is about 11 ki-

lometres from the old school, and told reporters to stay away.

Asked about the level of security at the new school, Monroe police Lt. Keith White said, “Right now it has to be the safest school in America.”

Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe declined to answer questions Wednesday about the investigation.

Teachers attended staff meetings at the new school on Wednesday morning and were visited by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy before the open house, White said.

Robinson said Chalk Hill School has been transformed into a “cheerful” place for the surviving students to resume normal school routines. She said mental health counsellors continue to be available.

“They’re so excited to see the teachers,” Robinson said about the open house attendees.

Several signs welcoming the Sandy Hook students to their new school were posted along the road leading to the school in a rural, mostly residential neighbourhood. One said “Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary Kids,” while a similar sign added “You are in our prayers.”

Teams of workers, many of them volunteers, prepared the Chalk Hill school with fresh paint and new furniture and even raised bathroom floors so the smaller elementary school students can reach the toilets. The students’ desks, backpacks and other belongings that were left behind following the shooting were taken to the new school to make them feel at home.

Counsellors say it’s important for children to get back to a normal routine and for teachers and parents to offer sensitive reassurances.

How did you propose... ...or how were you proposed to?

The Advocate would like to publish your story in our 2013 Wedding Guide. Please keep your story to a maximum of 500 words. If you have any photos of that special moment, we encourage you to include them with your story.

Deadline for submissions is Monday, January 7 The lucky winner will receive a special prize package as well as a gift basket and two tickets to the “With This Ring Bridal Show” on Sunday, February 3.

The Advocate thanks everyone for participating Please send or drop off submissions to: Bridal Proposals Red Deer Advocate Attention: Special Section 2950 Bremner Avenue Red Deer, AB T4N 5G3 Email:specialsections@reddeeradvocate.com

41272L10

BEIRUT — The United Nations gave a grim new count Wednesday of the human cost of Syria’s civil war, saying the death toll has exceeded 60,000 in 21 months — far higher than recent estimates by anti-regime activists.

The day’s events illustrated the escalating violence that has made recent months the deadliest of the conflict: As rebels pressed a strategy of attacking airports and pushing the fight closer to President Bashar Assad’s stronghold in Damascus, the government responded with deadly airstrikes on restive areas around the capital.

A missile from a fighter jet hit a gas station in the suburb of Mleiha, killing or wounding dozens of people who were trapped in burning piles of debris, activists said.

Gruesome online video showed incinerated victims — one still sitting astride a motorcycle — or bodies torn apart.

“He’s burning! The guy is burning!” an off-camera voice screamed in one video over a flaming corpse.

It was unclear if the government had a military strategy for attacking the gas station. At least one of the wounded wore a military-style vest often used by rebel fighters. Human rights groups and anti-regime activists say Assad’s forces often make little effort to avoid civilian casualties when bombing rebel areas.

Syria’s conflict began in March 2011 with protests calling for political change but has evolved into a fullscale civil war.

As the rebels have grown more or-

war crimes, she said.

She also faulted world powers for not finding a way to stop the violence.

“The failure of the international community, in particular the Security Council, to take concrete actions to stop the bloodletting shames us all,” Pillay said. “Collectively, we have fiddled at the edges while Syria burns.”

The U.S. and many European and Arab nations have demanded that Assad step down, while Russia, China and Iran have criticized calls for regime change.

The new death toll was compiled by independent experts commissioned by the U.N. human rights office who compared 147,349 killings reported by seven different sources, including the Syrian government.

After removing duplicates, they had a list of 59,648 individuals killed between the start of the uprising on March 15, 2011, and Nov. 30, 2012. In each case, the victim’s first and last name and the date and location of death were known. Killings in December pushed the number past 60,000, she said.

The total death toll is likely to be even higher because incomplete reports were excluded, and some killing may not have been documented at all.

“There are many names not on the list for people who were quietly shot in the woods,” Pillay’s spokesman Rupert Colville told The Associated Press.

The data did not distinguish among soldiers, rebels or civilians.

It indicated that the pace of killing has accelerated. Monthly death tolls in summer 2011 were around 1,000. A year later, they had reached about 5,000 per month.

D6 RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013 flooding and storm surges.

It was the most costly natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005 and one of the worst storms ever in the Northeast.

WORLD

BRIEFS

Clinton leaves hospital after treatment for blood clot in head

Lawmaker says US House leader promises votes on superstorm aid

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been released from a New York hospital where she was treated for a blood clot in her head.

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines says her doctors advised her that she has been making progress on all fronts and are confident she will make a full recovery.

He says Clinton is appreciative of the excellent care she received at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and is eager to get back to work. A date for her return to the State Department has not been set.

Clinton had been in the hospital since Sunday, where she was being treated with blood thinners to dissolve the clot. Doctors discovered the clot during a follow-up exam stemming from a concussion she suffered earlier in December.

WASHINGTON — The leader of the U.S. House of Representatives agreed Wednesday to a vote this week on aid for Superstorm Sandy recovery, changing course after coming under intense pressure from angry fellow Republicans.

The speaker will schedule a vote Friday for $9 billion for the national flood insurance program and another on Jan. 15 for a remaining $51 billion in the package, Republican Rep. Peter King of New York said after emerging from a meeting with Boehner and Republican lawmakers from New York and New Jersey. The votes will be taken by the new Congress that will be sworn in Thursday.

Boehner’s decision Tuesday night to cancel an expected vote on the storm aid before Congress ends its current session had provoked a firestorm of criticism from New York, New Jersey and adjacent states, including many lawmakers in his own party.

According to King, Boehner explained that after the contentious vote this week to avoid major tax increases and spending cuts called the “fiscal cliff,” Boehner didn’t think it was the right time to schedule the vote before the current Congress went out of business.

King left the session with Boehner without the anger that led him to lash out at the speaker Tuesday night.

“What’s done is done. The end result will be New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will receive the funding they deserve. We made our position clear last night. That’s in the past,” King said.

Sandy was blamed for at least 120 deaths and battered coastline areas from North Carolina to Maine in October. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were the hardest hit states and suffered high winds,

Ecuador’s Congress approves month leave for President Correa QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador’s Congress has overwhelmingly approved a request by President Rafael Correa to take a monthlong leave of absence to focus on his re-election campaign.

Vice-President Lenin Moreno will fill in for Correa starting Jan. 15. The election is Feb. 17.

Correa says he’s taking the leave to be fair and pledges to avoid abusing his presidential powers. He told Congress on Wednesday: “I don’t have to do it, but I prefer to avoid any suspicion.”

But analysts say Correa will still enjoy vast powers even while nominally on leave.

For more than a century, Ecuador limited presidents to single terms, but the constitution was changed in 2008 to enable re-election.

Buenos Aires retires century-old cars for Latin America’s oldest subway BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The wooden subway cars on the Buenos Aires subway’s A-line will soon be replaced by Chinese-made rolling stock, and that has people in the Argentine capital nostalgic.

The 90 Belgian cars began rolling in 1913 on Latin America’s first subway line. And they are the oldest subway cars still operating in the world, carrying 160,000 passengers on the line daily.

The old cars still attract tourists, but they’ve become increasingly difficult to maintain. Mayor Mauricio Macri says they’re unsafe and must be replaced.

That saddens Aquilino Gonzalez Podesta, founder of the Friends of the Subway. He agrees the historic cars must go, but wonders why it can’t wait until after the line’s centennial in 11 months.

In his words, “There are some sentimental questions that overrule logic.”

American journalist missing in Syria for more than one month BEIRUT — An American journalist who graduated from Marquette University has been missing in Syria since he was kidnapped more than one month ago, his family said Wednesday, less than two years after he was held by government forces in Libya while covering that country’s civil war.

The family of James Foley, of Rochester, N.H., said he was kidnapped in northwest Syria by unknown gunmen on Thanksgiving day.

Foley, 39, has worked in a number of conflict zones around the Middle East, including Syria, Libya and Iraq. He was contributing videos to Agence France-Press while in Syria. Foley graduated from Marquette in 1996, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Foley’s disappearance highlights the risks to reporters seeking to cover the civil war from inside Syria.

Really?

When?

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

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