COFFEE SMOOTHIES COOL DOWN WITH THESE PICK-ME-UP RECIPES {page 20}
GOOD KIDS HARRY POTTER STARS AVOID CHILD ACTOR ‘CURSE’ {page 16}
CALGARY
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing. TM
Memories of Scorpion ride at Stampede still sting Ten teenagers were injured after ride pod broke off Added safety measures aim to prevent another incident JEREMY NOLAIS
@METRONEWS.CA
Prince William prepares for a game of street hockey to be watched by his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, in Yellowknife. JOHN STILLWELL/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Royals head for Slave Lake The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will fly into Slave Lake today. The royal couple expressly wanted to visit the town, which was ravaged by fire in May. More coverage, page 3.
Tanya Federico remembers the screams, the crying, the chaos. She had just returned to the Scorpion ride on the Calgary Stampede midway with her daughter. Her son Matthew was supposed to be enjoying himself on board the spinning amusement-park offering. However, one of the ride’s pods had broken off, sending bodies flying. Matthew escaped injury, but others were not so lucky. Federico, a registered nurse, and her husband, Paolo, went to work aiding the injured until emergency services arrived. “People were very upset,” she said yesterday. “My son and his friend, when they saw people lying down, they thought they were dead.” That was on July 16, 2010. Now, as the Greatest Outdoor Show on
Earth gears up for its 2011 edition, ride operator North American Midway Entertainment (NAME) says it has introduced new safety checks to prevent another mishap from occurring. “In almost six years (and) 11 million customers, we have had one incident,” said NAME general manager Tony Diaz. “One is too many.” Reporters were shown a demonstration yesterday using nondestructive techniques to test for cracks and stress fractures on midway rides. Stampede officials are standing behind NAME and the upgraded safety measures. “People coming out to Stampede park will have the safest possible rides,” said spokesperson Doug Fraser. But yesterday’s announcement was not enough to convince Federico. “We won’t go back to join the midway, definitely not,” she said, though she added: “The Stampede
Ride malfunction Report. An engineering report released to the public in late March stated that repairs to the Scorpion ride were not done properly — cracks near the spot where the ride pod broke off had simply been welded over. Testing. Along with non-destructive testing for cracks, North American Midway Entertainment is also introducing independent inspections and additional monitoring of ride performance, said general manager Tony Diaz. Lawsuit. Dustin AndersonSharples, one of the individuals injured in the 2010 mishap, had indicated earlier this year he was considering a lawsuit in relation to the incident, but officials said yesterday that nothing has been filed.
itself does a lot for the community.... I do support their agricultural buildings and things like that.”
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