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June 2, 2021
County of Minburn Bow Hunter Achieves World Record Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent
In photo is Shawn O’Shea sitting next to the trophy elk that he shot and killed in the bushes of the County of Minburn on September 14, 2020. This animal is a nontypical 9 by 9 bull that has a net score of 4494/8 which beats the old world record by 7 4/8 inches. (Shawn O’Shea/Submitted Photo)
Shawn O’Shea is a 55-year-old farmer and oilfield worker who lives on a farm south of Vegreville. Shawn has been bow hunting for 30 years. Shawn’s four sons all hunt with him. He has a huge passion for hunting and thinks about this sport all the time. He still shoots with the same Mathews Z7 compound that he bought new 10 years ago. On September 14, 2020, Shawn first spotted the elk that would win the world-record. Shawn was amazed at the size of the animal and extremely excited when he first spotted and arrowed the elk that he shot and killed in the bushes of the County of Minburn. This non-typical 9 by 9 bull that has a net score of 4494/8 that beat the old world record by 7 4/8 inches. It has been certified by
the Pope and Young Club as the largest non-typical elk ever taken by a bow hunter and will be officially honoured by the conservation organization at its July 2021 convention in Reno, Nevada. O’Shea’s bull has more inches of antler than any other North American game animal hunted by archery equipment. Going back, Shawn said the first time he seen pictures of this bull was from a trail cam in 2017, but he had never seen the elk in person until 2020. He practiced shooting for two months prior to hunting this elk. He feels that hard work and perseverance pays off when it comes to bow hunting or anything in life, but he wanted to put more emphasis on this special animal who grew the horns. After all, this elk is the one who won the world record for Shawn.
Keep the RCMP in Alberta Campaign Raises Awareness Michelle Pinon News Advertiser Tell the provincial government to Keep the RCMP in Alberta. That’s the name and aim of a public awareness campaign that was launched in January, 2021, by the National Police Federation, (NPF). It was formed in direct response to the Fair Deal Panel Review that recommended replacing the Alberta RCMP with a Provincial Police Force. Keep Alberta RCMP Campaign has garnered a lot of attention and gained 11,000 supporters since its inception. Kevin Halwa, Director of the NFP Prairie Region, said they have developed a website and utilize various social media platforms to spread their message. He said they have about 9,000 Facebook followers alone. They encourage residents to send their message to MLA’s. “We have a lot of support from the people we serve,” stated Halwa. He said members work hard for the betterment of their communities are become embedded in those communities. The NFP commissioned an independent company to conduct as survey which indicated that more than 81 percent of respondents are very satisfied with the service they receive from the RCMP. The form letter on the NFP site reads: “I am writing to express my serious concern with the proposal to replace the Alberta RCMP with an expensive new provincial police service. If we switch to a provincial
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police service, Alberta taxpayers will be on the hook for an additional 160 million, currently funded by the federal government, as well as significant transition costs. The result will be a more expensive and less effective police force.” Halwa pointed to the City of Surrey, BC which has established its own police force and said the cost to date is $64 million and that does not include transitional costs. He said it had the largest detachment in BC with 850 members. Comparatively, there are 3,500 members in Alberta serving more than 1.7 million Albertans through over 800,000 calls for service annually, and there are 117 detachments serving 47 municipalities and 21 First Nations communities in the province. Creation of a provincial police force would come with a big price tag, said Halwa, who feels Albertans already pay enough taxes and are feeling the effects of the economic downturn for the past several years and now with the pandemic restrictions and job losses. Halwa noted that findings from the Police Act Review are to be made public, and that was promised by the Justice and Solicitor General’s department. Halwa has met with half a dozen municipalities in recent months and said they are all in support of keeping the RCMP in Alberta. Two municipalities that have voiced their opposition to having a provincial police force and has asked the Town of Vegreville for support. (See related article titled: Provincial Police Service Proposal an on-going Issue.)
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