Okotoks - Boy hit by car recovering

11-year-old rushed to Children’s Hospital by STARS, still critical

By Pamela Roth
Staff Reporter

An 11-year-old Okotoks boy remains in hospital on life support after he darted out from between two parked vehicles and was struck by a car last Wednesday on Woodhaven Drive.
According to police, the boy was on his way to a friend’s house around 4:10 p.m. when he ran into the path of a silver Acura that was believed to be traveling between 40 to 50 kilometres per hour west of the Woodgate Road intersection.
The driver of the car wasn’t able to avoid the youth, who was transported to the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary by STARS Air Ambulance with life-threatening injuries.
It is not yet known what caused the boy, Max Bartnik, to suddenly run onto the road into the path of the oncoming car.
“He was jogging on the path and made a sudden movement to run onto the road,” said Okotoks RCMP Const. Krista Woods. “We don’t know what he did to run out between two parked vehicles into the path of a car.”
Bartnuk received significant head injuries and has had to undergo brain surgery on two occasions to remove a blood clot since arriving at the Children’s Hospital.
His grandmother, Fran Nargang, drove from Drumheller to offer the family support and, like the rest of the family, has been keeping a close eye on her grandson’s condition with each passing day.
“He’s stable right now and they are slowly starting to take him off his medication, but he’s still on life support,” said Nargang. “Everybody is fine, but it’s hard. Things are looking more positive.”
The young driver of the vehicle was not injured from the collision, but is still shaken by the incident.
RCMP is continuing to investigate the collision and said that alcohol was not a factor.

The shoe of an 11-year-old boy lies on the road near the location where he was hit by a car on Woodhaven Drive last Wednesday. Max Bartnuk is recovering at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. photo by Dave Dormer

Bragg Creek - Expansion plan leads to lawsuit

MD of Rocky View proposes more residential and commercial development in hamlet

By Darlene Casten
Staff Reporter

A lawsuit will not stop the MD of Rocky View from planning the future of Bragg Creek, said MD of Rocky View municipal manager Kent Robinson.
The municipality as well as three councillors have been served with a civil suit over an area structure plan that outlines Bragg Creek’s growth over the next 20 years. However, Robinson said the municipality has no intention of stopping the proposal from proceeding to council.
“As far as we are concerned it is business as usual,” Robinson said.
The area structure plan has already received first reading, but revisions are underway. Administrators are working on changes that will be put before council Oct. 17.
Bruce Finnigan, a Bragg Creek resident and a former member of the area structure plan steering committee, has vowed to stop the proposed area structure plan from proceeding through the political channels. Finnigan said the plan blatantly disregards the wishes of residents as expressed in a survey, despite the municipality’s promise to use the survey results as a basis for the plan.
“My position is to represent the residents to get what they asked for,” Finnigan said.
The survey was delivered to over 900 homes and garnered more than 300 responses. Finnigan said the responses likely represented around 1,000 people, or half of the hamlet’s population.
When asked if they would like to see increased residential expansion in the hamlet in the case that a municipal water system was in place, half of respondents said they did not want new development.
Whereas, 38 per cent said development should be encouraged in the hamlet.
Just under half of respondents also indicated that no new development should happen in the areas surrounding Bragg Creek, even if a water supply was provided. Again, 38 per cent disagreed, saying development should go ahead in the outlying areas.
Commercial development was strongly opposed by those surveyed, with 67 per cent opposed to increased business activity outside of the downtown core.
Finnigan said the current area structure plan, which would allow for increased commercial zoning on Whyte Avenue and opens up a 260-acre area for residential development, flies in the face of the survey responses.
“People stated in the survey that they wanted no change in the historic boundary of the hamlet,” Finnigan said. (The MD has) done the opposite.”
Finnigan remained on the steering committee when these survey results were discussed, but was later removed in a vote of its members after being cited for speaking out to the media.
Finnigan’s lawsuit also names Councillors Paul McLean and Lois Habberfield, who he said defamed his character while having him removed from the steering committee.
Finnigan is also taking aim at Councillor Bob Everett, who represents Bragg Creek on the MD council, who Finnigan said is in the midst of buying property that is included in the area structure plan’s expansion zone and owns a property on Whyte Avenue that could be converted into a business if the ASP is approved.
“There is not much chance of him following the survey when he is making personal maneuvers to improve his own net worth,” Finnigan said, adding that Everett should declare a conflict of interest and discontinue voting on the ASP.
Everett was not available for comment by press time.
If the MD of Rocky VView continues to consider the area structure plan, Finnigan said he will take further steps to block council.
“What we will do is apply to have it quashed,” Finnigan said. “If they continue then we will continue.”