The Sheep River Library board is ready to release the flood gates when it moves into its new space in Turner Valley.
Library board chair Diane Osberg said the library’s books, services and classes are expanding to provide an increasing population in the High Country area, but they are quickly running out of space in their Black Diamond location. The collections of books, four computers, video conferencing equipment and meeting area is being housed in a 3,000 square foot space. According to Alberta library standards, to serve the population of the …

A group of Turner Valley residents who objected to a proposed affordable housing development in their neighbourhood will not lose their green space after all.
Council decided on Jan. 18 the proposed location for the project on Anderson Crescent, including a connecting property behind it, is not suitable for single family home and six duplexes.
In December all the residents of Anderson Crescent — including Coun. Gary Rowntree — objected to a proposal to donate the land to the Foothills Foundation for the development of affordable housing.
Brent Lindblad, who organized the petition …

A woman frustrated with the lack of progress within the Foothills Humane Society is now rallying support in the community to form another animal welfare organization.
Turner Valley resident Cheryle Dobbyn has registered the High Country Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and is hosting the first public meeting on Feb. 9. The meeting, which will take place at the Flare ‘n’ Derrick Community Hall in Turner Valley at 7 p.m., is designed to let the public know what the goals of the SPCA will be, seek input …

Turner Valley town council voted unanimously to reinstate Coun. George Wallace after a tumultuous past 11 months in which the councillor was stripped of his duties.
In March, council unanimously passed a vote of non-confidence against Wallace. Since then, Wallace has attended council meetings and cast his vote, but he could not attend committee or board meetings as a council representative.
Following the vote of non-confidence, Mayor Dona Fluter would not clarify the reasoning behind the vote of non-confidence, but she did say a letter Wallace wrote to the Western Wheel criticizing …

Violence on the Eden Valley Reserve escalated in January, resulting in six people being sent to hospital after they were attacked with everything from bats to chairs.
On Saturday police were called to their fourth call on the reserve west of Longview in one month involving a severe beating.
“This is a fairly common occurrence,” said Corp. Allen Busch of the Turner Valley RCMP.
According to police, at least four men broke into a home and beat two men inside with bats and a steel pole. The victims suffered broken bones. When their …

Nearly 14 years of making daily notes would account for one thick notebook and it is time for the new principal at Holy Trinity Academy to put those notes to work.
Every day since starting at the school in 1996 as a math teacher Carmen Ostafichuk, who is currently the vice-principal, has jotted down suggestions and ways to improve her class for the next day’s lessons.
Starting May 1, Ostafichuk can make notes as principal of Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) instead of vice-principal.
“I never just do things and say that’s good enough, …

The woman at the centre of a sex scandal at a Black Diamond high school did not attend her first appearance in court last Friday.
The accused woman’s lawyer, who also did not come to Okotoks court Friday, sent instructions with another lawyer, to ask the case come back on Feb. 26.
The Crown prosecutor in Okotoks told the court that their case is “voluminous” and would not be available for the defence until next week.
Nadine Nesbitt, a Crown prosecutor on a special team dedicated to sex crimes, is assigned to the …

The trial into a stabbing at a Priddis home was cancelled Thursday when the woman in the assault did not show up in court.
The accused woman’s lawyer quit last week when her client failed to appear for her trial.
The hearing centered on an incident in September 2009 when a man suffering from a stab wound called police to a home in Priddis. He told the officers he had fallen on a knife. A subsequent investigation revealed the man’s common-law wife may have actually stabbed him with a knife following an …

A judge called the conditions on the Eden Valley Reserve deplorable before sentencing a teen from the First Nations reserve west of Longview for the murder of his uncle.
Judge Victor Tousignant agreed to impose an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision (IRCS) order, a rare sentence that has only been applied in 25 cases across Canada. The order allows young offenders who have committed serious violent crimes to access programs and professionals they otherwise cannot in youth prisons. The Province funds the cost of the rehabilitation and has to approve an …

No children were on a bus that was stuck by an oncoming pick-up truck Monday morning near Priddis.
Students had already been dropped off to Red Deer Lake School and the bus driver was heading home at the time of the crash.
A pickup truck heading east down a hill and over an icy bridge on Highway 22 near the Priddis Valley Road lost control and began fishtailing. The truck swerved into the oncoming lane, striking the bus and shearing the box of the truck off.
Priddis fire chief Doug Eagleton said firefighters …