Five years after floods raged across southern Alberta, Highwood’s MLA want the Province to release a report detailing measures to reduce the impact of future floods.
George Groeneveld said the report he spearheaded is still sitting on Alberta Municipal Affairs’ shelf and he hopes recent flooding in southeast Alberta will put more pressure on the Province to release it.
“As soon as a flood goes past a year and beyond, people seem to forget about floods,” he said. “Now I’m starting to get calls on the report again asking where it is. …

Okotoks town councillors are supporting one of their own after Coun. Naydene Lewis’ husband was shot and killed by police on July 18 dead.
“We’re totally behind her on this one and whatever she needs, we’re going to try to do for her and be there for her,” said Coun. Ralph Wilson.
He said council will consider a motion at its Aug. 9 meeting to make a donation to a fund set up by Lewis in her daughter’s name after the incident. No dollar amount has been decided at this time.
“We have …

A partnership between a service group and local municipalities is driving a much-needed expansion of the Foothills Cemetery.
The Royal Canadian Legion #78 in Turner Valley is leading a partnership including the towns of Black Diamond and Turner Valley and the MD of Foothills to expand and beautify the cemetery located west of Black Diamond in the MD.
Black Diamond Coun. Michel Jackson said the cemetery needs to be expanded soon.
“They don’t have enough space,” said Jackson. “Right now they are running out of lots.”
Jackson said the cemetery only has enough space …

A small Canadian flag flaps gently in the cool morning breeze. Under a clear blue sky a lone soldier walks among the solemn graves placing a bright red poppy on the headstones belonging to his fallen comrades.
It is a lonely task, but Doug Cooper, a former member of the Lord Strathconas Horse, is simply picking up where someone left off.
On the anniversary of D-Day, June 4, Cooper, dressed in his Strathcona uniform, visited the Okotoks to place a wreath on the cenotaph downtown. While he was in town he decided …

The MD of Foothills wants to hear what happens in Edmonton before trying to muzzle motorcycles in the area.
At an MD meeting in June, Coun. Terry Waddock asked for increased enforcement on people who remove sound limiting equipment from their motorcycles creating noisy conditions for residents in the valleys and ranges of the foothills.
“The people who live in those valleys all weekend long, all they hear is the crap from the noisy motorbikes,” he said. “You know what, people get so mad about it because it’s so inconsiderate.”
MD of Foothills …

Following one resident’s unsuccessful bid to keep a hedge behind her house, the Town of Okotoks is cracking down on people with landscaping on public land.
In June, Okotoks council turned down a request from Sharon Molnar to leave the hedge she planted on Town land in place and gave her family an extension to Sept. 15 to remove the landscaping.
Last week, the Town removed bushes from behind two homes in the Cimarron area that were also on public land.
Last week the Town removed a row of alpine currant bushes behind …

Black Diamond residents will decide the fate of a say on the Sheep River Library project.
At its regular meeting on July 21, Black Diamond town council voted in favour of holding a plebiscite on the issue of funding for the new Sheep River Library under construction in Turner Valley.
The plebiscite will be held in conjunction with the municipal election on Oct. 14. The plebiscite will include two questions: the first asking residents to indicate whether they want Black Diamond to contribute $250,000 to build the library; and the second will …

Yellow and blue flags flap in the wind on a brisk Sunday morning, but these small flags symbolize a special future at the Foothills Country Hospice north of Okotoks.
This weekend volunteers will be helping to build a new labyrinth in the facility’s already breathtaking garden.
Monica Kilburn-Smith, spiritual care director at the hospice, said adding the labyrinth is a wonderful opportunity and a project they have been working on for almost a year.
She said building the labyrinth became an important project because it would be another source of healing for the …

Division 1 will have a new representative on the MD of Foothills council for the first time in more than two decades.
At its regular council meeting on Thursday in High River, Reeve Roy McLean announced he will not seek re-election in October ending his 21-year run on council.
“I think I have been there long enough and it is time,” said McLean on Friday. “It was not that easy of a decision, but my leg is giving me some trouble from my accident and if it wasn’t for that I might …

Parole conditions didn’t stop a two-time convicted bank robber from holding up a small Bragg Creek branch last week.
On July 13 a man approached a lone bank teller as she opened the Alberta Treasury Branch in Bragg Creek at around 10 a.m. While brandishing a 10-inch long knife and with his face hidden by a balaclava the man demanded money. He took off in a car with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Despite being shook up by the incident, the teller was able to provide police with a detailed description of …