By Don Patterson
Staff Reporter
A plan to review the gender neutrality of the Canadian anthem has fallen flat.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has backed off on a proposed study of the English language lyrics in O Canada announced in the throne speech on March 3.
At the centre of the issue is the line: “In all thy sons command.”
The prime minister’s idea  in one that has struck the wrong tune with Okotoks residents.
Okotoks resident Nora Mulder said it’s a case of political correctness run amuck.
“Everybody wants to be politically correct and it needs …

Jobs, growth and five years of deficits were the main themes in the federal budget announced last week
Federal finance minister Jim Flaherty outlined the Conservative government’s intention to stick to its economic action plan started last year.
“Last year was a two-year roll out of what we thought was necessary to keep some industries going and kick start some job creation,” said Macleod MP Ted Menzies, who is also the parliamentary assistant to minister Flaherty.
Along with its economic plans, the budget revealed it will also take five years to get the …

An 18-year-old woman from Millarville who spent approximately 40 harrowing hours in a lifeboat was greeted with a hero’s welcome when she arrived home on Monday night.
When some of the more than 20 friends and family burst into a rendition of ‘Alana Row The Boat Ashore Hallelujah’ upon her arrival, all Alana Johnson could do was burst into a wide grin and start hugging people.
Johnson was one of 48 students in the Class Afloat program aboard the tall ship the SV Concordia that sank approximately 550 kilometres off the Brazilian …

It’s a bittersweet feeling for an Okotoks teen who arrived home after two weeks in Haiti which was decimated by an earthquake in January.
Jessica Friesen is happy to be reunited with her family after working at an orphanage in the Caribbean country, but she can’t help thinking there is more she should do.
“It’s nice to be with my family, but I feel like I should be there doing something,” she said. “It’s hard being here when I want to be there.”
Friesen was in Haiti when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit …

She looks down at her three-year-old daughter Gigi playing on the floor and Callie Finley realizes just how lucky she is.
After more than two years of waiting Finley and her husband Darcy were finally able to finalize their adoption of Gigi, a three-year-old Haitian orphan who they brought home to Okotoks last fall.
The Finleys traveled to Haiti in October making the horrific earthquake that ravaged the Caribbean island on Jan. 12 all the more devastating for the Okotoks family.
“There have been a lot of tears over the last few days,” …

Sitting on the balcony savouring a warm Caribbean evening a young Okotoks woman’s paradise was shaken by a catastrophic earthquake that left much of Haiti in ruin.
Jessica Friesen, an 18-year-old graduate of Foothills Composite High School, is currently in Haiti volunteering at the orphanage operated by God’s Littlest Angels (GLA) a charity with its Canadian office based in Okotoks.
Friesen travelled to Haiti last fall to volunteer at the GLA orphanage.
Although no one can prepare for such a disaster, when the earthquake shook the island on Jan. 12 Friesen’s instincts took …

One foothills MLA received a big promotion while another was sent to the backbenches when Premier Ed Stelmach shuffled his cabinet last week.
Highwood MLA George Groeneveld was removed from his post as Agriculture minister and Foothills-Rocky View MLA Ted Morton made a significant move from Sustainable Resources to the Finance portfolio.
Groeneveld said it was a surprise, but it also could’ve been expected because three years is a long time for a cabinet minister to stay in one place.
“You never see it coming. You would’ve maybe appreciated a heads up… that’s …

In Premier Ed Stelmach’s cabinet shuffle on Jan. 13 Highwood MLA George Groeneveld was pushed to the backbenches.
Groeneveld was stripped of his post as Agriculture minister, a post he held since Stelmach became premier, and will be replaced by former Infrastructure minister Jack Hayden, who is MLA for Drumheller-Stettler.
In another move Foothills-Rockyview MLA Ted Morton will take on the high profile Minister of Finance portfolio moving from Sustainable Resources.
Perhaps the most surprising move in Stelmach’s cabinet shuffle is Groeneveld was not given another portfolio despite being one of the first …

The father of a missing Toronto girl is doubtful a report she tried to sell crafts to two Okotoks businesses was actually his daughter.
Mariam Makhniashvili, 18, has been missing since Sept. 14 when her brother last saw her outside her Toronto-area school. Mariam’s father Vakhtang said his daughter would’ve called if she was out on her own.
“She was walking around without any problems and it is strange that she would be walking alone after being missing for three months,” he said.
He said the person seen in Okotoks does not match …

High Country voters aren’t making a big deal over the loss of a briefcase carrying government documents by Foothills-Rocky View MLA Ted Morton.
However, they think their MLA should’ve been more careful.
“More care should be taken if you’re packing these kinds of things with you,” said Marv Garriott, owner of Marv’s Classic Soda Shop in Black Diamond.
Morton’s briefcase was stolen from a friend’s vehicle on Dec. 1 while he and the MLA were having dinner in a downtown Edmonton restaurant.
Garriott said he doesn’t see a big deal with the incident, but …