January 2009
January 7
• Okotoks’ lauded population cap could be “tweaked” as the Town and the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) ponder new plans for the future. Okotoks’ mayor and two town councillors say they support altering the population cap.
January 14
• The crowd at an open house at the Okotoks Air Ranch on Jan. 12 was simmering with frustration as Air Ranch residents want Heartland production grounded.  Approximately 120 people attended the meeting at the new east hangar to address a proposal from the producers of the CBC television series Heartland to use …

Y2K may have been a bust, but that did not keep the rest of the past decade from being front page news.
Foothills residents have seen explosive growth, an economic boom and bust, floods, rising gas prices, swine flu and mad cow disease.
The past decade has also seen the Town of Okotoks become an internationally recognized leader in environmental conservation, a reputation that attracted the Drake Landing solar community to town. The development was Canada’s first solar energy community with houses tied to a communal geothermal system.
Here are the top 10 …

In a stunning political move Airdrie-Chestermere MLA Rob Anderson defected to the Wildrose Alliance Party on Jan. 4.
Anderson said the Progressive Conservative government has not addressed his concerns and those of his constituents, calling the current regime “totally dysfunctional.”
“I didn’t feel at home there because it wasn’t the democracy I believe in,” said Anderson. “My political loyalties reside with the people of Alberta and especially with those in the constituency of Airdrie-Chestermere, who elected me to represent them.”
Calgary-Fish Creek MLA Heather Forsyth also jumped ship to the Wildrose Alliance on …

An Okotoks man who doused his house in gas was severely burned on New Year’s Day.
The charred timbers of the suite, located in a four-plex on McRae Street in Okotoks, stood in stark contrast to Christmas decorations and a children’s tricycle outside of neighbouring homes.
Dorothy Powell is staying with her niece and nephew and their small son at a suite across from the burned home. She said they heard a loud bang and when they looked outside they saw flames pouring out of the home.
“It was raging,” she said.
Powell has …

Okotoks’ mayor has a few more things he wants to accomplish before handing over the reins this year.
Mayor Bill McAlpine said he will likely hang up his spurs and not run in this fall’s municipal election, but he hasn’t entirely made up his mind.
“At the moment I don’t think so, 12 years is enough but we’ll see how things progress,” he said.
Before McAlpine goes he will be busy leading efforts to find more water for Okotoks in 2010.
He said it should be priority number one for the town, which will …

Okotoks will get to share the Olympic spirit.
The Olympic torch will travel through town on Jan. 18 as it makes its way to Vancouver for the Olympic Winter Games starting on Feb. 12.
The torch will travel through the heart of Okotoks and make a short stop at the Okotoks Recreation Centre on the 81st day of the Canada-wide relay. The day’s events will feature a major community celebration in High River with musical performances and a few surprises still to be announced.
Okotoks Mayor Bill McAlpine said it’s an opportunity for …

Okotoks RCMP have laid charges in relation to a robbery at a local pharmacy.
On Oct. 13, a pharmacist at the Rexall pharmacy in the Southridge Village shopping mall was approached by a man who claimed to have a gun and was told to hand over Oxycontin and morphine. The pharmacist said the man produced what looked like a sawed off shotgun. He was not wearing a mask, but was wearing a hoodie and a toque. After the pharmacist handed over the drugs the suspect fled in a car.
Calgary Police Service …

A man who fell almost four metres at an Okotoks elementary school under renovation is recovering well and is expected to be released from hospital soon.
On Nov. 18 a man on his first day on the job fell through a hole on the second floor at Ecole Percy Pegler School and onto the concrete floor below. He was airlifted to Foothills Hospital in Calgary in critical condition. The worker had come to the Okotoks job site that day with a friend after responding to an employment advertisement. The two of …

After teetering on the brink of extinction, Black Diamond’s second affordable housing complex is still in the works.
Last week it looked as if the $5 million project would be shelved because the Town of Black Diamond wouldn’t offer the developer tax breaks. But after a visit with the town’s tax assessor, the project is still a go.
“It was a great relief for us, we were on a rollercoaster,” said Dave Brown, director of 961481 Alta. Inc., the project’s developer.
Brown said after visiting with Black Diamond tax assessor Doug Jensen, the …

Okotoks is ending 2009 with money in the bank, but its operating surplus will be down compared to last year.
The Town of Okotoks is projecting it will end 2009 with a $500,000 operating surplus.
“It’s in that ball park, which is significantly less than last year,” said Mayor Bill McAlpine.
In 2008, the Town saved $934,000 on its operating budget, which was transferred to the Town’s reserve funds.
Okotoks financial services manager Louise Wasylenko stressed the number is still preliminary and the final surplus won’t be known until later in the winter once …