The Olympic flame was extinguished during the Closing Ceremonies at the Winter Olympics Sunday in Vancouver
However, the spirit and memories will burn on in the foothills for years to come.
Okotoks didn’t start getting into the Olympic spirit just when the flame was ignited during Opening Ceremony on Feb. 12. The foothills community got the Games bug back in 2009 when it learned the Olympic torch would make its way through Okotoks during its historic trek across Canada.
Thousands of children, and the young at heart, lined the streets of Okotoks to …

The fate of a new community hall in the High Country area is in limbo, but successfully completing the
project will be a group effort not one of alienation.
The Diamond Valley Community Centre 78 Society has abandoned its initial plan to build the new facility in Turner Valley and have now formally approached the Town of Black Diamond about coming on board.
The relationship between the
Centre 78 Society and the Town of Turner Valley was rocky from the
beginning and when the two could not come to an agreement the
society, like a jilted …

While the Alberta government prepares for a $4.7 billion deficit – a number the Wildrose Alliance challenges is closer to $7.5 billion – and boasts not cutting programs it is clear throwing money at a problem is not the best fix.
Just days after the provincial government tabled its 2010-2011 budget, which included $759 million to erase the Alberta Health Services’ debt, Foothills Regional EMS revealed the new regional dispatch system is a mess.
Foothills residents have been waiting up to 45 minutes for an ambulance due to an embarrassing array of …

It was good move for Turner Valley council to put aside their personal conflicts with the ostrasized Coun. George Wallace.
At Monday’s meeting, council members unanimously voted to give him back the ability to carry out his full duties as an elected representative.
This means he can now participate on council committees and boards and has regained the respect of his fellow council members.
He deserves it. The people chose him and he needs to be able to be on committees in order to carry out his responsibilities as a councillor.
Last March council …

A CTV survey last week showed 58 per cent of respondents did not plan to donate to the Haitian relief effort.
Perhaps those who said they would not support fundraising efforts believed the disaster simply does not impact Canada and their charitable dollars would be better spent closer to home.
Although the earthquake was indeed thousands of miles away the aftershocks of the quake hit hard in the heart of Canada — especially Okotoks.
A catastrophic earthquake devastated the Caribbean island on Jan. 12 and according to the Haitian government more than 150,000 people …

Premier Ed Stelmach proved loyalty means nothing in politics.
Last week Stelmach shuffled his cabinet and one of his most appalling moves was pushing Highwood MLA George Groeneveld from cabinet and into the backbenches.
Groeneveld was named Minister of Agriculture in 2006 and manned the post until he was unceremoniously dumped last week. Not only was he stripped of his Agriculture portfolio he was not given another post on cabinet at all.
It was a slap in the face to an MLA who has been a staunch supporter of Stelmach despite the premier’s …

Ironically, Okotoks is world renowned for its sustainability and conservation policies, but it is the Alberta municipality now dealing with what could be a severe water shortage.
The provincial government needs to take an active role in what is unfolding in the foothills because what  Okotoks is experiencing will be a litmus test for similar problems which will surely impact growing communities across Alberta.
Okotoks will reach the capacity  of its water licence (608 million gallons per year) within the next two years and the Town is desperately trying to secure additional …

Okotoks is continuing to race towards a population of 30,000 people, but the Town of Okotoks is finding itself in a precarious position — where is it going to get the water to serve its growing population?
On Monday Okotoks Mayor Bill McAlpine announced the Town is coming perilously close to maxing out its water licences.
Currently, the Town has the licence capacity for 608 million gallons per year. In 2009 the Town used about 580 million gallons of water from the Sheep River watershed which was actually down from 2008.
However, the …

New report cards being developed by the Foothills School Division (FSD) may be with the best of intentions, but the learning profiles need to be more parent friendly.
Earlier this month several schools in the division passed out the new learning profiles to elementary students and they have been getting mixed reviews — with good reason.
Learning profiles no longer use letter grades or even percentages to communicate a student’s mark.
Instead, the report cards use four “descriptors” including Beginning, Developing, Achieving and Extending.
According to FSD, “These categories will help to identify those children …

It’s hard to put the genie back in the bottle, but you still have to rein it in.
It’s a common refrain, but something needs to be done to curb acreage sprawl across the foothills region. The MD of Foothills is trying to accomplish that task with its proposed Municipal Development Plan (MDP). The plan was unveiled to ratepayers at a public hearing in High River on Nov. 26 and the document received some mixed reviews.
The proposed MDP makes preservation of agricultural land a priority, recognizing all land in the MD …