Robert Hill, in 1992, looks over his journal prior to attending anniversary of Dieppe raid. - Advocate file photo
Wartime prisoner’s journal, medals rescued from landfill dumpster
By Sean P. Young
Published: June 08, 2011 6:33 AM
Updated: June 08, 2011 7:27 AM
When Robert Henry Hill of Lacombe died in 2002, he left behind a chronicle of his experiences as a captured soldier during the Second World War.
And now that huge journal, and the piece of history it represents, has been rescued from the City of Red Deer landfill.
“It’s basically rescued history that would have been lost forever … the names of the individuals in the photos we’ll be able to cross-reference with other photos and identify previously unknown people now,” said Rory Cory, senior curator at the Military Museums in Calgary.
In March, Cade Graville, a 28-year-old roofer from Sylvan Lake, was dumping refuse from a job he had just completed in Red Deer at the city’s landfill. A cardboard box marked “R.H. Hill,” its contents spilled out into a dumpster, caught his eye.
“I have a keen eye for army green, and when I saw an army badge and I recognized the chevron, I jumped right in (the dumpster),” said Graville, who comes from a military family and served with the Canadian Forces. (Read full story)
Dr. Paula Robson and Count Me In For Tomorrow participant Pat Klein talk at the Cancer Centre in the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre on Thursday. - Photo: JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Cancer study yields hard facts
By Sean P. Young
Published: June 03, 2011 7:00 AM
Ten years ago a Red Deer couple were among the first few thousand people to sign up for one of the largest medical research studies Alberta has ever conducted.
Now more than 10 years later Pat Klein has regretfully come to understand the cancer study’s significance in his own life.
Klein and his wife Dorothea were part of The Tomorrow Project in 2001.
“I’m in quite deep myself, my wife is a cancer survivor and was cancer-free when we started study … and now it’s back,” an emotional Klein said at the Central Alberta Cancer Centre in Red Deer, Thursday afternoon. (Read full story)
Rick French and Joyce Ross examine a piece of venison they suspect may have been tainted, which was found by French’s papillon dog Missy in Mirror Sunday morning. Ross’s puppy Ozzy was one of 14 dogs poisoned over the weekend. - Photo by: RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff
Dog poisonings investigated
By Sean P. Young
Published: May 02, 2011 6:20 AM
The community of Mirror is on edge again and 13 dogs are confirmed dead in what is becoming a morbid springtime tradition in the hamlet, 40 km east of Lacombe.
“I shouldn’t have to tell my 10-year-old daughter twice in one year that her pet has been murdered,” said Joyce Ross, whose dog Ozzy died along with as many as 15 other dogs in Mirror between April 29 and April 30.
The three-month-old German shepherd boxer mix, which laid dead underneath Ross’s TV antenna, was a replacement for Ross’s daughter Elli’s beloved Pig — the family’s dog which was poisoned to death last spring with at least four others in a very similar incident. (Read full story)
From the left, Kenton Abraham, Amy Addison, Warren Simon, Shamayah Abraham, Zachary Jonasson, Shalina Abraham and Autumn Abraham recently completed a theatre and film project titled Identity A Perspective From Aboriginal Youth. Photo by: JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Aboriginal youth turn to film for identity
By Sean P. Young
Published: April 25, 2011 6:39 AM
This month a group of aboriginal youth screened a nine-minute film for their elders and the Red Deer public at the Hub on Ross — that’s the synopsis.
But the story behind this seemingly short burst of creativity reaches far deeper into the roots of the aboriginal community in Red Deer, and is the culmination of many hours of exploration by the Spirit Seekers Youth Theatre Project to better understand its identity.
“If you knew where these kids had come from, the gains we made were quite wonderful,” said Lucinda Sheardown, who has facilitated the theatre project from the beginning. (Read full story)
Photo: Submitted
Classified would like to shake your hand
By Sean P. Young
Published: April 11, 2011 1:23 PM
For Nova Scotian rapper Classified, it always comes down to balance.
“The good and the bad of getting old, or smoking weed, whatever it is; it’s always a gift and a curse,” said Classified, born Luke Boyd.
The 33-year-old hip-hop artist is on a cross-Canada tour (with a stop at The Club in Red Deer on Wednesday) in support of his 14th studio album Handshakes and Middle Fingers, which he said is about the balance he strives to achieve between his newly minted fame and his regular, father-of-two existence.
It’s also a summary of his shifting attitudes toward people in his personal and professional life.
“Handshakes to those who buy the album and middle fingers to those who download it,” he said laughingly. (Read full story)
Robin L’Hirondelle of Waste Management dumps a blue box in Kentwood. Waste from our Blue Box program is being trucked to Tacoma, Wash. where it is sorted, and international buyers found for the paper, plastic, glass and metal. - Photo by: RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff
Making some green out of blue
By Sean P. Young
Published: March 30, 2011 6:16 AM
The blue box program has made recycling in Red Deer affordable and easy — but the program has not been without its problems.
Nearly 5,000 tonnes of recyclable waste avoided the landfill last year, largely due to the 26,000 single-family homes and 130 multi-resident sites using the program.
Often viewed as simply the right thing to do, curb-side recycling programs rely on environmentally-minded citizens to support their existence; but recyclable materials are also a traded commodity. The waste we throw into our blue bins has another life after it leaves our sidewalks; an economic life-cycle that influences what ends up in the landfill and what gets reused.
“You can recycle almost anything if someone wants to take what you’ve got and turn it into something else,” said Janet Whitesell, waste management superintendent at the City of Red Deer. (Read full story)
Ezra Levant mocks California celebrities who decry Alberta’s oilsands during his ethical oilsands presentation at Red Deer College Wednesday night. - Photo by: RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff
Oilsands more ethical than the alternatives: Levant
By Sean P. Young
Published: March 17, 2011 7:51 AM
A run-in with angry “do-gooders” during an oilsands discussion panel at a writer’s festival fueled Ezra Levant’s interest in ethical oil.
He decided then and there his next book would make the case for Alberta’s oilsands using the criteria all liberals hold dear: environmental responsibility, peace, treatment of workers, and human rights.
Levant, a Conservative writer and lawyer, discussed the result, Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oilsands, at the Red Deer College Arts Centre Wednesday night as part of the college’s Perspectives: Canada in the World series. (Read full story)
Family loses all in fire (video)
By Sean P. YoungVideo by Jeff Stokoe/ADVOCATE STAFF
Published: March 17, 2011 6:30 AM
Sylvan Lake and Red Deer County firefighters responded to a blaze west of Sylvan Lake off Hwy 11A on Tuesday evening, but were unable to save a family’s mobile home and garage.
“It was around 10 o’clock last night when we got a call from Randy’s aunt, who lives up the road, and she told us our place was on fire, I don’t even remember getting in the car to come down here,” said Cari Kerik, standing with her husband Randy Draper in front of the remains of their home on Wednesday.
Kerik said firefighters were at the home within minutes of the initial 911 calls made by neighbours, but barely anything could be saved. (Read full story)
Cory Stier, the Red Deer Public Library’s assistant director, says library patrons will soon be able to download digital copies of popular titles from any Internet-connected computer, e-reader device, and even some cellphones. - Photo by: RANDY FIEDLER/Advocate staff
Bookworms wriggle over switch to digital
By Sean P. Young
Published: March 16, 2011 6:57 AM
One of the oldest forms of portable entertainment has finally entered the digital age, and that has literature lovers split.
The emergence of the electronic book is stoking fear for the integrity of the novel as an art form.
But the e-book has others heralding a new frontier in literature.
“People are reacting drastically, instead of taking a step back and realizing these are just growing pains until we hit that point of maturity and know how we fit into each other’s worlds,” said Andrew Wilmot, marketing and production co-ordinator at NeWest Press, based in Edmonton. (Read full story)
