Proud parents Jordan and Janet Quaroni with 7 pound 6 oz son Ryker, Drumheller's New Year's Baby.

Drumheller welcomed in Ryker Quaroni as the town’s New Year’s Baby.
    The little boy was born to proud parents Janet and Jordan Quaroni on January 3rd, 2015 at 12:35 in the morning, at the Drumheller Health Centre.
    The 7 pound six ounce boy is the first child for the Drumheller couple.
    Mom and Dad were surprised their son, with the original due date of December 29,  was Drumheller’s first baby of 2015.  Ryker now shares the January 3 birthday with his Grandma. Read the complete story in the January 7 edition of The Drumheller Mail.The family receives numerous prizes donated by local merchants in The Drumheller Mail's New Year's Baby Contest.

The 3rd Avenue building with the Health Food Store, Valley Doll Museum and Jerry's Lock and Key was evacuated Monday afternoon, January 5 2015, due to high carbon monoxide levels.

People have been allowed to return to their downtown businesses after a gas scare Monday afternoon. Extremely high levels of carbon monoxide led to the evacuation of the building on Third Avenue in downtown Drumheller this afternoon at about 12:30 p.m.
    AltaGas Utilities cleared the building on Third Avenue that houses the Health Food Store, Jerry’s Lock and Key, and The Valley Doll Museum.
    The utility company has turned off the gas, and is on-site working with the building's owner on examining the heating system, and monitoring the situation.

Drumheller, Three Hills, Rosebud, Rockyford are warned by Environment Canada to expect periods of heavy snow Tuesday, January 6.

Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning due to periods of expected heavy snow, for Drumheller and the surrounding areas.

Those areas include:

• Kneehill Co. near Acme and Linden
• Kneehill Co. near Carbon
• Kneehill Co. near Three Hills
• Kneehill Co. near Torrington and Wimborne
• Kneehill Co. near Trochu and Huxley
• Rocky View Co. near Irricana Beiseker and Kathyrn
• S.A. 2 near Finnegan and Little Fish Lake Prov. Park
• Starland Co. near Michichi and Delia
• Starland Co. near Morrin and Munson
• Starland Co. near Rumsey and Rowley
• Town of Drumheller
• Wheatland Co. near Hwys 569 and 848
• Wheatland Co. near Rockyford and Rosebud

Persons in or near this area should be on the lookout for adverse weather conditions and take necessary safety precautions.

Darren Bauer remains in custody pending a bail hearing. He returns to court January 9 to enter a plea on the charges he faces as the accused in a New Year's Eve shooting in Stettler.

The man accused in the New Year’s Eve shooting in Stettler appeared in Red Deer Provincial Court Monday, January 5.
    33 year-old Darren James Bauer faces a number of charges including possession of a restricted weapon, driving while unauthorized and drug possession for the purpose of trafficking.
    The accused was also wanted on a dozen Canada wide warrants.
    Also charged in relation to the matter is 25 year-old Kathleen Sherry Cooper,.
    Cooper is charged with possession of Stolen Property and breach of bail conditions. Cooper was also arrested on nine outstanding charges relating to other matters.
    Both accused are now scheduled to appear in court January 9, and remain in custody pending their bail hearings.
    Bauer was arrested by Calgary police January 1 after RCMP sought him as the suspect in a late afternoon shooting December 31 in Stettler, which sent an unidentified man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to hospital.
    Stettler RCMP and EMS responded to a 911 call shortly before 5:00 pm on December 31. The call reported a male was shot in the northwest area of the Town of Stettler.  
    RCMP Investigators arrived to find the 37-year-old a victim of several gunshot wounds. Eyewitnesses reported a two vehicle collision prior to the shooting, and after shots were fired, the shooter drove away.         The victim was transported by STARS air ambulance to hospital with non life threatening injuries.
    RCMP say the shooting was not a random act of violence and that both men involved are known to them.

    The St. Anthony’s Jr. A Girls basketball team won the Three Hills Royals Jr. A Girls Basketball Tournament on Saturday, January 17.  
    Six teams were invited to participate in the tourney, including Three Hills, St. Anthony’s, Olds High School, DVSS, Olds Koinonia, and Rosemary.
    The format for the tournament featured two pools of 3 teams playing a round robin schedule, and then each team having a crossover playoff game based on their final placing in round robin play.  
    The Saints had the early 8 a.m. game versus their host Three Hills Royals,  and after a slow start, the Saints pulled ahead utilizing great pressure defence resulting in a 42-18 win.
    High scorers for the Saints were Payton Zacharuk and Hannah Reed with 14 points each and Ocean Bossert with 10 points.
    The next round robin game for the Saints was against Olds High School at 10:30 am.  This was OHS’s first game and the Saints’ second with only a game’s rest after their first game.
     The Saints were sluggish to start as they were still tired from the 8:00 am game but once again utilized great defence to find their transition game.  This resulted in a number of fast-break points and lead to a double-digit lead at the half.  
    In the second half, the Saints controlled the tempo of the game by slowing down the play to eventually find scoring opportunities in the low post.  The Saints ended up defeating OHS 36-22.  Bossert and Reed lead the Saints in scoring netting 14 points each.  
    This  win now placed St. Anthony’s in 1st place in their pool and into the final vs. the winner of the other pool Olds Koinonia Christian School.  
    The Saints had a 7 hour wait for the final game but came out with tremendous energy and intensity igniting an early 10-0 first quarter lead in the final.  OKCS answered back and got within 10-9 near the middle of the first quarter but then the Saints pressure defence took over for the rest of the game forcing many turnovers leading to easy transition points.  
    The Saints never looked back resulting in a 47-26 championship win.  
    Reed had a game high 21 points and Zacharuk chipped in with 12 points.  
    Head coach Gavin Makse was pleased with the overall defensive performance of the Saints and believed this was the key ingredient in winning the tournament,
    “I was proud of how well the girls battled defensively all day.  It was a long day and the girls should be proud that they were able to keep their intensity on defence strong in every game,” he said,
     Next action for the Jr. A Saints is on Thursday, January 22 when they travel to Delia for league play.

Electricians are on-stie at the Drumhelle WalMar waiting for parts to repair the system after a power outage closed the store Sunday, january 18.

Drumheller’s WalMart is hoping to re-open Monday night after a power outage that has kept the store closed since Sunday morning.
    WalMart said electricians are onsite at the Drumheller store waiting on parts, and if everything goes according to plan, will have the power restored and the store reopened Monday evening January 19, or at the latest , Tuesday morning,.
    ATCO Electric’s Aaron Finkbiner said their system operated as normal.

Young hockey players in the valley are getting more ice time thanks to a new program at Greentree School.
    Teacher Rob Hegberg, has extensive coaching experience, and has introduced a hockey program for students in Grades 4 -6. So far, 20 boys and girls have signed up and they are spending Tuesday and Thursday afternoons on the ice learning hockey skills and much more.
    “I am a firm believer that with sport or activity in general, kids learn more about themselves in an athletic environment. They are running into adversity, learning new skills, there is discipline involved, attention to details and focus,” he said. “You put all that stuff into one area, there is a lot going on.”
    “In the end they are all great kids, they come here, they work hard and pay attention and want to get better.”
    The idea of a program like this was bandied about a couple years ago, but at the high school level, however it didn’t fly. This year they revisited the idea and worked out some of the logistics of such a program. Golden Hills School Division was supportive.
    Hegberg says the program is not academy or an elite program.  There are students who play Minor Hockey, but there are also some who have never played the game before. While most of the participants are in Grade 6, the younger players are keeping up in a supportive atmosphere.
    “It is fundamentals, skating, puck skills, trying to get some kids who have never played to be interested in it,” he said. “It is a completely developmental program.”
    He adds it is also helping players who are more experienced.
    “Being on the Minor Hockey board, I know the lack of ice we have, it really helps their hockey,” said Hegberg. “These kids are getting up to 50 more hours of ice this year compared to what they have had in the past. Minor Hockey coaches who have kids in the program are noticing the changes in the kids, which is part of the program.”
    The program is voluntary, but they have designed it so it will have minimal impact on regular school. The ice time cuts into the lunch hour, and they have juggled the students’ schedules so they are not missing core curriculum.
    This is a pilot this year.
    “We are just getting it off the ground, we’ll have to see the interest next year because it is a pay per user program, it is not funded by the division,” he said. “From what I understand there is a lot of interest. There are kids in Grade 7 and 8 who say they wish the program was in place when they were in Grade 3.”
    “We would love to keep it going, it is a great thing for the community.” 

Renovations and additions to the ATCO building on 12th Street at the end of the Hy-Grade Industrial park generated a $13.8 million dollar building permit for the Town of Drumheller in 2014. Total building permits issued by the Town in 2014 equal $28,847,741.

Building permits in the Town of Drumheller reached a record $28 million dollars in 2014.
    “We had a very good year in building permits,” said Mayor Terry Yemen. “Albeit there was two major ones, but still, they’re part of our community. It was a good year for Drumheller.”
     Just over twenty-one million of the total is for two large projects. The building permit for ATCO Electric’s renovation and addition to their  administration offices and shop on 12 Street at the end of the Hy-Grade Industrial Park  was a $13,800,000 permit.
    The 96-bed housing unit expansion at the Drumheller Penitentiary building permits taken out for work at the penitentiary in 2014 equalled $7.5 million dollars. Read the complete story in the January 28 edition of The Drumheller Mail.

On January 26, 2015, Earl William Davenport, an inmate from the medium security unit at Drumheller Institution was found unresponsive in his cell.
Staff members immediately began performing CPR and emergency services were called. The inmate could not be resuscitated.
At the time of his death, Mr. Davenport, 56 years old, had been serving an indeterminate sentence for First Degree
Murder and Second Degree Murder since November 27, 1987.
The inmate’s next of kin have been notified of his death.
As in all cases involving the death of an inmate, the police and the coroner have been notified, and Correctional Service Canada will review the circumstances of the incident.

Photos from the 511 Alberta camera show foggy driving conditions on Highway 9 in both directions, shortly before 1 pm Thursday, January 29. Top is from Highway 9 south near Horseshoe Canyon. Below is Highway 9 north near Morrin. Find current road reports from 511Alberta on The Drumheller Mail website at www.drumhellermail.com/index.php/features/road-report.

Environment Canada is calling for a chance of 5 cm of snow Friday evening in Drumheller, with a possible 2 cm to 4 cm of snow on Saturday, and sunny skies with an expected high of minus 10 for Super Bowl Sunday, February 1.
    Here’s a look at the week ahead:

Issued: 11:00 AM MST Friday 30 January 2015

Today
Increasing cloudiness near noon. 60 percent chance of flurries late this afternoon. High minus 1.

Tonight
Snow. Amount 5 cm. Wind becoming northeast 20 km/h gusting to 40 near midnight. Low minus 13.

Saturday
    Snow ending in the afternoon then mainly cloudy. Amount 2 to 4 cm. Wind northeast 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming light in the morning. High minus 11.

Sunday
    Sunny. Low minus 20. High minus 10.

Monday
    Cloudy. Low minus 14. High minus 11.

Tuesday
    Sunny. Low minus 26. High minus 13.

Wednesday
    Sunny. Low minus 17. High minus 5.

Thursday

Sunny. Low minus 10. High plus 3.

Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for the Drumheller area. The alert also covers Three Hills, Hanna, Coronation, and Oyen, and out to Acme. Expect blowing and drifting snow if winds reach the expected 20 km, with 10 to 20 cm of snow expected to fall over Friday and Saturday. Areas to expect heavy snow are:

• Kneehill Co. near Acme and Linden
• Kneehill Co. near Carbon
• Kneehill Co. near Three Hills
• Kneehill Co. near Torrington and Wimborne
• Kneehill Co. near Trochu and Huxley
• Rocky View Co. near Irricana Beiseker and Kathyrn
• S.A. 2 near Finnegan and Little Fish Lake Prov. Park
• Starland Co. near Michichi and Delia
• Starland Co. near Morrin and Munson
• Starland Co. near Rumsey and Rowley
• Town of Drumheller
• Wheatland Co. near Hwys 569 and 848
• Wheatland Co. near Rockyford and Rosebud

Environment Canada notes:

Heavy snow has moved into central Alberta and will continue tonight. The heaviest snowfall is expected to fall along a line from Grande Cache to Red Deer with 10 to 20 cm of snow possible by Saturday morning. Conditions will gradually improve from the northwest on Saturday as the system moves to the southeast.

Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions. Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow.

Environment Canada meteorologists will update alerts as required. Please continue to monitor your local media or Weatheradio for further updates. If you would like to report severe weather, you can call 1-800-239-0484 or send an email to storm@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports to #ABStorm.

Flushing of water lines and a temporary increase in potassium permanganate have improved town water.

The Town of Drumheller has seen a major improvement in the water quality after taking measures to improve the  foul taste and odour.
    The Town’s Director of Infrastructure Services Allan Kendrick said the number of resident complaints has dwindled.
    “We still might have the odd pocket where its showing up on the hot water only.”
    He said that is probably due to the water sitting in the hot water tank, and also heating the water releases gases.
    Public Works has completed a number of line flushings, Kendrick said, and had to do another line flush in Huntington Hills, one of the areas that still has a pocket of concern.
    Kendrick explained due to its elevation, Huntington Hills has a booster pump to help the water pressure, and the line ends at a closed valve, which is a simulation of a dead-end line.
    In the normal water line systems through Drumheller, the water loops through the system, and the Town can open and close the valves as required. The looping system means the foul water gets flushed through more quickly than a simulated dead-end line, such as the one in Huntington Hills.
    Kendrick said the Town had also increased the level of potassium permanganate, used to treat the Town’s water, up to about 1 millgram per litre (mg/L).

    He said the potassium permanganate has been dropped down to its current .5 mg/L.
    On a regular day for Drumheller water, the level of potassium permanganate is .3 to .4 mg/L, adds Kendrick.
    Another measure the Town is taking is to keep a closer eye on the reservoirs.
    “It’s more aggressive visual  monitoring over at the rural water storage cells.  I think one of the things that was definitely  a contributing factor was  some of our monitoring equipment froze.”
    He said there was also a water crossover chamber that froze, and pumping water with the thick ice layer, sometimes seven feet thick on top, presents other challenges.
    He said the last water complaint received was Tuesday, from a Nacmine resident describing their water as swampy.

Under the proposed changes to Drumheller’s Business License Bylaw, campgrounds and RV resorts would pay an annual business license fee of $63.81 per site per year. Hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, lodges and inns would pay $496.78 per room per year.
mailphoto by Michele Scott

    Drumheller Town Council was presented with the draft tourism levy as part of the changes to the Business License Bylaw at the regular Council meeting Monday night, January 26. All three readings of the byaw are scheduled to come before Council at the regular Monday meeting, February 9.
    The mandatory levy would be collected by businesses from their customers in two areas of businesses that serve Drumheller’s tourism industry: lodging and RV parks/campgrounds.
    “We don’t want, in any way, to take money from the tourism operators in the town,” said Travel Drumheller’s Chris Curtis.
    Curtis said with this in mind, the levy is to have complete flow-through, meaning the total business license fee charged under the proposed bylaw can be recovered by the business through adding a few dollars onto each customer’s/guest’s bill.
    Curtis said the feedback received from the businesses was overwhelmingly in favour of a mandatory fee, rather than a voluntary fee, so that any one business would not be put at a competitive disadvantage.
    The first businesses in Drumheller to collect the levy would be in the lodging sector, which covers hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, lodges, and inns.
    Under the business license bylaw change, the lodging sector would pay a rate of $496.78 per room per year. For a motel with 20 rooms, their business license would cost $9,935.60 per year.
    For its calculations to arrive at the yearly room rate, Travel Drumheller used the following criteria:
- The current room inventory in Drumheller, is 560 rooms
- Historical average for occupancy based on the years 2011, 2012 and 2013, which averaged to 58%
- Hisorical average daily rate based on the years 2011, 2012 and 2013, which averaged at $117.33
    Those businesses in the lodging sector that are open less than six months a year can provide proof of this to the license inspector and would only be required to pay 75 per cent of the required fees.
    The second category to collect the new levy would be RV resorts and campgrounds, based on an estimate of $63.81 per site per year.
    An approval of the business bylaw would mean a campground with 20 sites would pay an annual business license fee of $1,276.20.
    There are 550 sites in Drumheller, but Travel Drumheller included campgrounds and RV resorts in the area that may want to join and contribute to the destination marketing fund.
    For its calculations to arrive at the yearly site rate, Travel Drumheller used the following criteria:
- 1635 sites at RV resorts and campgrounds in the area
- Historical average for occupancy based on the years 2011, 2012 and 2013, which averaged at 51%
- Historical average for daily rated based on the years 2011, 2012 and 2013, which came to $34
- Based on industry performance during six months of operations for the three years
    The payment schedule for businesses would be collected four times per year:
March 31               15 per cent
June 30                   25 per cent
September 30        50 per cent
December 31         10 per cent

    In the event of a slow tourist season, Curtis said the slow season’s earnings would be reflected in the calculation of the following year’s business license fees.
    He said any challenges local businesses would face in their collection and remittance of the fee, Travel Drumheller would work with them to find a solution.

Drumheller Town Counci has tabled the draft bylaw to begin collecting the new tourism levy/surcharge after passing the first reading, pending further review and consultation.

    While Drumheller Town Council seems to support visitors to the valley contributing a few dollars on each hotel or motel stay, most of Council appeared not in favour of the proposed bylaw change as presented to them at their regular meeting Monday night, February 9.
    “Council was presented a draft of the new tourism levy bylaw a couple of Council meetings ago, and we’d read through it with the understanding that most of the operators or the shareholders/stakeholders were on-board. And of course over the last week and half, we discovered that was not the case. And after looking at the bylaw ourselves, we (Council) realized that it needed tweeking, if it was to be acceptable to those involved,” said Deputy Mayor Lisa Hansen-Zacharuk.     
    “As it was put on the agenda this evening, Council collectively passed first reading, and what that did was allow the bylaw to go forward to have those adjustments or amendments made to it, and allow a bit more consultation with the shareholders.”
    The Deputy Mayor said the Drumheller & District Chamber of Commerce has invited the hotels and campgrounds for an information session as part of shareholder consultation.
    She hopes there will be more than one meeting, and that local operators will share their ideas on how to make the implementation of the tourism levy more acceptable to the people it will most affect.
    Each Councillor spoke to the proposed changes prior to passing the first reading of the bylaw, and seemed to be in agreement that a tourist funded, rather than a taxpayer funded, destination marketing organization is a smart move for Drumheller, especially in light of the probability of reduced funding from the Alberta government and possible increased competition from other towns and areas seeking to draw visitors.
    The Town’s solicitor will be looking into the issue raised by Councillor McMillan that two sections of the Municipal Government Act allow exemptions and also have a list of non-assessable properties for a tax purpose, noting travel trailers are not connected to a public utility, and wonders how the Town can assess a levy/fee to unserviced sites.
    The issue of the levy being applied to bed and breakfasts and RV resorts and campgrounds is also being re-examined.
    “I’m thinking that throughout this whole process, I’m hoping that the proper consultations will occur, and we can move forward for the betterment of the valley and the betterment of the people that actually live here,” said the Deputy Mayor.

The February 12 edition of the 2015 Royal Tyrrell Museum Speaker Series is a presentation by Dr. Amy Riches from the University of Alberta that explores “Messages from Meteorites: The Growth of Planets & the Delivery of Possible Seeds of Life.”
    While very little evidence is left of Earth’s early days, the highly cratered surfaces of the Moon and Mars indicate that the Earth must have had a very tumultuous past characterized by abundant meteorite impacts.
    These impacts played an integral part in the formation of early Earth by adding rocky material; however, recent discoveries show that many meteorites also harbored water and simple organic molecules. This suggests that the building blocks of life may have come from outer space.
    In her talk, Dr. Riches will review the importance of meteorites in planet formation and the possible role they played, through the transport of water and organic matter, in the origin of life on Earth.
    The Royal Tyrrell Museum’s Speaker Series talks are free and open to the public. The first part of the series will be held every Thursday until February 26, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. in the Museum auditorium.
    Speaker Series talks are also available on the Museum’s YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/RoyalTyrrellMuseum.