By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
A Cochrane councillor wants to review transferring subdivision authority to the town, a move that would eliminate the Cochrane Planning Commission (CPC).
Coun. Ken Hynes said while the CPC has done a good job, the town should consider turning over the authority of granting approvals for developments to town council.
“I think the council being the subdivision authority is a pretty good idea,” Hynes said. “I don’t believe the planning commission is doing a bad job. It’s an issue of planning and whether or not the town should take that on.”
Currently, the planning commission, which includes a pair of councillors, approves development permits and has the authority to impose conditions to make plans align with the town’s planning vision.
The body is advised by town administrators and is mostly made up of volunteers appointed by council.
Hynes said he is raising the issue (likely at the Feb. 28 council meeting) to discuss its merits and determine if the town wants to go in a new direction.
“Like many issues, it would benefit from an open discussion of council,” Hynes said. “Why don’t we talk and if we’re satisfied then things should remain the same?”
Hynes said he is concerned that under the current system, once council signs off on a subdivision and land use “that is the last we see of a particular issue.”
He noted the Municipal Government Act allows a municipality to determine how it handles subdivision authority. It can be a publicly-appointed committee, a council committee or even a single administrator.
While acknowledging appointing volunteers to guide how developments are implemented promotes “increased public participation,” Hynes argued that an elected council maintains some of that public involvement.
“They would be participating in the fact that they elected us to do the job,” he said.
The first-term councillor also acknowledged, “It could be perceived as not having the same level of public participation.”
Any developer can appeal rulings by the planning commission to the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board.
Hynes said regardless of the outcome, the appeal board should remain intact and, if council becomes the subdivision authority and abolishes the CPC, it should consist entirely of members of the public.
“There would be a perceived conflict, a real conflict,” he said.
Hynes dismissed the notion that taking over subdivision authority was putting too much on council’s plate.
“I don’t necessarily think of it as micro-management,” he said. “I see it as a useful engagement of council.”

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Dear Editor:
An open letter to the members of the Cochrane community:
I am a resident of Cochrane, a small business owner, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. I am concerned that a significant number of local businesses are struggling to keep their enterprises profitable.
In my opinion, this is the result of a number of factors, some of which may be due to personal operational practices, but there appears to be a systemic problem within our community.
Although the town is working towards enabling new development and creating marketing initiatives that may assist in a longer-term solution, any imminent respite must come from us as individuals.
In my capacity as Chamber president, I have raised the issue with the membership. However, the impact of this problem reaches out into the greater community as well. Cochrane already experiences a very low commercial/residential tax base ratio and as such all residents should have an inherent interest in the success of the business sector.
As a resident, do you re-invest in the community in which you live? If you analyzed your spending practices over the past year, how often did you purchase products or services outside of our community? Could you have used a local merchant for any of them? Why did you choose not to use a local business? Have you discussed this with local business owners so that they may be able to meet your needs in the future?
If you could support more Cochrane businesses and re-invest more dollars within our community, you could be making an indirect investment in your own future. A community with a vibrant business sector will be the ultimate beneficiary of additional resources within that community.
For example: suppose 5,000 of our residents that spend $100 a month on services outside our community, chose to spend those dollars within Cochrane for one year? We would have an additional $6,000,000 reinvestment within our community. Imagine the spin-off from the secondary re-investment of those dollars.
According to the Boulder Independent Business Association: “A locally owned independent business (LOIB) returns approximately 80 per cent of each dollar spent back to the community. A LOIB assists the community through a ‘multiplier effect’: one dollar spent at a locally-owned business will return five times that amount within the community through city taxes, employees’ wages, and purchase of materials and supplies at other independent businesses.
“In addition, a LOIB will turn that dollar back into the community through school funding, social services, and contributions to local non-profit organizations.”
Supporting your local business community can have a significant impact.
Residents of Cochrane need to take a moment and think about the impact of increasing their support of the local business community. As the Chamber would say, “Keep your town in business by keeping your business in town.” It is one of the best ways to protect your investment in your community.
Deb Mayan, president

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By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
A trio of Cochrane ranchers will get the opportunity to fly to Cancun, Mexico, after their efforts under the Canadian On-Farm Food Safety Program were recognized recently.
Neil Copithorne, along with his parents David and Miriam Copithorne, were entered into a draw after becoming certified under the program that is recognized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
According to Neil, his operation, the Designer Gene Cattle Co. Inc., entered the national program to ensure they were bringing a safe product to the market.
“It’s all about food safety,” he said, noting he took part in a workshop the day Canada’s first confirmed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was announced on May 20, 2003.
“After that day, I realized food safety is very important because one animal affects the whole industry. As both a producer and consumer, that’s why I got involved.”
After the discovery, the United States closed the border to live Canadian beef and it has been shut ever since. There are indications it will open to cattle under the age of 30 months on March 7.
The Copithornes’ operation is in the Jumping Pound area southwest of Cochrane. They have about 240 head of cattle.
“Not the biggest on the block,” Neil said.
Under the program, Neil said his operation has adopted a number of “standard operating procedures” to ensure the safety of their animals and, ultimately, the beef that enters the market.
The program aims to address “three types of hazards: chemical, physical and biological.”
It calls for the introduction of protocols monitoring the health of the cattle, safe shipping and handling and feeding management.
Believing he had not won the contest, Neil flew down to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, earlier this month and soon after discovered he had won the trip to Cancun.
The contest, dubbed “Get Your Rump to Cancun”, will also allow the winners to tour where Canadian beef is exported to in Mexico.
Neil said he plans to fly down with his parents likely in November.

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By Dan Singleton
Special to the Eagle
Cremona Mayor Ken Foreman says a massive methamphetamine lab bust just outside the 420-resident village last week doesn’t really surprise him.
“The reality is we live within 60 minutes of Calgary, and Calgary’s influence is going to reach out,” said Foreman. “If you’re in an illegal business, you’ve got a big potential market there to sell your product. We shouldn’t be surprised that someone would pick a quiet little place like Cremona.
Two Calgary men, John Andrew Brown, 32, and Jody Roger McGuey, 29, have been charged with unlawfully producing a controlled substance, and unlawfully possessing a substance for the purpose of trafficking.
They have both been ordered detained pending a court appearance Feb. 23.
About 10 kilograms of methamphetamine, a highly-addictive drug, was seized, say police.
Police from Didsbury, Edmonton, Calgary and elsewhere spent most of the day at the Cremona scene Feb. 16. Hazardous materials units, including technicians in protective gear, were also called in to examine the lab, believed to be one of the largest ever busted in Alberta.
The lab was located in a large barn on a farm on the Carstairs Blind Line Road just east of Hwy 22.
The lab was busted after a real estate broker spotted something suspicious during a visit.
“I visited the property because I have it listed,” said Randall Oberik, broker with Water Valley’s Cowboy Trail Realty. “Being a licenced real estate agent, through the Alberta Real Estate Association, we get training on things to look for as far as grow rooms. So this looked liked a grow room to me.
“I probably wasn’t in there for more than 20 seconds. There was a mezzanine level on this building and it had been all sealed up and ply wooded in. What really aroused my suspicious was the fact there was a large industrial fan going on,” said Oberik.
“It was kind of a fluke, freaky thing that I stumbled across it and reported it as we all should. It turned out to be a big operation in there apparently.”
As a result of media coverage of the bust, Didsbury RCMP received reports about a site where chemical waste from the lab may have been dumped. The site, roughly six kilometres from the farm, revealed snow that was discoloured, consistent with chemicals used in the production of methamphetamine.
Owners of a cabin in the Water Valley area also identified a second possible dump site, RCMP reported Feb. 22.
The Water Valley couple were walking their dogs in the Harold Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, 20 km west of the village, when their pets stepped into discoloured snow. The two dogs eventually licked their paws and became seriously ill, requiring intensive care and CPR.
Preliminary tests showed the chemicals the dogs ingested were methamphetamine.
Alberta Environment was called in to clean up both sites.
Mountain View County Reeve Al Kemmere said the bust is a blow to the county’s image as a safe community.
“We always think that our kids are protected living in the country, but this hits pretty close to home,” said Kemmere. “This is very disappointing to have that related to the county, no doubt about it.
“I’m totally baffled by it. I’m amazed this is going on in the county. You hear about it in other areas but you never consider it to happen in your own county.”
Mountain View County Coun. Charles Van Arnam, whose riding includes the site, said: “It is a huge surprise and a disappointment. It’s a long way from the RCMP detachment (at Didsbury), so obviously people see that as an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.”
Philip Reid, whose family has farmed the area around Cremona for more than 100 years, said he isn’t concerned about the lab being in the area “as long as people I know aren’t killing themselves on crystal meth.”
“I guess it worries me that it can be kept so quiet. I drive down this road four times a day and never noticed anything. I never saw any traffic in or out of here, nothing made me suspicious,” said Reid.
Harold Bellamy, who owns an acreage near the lab site, said he was very surprised to see police at the property Wednesday morning.
“I never thought anything like this would go on here,” said Bellamy.

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Dear Editor:
In response to Shawn Logan’s story dated Feb. 9 (“Thompson vows to fight same-sex legislation”) I felt compelled to express my concerns.
First and foremost, Mr. Thompson doesn’t represent my views nor the views of my family, friends and co-workers. I am embarrassed to think that he is representing my constituency in Ottawa.
My expectations of an MP are that he present the facts both for and against the issue so that the members of his riding can make informed decisions. Nowhere in this story has Mr. Thompson succeeded in doing so.
In fact, I’m left with the impression of an MP who is promoting hate and intolerance with his right wing conservative ideas, which are outdated and archaic.
It also seems clear to me that Mr. Thompson shows a lack of respect for the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada and a lack of knowledge with regard to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Supreme Court has made it clear that same-sex couples have the RIGHT to marriage and protection under the charter.
Mr. Thompson’s comment — “It is not about rights, it is not about equality . . .” — distorts the court’s decision and suggests he is an MP with his own personal agenda.
You do not have to like the law Mr. Thompson, but you need to be reminded that you are not above it.
I do not feel his comments justifying this issue as being about “Canadian values” are valid. People’s values change all the time; they aren’t constant.
What is constant is the protection afforded to all Canadians under the charter.
In my opinion, his attitude is indicative of Hitler’s systematic and calculated efforts to wipe out anyone who doesn’t reflect his view of what equality is all about. Would it make Mr. Thompson happy if all gays and lesbians started wearing pink triangles? That way it would make it easier for Mr. Thompson to point out just who is and isn’t as equal as he and (his wife) Dot, a comment I might add that is both offensive and appalling.
Shame on you Mr. Thompson for even implying that you are better than others because they don’t measure up to your perception of what equality is about.
I hope others see through your bigotry when the next election rolls around. This is one vote you won’t be getting.
David Eveleigh

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Dear Editor:
In response to Sean Maw’s letter “MP’s anti-gay marriage comments simply appalling” and Christopher Lucas’ letter “Thompson out of step with Canadian society” in the Feb. 16 issue of the Cochrane Eagle: Quit criticizing and take a deeper look.
I am a 20-year-old college student and as a concerned Canadian citizen, I have taken much interest in the same-sex marriage issue. When reading these letters, and seeing the arguments, I couldn’t help but voice my thoughts.
Maw stated, “I’m no proponent of the gay lifestyle. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t do me any harm as a heterosexual.” Firstly, I would like to comment on the author’s use of the wording “gay lifestyle.” It is a lifestyle. It is not biological. It is chosen by those who take part in it.
If it was biological, why have I heard individuals at conferences tell their story about how they were deeply into a homosexual lifestyle and then escaped it through help?
Most of those individuals said they had experienced abuse, usually by parents, when they were children and that they had consequently looked for love in the wrong places.
Homosexuality can not be compared to race. Individuals enter the homosexual lifestyle and can choose to leave it. But if someone was born Caucasian, he or she could not suddenly choose to be black. They were biologically born this way.
The author states, “It doesn’t do me any harm . . .” We better concern ourselves with this issue. Allowing our government to redefine marriage is inevitably a risky societal experiment.
If marriage, a vital institution that has been around for thousands of years, proving successful in benefiting society and supporting the natural family, is redefined, I believe our nation will experience numerous negative consequences.
Furthermore, Lucas indicates that he would prefer us to experience whatever negatives may result from the re-definition of marriage so that our southern neighbors can view our folly and avoid it for themselves? We better consider all possibilities, because once the table has turned there is no turning it back. It is going to affect you sooner or later — your children and your grandchildren, my children and my grandchildren.
This issue should not be a matter of being anti-gay. The homosexual lifestyle is shown to be unnatural and unhealthy, but it is a choice.
However, when the choices of these individuals are pushed into a social institution that has worked for as long as we know and has proven to be healthy, I think that is wrong.
I also point out Maw accuses Mr. Thompson of over-generalizing because the MP suggests “anti-gay positions are ‘Canadian values.’” However, he then writes, “Guess what Buster, they aren’t.”
He has just accused Mr. Thompson of what he himself also just did. How can the author say they aren’t? Does he know that? Has he been in Mr. Thompson’s office receiving thousands of e-mails and letters about the issue? How does he know where the majority of Canadians stand?
Mr. Thompson is acting upon a basis of democracy by voicing the very apparent concerns of his constituents so that he can take the appropriate action as their parliamentarian. He is doing his job.
Upholding marriage is definitely part of my Canadian values. If only this left-leaning government would allow a referendum on the issue. That would alleviate much confusion and bring the state of Canadian values to the forefront — that is, if there are any left.
Gina Lowther

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By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
Cochrane council may have to change its 2005 budget after hearing only days after it was adopted that the province may postpone or even abandon a planned takeover of Emergency Medical Services.
The province had aimed at transferring municipal control of EMS to provincial health authorities on April 1, relieving towns of the burden and, in Cochrane’s case, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
But Health and Wellness Minister Iris Evans said last week the transfer could cost three times as much as the original $55 million estimated and this may result in a delay or possibly scuttling of the plan.
Town council passed its 2005 budget Feb. 14, believing the transfer would take place.
The town would save approximately $600,000 with the transfer but may have to re-open its budget if the province doesn’t come through, according to Chief Administrative Officer Julian deCocq.
“We, like most other communities, were very concerned this would happen,” deCocq said, adding if the service isn’t transferred according to plan, “it would probably mean changes to the budget.”
The town’s $28.8 million budget, which calls for no tax hike, was approved Feb. 14. However, residents are still expected to see an average six per cent tax hike due to market value assessments.
The $600,000 savings to the town would represent an approximately 7.5 per cent tax increase, but that number wouldn’t include revenues from maintaining the ambulance service.
DeCocq said because of the heavy price tag of maintaining local control of EMS, some items may have to be trimmed from the budget.
“It won’t be a complete and total re-work,” deCocq said. “We will have to see what has to be delayed in order to accommodate that.”
DeCocq added, “We can’t grind to a halt waiting for it,” but the town would like to find out what it faces.
There will at least be some delay after the Calgary Health Region (CHR) said last week it may require a few weeks beyond the April 1 deadline because the province has been slow in answering queries about how the transfer will be funded.
The CHR said those details likely won’t be in place until the province releases its budget in April.
Coun. Ken Hynes voted in favour of the budget despite suggesting earlier that he was uncomfortable passing it with questions swirling around the EMS transfer.
He said the doubts are not a good sign.
“There are a lot of people in a lot of municipalities that are taking a close look at this today,” Hynes said Feb. 18. “If it doesn’t happen, it could have serious consequences for municipalities across the province.”

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By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
Cochrane Mounties are exploring leads to track down two men who robbed the Fourth Avenue Liquor Store with a tire iron and perhaps a gun Feb. 18.
Sgt. Mike McTaggart said the men, who had their faces concealed, took an undisclosed amount of money and liquor before getting away despite a swift police response.
“They disappeared so quickly we’re assuming a vehicle is involved,” McTaggart said, noting two officers were on the scene within one minute of a complaint being made.
Two people were held up by one man brandishing a tire iron and the other claiming he had a concealed gun.
McTaggart said the men were wearing what was described as “sort of like a bed sheet wrapped around the head.”
No one was injured in the incident and there were no descriptions of the duo or of an escape vehicle.
“We have a video of the robbery in progress and from that we’re trying to identify the two individuals involved,” McTaggart said.

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By Ian Tennant
The Eagle
A woman spent at least six hours outdoors after her van crashed onto the icy Bow River before she was spotted by a passing ambulance near Morley Feb. 20.
A Nakoda EMS crew noticed an upside down vehicle on the Bow River at around 9:30 a.m. about two kilometres west of Morley Road while they were transporting another patient.
They stopped to help Michelle Naomi Beaver, 31, who was found outside her vehicle. Nakoda paramedics then called in Cochrane EMS.
The Morley resident was outdoors for six to 10 hours before she was spotted, said Grant Brilz, Cochrane EMS chief.
The 1995 Pontiac van crashed through a guard rail on Highway 1A and rolled multiple times down a steep incline of about 150 feet before coming to a rest on its roof on a frozen area the river, said Brilz.
The victim required “aggressive treatment” from Cochrane paramedics, he said.
“She was in what you would consider as being in critical condition at that time,” Brilz added.
Beaver suffered from hypothermia, a chest injury, a fractured or dislocated right shoulder and numerous cuts and bruises to her lower body, he said.
Beaver was transported to Foothills Hospital in Calgary by STARS Air Ambulance.

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