By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
The Stoney Minor Hockey Association (SMHA) has been reinstated into the Central Alberta Hockey League (CAHL) after an appeal hearing in Airdrie March 24.
Gary Mills, general manager of Hockey Alberta, was at last week’s appeal hearing and said the CAHL agreed that young hockey players would be the ones to suffer if the suspension stayed in place.
“There are 200 youngsters out of hockey and obviously no one wanted that to happen,” Mills said March 29. “The Stoney people did a good job in their presentation.”
Clayton Rider, speaking on behalf of the SMHA, said “we’re no longer suspended,” but he declined further comment.
The CAHL had suspended the Morley teams March 7 after a pair of incidents in which the RCMP were called out to games. The CAHL also cited a history of Stoneys showing up late for games or in some cases not at all.
The decision to suspend the SMHA drew charges of racism but Mills said that issue wasn’t raised at the appeal hearing.
“There was no discussion with respect to racism. It wasn’t a race issue,” Mills said. “The key is there’s more communication between the league and the Stoneys.”
He said poor communication on the part of the league and the Stoneys was the main culprit that led to the suspension.
Mills said the decision to lift the suspension didn’t include any “caveats” but the SMHA agreed to work with Hockey Alberta to draft bylaws that will make it more “accountable.”
“Hockey Alberta is going to help the Stoneys build rules and regulations,” Mills said. “I’m very pleased with how both came together and the communication between both parties.”
Mills noted the minor hockey season had ended before the SMHA was suspended so no league games were lost as a result.
He said the Stoney teams will be ready to play next season and the association should have a full set of bylaws to follow.
Mills added there has to be some responsibility on the part of coaches when there is a lack of discipline or teams don’t show up.
“Obviously they’re going to have to take into consideration who they have in there.”

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By Wes Gilbertson
The Eagle
Grant MacEwan Griffins sniper Chris Baker may have had the first laugh.
But SAIT Trojans goaltender Chad Davidson, a Cochrane High graduate, got the last one.
Less than 24 hours after Baker’s double-overtime marker sent the Alberta College Athletic Conference championship series to a fifth and deciding game, Davidson, with the score knotted at five and only 22 ticks left on the clock, got his chance at redemption.
And on a penalty shot, no less.
“My heart was racing. I was breathing really heavily,” said Davidson, who stoned Baker on the play, keeping the Trojans in contention for the coveted championship banner.
“It’s not often that you get a chance to redeem yourself but I got that chance and I was successful.”
There was only seven minutes left on the clock in the March 27 contest when Davidson surrendered a weak goal that gave the Griffins a 5-3 advantage.
But the Trojans never quit. Having come from behind to win both game one and game three, SAIT battled back again, tallying twice to even the score. That’s when the drama truly began.
With overtime looming, the Griffins controlled the puck deep in Trojan territory, buzzing around Davidson’s crease. After the SAIT starter was pushed back into his cage and with the potential game-winning marker lying dangerously close to the goal-line, a SAIT defender smothered the puck in the crease, sending Baker to centre ice with a free pass.
But Davidson wasn’t about to let the Leduc product get the best of him again.
“I came out really far and just really tried to force the deke,” he said. “He tried to go backhand and then went to his forehand but I just didn’t bite.
“I was right there. It was a pretty easy save to make when he finally did take a shot.”
Knowing that allowing a goal could have cemented the championship for the talented Griffins, Davidson said he was overcome with excitement.
“For myself, I felt like I had just scored the game winner,” he said. “For a goalie, that’s about as good as it gets.
“I was pretty happy, that’s an understatement.”
Only 15 seconds later, the Trojans responded, sliding a puck past the Grant MacEwan netminder to grab a 6-5 lead.
Davidson’s first reaction when the puck crossed the line? He looked directly at the clock, of course.
“Everyone did,” he said. “I thought time had expired.
“I saw there was seven seconds left and I thought that still gives them time,” Davidson added. “The way the game had gone we had to compose ourselves. You never know what can happen.”
Davidson, who led the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats to the Memorial Cup in 2001 and won a Mac’s Midget AAA Tournament title with the UFA Bisons, will graduate from SAIT’s architectural technologies program in April.

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By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
Soaring construction costs have been blamed for the new Rocky View School Division administration office in Airdrie costing $1.7 million more than first expected.
Trustees voted 6-1 March 24 to cover the shortfall after hearing that rising material and labour costs have increased the cost of the new Education Support Centre to $13.9 million, 13 per cent more than the original price tag.
“This is an unfortunate event. We were extremely distressed to hear this news,” said Director of Planning Services Hugh Skinner. “(However) this is not unusual with the current construction trends in the Calgary area.”
The board plans to move from its leased space in Calgary to the new facility in Airdrie by December.
Trustees heard the funds would be covered by the school division’s reserves, which currently stands at approximately $9.6 million.
Higher prices for steel and other material, and a shortage of labour, were blamed for the overrun.
Cochrane trustee Trudy Hauser said paying additional dollars for a project she doesn’t support is a difficult pill to swallow.
“This is an enormous number when there are other things going on,” Hauser said. “I wish we could bail (out) but we’re too far into it.”
She added there may be more unexpected costs associated with the building that trustees may have to consider before it is completed.
“I’m still not convinced that this is the bottom number at the end of the day and that bothers me a lot,” Hauser said. “The number may be getting close but I think our target is down the road a bit.”
She was the lone vote against dipping into reserved funds to cover the shortfall.
Skinner admitted a further cost hike “is a possibility” but he expects the numbers won’t rise too much beyond the $13.9 million price tag.
He added the division didn’t anticipate the overruns when it first decided to move ahead with construction.
“There was not anticipation last June we would get into the issue we’re facing now,” Skinner said. “We felt very confident up until the beginning of this year we were going to be more successful than other projects and not as dramatically impacted.”
Springbank trustee Maureen Munro noted that the board would have faced rising costs regardless of whether it had decided to remain in its current facility.
She noted that by building its own facility, the division will be saving more money in the long run.
Had Rocky View continued to lease space, it would have paid $382,800 per year over the next five years and $465,700 per year from 2010 to 2015. An estimated $750,000 in repairs would also have been required.

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I realize this singer occasionally doesn’t use capital letters for his name but in Grade 2 I was taught the start of a sentence is always with capitals so to hell with his affectations.
Keith Urban is an Aussie guitar picker who’s playing at the Saddledome March 31 and Carolyn Horvath and her husband Glen will be there.
But it was close.
They love the musician’s work and bought tickets some time ago through Ticketmaster.
About a week ago Carolyn, a relationship manager in the agri-industry with ATB Financial, got a phone call at home from a lady who works at Cochrane Safeway.
“Do you have your tickets to the Keith Urban show,” asked the Safeway lady.
“Of course,” replied Carolyn. “They’re in my purse.”
“Better check,” replied the Safeway lady.
Carolyn did and guess what — they were gone. No tickets.
Apparently the tickets had fallen from her purse while she was paying for groceries at the Safeway checkout.
They were found by Safeway staff who took the time to check with Ticketmaster to determine who purchased the tickets and then made the phone call.
So Carolyn and Glen will be enjoying the aforementioned Mr. Urban because of the kindness and honesty of Cochrane Safeway staff.
ß ß ß
See you at the home show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 2 at the Cochrane Ranche-House.
This will be an interesting day with more than 20 booths displaying all sorts of services and products for your home. Information on everything from mortgages to legal advice to home decor to landscaping will be available.
And I’ll be at the Cochrane Eagle booth ready to talk golf.
ß ß ß
Greg Reynar asks this question: “Two people enter a restaurant and one orders a chicken salad sandwich and the other orders an egg salad sandwich — which comes first?”
ß ß ß
New business is a must for any growing community and this wee village by the Bow is on the verge of opening a new business that will have a huge positive economic impact. It’s the Bow RiversEdge campground scheduled to open May 28.
It is a joint venture by the local Rotary and Lions clubs, the town, the province and Rocky View and will create thousands upon thousands of dollars for community causes and projects.
Just for example, the largest gathering of Model T cars and fans in North America will take place in Cochrane the week following the Calgary Stampede and the campground is already fully booked.
The facility will have more than 140 sites and will no doubt prove to be a great economic asset to our community.
Just think of all those tourists shopping in Cochrane.
Makes your ears quiver doesn’t it?

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By Sarah Junkin
The Eagle
Some Cochrane-area non-profit community groups have received a significant boost to their budgets.
On March 24, the Cochrane and District Community Foundation awarded $51,141 to 19 organizations, chosen from among 45 applications.
A committee of 13 people every year makes the funding decisions based on several factors.
“We interview all the applicants,” explained foundation chair Robin Harvie. “Then we rank the groups and vote. But it’s not an easy process.”
Harvie added some applicants didn’t qualify because they weren’t a registered charity or non-profit organization.
“We weigh them up and basically look at what will benefit the most people, what groups will do the most good in the community,” she said.
The foundation was incorporated in 1993 by Harvie’s late husband Neil. The group raises funds and invests its base capital amount, subsequently giving local community groups the interest earned.
The groups received their funds at the Spray Lake Family Sports Centre last week, including: representatives from the Frank Wills Memorial Society; the Girl Guides of Canada; the Cochrane Humane Society; the Cochrane Pregnancy Care Centre Association; the Bearspaw-Glendale Community Association; Glenbow Elementary school (Friends of Glenbow); Bethany Care Centre; Cochrane Activettes; Holy Spirit Catholic school Beautification Committee; Nan Boothby Memorial Library; Cochrane and District Agricultural Society; Spray Lake Sawmills Recreation Park Society; Manachaban school Fundraising Society; Cochrane Valley Folk Club; Dartique Community Association; Ceilidh Revue; Cochrane Rangers Soccer Club; and the Cochrane Skateboard Task Force Committee.
Not present was a representative from Cochrane Search and Rescue.

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By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
Two young Cochrane curlers will take on the world as they compete in the Under 18 Optimist International Curling Championship in Calgary, starting March 31.
Reid Kimmett and Garret Dillabough, along with their rinkmates Graham Frobb from Hanna and Michael Kirwin from Calgary, earned a berth in the event after capturing the provincial title in February.
The quartet will get their first taste of international competition on March 31 as they face off against a rink from Massachusetts at the Calgary Curling Club starting at 7:15 p.m.
They will also face teams from British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan and North Dakota in the round-robin. The playoffs will take place April 3 at the North Hill Curling Club.
Coach Kelly Kimmett said his curlers are excited to take on some of the best teams for their age group in the world.
“This is the biggest thing they’ve been in,” Kimmett said, noting three of the teens played in an Edmonton bonspiel last weekend to stay on top of their games.
The Under 18 event features provincial champions from across Canada as well as rinks from all over the United States and the national champions from Japan.
Remarkably, the provincial champions from Alberta have only been together for three months, with Kirwin joining the team after Christmas.
Despite the team’s success this year, Kimmett said the competition will ratchet up a notch against some of the world’s best.
“The teams to beat are Saskatchewan and Manitoba,” Kimmett said, adding he likes his squad’s chances of going all the way.

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By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
Parts of the rural area have experienced little moisture over the winter, a trend Municipal District of Rocky View Agricultural Fieldman Tim Deitzler hopes won’t continue into the spring.
Much of Rocky View experienced some relief last year, as a rainy summer somewhat lessened the effects of two years of drought conditions.
But Deitzler said even with last year’s rains, dry fields still stretch across Rocky View and only some prolonged moisture will help reverse the trend.
“It’s been dry all winter, especially on the western side (of the M.D.), things have been very, very dry,” Deitzler said. “Many felt we were emerging from the drought but there’s still impacts from the drought in many areas yet.”
Rocky View, like most of Alberta, was hit hard by bone dry conditions in 2002 and 2003.
While last summer’s rains helped curb some of the damage, Deitzler said a wet spring will be necessary for the recovery to continue.
“Last year’s rains were really good because of the timeliness of the moisture,” he said. “What everyone’s really wary about is the timeliness of the moisture.”
He said prolonged snow and rain through April, May and June will allow farmers a good start for the year.
According to Alberta Environment forecasts, the western side of Rocky View has seen precipitation in March range from 20 to 33 mm while snowfall in the Bow River basin in March has been about 100 mm below average for this time of year.
The forecast as of March 1 for natural run-off into the Bow River basin is between 82 to 98 per cent of its average, ranking it 43rd lowest in 91 years of monitoring.
While precipitation has been lower than hoped for, Deitzler noted one piece of good news from last year’s rains that appears likely to continue this year.
“The grasshopper cycle is almost fully broken because of the moisture at the proper time last year,” Deitzler said. “We really lucked out with the timing of that moisture.”
High levels of grasshoppers thrived in the hot, dry conditions that marked the drought years of 2002 and 2003, further impacting farmers by feasting on crops.
But now the problem seems to have abated, Deitzler said.
Now farmers are hoping that luck will continue with some timely precipitation that will help restore soil that was impacted by the drought.
“I think there’s potential for some pretty good crops this year,” Deitzler said. “But it’s going to take a couple of good years to bring it back to the productivity they had before the drought.”

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Warren Harbeck.
The other day my wife Mary Anna and I were meeting friends at Cochrane’s Java Jamboree coffee shop. While standing in line at the counter, I became aware of a young boy ahead of me staring at my face. He looked and looked, and then turned to his dad and asked, “Is that Warren?”
Such moments can sometimes be quite flattering. You know, being recognized by folks around town because they’ve seen my photograph next to my column in the Eagle?
This was probably not one of those moments.
His dad turned toward me, said to his son, “Yes, that’s Warren,” then a bit embarrassed, pointed to the sign on the counter and said to me, “He was referring to today’s question.”
Today’s question? I immediately smelled something brewing — and it wasn’t the rich aroma of dark roast.
On the counter by the cash register sat two metal cups for tips, one on each side of a small sign sporting the Question-of-the-Day. Customers place their tips in the cup that represents their answer. This particular day the cup to the left stood for “YES” and the cup to the right, for “NO.”
I looked at the question and groaned. “SHOULD WARREN SHAVE HIS BEARD?”
Here, it was barely midday, and both cups were filling up fast. But which would prevail at closing time?
The Question-of-the-Day became a feature of Java Jamboree’s daily routine last fall when barista Jessica Johnston had way too much time on her hands.
Jessica’s a sparkling-eyed young Australian gal whose parents swapped kangaroos, wallaroos and Ayers Rock a few years ago for moose, goose and the Canadian Rockies. Since settling in the Cochrane area, Jessica has served me and my companions more cups of coffee than there are rabbits in the entire outback.
Grateful that customers like to leave tips for the staff, Jessica figured they might as well have some fun in the process — and even stimulate discussion around the tables. So, she began posting a new question every morning.
Many of the questions are on current affairs. For example, when this year’s professional hockey season failed to take to the ice because of the prolonged dispute between owners and players, Jessica wrote: “The hockey season is cancelled! Do you care?”
According to the tip cups, disgruntled folks around these parts voted overwhelmingly “NO!”
That’s the same answer tippers gave to whether they’d want to be a juror in the Michael Jackson trial.
But asked whether they would support tax dollars going towards curbside recycling, most answered in the affirmative, as they also did to the question of whether they thought they’d have to pay more for airline tickets following Jetsgo’s business demise — an answer that proved all too prophetic.
Some customers get so passionate in their responses on hot topics, according to Java co-owner Ottilia Jaworski, that they dump the tip cup for the answer they don’t agree with into the cup for the answer they do agree with. “That sort of messes up the day’s calculations,” she says.
Most questions are less contentious.
“Do you believe in guardian angels?”
“YES.”
“Do you believe there is life on other planets?” Again, “YES.”
On the romantic side, Jessica asked: “Do you believe in true love at first sight?” The “YES” side won the day. But far from positive was the response to whether men understand the importance of Valentine’s Day.
Jessica once even asked customers what they’d be willing to do without at the start of the day: coffee or breakfast. No contest here. In Cochrane, people will pass up steak and eggs rather than forgo their morning mug.
By the way, how many beans do you think there are in a pound of coffee — 2,000 or 4,000? If you guessed the latter, Jessica says you’re right. But she’s got me wondering who bothered to count them — a hairy thought, indeed.
Which brings me back to the pressing question: “SHOULD WARREN SHAVE HIS BEARD?” (The question, I later learned, was suggested by Eagle publisher Jack Tennant.)
Well, the tip cups have spoken, my wife was relieved to learn, and the fate of my 35-year-old beard has been decided: The verdict was a resounding “NO!”
(c) 2005 Warren Harbeck
warren@harbeck.ca.

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Sarah Junkin.
It was disappointing in light of the near constant fanfare heralding Alberta’s centennial that only a handful of people showed up at Cochrane’s pre-Canada Day open house and lunch that the town hosted a couple of weeks ago.
It sometimes seems like it’s the same old faces that come out in support of these events, and if it weren’t for the hard work of a few, they might not happen at all.
Though I know centennial organizers and volunteers in Cochrane have big plans to focus on Alberta’s birthday this summer, I’ve been a bit disappointed in general with the Alberta government’s plans for 2005.
The thing is that $10 million worth of grants was made available to help municipalities celebrate the historic milestone. That’s in addition to $81 million that was set aside for a two-stage legacy program for non-profit organizations.
We’re one quarter into the year, and it’s frankly difficult to see how the money’s being spent. If you go on the official centennial calendar of events Web site there are almost 500 entries, but they include things like the 2005 Brier in Edmonton. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t that take place every year no matter how old the province is?
The list also includes the Edmonton Home and Garden Show, and the 2005 Alberta Sport and Leadership Summit. The annual Brain Injury Conference is set to take place in Red Deer, and in Didsbury there’s going to be a trade show.
Fascinating as I’m sure all of these events will be, I’m pretty sure they would have sprung up with or without the centennial.
True, the Life and Times of the Motor Cycle lecture series at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin will be dead interesting, but could someone please tell me, how it’s related to Alberta’s 100th birthday?
One project I did find that is using some of the cash is the Alberta Centennial Medallion program. An estimated $1.5 million has been set aside to ensure that every school-age child in Alberta will receive a commemorate coin.
I laughed out loud when I heard about this. The person who thought up this hairbrained idea must not have children, nor even spent any time with them.
In my experience, lunch boxes, homework assignments, running shoes, winter gloves, boots, important newsletters and even heavy textbooks have a really hard time making the complicated journey from the classroom to the kitchen. It’s almost impossible for the contents of a locker to make it safely into a backpack let alone reach, often by way of a friend’s house, the student’s home.
The concept that a 30 mm bronze plated coin would have any more success is nuts. These coins have less monetary value than a toonie and, I guarantee, won’t have any real lasting interest for kids.
If you don’t believe me, when was the last time you saw one of the coins passed out in 1955 and 1980 to celebrate Alberta’s 50th and 75th birthdays?
ß ß ß
Another perpetual disappointment — the Olympic Games — has sunk to even lower depths in my opinion.
Never mind its shameless extravagance against a world backdrop of poverty and suffering. Never mind the damage it causes to the environment.
Forget even its focus on odd sports that no real people actually play, or the erosion of health and fair play caused by the prevalence of performance enhancing drugs. Now there’s even more to berate the Olympics for.
Anheuser-Busch has announced it will be the official “international beer sponsor” of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
McDonald’s has been the official restaurant of the Games since 1976, and Coca-Cola is the official soft drink. McDonald’s even has plans to double the number of its restaurants in Beijing to 1,000 by 2008.
Am I the only one bewildered about the mixed message this sends our kids?
By hosting this giant world sporting event, I predict it won’t be long before the poor people of China have joined the West in our battle against heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
I guess the Olympics does indeed bring the whole world together.
Contact Sarah Junkin:
sarah@cochraneeagle.com.

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