By Ian Tennant
The Eagle
Wild Rose MP Myron Thompson’s view on the media covering the return of Canadian soldiers in coffins has softened somewhat because of the father of a Capt. Nichola Goddard, the first female Canadian soldier killed in combat.
At the funeral for his daughter, in the same Calgary church where she was married, Tim Goddard said he could not support Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decree that the media could not record “ramp ceremonies” at CFB Trenton, Ont.
“I would like to think that Nichola died to protect our freedoms, not to restrict them,” he said.
Thompson now shares Goddard’s view that the family should decide whether the media can cover the return of a soldier killed in combat.
“He had a good point and that should be respected,” said Thompson May 29.
Capt. Goddard, 26, died in an ambush east of Kandahar on May 17.
After the Conservative government closed the Ontario base to the media, the Wild Rose MP, whose son Dennis served in Iraq as U.S. Army engineer, was quoted as saying: “If they brought my son home from that war in a body bag, I’d shoot the first media that came on site.”
Thompson’s wife Dot also has strong opinions on the issue.
When contacted in the riding on his cell phone as Dot drove, she commented, “I don’t want no cameras pointing in my face.”
But the MP said Goddard’s comments had an impact on himself and the prime minister.
“I understand Stephen may change that (policy), if he hasn’t already.”
He agreed Capt. Goddard died protecting the freedoms Canadians enjoy, and one of those is freedom of the press.
But for Thompson, “the bottom line” is the ramp ceremony is a private matter unless the family opens it up to the media.
Regarding criticism that the Harper government sought to downplay Afghanistan casualties by blocking the images of flag-draped coffins in the media, Thompson commented “there are ways of doing that without using that particular episode.”
The MP said the “media has to use good judgment and sometimes they don’t.”
In other federal matters, Thompson acknowledged it “was suggested” by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that he not comment on the marriage between two gay RCMP officers in Nova Scotia next month.
A consistent opponent of same-sex marriage, Thompson said his views are well known.
Before the PMO suggested government MPs keep their thoughts to themselves, more specifically the social conservatives whose opinions may alienate more liberal-minded Canadians in vote-rich central Canada, Thompson said a reporter asked his opinion on the RCMP constables’ marriage and his reply was: “Who cares?”
The prospective couple could be journalists, he pointed out, which wouldn’t matter either.
Thompson was also very supportive of Prime Minister Harper’s plan to introduce legislation that would set fixed election dates for Canadians starting in the fall of 2009.
“I’ve always been in favour of fixed elections,” he said. “Should have happened 100 years ago.”
The winning party should be given four years to govern and the voters should not be subjected to an election when it suits the party ahead in the polls, he said.
When it was suggested that fixed terms put Canada closer to the U.S. political system, where the final year or two of a president’s four-year mandate is more about campaigning than governing, Thompson acknowledged there are “pros and cons” with the proposal.
But he said ultimately voters will judge who gets to govern, and not necessarily 18 months or 2-1/2 years into a five-year mandate.
Thompson added he would also like to see some mechanism in place that would allow for the ouster of a leader who may be deemed unfit to govern, for legal or personal reasons, like the impeachment process in the United States.
“We need to do something along those lines.”

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By Wes Gilbertson
The Eagle
A dozen years ago, entrepreneur Alex Baum sold most of his assets, packed up his young family and took a chance on Cochrane Dodge, the only car dealership in a booming community.
Things went so well, he was soon looking for more space to serve his rapidly-growing customer base.
He still is.
“In fact, the entire 12 years we’ve been here, there has been no highway commercial land available for expansion,” Baum said.
Cochrane Dodge is in line to become the anchor tenant in a proposed commercial development along Highway 22 at River Heights Drive, adjacent the new St. Mary’s Catholic church location, council heard at a May 23 public hearing.
If approved, the development would give Baum the expanded lot he has long been after.
“We’re ready yesterday,” he said. “As soon as that land is available, we want to build.”
In order for the proposal to move ahead, council would have to remove the parcel, owned by local businessman John Robinson, from “Area A” of existing land use maps.
The 22-acre site, within town boundaries after the most recent annexation from the M.D. of Rocky View, is currently zoned as residential but is awaiting the completion of an area structure plan, which may take up to two years to complete.
The business community can’t wait that long, Baum said.
“The market is ready now, the economy supports this growth now,” he said, urging council to “move forward before the ‘Cochrane advantage’ becomes the ‘Cochrane disadvantage.’”
In addition to 13-plus acres of commercial property, the proposal also calls for about eight acres zoned as residential high-density, although Robinson said he would be agreeable to setting the entire site aside for commercial space.
“This is kind of a unique opportunity for what I think would be a very quality development,” he said. “We will build a very first-class product.”
Robinson, Baum and company recruited several Cochrane businessmen, each urging council to give the plan wings.
“Today in Cochrane, there are really very few vacant commercial lots and even fewer highway commercial lots,” said Hank Biesbroek, a partner in Grand Central Properties and former Smitty’s owner. “I believe this is a common sense decision.”
“What better process than a free market coming forward with plans as opposed to waiting for the area structure plan?” added realtor Larry Max Steier. “Let’s have the market, one of the best tools we have, working for us.”
Corry Baum, son of Alex and sales manager at Cochrane Dodge, contended it’s time for the town to step up and provide opportunities for the young people who grew up here.
A former Cochrane High student, the eldest of three Baum boys said only a handful of people from his graduating class are employed in the community.
“I don’t think I can think of five,” he said. “I’d really like to see a commercial area in Cochrane that’s going to promote all these great graduates from our schools to lay down a career in Cochrane.”
While the business community seemed generally supportive of the project, the town’s planning department was not.
Planner Jamie Dugdale said it would be “premature” to approve the application before a traffic study is completed, likely around the end of June, and the area structure plan is drafted.
“The proposed amendment, if adopted, would encourage piecemeal planning instead of a full area structure plan,” Dugdale said.
“This particular area has a long history in terms of the development pressures that have taken place,” noted Frank Wesseling, director of planning and engineering. “The town, as well as the M.D., felt mutually that an area structure plan should be in place.”
A pair of River Heights residents also urged council to stall the process until long-term plans are settled.
“I would remind council that Mr. Robinson is just one of more than 20 landowners in the area,” said Ann Beattie. “We feel that all area landowners should be treated equally.”
“We ask that town council honour the land use process,” added Shelly Lukasavitch.
Mayor Ken Bech and Coun. Andy Marshall voted in favour adjourning the hearing until the area structure plan is finished, but that motion was defeated 5-2.
The proposal could be back before council June 12.

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By Wes Gilbertson
The Eagle
Cochrane councillors seem to be able to agree on one thing: that it’s time the town adopted a gold-standard smoking bylaw, outlawing cigarette smoking in all public places and workplaces, including lounges and bars.
But agree on how to inform residents and business owners about the proposed changes and welcome their input on the issue?
Well, that’s another story.
Without any debate or hesitation, council voted unanimously in favour of granting first reading to the Smoke-Free Cochrane Act at its May 23 meeting, paving the way for public feedback on the potentially contentious issue.
Administration recommended that an open house, or non-public statutory public hearing, be scheduled to collect input on the proposed bylaw, but council could not reach a consensus.
A pair of councillors — Truper McBride and Ken Hynes — argued neither type of forum was really necessary.
“In today’s society, this is beginning to be a bit of a no-brainer,” contended McBride. “I don’t think we should be spending very much more to advertise (or) seek an opinion on this.
“We don’t have non-statutory public hearings when we go out and spend millions of dollars and build new infrastructure,” he added. “This is a bylaw that saves lives. I think there are other things we can spend administration’s time and money on.”
Under existing legislation, the town does not allow smoking in any enclosed public building or workplace, except those where minors are not permitted.
A number of Alberta communities, including Edmonton, St. Albert, Stettler and Cardston, have already adopted a total smoking ban. Other municipalities, including Calgary, have passed similar legislation but have yet to implement the new rules.
Coun. Andy Marshall argued Cochrane residents and business owners still deserve an opportunity to voice their opinions on the new proposal.
“I make the plea for council to allow for public input on an issue that is an emotional issue, and is going to affect a lot of people right away,” he said, calling for a non-statutory public hearing on the matter. “I hope that’s not showing no brains.”
Coun. Larry Wackershauser agreed, noting some business owners have already pointed out “ambiguities” in the proposed legislation.
“I think they need to have those questions answered and I think they need to have the opportunity to come before council and ask those questions,” Wackershauser said.
After voting down a motion to abandon the public consultation process and move forward, council voted 5-2 in favour of hosting a non-statutory public hearing.
Only McBride and Hynes opposed the motion.
“Regardless of what we think is the right thing or the wrong thing to do, I still like to hear (other) opinions,” said Coun. Jeff Genung.
No date has been set for the public hearing, although it is expected be held sometime in July.
Regardless of what decision council makes, a sufficient petition (signed by at least 10 per cent of the population) would force council to revisit the decision or put the matter to a public vote.
Such was the case in 1999, when local bar and restaurant owners petitioned council, forcing a plebiscite before the town’s current non-smoking legislation could be implemented.

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By Jack Tennant
What a great party to crash.
The Cochrane Humane Society’s annual volunteer appreciation night was held at Weedon Hall on May 28.
As the first guests arrived they noticed an orange tabby cat under the porch and thought it was trapped there.
Rescue efforts began and of course the cat was enticed with food.
It quickly ate the food then bolted from under the porch to the nearest tree where society director Tracy Keith and a few dedicated volunteers managed to coax it into her arms and captivity.
Tracy, being Tracy, took the scared cat home and put it in a crate for security and safety.
She quickly examined the cat and wasn’t sure if it was bloated from all the food under the porch, or if she was pregnant.
On Monday morning she had her answer for during the night the orange tabby had become a mother with four babies.
Mother and babies are doing fine, thank you.
There are other aspects that make this cat rather unique.
Orange cats are usually male so she’s kicked that stereotype.
She’s young, only six or seven months old, and yet appears to be a good mother.
She has six toes on her feet and all four babies have six toes on each of their four feet.
Some have suggested the cat be called Weedon, and unless you have a better idea that’s what it will be.
But what to name the babies?

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By Sarah Junkin
The Eagle
Springbank Com-munity High School students will have the opportunity to enroll in French immersion programs all the way up to Grade 10 when the school year begins this September.
Rocky View school trustees heard May 25 that a pilot for a Grade 9 French Immersion program, which has been running during the current school year, has been extremely successful with all but one of the 17 students enrolled hoping to return for Grade 10.
Associate superintendent Murray Besinski said 13 of the 17 students had also been consistently on the school’s honour roll.
He added the instructors could teach a Grade 10 program, and that the cost of additional materials and resources could be off-set by a program extension grant from the Canada-Alberta Official Languages in Education Program.
Trustees voted unanimously in favour of implementing the new program set to begin this fall.

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By Sarah Junkin
The Eagle
After months of debate and parental input, the new Rocky View school calendar has been approved but few trustees are happy with the result.
On April 27, the board authorized the balancing of the transportation budget by, among other things, reducing the number of service days by two.
This meant that the number of instructional days had to be decreased from 187 to 185 as well.
As a result, the new 2006-2007 calendar sees the Christmas break extended by two days, meaning students will return to school Jan. 8, 2007.
Springbank-area trustee Maureen Munro said she was opposed to this move because the first diploma exam (English language arts) is Jan. 15.
“That window between returning to school and the first exam is very short,” said Munro, adding she believed it would make more sense to intersperse the two additional professional development days throughout the year.
“That would have less impact for people writing diploma exams,” she said.
But other trustees preferred the full two-week Christmas break.
“A two-week break is a very popular idea among parents,” said Beiseker trustee Wendy Metzger. “It’s like a Rocky View tradition.”
Board chair and Cochrane trustee Trudy Hauser supported the longer Christmas break, but lamented the reasons behind having to make the change.
“I’m really opposed to this calendar coming back to us over the transportation issue,” she said.
Cochrane-area and Airdrie trustees John Murray and Don Thomas were absent from the meeting.
With the exception of Munro, the remaining trustees voted in favour of the longer Christmas break.
The revised calendar will be distributed to Rocky View schools.

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By Wes Gilbertson
The Eagle
Skyrocketing construction and labour costs have forced the town to postpone three improvement projects initially scheduled to be completed this summer.
Bids on all three projects soared well-above estimated costs, with one tender coming in at about 650 per cent higher than the amount approved in 2006 budget deliberations, which was based on 2005 cost estimates.
About $1,425,000 was earmarked for the improvements, but the projected cost is now close to double that amount.
“Municipalities across Alberta that are also pursuing construction projects are facing the same challenges,” said Rick Deans, an employee in the town’s operations department.
According to Deans, no properties will be put at risk by the postponement, which was unanimously approved by council at its May 23 meeting.
“I’m sure everybody would like to see these projects proceed this year but with those increases, I think we’re better to hold on and see what the market does this year,” Coun. Jeff Genung said.
The projects — a water main replacement at Glenpatrick Crescent; water main, storm sewer and sanitary system work at Second Street/Second Avenue; and the installation of a water line at the waste transfer site on Griffin Road — will be included in the 2007 budget.
Coun. Mary Lou Davis approved the postponement motion, but maintained that if extra funds become available in the meantime, the town needs to ensure the projects are not put off any longer.
“We can’t expect the prices are going to go down in 2007,” Davis said. “I just wonder how long we can keep saying ‘Put it off, put it off,’ and wait for prices to go down.
“At some point, it has to become a priority.”
Coun. Andy Marshall called on the provincial government to “ante up” and help ease the burden of rising infrastructure costs.
“If they’re encouraging boom times, they have a responsibility to support municipalities facing these extra costs.”

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By Wes Gilbertson
The Eagle
The town’s subdivision and development appeal board (SDAB) has upheld a Cochrane Planning Commission (CPC) ruling, paving the way for the construction of a 32-stall parking lot at the downtown affordable housing complex.
Randy Caspell, the owner of Express-O-to Go, was challenging the decision to reduce the size of the lot from 45 stalls, the number included in the development permit.
His appeal was turned down by a 3-2 vote at the May 25 meeting.
“The majority of the board members felt the evidence presented to us spoke to the validity of the Cochrane Planning Commission decision,” said Steve Grossick, chair of the appeal board.
The issue was whether or not the smaller parking lot size was “reasonable and workable,” Grossick said.
“The planning commission said ‘Yes’ and we upheld their decision.”
Caspell said he wasn’t surprised by the decision, but is disappointed the parking shortage has not been addressed.
“At times, we already have parking issues and this will just exacerbate those issues,” he said.
The appeal board’s decision has no bearing on the status of an easement, granted to the coffee shop in 1995, that passes across the housing complex location.
“It hasn’t solved any of the access issues that were still outstanding and I don’t know how that’s going to be resolved,” Caspell said. “And in the meantime, we’re still suffering with fences and light-standards . . . where the customers should be driving.”
Three weeks ago, the development appeal board urged the involved parties to continue working towards reaching a satisfactory agreement, delaying its decision.
At one point, adjacent landowners had offered to cough up a few metres of property apiece to widen the alleyway, thus allowing for a bigger lot.
But that fell through.
“It’s unfortunate. I believe there was an ideal solution with widening the (alley),” said Coun. Mary Lou Davis, a member of the SDAB. “That would have been the perfect solution. . . . It would have solved everybody’s issue.”
Davis did not vote on the appeal, stepping aside after Randy Mabbott, a lawyer for the Cochrane Society for Housing Options (CSHO), expressed concern Davis might have had outside conversations about the issue.
Davis maintains she did not have a conflict of interest, but didn’t want the process to drag out.
“I thought, ‘My God, this has gone on long enough,’” she said.
But Caspell figures the last-minute objection affected the outcome.
“I thought the appeal board got sideswiped so, subsequently, the issues were blurred,” he said.
Caspell noted he and other adjacent landowners are still interested in reaching a compromise, but attempts to contact the CSHO have been unsuccessful.
The ruling of the SDAB is final, although it can be appealed at the provincial court level.
Caspell will not be pursuing that option.
Mabbott and CSHO chair Joann Churchill could not be reached for comment.

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By Warren Harbeck
In last week’s column, Kate Millar drew our attention to those suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and brain injury. She reminded us that, all appearances to the contrary, their voice cries out from deep within, “I’m still here!”
Your responses could fill a book. Here’s just a sample:
Your column on dementia brought to mind the final years of life for my auntie. She was in her 80s when she left this world, and although to many her exit was unkind, at the end of her life’s journey, all that was seen to the eye was an elegant woman reduced to traits of infancy.
Her eyes were constantly searching, her body constantly moving, her mouth constantly yelling, calling out for those she was missing.
But I knew she was there.
Her eyes, her smile, her hand grip told me she knew who I was, though she was unable to show any other outward sign. She no longer had her earthly pain to deal with. She only knew love. That was because she gave love her entire life.
— Christine Bryant, formerly of Bragg Creek and now of Kelowna, B.C.
From Cochrane came the following note:
Last week’s article touched me in the deepest part of my heart.
I was raised for the most part by my grandparents and as such they have always been more a mother and father to me.
In 1994 while my husband and I were living in Rochester, N.Y., I was walking through a book store and came upon a book called Something to Remember Me By. I started to read about the author’s relationship with her grandmother and how it changed over the years until the point that the grandmother could not even remember her granddaughter. It wasn’t until the end when the author realizes that, though her grandmother is now gone, she would always have a piece of her through her smile — it was her grandmother’s smile.
My husband found me in that bookstore with tears streaming down my face. I never thought that five years later I would begin the journey of dementia with my grandmother.
At times, it is almost as if a window opens and for a few moments in time I get to see the amazing woman my grandmother was — intelligent, caring, loving, the string that held the family together. The window closes much too quickly, though, and I am left feeling almost as if she has died, again and again. She is still there, but now there is a shell of a woman who needs to be reminded to use a fork to eat, much as you would remind a child.
My children don’t understand dementia. We talk about the disease and laugh at the silly things it makes her do, and we try to remember her before this disease stole her from us.
So many families are going through this, thinking that they are the only ones who have a loved one suffering from dementia. Articles like yours show us that we are not alone.
— Tami Netzband, Cochrane
Many of the responses I received indicated a desire for professional help in understanding dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and how to be present to those so afflicted. One highly-regarded local resource is We Care Cochrane. Its manager, Sandie Hindes, says she is available to meet with people to discuss their concerns, “even if only as a ‘sounding board.’” You can reach Sandie at 932-3784.
I’ll close this week’s column with the “Alzheimer’s Prayer” (author unknown), forwarded to me by Cochrane coffee companion Sylvia Wylie:
Dear Lord, please grant my visitors tolerance for my confusion, forgiveness for my irrationality, and the strength to walk with me in the mist of memory my world has become.
Please help them take my hand and stay awhile, even though I seem unaware of their presence. Help them to know how their strength and loving care will drift slowly into the days to come just when I need it most. Let them know when I don’t recognize them that I will . . . I will.
Keep their hearts free from sorrow for me, for my sorrow, when it comes, only lasts a moment, and then it is gone.
And finally, Lord, please let them know how very much their visits mean, how even through this relentless mystery, I can feel their love.
More on this next week.
(c) 2006 Warren Harbeck
warren@harbeck.ca.

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