By Katie Schneider
The Eagle
Cochrane’s Adam Wackershauser recently took on Canada’s top karate fighters, as he has done every year for the last four years, and now he is already thinking about how to improve for 2007.
Wackershauser, 20, placed fifth at the National Karate Championships in St. John’s, N.L., July 13 and 14, in both the adult kata and fighting competitions.
As the team’s captain, he helped represent Alberta with 16 other karate fighters from the province at the championships, which hosted about 400 fighters in total from across Canada.
Wackershauser said he has been practising karate for 13 years and called this year his best for kata, a series of self defence sequences perfected over the last 90 years.
He competed against about 25 other athletes in the kata competition and about 16 in the fighting competition, he said.
“To get in the top five is pretty good,” he said. “The difference between fifth and first could be one point.”
He said the sport is always evolving and fighters are maturing because the sport is so competitive all over the world. The nationals competition was another chance for him to improve his skills as well, he said. He hopes to become the best in the country some day.
“I’m getting better at handling the stress of competing with other top fighters in Canada,” he said, adding that next year will be yet another opportunity to improve in the sport.
Wackershauser qualified for nationals by winning gold in his under-75 kilogram fighting division, silver in the open weight division and silver in the kata competition at the provincial championships in the spring.
Wackershauser trains at Banzai Karate in Calgary about 20 hours a week and has been teaching three days a week for a year at his Otakebi Dojo, which operates out of the Cochrane Legion. He’s also been teaching with his instructor in Calgary for four years.
Wackershauser hopes to become a provincial junior coach in the next couple years and a Team Canada coach when he is 35.

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By Katie Schneider
The Eagle
For the first time, the Rocky Mountain National Army Cadet Summer Training Centre will demonstrate its proud relationship with Cochrane when cadets and officers march down First Street in the “Freedom of the Town” parade July 30.
The ceremony dates back centuries and celebrates an honour given to a military unit with a long-standing relationship with a community.
The honour allows the unit to march through the town beating drums and flying flags.
Mayor Ken Bech will launch the parade at 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the Cochrane Legion by reading an official proclamation.
The 200 cadets and officers will march east on First Street through downtown and finish off at River Avenue.
Since 1999, the training centre has been located 42 kilometres west of Cochrane on Highway 40. It is part of the Canadian Cadet Organization, a program for youths between the ages of 12 and 18.
The cadet program offers year-round leadership training at no cost to participants.

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By Katie Schneider
The Eagle
The M.D. of Rocky View has passed first reading of a borrowing bylaw that will enable it to pay $1.8 million to connect to Cochrane’s sewer line.
The agreement will enable Medallion Development Corp. to connect its Monterra on the Lakes subdivision north of Cochrane, as well as other developments, to the town’s line and holding facility, which pumps waste water to Calgary to be treated.
At a July 4 council meeting, Rocky View council passed first reading of a borrowing bylaw that, if approved, will devote $1.8 million to pay for the costs of financing, undertaking and completing the Cochrane Lakes Regional Wastewater Servicing Project.
Coun. Paul McLean moved that the rural council pay Cochrane for the service and that staff explore ways to finance it.
McLean, whose division includes the Cochrane Lakes area, said after the meeting that the line has already been put in, but the next step is to “fulfill the legislative requirements,” such as advertising.
The bylaw will be brought back to M.D. council in September.
“It’s definitely a positive step in the right direction,” he said. “It just shows . . . (working) together makes a better deal.”
Bob Orysiuk, executive vice-president of Medallion, said the agreement was based on servicing the areas outside of Cochrane that were annexed by the town. Other development projects, like Harmony Park, will also be able to have water treated in Calgary through Cochrane and so will help pay the bill.
He said Cochrane Lakes’ portion is already complete and includes constructing a pump station on site and a line to the town. The initial connection fee is $166,000, but the company is awaiting the rest of the costs for connecting to the town. The price will increase as more lots are developed, he added.
All connections are expected to be completed in August, Orysiuk said, adding 875 homes are expected to be built in the Cochrane Lakes subdivision over the next 10 years.

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By Jack Tennant
Now before we get frivolous, let’s get the serious business done first.
The Men of Vision Pipes and Drums group is performing this weekend.
Drop the garden tools and forget the family reunion and get to Centennial Plaza at 2 p.m. July 30 to hear a great concert by our local pipers and drummers.
And not only that there will be a guest band. The Calgary Inter-national Airport band will also play during the performance.
Bring your own haggis. (more…)

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By Katie Schneider
The Eagle
Cochrane RCMP Sgt. Audrey Robinson is reminding residents in the town and the surrounding rural area to lock their modes of transportation after two vehicles and an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) were stolen over the weekend.
On July 18, a vehicle was stolen from Glen Vistas and found burnt in the south Ghost River area on July 22, Robinson said.
Another vehicle stolen July 18 as well as an ATV on July 22, both from the rural area, have not yet been recovered.
Robinson said vehicles are often stolen when drivers leave their keys in the vehicle.

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By Warren Harbeck
As I took my seat at Coffee Traders with the visiting author, it had been a week since festering Middle East tensions erupted into violence once more when Palestinian militants crossed from Gaza into southern Israel and abducted an Israeli soldier. In less than two weeks two more Israeli soldiers would be abducted, this time by Hezbollah terrorists invading Israel from Lebanon and plunging the world into the humanitarian crisis that has cried out from every newscast since.
Where was the moral and spiritual recrudescence for which U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur pleaded at the end of the Second World War? Where was the change in human hearts that was to open a new era of reconciliation and peace?
My new coffee companion had ideas worth considering.
B.C. writer and globe-trotting conflict resolution specialist Jessie Sutherland had taken time out from a conference at the University of Calgary to come to Cochrane and tell me about her just-published book, Worldview Skills: Transforming Conflict from the Inside Out (available locally at Westlands Bookstore, or at worldviewstrategies.com).
At first glance, I thought her book was primarily about improving relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. And it certainly is all of that, according to a glowing foreword by Robert Joseph, hereditary chief of the Gwa wa enuk First Nation.
It soon became clear, however, that Jessie has given all of us everywhere a framework for “getting it right” in our relationships together. And that includes traditional Middle East adversaries.
That framework consists of “four guiding touchstones for meaningful reconciliation: drawing on the worldview of the parties themselves; transcending the victim-offender cycle; engaging in large-scale social change; and assessing timing and tactics.”
Now, I’m no expert on conflict resolution, but we have several folks in our community who are. One of them is Cochrane Coun. Ken Hynes. I really wanted to get his informed opinion on Jessie’s book in the light of the current Middle East situation, so a few days later I passed my copy on to him for comment.
Ken is a retired senior officer in the Canadian Armed Forces with 30 years experience. This included distinguished peace-keeping service in Cyprus and the Middle East. In 2004 he received his Master of Arts degree in conflict analysis and management from Royal Roads University, Victoria. I take his opinions very seriously.
Here, in part, is Ken’s response to Jessie’s book:
“While the Western world is focused primarily on the symptoms of ‘culture clashes,’ the most destructive of them being terrorism, Jessie thoughtfully presents a convincing argument that resolution of intractable, deep-rooted conflicts requires some recognition that getting to ‘the heart of reconciliation is a parallel process of personal and political transformation from systems of domination to relationships of mutuality.’
“What I enjoyed most about Jessie’s book is her discussion about ‘transcending the victim-offender paradigm.’ Jessie has successfully explored and skillfully explained the importance of qualities such as ‘self-responsibility, openness, and power based on personal integrity rather than coercive force.’. . . What would it take to create a common understanding or a set of common principles that would help to shift the focus of parties in Israel and their Muslim neighbours from that of mutual self-destruction to that of mutual co-existence and respect?
“It is imperative to see parties to a conflict as human beings, with natural human wants, needs, desires and so on. At the end of the day, people are more alike than they care to admit and all are desirous of the freedom to live their lives in relative peace and harmony.”
However, before any process of reconciliation can even begin, Ken said, there must be “a cessation of the violence and the creation of a ‘safe environment’” for “getting people to the table to explore their differences in a healthy way . . . that the parties will respond to.”
Reading Ken’s comments about “getting people to the table,” Jessie responded in an e-mail:
“Perhaps a ‘table’ is not what is needed. The table approach to conflict resolution is a very rational, Western approach,” she said. Based on the success elsewhere of using music, storytelling and connection to “reverse brain chemistry making it easier to live up to our highest values and respond creatively to difficulty,” she wondered what might lie in both Lebanese and Israeli traditions that could be drawn on to transform relationships from inside out.
Which brings me back to a quotation from Dostoevsky that has been a guiding light for this column: “The world will be saved by beauty.”
(c) 2006 Warren Harbeck, warren@harbeck.ca.

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By Sarah Junkin
It wasn’t the warmest reception we’d ever received when we arrived jet-lagged and sweaty at our London hotel earlier this month. As we threw ourselves onto the bed in the small, non-air conditioned room in the centre of England’s capital, my husband turned on the television and our ears perked up to hear the phrase “Canadian cruelties.”
It seems Australian entertainer Rolf Harris has just released a song denouncing the annual baby seal cull. It’s called “Slaughter on the Ice” and he first wrote it while travelling in Canada in 1971.
Harris’ song is expected to reach the top of the charts. The video is graphically disturbing, designed to extract maximum outrage from Britons, most of whom I imagine have never been to Canada nor have the slightest idea of our politics, geography or the importance of our precarious fishing industry.
What is especially intriguing about a celebrity weighing in on issues some 5,000 miles from home is that the following day British newspapers were full of what the July 16 Sunday Times called the “sordid secret of greyhound slaughter.”
In the big business of greyhound dog racing, 3.5 million Britons flock to the tracks every year with millions more watching races on television. Approxi-mately £2.5 billion is spent on betting annually.
Sordid facts about the industry emerge from time to time with some dogs kept in cramped conditions for much of their lives. There are persistent allegations that some are doped to slow them so bookmakers will offer better odds next time they run. The dogs are generally ready to compete at the age of 16 months, but by the age of about five, if they’re lame or lose speed, they’re often disposed of. Earlier this month The Times exposed the killing fields of a dog killer for hire, suggesting he may have finished off 10,000 healthy dogs under the age of five for about £10 each. Their natural life span is about 14.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is reported as saying 12,000 greyhounds disappear or are unaccounted for every year.
Perhaps a Canadian songwriter should write a song about that.
Still, it’s great to be back home in Britain basking in the quirkiness and eccentricities of a country steeped in a rich history that both restricts and liberates.
It’s three years since I was last home and things have changed. We unwittingly travelled on the London subway on the first anniversary of last July’s terrorist bombings. Though it was business as usual on the transportation system, there were close circuit cameras everywhere. Some areas in England have even banned the wearing of baseball caps and hoodies, and my purse was searched by officials on several occasions when I entered public buildings.
Next up was a four-day, inn-to-inn hike along what is known as the South Coast Trail. The tiny bed and breakfasts we visited sometimes squish an entire bathroom into a little closet, proudly declaring them to be “en suite” rooms.
On one particularly undignified occasion my 6’5” husband had to be carefully eased out of one, when his legs accidentally became jammed under the wash hand basin though he was still sitting on the toilet seat. It’s an image we’re all trying to erase from memory.
The views along the Cornwall coastline were stunning, and the weather was magnificent. But when you’re travelling far from home, it’s the kindness of strangers you remember most, isn’t it?
In the Cornish town of St. Just we waited for an hour for a scheduled bus that never came. We, a little grey-haired old lady, and some Mexican teens realized we’d have to scramble to get to our destinations.
The little old lady heard us talking and offered us a lift in her car. It was right there at the bus stop, but she had decided to go by bus only because she’d been given a free pass. She explained that when she’d travelled in Brazil, Japan, Jamaica and Switzerland, she’d met people there who had been kind to her. Though she’d never been to Canada, she expected people there would help her out too, so we accepted her offer.
The 10-mile car ride was terrifying. Her noisy little car stopped often on steep hills for no apparent reason, and needed extensive coaxing to restart.
The lady talked non-stop, gesticulating wildly as she careened around the winding roads of the Cornwall coast with little regard for other vehicles.
Scariest of all, she sped through a stop sign and then vehemently denied its existence to the shaken policeman who tried to talk to her about it.
But she did eventually get us to our destination, Land’s End, and during the course of the circuitous route, took us to many other interesting landmarks we’d otherwise have missed. She told us about the history of Cornwall and its people, and later, over a pint of Guiness and a traditional strawberry cream tea, she told us it had been the best afternoon she’d spent in some time.
And though we’d narrowly cheated death, jail, and had our carefully planned itinerary completely disrupted, we had to agree.
sarah@cochraneeagle.com.

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A “very high to extreme fire hazard” has been issued for the Southern Rockies Wildfire Management Area, which covers the mountains and foothills from the Red Deer River, south to the U.S. border and west of Highway 22.
Campers and forest users are asked to use extreme caution in the areas.
As of July 24, there were 47 fires burning in Alberta, covering approximately 105,000 hectares (a hectare being the size of two football fields side-by-side).
According to a Sustainable Resource Development press release, the province has 176 personnel, nine helicopters, four water tankers, and 15 bulldozer units fighting fires in Alberta.
If you see any unusual smoke or fire, call 310-FIRE.

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Dear Editor:
I am, without prejudice, expressing my personal feelings of the unfair, inadequate and discriminatory manners in which revenues for provincial and municipal governments are collected.
The Cochrane mayor and each member of the council will receive a copy of this open-to-the-public missive. Premier Ralph Klein and Banff-Cochrane MLA Janis Tarchuk among others will also receive a copy.
So, stand by whilst I vent my spleen!
Something other than the usual cursory glance at my property tax and assessment billing reveals the necessity to query and/or object to most of the contents believe it or not. I will take each one as they appear on the invoice thereby keeping each one separate for the benefit of each authority, the respective MLAs, councillors, ombudsman or whomever.
I will commence with the current assessment figure of my small, one-bedroom condominium in the amount of $200,900. This figure stems from three years ago when a unit within the complex of 32 bungalow-type units, of the same structure as mine, sold for $179,000 inclusive of various additions and renovations but which nevertheless set the assessment value of my abode.
At the time and up to quite recently, certain aspects from that selling price and the amount for taxation were ignored when aside from each unit in our complex there were investments made from the monthly “donations” averaging $100 per month over 10 years or so known as the Capital Replacement Reserve Fund — in each case amounting to something like $12,000 or so per unit over that period and cannot be cancelled or withdrawn for any reason other than for future expenses such as roofing, major maintenance or repair and insurance.
Any new owner of a unit takes over at a negotiated price, as I would expect, and should include the investments-in-waiting which should not be used in assessing like units. Investments in preparation for future use can be maintained and are never looked to for taxation when “after-tax” dollars are used for this purpose.
Therefore, with the current assessment (including my contributions over 10 years or so of my occupancy) being $200,900, which obviously is in excess of a fair figure, I look forward to any adjustment accordingly because of the fact that these assessments included investment amounts over and above the property value and used by governments for rating purposes. I cannot afford to write-off these kinds of amounts should I sell my abode.
But in the meantime, as I do not intend to sell, I would appreciate attention to this matter, the first of my complaints, with a balance to follow.
The next complaint concerns a matter which evaded my attention over the years when I was more affluent than I am today, with no cause to “count my pennies” as I have to do currently. It is about this .1800 tax rate for requisition collection to yield to you $36.16!
For what? I have been told that it is a charge for collecting the Alberta school foundation tax for the province! Is someone kidding me? Or is a second statement for the town allegedly correct that it is to compensate the town for the evasion of tax payments by certain bodies? This is beyond my comprehension and understanding if this is the correct answer.
How does one avoid paying taxes? And then such as me and along with others foot the bill for the shortage? Also with any late payments and penalties paid, does this not ease the shortage situation? How are any shortages calculated which have occurred over the last 20 years or so? And how is it so identical to the amounts charged yearly?
I am mystified as I know of no other jurisdiction which utilizes this type of “money grab” to allegedly compensate for shortage of revenue which should never occur because the governing factor I believe is the mill rate established annually.
The law can take care of any and all tax defaulters, right? I, a veteran pensioner on a fixed income, am contributing part of my pittance to satisfy the town’s shortage when it has access to an unlimited supply if a right and proper system is used whereby every income earner — excluding a home which is a liability and not an asset — subscribes towards the expenses of running this beautiful town.
At present, due to a most impractical, discriminatory and illogical system, only a portion of the income-earning citizenry pay property taxes whilst the majority of those who do not due to legal exemption, and those who decide not to participate, revel in the benefits which I pay for but do not receive. (As a matter of fact, because it became essential for my wife and me to live in separate residences and because of the present cock-eyed property tax system, each of us pay the school foundation tax in full — double the norm, out of our combined fixed pensions).
This raises the question of whether our province and/or any of our councils were and are aware of this travesty of justice and fair-play or simply happy with the status quo which I am not! Why should they not be happy when “free rides” on taxes and benefits are available to them too? Let us have a system which would tax income to obtain the same amount of revenue at reduced costs to those of us who are footing the bills currently.
Taxes are for application on money, not on dwellings! What have homes to do with the costs of education when homes are already costly to possess and maintain? How can they be considered assets when using synthetic evaluations which serve only to increase property tax demands? They are pure and simple liabilities.
I feel municipal taxes should be on some fixed basis and not a fluctuating one — perhaps by the frontage lineal footage and allow the mill rate to adjust to the needs.
I will terminate this epistle by complaining again to the town over its refusal to consider giving a “break” to condominium residents who pay full municipal taxes but do not receive the same kind of service tendered to all non-condominium residents. To charge a fee for any goods and/or service not produced is scam-like, and regardless of the vague title composed by the town, does not alter the simple fact that a tax is charged in full but a full appropriate service is not tendered.
We now pay $1,680 per year to relieve the town of it responsibilities with no consideration whatsoever. My belief is that the retention of such offensive, illogical and discriminatory laws is due to the apathetic attitude displayed in the past over a number of years, by the provincial and municipal governments who seem to favour the easy way out by adopting and leaning on the status quo.
Below are the grievances which hopefully will remind those in authority that they were elected, appointed and employed to give attention towards consideration, satisfaction, mental and physical comfort to those in need.
1. Excessive assessment due to inclusion of investment value.
2. Requisition collection.
3. Homes being liabilities and not assets.
4. All income earners to pay education tax.
5. Double tax applied to married couples.
6. Monies from income and profits should be taxed.
7. Municipal tax to be applied on lineal frontage, as an example.
8. Municipal tax on condominiums being scam-like.
9. Status quo — to be silent and to accept is to condone.
I am only one — an 84-year-old ex-paratrooper seeking what I fought seven years for — seeking fair and equal treatment, and not handouts. Cannot my municipal government consider the plight of pensioners? Both other levels do to some extent.
Cyril Marshall

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