By Cori Lee Miller
The Eagle
Gregg Lauder has been known to do a little horsing around.
The Cochrane-area resident and avid rider will compete in the first annual World Reining championships Sept. 11-14 in Manerbio, Italy.
Reining is a western riding event consisting of guiding a horse through a precise series of circles, spins and stops.
Lauder will be riding with the Canadian team. He will have a chance at the $70,000 team prize as well as the $30,000 individual prize.
Twenty countries are expected to compete.
Lauder will also be showing at Americana, Europe’s number one horse and trade show for western culture.

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Rolly Fox, father of the late-Terry Fox, will be arriving in Cochrane Aug. 30 with the 1980 Ford Econoline van that accompanied Terry on his Marathon of Hope.
The van is scheduled to arrive in Cochrane at about 7 p.m. Runners will join the van at the I.G.A and follow it to Cochrane Ford on Railway Street for a barbecue.

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By Brad Herron
The Eagle
It’s “fiddlemania” at the Bow Valley Baptist Church.
From Aug. 24-29 the church will sing with many styles of fiddle music, culminating in a student concert Aug. 29 at 7 p.m.
Pear, a Calgary band, will play a show at the church on Aug. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Admission to the concerts will be by donation.
For more information, visit www.fiddle-mania.com

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By Brad Herron
The Eagle
Cochrane Mayor Truper McBride has ordered an internal investigation of the town’s subdivision process.
The mayor said Aug. 21 he has “reason to believe now that the amount of money that we have been receiving has not been the amount of money the people of Cochrane have been entitled to when doing subdivision.”
He believes taxpayers had been shorted a “very significant amount of money.”
During the subdivision of a site, the Municipal Government Act states the municipality is due 10 per cent of the land in municipal reserve or an equivalent in cash. The town’s policy was to use a developer’s own appraised value of the property during the subdivision. That has now changed.
“We’ve ordered reforms put in place effective immediately, and from here on forward an independent appraisal of all land will be done to determine the actual market value, and it will be carried out at the developer’s cost whenever cash-in-lieu appears on the table,” McBride said.
For years, the planning and engineering department at the town had been providing the subdivision authority, formerly the Cochrane Planning Commission and now council, incorrect information, McBride said.
“This was a legal loophole that developers have been using to exploit our planning system in Cochrane,” the mayor said.
Early indications from his investigation reveal that Springwood Developments, which holds an option on the 45-acre former-Domtar site, “knew quite well they were getting one incredible deal” during a subdivision application April 28.
Council approved a subdivision to separate the site into two parcels, receiving $79,042 and an option to lease, and potentially buy, a one-acre parcel on the northwest corner of the site. The vote passed 6-1, with the mayor in opposition.
“Springwood has taken the town for a ride here in the subdivision agreement we made with them and the taxpayers here have definitely gotten the raw end of the stick. We were entitled to more cash-in-lieu, far more cash-in-lieu than they provided us,” McBride said.
Bill Butler, president of Springwood Developments, declined to comment Aug. 26.
In the subdivision application documents, Springwood assessed the market value “as is” at $520,000, or $11,579 per acre, but the estimated serviced land value is $1 million an acre for small parcels, and $500,000 per acre for large parcels.
Springwood estimated the “clean-up costs” for the site, where Domtar treated railway ties with creosote from 1963 to 1987, would range between $28.3 million and $31.8 million.
Because he has “had enough,” McBride plans to ask council to investigate the “Domtar affair.”
He said a possibility is to place the site, which sits between Griffin Road and Railway Street, under direct control which, if accepted by councillors, would give council final approval on the project, including construction details.
“This is to make sure what is going on at that site, from now until completion of the development and even into the future as that site looks at redevelopment, is in the best interest of the people of Cochrane, because seemingly, according to this investigation, it hasn’t been up until now,” McBride said.
The mayor said a member of town administration has talked to Butler about the possible change. McBride said early indications from Butler are new policies will not work for the developer. This leads the mayor to further question what happening.
“What’s really going on with this development if Mr. Butler is afraid of direct control, afraid of council being the approving authority?” McBride said.

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By Sarah Junkin
The Eagle
A seniors housing project slated for the Bearspaw area that was kick-started after a local pioneer donated a sizeable portion of her land, is now moving forward in part due to generosity from yet another source.
Ruth Hunt, a long-time rancher and nonagenarian (a person between the age of 90 and 99), has donated a portion of a quarter section of her land north of Highway 567 at the end of Bearspaw Road to facilitate the building of the rural seniors’ housing project.
Lori Kovacs, executive director of the Western Rocky View Communities Development Society, explained that it’s sometimes difficult for seniors who have lived and worked on the land for their entire lives to be forced to sell their homes and move to urban centres where there are more facilities for retired people.
“This seniors complex will allow them to live within their social network without giving up familiar surroundings,” she said.
Another group that evidently believes in the project is Bordeaux Developments, a 25-year-old Calgary-based land development company that is donating time and expertise to the planning and conceptual phase of the project.
“We just thought this was an excellent opportunity for us to come closer to the community,” said Bordeaux land analyst Daniel Sax, who is donating approximately one fifth of his time. But he admits he’s also actually benefiting from the project personally.
“To be honest, it’s a lot of fun,” he said. “This group of seniors is amazing, and for them to start to see some tangible results after so much hard work is really great. It’s exciting to help them get to the next level of the project.”
Ben Kawaguchi of Rocky Mountain Technologies and Management is the project manager in charge of cost analysis and marketing studies, and he admits it’s quite a unique situation.
“Yes, it’s a bit unusual for a company to be donating its time, but hopefully it’s the start of a trend where companies give back to their communities.”
Kovacs said the seniors’ complex is being designed to be sustainable environmentally, agriculturally and economically, and will provide for both independent and supportive living.
“It’s a wonderful blending of profit and non-profit for the benefit of the community,” she said.
Kovacs added that all meetings pertaining to the complex are open to the public. The next one will take place at 9 a.m. Sept. 11 in the Bearspaw historic schoolhouse.
“It’s really important that the whole community be involved,” she said.

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By Sarah Junkin
The Eagle
The Rocky View School Division (RVSD) has a brand new name, a trendy new look and even a mascot.
At a leadership team meeting held Aug. 26, Rocky View officials and trustees unveiled for principals and assistant principals the division’s new logo which they say can be interpreted in a number of ways.
Now known as Rocky View Schools, the blue and green logo could be viewed as a student reading a book, an image of the sun shining in the foothills, or an individual moving towards the future, according to Springbank trustee Helen Clease, one of the re-branding committee members.
“It’s our hope that this logo will stand for quality and innovative education,” she said.
“Use it on everything and if you’re really keen I know the name of a great tattoo parlour,” she chuckled.
Rocky View Superintendent Greg Bass said the former logo had become outdated, adding the re-branding cost approximately $6,000.
“We did so much of it in-house,” he said. “We were very cognizant of cost and we were frugal.”
Each principal and assistant principal was presented with a computer bag sporting the logo, and each school received a flag. Bass explained he was not supportive of schools flying the Canadian flag at half-mast without the express authority of the government, but admitted that when a student or staff member dies this can pose a problem.
“You certainly want to show respect, and having our own flag (to fly at half-mast) will allow us to do that,” he said.
Rocky Raccoon, the new mascot, was also on hand. He was designed by Grade 4 student Ryan McHarg of Indus, beating out 180 other entries.
Rocky View communications consultant Angela Spanier joked she’d be collecting a loonie from anyone who inadvertently referred to the old name instead of Rocky View Schools though she admitted it could take a while.
“I’ve been through an organizational name change before and I’d say it takes about five years,” she said.

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By Cori Lee Miller
The Eagle
The Mountainview Car and Truck Wash has been the target of a string of thefts.
On Aug. 19 thieves stole cash from the coin operated boxes that control the automated sprayers and wash settings at the Cochrane business.
The theft happened between noon and 3 p.m. while the car wash was open.
The six-bay layout allowed the thieves to strike unnoticed.
There have been four thefts in the past three months and manager John McArthur said there isn’t much hope in finding the thieves because of all the traffic coming through the business.
“There’s not much you can do because so many people touch the box,” said McArthur.
The first of the four thefts occurred over a weekend and boxes the thieves chose had not been emptied.
The culprits made off with approximately $1,500 from each of the two boxes.
The fact that the boxes are now regularly emptied every night hasn’t seemed to deter the thieves.
The boxes had been reinforced with thick steel panels since the last thefts, but thieves drilled a larger hole on the panel next to the reinforced steel.
“With all the noise in the office I couldn’t hear anything,” said McArthur, adding the thieves seemed to know what they were doing.
McArthur also speculated that with the frequency of the thefts the culprit may be someone in the area.
Other Cochrane car washes are not experiencing theft problems.
Car Wash Corral owner Karim Javer said while they have experienced some thefts, the last incident occurred more than a year ago.
McArthur said that vigilance from car wash staff might be the best line of defense.
“You gotta come out and you gotta check.”
Const. Scott McArther with the Cochrane RCMP said they are currently investigating the thefts.
“At this point in time there are no leads,” he said.
Mountainview is now looking into installing video surveillance.

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By Cori Lee Miller
The Eagle
A western mural has become something to really celebrate for one Cochrane resident.
Sandy Johnson is one of 12 nominees for the Calgary Stampede’s Western Legacy Awards in the innovation category for her work on the mural “Trust”. The awards celebrate groups or individuals who promote western values as well as preserve western heritage in their communities.
Johnson, Cochrane’s culture program co-ordinator, acted as the town’s liaison on the mural at the RancheHouse.
“We wanted to work on a project that would involve as many people in the community as we could,” said Johnson.
Approximately 160 local artists created panels for the mural.
Johnson was assisted by the Mural Mosaic team. Paul Alain, a producer for Mural Mosaic, said the project almost didn’t happen due to a lack of time.
“We didn’t think we could pull it off,” said Alain.
After meeting with Johnson, Alain said the team had a change of heart.
“The energy of that meeting inspired us to take on the project,” he said.
Along with his partners Lewis and Paul Lavoie, Alain brought Johnson three ideas for the theme.
“This one was really the one that just spoke to me and really conveyed what the group wanted to say,” said Johnson of “Trust” which depicts a woman holding her horse’s head.
The winner of the award will be announced Oct. 3 at the Boyce Theatre in Calgary.

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By Sarah Junkin
The Eagle
Morley’s United Church is having new life breathed into its century-old building with members from all three Stoney bands getting on board to help out.
After an engineering report pointed out the church needed some essential renovations, specifically replacing roof shingles, repairing rotting materials around the entry, and attaching cables and trusses to reinforce the whole structure, the tribal council joined together to pay for the work.
According to Mary Stacey, project manager for Nakoda Nation Capital Projects, the project has generated support from the Wesley, Bearspaw and Chiniki bands.
“The fact that they all recognize the importance of the church is really maintaining the integrity of the bands,” she said, adding there’s not a lot of cash to spare and though they’d like to install a bathroom, it may not be possible.
“We’re rapidly running out of funds but the intention of the community would be to put in a bathroom,” she said.
Even the local youth are helping out, said Bearspaw administrator Rob Shotclose.
“We have our own holistic program where we have a paint shop and a carpentry shop for youth,” he said. “We’re just waiting for the structural work to be done, and then about 16 of our youth will be painting and making cabinets.”
Shotclose said the program, which recruits young people who are on social assistance, helps them learn a marketable trade and at the same time provides valuable help to the community.
“It’s something when you’ve got all three bands working together, all ages. The church has brought the community together since the 1920s and it’s still doing it.”

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