Rocky View Schools officials, along with a spokesperson for the Centre for Communicable Diseases, have confirmed Cochrane’s first case of the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu.
A student at Elizabeth Barrett Elementary School has been identified as the seventh person in the division to be diagnosed with the illness, the only one in Cochrane.
According to Rocky View Schools’ director of communications Angela Spanier, when a case is confirmed the school’ moves to the second level of pandemic procedures which includes increased handwashing and other cleanliness measures, warning students not to drink from fountains, and creating flu isolation rooms where children who are feeling unwell can wait for their parents to take them home. The first level involved monitoring absentee levels.
Spanier said after the first outbreak in Rocky View occurred May 4, “there was a rash of them, and then none until now.”
She could confirm neither the age nor the sex of the child.

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A controversial condo project is finally breaking ground on the site of the old Cochrane Golf Course driving range.
Dennis Hong, owner of the golf club, said construction is now in its first phase of building 44 of the 92 units that will be onsite.
Hong has partnered with developers of the Riverstone of Cochrane on the project.
“The building is going to be looking to finish 23 of those units by December,” he said.
Hong said so far they have sold roughly 17 units for the first phase, although they did have to drop their price from $322,000 to $240,000.
“As most know the real estate market has gone down,” he said. “We have to do the market price or else we cannot survive.”
Hong said he has not heard anything negative from the surrounding community, but Riverview residents have voiced opposition in the past. Issues included the possibility of further developing the golf course, and the quality and size of the project, which Hong said has been addressed.
“Basically, as a community we fought against the development and we lost,” Riverview Community Association co-president, Julie Sengl said. “And now we are moving on and hope it will be a positive addition to our community.”

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While some Canadians tend to forget about poverty faced by the Third World unless it is staring them in the face from their televisions, some work tirelessly to create new and better opportunities for those who make their homes in have-not countries.
Tim Davidson, president of Cochrane-based Timko Developments Ltd. and the registered charity Cross Cultural Christian Mission Society (3CM), has been working to create new opportunities in Honduras.
Currently, Honduras is in the throes of a political crisis, with President Manuel Zelaya being removed from office June 28 by the army ahead of a disputed constitutional referendum.
The Hondurian Supreme Court of Justice said it removed Zelaya from office for repeatedly defying it’s rulings.
“Unlike what CNN and CBC and everyone else is saying, it’s not a military coup,” Davidson said of the situation, adding they are going about business as usual.
They had first visited the country in 1999 to help in the relief effort after Hurricane Mitch, and since then, with the help of local organizations like APROCOLA, have started a school for gifted Hondurian youth.
In rural Honduras children only receive education until Grade 6, after which they usually work on family farms.
When the school began three years ago the goal was to find gifted students, allow them to continue their education, and teach them how to create sustainable self-employment.
Davidson said they created the school because while 3CM was helping in some ways they “came to the conclusion that all these things were just Band-Aids unless they had an education.”
“It’s actually a school for leadership training.”
The students at the school learn trades, agriculture and other skills to improve their quality of life.
“So by the time they hit Grade 9, that’s three years. They can start themselves a business and provide for themselves to go to high school.”
The students are also encouraged to go home to share their knowledge and abilities once they have completed their schooling.
“These kids go back into their home towns and put seminars on for their dads and uncles and peers,” he said. “They’re going back to change the community.”
On average, a rural Hondurian makes approximately $200 a month, and by teaching the younger generation new sustainable skills, Davidson hopes the ongoing cycle of poverty will end.
The school’s first class will be graduating this November, and if the political situation stabilizes, Davidson hopes to attend.
Phil Davidson, Tim’s brother who is also involved in the program, currently lives in Honduras.
The trip will be scheduled in October or November, and a group of 10-15 people will be able to attend.
For $2,600 per person, all parts of the eight-day trip, including airfare and lodgings, are covered.
“If we weren’t there doing this for these kids they would go from Grade 6 to helping their parents work on the farm or move into gang warfare in the cities. There’s a lot of that happening.”
Timko is also hosting a charity golf tournament July 17 at the Radium Resort, looking to raise $300,000. Money raised will go towards purchasing land for the school program and constructing a new building. For details visit www.3cm.org.

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The Wild Pink Yonder (WPY) wagon train will keep on rolling — with a new start in Cochrane this weekend — after an accident put trail boss Jane Hurl out of commission.
A breast cancer survivor and driving force behind the ride, Hurl broke nine bones in her spine, pelvis and left leg when her two horses, Troll and Bror, spooked while hooked to a wagon.
Hurl said it “was completely a freak accident, they’re really good boys.”
While she can’t join the trail ride right away, Hurl is keeping a positive outlook and says she plans to attend a few events and parties a bit later on.
“I wasn’t killed and that’s the really great thing,” she said.
Hurl said the accident forced some changes to be made to the ride.
“Well, it has because we were going to start down in Fort McLeod and now we’re starting in Cochrane. It was just too big to handle otherwise, too big of a project.”
Besides the change to the starting location, July 4 at the Ag Society Grounds, Hurl said the rest of the ride will remain the same.
“All the parties are still on, all the entertainment is still in place.”
The wagon train will continue on to Airdrie from Cochrane.
It will then continue until July 24 when it comes to a halt in Josephburg northeast of Edmonton.
“Anyone who wants to come, we would be delighted,” Hurl said, adding they still have room for more riders.
Police will be setting up a route for riders to exit Cochrane, but further information was not available.
For $200 per day, riders get three full meals, and two meals and water for their horse. Entertainment is also included every evening.
Hurl said they plan to host the event again next year, on a larger scale.
Money raised on the trail goes to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
“Well we had a goal but we’ve had to scale down,” said Hurl of a fundraising target.
“We’re just looking for as much support as we can get.”
For more information or to register visit www.wildpinkyonder.
com.

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The Cochrane and Area Humane Society is overrun with cats and has issued a plea to the community for help.
“Yes, we’re in a crunch,” said shelter official Nicky Blackshaw. “And we’re asking people to please not procrastinate if you’re thinking of adopting a cat.”
The shelter says it has as many as 96 felines who are seeking a home.
“It’s because it’s spring,” explained Blackshaw. “We have numerous surrenders, and pregnant cats about to have kittens. No matter how much we try to educate people (about spaying) we have our biggest intake in spring, and ironically our slowest adoption time is summer. This time we’ve been hit really hard.”
Blackshaw stressed in many ways a cat is the perfect pet.
“It’s low maintenance,” she said. “No doggy day-care. All you needs is a sunbeam coming through a window for a cat to be happy, and they’re tons of fun to cuddle and play with.”
The shelter has cats of all ages, sizes and every imaginable colour.
“There are so many awesome personalities,” Blackshaw said. “There’s a cat here for everyone.”
All animal profiles are listed on the shelter’s website and people should also check there for visiting times.
Blackshaw said last year the response for adoptive owners was so positive not one single cat had to be euthanized.
“I want to stress these cats’ lives are not in danger if they don’t find homes right away,” she said. “We hope not to euthanize this year either.”
For more information, call 403-932-2072 or visit www.cochranehumane.ca.

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Cochrane musician Noel Johnson is caught up in a whirlwind of success.
In one week he has won two different songwriting contests, earning himself $20,000.
His latest accomplishment came June 25 when he snagged $10,000 from the The New 97.7 FM radio station contest called 10K20.
One week before he won $10,000 for his second place showing at the Rockstar 2009 contest held at Rusty Cage: Studio 82 in Calgary on June 18.
He will also be taking the stage July 1 at Mitford Park for the Canada Day Family Concert, and is gearing up to record his next CD when he heads down to Nashville in August.
Johnson, who moved to Cochrane from Lethbridge at age 11, graduated from Bow Valley High School and is now 22-years-old.
“Everything is just happening so fast. I need some time to catch up, but as of now I feel great.”
He had heard about the 10K20 contest from a friend who works at the radio station, and from playing on their “Live at Five” program.
“This will play a huge part with my album and release because now I can use this money for the album, and use the Fuel contest money for planning a proper CD release, website, tour and other merch (merchandise),” said Johnson, who will be releasing his new CD in November.
He will also be enjoying these future plans with his new band, which he performed with for the first time at the Rockstar contest.
“Not too bad for our first gig,” he laughed.
Johnson now has lead guitarist Andrew Nicholson, bassist Clayton Gilles and drummer Mike Schwartz to back up his self-described alternative folk rock. They call themselves the Noel Johnson Band.
The contest had pitted him against three other bands who all played a 25-minute set. It was the fourth semi-final of the contest, with the winners of each round — including that night’s winner Frankie McQueen — headed to a final in July.
But Johnson may still have a shot at the final $200,000 round if he gets the “Wild Card” slot.
He said his new band has brought “a whole new level of musical chemistry” to his normally unplugged acoustic sound.
“I usually have a high energy show, but with the full band I am able to explore a lot more,” said Johnson.
Although his band will be hitting the road with him in the fall for a tour, he had already arranged to use session players in Nashville, but the local guys will help to prepare for recording. His producer, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, approached him with the idea of recording in Nashville as he has contacts in the country music capitol of America.

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Stoney youth will soon have a place to call home.
An upcoming ground-breaking ceremony will herald the start of construction of a 15,000 square foot multi-purpose youth facility to be located on the south bank of the Bow River in the centre of Morley.
The $3 million building will house classrooms, a gymnasium, showers, change rooms, and a games room.
“Basically, it’s a versatile place for youth,” said project manager Richard Tatro, adding the centre will be paid for and operated by Bearspaw youth, one of three bands that comprise the Stoney-Nakoda Nation. “But it will be used by youth from all three bands.”
Tatro said construction will begin in a week and likely take about seven months.
“It’s progressive times,” he said. “It’s a time to celebrate because it’s always nice when something’s being improved.”
Officials are planning a groundbreaking ceremony and barbecue.

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Coffee with Warren

You know how it is when most photographers want to show you their latest snapshots. They pull out a small stack of 4×6 prints — or if they’re in a really good mood, a few 8x10s — and take you on a visual journey through the eye of their camera.
Not so with Cochrane photographer John Hall. He walks into the coffee shop with a wallpaper-size roll of photographic paper under his arm and stretches it out across several tables to share with his admiring onlookers his latest super-sized panoramas of mountains, lakes, deserts and ranchlands.
Just the other day, John topped all his other achievements by unrolling a breathtaking view of hang gliders and paragliders soaring above Cochrane’s famous Big Hill, the town and Bow Valley stretching off to the south. But more about that in a moment.
Born in the U.K. and now in his mid-70s, John has been part of our community for the past 30 years. When he retired from the information technology industry, he returned to his childhood passion for photography.
“One of my earliest visual memories is of my dad shooting my third birthday picture with a brass and mahogany 4×5 glass-plate camera,” John recalls. That 4×5 camera played an important role in his youthful experiments with image-making, along with miniature theatres he created out of cardboard boxes with tissue-paper screens, illuminated by a candle.
He’s gone completely digital these days. His current equipment includes a Canon EOS 5D camera with a wide selection of lenses, and an Epson Stylus Pro 7880 printer, which prints with pigment-based inks on paper or canvas up to 24 inches wide by any reasonable length.
“My primary subject interest is landscapes, with patterns-in-nature and unusual viewpoints as strong alternatives, or perhaps complements,” he says.
Although he is exploring “spherical panoramas” which require viewing on a computer screen and allow the viewer to drag the image in every direction from the camera’s viewpoint, his local fame is derived from wide, single-row panoramas, such as his image of the paragliders on Big Hill.
The stunning ultra-wide-angle landscape is made from seven images he shot a year ago from the Muller Windsports location and digitally stitched together. John photographed the fliers separately over a three-year period and Photoshopped them onto the background vista.
“This is a fantasy edition,” he says. In reality, “there were never more than three fliers in the area at the same time.”
The completed 94×16-inch print is on display now at the town offices at the Cochrane RancheHouse, a gift from John to our community. To see more of his imaginative imagery, visit his website, http://
naturalwestphotoramas.smugmug.com. (more…)

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It wasn’t hard to miss the tension in the room as residents of Bow Meadows gathered with Town of Cochrane staff to discuss a pathway in their community.
More than 40 people were at the RancheHouse June 25 to see what will happen to the pathway that winds down the east side of Jumping Pound Creek from George Fox Trail up to an environment reserve to the north, towards the Bow River.
The path has washed out more than once in past floods, and has been left since the last time it washed out in 2008.
Many of the residents came to the meeting upset as the town spent $6,000 pounding in stakes where it is recommending to move the path — a shift that will bring the path directly behind 20 Bow Meadows houses.
Bill Gibb, who lives in one of the 20 homes, said they all received a letter inviting them to a meeting to discuss the proposed pathway and it seemed as though the decision was already made.
“It was a shock,” he said. “We wondered where is the consultation process. We weren’t presented with any options. . . . It escalated the whole thing to a new level.
“The general feeling is the town has already made up its mind.”
Gibb said he feels like there has been a lack of communication between the town and residents.
“Councillors ran (in the last election) on better communication,” said Gibb, adding it is not working.
But at the June 25 meeting town staff did highlight three options for Bow Meadows residents. The project has a budget of $80,000.
The first option is to keep the pathway where it is and rebuild it with bridges. But a representative of landscape and engineering consultant Urban Systems told the crowd it would have a negative impact on the environment and the bridges would not stop the path washing out.
The second option is to do nothing and let nature reclaim the area, but this doesn’t jive with town policy to link all existing pathways.
The third is to move the pathway to the new alignment — closer to the homes. It would be on higher ground and cost less than repairing the original pathway, even with having to move 25 trees and shrubs.
Residents had problems with every option.
Gibb said the first option doesn’t solve the problem of flooding washing out the path, which could be a waste of taxpayers’ money.
He said the second option doesn’t work because people value the path and are naturally drawn to the water.
Gibb said the third option is the worst because the new path would land on a dike, which causes flooding and ice blockage problems for residents.
Also, he believes that it would negatively affect property values of the 20 homes affected, which he figured were worth $14-$18 million all together.
Another issue is the wildlife currently in the area between the homes and the path as it stands now, including fox dens.
Also, the community association had installed benches on the current path and was wondering what was going to happen to them.
Gibb said if the path moves closer to the homes the biggest problem is a lack of privacy for the residents, which can become a security issue when, for example, teenagers party in the area.
The residents presented an idea of their own. Called “low-level crossings” and using erosion control techniques, the idea would be to build a flood-proof path where it currently sits. These types of paths are used in Calgary in high flood areas, and in Australia.
“A special matting would . . . hold the (path) in place,” said Gibb. “It is porous, so water can go through it. When the flood is gone you can go right back onto it.”
Bow Meadows resident Bob Ruault suggested it could even save the town money as the contractors he has asked quoted $37,000 to $57,000 for the entire stretch of path.
The meeting wrapped up with a few words from Mayor Truper McBride.
“The purpose of this meeting was to see your opinions, and I understand your tension and concern,” he said. “We are really going to talk and really going to listen.”
Town staff said the next step is to make up a report with options and concerns for the July 13 council meeting.
Jim Anderson, director of operational services, said they also hope to hold a community-wide consultation in the near future.
“This is not just a Bow Meadows issue,” said Anderson, “but to all of Cochrane.”
Anderson stressed no decisions have been made, and he is interested in seeing more information on erosion control techniques and low-level crossings.
“It was quite intriguing,” he said. “We will look at it very closely. . . . Our message is we will certainly look at more options and costing.”

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