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Sun Times file photo
An aerial view shows the scorched earth as a result of a wildfire that burned all the way to just outside the western edge of Lethbridge on Nov. 27.January
• A TV series inspired the name of Lethbridge’s first baby born in 2011. Parents Dexine Sara and Cam Massam welcomed seven-pound, 11-ounce Daejen William Barry, at 4:12 a.m. on Jan. 1. His middle names are after the couple’s fathers; his name was inspired by the “Beastmaster” television series, his parents said. The character is one of the warriors.
• Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach’s Jan. 25 announcement he would step down before the next provincial election came as a surprise to many.
February
• Jeffrey Coffman won the Feb. 1 civic byelection with nearly 3,400 votes to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Bob Babki, who died before he could be sworn in after the Oct. 18, 2010 civic election. Coffan topped nine other aldermanic candidates by a wide margin.
• The Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra celebrated its 50th season on Feb. 7. A celebratory concert featured a work called “Badlands: A Tone Poem” composed by former conductor J.P. Christopher Jackson as well as works by Louis Spohr featuring Musaeus, Peter Tchaikovsky and Leonard Bernstein.
March
• City council approved a one-time $57,000 bailout for the Lethbridge Symphony Organization on March 8. Admitting it’s a humbling position for the organization, LSO President Jesse Wilde told council the symphony couldn’t meet its Mar. 15 payroll for its three staff members without the emergency funding. In addition, the symphony met its Mar. 1 payroll obligations only because an unnamed member of the group’s board loaned the group the money to do so, he told council. He attributed the symphony’s financial crisis to dwindling corporate and individual donations due to the recent economic recession. Council members spent about 90 minutes discussing and debating the issue before voting 6-3 in favour of providing the emergency funding, which will come from city contingencies. It’s in addition to about $53,000 in annual grant funding the city already provides to the symphony.
• After 34 years, he’d hoped for a calmer conclusion. But Lethbridge MP Rick Casson was pleased to stand one more time, alongside fellow Conservatives facing a Commons motion. He gave a thumbs-up as his name was called March 25 — his last vote in elected office. “I think I was prepared for it,” Casson said as he prepared to head home, in the wake of the minority government’s defeat on a confidence motion. Casson remained an MP until election day, early in May, and spent some of that remaining time closing down offices in Lethbridge and Ottawa. He’s served there as an MP since 1997, and for 20 years before that as mayor or town councillor in Picture Butte. A retirement party on Oct. 7 featured a visit from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
April
• Water fluoridation in Lethbridge is here to stay — for now, at least. After a lengthy and at times passionate debate on April 18, city council voted down by a 5-4 margin a resolution by Ald. Bridget Mearns to end fluoridation of city drinking water, a practice adopted in 1974 after an equally close plebiscite on the issue. Council debated the contentious matter for more than 90 minutes. Mearns brought the issue forward, arguing there’s evidence that casts doubt on the ethics, safety and effectiveness of fluoridation in preventing tooth decay. Afterward, she appeared to take the loss in stride but said she expects the issue will eventually come up again.
May
• Jim Hillyer, the newly elected Conservative MP for Lethbridge, said he was thrilled he’ll be doing it as a member of a majority government. Hillyer won the Lethbridge riding convincingly May 2.
• Kaitlin Boyda, the 17-year-old Lethbridge girl whose selflessness captured hearts and changed lives around the world, died on May 5. The girl who learned she had brain cancer just after her 16th birthday in 2009, made headlines when it was learned that rather than accept a gift from the Children’s Wish Foundation, Kaitlin wanted the money to benefit others who she felt needed it more. Kaitlin wanted the $9,600 earmarked for her by Children’s Wish to go to Compassion Canada, to provide clean water for communities in Uganda. When others heard of Kaitlin’s generosity, they were inspired by her compassion and wanted to donate as well. The Ugandan water project now had a name — Kaitlin’s Wish — and within seven weeks the entire $200,000 was raised to drill 21 water wells in 21 communities.
June
• While he was a University of Lethbridge student back in the 1970s, Clint Dunford waited until June 3 to get a degree from the institution. Dunford received a Doctor of Laws honorary degree during afternoon convocation ceremonies in recognition of his significant contributions to post-secondary education in Alberta.
• Canada Post said mail delivery would resume June 28, following back-to-work legislation passed by the federal Parliament over the weekend. However, the Crown Corporation is warning it will take some time yet to return to “normal delivery standards” due to the backlog of unprocessed mail that accumulated during a month-long labour dispute. First priority went to delivering mail that’s been “trapped in the system” since rotating strikes started on June 3. Canada Post brought mail delivery to a complete halt by locking out employees on June 14. The Harper government served notice immediately that it would legislate an end to the dispute.
July
• Close to 20,000 spectators made Lethbridge County Airport the place to be July 23 as the highly anticipated two-day 20th anniversary Alberta International Airshow took off. Attendance numbers were up from last year, organizers estimated, thanks to clear, sunny skies and bearable 24 C heat. People came to see the action in the sky, but they stayed for the happenings on solid ground. About 50 private and military planes stayed grounded for public viewing — one of the biggest displays in the air show’s history. In conjunction with the airshow, about 250 former Time Air employees, some from as far away as Dubai, returned for a reunion on what would have been the company’s 45th anniversary.
August
• A slugfest of a gold-medal game saw the B.C. representative Whalley Little League clinch the 2011 Junior Little League Canadian Championship 14-8 over the Medicine Hat Astros at Spitz Stadium on Aug. 11.
• The Lethbridge Correctional Centre celebrated its 100th anniversary with an open house on Aug. 23. The Lethbridge Provincial Gaol, as it was called, was the first provincial jail built in Alberta, and the first west of Manitoba.
September
• Lethbridge’s inaugural Word on the Street Festival on Sept. 25 was a hit. With a plethora of authors, poets, musicians and tons of fun activities and booths for all ages, the festival saw scores of people come out to experience the first festival. As for next year, the event will hopefully expand to include even more literacy groups and vendors.
October
• Alison Redford garnered 51 per cent of the ballots cast in the Conservative leadership vote on Oct. 1 to become Alberta’s first female premier.
• Thirteen area farmers attended a rally held in Lethbridge on Oct. 25 where ministry of agriculture parliamentary secretary David Anderson addressed a large crowd of farmers supportive of new legislation that would strip the Canadian Wheat Board of its monopoly. Bill C-18, which will disband the CWB on Aug. 1, 2012, later passed in Parliament.
November
• For a first-time effort, Alberta cabinet ministers said their grassroots budget consultations are proving a good investment. Deputy premier Doug Horner joined Finance Minister Ron Liepert and Advanced Education Minister Greg Weadick for a closed-door meeting with hand-picked constituents from Lethbridge and region Nov. 2 asking them what they’d like to see in Alberta’s budget for 2012.
• The fall sitting of the Alberta Legislature began with a bang Nov. 21 as Lethbridge East Liberal MLA Bridget Pastoor made a surprise move crossing the floor to join the Alberta PCs. She said the move was not a reflection on the Liberal party or its leader Raj Sherman.
• Gale-force winds reached 149 km/h on Nov. 27, smashing windows, downing trees and whipping up a grass fire near Lethbridge, forcing about 125 residents from their homes. Trees blown onto roadways caused RCMP detachments in Claresholm, Fort Macleod, and High River to issue travel advisories to all commercial and recreational motorists on Highway 2 between south Calgary and Fort Macleod. The Insurance Bureau of Canada said the storm caused an estimated $200 million worth of damage across southern Alberta.
• Lethbridge city council offered its final stamp of approval on the 2012-14 budget plan on Nov. 28. It offers the smallest tax hike in more than a decade at 2.89 per cent annually while putting money away for future needs.
December
• Alberta’s new tougher drunk-driving laws are expected to be rolled out over the next seven months, the province’s transportation minister Ray Danyluk said on Dec. 7. The new law comes down hard on anyone charged with driving drunk under the Criminal Code, which is defined as a .08 blood-alcohol content reading or greater. The law also goes after drivers in the so-called grey zone of impairment, which is .05 to .08. Those caught in this range will have their licences taken away starting at three days and escalating to a month for repeat offenders. There are also vehicle seizures up to a week at a time.
• She was a strong-willed, independent woman who stood up for herself and didn’t hesitate to help out a friend. That’s how Tabitha Stepple’s family remembered her as about 800 people packed the Evangelical Free Church of Lethbridge Dec. 21 to celebrate the 21-year-old’s life. Stepple was killed by her ex-boyfriend on Dec. 15 in a tragic early-morning shooting on Highway 2 near Claresholm as she and three friends were driving from Lethbridge to the Calgary airport. Derek Jensen also killed baseball players Tanner Craswell and Mitch MacLean, both from P.E.I., and critically injured 21-year-old Shayna Conway before turning his 9-mm handgun on himself. |
