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Comox looks for carbon market
Alberni Valley Times / Comox Valley Echo
June 13, 2014
After agreeing to spend $4,218 on the Someshwara Small Hydropower Project in India to meet the provincial carbon neutral deadline of June 2, $48,507 will be left over to spend locally.
But local government officials are turning to the pioneering work done in the Cowichan Valley, in an effort to spur businesses and organizations here to think green.
"There's a lot of groundwork that needs to be done on it," said Brian Roberts, program lead for the Community Carbon Marketplace with Cowichan Energy. "It's like an economic development initiative where you use greenhouse gas emissions as a currency."
Rebel Councillor Vows to Fight On
Innisfail Province
Jan 29, 2013
Chad Hoffman lives to pull vehicles out of the mire with his suspension lifted Ford F150. Now it’s the first-term Penhold councillor who is stuck in the muck – politically spinning his tires.
But in spite of the repeated roadblocks Hoffman faces he is ready for the long haul.
"I haven’t made much progress in the last three years here and I’ve got too much invested to give up," said the 35-year-old embattled rookie. "But the people see what a challenge I have here in council."
The elected body decided to keep the Playboy model-tweeting, 9mm gun-possessing owner of an off-road towing company from serving on committees and as deputy mayor. Council also deprived him of his town office key for the second year running. But the feisty councillor has vowed to keep fighting for taxpayers.
"I work hard and I have solid values," he said. "I’ve frickin’ worked in the oil patch for 10 years. I’ve been a firefighter."
Orphaned Brown Bear Dies at Calgary Zoo
Innisfail Province
Oct. 2, 2012
When baby Tuff, a brown bear born in Kananaskis this year, was left by his mother, his chance of a happy existence was next to nil.
And though he passed away last week from complications related to a birth defect, thanks to the persistent care of Discovery Wildlife Park staff the summer under the Central Alberta skies was happier than anyone could have predicted.
“I actually became his mother,” said Serena Bos, head zookeeper. “He was extremely affectionate.”
Tuff enjoyed climbing trees, splashing in the creek, batting a mini-soccer ball and relaxing at campfires.
But something wasn’t right, and no one was quite sure why.
Dan Urban has been farming just west of Innisfail for years without a serious injury of any kind. Still, he knows he can't let his guard down for a second.
"The equipment is getting bigger and it's getting faster," said Urban. "It doesn't take a whole lot of horsepower to kill ya."
As the grain farmer toils away bringing in this year's harvest, the provincial government is looking at ways to make agriculture work in Alberta safer.
Urban says while many farm employees have grown up around dangerous machinery, he thinks it might be time for the industry to consider programs similar to oil and gas sector certification programs.
"Maybe farming is going to have to go that way too," he says. "Maybe there has to be an organization out there to certify inexperienced help."
Innisfail RCMP responded to a fire east of town alongside the Innisfail fire department at 9:14 a.m. April 24 after a 2002 half-ton truck blew up as a female rural resident attempted to refuel before heading to work.
“She was filling up her truck and there was an ignition of the fuel,” said Cpl. Jeff Hildebrandt, who was one of the first responders on scene. “You could see the mushroom cloud from Innisfail.”
Two vertical tanks, one containing diesel and one containing purple gas, also exploded at the site located off RR 255 south of Pine Lake. No one was injured in the blaze, but a section of semi-wooded area caught fire and flames came within feet of a nearby residence.
Some emergency response personnel even missed an incidence response meeting hosted at the Innisfail Health Centre as a result of the blaze. Red Deer County patrol and fire officials also attended. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
When Comox Valley resident Dolores Pflanz started working at Kuper Island Residential School in 1969 she was excited to supervise native girls from Grades 1-4. The 19-year-old Caucasian high school grad was surprised to see how hesitant the children were to share their culture with her.
“I really liked to learn their language – it was fun,” she said. “They’d laugh at me because I couldn’t get my mouth around the words.”
But the native boarding students knew they would be in big trouble if they ever got caught. And Pflanz was in for a rude awakening, too – witnessing a nun give one of the children a severe beating.
“She would have been put in jail these days,” she said. “It just made me want to vomit.”
Now 65, Pflanz remembers a lot of things she wishes she didn’t from those days – including cultural, physical and sexual abuse. She also remembers Catholic Church officials protecting Brother Glenn William Doughty (who was finally convicted in 2002 of sex crimes involving students at the facility) when she tried to report a rape.