The Valley is looking a little cleaner thanks to the Town of Drumheller and their Spring Cleanup crew.
    The numbers are in, and Tammi Nygaard, operations manager at the Drumheller and District landfill, said they were down this year from last.
    “We were down by 27 per cent in the wood, compost and household materials. Last year (2014) we brought in 269.47 metric tonnes and this year we brought in 197.39 metric tonnes. We were down considerably, but the metal was up. Last year metal was 40 tonnes, this year metal was 46 tonnes, so we actually saw a 17 per cent increase in the metal,” Nygaard said.
    In terms of other items collected, microwaves were down to 69 over 90 in 2014. The Town collected 237 televisions this year over last year’s number of 279. The collection of computers saw a significant drop from 185 last year to just 80 this year. Vehicle batteries increased from 43 in 2014 to 50 in 2015, and tires went down from 404 to 349 this year, Nygaard said.
    About every three years they tend to see a drop like this, she said.
    “I think it is just a cycle and people have finally cleared out a lot of that material,” she said. The landfill has offered various recycling programs for a number of years including the paint and electronics programs.
    “I think a lot of people have managed to get all that clutter out of their basements… people used to store that stuff in their basement forever thinking they could reuse it or thought maybe a program was going to come up. I think now we’ve gotten through a lot of the excess that people were hoarding,” she said.
    Overall, she said that when looking at the comparison values, 2012 was a low year as well. 2013 and 2014 were higher years and now the numbers are back down again.
    “We did have a fairly big drop this year, and that wasn’t a bad thing. It was good for us.” she said.

The owner of the former Reptile World on 3 Ave is now facing charges.
The Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) officials shut down the popular attraction in the winter, seizing all the animals inside after poor conditions were found.
    Roland Lines, the communications director for the ASPCA, confirmed that the officer looking after the case submitted a report and nine charges were laid to Dave Bethel, in the first week of May.
    “Three charges were related to four reptiles that we removed from Reptile World on January 24. All four of those reptiles were in extreme distress,” he said.
    He continued by saying, one of the reptiles had to be euthanized by a veterinarian soon after because there was no way for it to recover.
    These charges include: causing or allowing animals to be in distress; failing to provide adequate food and water for animals; and failing to provide adequate care for ill or injured animals.
    The SPCA then returned on February 4 with a search warrant and removed almost 140 animals over a three-day period, Lines said.
    Bethel faces five charges related to the reptiles and amphibians that were taken into custody that day, including the same three charges from above and failing to protect animals from damage to cold or heat, in this case cold, and failing to provide animals with adequate shelter, ventilation and housing, Lines said.
    “The final charge relates to the mice we had to take off the property under that same search warrant. It is one charge for failing to provide adequate space and ventilation for the mice,” Lines added.
    “If there is a conviction on any of the charges, there is a maximum fine penalty under the animal protection act of $20,000,” he said.
    There is also a provision, Lines said, that a Judge can write a court order against a person to limit or completely prohibit them from owning animals for a certain period of time.
    The court date is set for July 24 in Drumheller Provincial Court. This will be the first appearance for Bethel. He could not be reached for comment.