Friends of East Wheatland is a group of individuals with a goal set to help support the communities of Hussar, Standard, Rockyford, and Central Bow Valley in the development of their new school.  
    Friends of East Wheatland first formed their volunteer based committee to fund-raise for addition enhancement costs not supported by Provincial funding. All proceeds raised will go towards improving the new school.
    Kim Larson, President of Friends of East Wheatland,  has high hopes for the project.
    “Our personal goal is to raise between 1.3 to 1.5 million dollars,” Larson says. “We’ve applied for a lot of grants, we’ve started working with a lot of corporate businesses for donations, and we have a bunch of fundraisers planned. We’re hoping for two or three hundred thousand dollars with all of [the fund-raisers] that we have on the go right now.”
    Integrating fundamental aspects of education into their goals, Friends of East Wheatland’s vision statement says: “Our work will enhance the facility and programing that reflects our students and their interests while honouring our rural heritage.”
    The money brought in from fundraisers will help support East Wheatland’s vision for the new school.  They would like to provide prospect students with 21st century learning, enabling them to reach not only short term, but their long term goals as well. Partnerships with Olds and Lakeland college are being pursued to help further the new school’s long term reach.    
    Plans for broader programming will give the students an opportunity to explore their individual interests. From the implementation of Home Ec, Drama, Welding, Cosmetology, to a new media room, a fitness center, an agriculture program, and an outdoor classroom, their goals are not limited. Friends of East Wheatland is confident in achieving optimal programming for their students.
    “I think now that they unveiled the sign and everybody knows it’s happening, everyone will be more than happy to pitch in and support through all the communities. I think once they actually see the work starting, we will have an awesome response from everybody,” says Larson, “it’s just been a long time coming.”
    The new school has a projected opening date for September 2016.

A Rosedale resident has found something in a new house he is constructing that has created quite a buzz.
    Shawn Bulechowsky has been busy this summer building a home in Rosedale. Last week he was in the basement working on some of the new plumbing when he noticed a bee, then a few more.
  Quickly this grew to thousands of bees swarming the basement.  Because the framing was still open, the insects began to spread into the upper floors where others were working on the house.
    They evacuated the property as the bees began to build a hive between their floor joists.
  Bulechowsky told the Mail that he has never seen anything like this and needless to say, construction was halted while they regrouped to find a solution.
    Enter Ron Davies of the Cambria area. He and his family have recently started their own hive of honeybees and have about 4,000 in a colony on their property.  They took it on as a cottage industry.
    “Right now we have them for personal use, but eventually we want to sell honey,” Davies tells the Mail, “It is also a good thing to be doing, we need bees.”
    Bulechowsky called on Davies and he assessed the situation.
    He concluded quickly the insects in question are honeybees, and because of their docile temperament, were probably a strain from New Zealand. Davis surmises the bees are from a hive in the area that might have been upset, causing the bees to swarm and take up a new residence.
    Last Thursday evening, Ron and his son Parker scooped up the bulk of the bees into pails and took them to a new hive and a couple of days later, picked up the stragglers. John Moerschbacher of the Rosebud area came and collected the remaining bees.
    Because it is impossible to identify where the bees came from, Davies and Moerschbacher have now added about 5,000 more bees to his own population to make honey and continue to pollinate and Bulechowsky can continue to work on his home.
    Bulechowsky is grateful to the beekeepers who came to help clear his property of the bees.