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Couple featured in STARS commercial leading up to 24-Hour Jam

    A local couple who has shown dedication to STARS by raising thousands of dollars each year are now part of STARS’s latest advertising campaign.
    Fran Nargang, owner of the Old Grouch's Restaurant, and her husband Garry have become famous for hosting the 24-Hour Jam at the restaurant. A few years ago, they began to dedicate the funds raised at the event to STARS Air Ambulance when their grandson was injured after being hit by a car. The couple credit STARS’s quick response for him today living a normal life.
    This year STARS kicked off its new Red Ring For Life campaign. This is a program where supporters can, for $60, receive a red stainless steel ring. According to www.stars.ca, “the ring is a symbol of survival, and worn by former patients, members of the chain of survival and supporters. It represents the many hands involved in a life-saving mission.”
    Beginning in June, a television spot will feature people who have been touched by the work of STARS. This includes patients, family, and friends of patients; all wearing the Red Ring. It starts by stating that one out of 10 Albertans either knows a STARS patient, or has been a STARS patient.   Fran and Garry are featured in the 30-second spot.
    Fran tells inSide Drumheller the commercial was shot a few weeks ago, and commercial will be in rotation starting June 1. They went into Calgary, and Shaw Cable shot the commercial.
    “I thought it was good,” said Fran.
    The spot comes out just in time for this year’s 24-Hour Jam. Last year the event broke its $6,000 goal by raising about $6,500, and this year they are hoping to raise $10,000. Fran says they are on track to have a successful event with many items donated to the silent auction that runs during the event. Staff at the Old Grouch's also donate their wages and tips to the cause each year.
    They are also lining up some great entertainment. Fran says this year representatives from STARS will be at the event with information and merchandise.
    The 24-Hour Jam starts on Friday, June 4 at 6 p.m. and ends on June 5 at 6 p.m.
    Another addition to the event is the possibility of seeing Garry in a skort. Pledge sheets are available for those who would like to see Garry show a little leg for the cause.
    For more information on the event, or to donate items to the silent auction contact Fran at 403-823-5755.

Delia residents connect with MLA

    Delia residents will have a chance to ask Minister of Agriculture MLA Jack Hayden some questions live via video conference on Wednesday, June 2.
    Recently the Delia Library was outfitted with video conferencing equipment, and they invited Hayden for a short chat to demonstrate the equipment.
    “We’ve had it (video conferencing equipment) for less than a year,” said Delia Library board chair Barb Marshall. “It offers people in rural communities such as ours the opportunity to possibly meet, be it doctors or business meetings, and it can all be set up as a free service in the library.”
    She explains the equipment was made possible through the Rural Information Service InitiativE (RISE). This was created by a partnership of three library regions in Southern Alberta. The Chinook Arch, Marigold and Shortgrass Regions prepared a proposal to access funding for a video conferencing network.
    It is a $5 million project and 75 per cent of the funding came from the Rural Alberta Development Fund. This has paved the way for about 80 libraries in these regions to be outfitted with the equipment.
    Marshall said one of the capabilities is to join educational and entertaining programs in other institutions via the video link.
    “For example a couple weeks ago we took part in Puppets in Pajamas. It was a children’s author that did a little talk, and the children came to the library in their pajamas and enjoyed a live feed in another location,” said Marshall.
    They have also taken part in an author video visit from Mary-Ann Kirkby, author of I am Hutterite, and a couple gardening talks. She says there are many programs; it is just a matter of who is interested in which ones to connect to.
    The library wants to create more awareness of the service and that is one of the reasons they planned to connect with their MLA.
    “We just wanted to promote our service, so we thought we could hook up with Jack Hayden in Edmonton,” said Marshall. “We talked to him and asked if he could give up a few minute of his time and he said ‘sure.’”
    After working to coordinate a time, they agreed on June 2 between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Marshall admits it may be a short talk, as he is busy.
    ‘It is just a chance to meet with him and say hi,” she said, adding they have been collecting questions for the Minister of Agriculture upon his video visit.

New RCMP members on way to Drumheller

    Drumheller’s RCMP will be undergoing a changing of the guard this summer, as on schedule, three members will be leaving the valley and possibly three more moving in.
    Members Kirk Smith, Mark Logan, and Chris Nelson, with a total of 13 years experience collectively, will be replaced in the coming months in accordance to normal RCMP protocol, says Drumheller RCMP Staff Sergeant Arthur Hopkins.
    A member out of Manitoba with three years experience will replace Nelson, the second incoming member is a cadet, who’s been in town for four months.
    The third member has yet to be identified.
    Although they could bring experience, S.Sgt. Hopkins speculates there will be a new cadet with no experience outside of training.
    Despite possibly losing 10 years experience in his leaving staff, Hopkins says the routine process happens across the prairies.
    “(Switching posts often) gives you a different experience as an officer,” explains Hopkins.
“It makes them more well rounded as to how to handle different situations.”
    Drumheller would be classified as a municipal policing jurisdiction, with police action focused on things such as bar problems, stores and business related crime like theft.
    In a rural area like Beiseker, police work is more agriculturally based. Thefts of grain, cattle, break and enter to farmhouses, movement of drugs through the area are examples of what rural officers may encounter.
    The urban and rural jurisdictions call for totally different skills and processes, and when police are exposed to these it allows them to improve their abilities and become more rounded.
    “They learn how to talk to different people, to handle different situations,” Hopkins says.

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