News | DrumhellerMail

‘Small Town Hero’ could bring Paul Brandt to Hussar to perform

    Paul Brandt could be coming to Hussar to perform a free concert, but the Hussar community needs everyone’s vote to make this happen.
    Paul Brandt fan, Nichole Faye, fell on a link to a ‘Small Town Heroes’ contest, run by the UFA, when she was browsing Brandt’s website.
“While reading the contest rules, the first person that came to mind was my auntie Wendy [Kaiser]!” she told The Mail.
    The UFA wants to celebrate people who make a difference in rural communities and small towns across Alberta, the company describes as “Small Town Heroes.”
    They are asking people to nominate a person who “do all the right things to make their town a better place to live. And, they do it without any thought for themselves.”
    People will then vote who they want to win and the two people and their communities who have the most votes by the end of the contest will receive a free concert from Country superstar Paul Brandt as well as $2,500 to donate towards their community efforts.
    Speaking with Faye, it is easy to understand why she nominated her auntie.
    “She is always there, no matter what you ask her, she volunteers all the time,” she explained. “She has three kids that are fully grown and gone but she is still the leader of the Hussar 4-H Beef Club, she is still involved with the horse club and the school, she is still involved with everything to do with our little community. She was there fighting for our school when it was getting closed down even though her last child graduated in 2008, she was still there fighting right beside us. No matter what, she is a very busy lady but she always finds time for her family and our community.”
    So Faye got busy on Facebook, asking her friends to follow the link she put on her wall, texting everyone and getting her family involved too in Hussar [She is currently working in Edmonton]. Her cousin Brady, son of Wendy, has even made up posters.
    Her efforts have so far paid off, Wendy Kaiser has stayed top of the nominees list since the contest started.
    Asked whether she was surprised by the response, Faye said, “I actually am, I thought people would brush it off thinking it was kind of silly, but actually everybody in our community agrees 100 per cent with me, and says ‘yeah Wendy deserves this, she is 100 per cent the most involved person in our community and she deserves something back.’”
    What drove Faye too was a desire to give something back to a community she loves.
    “It’s something for our community too. It is kind of dying lately and I want people to come back to our community and see how amazing a community Hussar actually is.”
    Nominations end on August 30, 2010 and the winners will be announced on September 15.

To vote for Wendy Kaiser, log on to smalltownheroes.ca.
Look for Wendy in the nominees list, open the link to her story and click ‘vote’. One vote a day is allowed.

Canada Day party staying at Drumheller Memorial despite road construction

   Canada is set to celebrate 143rd birthday on Thursday and Drumheller will celebrate yet again with the same enthusiasm as any other year.
   Although road construction is being done in front of the big dinosaur, Canada Day events for the valley will still take place at Memorial Park, but many are spaced out across town.
   Starting at 7 a.m. Thursday, the annual Kinsmen Pancake Breakfast will take place at Riverside Value Drug Mart.
After this the parade will begin at 10 a.m. until noon, then live music and entertainment will be held on Centre Street afterwards.
   Food will be plentiful around town, with CO-OP roasting smokies, and IGA serving beef on a bun starting at noon.
The rest of the day’s events will be held at Memorial Park and the Splash Park, if construction is finished, a release says.
   Highland Dancers will kick off the opening ceremonies at 2 p.m., with live acts by the Russell Brothers and Eight Bit Evolution, as well as crafts, face painting and more to do at the park starting at 3 p.m.
   The cutting of Canada’s birthday cake and the singing of its anthem will be held at 6:30 p.m., with more live music leading up to the fireworks celebrations at 11 p.m.

Drumheller-Stettler constituency remains intact, adds Paintearth

    Many area municipalities are breathing a sigh of relief, as only small changes were suggested to the Drumheller-Stettler Constituency electoral boundaries.
    The Alberta Government charged the Alberta Electoral Boundary Commission with realigning electoral boundaries to reflect the population, and to add four more seats. An interim report was filed in February of this year with sweeping changes that lumped Drumheller and Brooks being included in a single riding, and Wheatland County being included with communities to its west. The final report was submitted to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on June 24, and it appears the suggested changes were not as drastic as the interim report suggested.
    Drumheller-Stettler will remain intact, although now it includes a small portion of the of Olds-Three Hills-Didsbury riding to the west and it also encompasses the County of Paintearth.
    This conclusion falls in line with submissions made by Councillors Karen Bertamini and Andrew Berdahl, who made submissions to the commission at a public meeting.
    “This was our first option,” said Berdahl. “I think the changes are reasonable. I still have some concerns about the size of our constituency, but I think the commission has done a good job in difficult circumstances.”
    Ross Rawlusyk, CAO of Starland County, said the county also felt the inclusion of Paintearth to the Drumheller-Stettler Riding was an attractive option.
    “It makes sense,” said Rawlusyk. “We have a lot more in common with Paintearth than we do in Newell. And there are a lot more similarities in agricultural practices and the same school issues and population issues. There is a lot more commonality there.”
    He agrees with Berdahl that the one issue that still faces the electoral division is sheer geographical size.
    “How many Canada Day Parades can an MLA go to?” he chuckles.
    Ben Armstrong, Reeve of Wheatland County, is relieved about the report, as the Brooks-Strathmore riding remained intact. His concern was that Wheatland would be included with more urban populations changing the dynamics of the riding.
    “With the numbers as they are now, if you take the boundary and move it where you’re looking at moving it, you’d change the dynamics. The numbers change. The numbers don’t concern me that much. If we’re a little less or a little more, that’s not an issue; it’s the dynamics of what you’re making that area into,” he told the commission at a hearing in Brooks.
    He is satisfied the commission made the right decision.
    “It sounds like they took most of our comments to heart,” said Armstrong. “Our biggest problem is that Chestermere is totally urban. It has no link to rural people.
    “It sounds like they were listening to us. That is pleasing because with some of the things we have been talking to them about, they haven’t been listening to us.”
    Part of the commission’s responsibility was to add four more seats. The commission suggested two more in Calgary, one in Edmonton and one in the rural area.
    CAO of Kneehill County, Kevin Miner’s biggest concern was that rural Alberta would lose representation.
    “It sounds like they ironed out a few of the problems that were there. For us it is not always just ‘what does it do to Kneehill County’ but we think of this in terms of the number of rural MLAs. That is a larger issue for us and to protect that may be more important to us.”

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