Alberta Transportation is officially revisiting the safety and controls on North Dinosaur Trail near St. Anthony’s School.
    Last June inSide Drumheller reported that St. Anthony’s principal JoAnne Akerboom met with Alberta Transportation Minister Ric McIver and Drumheller – Settler MLA Rick Strankman to discuss changes that could be made to the structure of the highway that runs past the school.

Alberta Transportation is looking into options  to make North Dinosaur Trail safer for students and drivers.

    Many parents and teachers feel the speed on this stretch of road is a danger to students. Akerboom said she has since had another meeting with Alberta Transportation officials in Red Deer..
      “We are now a part of an official file for Alberta Transportation,” said Akerboom. “They were going to reassess the situation and get back to us by November 1.”
    Akerboom said the school had received some initial suggestions from Alberta Transportation on how to make the intersection and stretch of highway safer. Akerboom adds the delay in communication was mainly because of the flooding last spring and then a busy summer. She has confidence moving forward.
     “We had a great meeting with them so I feel everything is on track. I felt they were really listening to the concerns and coming back with some ideas to make sure we are good and safe in front of the school,” she said.
    “We are really pushing to see if we can get the speed reduced or a School Zone put in place, and they are assessing to see which one is viable. One of the big things is for them to come back and say why or why not. They have been very good explaining the procedure in terms of why speed limits are set.
    She explains that often speed limits are based on how many entrances there are to the road. For example, on South Dinosaur Trail, entering the Newcastle area, the speed limit drops because there is a high number of entrances onto the highway as well as intersections. On North Dinosaur Trail there are a limited number of entrances to the road. Because there are less entrances, Alberta Transportation can set the speed limit higher.
    “We’re saying that’s all fine and dandy, but does the formula take into consideration five year olds crossing the highway?”

    Last week members of the Badlands Search and Rescue  (SAR) completed its final session to complete the Fundamentals of Ground Search Course.
    This means that Badlands Search and Rescue is certified to work as a part of a ground search crew anywhere in Canada.
    Badlands SAR training coordinator and search manager Guy Latour explained on Saturday, October 19, three teams were performing distinct and different methods of searching, deployed for different search scenarios.
    One was the quick search of an area, searching in key areas. This is often the initial search.
The next style of search is a sweep search. This is where a team sweeps an area with a methodical approach searching for the missing person(s) or items.
    The next is a closed grid search. This is the “shoulder to shoulder” type search where the parties cover a large area a small section at a time.
    The final type of search the team worked on was an evidence search. This is the “hands and knees” type of search looking for clues to aid in collecting evidence or to find a lead. On Saturday this was simply looking for shell casings scattered near McMullen Island.
    On Sunday the training continued when the nine members of Drumheller SAR were joined by the Alberta Cave Rescue to do a mock search and rescue in Horseshoe Canyon. This includes finding a person, and then conducting the rescue and evacuation. The Alberta Cave Rescue crew did a demonstration of a steep slope rescue using ropes.
    According to Latour, the course was not all in the field, but the members also attended a number of classroom sessions prior to the fieldwork.
He says now they have completed the course and they are now operational.
    The Badlands Search and Rescue fills a geographical gap between other services. They are able to be the lead association in this area and are now able to support other surrounding teams if there is a need. With the recognition they are also able to apply for grants for training.

(l-r) Chris Stickel, Jane Dau and Scott Campbell of Badlands SAR were at McMullen Island training on Saturday, October 19. Nine members of Badlands SAR completed  their ground search course.