Unruly summer behaviour and liquor in boats on the lake were among topics discussed during a wide ranging discussion between senior Sylvan Lake RCMP officers and members of town council.

Staff Sergeant Gary Rhodes, Sergeant Michelle Boutin and Corporal Malcolm Callihoo, who’s been acting detachment commander for the past couple of months, reviewed some of their plans and answered questions at the Feb. 13 council meeting.

Rhodes will be moving to the area shortly but in the meantime is commuting from Wetaskiwin one day a week. Boutin is moving to the area this month and is currently commuting to the detachment on a daily basis.

One of the first questions from Mayor Susan Samson was about using enhanced policing at the marina to deal with impaired boaters.
Callihoo said that’s been a common problem since he’s been here. “We have had people on the dock, checking boat registration numbers, boating licenses. I can tell you liquor is a big problem on the lake. 70 per cent of the boats we stop have liquor on board.
One of the problems,” he said, “is if we concentrate on the Sylvan Lake side people drive around the lake and enter elsewhere.”
They’ve had that occur when someone was removed from the lake on the south side and was caught again later in the day in a different area.

“It’s an ongoing enforcement concern for us,” Callihoo said.
Samson responded, “I think if we deter that type of behaviour they might sneak around on a Saturday but the next time they consider coming they may think to go elsewhere.”
Callihoo indicated as part of the enhanced budget they receive from the province to bring in extra officers during busy summer weekends they do boat patrols on the lake. There were 19 patrols last summer.

The town also contributes $60,000 in enhanced funding for bringing in officers to deal with summer visitors.
“We’re totally on board making Sylvan Lake a family friendly place. We really work hard enforcing zero tolerance in town,” Callihoo said. Unruly behaviour, public drinking, fighting and other alcohol related issues are concerns during the summer season.
Samson also thanked the RCMP for their support of the initiative to get ice huts registered and then removed from the lake before spring thaw.

“Over the course of Saturday and Sunday we visited 91 huts,” she said. Among those involved with the program were Samson, RCMP Const. Michael Lee and Beverley Anderson, chair of Sylvan Lake Management Plan Committee.
“We picked up 11 voluntary registrations.” Samson said the biggest group of anglers were families — moms, dads with kids — while the second biggest group was friends. “Out of the 91 we saw one six-pack of beer. That’s all. It was noticeable that alcohol is not what’s going on out there.”

Callihoo noted they had positive feedback about the hut registration program. It also provides them with contacts in the case huts are broken into or stolen property is recovered.

Another issue Samson raised was the 781-11 intersection. Callihoo said he participated in all three focus groups.
“My concern always has been public safety. We’re concerned about the amount of complaints of people turning left against traffic unlawfully. I did say extending the barriers on both sides as well as enhanced signage would help.”

He added police officers have written 150-160 tickets at the intersection for illegal left turns. That’s been accomplished both by increasing patrols and also using some of the enhanced funding to bring in additional officers.
“There haven’t been any fatalities since it’s been changed. That’s positive in my mind.”

Asked if the town needs more police officers, Rhodes said Wetaskiwin is about the same size as Sylvan Lake but the community is distinctly different. Wetaskiwin has 30 officers where Sylvan has 15.
“There are detachments that have three times as much as your ratio” (Sylvan’s ratio is one officer for every 800 people).
He explained the City of Wetaskiwin pays for additional officers.

“It really comes down to you folks deciding, do you have sufficient numbers. If you want a school resource officer — presently you don’t have that — if you wanted a detective here, plain clothes to dive into the drug trade, we don’t have that.” Rhodes added in Wetaskiwin they’ve established a two person crime reduction team to work on petty damage crime.

He noted it’s their intention to make a submission to the provincial government in the spring to get two more members on the rural side. “It tends to be more difficult to get rural positions than municipal,” Rhodes said.

One of the discussions was the effect additional growth on the north side of the lake would have on the local detachment. Callihoo agreed it would probably put stress on the municipal side of the detachment.

“If it’s going to affect our detachment, it’s part of our problem,” said Councillor Ken MacVicar. “It’s beholden on us to actually lobby the provincial government on behalf of our detachment.”

Earlier in the discussion, when talking about youth initiatives, Callihoo said the detachment plans to get the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program up and running again.

All the officers who have conducted the courses in the past have transferred out of Sylvan Lake so they didn’t run the program this past year.

- Steve Dills
Sylvan Lake News 

There is a new type of program taking off with a great impact in Red Deer that is aimed at making a difference in the lives of people recovered from addictions.

Abundant Safe Living House (ASLH) is a program that provides safe, accessible and affordable housing to people who have recovered through some type of program from an addiction of some sort.

“Currently there is nothing like this that exists anywhere. There is a huge demand for this type of programming,” said director James White.

ASLH started with a grand opening in December of one house for five women and continues to grow, having just opened house number two and aiming for house number three for the beginning of March.

The first two houses were geared towards women but the third will be men’s only. The need for this type of housing is high in Red Deer but White said it hasn’t been the focus before.

“Red Deer has a lot of harm reduction or housing first type scenarios, but we don’t go by that method. We go by once they’ve completed some sort of treatment they need a grounded space to be,” said White.

Housing first isn’t the issue according to White. Rather, recovery should be first and then housing.

On the web site for ASLH is a quote that simply states, “Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.”

White would like to see people in the Red Deer community as well as other areas of the province and country become involved in making programs like Abundant Safe Living House possible.

The philosophy of ASLH is to provide opportunity to people recovering from additions to rebuild their lives to be able to maintain long-term sobriety from whatever addiction they may have been dealing with.

Part of the goal of ASLH is to reintegrate these men and women back into society. They pay rent in their new living spaces and function as a household with chores, responsibilities and structure.

“We encourage that they get a job and slowly get back into society and volunteer and do that sort of thing,” said White.

Along with the standard requirements of the home, ASLH asks of its tenants that they have an open mind and that they be willing to take actions on the advisors’ suggestions. These suggestions could come from a number of different resources that White said are always accessible to those involved in the program.

White explained that the approach of Abundant Safe Living House is very hands-on and that they have a trauma therapist who helps the women. White is an addictions counsellor as well.

Along with providing counselling, White said some basics are also provided through his wife including resume building, some cooking help as well as help with any day-to-day challenges the men and women may face.

White said some discussions have been held with Women’s Outreach, and they are always on the lookout for people to be aware of the program and reach out to help.

“The biggest thing for us is wanting people to be aware of it. We are always looking for professionals who can offer services like even a yoga instructor so we can build some programming around it.”

One of the biggest challenges for White and ASLH is furnishing the new homes.

“We need beds for the tenants and those can cost thousands of dollars along with couches and furnishings.”

The program houses multiple people in one home for a number of reasons.

“When these people come out of treatment they’re used to living with 40 or 50 other people. To put them in their own house might not work; they might start repeating old patterns.”

White said by housing a number of people together it provides a unity and a “we can do this” type of attitude instead of reverting to old habits and being alone again.

“What got the ball rolling for me was that I myself am a recovered alcoholic and I went through the same stages and knew what was needed. I knew where the gaps were and I wanted to aim to close them.”

For more information on Abundant Safe Living House visit www.abundantsafeliving.com or contact James White at 403-596-4010.

- kpalardy@reddeerexpress.com

Well it’s started again…interest rates are creeping upwards. The super low 3% levels are
going to be gone in the next 24-48 hours and it looks like lenders are going to
be settling in at the 3.39-3.59% for the time being, which isn’t far off right
now. If you are on the fence about getting pre-approved and want to buy in the next 4 months,  now is the time to
call and get your rate locked in!

- Jean-Guy Turcotte

TORONTO — Traders will be looking to another heavy slate of earnings from corporate Canada this week, with results largely concentrated in the financial, mining and energy sectors — the three main components of the Toronto stock market.

The gold segment will be in particular focus as three big companies report — Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) and Agnico-Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM) on Wednesday, while Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) hands in its earnings the following day.

“They’re probably likely to report fairly good results, particularly when you compare them year on year,” said Chris Fehr, Canadian markets strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.

“There is certainly going to be a strong correlation between the performance of these companies on any given quarter and the price of gold itself.”

Gold prices hit a record high of more than US$1,900 in 2011 and have held steady around US$1,600 as the precious metal benefited from worries about higher inflation and the future of the euro.

“The most logical trade for the market most recently has been to flood into gold at times of extreme fear, going back to that store of value,” said Fehr.

“We’ve seen central banks around the world implement very easy monetary policy. The potential for that to create attention has certainly fostered the rise in gold prices.”

Major energy companies reporting include Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY) on Thursday and natural gas company EnCana (TSX:ECA) on Friday. And like elsewhere in the segment, much has depended on what kind of energy these companies are involved in.

Oil prices have held steady around the US$100 mark, reflecting geopolitical concerns and steadily rising demand from developing countries, while abundant supplies and a mild winter in much of North America have pushed natural gas prices sharply lower.

“EnCana continues to be a good operator but we do think they will be the victim of very low natural gas prices in the near term,” said Fehr.

As for Nexen, “our expectation is that production will increase as Long Lake gets brought under control,” he said, referring to the company’s oilsands project near Fort McMurray, Alta.

Since it started up in late 2008, the steam-driven project has consistently lagged its design capacity of 72,000 barrels of oil per day due to a litany of operational glitches.

Nexen’s original partner at Long Lake, Opti Canada, filed for court protection from creditors last year and was later acquired by China National Offshore Oil Co. for $2.1 billion.

Nexen owns 65 per cent of the Long Lake development and operates it.

Fehr thinks another attractive element for the sector is that many energy stocks aren’t pricing in US$100 oil moving forward.

“We still think it’s pricing in something much lower,” he said.

“We think there is a compelling opportunity within the energy sector right now. You think about the global fears that are really dictating some of this, (and) the growth of China is going to have a direct impact on the price of energy moving forward.”

Also in the resource sector, investors will hear from Finning Corp. (TSX:FTT) on Wednesday. The Vancouver-based company is the world’s biggest dealer of heavy construction and mining equipment made by Caterpillar Inc.

The U.S. firm last month reported that quarterly profits jumped 60 per cent to US$1.55 billion, boosted by pent up demand for new equipment and continuing growth in developing countries. And Fehr thinks those results bode well for Finning.

“When you’re selling the product of the company that is doing quite well, you’re going to participate in that trend and we think that will be the case,” he said.

“They sell the equipment and then service it as well and that has high margins so it’s of benefit to them as well.”

In the financial sector, traders will look to results from Sun Life Financial.

Like other insurers, Sun Life has had a tough time because of a combination of very low interest rates and weak stock market performance, which diminishes their returns and increases the size of liabilities that stretch far into the future.

Rival Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC) disappointed investors last week after reporting a fourth-quarter loss of $69 million as it booked a charge of $665 million related to low interest rates.

- Red Deer Advocate