Earlier this fall The Drumheller Mail reported on the issue of school buses parking in residential areas. The Drumheller Town Council has given three months for evaluation of the current policies and existing complaints to be resolved before addressing the issue again.
    “Council decided to give it three months to evaluate the issues in regards to school bus parking. At that time, they will look at it again to see if there are any necessary changes,” said Paul Salvatore, Director of Community Services for the Town of Drumheller.
    Residents affected by the current bus parking policies cite reduced sight lines for vehicles, and the fumes and noise of the buses when they are left to warm up in the morning.
    Councillor Doug Stanford brought the issue forward in Council after receiving complaints from residents.
    “If we have a few [complaints] we’re going to have to address it,” said Stanford. “If you have a problem, come forward, because if, in three months, we don’t have any complaints then it’s gone.”
    So far, the Town itself has only received a few and they generally occur at the beginning of the school year. The Town is willing to work with residents to resolve any complaints.
    “We haven’t had a lot of official complaints. There are definitely people out there who talk about it being an issue. I wouldn’t say we’ve run into many situations we couldn’t resolve. Simply talking to people has accomplished what we’ve needed,” said Salvatore.
    “We try to work within the current policies to get compliance. Generally we’re effective in doing that. If someone makes a complaint, it is received by one of our staff. They would collect as much information as possible and then investigate the details related to the complaint. If it’s confirmed to be a problem, we would direct the affected individuals to take action to remedy that issue and minimize any nuisance or hassle associated with it.”
    Before contacting the Town, residents are encouraged to first try to resolve their complaints, peacefully, with their neighbours.
    “Part of the goal here is to strengthen neighbourhood relations. We encourage people who may have an issue and are being impacted by something in the vicinity of their property to talk to their neighbours. That would be our recommendation as a starting point. Through communication a lot of those issues can be resolved,” said Salvatore.
    For drivers, they are asked to ensure there are adequate sight lines and room to maneuver for other drivers.
    Complaints can be directed to the Town of Drumheller Department of Community Services.

    Visitors to the Royal Tyrrell Museum got a bonus two weekends ago. In the galleries was a film crew from the hit Nickolodeon show, Dino Dan.
    The show was filming in and around the museum from October 19-22 for a 30-minute special episode.
    “We’ve been trying to get them out to the museum to do an episode and we were finally able to make it happen,” said Lisa Making, acting Director of Exhibits & Communications.
    While filming, the crew was asked to work around the visiting hours of the museum as much as possible. This meant late nights and early mornings for the crew.
    “We were pretty strict. They couldn’t interfere with the experience for our visitors. Most people were really curious about what’s going on, but they also want to see our galleries,” said Making. “The crew worked around our visitor hours, so there were some late nights and early mornings.”
    The Dino Dan crew also had to battle the elements when they had to film outside in the badlands next to the museum after a blizzard dumped a thick blanket of snow during filming. The crew adjusted the script to incorporate the snow.
    The museum is hoping they can get the film crew back for another episode.
    “They had a wonderful time and we’re hoping to get them back here again,” said Making. “They were raving about the time. They really want to come back and film here again. We’re going to continue working with them to find a way.”
    Dr. Don Henderson, curator of dinosaurs, even got some time to take the show’s stars on a backstage tour of the museum.
    The Tyrrell Museum has been working with Dino Dan for the past four years. The museum, in particular Dr. Henderson, reviews scripts and computer animations to ensure they are scientifically accurate.
    “They wanted to work with us to check scientific information, so they knew they were getting everything correct,” said Making. “We’ve been involved in reviewing their scripts and animation, we give feedback, and if they have a plot that doesn’t fit with scientific information, we tell them and they make the change.”
    The show currently airs on Nickolodeon Jr. and follows Dan, a young boy who imagines dinosaurs in his everyday life. He investigates different aspects of dinosaurs, such as their behaviour and what they may have looked like.
    The half hour special is expected to be aired sometime in 2013.