Hope College is optimistic for the coming year and looking forward to all the possibilities open to the College.
The board of the not-for-profit College is busy setting up  a new committee to help guide the College through its future.
    The new visionary, or founding committee, is to bring together leaders of the community who are interested in the success of the school, said College president Jon Ohlhauser.
    The new committee will conduct a review of the College’s strategic development, he said, and commit themselves to the long-term stainability and development of the College.
    “It will bring some stability and some good, deep support from the community,” Ohlhauser explains. The new committee plans to begin meeting in January.
    Ohlhauser said there are currently seven community members serving on the College board of directors.
    As far as the current situation for the College, Ohlhauser said the College is on course half-way through its second year of operations.
    “We’re right in the budget, we’re right on track. Everything has been paid, to date, but obviously we’re going to need the support of the community to finish off the first three years of our launch strategy.”
    The College finished year one, having gathered $130,000 of the $150,000 it had targeted for operations. Ohlhauser said it adjusted for the shortfall by cutting back where they could, including on marketing. Now halfway through fiscal year two, which ends July 31, 2015, the College has raised about $70,000 of the targeted $150,000 for its operating budget.
     Ohlhauser said the College is finding the major sources of funding are from residents in the local community, and those wholive in the College’s region, which stretches up to Stettler, east to Oyen, and over to the Bassano area and Strathmore.
    He notes the College gets a lot of local support from the oil industry, and so far there hasn’t been any scaling back of contributions due to low oil prices.
     Ohlhauser said the College has applied for granting of federal charitable status, so currently Starland County, as one of the College’s partners, is issuing receipts for donations through its office in Morrin.
    “We knew it would take 12 to 18 months to finalize that (charitable status), so we’re hoping an agent is assigned to that in March,” said Ohlhauser, “then we can continue to work on any additional details they need.”
    Ohlhauser is also waiting on the College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta for completion of its policy review for partnering with institutions, such as Hope College, who want to offer an LPN program. Ohlhauser said he’s been advised that process should be completed by March 2015.
    “It could be a completely new process, it could be the old process with a couple of additional steps, I have to wait and see until their work is completed,” he explains,adding he doesn’t want to speculate on changes at this point.
    The College is also looking forward to continued community engagement and graduating their first four students in spring 2015, two of which have received job offers in their field, said Ohlhauser.
    At its regular Monday meeting December 15, Drumheller Town Council approved a $2,500 contribution for 2014 and a $2,500 contribution for early 2015 to help  Hope College fund its operations.

With 2014 quickly coming to an end, for Staff Sergeant Art Hopkins, it was a progressive year for policing.
    While crime and policing stats show a picture of consistency over the last couple of years, the most important measure for Hopkins is a feeling of personal safety.
    “There are areas that are down a little and slightly higher in others, but overall there is a feeling of safety in the community,” he said. “Overall I haven’t changed my habits or acted any differently. I still take my walks in the evening and don’t fear for my safety.
    “I feel just as safe in my home and my community as last year, and that is a better judge than numbers.”
    One success story over the last few year is the Drumheller RCMP’s effort to charge inmates criminally for crimes in the institution, rather than simply allowing for internal discipline.
    “We started this in January 2010, so in four years the charges laid have accumulated into approximately 75 years of consecutive sentencing, and a few years of concurrent sentencing,” said Hopkins. “There has been approximately $35-$40,000 worth property from the proceeds of crime seized. There has been restitution for damages done up there for between $5,000 and $10,000.”
    While some may not immediately recognize the benefit on the streets, Hopkins says these efforts make the community a safer place as well as contributes to investigations.
    “It drastically affects our community if we don’t hold inmates accountable. If we do not charge the inmate with offenses they commit, it does not become part of their criminal record,” said Hopkins.
    He explains that if an inmate is released, and has a relatively clean record that does no reflect their activities while incarcerated, if they are dealt with by the courts again, they are not held accountable for their actions if there is no record.
    “When a judge sentences an inmate to the penitentiary, it says we need behaviour modification, they need to change to fit into society,’ said Hopkins. “By not holding them accountable, we are not giving the inmate an opportunity to change.”
    “In addition, the ones who are being released to work in the community are the ones who have kept their noses clean, have gone through behavior modification, as opposed to those who are still committing offenses working in the community,” he said. The position also affords correction officers more security if an inmate threatens a guard or take a stance that is threatening, we hold the inmate accountable.”
    Another success Hopkins points to is fraud awareness.
    “We have been harping on frauds repeatedly. I can’t stop harping on frauds because these are easier to commit by way of our computers,” he said. “When I look at the offenses committed successfully they are greatly reduced by the efforts we have put in educating our residents as a whole. They are more cognizant of these attempts. We have to keep talking about it because there is not a day that goes by that someone is not cooking up something.”
    There have been many (fraud) attempts but not near as many successes as there used to be.”