News | DrumhellerMail

Alberta Transportation seeks solution for Hwy 837 slides

   Alberta Transportation is bringing in experts to have a look at the sloughing hill that continues to rain debris onto Highway 837.
   Last week motorists were alerted to more slides on the stretch of highway, west of Drumheller that makes up part of the Dinosaur Trail loop. There were previous occurrences on this stretch of road, most notably in the spring.
   Craig Siewert, operations manager of Alberta Transportation says in the last year there were about three significant slides in that area, including the one that occurred last week. The highway was blocked as the maintenance contractor, Carillion, was out cleaning up the slide.
   “The others were in June though, and it is more typical to have those sort of events when we have heavy rainfall events, where the water destabilizes the hill and we get more of a mudslide,” said Siewert.
   He says this is not as typical in the winter.
   “We were wondering that, because you had the snow and then you had the warming temperatures, and maybe water infiltrated into the hill, and we are wondering if that is what is driving this December slide,” he said.
   “It is odd to have the hill move in December so actually we have our geotechnical consultant coming out to take a look at the hill to see if anything has changed since the last time they took a look.”
   He says the Alberta Government and its specialists are working with the maintenance contractor and the RCMP in taking care of this stretch of highway.
   “First and foremost is safety, so we want to keep the road in safe condition,” he said.
   At this point, they are awaiting more information on this challenging road to work on a solution.
   “We have the river meandering on the one side… so the reality is the river cut that whole valley and you have that pinch point where you have that steep cliff on the one side and the river on the other,” said Siewert.
   He said when they looked at the hill earlier in the year, it appeared to be a low-risk situation, so the strategy we employed was to clean the road and keep the ditch as clean as possible and keep removing the material.
   “In December we are concerned a little the conditions may have changed so they are looking at the long-term plan. Is this still the right approach? Or should we look at something else more proactive.”
   He says about 320 vehicles travel this stretch of road daily.

Demand increases for Salvation Army hampers

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   ‘Tis the season for giving, and the Salvation Army is hoping for a strong push to meet their goals for Christmas.
   The Salvation Army has seen a surge in the need for Christmas Hampers. The Mail reported in its November 22 edition that it appeared the demand for hampers had dropped as they had registered about 100 families to receive them. The last couple of weeks, however, have shown a growing demand.
    “Last year we did 144, and this year we are at 153, so we are up around 10,” said Salvation Army Captain Jennifer Hillier. “After the food drive, we looked around and said donations are down. And then we packed the food hampers and there was nothing left. Four years ago we did about 80 hampers and now we have almost doubled that.”
    This year the Kettle Campaign is lagging behind compared to last year’s pace, and they are hopeful it will pick up.
   Hillier said they were bolstered over the weekend by some fantastic donations to the kettles, however they are still trailing last year’s pace by about $3,600.
   “We are really hoping that between now and Saturday we get caught back up. The community has been really generous as always, we want to say thank you to everyone who has donated and the volunteers who sat with the Christmas Kettles,” said Hillier.
   They have had great success in its drive, thanks in part to Westergard Ford.
   “We are in great shape for toys. Westergard did the tree and every single tag we put out into the community this Christmas was taken,” said Hillier. “Every child is actually going to get what they asked for this Christmas. It is amazing, the response for toys has been incredible.”
   The focus turns to filling the rest of the hampers.
   “Our need from this standpoint is food and financial donations,” said Hillier.
     She said she is hearing from businesses it is an off year so far, and so far not as many people are out shopping for Christmas.
   “That gives me hope, that as we get closer to Christmas, once people are done their shopping, the money will go into that kettle.
   She has faith in the community.
   “Drumheller has been wonderful and such a supportive community in the past so I believe it will come,” she said, “and making people aware the need is huge this year. This money is not just for Christmas time, it brings us well into 2018. We are already looking at food orders we will have to make in the new year, so the money that goes in that kettle will help us through the winter.”
   “The Salvation Army is about giving hope. Our tagline is ‘Giving Hope Today,’ and we are going to be here well into 2018.”

Christmas in a simpler time

   While wandering through the mall, looking for the perfect present and brilliant Christmas light displays have become the experience of this generation at Christmas, it was much simpler back on the farm in Rosebud for Jim Clark.
   The gift he looked forward to the most was a brand new pair of hand-sewn pajamas.
   Jim told The Mail about his experience of Christmas on the farm. When Jim was born, his father was working on a farm near where the Drumheller Institution is now situated. Shortly after, he was born his father bought land just north of Rosebud near his grandfather and uncles.
    “There was not a lot to be had, it’s amazing how mom did it,” recalls Jim. “There were five of us in the older part of the family and every year at Christmas there was a pair of pajamas waiting for us. That was the main gift.”
   He came from a large family. There were 10 children, although there was a break between the first five and the second five. On Christmas Day, they would visit their grandparents and uncles and aunts, but would be home for Christmas dinner.
   “She (mother) did a lot of cooking and just spoiled us to death at Christmas. She had a recipe for dressing that you would kill to get,” he chuckles.
   The family would entertain themselves. Their mother and father taught the children to dance and on Saturday night on CFCN TV, the Old Timers would come on and they would push the chairs back to the wall and they would dance.
   “We played lots of cards and games too. And we would go outside and play, lots of snowball fights,” he said. ‘We would toboggan too. We had sleds and one set of skis amongst the bunch of us. It was great fun.”
   Of course, this all came after they were done chores.        The Christmas tree was always freshly cut from their own coulee.
   There was always a Christmas concert, of course, that was after they had a school.        The area families got together to found the Rosebud Creek School and all six of the original students would put on the concert. Five of the pupils were brothers, sisters or cousins.
   “We had a concert and we were all expected to do something.”
   He raised his family on the farm, and said while the season was more hectic, and time spent together remained the most important part of Christmas.

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