A man arrested in the Village of Morrin following a collaborative investigation between Drumheller RCMP, Calgary Emergency Response Team and Police Dog Services, Lethbridge Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT), and the Canadian Border Service Agency, was denied release following a show cause hearing in provincial court in Drumheller on Friday, September 16.
The accused, 41-year old Jeffrey Morse, appeared via closed circuit television (CCTV) from the Calgary Remand Centre while Crown and defense lawyer Hugh Sommerville discussed whether or not he would be released from custody.
During the show cause hearing, which is sometimes called a bail hearing, Mr. Sommerville explained Morse is a lifelong resident of the Drumheller area.
At the time of his arrest he was living with his common-law partner and co-accused, 31-year-old Tawny Markiewicz.
Crown prosecution noted Mr. Morse has a lengthy criminal record spanning approximately 21 years, with a majority of charges stemming from the Drumheller jurisdiction.
Mr. Sommerville added he did not feel Mr. Morse is a flight risk due to his lifelong ties to the area. He also noted, despite the length of Mr. Morse’s criminal record, there were few charges on record for failure to appear in court.
Following the presentations of both Crown and defense, Mr. Morse was denied release on the grounds of his lengthy criminal history and failure to abide by previous court orders which showed an apparent lack of respect for the courts and its process.
The case was adjourned until Friday, October 14.

Local farmers in the Three Hills area combined their resources once again and took off a crop of wheat for Children Camp International.
The Harvest for Kids concluded on Sunday, September 17 as 18 combines finished off the fields.
Mac Fletcher explained that Harvest for Kids is a fundraiser for Children’s Camps International.
“We do crops like this right across Western Canada, so all the profits go to Children Camps International so kids from third world countries can go to camp,” said Fletcher.
He explains everything is donated, right up to the land that is being used. All the input costs and all the equipment is donated.
“This a year we will send along to Children’s Camps International $50,000 from that field,” said Fletcher, noting they took off about 75,000 bushels.
He said they has been doing this in Alberta for the last five years. Last year was its biggest effort where they had 27 combines. This year they had 18. In the last five years, they have raised $300,000 and Fletcher says in India, it cost about $20 to send a kid to camp.
“In half an hour we had the whole field combined,” he said.
Children’s Camps International is an evangelical, non-denominational organization that has been promoting the dynamic work of children’s camping ministry around the world since 2003.
Not only has the Harvest for Kids initiative been successful, started in 2003, but it has also been setting records since 2006. It set records for 100 combines harvesting on a single field for 5 minutes continuously and a quarter section harvested in 11 minutes, and 8 seconds in Winkler, Manitoba.
In 2010 they set a record for 200 combines harvesting on a field for five minutes. In 2012 they topped that with 244 combines and finally in 2018, had 303 combines working simultaneously.
“When I was at that harvest, literally the ground shook when you fired up 303 combines,” said Fetcher.