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Last updateThu, 14 Nov 2024 9pm

Family appalled at grave vandalism

Grannie

A Trochu woman is upset after seeing her mother-in-law’s grave in Rumsey vandalized.
Audrey Nelson told the Mail she and her husband were made aware of the destruction that occurred on May 3 by someone who was working on headstones at the Rumsey Cemetery.
She explains her mother-in-law Lizzie Nelson passed away in 2014 at the age of 97. Her remains were kept in a small glass curling stone vessel.
“Someone had given it to her years ago and I think it had wine or whisky in it or something… and she wanted her ashes in it,” explains Nelson.
The curling stone was encased in an approximately one-foot square granite box with plexiglass to protect it from the weather, it was secured to the slab of granite where their grandfather was buried.
“They have ripped the granite box off the slab and smashed the curling rock, and her ashes were strewn,” said Nelson.
She says it must have happened very recently to when it was discovered because the ashes had not blown in the heavy winds last week.
“I would like people to know and maybe whoever did it will have remorse,” said Nelson.
She said it appeared nothing else in the cemetery seemed to be disturbed, and she speculates maybe someone thought there was something of monetary value in the box, like jewellery.

They have reported the incident to the police and hope it can be resolved.

“We are appalled and angry over such a terrible destruction of our precious mother’s remains,” said Nelson.


Community shows support for Red Dress Day

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Big Country Anti-Violence Association (BCAVA) and the Drumheller Community Business Association (CBA) encouraged Drumheller businesses and community members to hang red dresses on Thursday, May 5 in support of National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S), better known as Red Dress Day. Red Dress Day is held in honour of and to bring awareness to the ongoing MMIWG2S crisis in Canada. Indigenous women, according to the Native Women’s Association of Canada, are at a disproportionately high risk of homicide, representing about 10 per cent of all homicides against women in Canada, while only making up about three per cent of the country’s female population. Red dresses were donated and hung at Angel’s Corner near the Gordon Taylor Bridge as a visual representation of the missing, and a smudge and ceremony were held with Elder John Sinclair saying a prayer and singing a song of healing. About 20 attended the ceremony, including Town of Drumheller administration, members of BCAVA, and the Drumheller RCMP. Among those who attended the ceremony were (l-r) Elder Sinclair, Indigenous liaison Lynn Fabrick, and Drumheller Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Drohomerski.

Carbon passes on swinging bridge replacement

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The Village of Carbon has opted to not replace the swinging bridge over Kneehill Creek, which passes through the Carbon Valley before joining the Red Deer River, that was destroyed in the 2018 flood.
Council discussed the bridge replacement at the April 19 Village Of Carbon Council meeting. The bridge which connected the Village on a walking path was washed away. Council had been informed the work on replacing the bridge could be covered through a flood grant program. The estimated cost for the bridge repair came in at just over $1 million.
Mayor Bryan Peever said council voted not to take on the project. They were hesitant because they did not trust the full costs would be covered.
“They (Alberta Government) said, ’you guys take out a line of credit for $600,000 and start the project, and when you finish the project, we’ll pay you back,’” explained Peever. “We kind of did the same thing when we had the flood in 2018, and there were lots of things then that were more important than the bridge, so we took care of those. With those grants, we sent in what we were going to do and how much it was going to be, and they said, ‘go ahead.’ We had to go spend the money and send them the receipts. They only reimbursed us 42 per cent, and they said they were going to give us 70 per cent.”
He said council was not willing to take the risk of starting the project only to learn it may not be fully covered by grants.
“We can’t afford that, we can’t take that chance,” he said. “Council was very reluctant to go down that road.”
Earlier in the term council has identified taking on dealing with improving its infrastructure as a priority, and is considering borrowing to complete this. If they also borrowed to begin the bridge project it would put the Village close to its debt limit.


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