One of Drumheller’s local restaurants is being thrust into the national spotlight soon and they’re ready for their close up.
    Bernie and the Boys will be featured on You Gotta Eat Here, a Food Network show that profiles small eateries across Canada.
    Bernie Germain, owner and chef of Bernie and the Boys is excited to be on the show.
    “They asked me if I wanted to be on the show and I was like, ‘who says no to that?’” said Germain.
    The local restaurant came to the attention of producers via Urban Spoon, a website where bloggers can rate and review restaurants. Bernie and the Boys currently has a 92 per cent rating on the site.
    Germain was initially contacted last February in regards to appearing on the show.
    “They found us on Urban Spoon and there had been a few people who told them about us. They sent us a questionnaire we had to fill out, which took like three hours. Then we had to send in a video and interview. They really liked what we were doing here and gave us the go-ahead,” said Germain.
    The shoot begins on November 8 with a day focused on Germain in the kitchen with You Gotta Eat Here host John Catucci.
    “On the 8th, they want us to be in the kitchen, so I’ll be showing John how we cook the food. I’ll demo some of our most outrageous things, like the Mammoth Burger and the Megasaurus Pizza. They want me to bone out a turkey, because they heard that’s how we do our clubhouses. It’s something that’s not done usually,” said Germain.
    There will also be a few surprises in store for Catucci when he shows up for the shoot.
    “He’s not a chef, he’s a comedian. I’m going to have a lot of fun with him for sure. I’ve got some fake hick teeth, so I’m definitely going to pop those bad boys in when I greet him,” said Germain.
    “He’s definitely going to have to do the Blair Wing Project. If that’s not hot enough, we have hotter. We have Navajo peppers and scorpion peppers, which are the hottest peppers in the world.”
    On November 9, the final day of shooting, the restaurant will be open and patrons interviewed about their experience at Bernie and the Boys.
    “People can order their food and then John will sit down with them and ask them about what they ordered,” said Germain. “So, come down, have some great food and you could be on TV.”

    The Board and management of Badlands Ambulance Services Society have announced they are divesting the operation of the local ambulance service, turning it over to Alberta Health Services (AHS).
    They made the announcement following an emergency meeting on Thursday, October 4. Ambulance service will continue in the area, only in the future it will not be the Society operating the service.
    “After a year of discussing with AHS, it was decided that with all the budgetary restrictions that were to be a part of the five year contract as well as the added issue of our staff voting to become a union shop with Health Sciences Association of Alberta, the board came to this disappointing decision,” said a press release from the Society signed by chairman Ben Armstrong.
   “Your board, along with the administration feel that the advanced service that you, our customers, have become used to could not be maintained with the budgetary restrictions that would be in place upon signing a new ‘not for profit’ contract with AHS.”
   The board assures that services will not be uninterrupted during the transition, which could take up to six months to complete.
      “We are committed to work with AHS to ensure a smooth transition, into either a direct services by AHS or a ‘for profit,’ either of which could take up to six moths to complete.
       The Badlands Ambulance Services Society has been operating the service since 2006.