The Mail is continuing its series of updates and a glance to the coming year with area municipalities. Last week readers were brought up to date on Special Areas and Starland County. This week there are updates from the Village of Munson and the Village of Delia. Watch for more in the coming weeks.

The Village of Munson has seen some changes over the last year and is looking forward to the future.

Mayor Steven Hayes took some time to visit with the Mail to review the progress of the village in 2018 and look towards the future.

This year Starland County completed the construction of the new Munson Fire Hall. This is located just off Highway 9/56. With the vacated hall in Munson, the village is able to have its shop connected to the village office, and they are able to store their equipment indoors.

“It makes a big difference,” said Hayes.

The Village made progress on its road improvement project on the northwest side of the community.

“We didn’t finish because of the weather. You have to have a certain temperature to put on the coatings,” he said. “That will get finished this year in the spring.”

The village also added some new LED lights on  the north end, as well as some lights at the new hall.

“We had absolutely no lighting on that end of town, and we had instances where late at night we had people parking there and running through town and you couldn’t see them,” said Hayes.

They are looking at more lighting improvements in the future.

The new Community Hall has been up and operating for three seasons and Hayes says they have seen the benefits it brings to the community.  He says there have been a number of community functions, reunions, weddings, and parties.

“In this last year the hall was utilized probably more than the last five years of the old hall,” said Hayes.

Hayes explains they have some projects they are looking at, however, these are dependent on funding.

He says in the last few years they have seen some young families choosing to make Munson home, which he welcomes.

“We have quite a few younger families that have moved in and we have quite a few small kids running around. It was petering off there for a while,” he said. “This year because of that we’ve implemented speed bumps in our playground areas.”

He adds there were two lots that have recently sold and they hope to see development in the future.

The Village of Munson is seeing more young families moving in rejuvenating the community.

A Drumheller RCMP officer was dragged by a vehicle following an altercation while trying to stop the driver of a stolen vehicle on Wednesday evening, RCMP say.

At around 5:45 p.m. near Morrin, an RCMP member attempted to arrest a male driver of a vehicle reported stolen from outside Sunrise Auto Sales. An altercation occurred, and during the altercation a silver car driven by a female approached, and the male suspect was able to jump into the vehicle. The officer attempted to stop the fleeing male and was dragged by the car. While being dragged, the officer discharged his firearm at the vehicle and was able to break free while the car fled the area.

The male is described as caucasian and wearing a dark winter jacket with a hood, and a ball cap with a light or tan coloured visor. The female suspect was also caucasian and had dark hair and a tan coloured jacket with a fur-lined hood.

The officer sustained minor injuries, and police say it is not known if the suspects were injured.

Mason Schinnour of Sunrise Auto told the Mail the stolen vehicle was owned by a customer at his store who had left his vehicle running outside for only a few minutes. He says surveillance footage of the incident was given to RCMP.

Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed this incident to contact Drumheller RCMP at 403-823-7590 or your local police detachment. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), online at www.P3Tips.com or by using the "P3 Tips" app available through the Apple App or Google Play Store."