The Drumheller RCMP is standing at attention ready to help however they can in wake of the shooting of two Killam RCMP officers.
  On Tuesday afternoon, two RCMP officers were wounded when attempting to execute a search warrant on a rural residence near Hardisty. The two officers were airlifted to Edmonton for surgery. On Wednesday morning officers were able to enter the residence where they discovered a deceased male.
    On Friday, February 10, the police search for 27 year old Sawyer Clarke Robinson ended when he was taken into custody. He is charged with two counts of attempted murder.
    Staff Sergeant Art Hopkins said the Drumheller Detachment is affected by the shooting and most will help out however they can.
    He explains that when an event like this occurs, where a detachment sees a substantial number of its officers out of service, other detachments are asked to help out.
    He said on Tuesday, the day of the event, the detachment was prepared to help with
on the ground responsibilities such as manning roadblocks, however they were not called upon. Since then, the Drumheller Detachment was asked to identify its resources.     
  “It’s a very small detachment and when that amount of persons are injured at the same time, it causes anxiety with the others to say the least,” said Hopkins. “Generally what happens is they pool resources from other places to replace the numbers there, and those resources have to come from other detachments.”
   Hopkins said the Drumheller Detachment was asked to inventory its resources to see if it could help.
    “Generally I suggest if I do have to send two people, it would be for a week, and then it would be another detachment’s turn, and maybe down the road I may have to send more,” he said.
    He says often in such cases more resources are dedicated to the community than were there in the first place, and this carries on for a few months to stabilize any situation.
    “Everybody will pick up the slack,” said Hopkins.
  The Drumheller Detachment has 15 regular positions, and currently has a surplus resource of one officer, making 16 in total. However there are currently two officers not in service.

    Alison Redford’s government’s first budget with her as Premier came down last week, and Mayor Terry Yemen said there is not much there for Drumheller.
    Finance Minister Ron Liepert delivered the budget last Thursday, and it is Alberta’s fourth deficit budget in a row. Yemen said he would have liked to have seen more from it. There are not too many commitments to new funding.
    “Most of the increases only take care of inflation," said Yemen. “There is no room for growth money."
    One aspect of provincial budgeting important to Yemen is reliable, stable funding for municipalities. He said while part of the budget talked about moving this way, he did not see any proof of it.
    “One thing we have been asking about is the Municipal Sustainability Initiative. We want consistency in the calculations, and they acknowledged it in the budget, but it doesn’t seem they did anything about it,” said Yemen.
    He said last year changes in the Municipal Sustainability Initiative saw the Town of Drumheller lose about $248,000.
    “There has to be some consistency, not this moving target,” said Yemen. “With the Municipal Sustainability Initiative, they recognize it, but I don’t see a fix.”
    The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association assessment of this funding  appears to be in line with Yemen’s view.
    “Despite the government’s assurance that Budget 2012 establishes three-year predictable funding for municipalities, the budget process remains unchanged. Municipal funding is approved on an Patrick Kolafa
The Drumheller Mail

    Alison Redford’s government’s first budget with her as Premier came down last week, and Mayor Terry Yemen said there is not much there for Drumheller.
    Finance Minister Ron Liepert delivered the budget last Thursday, and it is Alberta’s fourth deficit budget in a row. Yemen said he would have liked to have seen more from it. There are not too many commitments to new funding.
    “Most of the increases only take care of inflation," said Yemen. “There is no room for growth money."
    One aspect of provincial budgeting important to Yemen is reliable, stable funding for municipalities. He said while part of the budget talked about moving this way, he did not see any proof of it.
    “One thing we have been asking about is the Municipal Sustainability Initiative. We want consistency in the calculations, and they acknowledged it in the budget, but it doesn’t seem they did anything about it,” said Yemen.
    He said last year changes in the Municipal Sustainability Initiative saw the Town of Drumheller lose about $248,000.
    “There has to be some consistency, not this moving target,” said Yemen. “With the Municipal Sustainability Initiative, they recognize it, but I don’t see a fix.”
    The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association assessment of this funding  appears to be in line with Yemen’s view.
    “Despite the government’s assurance that Budget 2012 establishes three-year predictable funding for municipalities, the budget process remains unchanged. Municipal funding is approved on an annual basis, with no guarantee the targets for years two and three will be realized,”  the AWNA states in its reaction to the budget.
    Another change that could affect municipalities is in the Water For Life Program. Last year it had a budget of $260 million, this year that falls by more than one-third to $170 million. This is a fund used to fund water and wastewater projects.
    One change in the process Yemen would have liked to see was more consultation.
    “There was no municipal input,” said Yemen.
    He is concerned the financial projections the budget is based on may be overoptimistic. He said the assumptions, that the budget is based on, the prices of oil and natural gas, could be out of reach.
    Most watchers are expecting a provincial election this coming spring, and many characterize this as an election budget.
    “It’s kind of like getting socks for Christmas. For a campaign budget, I was expecting more,” said Yemen.