The following is a rundown of Barrhead’s top 10 news stories from 2022. As you can see, it was a year marked by tragedy and controversy, but also some successes and stories that promise to have an impact in the future.
You might ask: what qualifies a story for inclusion on this list? It involves a number of factors, ranging from the number of local people impacted by the story, the significance of that impact, the popularity of that story in terms of “hits” via our Town & Country Today website, and the amount of coverage we gave to a particular issue.
We also try to avoid including stories that had a major impact beyond our local market, such as the passing of Queen Elizabeth, the Freedom Convoy protests or the election of Danielle Smith as Alberta’s new premier.
Horrific accident
We start off the list with a horrific tragedy that left many people traumatized, and which was also the most read and circulated Barrhead Leader news story from 2022.
On Oct. 3, an early morning motor vehicle collision on Highway 654, just east of the Highway 777 intersection in Westlock County, took the lives of all three of the two vehicles occupants'.
What makes the story even more tragic is the additional circumstances around one of the vehicles.
The initial RCMP investigation showed that a pickup was heading westbound on Highway 654 when it crossed the centre line and ran head-on into an eastward travelling SUV at about 7:45 a.m.
The driver of the SUV, a woman, was pronounced deceased at the scene. The occupants of the pickup truck, a 33-year-old Edmonton man formerly from Barrhead and a 29-year-old Barrhead woman, became trapped inside the vehicle. Shortly after the collision, the pickup ignited into flames. The truck's occupants were also later pronounced deceased.
RCMP learned the pickup had been stolen the previous day from a church parking lot in Neerlandia. Police also noted that the man and woman had a loaded 12-gauge shotgun in their possession.
"Any loss of life is tragic, but it is especially so in this case. Here we have two individuals with lengthy criminal histories. And here, they've taken the life of a productive, much-loved community member. It is just absolutely heartbreaking," Barrhead RCMP Sgt. Bob Dodds said.
Dodds also said the actions made by several bystanders to put out the burning truck, including that of a hydro-vac truck crew, which successfully extinguished the fire.
"What bystanders did or attempted to do was truly outstanding," he said, adding another bystander also attempted to extricate the driver of the SUV, but that RCMP members on the scene talked the person out of it.
Healthcare disruptions
As was the case in late 2021, disruptions to care at local hospitals were the source of much coverage throughout the year.
The year started off with a 12-hour shutdown of emergency services at the Barrhead Healthcare Centre on Jan. 2-3, as no physicians were available to staff the emergency department. Similar brief disruptions followed throughout the month and in February.
March saw the emergency department shut down for 50 hours over the first week of March, though more disruptions followed. Surgical services were also cancelled for over a week in April due to a lack of anesthesiologists.
The July 4-5 weekend saw another shutdown, and then August brought four separate 12-hour shutdowns at the Barrhead Healthcare Centre.
Likewise, about an hour and a half away from Barrhead, the Swan Hills Healthcare Centre was forced to shut down overnight from June 9 to Aug. 9 due to a lack of nursing staff. That means the facility was open to visitors and new patients during the day but had to close from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. each night.
Swan Hills is also operating on reduced hours as of Dec. 19, and will continue to do so until Monday, Jan. 16.
While more disruptions are certain to occur in 2023 as many of the factors that led to these disruptions are still in play, such as healthcare worker burnout, the recent recruitment of several new physicians to the community will hopefully mitigate the impact.
Passing of prominent citizens
The community also said goodbye to many prominent residents in 2022, including a longtime businessperson and municipal councillor for the town and county, Roy Ulmer, who passed away on Aug. 26.
In addition to being well-known in business and municipal political circles, in his younger days, Ulmer was a prominent sportsman and was a particularly talented baseball player. In his later years, Ulmer would take up curling and assume the role of the area's unofficial sports historian.
However, most Barrhead residents will remember Ulmer for his warm and gregarious personality.
"Everyone loved Roy Ulmer because he was that genuine person. When you spoke to Roy, it was never about him. It was always about somebody else," recalled Town of Barrhead Coun. Don Smith.
In November, the community was also saddened by the passing of Dr. Charles Godberson. Doc Godberson, as he was affectionately known, came to Barrhead in 1958, intending only to stay for a year. But his plan went awry, and he remained in the community until his passing, serving the community in several capacities.
Barrhead mayor Dave McKenzie called Godberson an "institution" that was one of the most civic-minded people he had ever met. He met the doc when serving as an RCMP member and Godberson was the medical examiner.
"He was such an advocate for Barrhead, an outstanding ambassador, and the contributions he made to the community through his interactions are endless," he said. "He lived life large and made a tremendous impact in the community and people's lives. I am proud to have been able to call him a friend."
Pro-choice protest
In late June, the Republican-controlled U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in a 5-4 decision, determining that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. This paved the way for many American states to immediately outlaw or severely restrict abortion access.
In response, Peace River-Westlock MP Arnold Viersen posted a video on Facebook lauding the Supreme Court’s decision. “This is something that I know a lot of people have been praying for for a very long time,” he said.
“The pro-life movement in the U.S. has been working hard on this for generations and it feels so good to have a win.”
Viersen’s comments drew condemnation from pro-choice supporters and praise from pro-lifers. It also motivated a Village of Clyde resident, Fiona Lianne, to organize a reproductive rights rally directly outside of Viersen’s office in Barrhead on July 9.
Lianne stated in an interview with the Town & Country This Week that it was important for pro-choice supporters to make their voices heard before abortion access is restricted in Canada.
“A lot of people are saying, ‘Well you know, they’ll never take away abortion rights in Canada.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, they said that in the States too,’” she said.
The news story on this protest drew a large amount of interest online and also prompted some out-of-town media to cover the protest.
That said, the actual July 9 protest was a fairly peaceful affair as dozens of pro-choicers and pro-lifers (including Viersen himself) debated each other on the sidewalk outside of the MP’s office.
First pride crosswalk
On June 5, a crowd of upwards 150 people gathered to participate in the Town of Barrhead's first-ever Pride crosswalk painting at the Main Street and Kowalski Drive (50th Avenue) intersection.
The main proponents of this gesture included a group led by Caitlin Clarke, an advocate for Barrhead's LGTBQ community. They reportedly received an enthusiastic reception, but the project received some backlash, especially on one Barrhead social media page.
Clarke's first step was to seek permission from the Town of Barrhead at the May 10 council meeting. Although all the councillors spoke favourably and supported her proposal, council opted to delay making a final decision until all of their members were present so the vote could be unanimous. Mayor Dave McKenzie was away on a training course.
However, at their next council meeting on May 24, what many believed to be a foregone conclusion turned into a lengthy debate when Coun. Rod Klumph, who was initially one of the crosswalk's most vocal supporters, said his support had waned after he received many calls from people against the crosswalk.
"I like to listen to the population," he said.
Klumph said he was also concerned about singling out any one group over another, saying that council would be setting a precedent for other similar requests.
"Do we have a policy on advertising on town property for any other groups?" he asked chief administrative officer Edward LeBlanc. "I can see other organizations with a social agenda asking if they can put their message on our streets ... we could end up with slogans, messages on just about every street we have."
He also noted many did not approve of the LTGBQ community “co-opting the rainbow” symbol.
In the end, Klumph voted in favour of granting the request making it unanimous after council agreed to acknowledge that the rainbow is a symbol of other traditions, faiths and cultural heritages.
Ambulance/fire department concerns
Over 2022, Town of Barrhead councillors repeatedly voiced their concerns about the inadequate ambulance response issues causing an overt strain on firefighters' emotional and physical health due to the number of times the BRFS and its members have to help out on medical assistance calls.
They have also voiced their concern that the sheer volume of medical responses could eventually impact BRFS' ability to recruit and maintain its roster of volunteer-paid-per-call firefighters.
Most months, medical assistance calls account for the most responses by BRFS and make up roughly 20 per cent of firefighter time. Statistics also show that BRFS arrives before ambulance crews about 50 per cent of the time.
In addition, council has publicly stated, again on multiple occasions, that it is unfair for municipalities to bear the financial burden of the increased number of medical response calls and have called on the province to compensate municipalities that provide the service.
To vent their frustration, council has written to Health Minister Copping and AHS directly and has thrown their support behind other municipalities who have brought resolutions to Alberta Municipalities (AM) conventions, calling on the provincial organization to lobby the senior level of government about compensating municipalities for the service.
BRFS chief Gary Hove has stated in response that the fire department, as part of the medical first responder's program, can choose the level of medical assistance calls to which they respond.
He also noted that in 2018 the department changed its medical assistance response protocols, and unless specifically requested by AHS, now responds to only the top two critical response categories. He has also noted that BRFS and recruits recognize that medical assistance responses are part of their duties and that they welcome the ability to serve the community in that capacity.
Their latest concern over firefighters responding to medical assistance calls is about potential liability to the BRFS and the Barrhead municipalities if the fire department is forced to transport a patient to the hospital due to the lack of available ambulances.
VSU redesign
On July 19, Justice Minister Tyler Shandro announced a raft of changes to Victim Services’ programming, particularly in how the Victims of Crime and Public Safety Fund had been used to partially fund other public safety initiatives. This was the fund that Victim Services depended on, so this was a welcome change.
As well, the province would make it easier for victims of crime to seek reimbursement
Not so welcome from the perspective of VSUs was a change to how local VSUs will be managed, as Shandro announced that they would be moving to a new governance model that would result in the local boards that ran the units being dissolved and replaced with four regional boards.
A number of concerns immediately arose. Besides the loss of local autonomy, local VSU boards were also involved in a lot of fundraising, and that would stop under the regional model without the province putting in any more funding.
Secondly, Victim Services workers tended to assist the police with death notifications and assisting victims (or the families of victims) in the wake of tragedies like car accidents. However, the province was apparently focusing only on assisting victims of crime.
During their Nov. 23 meeting, town councillors received a presentation from MLA Glenn van Dijken, who relayed a message from the Justice Minister’s office. Again, he reiterated that the governance change would improve the reliability and uniformity of service delivery across the province and allow for greater flexibility to deliver services.
However, the message did little to allay the concerns of town councillors about the loss of services, particularly regarding victims of non-crime-related tragedies.
Improving Internet access
In June, the County of Barrhead announced that it would be partnering with MCSnet, a project that will increase the amount of fibre Internet trunkline to the county's Kiel Industrial Park; the hamlets of Neerlandia, Thunder Lake and Manola; and for residents around Lac La Nonne.
MCSnet is an Alberta-based Internet service provider (ISP) specializing in serving rural communities.
All totaled, through the project, MCSnet will be increasing its transit fibre in the county, as part of this project, by 58 kilometres.
As part of the agreement, the county will provide 50 per cent of the funding, $583,250, to extend the ISP's existing network infrastructure to the county.
As a result, the municipality will then have access to all of MCSnet's network infrastructure in its region to provide Open Access to other ISPs. The total cost for the project is pegged at $1,628,900.
Missing person
Based on website hits, many people read our online coverage about the disappearance of a 72-year-old woman named Patricia Livingston.
Livingston was spotted in Barrhead on July 6, though the RCMP did not provide any information about where in town she was seen or why she was in Barrhead.
However, her 2012 Dodge Caravan was found stuck in the mud in an isolated area 50 kilometres north of Fort Assiniboine on July 6. There was no indication of foul play, RCMP reported.
After a week of searching using dog units, helicopters, ATVs and horses, RCMP gave up their search. No further information has been reported about Livingston’s disappearance.
Back in August, while speaking to town council, Sgt. Bob Dodds called the failure to find Livingston one of the biggest setbacks of his career.
“In the last five years, we have had somewhere in the neighbourhood of 30 missing person files, and this is the only one that we haven’t brought home,” he said.
Bus speed limit change
To end off the list on a positive note, the Pembina Hills School Division received some good news in early September: the province would at long last allow school buses to travel at the posted speed limit on highways instead of limiting them to 90 kilometres per hour.
This had been an issue that Pembina Hills had lobbied on for years, and we in turn had devoted a large amount of editorial space to the issue.
So why was this an issue for Pembina Hills? In conversations with bus drivers, the division determined that restricting buses to 90 km/h often led to conflict with other drivers who didn’t understand why the buses were travelling 10 or 20 kilometres below the speed limit. More than once, bus drivers have been the target of rude gestures and language on the road.
Notably, Alberta was the only province with this restriction in place.
Pembina Hills tried to get the rest of the province on board by putting forward a policy position to the Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA), calling on Alberta to amend the Use of Highway and Rules of the Road Regulation to remove this restriction.
The division also made presentations to the Student Transportation Task Force and other provincial government representatives.
The task force did recommend investigating the possibility of changing the 90 kilometre speed limit, but it still took quite some time for the province to actually take action.
At long last though, the matter is dealt with, and hopefully there will be less angry confrontations between bus drivers and local motorists in the future.
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