Lacombe

A former long-serving Red Deer City Councillor, Frank Wong, has passed away at age 75.

Wong served on Red Deer Council during five consecutive terms from  2004-2021.

He was born in China in 1948 with the name Woon Woon Wong and immigrated to Canada at age 9.

After attending SAIT he moved to Red Deer to work for the Regional Planning Commission in 1971. 

As a Planning Assistant, he spent more then 30 years sketching subdivision lines, developing land-use bylaws and helping to name Red Deer streets.

A look at events in April 2023:

01 - The family of Vancouver radio personality Red Robinson says he  died after a brief illness. Robinson began his radio career in 1954 at Vancouver's CJOR, and his website credits him as the first DJ in Canada to play rock 'n' roll music on a regular basis. He was 86.

03 - Dennis King led the Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservatives to a second majority government last night, securing 22 of the island's 27 legislative seats and 56 per cent of the popular vote. 

Alberta RCMP are sending out a warning about the number of Albertans dying from fentanyl overdoses.

From January to November 2023, Alberta RCMP have responded to over 100 percent more drug overdoses than in all of 2022 including frequent suspected fentanyl overdoses with a high fatality rate. Alberta RCMP also had a 24 percent increase in the number of naloxone deployments in response to overdoses in 2023. Furthermore, from January to August 2023, there were 1262 opioid related deaths in Alberta, which is up by 255 compared to the same time period in 2022.

Daxon Rudolph, from Lacombe will play for Team Canada at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic games which will take place from January 19th to February 1st in Gangwon Province, South Korea.

Rudolph will be joined by two other Alberta hockey players: Keaton Verhoeff from Fort Saskatchewan, and Carter Esler from Okotoks.

The Lacombe athlete is now playing for the Northern Alberta Xtreme, and was the first overall selection in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft, taken by the Prince Albert Raiders.

A look at news events in March 2023:

1 – The government of Greece declared three days of national mourning after a deadly train crash in the northern part of the country the night before. The country's prime minister and president both visited the crash site, where 57 people died after a passenger train and freight train collided.

2 – Geri Smith, whose voice became familiar to listeners across the country over nearly 35 years as a newscaster with The Canadian Press, died at 60. Smith was on leave at the time of her death in Toronto. 

The Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) will once again see a substantial cash injection from the railways as part of their maximum grain revenue entitlements overage.

The Canada Transportation Agency has determined that grain-related revenue for both CN Rail and CPKC exceeded their allowable entitlements.

CN’s grain revenue of $1,079,522,039 was $3,457,939 above its entitlement of $1,076,064,100. 

Quebec provincial police say the search for a four-year-old girl who fell into a river last week is no longer a rescue operation, but a recovery mission.

The child has been missing since Friday, when she fell into the Mistassibi River in Dolbeau-Mistassini, Que. — about 240 kilometres north of Quebec City — while sledding with her mother near the riverbank.

Police officers have been searching the river ever since, with officers surveying the banks, a nautical team monitoring the waters and a helicopter scanning the area from the sky.

Long time City of Red Deer Councillor and historian Michael Dawe has passed away. His family released a statement on Boxing Day saying that the man who was once called Red Deer's Beloved Citizen had died on Christmas Eve.

Red Deer City Mayor, Ken Johnston released the following statement on his passing.

With much grief and sadness on my heart, I must share, on behalf of my council colleagues the unexpected passing of City Councillor and Red Deer’s most beloved historian, Michael Dawe.

Ashley Perepelkin says she was born and raised a city girl, never thinking she'd sell fresh beef from cattle she raised on her own Alberta farm with the help of artificial intelligence.

"I met a boy, and this boy happened to be a farmer," she says.

Perepelkin, who spent most of her life in Red Deer, Alta., says she and her now-husband Andrew met in 2010, got married and began farming grain together.

When she decided to get cattle, it was a steep learning curve. 

"A lot of things were learned, unfortunately, through trial and error," she says.

Nominations are now open for the 2024 Sylvan Lake Citizen of the Year Awards.

Residents can nominate fellow citizens in up to seven categories, including: 

• Citizenship 

• Music, Art, Culture, and Heritage 

• Environmental Stewardship 

• Sports Excellence 

• Youth Award of Excellence 

• Long Time Service Volunteer 

• Mayor’s Distinguished Award 

To nominate someone: