The Community Matt Program is in place again after it was nearly cut due to lack of funding from the provincial government.
Lola Strand, the coordinator for Family and Community Support Services, says now that Premier Jason Kenney has made the announcement for additional funding, the program will be going ahead.
Strand says normally the mat program is started earlier in the year. However, because they just received notification of the funding, they are hoping to have it start up by Christmas.
Originally, the mat program was started in 2015 and run by volunteers. In 2019 the program was run by staff, and it has continued that way since then. Currently, Strand says they are looking for Mat Program Supervisors so they can get the program operational.
Strand says because of the late start to the program, town council wanted to make it clear that if there were an emergency where temperatures dropped below a certain level, the program would open up temporarily.
Emily Hickman, the mat program manager, says she hopes this will be the last year they have to run the program as they are looking into other options for the future.
“We’re hoping to replace it with something more sustainable, just because relying on the whims of the provincial government to know whether or not we’re going to be able to provide this service is very stressful,” says Hickman.
Right now, she says she can’t give many details about the alternative project. Hickman says the project they are looking at isn’t a guarantee, but if it goes through it would rely less on government funding.
While the program has needed volunteers in the past, Hickman says that isn’t the case right now. They have staff to overlook the service.
What they do need are donations.
There was sunshine and smiles all around last Friday as residents, staff, friends and family celebrated 50 years of the Shangri La Lodge.
Denise Chesterman, CAO of the Brazeau Foundation, said the history of the lodge actually goes back a little more than half a century.
In 1967 the Drayton Valley Royal Purple began to look at ways to bring inexpensive lodging for senior citizens to the community. The Royal Purple and Elks joined together and formed a society known as the Purple Pansy Senior Citizens Association.
The Purple Pansy, assisted by the newly formed Senior Citizens Club, surveyed the town and the surrounding area for all seniors who might take advantage of a lodge. A request for funding was approved by the provincial government and the Shangri-La Lodge opened in 1973, six years after the idea was first conceived. The Lodge initially had 60 rooms and was operated by a local management board under the direction of the Meridian Foundation, which is based in Stony Plain.
The first Matron was Mrs. Campbell, followed by Mrs. Inga Hawryluk. In 1975 Mr. RH (Richie) Woods became chairman of the local management board. He was assisted by Jeannette Vatter. Their main objective was to ensure that the Lodge felt like a home and not like a nursing home.
The need for seniors housing was increasing and in 1989 there was a sod turning to begin construction on a two storey addition that would house an additional 38 units that is now known as the East Wing.
The Brazeau Seniors Foundation became a housing management body in 1995 and replaced the Purple Pansy and the Village of Breton Senior Citizen Committee.
Construction of another two-storey addition, known as the West Wing, was completed in 2011. Construction also included a new kitchen, dining room, activity room and more.
The South Wing was rebuilt in 2014.
Today the Brazeau Foundation operates the Lodge, the Wishing Well and Lezure Lea apartments in Drayton Valley and the Spruce View Apartments in Breton along with four family housing units in Rocky Rapids.
The Shangri-La Lodge also continues the Meals on Wheels program which was organized and managed by Hy Dahl for 47 years. The program provides meals for approximately 15 individuals in the community.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
At Friday’s celebration Drayton Valley Mayor Nancy Dodds, Deputy Reeve Kara Westerlund and Breton Mayor Glory Tornack brought greetings from their respective municipalities. Tom McGee, who is current chair of the Brazeau Foundation thanked the staff for the effort they put in to ensure the residents always felt at home. Chesterman echoed that sentiment and also thanked the numerous volunteers and community groups that had provided support over the years.
“I am truly blessed to be part of such a great organization,” she said. “I wish to thank everyone who has supported our seniors in the community. Everyone at Brazeau Foundation truly strives to provide our communities with housing that can be a place to call home.”
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
Town and County residents who had concerns and questions about the Buck Creek fire got some answers on June 26 at a meeting at Buck Creek Hall.
The meeting was organized by Brazeau County and had all county councillors present, as well as members from the Drayton Valley Brazeau County Fire Services, representatives from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA), the Drayton Valley RCMP, Town Mayor Nancy Dodds, and some town councillors.
Kent Edney, the chief administrative officer for Brazeau County, chaired the meeting. Using a powerpoint presentation, Edney gave a breakdown of the fire relief efforts and costs. He also used the presentation as an opportunity to address common questions the County has been receiving.
To help put things into perspective, Edney showed the classification of the fire. According to the AEMA, the fire was classified as a type 1 incident, which is the most complex type of incident that can occur. It typically requires national and sometimes international aid to address.
The fire itself was classified as Level 6 Head fire based on the Head Fire Intensity Scale, which is the most dangerous fire situation on a scale of one to six.
“So, you can see that even a trained firefighter isn’t going to run in front of that fire. They’re going to have to fight it from the back and the flanks,” says Edney.
Brazeau County Reeve Bart Guyon pointed out that the incident in Brazeau County sits in the same classification as other well-known natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina.
“The complexity of responding to this fire was that same complexity of response for Hurricane Katrina,” said Edney.
However, at the time of the fire, there were 105 other wildfires in the province, and Edney said the Buck Creek fire didn’t make the top of the list of the most urgent.
“There were times when we were asking for 200 firefighters, but we only got 30,” said Edney of the first few days of the fire. The reality was that the resources in the province were spread thin.
Edney said there is a four-inch thick emergency manual they have to follow when something like this happens. This manual includes a very detailed command structure that has to be in place to help prevent confusion and misinformation.
Everyone fighting the fire only had one person to answer to at any given time. That person they reported to only had one person to report to, and this went all the way up to the Incident Commander.
In the system, no more than seven people answered directly to the commander. And each of those people only had seven people answering to them, all the way down to the boots-on-the-ground firefighters.
This command structure included the RCMP, fire department, Town, County, and eventually other groups who came in to offer aid. All directions came from one person to ensure there was a consistent effort.
Edney also gave a breakdown of the statistics of the event. In total, there were more than 12,000 acres affected by the fire, which had a perimeter of 48.1 km. He says there were five residences lost to the fire, but there were zero casualties. There were only two known injuries during the entire firefighting effort.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
The presentation also contained an hour-by-hour breakdown of the firefighting efforts from May 3 to May 6. In 24 hours, the fire went from the North Saskatchewan River to the Rex Block subdivision on Range Road 80.
While Edney was open to receiving constructive criticism from residents, he did point out to residents one positive that the County did have. During the evacuation, the County permitted people to enter back into the area to feed cattle, pick up medication, and other important items.
“That’s not something you normally do. That’s not standard. That’s not done anywhere else,” says Edney.
In most cases, people are not allowed back into the area for any reason. But the County wanted to do its best to help people keep their day-to-day lives going as much as possible.
He says the situation devolved into people wanting to go back in for favourite articles of clothing or other unimportant matters. With the lack of resources and the danger of the fire, he said it was frustrating that people were bothering responders with those kinds of requests.
And even though they were allowing people back in if the situation was urgent, there were still other people who were aggressive and angry if they were turned away due to unreasonable requests. In one case, a truck drove through a barricade, putting those manning the post in serious danger.
During the question period, many residents expressed concern and disappointment because they felt the fire department was negligent in staying on top of the original fire.
Fire Chief Tom Thomson addressed these concerns by giving a detailed list of their daily activities surrounding the fire from April 23 to May 3. Thomson says that even though there were nine other wildland fires during that time period, and the department was responding to other emergencies like car accidents, the fire was still being checked on daily.
Thomson says there were firefighters out on the scene of that fire every day from April 23 until May 4, when the fire took off. Cherpin also explained that he was out there on May 3, flagging lines for dozer guards that were put into place that evening.
“Just so everyone is aware, we were there the whole week. We were committed, we were involved, and we were extinguishing the fire,” says Thomson.
The main problem with the fire, says Thomson, was that it was in the peat moss. Fires that go underground in peat moss don’t have smoke, there is no heat, and there is no flame.
“The fire burns underground. You cannot see it, you cannot feel it, you cannot smell it. It just pops up and away it goes,” says Thomson.
One area of concern for residents was the amount of communication received from the County. Edney explained to people that it was important to understand the difference between needing information and wanting information.
“You need to know that it’s not safe. You need to know to stay evacuated,” said Edney.
He says many people wanted to know how many firefighters were out fighting, where they were working, and which residences were in danger. However, with the limited resources available for fighting the fire, every phone call asking about those things was using those resources.
Edney admitted that the communications needed work and was open to suggestions from residents about how they could improve. He gave an example of fires that are out of control and under control, using pictures to illustrate. He says he could have clarified how those statuses worked and what they meant.
However, he says as it was, even with the recent downpour of rain, the fire was only now being labeled as under control instead of just being held.
Residents also wanted to know why they couldn’t just sign a waiver form and go in to fight the fire.
Edney explained that a waiver isn’t any good if the County or department were negligent in any way. He says if Joey Cherpin, the Director of Emergency Management, were to give someone permission to go fight the fire and that person died, it would be Cherpin who would go to jail.
He says that even though residents wanted to step in and help, no one felt comfortable taking on the personal liability of giving an untrained volunteer permission to fight the fire.
And while the County wouldn’t authorize volunteers to go in and deal with the fire, there were still some residents who took it upon themselves to help. As a result, there were some incidents where lives were in danger because someone was creating fireguards in an area where firefighters were working to put out hotspots.
Another question put forth by residents was in regard to the dozer guards and the damages they caused.
Edney, Guyon, and Cherpin said there would be remediation taking place for those areas where the firefighting efforts caused damage to property.
However, any property that received damage directly from the fire would have to go through personal insurance. That included fences that had been burned down.
Cherpin also explained that some of the dozer guards put into place were not authorized by the fire department. In fact, there is a dozer guard that runs behind Poplar Ridge and up north toward 621 for several kilometers that were completely unnecessary, and they have no idea who did it.
Guyon and Edney both explained that while the County did not create those guards, they would be covering the expenses to remediate those areas as well.
“There are a lot of things that were done by well-meaning people thinking they were helping… that’s now the County’s responsibility to fix,” said Edney.
Edney and Guyon said the County was in the process of applying for grants from the province to help pay for the remediation costs. Edney says it’s important for residents to take accurate measurements of damaged areas and lots of pictures because when they apply for the grants, they cannot have estimated numbers.
“It comes down to something as simple as you served 540 meals that day, but there were only 512 people signed in, so why were there extra meals?” says Edney.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
Ten years ago, Kelly Forster and her friend Amanda Evans, decided they would do their best to help struggling people in Drayton Valley.
Today, Warming Hearts is a space where people can come to eat, do laundry, shower, get some clothes, or relax in a warm building.
As a thank you to Forster for her efforts, the Homelessness and Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee had a surprise party for her on June 14. Several volunteers, clients, and funders were there to help her celebrate her success.
“I’m very humbled. [I] didn’t see it coming, but it means a lot from my volunteers and my family,” she says.
“We didn’t think it would last a month,” says Forster about first starting the kitchen. But now, she doesn’t think there is anything that could make her give it up.
The entire program is run by volunteers. Forster is at the building every day, as is Jordan Faunt, another volunteer. Several others rotate in and out as they are needed. Forster says the program’s 20 volunteers put in about 720 hours a month.
Currently, the program is offering breakfast and lunch for those in need. The food donations come from IGA and the Drayton Bakery, as well as other people who drop off items or funds.
While the program has been running for ten years, it wasn’t until recently that it had a place to call its own. In the past, Forster has run the program in the Legion and at the Life Church. Now they have a space in the building next to the bottle depot thanks to a provincial grant they received.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
Forster says there are more than 20 people who use the program right now, which is lower than it was before the evacuation. She says some people haven’t yet returned to the community.
Over the years, Forster estimates that she’s served tens of thousands of meals.
Helping her celebrate her achievement was one of her clients, John.
“She saved my life,” he says. “It helped me out quite a bit, actually.” When he was down on hard times, he says he wasn’t even aware of Warming Hearts at first.
“Sometimes I think we’re the best kept secret in the community,” says Forster.
John says that the program helped bring him out of his depression.
“I’m a firm believer that feeding a person a hot meal and giving them a warm bed at night will help.”
Volunteer Marguerite Geilen has only recently started with the program, but she says it’s been a rewarding experience. When she heard about it through her church, Geilen decided that since she was retired she could devote more of her time to helping others.
“It has opened up my eyes big time,” says Geilen. “I was raised quite sheltered, I guess.”
She says through her time with the program she’s felt herself developing more compassion, empathy, and love for everyone.
“I feel like we’re all just one bad decision or really hard trauma away from being in the same place,” says Amanda Dow, another volunteer. “It’s that easy. You can wake up to find out something happened that day and it’s all over.”
Dow says sometimes just a kind face can make a difference for those who are struggling.
Forster and the volunteers at the facility encourage people to come in and spend their time helping others. She says they are always open to having volunteers join the program.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
Last week, some parents from H.W. Pickup gathered to hear from Wild Rose School Division superintendent Brad Volkman and the board trustee for ward one, Daryl Scott, to get an update about the new Powerhouse Learning Campus.
Volkman told parents that students from H.W. Pickup and the Drayton Christian School could be in the new facility as early as Christmas, though the date isn’t written in stone.
“They don’t ever really give us a firm date,” says Volkman. Weather conditions or supply issues could still possibly cause delays, but they are hoping to move the schools over on Christmas break if possible.
Volkman had a list of questions that had been submitted to the division and answered them for all of the parents present. He then addressed the questions of those who were at the meeting.
One concern was about how the division was addressing the safety and security of the students. Volkman says designing schools can be challenging in that they want the building to be secure, but they don’t want it to feel like a prison for the kids. He says one additional feature for the school is a mechanism in the office that will allow staff to lock the outer doors of the school if needed.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
There will also be an elevator in the school to give easy access to both floors to those in wheelchairs. Volkman says there is an elevator in the Breton Elementary School that has worked well for those students.
He also advised that a staggered entry into the school was something being considered by the schools. Volkman pointed out the success of the staggered entries into Frank Maddock High School and H.W. Pickup as examples of where it has worked well. It’s also a possibility that some students who struggle with change will have the opportunity to tour the school before the year starts.
Another topic discussed was the bathrooms in the school, which Volkman said would have full doors like the ones used in Aurora Elementary and Evergreen Elementary. The bathrooms would also be gender-neutral, except for those in the DCS area, where they would likely be labeled.
Volkman also addressed concerns about non-secular students in the same school as secular students. “We’ve seen it work for years here in Drayton,” he says, referring to the Eldorado Elementary School shared with DCS.
He also spoke about the success of a similar situation in Rocky Mountain House at the West Central High School, which is shared with both St. Dominic’s High School and Red Deer College.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
Brazeau County residents with questions, kudos or concerns about the handling of the Buck Creek Fire will be able to have their say June 26. The County is hosting a public wildfire town hall meeting that evening at the Buck Creek Hall.
During the public input sessions at the two council meetings held since the evacuation order was lifted, residents have raised a number of issues. Those include concerns over who is responsible for clean up and remediation after the fire, the financial cost of firefighting and the way information was communicated to the public during the state of emergency.
The meeting is set to start at 6 pm. Beef on a bun will be served.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
Meanwhile firefighters continue to deal with hotspots and potential flare ups from the blaze. That work is expected to continue well into the fall.
The Pembina Complex fire continues to burn in the area north of the Brazeau Dam. The western portion of Brazeau County, including both Lodgepole and Cynthia, has been under an evacuation alert since last week. The weather forecast for the coming days calls for showers and cooler temperatures.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
There will be no DV100 Race or Ride this year. The annual event, which draws cyclists from across Alberta, had been set to go Saturday September 9.
On Tuesday morning organizers issued a statement saying the DV100 had been postponed, citing the current wildfire situation and the corresponding hazardous air quality.
“Our committee’s number one priority is the safety and well-being of our racers, volunteers and the overall community, and we firmly believe that cancelling this event is the best course of action at this time,” the group said.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
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Along with the direct threat from the fires, poor air quality makes physical exertion potentially dangerous, even to those without an underlying health condition. The DV100 follows a 100 kilometre loop heading west from Drayton Valley and travelling through both Lodgepole and Cynthia. That part of Brazeau County is potentially threatened by the Pembina Complex Fire, which is likely to continue to cause challenges in the area well into the fall.
Organizers say they will be issuing refunds to those who have already signed up for the DV100 in due course.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
“If somebody wants to help the program out, we do take financial donations which can be made payable through the Town of Drayton Valley,” she says.
Hickman says they can also take some items, though their space for storage is limited. Some of that includes winter gear, such as gently used coats, waterproof gloves, toques, or scarves. She says some items, like crocheted afghans, are too bulky for their clients to carry around, so while the thought is appreciated, they would prefer blankets that can provide adequate warmth while being compact.
There was sunshine and smiles all around last Friday as residents, staff, friends and family celebrated 50 years of the Shangri La Lodge.
Denise Chesterman, CAO of the Brazeau Foundation, said the history of the lodge actually goes back a little more than half a century.
In 1967 the Drayton Valley Royal Purple began to look at ways to bring inexpensive lodging for senior citizens to the community. The Royal Purple and Elks joined together and formed a society known as the Purple Pansy Senior Citizens Association.
The Purple Pansy, assisted by the newly formed Senior Citizens Club, surveyed the town and the surrounding area for all seniors who might take advantage of a lodge. A request for funding was approved by the provincial government and the Shangri-La Lodge opened in 1973, six years after the idea was first conceived. The Lodge initially had 60 rooms and was operated by a local management board under the direction of the Meridian Foundation, which is based in Stony Plain.
The first Matron was Mrs. Campbell, followed by Mrs. Inga Hawryluk. In 1975 Mr. RH (Richie) Woods became chairman of the local management board. He was assisted by Jeannette Vatter. Their main objective was to ensure that the Lodge felt like a home and not like a nursing home.
The need for seniors housing was increasing and in 1989 there was a sod turning to begin construction on a two storey addition that would house an additional 38 units that is now known as the East Wing.
The Brazeau Seniors Foundation became a housing management body in 1995 and replaced the Purple Pansy and the Village of Breton Senior Citizen Committee.
Construction of another two-storey addition, known as the West Wing, was completed in 2011. Construction also included a new kitchen, dining room, activity room and more.
The South Wing was rebuilt in 2014.
Today the Brazeau Foundation operates the Lodge, the Wishing Well and Lezure Lea apartments in Drayton Valley and the Spruce View Apartments in Breton along with four family housing units in Rocky Rapids.
The Shangri-La Lodge also continues the Meals on Wheels program which was organized and managed by Hy Dahl for 47 years. The program provides meals for approximately 15 individuals in the community.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
At Friday’s celebration Drayton Valley Mayor Nancy Dodds, Deputy Reeve Kara Westerlund and Breton Mayor Glory Tornack brought greetings from their respective municipalities. Tom McGee, who is current chair of the Brazeau Foundation thanked the staff for the effort they put in to ensure the residents always felt at home. Chesterman echoed that sentiment and also thanked the numerous volunteers and community groups that had provided support over the years.
“I am truly blessed to be part of such a great organization,” she said. “I wish to thank everyone who has supported our seniors in the community. Everyone at Brazeau Foundation truly strives to provide our communities with housing that can be a place to call home.”
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
Town and County residents who had concerns and questions about the Buck Creek fire got some answers on June 26 at a meeting at Buck Creek Hall.
The meeting was organized by Brazeau County and had all county councillors present, as well as members from the Drayton Valley Brazeau County Fire Services, representatives from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA), the Drayton Valley RCMP, Town Mayor Nancy Dodds, and some town councillors.
Kent Edney, the chief administrative officer for Brazeau County, chaired the meeting. Using a powerpoint presentation, Edney gave a breakdown of the fire relief efforts and costs. He also used the presentation as an opportunity to address common questions the County has been receiving.
To help put things into perspective, Edney showed the classification of the fire. According to the AEMA, the fire was classified as a type 1 incident, which is the most complex type of incident that can occur. It typically requires national and sometimes international aid to address.
The fire itself was classified as Level 6 Head fire based on the Head Fire Intensity Scale, which is the most dangerous fire situation on a scale of one to six.
“So, you can see that even a trained firefighter isn’t going to run in front of that fire. They’re going to have to fight it from the back and the flanks,” says Edney.
Brazeau County Reeve Bart Guyon pointed out that the incident in Brazeau County sits in the same classification as other well-known natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina.
“The complexity of responding to this fire was that same complexity of response for Hurricane Katrina,” said Edney.
However, at the time of the fire, there were 105 other wildfires in the province, and Edney said the Buck Creek fire didn’t make the top of the list of the most urgent.
“There were times when we were asking for 200 firefighters, but we only got 30,” said Edney of the first few days of the fire. The reality was that the resources in the province were spread thin.
Edney said there is a four-inch thick emergency manual they have to follow when something like this happens. This manual includes a very detailed command structure that has to be in place to help prevent confusion and misinformation.
Everyone fighting the fire only had one person to answer to at any given time. That person they reported to only had one person to report to, and this went all the way up to the Incident Commander.
In the system, no more than seven people answered directly to the commander. And each of those people only had seven people answering to them, all the way down to the boots-on-the-ground firefighters.
This command structure included the RCMP, fire department, Town, County, and eventually other groups who came in to offer aid. All directions came from one person to ensure there was a consistent effort.
Edney also gave a breakdown of the statistics of the event. In total, there were more than 12,000 acres affected by the fire, which had a perimeter of 48.1 km. He says there were five residences lost to the fire, but there were zero casualties. There were only two known injuries during the entire firefighting effort.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
The presentation also contained an hour-by-hour breakdown of the firefighting efforts from May 3 to May 6. In 24 hours, the fire went from the North Saskatchewan River to the Rex Block subdivision on Range Road 80.
While Edney was open to receiving constructive criticism from residents, he did point out to residents one positive that the County did have. During the evacuation, the County permitted people to enter back into the area to feed cattle, pick up medication, and other important items.
“That’s not something you normally do. That’s not standard. That’s not done anywhere else,” says Edney.
In most cases, people are not allowed back into the area for any reason. But the County wanted to do its best to help people keep their day-to-day lives going as much as possible.
He says the situation devolved into people wanting to go back in for favourite articles of clothing or other unimportant matters. With the lack of resources and the danger of the fire, he said it was frustrating that people were bothering responders with those kinds of requests.
And even though they were allowing people back in if the situation was urgent, there were still other people who were aggressive and angry if they were turned away due to unreasonable requests. In one case, a truck drove through a barricade, putting those manning the post in serious danger.
During the question period, many residents expressed concern and disappointment because they felt the fire department was negligent in staying on top of the original fire.
Fire Chief Tom Thomson addressed these concerns by giving a detailed list of their daily activities surrounding the fire from April 23 to May 3. Thomson says that even though there were nine other wildland fires during that time period, and the department was responding to other emergencies like car accidents, the fire was still being checked on daily.
Thomson says there were firefighters out on the scene of that fire every day from April 23 until May 4, when the fire took off. Cherpin also explained that he was out there on May 3, flagging lines for dozer guards that were put into place that evening.
“Just so everyone is aware, we were there the whole week. We were committed, we were involved, and we were extinguishing the fire,” says Thomson.
The main problem with the fire, says Thomson, was that it was in the peat moss. Fires that go underground in peat moss don’t have smoke, there is no heat, and there is no flame.
“The fire burns underground. You cannot see it, you cannot feel it, you cannot smell it. It just pops up and away it goes,” says Thomson.
One area of concern for residents was the amount of communication received from the County. Edney explained to people that it was important to understand the difference between needing information and wanting information.
“You need to know that it’s not safe. You need to know to stay evacuated,” said Edney.
He says many people wanted to know how many firefighters were out fighting, where they were working, and which residences were in danger. However, with the limited resources available for fighting the fire, every phone call asking about those things was using those resources.
Edney admitted that the communications needed work and was open to suggestions from residents about how they could improve. He gave an example of fires that are out of control and under control, using pictures to illustrate. He says he could have clarified how those statuses worked and what they meant.
However, he says as it was, even with the recent downpour of rain, the fire was only now being labeled as under control instead of just being held.
Residents also wanted to know why they couldn’t just sign a waiver form and go in to fight the fire.
Edney explained that a waiver isn’t any good if the County or department were negligent in any way. He says if Joey Cherpin, the Director of Emergency Management, were to give someone permission to go fight the fire and that person died, it would be Cherpin who would go to jail.
He says that even though residents wanted to step in and help, no one felt comfortable taking on the personal liability of giving an untrained volunteer permission to fight the fire.
And while the County wouldn’t authorize volunteers to go in and deal with the fire, there were still some residents who took it upon themselves to help. As a result, there were some incidents where lives were in danger because someone was creating fireguards in an area where firefighters were working to put out hotspots.
Another question put forth by residents was in regard to the dozer guards and the damages they caused.
Edney, Guyon, and Cherpin said there would be remediation taking place for those areas where the firefighting efforts caused damage to property.
However, any property that received damage directly from the fire would have to go through personal insurance. That included fences that had been burned down.
Cherpin also explained that some of the dozer guards put into place were not authorized by the fire department. In fact, there is a dozer guard that runs behind Poplar Ridge and up north toward 621 for several kilometers that were completely unnecessary, and they have no idea who did it.
Guyon and Edney both explained that while the County did not create those guards, they would be covering the expenses to remediate those areas as well.
“There are a lot of things that were done by well-meaning people thinking they were helping… that’s now the County’s responsibility to fix,” said Edney.
Edney and Guyon said the County was in the process of applying for grants from the province to help pay for the remediation costs. Edney says it’s important for residents to take accurate measurements of damaged areas and lots of pictures because when they apply for the grants, they cannot have estimated numbers.
“It comes down to something as simple as you served 540 meals that day, but there were only 512 people signed in, so why were there extra meals?” says Edney.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
Ten years ago, Kelly Forster and her friend Amanda Evans, decided they would do their best to help struggling people in Drayton Valley.
Today, Warming Hearts is a space where people can come to eat, do laundry, shower, get some clothes, or relax in a warm building.
As a thank you to Forster for her efforts, the Homelessness and Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee had a surprise party for her on June 14. Several volunteers, clients, and funders were there to help her celebrate her success.
“I’m very humbled. [I] didn’t see it coming, but it means a lot from my volunteers and my family,” she says.
“We didn’t think it would last a month,” says Forster about first starting the kitchen. But now, she doesn’t think there is anything that could make her give it up.
The entire program is run by volunteers. Forster is at the building every day, as is Jordan Faunt, another volunteer. Several others rotate in and out as they are needed. Forster says the program’s 20 volunteers put in about 720 hours a month.
Currently, the program is offering breakfast and lunch for those in need. The food donations come from IGA and the Drayton Bakery, as well as other people who drop off items or funds.
While the program has been running for ten years, it wasn’t until recently that it had a place to call its own. In the past, Forster has run the program in the Legion and at the Life Church. Now they have a space in the building next to the bottle depot thanks to a provincial grant they received.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
Forster says there are more than 20 people who use the program right now, which is lower than it was before the evacuation. She says some people haven’t yet returned to the community.
Over the years, Forster estimates that she’s served tens of thousands of meals.
Helping her celebrate her achievement was one of her clients, John.
“She saved my life,” he says. “It helped me out quite a bit, actually.” When he was down on hard times, he says he wasn’t even aware of Warming Hearts at first.
“Sometimes I think we’re the best kept secret in the community,” says Forster.
John says that the program helped bring him out of his depression.
“I’m a firm believer that feeding a person a hot meal and giving them a warm bed at night will help.”
Volunteer Marguerite Geilen has only recently started with the program, but she says it’s been a rewarding experience. When she heard about it through her church, Geilen decided that since she was retired she could devote more of her time to helping others.
“It has opened up my eyes big time,” says Geilen. “I was raised quite sheltered, I guess.”
She says through her time with the program she’s felt herself developing more compassion, empathy, and love for everyone.
“I feel like we’re all just one bad decision or really hard trauma away from being in the same place,” says Amanda Dow, another volunteer. “It’s that easy. You can wake up to find out something happened that day and it’s all over.”
Dow says sometimes just a kind face can make a difference for those who are struggling.
Forster and the volunteers at the facility encourage people to come in and spend their time helping others. She says they are always open to having volunteers join the program.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
Last week, some parents from H.W. Pickup gathered to hear from Wild Rose School Division superintendent Brad Volkman and the board trustee for ward one, Daryl Scott, to get an update about the new Powerhouse Learning Campus.
Volkman told parents that students from H.W. Pickup and the Drayton Christian School could be in the new facility as early as Christmas, though the date isn’t written in stone.
“They don’t ever really give us a firm date,” says Volkman. Weather conditions or supply issues could still possibly cause delays, but they are hoping to move the schools over on Christmas break if possible.
Volkman had a list of questions that had been submitted to the division and answered them for all of the parents present. He then addressed the questions of those who were at the meeting.
One concern was about how the division was addressing the safety and security of the students. Volkman says designing schools can be challenging in that they want the building to be secure, but they don’t want it to feel like a prison for the kids. He says one additional feature for the school is a mechanism in the office that will allow staff to lock the outer doors of the school if needed.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
There will also be an elevator in the school to give easy access to both floors to those in wheelchairs. Volkman says there is an elevator in the Breton Elementary School that has worked well for those students.
He also advised that a staggered entry into the school was something being considered by the schools. Volkman pointed out the success of the staggered entries into Frank Maddock High School and H.W. Pickup as examples of where it has worked well. It’s also a possibility that some students who struggle with change will have the opportunity to tour the school before the year starts.
Another topic discussed was the bathrooms in the school, which Volkman said would have full doors like the ones used in Aurora Elementary and Evergreen Elementary. The bathrooms would also be gender-neutral, except for those in the DCS area, where they would likely be labeled.
Volkman also addressed concerns about non-secular students in the same school as secular students. “We’ve seen it work for years here in Drayton,” he says, referring to the Eldorado Elementary School shared with DCS.
He also spoke about the success of a similar situation in Rocky Mountain House at the West Central High School, which is shared with both St. Dominic’s High School and Red Deer College.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
Brazeau County residents with questions, kudos or concerns about the handling of the Buck Creek Fire will be able to have their say June 26. The County is hosting a public wildfire town hall meeting that evening at the Buck Creek Hall.
During the public input sessions at the two council meetings held since the evacuation order was lifted, residents have raised a number of issues. Those include concerns over who is responsible for clean up and remediation after the fire, the financial cost of firefighting and the way information was communicated to the public during the state of emergency.
The meeting is set to start at 6 pm. Beef on a bun will be served.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
Meanwhile firefighters continue to deal with hotspots and potential flare ups from the blaze. That work is expected to continue well into the fall.
The Pembina Complex fire continues to burn in the area north of the Brazeau Dam. The western portion of Brazeau County, including both Lodgepole and Cynthia, has been under an evacuation alert since last week. The weather forecast for the coming days calls for showers and cooler temperatures.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
There will be no DV100 Race or Ride this year. The annual event, which draws cyclists from across Alberta, had been set to go Saturday September 9.
On Tuesday morning organizers issued a statement saying the DV100 had been postponed, citing the current wildfire situation and the corresponding hazardous air quality.
“Our committee’s number one priority is the safety and well-being of our racers, volunteers and the overall community, and we firmly believe that cancelling this event is the best course of action at this time,” the group said.
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Before there were clubs, and ultra lounges there was the rural bar. The rural bar was a place people would go to have a drink, eat some food, get a bit of news and maybe even get a haircut. The rural bar was usually built alongside or attached to the lone hotel in the community. These were the first restaurants and live music venues and a place where the community could gather.
For our rural watering hole tour we dug up six watering holes in the Brazeau and Beyond region that hold historical significance for the communities they operate in.
Our tour begins at the Drayton Valley Hotel. The Drayton Valley Hotel was built in 1954. It was the anchor for what would become downtown Drayton Valley. Before the Derrick Lounge became a centerpiece of the Drayton Valley Hotel, there were many different shops that occupied the bottom floor of the building including Rexall Drugs, a menswear store, the Royal Bank of Canada and a cafe. The cafe was located on the storefront with the lounge located off the street in the back.
“I remember in 1999 you had to walk through the cafe to get to the lounge and it was draft for $1,” recalls resident Graham Long.
The Derrick Lounge, named in honour of the industry that gave rise to the development of Drayton Valley. This is a watering hole best known for its Friday night karaoke.
Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern, Entwistle
42 KM, 25 Minutes
Just 25 minutes drive, 42 kilometers north of Drayton Valley is the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern. The Iron Wheel is located in the heart of Entwistle. The Iron Wheel dates back to 1910 when the building was originally the Immigration Hall built near the Grand Trunk Railroad Station. Parts of the Grand Trunk bridge footings can still be seen at the Pembina River Provincial Park. When the “Moose” Munroe’s hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1919, his eye turned to the immigration hall which was no longer in use. Through a series of exchanges Munroe acquired the hall and began operating it as a hotel. In 1922 the hall was moved, in two parts, to the current location of the Iron Wheel Inn and Tavern where it remains to this day.
Gainford Hotel, Iron Lady Saloon, Gainford
15 KM, 9 minutes
Gainford is a tiny hamlet of 118 people in Parkland County. It is 86 km west of Edmonton on Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and 18 km from Entwistle. The Gainford Hotel first opened its doors to welcome guests in 1958. In those days hotel guests were seismic and construction crews working in the area. As things changed the hotel became a stomping ground for university students heading out to Seba Beach for a hot summer weekend. The hotel closed in 2013 only to be revived a decade later. In 2023 the Iron Lady Saloon and Java and Gem Get Stuffed Restaurant opened their doors. The inside has a distinct western feel. There’s a traditional dark wood bar and billiards. Stuffed coyotes, lynx, rabbits, owls, and hawks still decorate the tavern walls from days gone by.
The Iron Lady Saloon is known for various Saturday night live music events.
Doggone Saloon, Tomahawk
25 KM, 17 minutes
Just a 17 minute drive from Gainford is the hamlet of Tomahawk. If you are looking for a rural watering hole experience this is as rural as it comes. The history of Tomahawk dates back to 1902. With the first mention of a hotel and cafe dating back 1909. The “Last Chance Cafe” was owned by John Kelly; it was described as a “shack right in the road,” by Mrs. Kelly in Tomahawk Trails. The cafe became known as the Last Chance Hotel. “Meals at all hours, people stayed there when they could stay at no place else. The door was open day or night whether he [Kelly] was home or not and people stayed as long as they wanted to,” Mrs. Kelly wrote. The hospitality in the area now belongs to the Doggone Saloon, in the middle of Tomahawk. The saloon is still a favorite stop for travelers passing by. Throughout the summer months motorcyclists riding Alberta’s scenic rural roads will stop off at the saloon for the patio and a refreshment.
The Village Golf Course, Lindale
21km 15 min
Honorable Mention: The lounge at the Village Golf Course is another stop you can add to your rural bar tour. The lounge is connected to the hotel and club house for the Village Golf Course. The lounge offers beverages and a food full menu.
The Breton Hotel and Bar, Breton
32 KM, 22 minutes
The Breton Hotel and Bar was built five years after the Lacome and Northwestern Railway came to the community. The hotel was built by William Spindler in 1931. In those days, like many other rural hotels and bars the Breton Hotel and Bar also had a barber shop. The decades that followed the 1930s, the bar had two entrances: one each for men and women. Over the years the hotel and bar was bought and sold many times with each new owner adding to or changing the design of the building. Joe and Katie Eluik purchased the hotel in 1964, at this time draft beer sold for 10 cents a glass, bottled beer was 30 cents and a case of beer could be bought for $2.50. The prices are not the only changes that happened, the separate entrances are no longer used, and the peaked roof in the original design has been redesigned as a flat top.
The Breton Hotel and Bar is still a fixture in downtown Breton.
Drayton’s Restaurant and Sports Lounge, Drayton Valley
48 KM, 34 minutes
Honorable Mention: As you meander back to Drayton Valley the Sports Lounge, attached to Drayton’s Restaurant is a worthy stop of this rural watering hole tour. The sports lounge has a distinct small town feel with billiards, friendly staff and a diverse menu. This is a place where you can unwind in the heart of Drayton Valley.
From the Sports Lounge you are just a block away from where you started at the Drayton Valley Hotel.
The old hotels, and bars that pepper our rural communities are linked to how the communities developed, and socialized in the down time between farming seasons, or at the end of a hard work day. They have a unique history that has evolved with the community and share in the community’s past and future.
Drayton Valley’s River Valley Players provided two well produced showcases for our local talent last weekend. Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 junior and adult showcases were held the afternoon and evening of September 21 on the Pembina Stage of Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre in downtown Drayton Valley. The performances all benefited from full light and sound and the volunteer stage hands’ efficient handling of set changes.
Master of Ceremonies Leah Sanderson kept the evening on track and filled the space between acts with pleasant patter and some observational humour. Several rounds of “Happy Birthday to You” honoured those celebrating their special day.
With the last performer off stage, judge’s score sheets tabulated and result envelopes in the MC’s hand, audience drumrolls raised tension in the theatre as the winners were announced. The Junior results put Ella Rae’s performance of the Haley Joelle song, “Memory Lane” in third, Dandaline and Delilah Dusterhoft’s dance to “Daylight” in second, and the ventriloquism of Taylor Holman and her humourous puppets Rose, Grandma, a dog and a wise cracking, bacon loving goose first place. An audience favourite, Ms Holman’s performance sparkled with wit and laughs as her polished style and technique belied her years.
The adult category results placed Elvis performer Dustin Giesbrecht’s tribute to “Burning Love”, in third, and a performance of Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around” by Levi Eshleman in second. First place was awarded to an accomplished performance of the Liz Callaway song “Once Upon a December” from the Disney movie Anastasia. Claire Williams sung it with a sureness, intonation and presence that earned her the top spot.
Ayla Gartner, Ricky Bazar, John Dempster, and Melissa Wolf judged the performances. They were supportive and encouraging of the performers’ efforts and offered positive comments and suggested areas for growth.
Ashley Luckwell of RVP was grateful to the many local sponsors that made Drayton Valley Has Talent 2024 possible. “Being able to have two shows and have close to a full house in each meant we didn’t have to turn anyone away, audience or performers. It was wonderful!”
She was pleased with the generous spirit of the two audiences the showcase attracted and the great support they too gave to the junior and adult performers. “The audience’s support for the performers was amazing, very moving”, Luckwell commented. The audience came to the aid in a few performer’s faltering moments with cheers, applause and encouraging words.
Students may have a different learning experience this year after the Alberta Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, made the call to ban cell phones in schools.
Brad Volkman, the superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, says schools have until 2025 to create a policy regarding cell phone use, but they have to start implementing the ban in September.
Volkman says that for many schools, a ban on cell phones is business as usual.
“Quite frankly, many of our schools have already been doing that for years,” says Volkman.
However, cell phone policies have been left to individual schools to plan and implement. Now, the division itself needs to have something in place.
Volkman says division staff met with school staff to review the policy before the school year. He says the major points were that cell phones could not be used during learning time with the exception of those who have learning or medical needs that require the phones.
Right now, WRSD is using the time given to create their policy to test out different ways of implementing it and enforcing the rules. Each school is putting their own policies in place for the first month. After getting feedback from school staff, parents, and students, the division will be able to put together something that is effective and practical.
He says each school has a different approach to dealing with the phones. One approach requires students to leave their phones at the front of the classroom during instruction time. In some schools, students are required to leave their phones in their backpacks, or in others, teachers will confiscate phones if they catch their students using them.
“What we realized, and there is some research on this, is that we’ve got students that are probably addicted to their phone,” says Volkman. “The minute [the phones] buzz they have to look.”
Another important part of the ban on cell phones is also a ban on social media in the schools. The Minister’s directive doesn’t establish whether all social media needs to be blocked, or if it only applies to certain sites.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to the school division to decide which sites need to be blocked. They didn’t give us a list,” says Volkman.
Another area of the Minister’s order that isn’t very clear has to do with blocking the social media school-wide. The division is able to block the sites through their wifi, but they can’t block the sites for students who have data plans on their phones.
“The Minister’s Order doesn’t address that,” says Volkman. “The Minister’s Order says they can’t use their mobile devices during instructional time and it says that the networks that they connect to must block social media. But it doesn’t address anything around kids using their own data plans during breaks to access social media.”
Volkman says the division has been doing its best to implement the order while figuring out how to handle the effects that some of those implementations have had.
Right now, students are blocked from accessing social media via the school’s network. However, the staff are also blocked. This means that staff cannot use social media to update parents or advertise for upcoming events. As it stands, the division is unable to specify who may have access to social media and which social media needs to be blocked.
He says the division is working to find a way that will allow staff to communicate with parents and students while adhering to the Minister’s ban.
Volkman says the division’s policy will outline a progressive disciplinary plan for any infractions with cell phone use. He says it’s the same way they ask all of their schools to deal with transgressions.
“This will be no different than any other school policy or school rule,” he says. “You start easy, with understanding, grace, and education… but you do have to have a progressive style approach.”
Volkman says the goal is to have a draft put together by mid-October for stakeholders to review in November. In December, they will be putting the final touches on the policy so it is ready to be rolled out in the new year.
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A Court of King’s Bench Justice has outlined her reasons for convicting a woman of manslaughter in an incident that happened in the Breton area.
Bronwyn Hannah Jane Luckham was convicted in April of this year on charges relating to the death of Jonathan James Paul in 2021. Last week Justice Tamara Friesen released written reasons for her decision, which she said might be useful to the Crown and defence when preparing arguments prior to sentencing.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Monday August 30 2021 a man was dropped off at the Drayton Valley hospital suffering from serious injuries, from which he later died. The victim was able to provide some information prior to his death, saying that he had been hit by a vehicle. He was identified as Jonathan James Paul, 40, of Calgary.
At trial Friesen heard evidence that Paul had been in a relationship with Luckham. The pair were both working at a rural acreage near Breton. The Crown alleged that Luckham was angry with Paul for a variety of reasons, both business and personal. The prosecution argued that Luckham deliberately struck Paul with a Dodge Durango intending to kill him, “or in the alternative, intending to cause him bodily harm that she knew was so serious and dangerous he would likely die of his injuries, thus committing either murder or manslaughter.”
Meanwhile Luckham said that she was under duress at the time and had been trying to escape from Paul who had subjected her to an escalating cycle of abuse.
After hearing the evidence, Friesen found Luckham not guilty of second degree murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Under Canadian law manslaughter occurs where a person causes the death of another human being “by means of an unlawful act” or “by criminal negligence.”
At trial the court heard from several witnesses, including Luckham, who testified on her own behalf. There was also video evidence from motion activated cameras at the scene. Part of that video, as described by Justice Friesen, showed Paul rolling on the ground as the Durango drove over him.
Luckham and Paul had been involved in an altercation and the hood of the Durango was up at the time.
Defence counsel argued that it was necessary for Luckham to step on the accelerator and drive the way she did because she was trying to escape from Paul and thought her life was in danger.
Friesen noted that “a reasonable driver in the same circumstances as Luckham would not have started the SUV and then pressed down on the accelerator while the hood was up, visibility was poor, and they knew, at a minimum, that another person was in front of, or close to, the path of the SUV.”
“When she struck Paul, Luckham’s manner of driving was therefore a marked departure from the standard of care a reasonable driver would have observed in the same or similar circumstances,” wrote Friesen.
“I find Luckham’s behaviour in failing to provide adequate support and assistance to Paul while he lay in the grass screaming in agony to be morally reprehensible. The surveillance videos are extremely disturbing. However … I accept that neither Luckham nor Paul thought Paul was going to die from his injuries.”
Friesen also noted that Luckham had ultimately assisted Paul in getting into a vehicle, had driven him to the Drayton Valley Hospital and followed up with the hospital to ensure they knew he was there and would assist him.
“The facts established that Luckham’s dangerous driving …, combined with the objective foreseeability that the risk of bodily harm to Paul was neither trivial nor transitory, resulted in his death,” she concluded. “The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that … Luckham committed the offence of unlawful act of manslaughter.”
Though he’s new to the official title, the new Staff Sergeant for the Drayton Valley detachment is a familiar face.
Ryan Hoetmer was first stationed in Drayton Valley in 2017 as a corporal overseeing the three man general investigation section (GIS) for the detachment. Prior to his transfer to Drayton Valley, Hoetmer was working in Grande Prairie as part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) task force, dealing with organized crime and drug trafficking.
In February of 2022, Hoetmer was promoted to Sergeant. When Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews retired, Hoetmer stepped up to be the acting Staff Sergeant. Then, when Staff Sergeant Troy Raddatz retired, Hoetmer once again filled the role.
He was officially given the title on a permanent basis at the beginning of August.
“I’ve been active in this role since April,” he says. “I’ve sat in this seat a fair amount since I became Sergeant.”
Hoetmer says he and his family like Drayton Valley, and the initial draw was that he grew up in the area.
“I grew up just outside of Rocky Mountain House,” he says.
Both his parents and his wife’s parents are still close by, and they wanted to be closer to them.
Hoetmer has five kids, and throughout the seven years they’ve been in the community, the whole family has made connections and friendships that are important to them. Their youngest child, who is seven-years-old, was born shortly before they moved to Drayton and his oldest recently graduated.
“This really has become home for them,” he says. “And it’s become home for [me and my wife], too.”
He says he and his wife are happy with the community and feel it’s a great place to raise their family. The natural landscape of the area makes it easy for them to pursue some of their favourite pastimes like fishing, hunting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Hoetmer says another important aspect of Drayton Valley is that it’s not a violent community. He says he’s lived in other places where that was not the case and he appreciates that about the area.
Hoetmer says he has some goals that he would like to achieve in his new position. He says community engagement is a big priority for him and he wants to continue in the direction that the detachment has been for the past few years with that.
“I’m connected to the community through several facets with my kids,” says Hoetmer. “You know, hockey, school sports, dance, music, and I think that’s really important to connect to the community.”
He says he’s been encouraging the members at the detachment to go out and form those connections as well. The detachment has some soccer and basketball coaches and he wants to continue to push that mentality.
“Not just in organized events, but I want our membership to get out and get involved in the community in other ways as well,” he says.
Hoetmer says being out in the community works in two ways. Not only do residents become familiar with the officers, but it also allows them to see a side of the community that they don’t normally work with.
“Often, when you’re policing, you deal with the dark side of the community,” he says. “If you don’t connect with the community on a different level you get a very jaded look at it.”
Another priority will be to focus on prolific offenders. Hoetmer says his background with GIS and dealing with prolific offenders and drug trafficking will help in that area.
“We’re going to continue to drive that,” he says. “…We don’t really have violent crime, but we do have a property crime issue. It’s gotten a lot better since I first came here in 2017.”
He says the ultimate goal for property crime is zero incidents. While he knows they’re unlikely to hit that target, they are always aiming for it.
“The goal would be that you could get out anywhere and leave your vehicle running and it doesn’t go missing,” he says. “We’re not there and we shouldn’t be doing that, but that is the ultimate goal.”
Hoetmer says he also wants to prioritize taking care of the membership. He says with his position, he’s not out in the field, so he wants to provide them as much support as he can.
“I have to provide the support that the guys and the gals on the floor need to do their job,” he says.
With that in mind, he’s going to continue to push for a new building as Raddatz was.
“My father-in-law worked out of this building from 1989 to 1996,” he says.
Along with his goals with the detachment, Hoetmer says the RCMP will also be working more closely with the Community Peace Officers in Drayton Valley and in Brazeau County.
The new training officer for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services comes to the position with a background in the military.
Matthew Noad started with the department at the beginning of June after relocating from Cold Lake’s military base.
Noad says he started working in fire services when he was 18 in Magrath, south of Lethbridge.
“I started fire fighting about as soon as I could,” says Noad.
He says during his time in Magrath, he worked with another man who had worked as a firefighter for the Canadian Military.
“I didn’t even know that there was firefighters in the military,” says Noad.
Noad started with the military in 2018 and completed basic training as well as some firefighter training in Borden, Ontario. Once that was done, he was stationed in Cold Lake.
Military firefighters are mostly stationed at the air force bases in Canada, says Noad, although the Edmonton Army Base also has military firefighters. The rest of the bases have firefighters under National Defence rather than the military.
The firefighters are responsible for the structures and personnel on the base, as well as the aircrafts. He says other than dealing with aircraft, most of the training that they receive is the same that an on-call volunteer would receive at a municipal fire department.
“We kind of become their insurance policy in a sense,” says Noad. “We’re the ones protecting it from fire and damage.”
He says they were basically trained in airport firefighting, which isn’t as much of an issue in Drayton. However, Noad didn’t spend a lot of time dealing with wildfires at the base, so he will also be learning some things during his time here.
After six years working mostly in Cold Lake as a training officer, Noad says he decided to go with a change of direction in his firefighting career. He says he saw the opportunity in Drayton Valley and was excited by the prospects.
Noad says working in Alberta was what he had preferred, having spent most of his life in the province. However, one of the perks of the community was that it was closer to the mountains than Cold Lake was, and his wife has some family in the area.
“I’m actually super excited to be here,” says Noad. “I’m excited to be working with such a committed group of volunteers and full-time staff.”
He says he was impressed watching the dedication the department had to looking out for the County and the Town during the wildfire season in 2023.
“That was one of the driving forces that brought me here,” he says. “There’s such a dedicated group of individuals that sacrificed their own time to be there for people on their worst days. With the extreme conditions that they were in, they did an excellent job with what they had.”
Noad says he highly encourages anyone who is interested in giving back to their community to apply to be a volunteer firefighter. Their next training recruitment is in the fall, but they accept applications throughout.
Anyone who is interested in applying can visit the Town office for an application or call the department at 780-514-2216.
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Along with the direct threat from the fires, poor air quality makes physical exertion potentially dangerous, even to those without an underlying health condition. The DV100 follows a 100 kilometre loop heading west from Drayton Valley and travelling through both Lodgepole and Cynthia. That part of Brazeau County is potentially threatened by the Pembina Complex Fire, which is likely to continue to cause challenges in the area well into the fall.
Organizers say they will be issuing refunds to those who have already signed up for the DV100 in due course.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
She says they have noticed that some people have donated clothing items by leaving them in a park for someone to find. But she says this isn’t a very practical way to get the items to those who need them. “All it takes is a snowfall or rainfall and those items get wet and frozen and are no good to anyone,” she says. The preference is to have the items donated to them so they can see them properly distributed.
In the past, clients were able to cook some food for themselves when they used the mat service. However, Covid has made that difficult, and right now the clients are not allowed to use the kitchen. Hickman says donations of home cooked meals or baked goods also can’t be accepted because of government policies.
What they do instead of the meals, says Hickman, is put together a bag of snacks for their clients. This might include fruit cups, granola bars, puddings, hardy fruit like apples or oranges, and other similar items. She says if someone would like to donate those types of food, they would be able to use them.
Hickman says other items to consider are things like laundry soap, feminine hygiene products, and thermos’ with a good seal on them.
Five teams leave league
The Alberta Junior Hockey League is now an 11 team organization. The defection of five breakaway teams to the British Columbia Hockey League was confirmed last week.
“We are disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series,” the AJHL said in a statement.
Firefighters recognized for service
Five active members and two retired members of Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services were awarded the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Governor General on November 26.
Mom shares tragic story
On June 5, 2011, her son Colin Stewart, better known as Mouse, went to work in the morning, but didn’t come home in the evening.
Name recognizes local history
A historic landmark only officially recognized in 2017 will now have a street named after it.
