Plans to bring a treatment and recovery centre to Drayton Valley took a step forward this week. If all goes well the facility could open its doors this summer.
Opportunity Home will offer a 90-day program aimed at providing a safe and clean place for people to go through recovery from addictions and prepare for reintroduction into society. The project is being spearheaded by a group of local business people who saw the need and wanted to do something to help those struggling with substance abuse.
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“We aim to put a roof over someone’s head who’s battling addictions,” says the group’s vice president Jennifer Winter. “We want to give them skills and help them assimilate back into society.”
The concept is based on a similar program, known as Freedom’s Door, that has been successfully operating in Kelowna for close to 20 years. It will offer a faith-based program out of a facility to be located 5219, 53 Avenue, close to downtown Drayton Valley. On Wednesday town council unanimously approved a rezoning application for the property. There were no concerns raised at a public hearing prior to the rezoning. RCMP Staff Sgt. Erin Matthews, who was at the meeting to deliver her regular update to council, said she believed that a facility like this would have a positive impact on those in the community who were dealing with addiction.
“I think this is a great opportunity, no pun intended, for Drayton Valley,” she said. “This is definitely something that’s needed.”
Businesses will see some changes to the local Rural Renewal Stream program come into effect on November 13.
The program, offered through the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, allows business owners to bring in skilled workers from outside of the province or country. It also allows business owners who employ staff on a Temporary Work Visa to endorse them for permanent residency through the program.
At the October 30 town council meeting, Kundiso Nyambirai, the growth services manager, explained that they had 300 applications that they were reviewing. Between March 2023 and August 2024, the Town had endorsed 200 of those applications for consideration to the Province.
Nyambirai explained that the Province has now put a system into place to make it easier to sort through the applications on their end.
The points based system gives a better idea of which applications are most likely to be considered or approved for those municipalities endorsing them. Nyambirai says his department is reviewing the applications to see which ones would have enough points to be considered by the Province.
However, the Province is limited in the number of applications that it can put through. There are more than 70 municipalities and districts participating in the program, and the Province only has 1,900 spots they can approve in 2024.
“We are over-subscribing,” says Nyambirai. “We are endorsing 200 plus people.”
In August, the Town decided to make some changes to the way that the program would work in the community. This included limiting the number of applications to 100 each year, while also limiting the number of applications a business can submit to five. Nyambirai also suggested that limiting applications to workers who already resided in the community could help to ensure that the Town does have housing available for these applicants.
Nyambirai says the Province is currently sorting through 1,000 applications to decide on the remaining spots for the year. Councillor Monika Sherriffs agreed that the Town is sending in a higher than average amount of endorsements, stating that if there are 1,000 being considered and Drayton Valley has sent in 200, then we would be sending in many more applications than other municipalities.
Councillor Amila Gammana disagreed, saying that he believed other communities are likely doing the same. He says the real question is how many of those endorsements are receiving approval from the Province.
Nyambirai says that the municipalities are not made aware of which endorsements are approved. He says that looking into that number by contacting applicants would be very time consuming, so they cannot be sure how many of Drayton Valley’s businesses’ applications have been accepted for the program.
Five creative ways to use print advertising to supercharge your business
Sponsored Content
In the age where there’s a constant drive for more and more content, coming up with ideas of how to promote your business can become a full time job on its own. I mean – you signed up to be a business owner right? Not a videographer, copywriter, or graphic designer. The good news is print advertising works differently from the social platforms that have you constantly chasing the next batch of likes and shares.
Print advertising with your local newspaper gets you off the hamster wheel and connects you with a copywriter, graphic designer, and an ad planner who are actually interested in learning the ins and outs of your business. This person or people will work with you to generate creative ideas within your marketing budget. With their help you can get your creative juices flowing again and find ways to not just push content but to craft creative content that will be seen and prompts action.
Print ads are consumed like fine wine. Readers look at print ads longer and deeper than they do the disruptive advertising found on other media platforms. Tell me in the last time that you’ve binge scrolled your social media feeds – How many ads do you actually remember seeing? I am betting, not many.
Print ads are non-disruptive content for newspaper readers and therefore get the attention they truly deserve. They have a longer lasting impact for readers, and after all, deepening the relationship with customers is really what you are looking to do.
So here are some ways you can position your local business with print advertising.
- Thought leadership: Be a thought leader in the regional landscape of your industry. Use an ad space for how-to content, data presentation on regional trends. Newspaper readers are readers and so are more likely to read long form advertisements with interesting information. You can reuse this information on your website blogs, social platforms, podcasts and the like.
- Be action oriented: Ads are there to move the needle forward. A call to action can be as simple as moving an interested person from the print ad to “Check out our online store” – print to digital is easy to do in both the print and digital formats of your local newspaper. Using click through options and QR codes to specific URLs makes the cross over from print to digital platforms seamless.
- Event marketing: Discovering local events in the community newspaper is one of the top interest points for local readers. But don’t just churn out a generic “Come to our event”. Remember our readers enjoy spending time with the paper. Capitalize on that. When you advertise an event in the newspaper you have an opportunity to make an intimate connection so don’t treat it like a fly by night ad. Make it engaging, personal, and relevant.
- Coupons and promotions: If you are a retailer or a restaurant that has deals and promotions, newspaper readers take notice! Not only does the use of coupons help you track the effectiveness of your ad it also gets people in the door where you can start to deepen your client relationship.
- Minimize or maximize. When people book a print ad they tend to want to throw everything into it. This creates a cluttered, hard to read ad. Instead take the space to promote your one product or service that tends to get people in the door, then cross promote once you are in contact with your prospective client. Alternatively you can also use the space to create an organized product catalogue, or flier page that showcases a number of products but in an organized and thematic fashion.
By contacting your local newspaper you don’t just get an ad, you expand your marketing team exponentially. You get access to our professionals and we help you to figure out the direction you are looking to go with your business.
Hard work and heritage reflected in 4-H
One local youth has seen his hard work with 4-H pay off after being selected as one of 12 youth to show their steers at the 2025 Calgary Stampede Junior Steer Classic.
Hunter Harris is a third generation 4-H member and has been part of the organization since he was 12 years old. Not only does he show cattle for 4-H, he’s also been entering open shows for the past two years. He says showing cattle is just a natural extension of his life as the son and grandson of farmers.
“I think it’s really important to know where your food comes from and I really enjoy showing,” says Harris. He says he also feels like he’s staying true to his heritage working in agriculture, which he is something he is proud of and wants to continue doing.
As an ambassador, Harris got his choice of steer from the OH Ranch this month. At the next Calgary Stampede, he will bring that steer back to show in the Calgary Stampede Junior Steer Classic under a special category for OH Beef.
He says being chosen as an ambassador is an honour and he’s excited to use the opportunity to help educate people about the importance of the industry.
“I think it means putting myself out there and trying to put out a positive image for both the Calgary Stampede and the beef industry as a whole,” says Harris. “As an ambassador, I feel I have the responsibility to try and promote the show world, the beef industry, and this way of life as much as I can.”
Beef showing a competitive sport
He says there is a lot of work that goes into showing and that he considers it a competitive sport, no different than horse showing or dog showing. Each year, Harris works with the steer or heifer he’s chosen. He’s responsible for feeding it, grooming it, and training it, which means spending time with it nearly every day for more than half a year.
“You’ve got to put in a ton of time. You have to be able to halter break it and get it tame,” says Harris. “There’s a process of training it to stand a certain way, how to respond to certain cues when you’re pulling on their halter, and how they should lead and behave in the show ring.”
It’s also important to put time into research about the proper feed for the steer. Harris says the type of food they are fed will greatly impact the standing in competition as well as the sale of the steer for butcher. He says there is a certain balance between fat and muscle that needs to be kept to make good meat.
At the show, all of the cattle get a fitting from the competitors to make sure they look their best when in the ring.
“It’s kind of like hairstyling, but for cows, in a sense,” he says.
Fitting involves cleaning the cow, blow drying them, clipping them, brushing tufts and styling them in certain ways to make the cow look its best in the show.
“It kind of brings out the best traits in them so they look like a better market animal,” he says.
Harris says he plans to attend more open shows this year and hopefully have the opportunity to help educate people about the industry. In the past, he’s spoken with young spectators at events who come up to see his cow and shared a little bit about the importance of the event.
“I just wanted to make sure they were enjoying themselves and that they learned something,” says Harris. “The ladies that were showing [the children] around were learning stuff, too. I think it’s really important to try and connect with everyone on all levels and tell them what an amazing sport it is and how important it is.”
He says that sometimes it can be sad to see the cow go after working with it for so long. But Harris says it’s important for him to remember why he is doing it in the first place, and that families will be fed well because of his efforts.
While Harris is still contemplating what the future could hold for himself in terms of a career, he’s pretty certain that he will likely end up working with cattle and in the agriculture industry. He’s already been working on building up his own herd with his time and money, and a little bit of help from his family. He feels that this will give him a headstart in life and also makes a good choice as an ambassador.
“My parents have been extremely supportive of it, and they’ve helped me out a ton,” he says.
Harris believes his experience in working with his herd makes him more knowledgeable about the industry. He’s been learning about the traditions and the work that goes into maintaining a herd, including breeding, feeding, and the general well-being of the animals.
“I think that makes me a better showman and in a better position to be an ambassador,” he says.
Those who wish to know how Harris’ steer holds up to the other 11 ambassadors will have to wait until the July 2025 Calgary Stampede or hope to catch him at one of the several shows he plans to attend.
Volleyball comes home to Tomahawk
Tomahawk to receive a $1 million dollar upgrade
For the first time ever, the Tomahawk School volleyball team was able to host a home game thanks to their new gym.
Tracey Gilmour, the new principal for the school, says the new gym was a $1 million project. It was started last May and was finally finished on October 16, hours before their opening game.
“They were bringing the scissor lift out as we brought in the net,” says Gilmour.
The Timberwolves went on to win their first home game against the Muir Lake Mustangs.
“They were a little bit worried that actually performing at home would put some pressure on them,” says Gilmour. “But they did great.”
“I was very nervous and excited at the same time,” says Layla Chausse, one of the Timberwolves.
Team practice was a challenge in the past
While the school has always had team sports, Gilmour says it’s been a challenge for the teams to practice, and they’ve never been able to host a game before. The size of the gym wasn’t necessarily the problem. The issue was a large stage that took up about a third of the space in the room.
Gilmour says the stage made it difficult for the students to play any type of sports in the gym. She says small games could work, but a full sized game wasn’t possible.
The previous principal, Fran Bell, really advocated for the students saying they should have equal opportunities to access sports and extracurriculars.
“Parkland School Division stepped up and made that investment in our school,” says Gilmour.
After years of playing away games, the team was happy to finally get to play on their home turf.
“It was really nice to play in the gym for the first time,” says Josie Woodruff, one of the players. “We’re especially grateful to be able to play a home game.” She says their team has never had the opportunity to play in a new gym before.
The fact that they were the very first people to use the gym was something the team enjoyed, as well.
Strocher says winning is just icing on the cake
“We were really excited to have our first home game and be the first ones to play in that gym,” says Isabelle Strocher. She says winning that first game was just icing on the cake.
Up until the home opener, the girls had been practicing outside on a paved area near the school. Gilmour says it hasn’t been easy for the team, but they persevered, and had won every single game going into the home opener.
“Honestly, I think what got them through was their amazing team spirit,” says Gilmour. “I’ve never seen anything like it. They’re so supportive of each other.”
That team spirit has helped the Timberwolves make it into the playoffs this year.
“We’ve finished our placement games,” says Judith Munch. “Now we just have playoffs, and we’re hoping to host one, too.”
Meeting calls for change in town
Members of business community voice concerns over local issues
Some local businesses gathered last week to voice concerns, propose possible solutions, and brainstorm a presentation to put before town council.
Erik Bergen, one of the owners of the Drayton Valley Bakery, held a meeting on October 9 and invited all businesses in the community to come out. Bergen wanted to hear their thoughts on three specific topics: homelessness, essential service administration and the Town’s free enterprise policy.
Bergen says the idea about having a presentation has been on his mind for several months. He says he’s spoken to many business owners who feel frustrated with the Town and the direction council is taking. However, he says he felt that if everybody only talked about it and no one went to the town, nothing would get accomplished.
Along with business owners, the organizers of Warming Hearts and members of the public attended the event.
Homelessness and franchises stir debate
Bergen prepared a presentation for the event, and reviewed it several times as people came and went as they were able. He also had a petition available for attendees to sign.
As he went over his presentation, Bergen says it was difficult to focus on the problems and solutions rather than opinions.
“It did derail a little bit, just because of the opposite points of view, especially regarding the homeless,” he says.
There were some attendees who viewed the homeless issue from a more humanitarian point of view and others that felt a heavier hand was needed. But Bergen says it’s important to
remember that not all homeless people are causing the issue. There are some individuals who are making it difficult for everyone.
“I don’t want to group all people into one basket,” says Bergen. “There are people who are homeless because their house burned down or were dealt a bad hand.”
Another topic that brought up differing opinions was new franchises coming into the community. In his presentation, Bergen argued that by simply leaving the door open for any new businesses in the community, council was putting a strain on businesses that were already established.
According to Bergen, there is about one restaurant (or registered kitchen) for every 95 people in the community. There are more than eight liquor stores and six cannabis stores, 12 pizza places and more than one of some franchises.
He believes that a lack of direction from council in this matter is making it difficult for businesses to do well. Bergen says his concern is protecting the current businesses that the town already has in place and allow them to flourish.
“A lot of these restaurant owners say that they’re one franchise away from closing their doors,” says Bergen.
Town services and the need for improvement
Bergen says that many people have also noticed a disparity in the services the Town offers the community. For example, there are a number of different “nice” things the Town has spent money on like the pumptrack, disc golf, the pool etc. However, there are some struggles with providing basic services such as regular road maintenance, weed control and pest management.
“Maybe they are doing the best they can do, or maybe they got pushed to the back burner,” says Bergen.
He says that he got a lot of feedback from those who attended the meeting. As it was his first time attempting anything like this, there was a learning curve and Bergen says he’s looking forward to making improvements at another meeting that will be held at the beginning of November.
Bergen’s plan is to present a list of complaints with possible solutions to council in November.
Town changing Facility Code of Conduct
The Town is making some changes to its Facility Code of Conduct in an effort to ensure its facilities aren’t being misused.
Cody Rossing, the manager of enforcement and emergency management, presented council with a proposed amendment to the Code of Conduct. Rossing says the Code of Conduct was put in place in August 2016. Since council expressed concern surrounding enforcement of removing homeless individuals from the Civic Centre vestibule, administration reviewed the code and came up with some suggestions.
Rossing says there are several different prohibitions that were not included in the original Code of Conduct. Most of the changes were stronger wording surrounding loitering and failing to comply with signage. While the original code prohibited smoking, it did not mention vaping, so Rossing says they have changed that.
The wording surrounding service animals was also changed to match provincial law.
The proposed changes also give more power to facility managers when it comes to banning individuals from Town facilities. They will be able to ban individuals for up to seven days. General managers and peace officers will also be able to suspend someone for up to six months. CAOs will be able to ban someone for more than six months if necessary.
“It’s putting in those different layers so the CAO isn’t involved in everything,” says Rossing.
He says there are also changes to wording surrounding the appeals process of someone who has been banned for more than 24 hours.
“And it clarifies that if someone is contravening their suspension or expulsion, then they are considered trespassing and law enforcement will be made aware for further actions,” says Rossing.
Councillor Colin Clarke raised concerns about the bans, asking if a ban from Town facilities meant all Town-owned buildings, even if there were tennants operating out of some of them. He says he worried that banning someone from the Omniplex might affect their ability to go to the Food Bank or other necessary services.
Hans van Klaveren, the acting CAO, says that typically the operator is setting those guidelines or rules for their building.
Councillor Tom McGee also spoke about the Warming Hearts Centre as the Town helps to fund the rent for the facility through grants.
In the end, it was decided that if a tenant wanted to have someone trespassed, they would contact Rossing and it would be treated like other businesses in the community. Their bans will only apply to Town owned and operated facilities.
“I’m glad to see we’re addressing this and putting the structure in place to give you the tools to do something about it,” says Councillor Rick Evans.
“I think that, in the end, our residents are going to appreciate our efforts to make the use of our facilities more enjoyable and safe, ultimately.”
Opportunity Home will provide housing and hot meals along with skills training and mental and physiological support to those recovering from addictions.
The aim is for renovations to the building to begin shortly while the group looks for an executive director to oversee the day to day operations, says Art Frey, who has been involved in developing the concept of Opportunity Home and is now focussed on bringing it to reality as the organization’s president.
While the work involved is sometimes daunting, Frey says the group is committed to finding solutions to any challenges that may arise.
“If you help one person out of addiction you’ve been successful,” he says.
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 question of whether a person should celebrate their father all year round or on one particular day has been answered for a local family.
On March 18, 2023, the Mockerman family’s lives took a drastic turn when Rob Mockerman was involved in an accident that left him with second and third degree burns to more than 85 percent of his body.
At 5:30 that evening, while his wife Trish and six-year-old son Aden were inside their house near Buck Creek cooking dinner, Mockerman went to his shop to give a tune up to a recently purchased snowmobile.
“We’d just got a new-to-us skidoo from a guy in Edmonton,” says Mockerman. Both he and Aden were excited to go try it out.
Unbeknownst to Mockerman, there was a fuel leak in the machine. When he first started the engine, it caught on fire. At first Mockerman tried to get the machine out of his shop, which held close to a million dollars worth of tools and equipment.
When it became clear that wouldn’t work, Mockerman tried to put the fire out as best as he could. Finally, he decided to make a run for his fire extinguisher.
“I got half way across the shop when the skidoo blew up,” says Mockerman.
From that point on, Mockerman’s memory of the incident is limited. He says he remembers looking for a way out, and that he could only see a tiny little spot.
Trish says she saw the smoke through the bedroom window and told Aden that she had to go see what his dad was doing.
“Once it came across the floor and up the door frame it was too much for me,” says Trish.
“I made sure she dialed 911,” says Aden.
Once Mockerman made it outside, Trish tackled him to the ground, hoping the snow would help put out the flames. He got up again at that point and ran past the deck, where Aden was watching the commotion, before falling into the snow again.
Trish made all the necessary phone calls and soon the ambulance arrived. She’d also reached out to Mockerman’s parents, asking to speak to Ernie so she didn’t have to upset Alice, as well as his estranged brother Randy. Once the paramedics arrived, it became clear that STARS was needed.
Both Ernie and Alice had arrived at Mockerman’s place before he was airlifted to the hospital.
“I don’t remember much, but I just remember that as STARS was flying away, I was blowing kisses at the helicopter and praying with tears just running down my cheeks,” says Alice.
Ernie says the person that he saw lying on the gurney did not in any way resemble his son. Mockerman asked the paramedics to keep his mom away because he didn’t want her to see him like that.
“It was a nightmare,” says Alice. “It was the worst nightmare that I’ve ever had.”
Eleven minutes after the helicopter arrived, Mockerman was in Edmonton at the burn unit in the University of Alberta hospital.
Upon arrival in Edmonton, Mockerman flatlined for the first time. Before he was stable, Mockerman died two more times in the hospital. For three months, he was in a coma.
He says he has little recollection of the time when he was in the coma other than he had vivid night terrors for the duration of it. A recent trip through Breton gave him an anxiety attack when he recognized a building that had been in one of those nightmares.
Meanwhile, doctors and nurses went to work debriding the dead tissue on his body.
“I remember waking up once in the middle of it,” he says. “That’s not a fun experience. I realized at that point in time that I was in trouble.”
During his time in the hospital, Mockerman’s family came to see him every weekend without fail. Even Aden made the trip with them, though he didn’t always go inside to see his dad after his first experience seeing Mockerman didn’t go well.
“It was hot in there. I was cooking,” says Aden. Trish recognized that he was about to faint and quickly brought him out to the waiting room.
“That was the hardest part for me,” says Mockerman. “The first time I was seeing my son and he was so scared he couldn’t even come up to me.”
“How do you prepare him for that?” says Alice. “That was his dad, his best friend there. How do I tell him what he’ll see?”
Part of the issue was that Mockerman didn’t look like himself. His body had swollen to nearly four times its natural size. To help prevent his limbs from bursting, doctors made incisions along both arms and legs to help relieve the swelling. Because of the swelling, he also couldn’t breathe so the doctors performed a tracheotomy.
Mockerman says the only areas of his body that they didn’t remove skin grafts from were the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. Everything else was fair game.
On Monday they would take a skin graft from his stomach. Then on Thursday, they would take one from his back. Monday would come around again, and they would remove what skin they could from his stomach.
After 48 surgeries, months of rehabilitation that involved learning how to speak, write, and walk again, Mockerman remembers the staff at the hospital fondly.
“Dr. Sean Dodd is like my best friend now,” says Mockerman of the head surgeon. “Dr. Alexis Amour, one of my plastic surgeons, she’s… I couldn’t say enough words about her. She’s phenomenal.”
He says all of the staff on the burn ward were “utterly amazing people.” One of his favourite memories was being woken up at 12:01 a.m. on his birthday as the entire staff on the floor came in to sing him Happy Birthday.
Though Mockerman tried to remain as positive as possible, there were days when his mood turned down. When that happened, he said the staff were always there for him emotionally and truly helped him to get through the experience.
“I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t see for a while,” he says. “I had to learn all of my life skills all over again.”
When it became apparent that the flesh on his left calf wasn’t going to heal, doctors began to discuss amputating his left leg.
He kept getting infections and they weren’t going away. The doctor told him they had tried every single medication and trial drug available in Canada, but nothing seemed to be working. Mockerman was told he likely only had a few days left to live.
However, a doctor in the United States happened to read about Mockerman and contacted his doctor. They had a new drug that hadn’t even started being tested on animals. The American doctor told Mockerman’s doctor that if he could get Canadian approval, he would ship him the drug. That drug saved his life.
“To this day, they tell me a bee sting could take me out,” says Mockerman. “I don’t have an immune system.”
Dodd fought to have Mockerman keep his leg and was successful. Rather than remove the leg, they removed all of the flesh from his calf, leaving only the bone covered by a couple layers of skin.
“They say it’s amazing that I can even walk,” he says.
Once Mockerman got it into his mind that he was going to walk he said he didn’t let anything deter him from his goal. He didn’t say anything to his family about his efforts. Instead, he surprised them by walking out to see them when they came to visit for his birthday on June 17.
Only a month ago Mockerman had to go to the U of A to have his pinkie fingers removed on both hands. He says he learned that when a body is burned, one of the first things that happens is the fingers curl up. Once that happens, it can be difficult to get them to straighten out to a point that they can be useful.
The remainder of his fingers had to be worked on. Skin grafts were needed and hardware had to be put in place. All three fingers and his thumb work on his left hand, but on his right hand, his pointer finger and middle finger are still in casts.
While Mockerman may have suffered the injuries, his close call affected everyone in his family. Ernie and Alice normally head to Arizona for the winter months, but for the winter of 2023/24, they stayed in Drayton. Ernie has been driving Mockerman in for his weekly appointments.
“There’s no words to express how much it affected all of us,” says Alice. “We just praise the Lord every day.”
“I couldn’t have done it without Mom and Dad and Trish,” Mockerman says.
But one of the best things to come out of the experience was Mockerman’s relationship with his brother. He said for the majority of his life, he and his brother didn’t get along. They would only tolerate each other at family events when they didn’t have a choice. Now they are closer than they ever were before.
“Randy and I are best friends now. It really brought us together,” he says. “It brought all of us together.”
Prior to the accident, Mockerman was looking forward to retiring in 2025 with plans to work out of his shop doing custom Harley paint jobs. Unfortunately, Mockerman had taken the insurance off of his vehicles for the winter as he wouldn’t be driving them. A misunderstanding of what exactly was covered by insurance left him with nothing but ash after his shop burned down.
“I’ve never been able to slow down,” he says. “I’ve always been the type of guy to grab an extra gear and keep on going. Slowing down has been one of the hardest things.”
He says one of the hardest things when he returned home was that he couldn’t return to work. Mockerman says he absolutely loved his job, but after his accident, the company had to sell his truck and eliminate his position.
Mockerman says he was shocked to see how many neighbours came out to support his family after his accident. He says he couldn’t express enough gratitude to cover how he felt about their help.
One family, the Hayduks, were at his house shortly after the accident and took Aden to their house while the paramedics were there to distract him from the experience.
“You tend to forget how many friends you actually have until something like this unfortunately comes along,” says Mockerman.
He says though he works to stay positive, there are times when he finds his mind drifting to what is missing.
“I just look out the window sometimes and look around to see what I lost,” he says. “But then I look around to see what I have. I feel pretty damn blessed.”
Now that he’s at home, there are still a lot of adjustments that he has to get used to. He says he will never ride a Harley again, and will have to resort to using trikes instead. He’s also lost a lot of his drive for his retirement dream and isn’t sure if it will ever come back.
To help pass the time and as part of his therapeutic process, Mockerman has been writing a book about his experience. He says the nurses on the ward were always encouraging him to write. Now, he has the rough draft of a novel written out, and is always thinking of just one more thing to add to it.
One habit Mockerman has been working on now that he’s home is gratitude. He says he and Aden do their best to start their day finding five things to be grateful for in the upcoming day.
Prior to his accident, Mockerman says he wasn’t a religious person. But a couple of experiences that he had when he had flatlined has changed his views.
“I saw the light that everyone talks about. I’m guessing it was God standing at the end of it,” he says.
While he can’t be certain, Mockerman says it felt like God was speaking to him. He was told that he had a choice: he could either go to sleep and escape the pain, or if Mockerman could give a good reason, he could live. Mockerman says he chose to live, that he wanted to be there for his son, and then he woke up.
The next time he flatlined all he saw at the end of his tunnel was a picture of Aden. Mockerman says he’d never seen the picture before. But when he came too the next day, his mother had brought that exact same picture, frame and all, to put in his room.
Even though the weather left a lot to be desired, the Mockermans still went out camping on May Long weekend with several friends. Mockerman says he’s hoping to keep as many of his regular activities in his life as he can.
Currently, Mockerman is not able to work. While Trish does still have her job, and is able to work from home sometimes, the couple has had to go through a large chunk of their savings to get by.
Friends and family hosted a fundraiser for them in Breton last summer, and Ernie says he was pleased with the turnout. “There were about 200 people there,” he says.
For now, Mockerman says they are taking it one day at a time.
“They call me miracle man in there,” he says. “I’m not bragging, that’s just what they said. They said they’ve never seen anyone so positive going through what I did.”
Are you a local looking for things to do in and around Drayton Valley, or Brazeau County. Our award winning editor Graham Long, has got your covered in his weekly summary of things happening in Drayton Valley. Have a read of Next Week’s News each week to get an idea on how to plan your, week.
Next Week's News: May 16, 2024 Column
Attention motorists, cyclists, pedestrians etc! Construction work on the eastern portion of Drayton Valley’s 50 Avenue is about to get underway. Expect some detours and traffic disruption in the area over the next several weeks.
Shale Medical is currently trialing a Saturday same day clinic. Depending on feedback and demand they may extend this further. The following dates are slated for the trial: June 15, 9 am – 4 pm, June 22 9 am -4 pm and June 29: 9 am – 4 pm.
The booking procedure is listed on their website and walk-ins will be accepted as well.
Drayton Valley’s Small Town Big Party is tomorrow, (that’s Friday June 14) in Omni 3. That means live music from a couple of bands, plus beer gardens and games and all sorts of fun. This is an adult only event and admission is $7.
Father’s Day is Sunday June 16. For the love of God, no more socks, please!
And after that, it’s time for summer! The most wonderful time of the year officially begins at 8:50 pm, Thursday June 20.
National Indigenous Peoples Day is a day recognizing and celebrating the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Indigenous peoples of Canada. This year it’s Friday June 21.
The Lions Club are bringing the fair to Drayton Valley again this month. It’ll be in town June 21, 22, and 23.
The Frank Maddock High School graduation is June 22. Congratulations to everyone who’s graduating from all of our local schools this year. And if you’re heading off to college or university please call or text your parents regularly. You know how they worry.
June 26 is the last day of school for students in Drayton Valley and Breton, so watch out for bands of feral youth roaming the streets over the next couple of months.
Don’t forget that your property taxes are due to be paid by the end of this month. Since June 30 is a Sunday, you probably want to be a few days early, just in case. If you live in Brazeau County you’ll get a 30 percent rebate if you pay on time, so it’s worth the effort.
And Canada Day is fast approaching. In Drayton Valley there’s a pancake breakfast starting at 7 am at the legion. The parade begins at 10 am and follows the usual route up 50 Avenue and then north on 50 Street. The rest of the activities will be at the Omniplex from 11 am to 3 pm with fireworks at dusk, weather permitting.
Cut out the middle man and get your Drayton Valley and District Free Press directly to your email inbox.
Get more activity ideas in for the Drayton Valley and Brazeau County region in our Brazeau and Beyond Travel Guide.
Head over to our travel guide page to download yours today.
Click here: Brazeau and Beyond
Now that the Eldorado Elementary School has been completely demolished, crews have started work on tearing down the old H.W. Pickup Junior High School.
“You can see that they’re starting to take down the building,” says Brad Volkman, the superintendent for the Wild Rose School Division.
Because H.W. Pickup was built on municipal reserve land Volkman says the land will not be going up for sale once the work crews are done. Once the demolition is completed, the property will automatically go back to the Town.
Vandalism reported an Issue
“We don’t take any money for that,” says Volkman. “They just get it back.”
There have been a few instances of vandalism at the old schools, and Volkman says it’s always a safety concern if there is an abandoned building. The division also had to spend money doing what they could to repair damages, such as boarding up windows that had been broken.
“We’re glad to see it coming down,” he says. “We don’t want to see people getting injured or defacing the building.”
Volkman says staff in the division had the opportunity to go through the schools and take any items they wanted out of them. Anything that was left behind became the property of the demolition company.
Playgrounds to be reused
However, Volkman says the playgrounds on both school sites aren’t being completely destroyed. The plan is to have as much of the equipment moved to the new school as they can safely do. He says they will be moved over the summer.
“Most of the one on the Eldorado property will be going to the Powerhouse Campus. One particularly piece will be going to Evergreen,” he says.
In addition to the playgrounds that are being moved over, Volkman says they still have a $250,000 grant from the province to spend on new playground equipment for the campus. He says that the school council also plans to raise funds to help with the new playground.
The school division owned the land where Eldorado was located. Now that the school is down, WRSD has received permission from the Minister of Education to sell that land, with the right of first refusal going to the Town.
Although not all those dealing with addiction are homeless, that group will be the main focus of Opportunity Home once it opens its doors. Frey says the aim is to work hand-in-hand with services such as the Community Mat Program and the Warming Hearts Soup Kitchen to avoid duplication of services and to make sure they are able to reach those who are most in need of assistance.
Clients will be required to be clean and sober before being admitted to Opportunity Home and to remain so while they’re with the program. In exchange they will receive the support and encouragement needed to give them a chance to turn their lives around.
Initially the facility will accommodate about a dozen male clients at a time, with a plan to open to women as things progress.
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 question of whether a person should celebrate their father all year round or on one particular day has been answered for a local family.
On March 18, 2023, the Mockerman family’s lives took a drastic turn when Rob Mockerman was involved in an accident that left him with second and third degree burns to more than 85 percent of his body.
At 5:30 that evening, while his wife Trish and six-year-old son Aden were inside their house near Buck Creek cooking dinner, Mockerman went to his shop to give a tune up to a recently purchased snowmobile.
“We’d just got a new-to-us skidoo from a guy in Edmonton,” says Mockerman. Both he and Aden were excited to go try it out.
Unbeknownst to Mockerman, there was a fuel leak in the machine. When he first started the engine, it caught on fire. At first Mockerman tried to get the machine out of his shop, which held close to a million dollars worth of tools and equipment.
When it became clear that wouldn’t work, Mockerman tried to put the fire out as best as he could. Finally, he decided to make a run for his fire extinguisher.
“I got half way across the shop when the skidoo blew up,” says Mockerman.
From that point on, Mockerman’s memory of the incident is limited. He says he remembers looking for a way out, and that he could only see a tiny little spot.
Trish says she saw the smoke through the bedroom window and told Aden that she had to go see what his dad was doing.
“Once it came across the floor and up the door frame it was too much for me,” says Trish.
“I made sure she dialed 911,” says Aden.
Once Mockerman made it outside, Trish tackled him to the ground, hoping the snow would help put out the flames. He got up again at that point and ran past the deck, where Aden was watching the commotion, before falling into the snow again.
Trish made all the necessary phone calls and soon the ambulance arrived. She’d also reached out to Mockerman’s parents, asking to speak to Ernie so she didn’t have to upset Alice, as well as his estranged brother Randy. Once the paramedics arrived, it became clear that STARS was needed.
Both Ernie and Alice had arrived at Mockerman’s place before he was airlifted to the hospital.
“I don’t remember much, but I just remember that as STARS was flying away, I was blowing kisses at the helicopter and praying with tears just running down my cheeks,” says Alice.
Ernie says the person that he saw lying on the gurney did not in any way resemble his son. Mockerman asked the paramedics to keep his mom away because he didn’t want her to see him like that.
“It was a nightmare,” says Alice. “It was the worst nightmare that I’ve ever had.”
Eleven minutes after the helicopter arrived, Mockerman was in Edmonton at the burn unit in the University of Alberta hospital.
Upon arrival in Edmonton, Mockerman flatlined for the first time. Before he was stable, Mockerman died two more times in the hospital. For three months, he was in a coma.
He says he has little recollection of the time when he was in the coma other than he had vivid night terrors for the duration of it. A recent trip through Breton gave him an anxiety attack when he recognized a building that had been in one of those nightmares.
Meanwhile, doctors and nurses went to work debriding the dead tissue on his body.
“I remember waking up once in the middle of it,” he says. “That’s not a fun experience. I realized at that point in time that I was in trouble.”
During his time in the hospital, Mockerman’s family came to see him every weekend without fail. Even Aden made the trip with them, though he didn’t always go inside to see his dad after his first experience seeing Mockerman didn’t go well.
“It was hot in there. I was cooking,” says Aden. Trish recognized that he was about to faint and quickly brought him out to the waiting room.
“That was the hardest part for me,” says Mockerman. “The first time I was seeing my son and he was so scared he couldn’t even come up to me.”
“How do you prepare him for that?” says Alice. “That was his dad, his best friend there. How do I tell him what he’ll see?”
Part of the issue was that Mockerman didn’t look like himself. His body had swollen to nearly four times its natural size. To help prevent his limbs from bursting, doctors made incisions along both arms and legs to help relieve the swelling. Because of the swelling, he also couldn’t breathe so the doctors performed a tracheotomy.
Mockerman says the only areas of his body that they didn’t remove skin grafts from were the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. Everything else was fair game.
On Monday they would take a skin graft from his stomach. Then on Thursday, they would take one from his back. Monday would come around again, and they would remove what skin they could from his stomach.
After 48 surgeries, months of rehabilitation that involved learning how to speak, write, and walk again, Mockerman remembers the staff at the hospital fondly.
“Dr. Sean Dodd is like my best friend now,” says Mockerman of the head surgeon. “Dr. Alexis Amour, one of my plastic surgeons, she’s… I couldn’t say enough words about her. She’s phenomenal.”
He says all of the staff on the burn ward were “utterly amazing people.” One of his favourite memories was being woken up at 12:01 a.m. on his birthday as the entire staff on the floor came in to sing him Happy Birthday.
Though Mockerman tried to remain as positive as possible, there were days when his mood turned down. When that happened, he said the staff were always there for him emotionally and truly helped him to get through the experience.
“I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t see for a while,” he says. “I had to learn all of my life skills all over again.”
When it became apparent that the flesh on his left calf wasn’t going to heal, doctors began to discuss amputating his left leg.
He kept getting infections and they weren’t going away. The doctor told him they had tried every single medication and trial drug available in Canada, but nothing seemed to be working. Mockerman was told he likely only had a few days left to live.
However, a doctor in the United States happened to read about Mockerman and contacted his doctor. They had a new drug that hadn’t even started being tested on animals. The American doctor told Mockerman’s doctor that if he could get Canadian approval, he would ship him the drug. That drug saved his life.
“To this day, they tell me a bee sting could take me out,” says Mockerman. “I don’t have an immune system.”
Dodd fought to have Mockerman keep his leg and was successful. Rather than remove the leg, they removed all of the flesh from his calf, leaving only the bone covered by a couple layers of skin.
“They say it’s amazing that I can even walk,” he says.
Once Mockerman got it into his mind that he was going to walk he said he didn’t let anything deter him from his goal. He didn’t say anything to his family about his efforts. Instead, he surprised them by walking out to see them when they came to visit for his birthday on June 17.
Only a month ago Mockerman had to go to the U of A to have his pinkie fingers removed on both hands. He says he learned that when a body is burned, one of the first things that happens is the fingers curl up. Once that happens, it can be difficult to get them to straighten out to a point that they can be useful.
The remainder of his fingers had to be worked on. Skin grafts were needed and hardware had to be put in place. All three fingers and his thumb work on his left hand, but on his right hand, his pointer finger and middle finger are still in casts.
While Mockerman may have suffered the injuries, his close call affected everyone in his family. Ernie and Alice normally head to Arizona for the winter months, but for the winter of 2023/24, they stayed in Drayton. Ernie has been driving Mockerman in for his weekly appointments.
“There’s no words to express how much it affected all of us,” says Alice. “We just praise the Lord every day.”
“I couldn’t have done it without Mom and Dad and Trish,” Mockerman says.
But one of the best things to come out of the experience was Mockerman’s relationship with his brother. He said for the majority of his life, he and his brother didn’t get along. They would only tolerate each other at family events when they didn’t have a choice. Now they are closer than they ever were before.
“Randy and I are best friends now. It really brought us together,” he says. “It brought all of us together.”
Prior to the accident, Mockerman was looking forward to retiring in 2025 with plans to work out of his shop doing custom Harley paint jobs. Unfortunately, Mockerman had taken the insurance off of his vehicles for the winter as he wouldn’t be driving them. A misunderstanding of what exactly was covered by insurance left him with nothing but ash after his shop burned down.
“I’ve never been able to slow down,” he says. “I’ve always been the type of guy to grab an extra gear and keep on going. Slowing down has been one of the hardest things.”
He says one of the hardest things when he returned home was that he couldn’t return to work. Mockerman says he absolutely loved his job, but after his accident, the company had to sell his truck and eliminate his position.
Mockerman says he was shocked to see how many neighbours came out to support his family after his accident. He says he couldn’t express enough gratitude to cover how he felt about their help.
One family, the Hayduks, were at his house shortly after the accident and took Aden to their house while the paramedics were there to distract him from the experience.
“You tend to forget how many friends you actually have until something like this unfortunately comes along,” says Mockerman.
He says though he works to stay positive, there are times when he finds his mind drifting to what is missing.
“I just look out the window sometimes and look around to see what I lost,” he says. “But then I look around to see what I have. I feel pretty damn blessed.”
Now that he’s at home, there are still a lot of adjustments that he has to get used to. He says he will never ride a Harley again, and will have to resort to using trikes instead. He’s also lost a lot of his drive for his retirement dream and isn’t sure if it will ever come back.
To help pass the time and as part of his therapeutic process, Mockerman has been writing a book about his experience. He says the nurses on the ward were always encouraging him to write. Now, he has the rough draft of a novel written out, and is always thinking of just one more thing to add to it.
One habit Mockerman has been working on now that he’s home is gratitude. He says he and Aden do their best to start their day finding five things to be grateful for in the upcoming day.
Prior to his accident, Mockerman says he wasn’t a religious person. But a couple of experiences that he had when he had flatlined has changed his views.
“I saw the light that everyone talks about. I’m guessing it was God standing at the end of it,” he says.
While he can’t be certain, Mockerman says it felt like God was speaking to him. He was told that he had a choice: he could either go to sleep and escape the pain, or if Mockerman could give a good reason, he could live. Mockerman says he chose to live, that he wanted to be there for his son, and then he woke up.
The next time he flatlined all he saw at the end of his tunnel was a picture of Aden. Mockerman says he’d never seen the picture before. But when he came too the next day, his mother had brought that exact same picture, frame and all, to put in his room.
Even though the weather left a lot to be desired, the Mockermans still went out camping on May Long weekend with several friends. Mockerman says he’s hoping to keep as many of his regular activities in his life as he can.
Currently, Mockerman is not able to work. While Trish does still have her job, and is able to work from home sometimes, the couple has had to go through a large chunk of their savings to get by.
Friends and family hosted a fundraiser for them in Breton last summer, and Ernie says he was pleased with the turnout. “There were about 200 people there,” he says.
For now, Mockerman says they are taking it one day at a time.
“They call me miracle man in there,” he says. “I’m not bragging, that’s just what they said. They said they’ve never seen anyone so positive going through what I did.”
Are you a local looking for things to do in and around Drayton Valley, or Brazeau County. Our award winning editor Graham Long, has got your covered in his weekly summary of things happening in Drayton Valley. Have a read of Next Week’s News each week to get an idea on how to plan your, week.
Next Week's News: May 16, 2024 Column
Attention motorists, cyclists, pedestrians etc! Construction work on the eastern portion of Drayton Valley’s 50 Avenue is about to get underway. Expect some detours and traffic disruption in the area over the next several weeks.
Shale Medical is currently trialing a Saturday same day clinic. Depending on feedback and demand they may extend this further. The following dates are slated for the trial: June 15, 9 am – 4 pm, June 22 9 am -4 pm and June 29: 9 am – 4 pm.
The booking procedure is listed on their website and walk-ins will be accepted as well.
Drayton Valley’s Small Town Big Party is tomorrow, (that’s Friday June 14) in Omni 3. That means live music from a couple of bands, plus beer gardens and games and all sorts of fun. This is an adult only event and admission is $7.
Father’s Day is Sunday June 16. For the love of God, no more socks, please!
And after that, it’s time for summer! The most wonderful time of the year officially begins at 8:50 pm, Thursday June 20.
National Indigenous Peoples Day is a day recognizing and celebrating the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Indigenous peoples of Canada. This year it’s Friday June 21.
The Lions Club are bringing the fair to Drayton Valley again this month. It’ll be in town June 21, 22, and 23.
The Frank Maddock High School graduation is June 22. Congratulations to everyone who’s graduating from all of our local schools this year. And if you’re heading off to college or university please call or text your parents regularly. You know how they worry.
June 26 is the last day of school for students in Drayton Valley and Breton, so watch out for bands of feral youth roaming the streets over the next couple of months.
Don’t forget that your property taxes are due to be paid by the end of this month. Since June 30 is a Sunday, you probably want to be a few days early, just in case. If you live in Brazeau County you’ll get a 30 percent rebate if you pay on time, so it’s worth the effort.
And Canada Day is fast approaching. In Drayton Valley there’s a pancake breakfast starting at 7 am at the legion. The parade begins at 10 am and follows the usual route up 50 Avenue and then north on 50 Street. The rest of the activities will be at the Omniplex from 11 am to 3 pm with fireworks at dusk, weather permitting.
Cut out the middle man and get your Drayton Valley and District Free Press directly to your email inbox.
Get more activity ideas in for the Drayton Valley and Brazeau County region in our Brazeau and Beyond Travel Guide.
Head over to our travel guide page to download yours today.
Click here: Brazeau and Beyond
Now that the Eldorado Elementary School has been completely demolished, crews have started work on tearing down the old H.W. Pickup Junior High School.
“You can see that they’re starting to take down the building,” says Brad Volkman, the superintendent for the Wild Rose School Division.
Because H.W. Pickup was built on municipal reserve land Volkman says the land will not be going up for sale once the work crews are done. Once the demolition is completed, the property will automatically go back to the Town.
Vandalism reported an Issue
“We don’t take any money for that,” says Volkman. “They just get it back.”
There have been a few instances of vandalism at the old schools, and Volkman says it’s always a safety concern if there is an abandoned building. The division also had to spend money doing what they could to repair damages, such as boarding up windows that had been broken.
“We’re glad to see it coming down,” he says. “We don’t want to see people getting injured or defacing the building.”
Volkman says staff in the division had the opportunity to go through the schools and take any items they wanted out of them. Anything that was left behind became the property of the demolition company.
Playgrounds to be reused
However, Volkman says the playgrounds on both school sites aren’t being completely destroyed. The plan is to have as much of the equipment moved to the new school as they can safely do. He says they will be moved over the summer.
“Most of the one on the Eldorado property will be going to the Powerhouse Campus. One particularly piece will be going to Evergreen,” he says.
In addition to the playgrounds that are being moved over, Volkman says they still have a $250,000 grant from the province to spend on new playground equipment for the campus. He says that the school council also plans to raise funds to help with the new playground.
The school division owned the land where Eldorado was located. Now that the school is down, WRSD has received permission from the Minister of Education to sell that land, with the right of first refusal going to the Town.
“Some of them have had very difficult lives with a cycle of abuse and mental illness leading to addictions. They really need help,” says Winter. “We have a group of very keen people who really want to make this happen.”
Drayton really does have talent
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.
Wildrose Schools starts cell phone ban this September
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.
Judge explains Breton area manslaughter ruling
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.
New Staff Sergeant 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.
