Medicine Hat News

BRYCE WIRZBA
bwirzba@medicinehatnews.com
If the sounds of Highland bag-pipes amongst emergency sirens didn’t serve enough as a hint, the sight of ornately decorated trailers and horses may have done the trick.
There were 133 entries that took part in this year's Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede Parade. A mixture of bands, floats and horses wound their way through downtown streets as rows of onlookers watched along the edges.

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astephenson@medicinehatnews.com
Alberta premier Ed Stelmach says the province is doing everything it can to get cash into the hands of flood victims as quickly as possible.
In a one-on-one interview with the News on Thursday, Stelmach said an additional $250,000 worth of cheques would be going out by Friday — to top off the $600,000 in disaster assistance that has already been delivered to flood-ravaged southeast Albertans.
On July 6 Alberta set aside a potential $203 million to help victims of flooding in Medicine Hat and Cypress County.

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gslade@medicinehatnews.com
The hot humid air added to the sense of anticipation as an airplane circled high above the Medicine Hat Stampede and Exhibition grounds on Thursday afternoon.
What at first looked like tiny black specks in the sky, suddenly burst into focus at 6000 ft above the ground as parachutes opened to reveal Canadian flags.
Two members of the SkyHawks, the Canadian Forces Parachute Team, trailed a rainbow of coloured smoke. They turned in a corkscrew spiral, dropping at 60 kilometres per hour, with the smoke sketching out the perfect manoeuvre.

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Re: Golfers Give to Cause (July 28)
I read with interest this article as I had golfed on Saturday and gladly donated $10 to this very worthy cause (Mercedes Pepper Trust Fund). I was a bit skeptical of this company (Verishot), however, and inquired how much of my money was actually going to this family in need. I was given a wishwashy answer but decided to donate anyway.
Upon reading this article I was extremely disappointed to learn that only $1 of my $10 donation went to this family. Had I known this, I definitely wouldn't have donated through this company.

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Amanda Stephenson
astephenson@medicinehatnews.com
Elkwater residents had reason to celebrate Wednesday night, as dignitaries and community members gathered to mark the official opening of the new Elkwater Community Hall.
The $1.1 million project was started in 2005, and involved a massive fundraising effort by the Elkwater Community Association. The new facility replaces the former community hall, which was built in 1954 and torn down in 2009. That structure was so old that its log walls were beginning to rot, and it was not wheelchair accessible.

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astephenson@medicinehatnews.com
For more than 50 years, local artists have displayed their best works at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede. And the popularity of the Stampede’s Visual Arts Show shows no sign of waning, judging by the nearly 400 entries received this year.

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I was disappointed to read Amanda Stephenson’s editorial from July 13, entitled Failure of leadership.
For the past four years I’ve witnessed the way Premier Ed Stelmach dedicates his days, evenings, and weekends to help make life better for Albertans. But, even with the best of intentions he can’t be everywhere all the time.

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It's that time of year again when students apply for student loans and those who have graduated groan at the level of debt they've acquired.
Before they can even begin to pay off the student loan there is a need to find a suitable job. Employers are not impressed with just a graduate certificate. More and more they want practical experience, too.
From the students’ point of view, they not only want a job they feel they justly deserve, but after studying for four years, they'd like the job to be well paid, too, so they can pay off that loan.

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astephenson@medicinehatnews.com
For the second time in less than a month, Premier Ed Stelmach is visiting southeast Alberta.
Unlike his last visit — specifically to tour the devastation left over from the June flooding, this visit has been in the works for months and is in part an attempt to reach out to smaller communities. The premier was in Bow Island earlier Wednesday, and in the evening he visited Elkwater to join residents in celebrating the official opening of their new community hall.

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