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LOOKBACK: ‘Loving father’ shot to death in Red Deer

A 29-year-old Red Deer man was shot and killed in the Inglewood neighbourhood in the early morning.
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Cathy Sobreski

ONE YEAR AGO

• A 29-year-old Red Deer man was shot and killed in the Inglewood neighbourhood in the early morning. Red Deer City RCMP said the victim was known to police and investigators are looking into the possibility that his death may be gang related with direct links to the drug trade. The man was described as a “gentle giant” and a loving father for an infant daughter on a memorial page posted on Facebook.

• Save Our Sundre sent an SOS to government agencies at the local, provincial and federal levels to find a permanent solution in time to prevent damage during the high-water season. SOS members believed dredging the Red Deer River, forcing it back into a previous channel, would protect the town from the devastating floods, such as the one experienced during heavy rains in June of 2005.

FIVE YEARS AGO

• A Red Deer MLA broke down in tears as she pleaded with opposition politicians for help in passing her mandatory drug-treatment bill. Mary Anne Jablonski said her bill would not pass unless opposition parties cut back on the time set aside for written questions to the government.

• Thieves stole a 150-kg bell from the belfry St. Joseph’s Convent, as well as a statue of the Virgin Mary. The bell had played a vital role in the daily life of the Daughters of Wisdom since about 1908. The statue and bell were recovered.

10 YEARS AGO

• Relief was in sight for about 250 Red Deer-area seniors waiting for a lodge bed with the planned renovation of the former West Park nursing home into a 40- to 45-bed lodge. Edmonton commercial realtor Larry Woodley said he hoped to open the new facility by June.

• Environmental concerns scuttled a contentious paintball facility near Lacombe Lake. Lacombe county’s subdivision and development appeal board sided with residents and refused to approve a development permit for the project proposed for the southwest tip of the lake.

25 YEARS AGO

• The chairman of Red Deer’s Twilight Homes Foundation revealed a secret that the organization had kept from the public for several months.

Bill Torrence announced at city council that the foundation was the mystery group which pledged $125,000 toward a city paramedic service earlier in the year.

• Alberta Transportation Minister Marvin Moore announced provincial agreement in principle to a $72.5 million scheme including rail relocation for Red Deer. Mayor Bob McGhee hailed the long sought-after pact as “probably the most important decision ever made in Red Deer’s history.”

The city had been lobbying the province for rail relocation funds since 1975.

50 YEARS AGO

• Construction progress on the million-dollar addition for the Red Deer Municipal Hospital is exceeding all expectations and hopes are that the new wing will be ready for occupancy next fall. In giving The Advocate that summary on the progress with the project, A. R. Little, chairman of the hospital board, explained: “Work on the addition went very well during the winter — in fact, better than the board had expected. There was no hold-up in the job and the board feels the project is farther advanced than we thought it would be.”

• Plans for one of the largest building projects announced in Red Deer so far this year, a $150,000 municipal building which would house offices of the Red Deer Municipal District, the School Division and the Health Unit, were unveiled at a meeting of the M.D. council Monday.

90 YEARS AGO

• The proclamation for the plebiscite in the Province of Alberta is or is not, in favour of the importation of liquor into the Province, will be issued from Ottawa within the next two weeks, and the vote will be taken within the next two months thereafter. Mr. H. H. Hull, Secretary of Social Service League of Alberta, was in Red Deer on Wednesday promoting organization and financial assistance for the campaign.

• Mayor Lord and Mrs. Lord returned from the east on Saturday. Mrs. Lord has been visiting relatives in New Brunswick, while His Worship was down on city business to Toronto and Ottawa. Mayor Lord returned quite convinced that Red Deer was in about as good a position municipally as any town or city in the West, and better than quite a number of them. From the business standpoint, too, he thought Red Deer was as good as any of them with a little to spare.

100 YEARS AGO

• Town council planned to have a cement sidewalk installed along the south side of Main Street. The town commissioner suggested the entire cost be covered by people owning businesses located along the street.

• James Whiteford Thompson of Red Deer applied for a patent for a sleigh brake he had invented to slow such vehicles on slippery hills.