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Red Deer AdvocateTHURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
Your trusted local news authority www.reddeeradvocate.com
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INDEX
PLEASE
RECYCLE
Assad regime accused
of gas attack
Syrian government forces have attacked
rebel-held areas with poisonous chlorine
gas, say activists and medics.
Story on PAGE A7
FORECAST ON A2
WEATHER
Mainly sunny. High 9. Low 1.
C3Summer blockbuster preview
Hollywoodbetsbig
Dialysis
patients
threaten
to stop
treatment
BY RENÉE FRANCOEUR
ADVOCATE STAFF
Two Central Alberta dialysis patients say their
stress levels have escalated so dramatically since
being told they could no longer seek the essential
treatment in Red Deer, they are considering a dire
alternative: completely stopping dialysis.
That would leave them with two weeks to live.
Dialysis is a crucial, artificial means to remove
waste from the blood of patients who have lost kid-
ney function. The unit handling this treatment at
Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre has been over
its capacity to dialyze 120 patients for a number of
months. It’s not an isolated situation.
There is a “significant infrastructural deficit in
renal care” across the province, said Red Deer’s
head of internal medicine, Dr. Kym Jim, also one of
two kidney specialists in Central Alberta.
An expansion of the dialysis unit is needed in Red
Deer to accommodate present and future growth but
without a plan to do this, patients will have to travel
to outlying units, Jim said. There just simply isn’t
enough room.
To date, three patients who were receiving di-
alysis treatment in Red Deer have been asked to
receive treatment at alternate sites, stated Alberta
Health Services on Wednesday.
First witness
called in
Arens trial
BY BRENDA KOSSOWAN
ADVOCATE STAFF
Witnessing a fatal collision during a family outing
was traumatic and life-changing, a Red Deer father
testified at the start of a trial into a deadly city crash
on Canada Day 2010.
Thomas Smith, 29, was the first witness to be
called in the trial of Rodney Ross Arens. Arens, 36,
is a building contractor who has lived in Rimbey,
Red Deer and Sylvan Lake. The trial opened on
Wednesday.
Arens is charged with eight offences in connec-
tion with the collision at the intersection of Kerry
Wood and Taylor Drives, near Bower Ponds on the
evening of July 1, 2010.
Charges include impaired driving causing death,
impaired driving causing injury, dangerous driving
causing death and dangerous driving causing injury.
Please see DIALYSIS on Page A2
Please see TRIAL on Page A2
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Sylvan Lake animal control officer Rebekah Bouer sits with Bear, a dog that was found abandoned
in a Sylvan Lake condo this week. The five-month-old German shepherd had been left alone with
no food and only a toilet bowl for water in an apartment vacated by evicted tenants. See related
story on page A2.
Cycling race to stop in Central Alberta
BY CRYSTAL RHYNO
ADVOCATE STAFF
A true Central Alberta stage of the province’s only
elite cycling competition could see the world’s best
in Innisfail, Sylvan Lake and Red Deer.
The Tour of Alberta announced the seven hosting
communities — Calgary, Edmonton, Innisfail, Red
Deer, Lethbridge and Wetaskiwin — for the six-day
staged race on Wednesday.
The race will start in Calgary with a prologue and
time trial on Sept. 2 and wrap up Edmonton in Sept.
7. That route is the reverse of the 2013 inaugural
race.
On Sept. 4, Innisfail will be starting host to Stage
2 of the race. The riders will finish that day in Red
Deer.
“It’s going to start in Central Alberta and it’s going
to end in Central Alberta,” said George Berry, local
organizing committee chairman, who is thrilled that
Red Deer is in the mix again.
Berry said they have been working with Innis-
fail and other communities that riders could travel
through, including Sylvan Lake.
“We hope to head west of Innisfail to Sylvan
Lake,” said Berry. “We’re hoping to do two laps in
Sylvan Lake and make it a real festival. Sylvan Lake
is good at putting on festivals with their triathlon,
swimming and running events.”
The specific route from Innisfail to Red Deer is
still being worked out but the route in Red Deer
will be the same as in 2013. Riders enter Red Deer
on Hwy 11 to 30th Avenue, then turn south on 30th
Avenue to Ross Street. Heading west on Ross Street,
they enter the downtown loop at the corner of Ross
Street and 40th Avenue.
The finish line and the festival took over two
blocks of Ross Street from 47th to 49th Avenues last
year.
Innisfail town council will consider the proposal
to host the stage on Monday.
Red Deer city council is expected to hear a re-
quest on May 12.
Berry said he does not expect any problems gain-
ing approval.
Please see TOUR on Page A3
Puppy found
in unbearable
conditions
COLUMBUS
COMES FROM
BEHIND
TO SINK
PENGUINS
PAGE B1