Koralea Boettger, a member of the 2012 graduating class at William E. Hay Composite High School in Stettler, died in the early-morning hours of Feb. 11 after the pickup truck in which she was a passenger left a rural road just outside of Stettler and rammed into a stand of trees.
Boettger was 17.
The only other occupant of the truck was the driver, Trevor James Dahl, the 19-year-old facing multiple charges in connection with the case.
Police believe speed and alcohol were factors in the single-vehicle crash off Township Road 39-2, a gravel road about five kilometres northwest of Stettler. RCMP said the driver was “highly intoxicated.”
In early February, the RCMP reported an assault against a 13-year-old Stettler girl who fought off a male who grabbed her on the street shortly after 6 p.m. “The girl was able to think quickly and delivered a hard kick to the suspect’s left leg,” said Sgt. Duncan Babchuk. “Her actions caused the suspect to release the girl and she was able to run away.”
Town of Stettler planned to commit nothing more than its garbage to the County of Stettler’s proposed syn-gas plant that’s expected to begin construction late in the year. Town officials said they’re not sold on the plant, which uses a system called pyrolysis to produce a gas from garbage to generate power.
Faye Blakely retired after 27 years with Stettler and District Family and Community Support Services, including the past 17 as administrator.
Rev. David Lilly became the new pastor of Grace Fellowship Baptist Church in Stettler. The church welcomed Lilly and his wife, Elizabeth.
The County of Stettler presented its annual service awards to Sharon and Eldon McCrindle, Ed and Vivian Bennett, Gordon and Carol Yates, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Lorne and Pat Parkin, Bob Erickson and Julie Hebbs, and the Botha youth award to Mackenzie Hankins.
The county handed out nine awards in celebration of volunteers in agriculture, culture and recreation.
Clearview School Division might consider steps to restructure its ward boundaries, after new census data is made available later in 2012. It would “ensure more equal representation.”
Construction of the $350-million Halkirk wind farm has the County of Paintearth officials so excited that they called the county “the energy capital of east-central Alberta.”
Stettler filed its bid for the Small Town Saturday Night contest. One Alberta community earns the right to host a mini Big Valley Jamboree in the spring, with top country music performers from the province.
Heartland Youth Centre faces a $25,000 funding shortfall this year that could force the organization to dip into limited reserves to keep programming alive at the popular Stettler facility. The shortfall is because of cutbacks in funding from the Stettler and District Family and Community Support Services.
The youth centre has received a funding commitment from the Town of Stettler, with a dollar figure to be determined at a later date.
Health, recreation and business were listed as the top priorities for the Town of Stettler, as part of town council’s strategic planning.
The town also plans to revise its mission statement, which declares that the town “will provide a high quality of life for our residents and visitors through leadership and the delivery of effective and affordable services that are socially and environmentally responsible.”