Another edition of the County of Grande Prairie/Watson’s Foto Source photo contest is underway. But County Economic Development officer Chris King says they have introduced a new wrinkle for this year. The contest has been split up into four phases – one for each season of the year.

“In the past, when we have done them on an annual basis, we have gotten a lot of summer shots, and really we are not seeing a lot things from the other seasons.  So we though by splitting it up into some seasonal categories that we might get more variety of photos.”

Seasonal winners will be selected in the five categories – County scenes, people at work, progress and growth, sports, recreation and culture in the County, and people in Agriculture – with overall winners in all five categories also being selected at the end of the contest. Deadline for spring season submissions is May 30th.

Students in the grade 2 class at Aspen Grove school have been taking part in the Classroom champions program, which sees Olympians teach lessons regarding sport and Olympic culture via video conferencing. Program spokesperson Lisa Dorman says two time Canadian olympic cross country skier Brittany Webster has been working monthly with the students, even while in the midst of her training for the Sochi games.

“Brittany has been delivering monthly videos to the students, to her classroom up in Grande Prairie.  And she has also done a couple of live chats with them using some of the technology that Classroom Champions provides to the classroom as well.”

Tomorrow will see Webster meet the students in person for the first time, as she pays a special visit to the school to get a close up look at the work they have been doing as part of the Classroom Champions program.

The city has started work on Pinnacle Street, between 68th and 74th avenues.  The work includes improvements to the road surface, as well as surrounding curbs and sidewalks.  The work should be wrapped up by mid June, but until then drivers are advised that there may be minor traffic delays, and that caution is urged if you are travelling through the construction area.

UPDATE #2: Power has been restored to northeast Grande Prairie.

UPDATE: Power to northeast Grande Prairie expected to be restored within 30-45 minutes. A backhoe hit a main feeder line. The worker inside was uninjured.

Atco Electric is estimating that 1500 to 2000 customers are without power after a line went down in the Crystal Lake area this morning.

Atco crews are just arriving on the scene, spokesperson Clyde Blackburn says they aren’t yet sure about what happened or how much damage was done.

No word yet how long power will be out on the north end of the city.

Blackburn says they will provide updates through out the day as they work to restore power.

RCMP across the country are ramping up their campaign to make Canadian roads safer this week. Road Safety week is a police initiative aimed at reminding people about the risks of things like distracted, impaired, and aggressive driving. Corporal Roy Kennedy with the Grande Prairie detachment says they want drivers to know what it is they are looking for, and what kinds of behaviors will land you a ticket, or worse.

“We’ve had way too many collisions and fatalities over the past number of years. So we’re going to be focusing on behaviors such as speeding, improper lane changes, distracted driving and impaired driving. So all those attitudes and behaviors that are leading to these collisions.”

Road Safety week is part of Transport Canada’s strategy to make our country’s roads the safest in the world by 2015.

Not for profit research organization Genome Alberta is hoping to break down some doors on one of the most divisive issues in the agriculture industry. The organization will be hosting seminars about biotechnology in livestock production across the province starting later this month. Mike Spears, Director of Communications, says they would like to have an open, unbiased conversation both with those working in the livestock industry, and consumers who may have concerns about what they are feeding their families.

“We want to hear what they have to say so that we can address it in our research as well, because we do genetics and genomics research strictly on the “geeky science side” so to speak, be we also look at the ethics and the societal implications. That’s a major part of our research efforts, so we want to be able to address those.”

The seminar, which is coming to Grande Prairie on June 11, will be moderated by broadcaster

County council has given third and final reading to their new Parkland Conservation by law.  Parks and Recreation Manager Megan Schur says it is an update of their former parks by-law, which only covered campgrounds.

“Parkland encompasses all green space that are either owned, managed, or operated by the County.  That includes our environmental reserves, so a place like Bear Creek Raveen, municipal reserves- which can be those green lots that are in subdivisions.  It can mean our Sportsplex fields, the Dunes-Wapiti walking trails, and it can mean our campgrounds.

The by-law allows the County to designate areas that can and can not be used by off highway vehicles.  It also polices activities like cutting down trees, depositing waste, and harming environmentally sensitive areas.

A Mutual Aid agreement has been finalized between the County of Grande Prairie Regional fire service and the local Technical Search and Rescue chapter.  County Fire Chief Everett Cooke says the agreement allows each party to ask the other for assistance when needed.

“An excellent example of that was just this past winter, there were some quad riders just south of Bezanson that had an incident in the river valley.  We are equipped with services to retrieve them, but TSR was able to provide us additional manpower and resources to remove and extract the individuals safely.”

Cooke adds the agreement will also allow for some training scenarios involving both his staff and TSR personnel.

Teens and seniors are two demographics the city’s Crime Prevention department is hoping to connect with this week. They are hosting two events, one with teens to discuss mental health, substance abuse, and technology crimes. On Wednesday RCMP members will be speaking with seniors about fraud. Assistant Crime Prevention Program Manager Angela Sutherland says they wanted to discuss issues that are relevant and distinct to each group.

“What I’m looking forward to with the teen event is hearing from them kind of, what is the situation they see out there regarding these issues, and what kind of solutions do they see in helping prevent things or provide awareness to things in their own peer groups.”

The department is also putting together a mosaic of how the community is working together to keep Grande Prairie safe. Anyone can fill out a piece of the mosaic during any of their events this week, including Thursday’s trade show at the Eastlink Centre, and the community barbecue at City on 99th on Friday.