Charges are still pending following a two vehicle crash on Highway 43 earlier this morning. Police say they were called to the scene around 6:45 am. They say the collision was between a westbound Ford truck on Highway 43 and a southbound Chev truck on Range Road 63. The driver of the Ford and a passenger of the Chevy were taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries. Alcohol and drugs are not believed to be a factor in the crash.

Work replacing the Roma Bridge overpass on Highway two west of Peace River started up again today. Alberta Transportation spokesperson Jamie Friesen explains the project is a continuation of work done last summer.

“We are going to re-commence the work that we started last year.  Last year in phase one, we did the westbound lane and finished it.  This year we are going to work on phase two, which is the eastbound lanes.”

The bridge’s girders are being replaced, along with the bridge deck, which is expected to extend its lifespan by up to 75 years. Traffic will be reduced to single-lane alternating traffic between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily.

RCMP have shut down a dial-a-dope network in the city. The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams made the bust at a local home last Wednesday, seizing $90,000 in drugs including 76 grams of heroin, 532 grams of cocaine, 302 grams of marijuana, 500 milliliters of GHB, and 116 grams of MDMA. They also recovered $50,000 in cash and three firearms. A total of 61 charges were laid against 4 people arrested in the investigation, 21 year old Kevin Fee-Wilson, 20 year old Rochelle Jalbert, 19 year old Breanne Humber, and 21 year old Dyllan Metzner.

The Community Foundation of Northwestern Alberta is preparing for another Youth Vital Signs survey. CEO Tracey Vavrek says they are in the process of finalizing questions for the survey, which is for young people between the ages of 14 and 24.

“We work with both people from Ottawa and also our local experts to help draft the questions.  The questions that I would draft would be very different than what the experts tell us that we should be drafting.  So we have provided them with all of that information and we are just in the process of pulling it together.”

Vavrek says the survey should be released in October, with local young people having about a month to respond to it. Community Foundation members will then spend the winter going over the results.

County of Grande Prairie council kicked off their weekly meeting with a special presentation. County Fire Chief Everett Cooke was presented the Alberta Emergency Services medal for his 12 years of emergency service in Alberta. After a few years in B-C, Cooke moved to the region in 2001, beginning with the Town of Sexsmith fire department, before joining the County fire department in 2009. He says he has enjoyed working in the region.

“Not only the fire services and working with the fire services throughout the County, but also into the entire Peace region.  Being a member of the Peace Regional Fire Chiefs Association, so working alongside of Peace River Fire Department and High Level Fire Department on various projects, and of course other departments has really been a highlight.”

Cooke adds helping develop the County fire department into it’s own, self sustaining service has been another highlight of his career to date.

Photo courtesy of County of Grande Prairie 

Although attendance figures were not as high as they had hoped, organizers of the ‘Changing Faces, Survival of the Non Profit Organization’ conference were very happy with how the event went. Grande Prairie Volunteer Services Bureau Executive Director Carol-Anne Pasemko says they received a lot of positive feedback.

“The feelings and the responses from people has been very good.  People were very happy with the outcomes of the facilitators and such.  We had excellent facilitators.  Very good people that were well researched and know their stuff.”

Pasemko says they have already had requests to hold the event again next year.

There is still just over 1.2 million dollars in naming rights available for the Philip J Currie Dinosaur museum. Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative Executive Director Brian Brake says that includes some large scale sponsorships.

“One is the site name, and we are in discussions with someone but nothing firm there yet.  We also have the main dinosaur area is available.”

A huge, simulated bone bed that will be located on the main floor of the museum is also still looking for a sponsor, as is the special exhibit room.  Businesses or families looking at smaller items can choose from individual dinosaur displays, or family picnic areas outside of the museum.

The days of throwing out your paper coffee cup are now gone in Grande Prairie. Special coffee cup recycling bins are set up at each Esquires coffee shop in the city, as well as at Aquatera’s Eco Centre. Local Esquires franchisee Michelle Brick says the recycling bins were an idea that she worked on with one of her assistants.

“We came across this little tiny company in Ontario that created a coffee cup recycling system. And I said that would be great to have in the stores.  So we started looking at them because we knew that we could recycle the cups, but how does it go from there.”

Brick says Michelle Gairdner with the city was able to get those answers for them by talking to local recycling collectors. The cups can also be placed in your weekly blue bag recycling collection.

RCMP are looking for witnesses to a fire on the Muskoseepi Park train trestle. The blaze broke out on April 20 around 6:20 pm. The fire was quickly put out and operations on the tracks resumed the following morning, but the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the local detachment or crime stoppers.

City administration is in the process of reshaping the way the city will doles out funding to various social programs and services in Grande Prairie. Community Social Development Officer Donelda Laing says the social investment framework will identify new key goals and priorities.

“We fund a broad range of agencies and services in the community and this helps us focus to make sure that we’re really investing our dollars to really best meet the needs of the community.”

Laing says those goals, which include creating resilient families, engaged youth and an inclusive community, will be used to guide agencies in their programming through funding.