On June 23, 2010 the Community Foundation announced the Flood Relief 2010 Fund, in support of those affected by the devastating flooding in Medicine Hat, Irvine and Cypress County. Since then the outpouring of community support from individuals, families and businesses has been tremendous.

Most recently the local accounting firm of Johnston Morrison Hunter & Co LLP presented a cheque in the amount of $10,000 to directly support those affected by the flood. This brings the total amount of the fund to nearly $45,000. “JMH is and always has been very involved in our community in our 94 years in Medicine Hat and area. Like many other Hatters, our staff and partners were looking for a way to create an impact that would benefit the most people and we know that the Community Foundation has the capability to ensure this will happen,” says partner Kelly Byers.

Community Foundation executive director Mike Christie highlighted: “We are not a charity that makes knee jerk decisions, we carefully assess what the needs are and how we can best meet those needs with the funds we have available. The municipalities, the Canadian Red Cross and numerous other agencies dealt with the immediate needs, the Disaster Recovery Program is the entity that should provide the bulk of the recovery program and the purpose of the Community Foundation’s funds is to support the medium and long term effects, which can be overlooked. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

Persian Dreams & Canine Themes Rescue Society is a Canadian Registered Non-Profit organization. The society was created in January of 2007, and is located in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Their mission is “To find permanent loving homes for all of the animals in our care and for those yet to come.”

Persian Dreams help cats, small dogs, and animals in distress. They do not have a facility to house the animals so our animals rely on the generosity of foster homes to care, love and train them. The society provides the foster family with basic supplies, veterinary care, and guidance. The animals in their care are spayed or neutered, vet checked, vaccinated, and micro chipped before being adopted.

If you are interested in meeting one of our foster animals or would like to foster or make a donation, please call either 403-526-4399 or 403-529-0707, or email them at persiandreams@hotmail.com

www.persiandreams.homestead.com

As tipped off by a Medicine Hat Media reader on Twitter, The Last Steamship: The Search for the SS City of Medicine Hat is a very odd and interesting documentary, filmed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I had no idea of the story, but as the trailer informed me: In June 1908, Captain Horatio Ross lead the SS City of Medicine Hat down the South Saskatchewan river through the newly formed city of Saskatoon, was tangled by telegraph wire and crashed into a bridge, sinking it. Recently, an anchor was found from the boat and the premise for the documentary was born. It was the last steamboat to travel on the South Saskatchewan river.

One of the tag-lines kind of cracked me up though: “The greatest nautical disaster… (wait for it)… in prairie history!”. It’s being released on September 3rd. Maybe the Monarch should get a copy of this to show?

Watch the Trailer
Official Website

The City of Medicine Hat invites everyone who was involved with the 2010 flood to a free tailgate party and Medicine Hat Tigers hockey game on Saturday, September 11, 2010.

The first exhibition game of the Medicine Hat Tigers is traditionally a Charity Classic fund raising event and this year’s benefiting organization is the Medicine Hat Regional Hospice Palliative Care Society. As the City has purchased tickets to distribute to volunteers, workers, other stakeholders and those affected by the recent flood, the Hospice Palliative Care Society will benefit from the increase in ticket sales.

“The Charity Classic is a great way to accomplish several objectives simultaneously,” says Fire Chief Rob Robinson who served as Director of Emergency Management during the flood. “By working collaboratively with the Tigers organization we offer an opportunity for a fun-filled evening for everyone who was involved in one way or another during and post flood while at the same time, supporting the Hospice Palliative Care Society by increasing proceeds from ticket sales. We look forward to the community coming together following this extraordinary flood event to recognize the generosity and unselfish acts of neighbors helping neighbors, and thought the tailgate party and hockey game would accomplish this in a classy way.”

A tailgate party along with a free barbecue will run from 5 to 7 p.m. for all ticket holders. The Charity Classic Hockey game with the Tigers going up against Swift Current Broncos will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets to the 2010 Flood Thank You event are now available from volunteer organizations, the Volunteer Centre, Cypress County Office or Community Development, third floor of City Hall.

For more information, www.medicinehat.ca

One Shot Left @ Whiskey Creek

Long time punk rockers One Shot Left are set to rock Whiskey Creek on Saturday September 11th, with special guests Lions and Tigers and Bears (Calgary) & Jon Creeden (Ottawa). Tickets are $7 advance, $10 door, available from CD Plus (MH Mall) & Whiskey Creek (937 13th Street SW) starting Monday August 23rd.

If you have ever had the privilege of watching a band at Whiskey Creek, or under it’s previous moniker The Blue Turtle, it is by far one of the best rooms in the city to see a show. Let’s hope this is a great start to a new era of rock music in Medicine Hat!

One Shot Left on MySpace
Lions and Tigers and Bears on MySpace
Jon Creeden on MySpace

Facebook Event Page

Pidlubny Productions is a brand new video production company specializing in professional wedding, event and corporate videography.

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No matter what your video needs are, Pidlubny Productions will work with you to deliver a production that looks professional and that’s within your budget.

Call for a free demonstration and consultation today. 403.526.0286.

Medicine Hat – Smoke from British Columbia’s forest fires has drifted into Alberta. Residents in Medicine Hat and the surrounding communities are advised to take precautions against potential health risks. Smoke conditions can vary depending on current weather conditions and prevailing winds, but may affect local air quality and health.

Alberta Health Services has issued an advisory and residents should plan activities and manage their health in the areas of possible smoke impact. Please contact Alberta Health Services by calling Health Link (24 hours a day, seven days a week) toll-free at 1-866-408-LINK (5465) or visiting their website at www.albertahealthservices.ca.

“We want to ensure that residents take the appropriate precautions to protect their health and safety attributed to the level of observable smoke in the air,” said Fire Chief Ron Robinson. “Fire Services recommends that residents be cognizant of the impact that the B.C. Forest Fires are having on our air quality, but continue to remain alert and responsive in the event a local incident occurs.”

When smoke levels are high, even healthy people may experience discomfort, so ensure that appropriate measures are taken such as remaining in doors (with windows and doors closed) and restricting outdoor activities to protect at risk groups including:

• Children, who are more likely to be active outdoors
• Adults with respiratory, heart or lung conditions/diseases (including asthma), for whom the smoke from BC forest might worsen symptoms
• Elderly, who have existing respiratory, heart and lung conditions/diseases
• Smokers, whose lung and heart function may already be compromised
• Pregnant women

Residents are reminded to call 9-1-1 should emergencies occur or be observed that are unrelated to the air quality issues from the B.C. forest fires.

When someone from Medicine Hat thinks about recreational things to do in town, it is not out of the ordinary to think of the South Saskatchewan River and all it has to offer. But how much fun is too fun? Enter the Peeper’s Delight and Indecent Exposure.

On the night of Thursday, August 19th, I was doing some running to prepare for the Bustin’ Loose 10km Race. I ran from the northern edge of downtown, along River Road, past the YMCA, and was returning when I noticed something odd: A man standing and looking at the river.

While I have seen this before, the odd thing was that he appeared to be on his tip toes on the edge of the sidewalk. He was not walking, and as I drew closer, his button-up shirt appeared to be unbuttoned. I could not see what he was looking at, so I continued to jog by. As I did, he must have realized he was idling, so he shuffled along the sidewalk in the opposite direction. Curious, I looked back and saw he had stopped again and was still peering over the edge. Then I saw why: Two people in the river, shoulder deep, embracing, and who knows what else? Though, he might know what else…

I have been to pretty much every grocery store in town and they all have their ups and their downs, but Safeway seems to be the slowest in terms of “get in and get out.” The marketing strategy that Safeway seems to convey is to have a clean store with good service. They absolutely have the clean store down and their shelves and bins are always stocked, but their service is very mediocre.

I like going to Safeway because I find their fruit and vegetables to usually be clean, nicely stocked and devoid of bruises, and the Safeway club card seems to minimize an enormous bill. The associates who work in the deli and pharmacy always seem very attentive and quick in servicing customers, but then you get to the nightmare of checking out.

In my experience, checking out at Safeway is a slow grueling task that makes shopping there not worth it at all. Unless you go shopping way later in the evening, the lines, whether express or not, always seem to take at least 15-20 minutes, then another 5-8 minutes to check out your groceries. There never seems to be enough cashiers on hand. For instance, the last time I was at Safeway, there were 20 people waiting in line for 4 tills, 2 of which were express lanes. It took me about 15 minutes to stand in line, wait, and check out my 5 items.

If I can help it, I will probably not go back to Safeway unless it is either very early in the morning or later in the evening to help minimize the amount of people in the checkout lanes.

It looks like Gregory Fritzke will be headed to the gallows for real after pleading guilty to accessing and distributing child pornography.

After a lengthy investigation that began in 2008, a subsequent search of Fritzke’s computer by the Police found a total of 9 pornographic photos of children and 1 movie. Also included were some 180 pornographic photos of children that were either deleted or overwritten.

Fritzke, now 44, was using a file sharing program called Google Hello to distribute the content. This lead investigators to a resident in Pennsylvania who was also charged.

During his time as an educator, Frizke was at one time the former vice-principal Alexandria Middle School, where he taught physical education. He is said to have taken numerous leaves of absence from educating for undisclosed reasons, which sounds a little shady.

More details will be released once Fritzke undergoes a psychiatric assessment that was ordered by the court. This is to determine what risk he poses to re-offend and re-access child pornography.

Past coverage:

• Fritzke’s Sex Assault Charge Dismissed
• Gregory Fritzke Racks Up Charges
• To the Gallows, Gregory Fritzke!