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3/10/2010
7:30 pm
Three Edmonton businesses have been fined thousands of dollars after pleading guilty in separate court cases this February.
The Public Safety Compliance Team (PSCT) found violations of fire code regulations at the two nightclubs, and one restaurant in 2009.
Captain Marianne Skippings with Fire Prevention says they keep a list of all licensed nightclubs and restaurants.
"So we, on a regular basis, visit them and do what we call our operational night patrol to insure that they are maintaining their occupant load and that their exits are clear,” remarks Skippings. “Those are the main things that we look for on those occasions. We don't actually do a full inspection during those visits."
The Edmonton Event Centre nightclub was fined $3,000 for failing to post an occupancy load card that inspectors could refer to.
The Bank nightclub was fined $6,500 for exceeding the posted occupant load by 35 percent. The bank had received a warning back in 2006 for being overcrowded and was fined $4,000 in 2007 after a second violation.
And Mirama restaurant is handing over $5,250 for such infractions as locking and obstructing fire exits, and storing a propane cylinder inside the premises.
Skippings says propane cylinders are not ...
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3/10/2010
5:15PM
A man who admits to raping and beating a woman near a Calgary light-rail transit station has testified he was so drunk and stoned, he thought the victim was his dead mother.
Christopher Watcheston testified Wednesday in his own defence at his trial for first-degree murder in the death of Arcelie Laoagan.
The 24-year-old man has admitted to stalking, sexually assaulting and fatally beating the mother of five in January 2008, but has pleaded not guilty.
Watcheston told court he had consumed up to two dozen beers and had smoked a hallucinogenic plant called salvia at the time of the attack.
He says Laoagan screamed, ``Don't rape me, don't rape me'' before he assaulted the 41-year-old woman and kicked her three or four times in the hope she wouldn't remember what happened to her.
Pathologist Dr. Graeme Dowling has previously testified Laoagan suffered severe enough wounds to her head that it caused her brain to no longer function. (Canadian Press,blb)
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3/10/2010
3:50pm
The Edmonton Eskimos will be playing on artificial turf this coming CFL season.
City council granted approval Wednesday to convert Commonwealth Stadium from natural grass, which was its playing surface since the facility opened in 1978, to a form of field turf.
The Eskimos made their pitch to city hall, for a cost-sharing deal with the city to make the change. Besides a consistent playing surface for an entire CFL season, the football club pointed to the many benefits for the city. Field maintenance will be cheaper, with no watering or fertilizing required every year. As well, with Commonwealth Stadium having a busy concert schedule, the new field will endure far less damage during the set up and tear down of those events.
One change the Eskimos won't make, however, is a move towards advertising on the field surface.
"Our sponsorship guys would love to do it, (but) we're still going to remain true to a clean field," says Eskimos' CEO Rick Lelachuer. "There might be some day that we have to go to markings on the field. For the Grey Cup game (November 28th), they (advertising) will be on the field because it's a CFL event."
The cost will be in ...
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3/10/2010
2:20pm
City police believe they've nabbed those responsible for a pair of personal robberies at a northeast Edmonton LRT station last weekend.
Three teens are charged with robbery. Besides robbery, Samar Sigar, 19, is also charged with uttering threats. The two 15-year-old's charged can't be named because of their age.
The charges come after police investigated robberies Sunday at the Belvedere LRT station, near 129th Avenue and 62nd Street.(bp)
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3/10/2010
1:20pm
An escapee from Bowden prison, south of Red Deer, now faces charges in the Vancouver-suburb of Surrey, B.C., over allegations he was passing out fake American money.
Nathan Paolinelli escaped November 16th, and a month later, a man with a similar description was seen using counterfeit American cash in a store in Kelowna.
That brought the man to the attention of the Federal Integrated Counterfeit Enforcement Team, who followed him to Surrey and began surveillance. Paolinelli and his girlfriend Stacey Scharf were arrested last week as they were about to make a purchase in a store. The Mounties say, when they searched the couple's apartment, they found over $75,000 in counterfeit U.S. currency, crystal methamphetamine, three forged postal keys, a large number of stolen ID cards, forged credit cards, and specialized paper and printers.
Police say both people face counterfeiting-related charges, with other charges pending.
(The Canadian Press)
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3/10/2010
12:50pm
The City of Edmonton has an award-winning communications department.
However, the award is for waste from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF). Edmonton got a "Teddy" honourable mention for its "Edmonton Stories" web program. The CTF says it was a waste of $1.4 million, claiming that while the hope was it would attract people from out-of-town to read it, more than half of its viewers were locals.
Mayor Stephen Mandel is bristling at the suggestion.
"The greatest thing they'd (CTF) probably like you to do is to have sidewalks eliminated and make them out of gravel so you'd have nothing in the city," said Mandel sarcastically, "so, I don't really have any comment except for that."
Councillor Tony Caterina is supporting the CTF, and its analysis that the website was a waste because it attracted only 53,000 visitors from outside the city, at a cost of $26 a visit. (sj/bp)
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3/10/2010
1pm
RCMP are investigating a serious crash involving an ambulance, north of Edmonton.
It happened along Highway 28, about 15 kilometres west of Smoky Lake about 3:40 p.m. Tuesday. RCMP say the ambulance was transferring a 75-year-old female patient to Edmonton, when it left the highway and hit an approach.
Both, ambulance staff members -- two men, aged 48 and 61 -- and the patient had to be airlifted to hospital in Edmonton by STARS with injuries that were not considered serious.
Police say speed was not a factor, as the investigation continues.(bp)
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3/10/2010
12:45pm
After a four-month break, Leo Tesky's dangerous offender hearing resumed Wednesday morning in Edmonton's Court of Queen's Bench, with many questions about the type of treatment available to him in prison.
Lesley Miller, who's husband Dougald was beaten to a near vegetative state by Teskey, sat in court taking notes during the morning proceeding, as a representative from Corrections Canada took the stand. The staff member, who had not reviewed Teskey's file, discussed a program called "In Search of Your Warrior." It's described as an intensive program that focuses on rehabilitating prisoners with a violent past, and a history of substance abuse. There is no decision as yet about whether Teskey would be enrolled in such a program.
The dangerous offender hearing for Teskey will continue Thursday. It's expected closing arguments will be heard next month.(jg/bp)
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3/10/2010
12:30pm
City council spent much of Wednesday morning talking about the city's budget woes, and what it means for how the city will be run the rest of the year.
Some on council want to hold the line on hiring. Construction is a big problem. The province, because of its cash crunch, is scaling back how much money it's giving the city this year and next. The total amount will come from the province. It will just be spread out over a longer period of time.
"The agreement was $260 million. We're getting $100 million less for each year -- a $200 million short fall," Craig Warnock, the city's chief financial officer, told council.
And, what it means for rehabilitating neighborhoods is, they should be safe for this year but future years is stlll being worked out. Lower construction costs are helping.
Then, there are employee costs. All contracts but one are done, where the city is abosorbing a 4.5% wage increase. That's a problem for one city councillor.
"We have put money aside -- 4.5%," said Coun. Amarjeet Sohi, who's on the Edmonton Police Commission.
However, police are in arbitration, and want more based on higher settlements in other parts ...
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3/10/2010
11am
A Calgary judge has sentenced a man to five years in prison for driving his vehicle onto a sidewalk in the southwest part of that city two years ago, killing one woman and badly injuring her wheelchair-bound son.
Darren Coupal has also been banned from driving for 10 years.
The victim was out walking with her son and a friend in the Bridlewood neighbourhood when they were mowed down.
Court heard Coupal was en route home that night, after drinking at a pub.(CHQR/bp)
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