4 Monday, June 29, 2015

Edmonton

crime

Man charged in sex

assault of 5-year-old
A suspect is in police custody
after a child told her mother
she was sexually assaulted in
a pet store on June 20.
According to police, a fiveyear-old girl and her mother
were shopping in an undisclosed pet store in the west
end when the girl was separated from her mother for a
few minutes.
During that time, it was reported that a man allegedly
approached the young girl and
led her to the mens washroom
where he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
Police responded and found
the suspect shortly after the
incident.

This alleged occurrence is

particularly unusual and concerning as this sexual assault
occurred with a stranger, said
Acting Staff Sgt. David Jone,s
of Edmonton Police Child Protection Section, in a release.
Most cases of child abuse
occur with an adult the child
already knows.
Adrian Ballantyne, 27, is
charged with sexual interference, sexual assault and breach
probation.
Police are looking for other
potential young victims, as
Ballantyne has been known to
travel in Alberta, Saskatchewan
and British Columbia.
metro

Grande Prairie

Apartment shooting
leaves two men dead
Two men are dead following a
shooting Saturday in Grande
Prairie.
RCMP officers in the city
were called out to an apartment shortly after 4:35 p.m.
on Saturday, where they found
the two men who had been
shot.
The RCMPs major crime
unit is now investigating the
case and autopsies on the
two men are scheduled for

Tuesday.
Officers do not believe this
was a random attack, and are
asking anyone with information to come forward.
Theyre specifically looking
for information on three black
men who were seen running
from the area just after the
shooting.
Anyone with any information can call Crime Stoppers
at 1-800-222-8477. metro

IN BRIEF
House explosion sends
glass and debris flying
Three people were taken to
hospital, another 40 were
treated on scene for cuts
and scrapes and several
senior citizens were shaken
up when a house next to the
Bow River Seniors Lodge in
Canmore was levelled in an
explosion Friday afternoon.
RCMP said the bulk of
those who were injured were
hit by flying glass and debris.
In addition, about 400
people in the area were
displaced from their homes
due to utilities being suspended, said RCMP.
the canadian press

Three die in highway crash

Three people were killed
Saturday in a head-on crash
near Ponoka, RCMP have
confirmed.
Police were called out at
about 4:45 p.m. on Saturday
to the collision on Highway
2. Officers have since determined that a southbound
truck crossed the median
and into the path of a northbound SUV.
Two women in the north
bound SUV and a women
in the truck were all pronounced dead on scene,
while a male in the truck was
taken to hospital and is now
in stable condition. metro

Sally Scott wants to teach history to kids through a new project she calls YEG Neighbourhoods. contributed

The history right in

our own backyards
YEG Neighbourhoods

Local woman
wants kids to
take a look into
their citys past
Stephanie
Dubois

Metro | Edmonton
Remember how boring history
could be in school? One local
woman does, and is taking kids
out of their classrooms and into
their neighbourhoods.
Sally Scott loves history, but
has realized kids arent always
a fan of historical dates and
land battles that happened well

before their time.

I think when we talk about
the citys history or the provinces history, its really abstract
for kids, she says. Its hard for
them to really understand and
connect to the history.
Thats why Scott started YEG
Neighbourhoods Project, a tool
that she hopes will get kids
more interested in local history by taking them outside
of the classroom and into their
communities.
Using log books and encouraging kids to ask questions
along the trip, Scott aims to
make the project more of a
conversation than a tour.
As a historical interpreter
at Fort Edmonton Park, museum exhibitor for the Royal

Im excited to focus
not just on older
communities, but
newer ones.
Sally Scott

Alberta Museum and an education program assistant for the

University of Alberta museums,
Scott knows her way around
the education places in the city
and she wants to show kids that
theres history even in newer
neighbourhoods.
Im excited to focus not just
on older communities, but newer ones, she says. We tend to
think theres not a lot of his-

tory in newer ones but theres

a really big indigenous history.
Edmonton has a lot to offer
those curious about the past,
says Scott, with the stories of
aboriginals and the settlers
who came to the area, and she
also believes the city is unique
when it comes to its sense of
community.
I call Edmonton a city of
try-hards. Everyone here is
very willing to volunteer, make
things and put themselves out
there and build something into
something wonderful. Not
every city has that encouragement base, she says.
Scott wants to launch the
pilot project in the fall, with
plans to have a soft launch of
the program in the spring.

charity

Meals on Wheels looking for help with deliveries

Keeping the meals flowing
in the summer months is a
real challenge that Meals on
Wheels is hoping new volunteers can help solve.
Every summer, the organization delivering food to the
doors of the citys homebound

loses many helping hands to

vacations.
If someone could just help
out once, we would appreciate
that, says Meals on Wheels
spokeswoman Caitlin Fleming. If they could stay longer, thats awesome, too. Its

totally up to them were

pretty flexible with it.
Whatever time commitment they can help us with,
that would be great.
Meals on Wheels services
all of Edmonton, and needs
over 20 routes a day filled,

and time commitments are

as little as 90 minutes per
shift. They also try to keep
people driving in the neighbourhoods close to where
they live.
The meal service charges
minimal rates to deliver food

and has a subsidized rate for

low-income people. The service depends on volunteers
to keep their rates low.
In 2014 Meals on Wheels
had 800 volunteers donating
51,000 hours.
If they can not get volun-

teers, staff often have to take

time away from their regular
jobs to do deliveries.
According to Fleming, the
orgnization has never had a
no delivery day due to bad
weather or lack of volunteers.
Michelle Falk/For Metro