Covy Moore/Rocky View Publishing

Stephen McPhee is Airdrie's newsmaker of the year.

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Meet Stephen McPhee, Airdrie's Newsmaker of 2011

Stephen McPhee

The 10-year-old is the honorary director of the charity Stephen’s Backpacks Society and won a Leader of Tomorrow Award, presented by Premier Ed Stelmach, April 13. He received the award in the Elementary School Recipient category. The awards, organized by Volunteer Calgary, recognized volunteers for the diverse ways they give back to their community. The charity, along with many other groups and individuals in the community, reached out to help families in Slave Lake by donating furniture, bedding, blankets, baby items, towels and more. The McPhees received a letter from Queen Elizabeth II after the Governor General presented Her Majesty with Nancy McPhee’s book Dream Outloud. McPhee won the Airdrie City View’s best citizen category of the 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards, Sept. 28. He was honoured with the Youth Philanthropist 2011 Generosity of Spirit Award, Nov. 9. In December, he was the recipient of a Stars of Alberta Volunteer Award. Minister of Culture and Community Services Heather Klimchuk presented the award to McPhee, Dec. 5.

Donna Pearce

The Airdrie Council of School Councils’ president and her group pressured Alberta politicians to approve more schools to be built in Airdrie. Over the past four years, attendance at Rocky View schools has increased by 2,000 students. In the same period, no new schools have been announced and next year it is predicted the school utilization rate will be at 100 per cent. On May 24, Premier Ed Stelmach announced three new schools would be built in Airdrie by 2015. The schools will include a middle school, a high school and a francophone K-12.

Blake Richards

The Wild Rose MP swept his way to a second term in office, May 2. The incumbent scored 74.7 per cent support as his Conservative party won its first ever majority government. Richards also took one for the team when his nose was broken during the Wild Rose Hockey Challenge in a collision with Airdrie-Chestermere MLA Rob Anderson, Aug. 27. The Challenge raised a record-breaking $83,000 for victims’ services groups. Richards was also appointed as chair of the Parliamentary Tourism Caucus on Sept. 23.

Christa Harriman

The wife of the late Tim Harriman is ensuring her husband continues to inspire the city. Tim was diagnosed with cancer four times in his short life. In 2007, he biked across Canada to raise funds and awareness for the disease. He passed away in September 2010. Airdrie East Lake path was officially renamed in his honour, on what would have been his 23rd birthday, June 15. In October, She released his autobiography Undefeated. Tim finished all but the last few pages of the book before he passed away.

Corissa Boychuk

The 22-year-old won a gold medal at the Canada Cup gymnastics event held at home in Airdrie in July and followed it up with a gold medal at the World Championships in England in November.

Ty Rattie

The local hockey star had a big year, culminating with his participation at the 2012 Team Canada World Junior Selection Camp. Rattie was left off the final roster, but had plenty of other accomplishments in 2011. He suited up in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game in Toronto, playing under coach Don Cherry, and was drafted 32nd overall by the St. Louis Blues at the NHL Entry Draft in June.

Kevin Weinberger

Airdrie’s new fire chief will lead the fire department as it continues to expand. In August, the King’s Heights Fire Hall opened to serve the eastside of the city. The westside station in Chinook Winds will be open in February. It is the largest station at 23,000 square feet and will serve as the main station, training centre and City’s Emergency Operations Centre. Construction on a station in Gateway is set to begin in 2013.

John Francis Dionne

The 43-year-old was arrested following a bizarre incident, which led police to review their own procedures in February. Dionne, a HIV-infected convicted sex offender, allegedly kidnapped a 10-year-old girl from Deerfoot Mall in Calgary. He was later stopped by police for speeding with the missing girl in the car, according to RCMP, and released after being issued a ticket. He then drove the girl to Airdrie and released her. It was later determined that the girls not sexually assaulted. Dionne was charged with kidnapping, child abduction, assault, robbery and impersonating a police officer. He pled guilty to impersonating an officer in December and will go to court in May to determine if he will be declared a dangerous offender or a long-term offender.

RCMP drug team

Airdrie’s officers shut down a number of grow-ops in the city in 2011, including a $1.3 million bust in King’s Heights, Jan. 16; $700,000 in Sagewood, Feb. 17; $1.3 million in Channelside on March 17; $2 million in Channelside on March 17; 950,000 in Morningside on May 11; $80,000 in King’s Heights on Sept. 21; $540,000 in Canals Oct. 4 and just over $1 million in Channelside on Nov. 4.

Mother Nature

Airdrie received its share of severe weather in 2011. Old Man Winter dumped 10-15 centimetres of snow in a blizzard, Jan. 8-9, causing dozens of accidents, highway closures and even school closures on Jan. 10. Spring flooding caused concerns for Airdrie and Rocky View County residents in April. Heavy snowfall coupled with few chinooks led to floodings of Nose Creek and other smaller waterways in the area. Flooding was an issue again in late May when storms elicited an Environment Canada rainfall warning. Flooding damaged roads near Airdrie. In November, a windstorm damaged numerous Airdrie buildings including Rocky View Schools’ Education Centre, the westside fire hall and Airdrie United Church.

John Reilly

The Wild Rose Liberal candidate apologized after making a comment on a Calgary radio show regarding punishment for sexual assaults. On April 7, on The Rutherford Show, Reilly said, “Well, you know, there are sexual assaults and then there are sexual assaults.”

Lori McRitchie

The executive director of the Airdrie Food Bank has done a tremendous job keeping the organization up and running despite increasing needs, rising gas costs and food expenses and a $20,000 decrease in funding from the City of Airdrie.

Ice user groups

Work on the Plainsmen Arena renovation began in May but the project was delayed due to a number of factors. On May 2, City council decided to complete two of the phases but put the others on hold after staff found leaking Freon and brine, an inadequate underground structure and other structural problems with the building. A wet, cold summer, pre-existing ground water issues and site foundation issues uncovered during the renovation also impacted the project timelines, delaying completion by three weeks and leaving a number of ice user groups in a lurch. The Plainsmen officially opened again on Oct. 31.

Peter Brown

Airdrie’s mayor spoke out against drunk driving after his 18-year-old son was charged with two counts of impaired driving when he rolled his vehicle on Highway 2 north of Airdrie at 2 a.m. on Feb. 5. The Mayor’s Recreation For Life Run and Walk on June 5 attracted 430 people and raised almost $11,000 for phase III of Genesis Place. In August, Brown donned pink apparel and helped raise $150,000 during the third annual Batting Against Breast Cancer tournament. Brown worked hard to improve the City’s relationship with businesses and to encourage more businesses to set up shop in Airdrie.

Rob Anderson

The former-PC-turned-Wildrose-MLA for Airdrie-Chestermere, continued to claim much of his party’s spotlight, battling the provincial government on a variety of fronts in 2011, a year that saw Premier Ed Stelmach resign from office to be replaced by former Justice Minister Alison Redford. He was unsuccessful in his bid to repeal Bill 50: the Electrical Statutes Amendment Act in the Legislature, April 18. Anderson later took on the role of Wildrose education critic. He is also the party’s critic for justice, treasury board, finance and executive council.

Kenneth Richard Cooke

The convicted sex offender was found living in Airdrie and he volunteered at a local church in September. Cooke was a former Calgary pastor who was convicted of sexually abusing a four-year-old girl in Lake in the Hills, Ill.. in 2003. Representatives of the church said the safety of children and youth are of the highest importance to them and they were not sure how Cooke passed the screening process for volunteers. Police and the church later held an open house to inform the public on the volunteer screening process.

Nathan Anderson

The Crossfield mayor and friend Kurtis Kristianson survived a plane crash near Airdrie, July 21. Anderson was piloting his Murphy Renegade airplane but was unable to take off because of hot, thin air and the fact the plane didn’t have enough power.

Linda Bruce

The former Airdrie mayor volunteered with PC leadership candidate Gary Mar’s policy committee. Mar finished second in the race for premier in October. She and Sherry Shaw-Froggatt work with Creative Airdrie Society (CAS) and helped bring Alberta Art Days to Airdrie. The 12-day artistic celebration included a 300-foot mural on Main Street and Centre Avenue. Many businesses, schools and community groups participated in the mural painting. The society also spearheaded a project, Awesome Airdrie, popularized by other Canadian cities.

Greg Bass

The superintendent of Rocky View Schools’ trustees worked hard to approve a budget despite $4.2 million in cuts from the Province. In June, the school division deferred hiring staff, reduced the care-taking budget and implemented revenue sharing to make the tight budget work. Then in October, they were forced to rework the budget when Premier Alison Redford gave the division $2.87 million back from the cuts. Amidst the budget concerns, the school division broke ground on a new Williamstown elementary school, Nov. 4. The school was funded by the school division and will teach Kindergarten to Grade 4 students.

Bert Brown

The Conservative senator faced criticism in November for being the biggest spender in the Senate in the last fiscal year. He defended his $331,000 spending of taxpayers’ money between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011, saying the money was spent on promoting a bill to create Senate reform in the country.

Dan Oneil

He became the chair of the 2014 Alberta Summer Games Bid Committee and the committee worked hard to get the bid ready by the Dec. 31 deadline. The Games will include 17 sports, 3,000 athletes ages 11 to 17, bring in $420,000 in grants, cost about $2 million and provide $3 to $5 million in economic spinoff. If the committee is successful, the onsite visit will take place in April.

Tracy Work

She was the co-chair of the Airdrie Relay For Life. Work was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and again in 2008 and lost her battle with the disease in August 2011. She was nominated for the 2011 Amazing Airdrie Women Awards and in 2012 one of the awards will bear her name. The Tracy Work Memorial Award will go to someone who fights against all odds and is a role model to others.

Baby Madeline

Airdrie’s New Year’s baby Madeline Annelise Dykxhoorn was born at Calgary’s Peter Lougheed Hospital on Jan. 1 at 8:40 a.m. Madeline has three older brothers and she measured in at just over 20 inches long and weighed seven pounds, 10 ounces.

Faith Wood

The Airdrie-based entrepreneur spent numerous hours fundraising for her twin sister’s medical treatment, and turned it into a how-to book on raising money for good causes on a small budget. The book, Fundraising On A Shoestring, was released in early 2011. She released her second book, The Graduating Bully, about offering solutions to victims of workforce bullying later in the year.

Ken Vickets

The new president of the Airdrie Regional ARTS Society was elected Jan. 26, while Glenn Collin moved into the vice president’s chair.

Airdrie Faith Build

Linda and Lawrence Ray brought Habitat for Humanity housing to Airdrie, Oct. 6, when they broke ground on the new duplex, located in Bayside. It will house two families in need in the community.

Ashleigh Kolonic

On March 24, the Grade 12 George McDougall High School student raised more than $2,500 for a classmate with cancer.

Donelda Johnson

The dedicated volunteer was honoured with the Soul of Airdrie Award at the 2011 Volunteer of the Year Awards, April 20. Johnson volunteered with the Airdrie Pro Rodeo, the Municipal Planning Commission, the Airdrie 55+ Games, the Airdrie Air Show and was the executive for the Airdrie Village Community Association.

Laurel Holmes

The 17-year-old Airdrie Koinonia Christian School student was chosen as one of six World Vision Youth Ambassadors in June. She travelled to Africa in August to attend a youth forum and saw the organization’s work firsthand. Upon her arrival home, she shared her experiences at schools, churches and other organizations. Holmes also performed an original song at the Boyce Theatre July 12 during the Calgary Stampede Talent Search.

Nancy Adams

The longtime teacher and principal retired after 39 years as an educator. Adams was replaced by former Springbank Middle School principal Pam Davidson at Bert Church High School.

Dale Hobbs

The longtime George McDougall principal retired after working at the school for 28 years. Former principal at Springbank Community High School, Mark Davidson, took over for Hobbs.

Gillian Shields

On July 2, the Didsbury resident was named Miss Rodeo Airdrie, while Airdrie’s own Rebecca McKay was honoured as the princess.

Jennifer Ruklic

She is the mother of a boy with hemophilia and the secretary for the Southern Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Hemophilia Society. Ruklic also spearheaded Carter’s Quest for the Cure, a charity in her son’s name that has raised thousands of dollars for the Hemophilia Society with bottle drives, coin cans and other community fundraisers.

Mikiyas Hatton

The six-year-old launched an effort to raise $25,000 to build a clean water drinking well in southern Ethiopia.

Ken Thomson

The local videographer began his production A State of Being in August. The movie is based on true events involving a family of Jehovah’s Witness from Olds that suddenly came into money.

Zac Yoder

The 15-year-old travelled to Fiera Nova, Brazil, to build houses with Habitat for Humanity this summer.

Dick Buchanan

The local businessman won the city’s Volunteer of the Year Ambassador Award, April 20. He also captured the Business Leader Award from the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce in October.

Alexa Kanters

The Airdrie teen spent the summer working with the University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute researching possible treatments for Multiple Sclerosis as part of the Heritage Youth Researcher Summer program.

Alan Tennant

The local RE/MAX Realtor and community philanthropist was named Calgary Real Estate Board CEO, Sept. 28. Tennant, a former Airdrie Volunteer of the Year, moved to Calgary to take on the job.

Al and Lois Jones

The Here’s The Scoop/Advance Distribution owners won the Winning Edge Award for their company’s customer service, innovative practices and corporate citizenship, Oct. 21.

Tamara Laschinsky

The employee of Natural e Green won the Eco Edge Award for promoting, taking part and providing leadership in the environmental arena, Oct. 21.

Rebecca Reaville

The employee of Grow With Us won the Family Friendly Business Award, Oct. 21.

Sue Methuen

She accepted the position of Airdrie Food Bank executive assistant in October.

Tom Addinall

The 86-year-old shared stories about his service in the British Forces in the Second World War, Nov. 1. He enlisted to fight in 1941. The veteran moved from England to Winnipeg in 1965, then to Calgary a year later and then Airdrie about a year ago.

Karen MacDonald

The executive director for the Boys and Girls Club of Airdrie stepped down after 11 years. Denisa Sanness, formerly with North Rocky View Community Links, replaced MacDonald.

Sydney Grenkow

The Grade 2 student cut off her locks for the second time to donate her hair to make wigs for cancer patients, Nov. 29. Grenkow first cut her hair for charity when she was in Kindergarten.

Nadine Low

The president of the Airdrie Festival of Performing Arts Society announced that the festival will take place in the community in April at Bert Church Theatre, Nov. 21. The festival will include choir, voice, piano and musical theatre categories.

The Morisons

The family from a farm near Goldenrod Hall was named Rocky View County’s 2011 Master Farm Family, June 23. The fourth generation family business focuses on cattle and grain. The family is involved in volunteer opportunities with 4-H and the Calgary Stampede.

Art Krusel

The Airdrie Thunder’s former head coach has spent considerable time and energy helping our city’s top sports franchise find victory on the ice. But he faced a new challenge in 2011, taking time away from his duties as bench boss to fight cancer. He stepped down in January, returned to the bench to start the 2011-12 season, before stepping back for good in December.

Dana Tyrell

The Tampa Bay Lightning forward came within one game of playing in the Stanley Cup finals, as his team dropped a 1-0 decision to the eventual Cup-winning Boston Bruins in game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals on May 27. Tyrell later signed a two-year, $1.2-million contract with Tampa Bay in November.

Spenser Jensen

The Airdrie Xtreme’s former stud defenceman entered his first full year with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers and has tallied six points in 22 games. He also won bronze at the Canada Winter Games, notching three assists.

Torrin White

The former Airdrie Xtreme Bantam AAA star entered his first year with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors and was named to Team Pacific to play in the 2012 World U17 Hockey Challenge in Windsor, Ont., Dec. 28 to Jan. 4. He also won bronze at the Canada Winter Games, notching five goals and three assists.

Patrick Murphy

The Crossfield 13-year-old won the Boys’ 13-14 age group at the San Diego Junior Amateur Golf Tournament by two strokes, two days before New Year’s Day, 2011. By winning, he earned a spot in the Callaway World Junior Championship.

Jordon Sealock

After wrapping up his NCAA career with numerous team records, the local lacrosse star returned to Canada to make the Calgary Roughnecks practice roster, trying out for the team at its training camp in Airdrie.

Nils Moser

The former AAA Bantam Airdrie Xtreme captain helped make WHL history, Feb. 21. His Regina Pats took on the Calgary Hitmen in an outdoor game played at McMahon Stadium, drawing a record 20,888 fans, as part of the Heritage Classic weekend.

Rhys Eckardt

The local Boss Boxing coach organized the Boss Brawls, two major events that brought some of Alberta’s top fighters to the city in March and September.

Joe McLaughlin

The George McDougall girls’ varsity basketball coach led his team to the Rocky View Sports Association divisional championship, March 5. The team earned a bronze medal in provincials at SAIT, March 19.

Emily Lambert

The Airdrie teen competed at the Karate Canada National Championships for the third time, March 18-20.

Jack Lumley

The chairman of the Airdrie Regional Recreation Enhancement Society and his organization, along with ice user groups, raised thousands of dollars for phase III of Genesis Place.

Curtis Conteni

The Airdrie teen went to Texas with his Alberta U16 teammates for the Dallas Cup international soccer tournament, April 17 to 24.

Melissa Hollingsworth

The local Olympian included the Airdrie Pro Rodeo in her stops during her first year in ladies’ barrel racing.

Steve Kemp

The head coach of the The Northern Raiders led his squad to the Calgary Midget Football League Div. 2 championship with a 35-0 victory over the Calgary Stampeders, May 26.

Elite Athletes

Eric Pothier, Janelle Desmarais-Moen, Corissa Boychuk and Darrell Belyk were recognized as the first four elite Airdrie athletes, June 23. Pothier is a luger, Desmarais-Moen and Boychuk are gymnasts and Belyk is an arm wrestler. They were honoured with plaques that will be permanently displayed on a wall in Genesis Place.

Rob Breitzke

The past president earned a belt buckle on Canada Day in recognition of his three-year presidency and 12 years of being involved in the Airdrie Pro Rodeo.

Chris Simnett

The tennis player won the men’s 5.0 singles title at the Canada Day Classic at Calgary’s Mount Pleasant Tennis Club, July 3.

Ben and Roy

The Soderglen Ranches horses claimed all three spots at the Calgary Stampede’s Heavy Horse Pull, July 17.

Kyler Hooper

The 14-year-old Airdrie junior steer rider competed in the Calgary Stampede and made the CFR for the second year in a row.

Kristopher LeClair

The Airdrie Xtreme Bantam AAA player went to Europe on April 13 to participate in the ’97 World Selects Invitational tournament in Prague, Czech Republic.

Olivia McMurray

She earned a silver medal in the women’s coxless pairs at the 2011 Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops, BC, in August.

Anthony Paskaruk

The Airdrie native will be playing in the NCAA next season after signing with the Clarkson University Golden Knights in November.

Brooke McAvena

She skated to a second-place finish at the Skate Canada Alberta-N.W.T./Nunavut Sectional Championships, Nov. 3 to 6.