Delon Shurtz says farewell to the news business
By Lethbridge Herald on August 1, 2024.
Herald photo by ALEJANDRA PULIDO-GUZMAN
Long-time Herald reporter Delon Shurtz worked his last shift at the newspaper on Wednesday.Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
On Wednesday Delon Shurtz said goodbye to the Lethbridge Herald after 35 years, leaving behind thousands of stories archived in the pages of previous publications and in many people’s memories.
Shurtz’ career started outside of the Herald, spending six months writing for the Morinville Mirror. He then worked for a couple of years writing for the Bow Island paper before joining the Lethbridge Herald in September 1989 where he started as a general reporter.
His early articles revolved around general stories about the everyday happenings in the community, but it slowly turned into a political beat that covered anything from local to federal politics and everything in between.
Throughout the years his writing transitioned into sporadic court coverage, which ultimately turned into full-time court reporting to keep Lethbridge and area residents informed about the various court cases taking place at the Lethbridge Courthouse on a daily basis. Something Shurtz did for the last 13 years.
When asked about some of the highlights in his career, Shurtz recalled a few stories that included politicians, Royals, Indigenous people, and natural disasters.
“When I was a political reporter I always found it interesting to interview politicians like Ralph Klein back in the day when he was making all sorts of cuts to healthcare,” said Shurtz.
He also recalled the flood of 1995 and how pretty much everyone in the newsroom was covering some part of it.
“I remember going to Pincher Creek covering the flood there, following the creek through the town and seeing the yards that were flooded and people in their yards pulling stuff out of their home that were flooded,” said Shurtz.
He said the flood gave reporters something to write about for a couple of days and provided them with lots of pictures to document the historical incident.
“I also remember this one story I did in the first few years I worked here, where a couple of Indigenous people diverted water from an irrigation canal, fighting for water rights and it was a big deal. The RCMP was involved and the guy ended up in jail,” said Shurtz.
He was referring to an incident that took place in 1990 when political activist Milton Born With A Tooth led the Blackfoot Warrior Society in opposing the Oldman River Dam. He used an excavator in an attempt to divert the river away from the dam. On Sept. 7, 1990 a group of government officials accompanied by armed RCMP officers arrived to assess the damage caused by the attempted diversion. At trial, he was found to have confronted the group with a loaded rifle and had fired at least two shots in the air after pointing the rifle at the back of a retreating RCMP officer. As a result he spent four-and-a-half years in prison.
“I remember being there, many RCMP officers were there and everybody was carrying guns and a couple of reporters and photographer were going out every day to cover this,” said Shurtz.
He added that on one of those days he was covering the incident, talking to the RCMP and Indigenous folks over there trying to take pictures but the RCMP officers were camouflaged.
“They were keeping themselves kind of hidden but everybody there knew exactly where they were and one fellow told me to just walk across the diversion, go up this little hill and I would see an RCMP officer behind the bush in his camouflage, so I did and there’s this RCMP officer covered in camouflage with his rifle sitting there and waving me to get away,” said Shurtz.
Another big moment Shurtz experienced during his time at the Lethbridge Herald was Y2K – the start of a new millennium that everyone was worried about.
“Like everybody else at the time, we were wondering how that was going to impact all the computers and all the technology as at the time we were no longer using typewriters, we had transitioned to word processors,” said Shurtz.
He said at the time reporters on duty were sent out to various establishments to be ready to report on what happened the moment the clock struck midnight and everything re-started to the dreaded 00.
“I remember being in somebody’s home at the time celebrating New Years and nothing happened, it was very anti-climactic, so for a couple of days we wrote about how technology didn’t crash and there was nothing to worry about,” said Shurtz.
One more highlight of his career that Shurtz remembers fondly took place while reporting for the Morinville Mirror as he was sent to Edmonton for a very special assignment.
“The Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Andrew and (at the time) Sarah Ferguson, came to Edmonton and I was sent to cover the event. Hundreds of people were gathered outside of the Legislature, but I was right there in the front behind the ribbon while they walked by saying hello to everyone, I was so close I could’ve reached out and touched them,” said Shurtz.
And while talking about court coverage – his longest running beat, Shurtz said he was lucky to be able to leave all of it behind every day after work. He never took that home with him even though sometimes he had to listen to some gruesome information.
“It wasn’t horrible all the time, but the cases involving sexual assaults or child pornography were always hard to listen to. But only once in my 13 years of court coverage I had to leave the courtroom as I was unable to continue listening to the Crown proecutor reading fact after fact about a child pornography case,” said Shurtz.
He said most days in court were spent listening to drug related charges, break-and- enters or theft, which interested him because he always was intrigued about some of the things people are capable of doing, as well as how some are not very good criminals and are easily caught.
“I remember a case about two young people, they were under-age so I couldn’t use their name, but they broke into the courthouse and tried to break into the vending machines and locked rooms unsuccessfully, but not before making a mess. They also went to the mall and created some chaos there, too and off course in both incidents they were caught on video,” said Shurtz.
He added that it was not because of the videos they were caught, but because they were scheduled to appear in court the next day and they showed up wearing the same clothes they were seen wearing in the videos from the day before.
“I did a story on that and even though it is a court case and we have to take seriously I remember writing the lead as something like a couple of youth have given the bathroom readers a book on the dumbest crooks in the world a whole new meaning,” said Shurtz.
He said they were sent to jail for a few weeks and when they came out they stopped by the Herald because they had found out about his story.
“They said to me, ‘oh so you think we are the dumbest crooks in the world?’ and I said to them, well are you telling me it was you who did it because I couldn’t use your name in the article and the other guy turned to him and said ‘we better go.’ And that was all that came from that,” said Shurtz.
Shurtz wishes to thank the community for their support, for reading his stories throughout his time with the Lethbridge Herald and says he will miss his colleagues and those in the community who were always willing to help him out, from being a source for his stories to pointing him in the direction of a source.
“It has been great working with the people I have worked with throughout the years, but now I look forward to spending time with my family. I have six children all within driving distance and 17 grandchildren. I also look forward to spending my time without being controlled by deadlines other than those I set for myself, or my wife set on me,” said Shurtz.
For managing editor Al Beeber, Shurtz’s departure marks the end of an era at The Herald.
“With Delon gone, I can’t see us providing the type of extensive, indepth court coverage he gave us for at least the near future,” said Beeber, noting to his knowledge Shurtz is the only remaining full-time court reporter in Lethbridge.
“He has done a super job covering court and since I took over this role, I’ve been able to count on him to take on any assignment I’ve asked. He’s a versatile guy who is always willing to help out with anything requested, he’s a good writer and one of the most personable, kind and gentle human beings I’ve ever met.
“He’s going to be missed and long remembered,” added Beeber.
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Thank you for your contribution to keeping folks informed Delon. Enjoy the retirement.