Over Easy, Please - April 19, 2013

Fort welcomes new police

chiefFort Saskatchewan will soon have a new chief offi cer of it’s lo-cal RCMP detachment.

The City of Fort Saskatchewan announced last week that Staff Sergeant Craig O’Neill has ac-cepted the position of RCMP De-tachment Commander. O’Neill brings 23 years of policing experi-ence throughout BC and Alberta to his new position in the Fort.

O’Neill will serve as the per-manent replacement to S.Sgt. Dwayne Rawson, who relocated to Westlock earlier this year.

Volume 3, Number 25 Price: FREEFort Saskatchewan, Alberta • Friday, April 19, 2013

By REECE SELLIN

I sometimes dread check-ing my e-mail.

At 1:15pm on Monday, I received a news alert in my inbox, which read “Re-ports of explosion at Bos-ton Marathon fi nish line.”

By now, many undoubted-ly know most of the story: another act of terrorism on US soil. As of press time, three are dead, in-cluding an 8-year-old boy, whose mother also suffered serious brain in-jury and whose sister lost a limb. They are among

the hundreds injured in this cruel act of terror-ism -- among the victims whose fl esh, blood and limbs were strewn across Boston’s Boylston Street. The literally bloody pho-tographs and videos from the scene were broadcast around the world within

Over Easy, PleaseFort residents speak on SRO proposal. Page 3

TAILS OF WAGS AND WHISKERS

“Boss” P. 8

THE ISSUE

Council should consult with Students P. 3

63 days until Summer!

WHAT DO WE CONDONE?

Debris was strewen across the blood-soaked Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts in the aftermath of Monday afternoon’s Boston Marathon bomb attack. Photo: Aaron Tang

Published in print and online every Friday

SAT SUN MON L: -1 L: -8 L: --8 H: 2 H: 0 H: 9

TUE 11/-3P. CLOUDY

WED 10/0SHOWERS

THU 15/3SHOWERS

FRI 15/4P. CLOUDY

Baby crawl and shuttle bus return

Two fi xtures of previous Fort Saskatchewan Trade Shows and Sales will re-turn next week, according to event organizers.

The Fort’s latest group of “diaper-clad dynamos” will crawl it out in a pair of races on Saturday April 27 and Sunday April 28.

The fastest babies will be rewarded with a prize package from Little Ras-cals Trading Post.Although walking, run-

ning, skipping and saun-tering are not allowed, parents are allowed to coax their children to the fi nish line.

The Trade Show & Sale’s presenter, the Fort Sas-katchewan Chamber of Commerce, is asking that parents pre-register their infants by contact-ing the Chamber offi ce at 780.998.4355, Tweeing to @FtSaskChamber or via e-mail to chamber@ fortsaskchamber.com.

Visiting the trade show, which runs next Friday, Saturday and Sunday, will also be made easier this year by a shuttle bus.

An improved, free shuttle

service will be offered by Fort Taxi & Bus Lines between the parking lot of Musgrave’s Hospital-ity Inns & Suites and the Dow Centre. The bus will operate on a fi fteen min-ute departure schedule.

“By decreasing wait times, we hope that more people will be encouraged to take the shuttle to the trade show,” says Trade Show Committee co-chair and TD Canada Trust manager Kelly Lilja.

Taking the shuttle also earns riders a free admis-sion to the trade show and sale -- a $2 value on Fri-day, and $3 on Saturday & Sunday.

minutes of the attack, serving as a stark reminder of the real costs of violence.

From the conversations I have seen and heard since Monday, the lesson many are taking from this incident is that terrorism can happen virtually anywhere. And while that is undoubtedly true, acts of this scale are exceedingly rare. Statistics tell us, for ex-ample, that at least ten times as many people in the USA will like-ly die from tornadoes this year. As tragic as the attack in Boston is, it likely will not be statistically signifi cant even there, among the approximately 60 murders and 3,500 assaults expected in that city this year.

I say the far better lesson to take from this is that it is not the large acts of violence that shape our so-ciety, but rather it is the smaller ones. The man who assaults his girlfriend. The high schooler who threatens their teacher. Those who abuse their lawful author-ity. The relentless neighbourhood stalker. Because it is they who, more than most any terrorist, are collectively the true woe and the far more silent, but far more real risk in our own lives.

More disturbing, it seems that some are often, willfully or other-wise, blind to these realities.

CONTINUED ON PAGE SIX...

Over Easy, Please April 19, 2013 Page 2

Spring SaleStarts April 2nd!

Over Easy, Please is published weekly on Fridays. We are located in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, and are a publication of Tuckbook Inc. Our website is located at www.overeasyplease.com. Over Easy, Please welcomes opinions and comments. Please note that we reserve the right to edit comments for length, style, legality and taste. Comments sent to us or posted to our website may be reproduced in print and/or electronic format. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. Therefore, the views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Tuckbook Inc., and/or any/all contributors to this publication. We reserve the right to reject or remove advertising that we deem contrary to our ad philosophy, at our sole and exclusive discretion. Please view our contact information on page 8. This newspaper is not edible.

Phone: 780-998-0730 Fax: 780-992-1229

11228-87 Avenue, Fort [email protected]

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The IssueCouncil Should Ask

Students about an SRO in their Schools

By OEP Editor JUDY SELLIN

The re-c e n t l y presented request to C o u n c i l on behalf of Elk Is-land Pub-lic Schools

and Elk Island Catholic Schools to have an RCMP offi cer, also known as School Resource Of-fi cer (SRO), in our junior and senior schools is a request that hopefully will be of sincere in-terest to the community. I have been able to do a bit more re-search on the roles (and there are many) of an SRO who hopes to effectively implement the program. I feel I have gained at least some knowledge and a good measure of understanding regarding the program’s goals.

The request is that City tax-payers absorb the yearly cost of an SRO, estimated at around $140,000. This would include the purchase of a vehicle, uni-form and wages. At fi rst glance, this may not seem like a huge expense, for a 5-day-per-week position, however over the long term it does add up. Over 4 years the cost is $560,000, and at the ten year mark, the cost will have reached approximate-ly $1.4 million. Signifi cantly, in most other Canadian com-munities, the cost of an SRO is shared by the school board(s) and the policing organization providing the SRO offi cer(s). Also notable is that Edmonton no longer has SROs in their junior high schools. It has also been my fi nding over the past week that, surprisingly, a fair number of people are not fa-miliar with SROs nor their mandate, even though such programs have existed for a number of years in Canada and the USA.

We have heard from school dis-trict offi cials, but perhaps it is

time to hear from the students about their feelings, concerns and opinions on a SRO in their schools. So, I did just that. I interviewed a few present and past students of local high schools, as I thought it would be interesting to hear what they had to say. I believe their opinions are valuable in that these are or were students who attended Fort schools, both at the junior and senior high level. It was very interesting to hear their opinions and concerns on a program that is focused to a large degree to “ensure a safe and caring environment” for students.

One young man that I inter-viewed is presently attending high school here in the Fort, and is in his graduating year. For him, it has been an impor-tant academic and personal journey, which he thinks will be more memorable than his future post-secondary or career endeavors. For him, his junior and senior high school years have been relatively happy ones here in Fort Saskatch-ewan. He would like to con-tinue to keep the memories of his high school years positive, as that is how he feels about his years spent in these schools. Although he and others know there is drug use (his claim is that he hears they are mainly soft drugs) within the junior and senior high schools here, he states that he has never once feared for his safety in the local schools he attended, other than when a school had a lockdown due to some potential threat.

I did yet another short inter-view with a past student who also expressed similar senti-ments about the junior and se-nior high school she attended. Now in university, she refl ects that she too had never felt un-safe at school, and she too fi n-ished her high school years with mainly good memories. Of course, both of these young adults are very much aware that there are drugs, cyber-bullying, sexting, and outright bullying and smoking within the schools. But they are both quick to point out that those who are involved in such are

not just doing it just within schools. It is out there in the community, and then brought into the schools.

I spoke with other teens who conveyed their thoughts that having the presence of an SRO would do little to reduce the drug, cyber bullying and the like because it would not be done in front of the SRO.

In speaking with a male adult about the his thoughts on SROs in schools, he brought forward the point that an SRO in schools could possibly bring a false sense of security for the students. This brings to ques-tion if there will be an expecta-tion among some of the student body that because an SRO is in the school at various times, that they will still be able to provide total safety for students all of the time? In turn, are we ex-pecting one police offi cer to be a miracle-worker and reduce problems that have been plagu-ing our schools for years?

It is my understanding that police offi cers who wish to take on the SRO role should have special training and be very dedicated to the program, how-ever SROs are only one person trying to deal with a myriad of issues, regardless if they work with teachers and administra-tors on this program. It would be unfair to say that the SRO and the program has not be successful at some level in cer-tain schools. But like people, one size does not fi t all. One program that is relatively posi-tive in one school may not have the same results in another school. So it would also be inac-curate to say that this program is effective for every school.

The way I see it, and I am sure I am not alone in my opinion or stating anything profound, is that most of our youth are pret-ty good kids... perfect they are not, but nor are the adults that are their role models. I would think that most parents want the best for their children, but as parents, are we willing to do whatever that takes?

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7...

April 19, 2013 Page 3Over Easy, Please

Letters to the Editor

Council candidate supports SRO

It has come to my attention that the current City Coun-cil has been approached by local school offi cials to fund an RCMP offi cer (SRO –School Resource Offi cer) for Fort Saskatchewan junior/senior high schools. As a former teacher and school administrator I applaud this move as our schools have taken the initiative to react locally and looking at what can be done to improve the safety of area students.

Fort Saskatchewan, already a city, is quickly growing, and has very close proximity to a large bustling metropo-lis of over 1 million people. With increased size can also come increased prob-lems, but hiring an SRO is a strong mitigating technique to help quell some of those issues. Our youth are our future, and it is the city’s, and the school’s responsibil-ity, as community partners to ensure that our children are protected and feel safe while they are at school.

The province’s new Educa-tion Act, which is expected to be proclaimed and put into action in September of 2015 has a much broader interpretation of bullying than the School Act current-ly in use. This means that cyberbullying (Facebook, text messaging, and other social media) will be treat-ed in the same fashion as physical violence by school boards.

It also means that acts of bullying occurring off of school property and off of school time can be treated the same as those acts that occur in the school, during school hours. This will lead to increased burden on al-ready overburdened school principals.

Wouldn’t having a trained RCMP offi cer in our local schools as a strong deter-ring presence be a boon to school administrators at-tempting to deal with these issues?

I don’t believe that many would dispute the good that such a move would gener-ate. The question posed to City Council is “Who is going to pay for such a per-son?”

With the matter coming back to Council in the fall, what are some of the op-tions out there? It is well known that schools and school boards themselves are tapped, and the latest provincial budget numbers would support this.

Perhaps parents, the city and participating school boards splitting the bill is the solution? With junior/senior high schools in the city numbering approxi-mately 1700 students, a $10 per student fee in Septem-

ber would raise $17,000. With EIPS and EICS each adding $25,000, and the city adding $60 000, we are there.

Fort Saskatchewan is cur-rently a safe city that I am proud to be raising my fam-ily in. Let’s do all that we can to ensure that it stays that way.

Sheldon BossertFort Saskatchewan

Teen questions SRO’s e� ectiveness

My name is Kelly Thomp-son, and I graduated from Ardrossan Junior Senior High School last June. At Ardrossan, we had a School Resource Offi cer (SRO), and I would like to tell you about my experiences with him.

The SRO would visit the school each Tuesday after-noon, which seemed rea-sonable enough for a grade 7-12 school of roughly 800 students. If you asked me what he did on those Tues-day afternoons, my answer comes from mostly guess-work and differencing, as no one really told me. What I fi gured he did was that he would tell people what a great time it was to be an RCMP offi cer, and give warnings to those students that decided to break the law while he was there (in my fi ve years at Ardrossan, there was no arrests I knew of. And in a school of 800, I would have heard if some-

one got arrested).

While we had a SRO, there was still ample bullying, cyber-bullying, fi ghts, drug dealing and using, and the rest of the problems that schools are plagued with. The SRO was simply an-other set of eyes that wasn’t in classrooms, true, but yet, there seemed be no less of these negative ac-tivities simply because the SRO was somewhere in the schools on Tuesday after-noon.

Now, the Fort is facing having an SRO in schools. While it would be more than the once a week that we had ours, I still struggle to see the worth in it. I under-stand that the SRO is meant to combat the problems that we see in classrooms, how-ever, from my own personal experience, it does nothing to curb these activities. The youth who want to partake in using drugs, drug deals, cyber-bullying, and fi ghts (and everything else that the SRO is meant to protect against) will fi nd a way to do it, and hide it from an-other set of eyes.

I also struggle with the price tag: an estimated $140,000. Could this money not be used for more over-all RCMP budget? Could this money not be used to make a safer community for everyone?

Kelly ThompsonFort Saskatchewan


SCARS Pet of the Week - Melody

I am doing great since coming to SCARS. I have gained some much needed weight, and you might even say I gained an ex-tra few pounds. I still have a fear of children, but if they are calm and spend time with me, I learn to love them.

In fact I am great with the kids in my foster home now. Wrestling and playing with other dogs is one of my favor-ite pastimes but do have some separation anxiety so a home with another dog may be a good idea.

I am not a fan of cats, mice or any other small animal for that matter.

I do well off and on leash, crate and house trained, and al-though I don’t yet like getting in a vehicle, I do settle down and enjoy the ride once I’m in. I am a 3 yr old female Corgi cross with medium energy. If you have the time for a girl like me, let SCARS know.

For more information on this pet, contact SCARS at www.scarscare.org or 780.466.7227.

Dingers by Ken Schotsch

Sunny Smiles Beautiful Babes

Inspirational Thought

The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes. -- Tony Blair

Spiritual ThoughtLet the tears come, let them water your soul. -- Eileen Mayhew

Random Act of Giving Suggestion

With Spring fi nally here, lend a pair of hands and as-sist someone in transplanting their indoor plants and watch them fl ourish.

High FiveThe city streets are getting a sweeping.

Two Thumbs DownTo those who do not refi ll soap dispensers in public wash-rooms.

Book of the WeekThe Great Gatsby -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Song of the WeekThe Ride -- Darrell Barr (Ed-monton)

A Spoonful of Sugar...

...over hot mashed and but-tered turnips are yummy good and reduces the bitterness that turnips may have from time to time.

Funny Yokes

Q: When does a chicken feel like a harp?A: When it is plucked.

Q: What did the homeless chicken say?A: I’m a little bit down on my cluck.

Did You Know...That towels look neater and take up less space if the are rolled like a jelly roll. Store off-season clothes if you have an extra closet in your basement, as it sure frees space for seasonal clothes in bedroom closets. When storing sheets, blankets and tablecloths, place the folded side towards the door to ac-complish that orderly ap-pearance.

Community Info

Fort Saskatchewan Public Library: 10011-102 Street. Mon-Thu: 10a-9p, Fri: 10a-5p, Sat: 10a-5p, Sun: 1p-5p (closed Sun in Jul + Aug)

Commuter Bus Ser-vice: Mon-Fri, Clareview <-> to Fort Sask. Departs Sherridon Dr and 99 Ave 5:34a, 6:04a, 6:34a, 7:19a, 4:16p, 5:16p, 5:46p, 6:28p, 7:08p. See www.fortsask.ca or call 780.442.5311 for full route details or more info.

Walk In Medical Clinic: 9368 Southfort Drive, next to Shoppers Drug Mart. Call 780-997-0177 for info.

Celebrity baby edition. Can you guess who this is? Check back next week to see if you are right! Last Week: Elvis Presley

The Fort Saskatchewan Elks/Royal Purple donated $500.00 to Ecole Rudolph Hennig school earlier this week. The orgnaization also do-

nated $5,000 to the Special Transportation Services Society.


By Fort Sask Life Church Pastor BILL OLSEN

As I write this, my wife and I are en-joying a c o u p l e of days of a well n e e d e d

break at Huntington Beach, California. It’s kind of fun stopping here, as my wife is a Huntington and one of the founding members of the United States was a Hun-tington... so it just goes to say that we need to check out some turf named after the family name.

I can surely understand why people would want to live here, as it next door to the famous Long Beach and Newport Beach: the scene for many Hollywood “beach” movies, and also some of the strip that the Beach Boys, as well as others, hung out. I guess that would only ap-peal to those who actually like the ocean and like it hot... both of those win my vote every time.

Of course, if you’re a hot-rod enthusiast, the view is pret-ty good for that as well, as I sit about twenty feet away from a pimped-out candy ap-ple red, 1959 Chev Apache pickup that’s in absolute perfect condition, with a for sale sign that’s begging me to buy it and drive up the Ventura Highway and on home to the still-frozen north. All of this done for strictly nostalgic purposes, and a little personal thera-

Heart & Soul: Huntington Beach

py... that would be way too cool! Of course, if you aren’t of 50s or 60s vintage, you wouldn’t have a clue of the signifi cance of all of this... very sad indeed!

There is also something quite calming and refresh-ing about the shade of palm trees blowing in the gentle ocean breeze. I’ll sell you a vacation package any time you like. Yes, it’s too bad I have to come down here and suffer like this, but some-times a person just has to have a change of scenery to get things back into perspec-tive and come back to the lathered frenzy with fresh eyes and attitude. I, along with some other amazing people, have been working on our new church building in the Old SAAN store at a feverish pitch, and I’ve no-ticed that it’s too easy to get a little irritated with things that don’t usually bother me. That’s when I know it’s time to step back for a couple of days, breathe, and gain a better frame of mind.

We’ve all heard that state-ment, “Sometimes you can’t see the forest for all of the

trees”? There are many times in a person’s life where we run for long periods on waaayyy too much caffeine and adrenaline, and lose our creative edge... something that I don’t recommend. I know of others that cruise like this for long periods of time, it steals your joy... and your peace. If you do this for a long period of time, you can often get to the point where you begin, (or actually do) resent the very thing you’ve built, or at least, have been working on, then ultimately lose the reward that would belong to us in the fact that the fruit of all our hard work simply brought burnout!

By nature, I’m a workaholic, and need people in my life to encourage me to take it easy. I heard someone say recently, “You sure pick the hard ones, don’t you?” My re-sponse was, “I do it so no one else has to...” which sounds a little heroic, but can some-times rob someone else the blessing of being stretched a little more. I always jump in to the hard work fi rst, so I can take it easier later on... the problem is... I never do, so obviously I need to make

some serious changes so I can live a long time and have the time and space to enjoy the spoils of my little wars.

In Exodus 43:21, it says, “On six days you may labor, but on the seventh day you must rest; even at the time of plow-ing and of harvest you are to rest.” I think that if the lov-ing Father of all creation is telling us, we need to take rest... even in our busiest seasons, then it’s something we must do... The evidence of our “un-rest” here in the Capital region is seen quite often in our impatience, es-pecially in our driving, and

in how we react any time we might happen to be a little inconvenienced. I used to be one of the world’s most im-patient people... because I was angry all the time... my “unrest” showed through in a big way... I lean hard to-ward getting to the destina-tion, while my best friend with whom I’m travelling this road with, loves the journey as much as the des-tination. Both are good , and both need to be equally as valued... that is work, and rest. When this is out of bal-ance, so is everything else.

Greetings from Huntington Beach!


Odds, Sods & Nods“The Wait is Over”

By STUART MCGOWAN

Greetings to all!

Well, the wait is over. Well, maybe. Well…I hope it is. What wait you ask? I did hear you ask, really I did.

The wait for warm-er weather, for the sun to make an appearance, for spring to FINALLY begin. You think I’m kidding? Speak with any meteorological prognosti-cator (the weather person, in lay-man’s terms) and they will tell you how many people they have heard from asking what happened to Spring, when are the warm temper-atures going to start, why was the Groundhog wrong? Yes, there was a great mug shot going around the in-ternet with the picture of a ground-hog holding a sign that read “I lied” (of course it was photoshopped; no self respecting groundhog would ever pose for a picture without due compensation).

Some of my friends had even posted that the program “SPRING” had picked up a virus and was unable to run. Others had posted that the pro-gram “SPRING” was not compat-ible with “EDMONTON 1.1”. I sug-gested that we try a ‘re-boot’ with “KELOWNA 2.1” or “VEGAS 3.1”. Yes, it was a bunch of nerds having some fun, trying to lighten the mood during the dreary weather that we had been having at this time of the year.

But fear no more. According to those same weather forecasters, we should be in double digits as soon as the weekend... or was it next week or was it sometime in the next month? Regardless, we will have Spring, then Summer, the Fall, followed by another bout of…whoops, no, sorry, I am NOT going to say it. But as the saying goes, we live in Alberta. If

you don’t like the weather, wait fi ve minutes and it will change. Before you say it, I will. This has been the longest fi ve minutes I have ever had to wait. Of course, that goes with the rest of it. This is one of the, if not the, longest winters in the last 100 years. Hopefully the benefi ts will be a higher water table for the farm-ers, better growing conditions for our own gardens and beautiful trees and soft grass to enjoy and perhaps make up for in some small way this cold season that we have endured.

I have faith that we will all forget the harshness of Winter and watch it be replaced by the glory of Sum-mer and the warmer temperatures and longer days that accompany it. When it fi nally does get here, get out and enjoy it. Go for a walk, plant a tree, plant some fl owers, take your dog or cat for a walk (yes, I have a friend who walks his cat), go to the beach (the OUTDOOR one, not the West Edmonton wannabe). I think you get the idea. Try your hand at fi shing or boating (make sure you get your fi shing license and/or your power craft license). Even more im-portantly, no matter what you do, do it with friends and family. You only get one time to do this exercise.

In closing, not enough can be said for the people in your community who volunteer to help with various functions and activities, whether it be coaching a sports team, helping committees that do fundraising, or helping other groups such as the Fort Saskatchewan Historical Soci-ety keeping the past alive for future generations or the Sheeptown Play-ers who bring the arts to life with the various plays and activities that they help with. Or maybe the Kins-men/Kinnettes or the Knights of Co-lumbus, or the Boys & Girls Club or the Music for Hope, or Stephanie’s Bike Tour benefi ting the Stollery Children’s Hospital. I think you get my drift. All these groups and orga-nizations deserve our support and thanks, for without them, out City would be a little poorer.

Cheers for now!

WHAT DO WE CONDONE, CONT.

I say keeping violence out of our com-munities requires recognizing and speaking out against the acts of vio-lence and abuse we know about and witness. As just one example, much has been said lately about the Fort’s teens, as part of the ongoing debate re-garding School Resource Offi cers. But I wonder who is really paying attention to what our kids are doing and saying?

We tolerate teens “enacting” terror-ist attacks in public spaces and dem-onstrating how to disarm (ostensibly fake) improvised explosives, then post-ing it for all to see, laden with exple-tives and vulgarity, on social media sites like Facebook and YouTube. Some condone that, and even give praise to it. “Talent” they call it. But I think that’s only until the reality of real im-provised bombs, like what happened in Boston, destroy the emotional and physical lives of thousands. Maybe we can’t say for certain where it all begins when it comes to violence. But I think we do need to answer for ourselves the question: what do we condone, and with whom do we associate?

It’s been said association creates our reputation. Yes, and who and what we condone also create our society.

Read the print edition of OEP on your smartphone, tablet or webrowser at:

http://www.issuu.com/overeasyplease/docs

R� es for

R� a


Church ListingsFort Saskatchewan Life Church 50-10420 98 Ave. (Back of Fort Mall). Sunday Service/Kids Church @ 10:15a. Wed. Service @ 7:00p. Culture Shock Youth, Fri @ 7:00p. 780-992-9673. www.fslifechurch.ca.

Fellowship Baptist Church. Pastor Jim Paul-son. Worship Service: Sun @ 10:30a. Prayer: Tues @ 7:00p. Awana Children’s Program Thurs @ 6:30p. 9932 - 101 St., Fort Sask. (Ac. from Legacy Park) 780-992-0880.

Church of the Nazarene. Pastor: Stephen Conk-lin. 9802 104 St., Fort Sask. 780-998-2451. www.fortnaz.ca. Join us Sunday @ 11a for Worship. Sunday School @ 9:50a.

Josephburg Community Church.21380 Town-ship Road 550 (intersection of Twp. Rd. 550 & Sec. Highway 830) Aas you enter the hamlet of Joseph-

burg. Ph: 780-998-9331 Fax: 780-998-9305 www.josephburgcommunitychurch.ca Pastor: Rev. Au-drey Daley

Partridge Hill United Church. Corner of TWP 542 and RR 220. 780-895-7378. Debbie Brill, Min-ister. Worship Service: 9:30am. www.partridge-hillunitedchurch.com

First United Church. 10409-100 Ave., Fort Sask. 780-998-4060. Rev. Danielle A. James. All wel-come. Sunday Worship & Sunday School: 10:00a.

Holy Protection Orthodox Church. Saturdays: Great Vespers, 5p. Sundays: Divine Liturgy, 10a. 281 Fort Mall, 10421 99 Ave. 780-708-2877. All Services in English.

St. George’s Anglican Church. Reverend Maude Parsons-Horst. Regular worship times: Sunday @ 8:30am Holy Communion (BCP) and 10:30am Holy Communion (BAS) with Sunday School. 10029 – 99th Ave, Ph: 780-998-3620.

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THE ISSUE, CONT.

I am of the strong opinion that most... and I say most chil-dren, are a product of their home environ-ment. I recently spoke with a parent who sin-cerely wants better or at least more effective skills in dealing with the her mother-daugh-ter confl icts.

This mother said, you can’t slap your child because you will be in trouble with the law. She felt as a parent, she is limited in what she can do to disci-pline her teen daugh-ter. This mother would like to attend classes on more effective par-enting, but would not attend if they were ad-vertised in that man-ner. Good point.

Maybe all or part of $140,000 could be used to organize weekend parental workshops within an academic

framework. These workshops could be held with ongoing classes of choice that parents could attend throughout the week-end.

RCMP offi cers could give workshops on youth and drugs, while another class would be focusing on how par-ents should be moni-toring the technology that their children are exposed to. A work-shop with a lunch, coffee breaks, and in-formed guest speak-ers, I am sure could be offered at a fee accept-able to parents.

Another idea of choice would be to have a Community Policing Offi ce set up down-town, especially with the new RCMP de-tachment slated away from the city centre. A Community Policing Offi ce would bring a healthy measure of se-curity to our seniors,

children and the com-munity in general.

Starting young in ex-posing our children to healthy emotional liv-ing can reap great re-wards in any commu-nity. If we are going to put taxpayers dol-lars towards a better community, maybe it should be spent in pro-

viding more funding to organizations in our city that already focus on the well-being of our younger children.

Drugs, alcohol and tobacco are not only consumed by minors just on school prop-erty. Bullying, cyber-bullying, and sexting is not only done from

school, but rather from the comfort of fam-ily homes. Perhaps there would be some very shocked parents if they took the re-sponsibility and time to fi nd out what their children are doing on the internet and social media.

Flimsy Whimsy with Jai Murugan

will return next week...


Except where otherwise copyrighted, all content of this newspaper, includ-ing advertisements, is Copyright 2013, Tuckbook Inc. Editor: Judy Sellin ([email protected]); Senior Editor: Reece Sellin ([email protected]); Advertising In-quiries: ([email protected]); Mail: PO Box 3153, Fort Saskatch-ewan, AB, T8L 2T2; Phone: 780-934-0139.

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Biscuits and Gravy: Midlife or

“Midventure”By BRIAN [email protected]

So often, we view life as a s t a g i n g g r o u n d for what joys we have en-countered

and opportunities we have won and lost while facing the trials and tribulations ahead of us. Now, don’t mis-understand me, I know life has its hardships and things that will go awry, but are we expecting that to hap-pen and maybe causing it to happen that much more? I remember the old adage: if you expect great things and plan that such will be the case, then great things will befall you. Yet, if you plan for sadness and despair, then you will fi nd it in your life. I think that as we grow older, we have to start look-ing at life in such a fashion. As I edge past that midlife crisis age, looking at my next thirty years on this planet, I ponder to myself what life will have to offer. Certainly I have had some trials that I have had to face, a change

in careers while leaving my passion and dream behind, or perhaps having some-one close to me attempting to end my life. Yet through this, I have had some great moments, I have met some extraordinary individu-als in my life, I have fl own airplanes and jumped from them, I have been toe to toe with large beasts and fallen in love with the single gen-tlest of hearts, and thank-fully she fell in love with me as well. Folks, I could dwell on so many awful things in life. Granted, there are those things that haunt me or that I have trouble dealing with from time to time, but overall I have to learn to celebrate the joys that life has brought me. To ignore that would be to ignore the passion I see in Daina’s eyes each day, or the love I hear in my parents’ voices each time I talk to them, or even the commitment I see with my friends toward being a true friend in my life. You see folks, a life is never a crisis. No matter how aw-ful things may be, there are those moments that shine as a pinnacle of our own per-sonal legacy. True, I have had some rather interesting moments in my days. For a lot of times, those moments end up right here, but for me, those moments often

had a moral or a point that I could look back upon and laugh at, rather than sitting in dismay at the event itself.

It’s the history of my adven-ture, or my book that I call my legacy. Granted I may not go down in history as being someone of grandeur, but in the lives of the people around me, I feel that I have made an impact upon them that will last as a legacy of who I am. For me, the ex-periences I have had, com-bined with those to come, will be my life’s adventure that will overshadow any crisis that may come.

Historical festival draws

nearAn annual festival celebrat-ing Fort Saskatchewan’s history is slated to proceed again this year.

This year’s Peoples of the North Saskatchewan event is slated to take place from 9:30am to 3:30pm on May 9th and 10th, at the Fort Saskatchewan Museum and Historic Site.

Organized and run by the Fort Saskatchewan Histori-cal Society, the event will feature a range of interac-tive activities, that will en-able attendees to “come out and see life as it was over a

Tails of Wags and Whispers:

BossBy CAROLE MCGOWAN

I am sure we are all h o p i n g that our w a r m e r w e a t h e r is just a r o u n d the cor-

ner! And in spring, a young dog’s instincts turn to thoughts of…yeah, you guessed it. If you have an animal that is six months of age or older, and is not spayed or neutered, it is time to make that veterinary ap-pointment. Although your dog may not like you for a day or so, it is in their best interest (and yours) to get this procedure done. The pounds are full to bursting with unwanted puppies.

Today, I would like to share

with you the story of how we found our dog, Boss. Any of you who have attended the Canada Day or Santa Claus parades may remem-ber Boss from the Sheep-town fl oat. He is the “Black Sheep” of our group.

In August 2007, we made a trip out to our favorite land-fi ll site around our cabin retreat. At that time, the landfi ll site had an entry and exit, sort of a “dump and drive” setup. In order to get to the entry point, you had to drive past the exit fi rst.

With our borrowed one ton, we pulled into the entry and emptied the truck. At the exit, I noticed a silver pick-up driving away. With our truck empty, we left to head towards the cabin.

As we drove past the exit, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly I screamed “STOP THE TRUCK!!!” My startled husband slammed on the brakes, and I fl ew out of the

passenger side, barely wait-ing until the vehicle had stopped moving. There on the ground were two very young puppies. I scooped them up like a couple of fur-ry footballs and ran for the truck.

We were defi nitely in the right place at the right time. Those defenseless pups would not have lasted the night.

They were barely weaned, and had just the beginnings of teeth; only four weeks old. One male and one fe-male. They had obviously been thrown from the silver truck, as once we arrived back at our cabin the female, who was the smaller of the two, dragged herself to the water dish as her hind leg was injured. My husband laid her on his chest, and massaged and maneuvered her leg back into place.

The plan was to bring them home and take them to the SPCA on Monday morn-

ing. My daughter wanted to keep the little male, so we relented. Yep, twist our rubber arms! Our neighbour took the little female. And to this day, when she sees Stuart, she lies down and stretches out her leg so that he can massage it for her. Who says dogs don’t have memories?

Boss is now eighty pounds. Who would have thought such a tiny little puppy could grow up to be so huge? It is very diffi cult to tell when a

pup is so young how big they are going to be when they are fully grown. We often joke about our “free dog”. He has hereditary hip dys-plasia, and his hips are 25% in their sockets. Because of this, he has to have prescrip-tion dog food and glucos-amine tablets to ensure he is healthy and not in pain. This makes him a very ex-pensive pup! But, you just can’t put a price tag on love; he is part of our family and worth every penny.

century ago.”

Activities include black-smithing, bannock making, cow & goat milking, candle making, weaving & rope making, games, First Na-tions activities (Alexander First Nations), Red River Carts, a real buffalo, and much more.

The society welcomes volun-teers and participants who may be interested in help-ing to showcase various his-toric ethnic cultures.

Those who are interested in taking part of this or any of the Historical Society’s events should contact Jack Twells at [email protected]

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Over Easy, Please - April 19, 2013