The fire chief of the Village of Loon Lake took a great deal of criticism last week after it was learned his department did not respond to a fire that claimed the lives of two young children at a nearby First Nations Reserve. The fire chief said he was left with no choice after the band opted to leave six months worth of bills unpaid and a councillor from the reserve cancelled the services. It’s been insinuated the fire chief chose money over children’s lives, but I would suggest the reserve is the one that made that decision. It’s irresponsible to not have a fire services contract with somebody in place. Apparently, they had a fire truck but it was not useable and there was nobody within the confines of the reserve able to operate it even if did work.
The City of Yorkton deserves high praise for the quick response on snow removal. I think I have said it in previous columns, but it bears worth mentioning again that Yorkton is the best city I’ve seen when it comes to dealing with clearing snow. Full marks going out to Public Works.
A recent experience with our health care system is also worth passing along thanks and appreciation to the staff at the Yorkton hospital, but it is disappointing to see resources and infrastructure suffer. Employees do great work with the limitations placed on them. We, as patients, need to recognize that, in some cases, these people are bringing a knife to a gun fight and, sometimes, still win. Good on them. I’ve noticed that when you go to Regina for a referral, it’s like leaving a Third World country. I don’t know why Yorkton doesn’t have, even, one specialist in many of the medical fields where people are often sent to Regina or Saskatoon. The city is big enough. The surrounding area is big enough. We definitely need an influx of updated equipment. I’m not sure about you, but my taxes are fairly high and I feel as though I live in an urban area and shouldn’t have to be paying to go two hours down the highway for treatment.
Vince Li is back in the news again, this time because his psychiatrist feels he’s made enough progress to move into a Winnipeg Group Home. Why doesn’t Vince just move in with the psychiatrist instead? I don’t know how anyone could sit in the same room with him and not be, at least, on edge about what he may be capable of. I don’t care where he lives, as long as it’s nowhere near me.
Police officers in Abbotsford, BC are under investigation for alleged misconduct and there are three officers in Toronto who are charged with gang sexual assault. I remain a staunch supporter of law enforcement and there are only a very few bad apples, but I also have gone on record as saying any police member who is found to be abusing laws they have been instructed to enforce or hurt people they should be protecting, should face penalties many, many times greater than what someone in the general public should receive for the same offense.
I’ve been saying for months now that it’s only a matter of time before Islamic extremists start using children as weapons. Well, it’s happened in Nigeria. A 10-year-old girl blew herself up in a busy market, killing four and wounding 46. What are we going to do when faced with that situation? I don’t have an answer. I hope someone smarter than me does.
You will hear more about this in the coming days, but officials have discovered a tunnel near the future venue for tennis for Toronto’s Pan Am Games. Police are investigating whether or not this tunnel is for bypassing security or to store explosive materials. How was this able to be constructed? Lights inside are powered by a generator. Conspiracy theorists are speculating it was built on purpose by the Canadian government to scare us into allowing them to take away some of our freedom. I can’t believe we let people like that vote come election time.
After reading this next paragraph, there is a chance that if you are over 40 you are going to wonder how are you even still alive knowing all the information we do today. New research in Sweden suggests people who use dishwashers are exposing their kids to an increase in acquiring allergic reactions. Apparently, if you don’t hand wash dishes as a youngster, you are not giving your immune system a proper workout. You need to be exposed to germs
I just turned 40 last week and can recall a time when it was okay to go sliding down a city hill, play street hockey, drink pop, be scolded for not behaving as opposed to getting some touchy feely approach that would allow me to manipulate a teacher, and see my tests getting marked in red ink without it damaging my self-esteem. Now that I see the results of all these studies, it’s a wonder I’ve made anything of myself.
Nice person mentions this week to Dave Esslinger, Ken Penner, Sheri Trapp, and Nolan Nykolaishen.
