R Town On-LINE

ON-LINE
Phone - 698-2271 • Fax - 698-2808
Editor - Melanie Dahlman
Administration Office:
Box 89, Wolseley, SK S0G 5H0
Week of September 5, 2011
• E-MAIL - unos@sasktel.net
Qu’Appelle Town Hall needs repair
New Town Hall Photo
Old Town Hall Photo
Qu’Appelle Town
Council is considering
their options for the
future of our Town Hall.
The historic building,
which opened in 1906,
needs extensive structural repair on the southeast
bell tower. Other issues
include a water leakage
problem on the west
side, poor insulation,
inefficient windows and
high heating costs, to
name just a few. While
some suggest that it
might be more economical to relocate the
Library, Town office and
anything associated with
it, one has to wonder if
that would be a death
sentence for one of the
only historical buildings
left in Qu’Appelle. Currently listed as a Munici-
pal Heritage property,
the Town Hall is one of
the first multi-purpose
buildings
in
Saskatchewan, originally
housing the town office,
court house, jail, fire hall
and opera house. The
extensive repairs needed
to make the building
structurally sound and
more energy-efficient
would come at a high
Improving home security
The province has officially launched a pilot program in Prince Albert
aimed at improving the
security of the homes of
low-income seniors.
The Seniors Home
Security Program will provide free home security
devices to single senior
citizens who earn $20,000
or less a year; senior couples who earn $30,000 or
less a year; or to seniors
who have been victims of
a break-in.
A senior who wants to
take advantage of the
Seniors Home Security
Program must fill out an
application form and submit it to the Ministry of
Corrections, Public Safety
and Policing.
Once a senior has
been notified that they
qualify for the program, he
or she may contact one of
the qualified contractors to
set up an appointment for
the services offered. The
contractor will do a security assessment and, if needed, will install deadbolts,
door viewers, smoke
alarms, carbon monoxide
alarms and smoke alarm
batteries in the home.
The services offered
under the Seniors Home
Security Program provide
basic protection to reduce
the likelihood that the senior will suffer from a break
and enter or a home invasion.
If the security assessment reveals additional
steps that should be taken
to maximize home security, the senior may decide
to do those things; however, he or she will be
responsible for paying for
the additional devices and
installation.
The Prince Albert
pilot will last for six
months and, if it proves to
be successful, will then be
implemented provincewide. The province has
allocated $500,000 for the
pilot program in Prince
Albert.
cost -- much higher than
the Town is able to
afford on its own. It
seems some sort of
fundraising would need
to occur, much like that
of the Bell Barn in Indian Head.
Council is interested
in hearing what the people of Qu’Appelle and
area have to say about
this issue! There will be
a question regarding this
on the ballot of the Octo-
Fall Suppers
MONTMARTRE
Montmartre Sacred
Heart Parish
Sunday, October 2, 2011
5:00 pm
Adult $10, 10 & under $6
Preschool Free. Serving
turkey, cabbage rolls,
perogies, pie and all the
trimmings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Advertise your community’s
Fall Supper for $30 + GST
(20 words or less - prepaid)
Call (306) 698-2271
ber 26th By-Election. Town Administration...
Watch for more info in be informed.
upcoming newspapers...
by Qu'Appelle Town
talk to your Town CounCouncilor
cil members... talk to
Elizabeth Fries
New climate
reference station
The only thing predictable
about
Saskatchewan's weather is
its unpredictability changing from place to
place and sometimes even
at a moment's notice.
Today, the Saskatchewan
Research Council (SRC) is
unveiling a new Climate
Reference Station (CRS)
at the Conservation Learning Centre near Prince
Albert as a much needed
tool used to assist and
inform
Central
Saskatchewan residents
and companies about climate data and patterns.
The CRS is a principal
climatological station that
takes temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind and
atmospheric pressure readings. It supplements these
readings with rainfall rate,
soil temperature, snow
depth, grass temperature,
soil moisture, bright sunshine and solar radiation
observations.
The climatological
data gathered at the Prince
Albert station will allow
SRC to evaluate long-term
climate trends in the area
and give clients a contact
for high quality, climatological information.
Designed to Environment Canada and the
World Meteorological
Organization standards,
this CRS is SRC's second
station in Saskatchewan.
The station will provide data to governments,
universities, and companies including agriculture
and forestry sectors clients
as well as a wide variety of
other clients. It will also be
a valuable research tool for
evaluating long-term climate trends.
Around the province, send your article with pictures to unos@sasktel.net
and it may get featured in our weekly papers that go throughout Saskatchewan
To place an advertisement in this publication
or any other United Newspaper of Saskatchewan paper contact us:
Phone (306) 698-2271 or fax: (306) 698-2808 E-Mail: unos@sasktel.net
For only $25.00 you can advertise in ALL UNOS papers. See details inside.
Page 2 - R Town ON-LINE - Week of September 5, 2011
Back to school “don’t do” list
Photo credit: World Vision
You have bought 16
coloured notebooks, a Disney lunch box and a pair
of “to-grow-into” running
shoes. You have circled the
date on your calendar and
arranged daycare, transportation and lunches. You
are doing everything you
can think of to ensure that
your kids are as happy as
you are about school starting again. Here are a few
things that you might want
to consider not doing as
you get your children
ready for back to school:
Don’t try to pack
everything the first dayEven if the list says they
need pencils, pens, paper,
markers, an eraser, highlighters, a calculator
nobody will call the school
supply police if your child
doesn’t have everything in
their bag on the first day.
Don’t believe the
“I’m the only one” storyDo not forget that, contrary to what your children
would have you believe,
other parents also put limits on designer clothes,
high tech gadgets and
lunch money. If your child
is trying to play the
“everybody else has it and
I don’t” card, don’t play
too much into it.
Don’t let young children take unnecessary
things to school- We can
safely assume that your
child will not be required
to use an iPod, cell phone
or Gameboy to successfully pass grade three. Any of
Record funding
The Saskatchewan
Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC) has provided a
record $329 million to
assist producers with land
they were unable to seed
due to excess moisture in
2011. This record funding
was provided for 13,500
claims under the Unseeded
Acreage (USA) Benefit,
which was increased from
$50 to $70 per eligible
acre in 2011.
Over the past two
years, Crop Insurance has
provided a record $551
million to producers
through the USA Benefit.
The 2011 Excess
Moisture Program (EMP),
which was announced in
August, provides an additional $30 per eligible acre
for land that was too wet
to seed or was seeded and
then flooded out. All
Saskatchewan producers
are eligible for the EMP.
SCIC is administering the
program and will continue
to process EMP claims as
quickly as possible. The
deadline to apply is September 30, 2011.
More than $600 million has been made available under the EMP in
2010 and 2011 to help producers affected by excess
moisture.
these gadgets, however,
could make him a target
for some extra-curricular
harassment or theft.
Don’t forget children
in need- As you speedspend on clothes, books
and haircuts, remind your
children that not everybody is so lucky, by checking out the World Vision
Gift Catalogue (Worldvision.ca/gifts). Together
you can buy a gift to help
an underprivileged child
get ready for school.
Don’t criticize out
loud- You may not be
entirely satisfied with your
child’s school situation,
but she doesn’t need to
know. If you’re not crazy
about the new teacher, the
old principal, or the basketball hoops in the
schoolyard, try to resolve
your problems between
adults.
Don’t take yourselves too seriously:
School is important, but so
are family and friends and
ice cream. The end of
summer doesn’t have to
signal the end of good
times. Making space for
some family silliness
throughout the school year
will help all of you survive
and thrive.
Facility for Tisdale
Nursing home residents in the Tisdale area
are one step closer to the
comfort and increased
safety of an expanded and
renovated long-term care
facility. A sod turning ceremony took place at the
construction site adjacent
to Newmarket Manor and
Tisdale Hospital.
The $18.4 million
project will expand and
renovate
Newmarket
Manor. This will replace
Sasko Park Lodge, which
was built in 1958.
In February, the
provincial government
reduced the local funding
share for health facility
projects from 35 per cent
to 20 per cent, in recognition of revenue constraints
that local municipalities
face.
Let’s Not Bring Rent Control
Back to Saskatchewan
Daniel Huang
Saskatchewan does not
need rent control. People
often think that rent control
can help low income people secure housing tenure,
maintain a stable rent, and
achieve a good income distribution effect but it often
does the opposite. Rent
control is governmental
regulation limiting landlords’ ability to set and
increase rents on residential
properties freely. These
controls often coincide
with many other regulations concerning landlords’
responsibilities and tenants’
rights.
There are plenty of
good, textbook economic
reasons as to why the opposite of the desired effect is
achieved. Rent control
artificially suppresses the
value of all real estate making owners less able to borrow against the asset to
conduct needed capital
improvements.
Costs related to information search, housing
damage due to lack of
maintenance, legal fees,
and government program
management bring higher
expenses under rent control. All these have wider
effects as profits drop for
suppliers, corporate and
sales tax revenue drop for
government. Lastly, when
government controls rental
housing, it interferes with
the right to revenue, and
also changes a private good
into a semi-public good,
making the housing market
reflect some features of the
public sector.
In what the academic
literature on rent control
calls the second-generation
rent regulations, the effect
on income distribution is
anything but straightforward, and it is generally
conceived that rent regulations are not an efficient
means of redistributing
income. If affordable rental
housing is the primary
objective, this can best be
achieved through other policy initiatives, such as rent
subsidies. World Bank
experts have noticed that
rent control harms shortterm tenants while longterm tenants benefit, which
discourages new immigrants from abroad and
new talents form other
provinces.
And here is one of the
least-known undesirable
outcomes. Rents in Canadian cities where there is rent
control can be even higher
than in cities without it.
One other assumed important benefit of rent regulation is that a landlord cannot otherwise evict a tenant
simply by proposing an
unjustified rent increase.
This is what some call an
economic eviction. An efficient market requires rents
differentiated according to
quality of tenants. Lacking
perfect information about
the quality of a new tenant,
landlords must choose an
initial rent and adjust the
rent (which can be higher)
later as they gain experience with the tenant. For
example, quiet, clean, and
respectful tenants are different from those who are
not.
Between 2007 and
2009, new rental unit construction in Winnipeg was
5 times that of Regina and
Saskatoon combined. However, this has nothing to do
with rent control as new
rental construction is
exempted for 20 years.
Actually, in Winnipeg, the
average rent increase in
buildings with 3 or more
units from 2001 to 2010 is
50% to 100% higher than
the guideline, which shows
a surprising disparity. Also,
the population and other
demographical factors there
are quite different. Therefore the greater increase in
new rental unit construction does not mean rent
control won’t deter increase
in rental units’ supply,
which is evident in Ontario.
Two conditions are
said to be necessary for
implementation of rent
control: a high renter-toowner ratio and a low
vacancy rate. McMaster
economist
Andrew
Muller`s data support the
idea that rent control has
reduced vacancy rates,
which is the reverse of the
aim. As put by legal scholar
Defeng Xu from Peking
University, empirical evidence shows that in Germany, New York City, and
New Jersey State, tenants
are more than 50% of the
population, which justifies
the strong rental regulation
in these places. More than
70% of residents in Regina
are owners in 2011.
Put simply, rent control, which was terminated
in 1992 by Roy Romanow's
government, should not be
brought
back
to
Saskatchewan. The words
of Swedish economist Carl
Lindbeck are worth keeping in mind: “In many
cases rent control appears
to be the most efficient
technique presently known
to destroy a city – except
for bombing.”
Daniel Huang is an
independent scholar residing in Saskatchewan. He is
the author of Rent Control
and Its Applicability to
Saskatchewan published by
the Frontier Centre.
Crop Report
August 23 to 29, 2011
Warm and dry weather in many areas of the
province has allowed Saskatchewan producers to
combine 21 per cent of the 2011 crop. Twenty-seven
per cent is swathed or ready to straight-cut, according
to Saskatchewan Agriculture's weekly Crop Report.
The five-year (2006-2010) provincial average for
this time of year is 20 per cent combined and 26 per
cent swathed or ready to straight-cut. Last year at this
time, eight per cent had been combined and 22 per
cent swathed or ready to straight-cut.
Harvest progress varies across the province. The
southwest has 37 per cent combined and 16 per cent
swathed or ready to straight-cut; the southeast has 29
per cent combined and 25 per cent swathed or ready
to straight-cut; the northeast has eight per cent combined and 35 per cent swathed or ready to straight-cut,
and the northwest has five per cent combined and 19
per cent swathed or ready to straight-cut. In east-central Saskatchewan, 18 per cent of the crop is combined and 37 per cent swathed or ready to straight-cut,
and in west-central Saskatchewan 13 per cent of the
crop is combined and 30 per cent swathed or ready to
straight-cut.
Across the province, topsoil moisture on cropland
is rated as two per cent surplus, 68 per cent adequate,
27 per cent short and three per cent very short. Hay
land and pasture topsoil moisture is rated as one per
cent surplus, 63 per cent adequate, 32 per cent short
and four per cent very short.
R Town
ON-LINE
- Week
of September
5, 2011
Page 3
RTOWN
NEWS
- Week of
September
5th, 2011,
2011-- Page
Brief Brush with Reality
The less self-indulgent
tell us any appetite has to
be kept in check, yet so
many people over-do it in
one way or another. I overdo it on reading. I’m really
enjoying the Reader ’s
Digest non-fiction collections. They offer some
great surprises. The latest
issue arrived recently. I
had just spent three months
reviewing Geographics
and had read enough travel
or archeology to last a
while, so I was ripe for
something different. I got
it.
I still love to learn, but
a story that increases my
empathy for my fellow
human beings strikes me
as more valuable than
plain facts. Chances for
just such understanding
overflowed from this new
collection. The Year of
Finding Memory by Judy
Fong Bates was included,
telling the story of how her
father eked out his living
running a small-town laundry in the days before the
Chinese could have Canadian citizenship. He was
sending every cent he
could spare home to family
in China. I was familiar
with that story, but this is
the first time I’ve had the
opportunity to hear it from
one who was personally
effected, and it had
tremendous impact. Judy
Fong Bates also takes her
readers to China. She and
her husband went there to
meet extended family and
visit places that had been
home. I’ve studied a fair
amount about China in history and sociology classes
and various sources, but
never had I encountered a
story so rich in detail and
so intimate as this one. I
felt I’d grown a great deal
in reading the story.
The new volume also
includes I Shall Not Hate
by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish.
If ever a book was needed
in this world, right now,
this is. Born in the Jabalia
refugee camp in the Gaza
strip, the author is not only
a doctor, a specialist in
obstetrics, interested in
How Ta
Look at the News
*
In
Dollard-des
Orweaux, PQ, a man
being arrested for a driving infraction escaped by
stealing a police vehicle.
The car was recovered,
but I don’t know what
happened to the perpetrator. I assume they had
info on him. Gene Hauta
saving life rather than in
killing, but he has also had
friendly relationships with
Israelis and worked in an
Israeli hospital. He understands the close similarity
between those neighbouring peoples and the fact
that the hostilities have
more to do with factions,
politics and the military
than they do with the feelings of many of the citizens themselves. The book
is a real inside look at the
situation in that hot spot of
the world. It left me with
the faintest hope that per-
haps someday more people
will wake up to what Dr.
Abuelaish understands:
people could forgive and
get along with each other if
they only would.
A third book to come
my way recently -- not
from the Reader’s Digest
collection -- was Myth of
the Welfare Queen by
David Zucchino. Another
true story, the book is the
product of a long period of
research in which the
author witnessed the daily
lives of two women living
in extreme poverty in the
by Kay Parley
poorest area of Philadelphia. One of the women,
angry at the inadequate
welfare system with its
bureaucratic red tape, agitated and organized and
fought until she was a real
irritant to the establishment. The other woman
was a black grandmother
struggling to make do on
an inadequate income. She
had eight grandchildren to
raise, chiefly because, living in the slum area as she
had to do, two of her children had succombed to the
pitfalls of the underworld,
including drugs. I left that
story with enormous admiration for that woman and
the way she fought to bring
those kids up right and
make a life for them,
despite poor housing, poor
health, and never enough
of anything to go around.
It’s a real eye-opener.
I feel I’ve done some
growing in the last couple
of weeks. It’s a bit heavy,
reading books of this
nature, but at least I feel I
haven’t been indulging in
escapism this time. At my
age, there isn’t much I can
do about any of the problems in this world, but in
these days of crisis I don’t
want to just let my mind sit
still. I thank these splendid
writers for offering so
much insight. It was reassuring to read wellresearched, well-organized
material by people with
something so solid to convey, instead of relying on
the often poorly researched
and sensation-conscious
stories we encounter on
TV. Forgetting the big picture, there is nothing like a
book.
PUZZLE NO. 572
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
24.
25.
27.
29.
31.
Copyright © 2011 by Penny Press
ACROSS
1. Diminish
5. Tyrolean peak
8. Small duck
12. ____ Lanka
15. Of a time
16. Contend
17. Italian bread,
once
18. Roadster, e.g.
19. Piece of
silverware
20. Greek letter
21. Try to persuade
22. Future chicks
23. Away from home
24. Bow and
arrow sport
26. Type of parking
28. Biting bugs
30. Mound
31. Puzzling question
32. Sauce for salad
34. Merge metals
35. Tennis barrier
36.
38.
42.
45.
46.
47.
48.
50.
53.
54.
56.
58.
60.
61.
62.
63.
65.
70.
73.
74.
76.
77.
Gutter clogger
Tie
Baguette server
TV's "Family
____"
Hoarfrost
Salamander
Poi root
Musical bit
Serious offense
Long way off
Butter
replacement
Find
Invented story
Seniors,
to juniors
Make a gaffe
Chipping club
Vitamin B1
Saturn, e.g.
Existed
Home
Dangerous gas
Green gem
79.
80.
81.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
Energy
Ms. Hartman
Peal
Bar staple
Nerve
infrastructure
Exhaust
District
Alt.
Ever and ____
Take a load off
Noblewoman
Besides
Dependent
DOWN
1. Confuse
2. Close by
3. Mongol
4. Forest animal
5. Allege as true
6. Chinese fruit
7. Female fowl
8. Drink noisily
9. Muddy
33.
34.
37.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
49.
51.
52.
55.
Work measure
Boll ____
Berate
Tangle
Teed off
Proclaim
Golf score
Snake
Backpacker's
shelter
Game official,
for short
Plato's porch
Dry watercourse
Franc replacement
Entry permit
Emanate
Kauai goose
Roof support
Not certain
Quickly!, on "ER"
Do origami
Red horse
Boxer's bane
Layout
African animal,
briefly
57. Organic
compound
59. Toddler's bed
61. On the ____
(precisely)
64. Certain apartment
66. Driver's-license
datum
67. Blue dye
68. Prayer
69. Newspaper
person
70. Printing machine
71. Hawaiian porch
72. Alter
73. Fasten,
as a rope
75. Fix, as text
77. Implored
78. Informed of
82. Man ____ mouse
84. Like sushi, e.g.
ANSWER TO PUZZLE NO. 572
Page 4 - RTOWN
Town ON-LINE
- WeekofofSeptember
September5th,
5, 2011
NEWS - Week
2011, 2011
WEEKLY BOOK PICK
The Strategy of 9/11
by Gwynne Dyer
Writing recently in the
Washington Post, Brian
Michael Jenkins, a senior
adviser at the Rand Corporation think tank, claimed
that the 9/11 attacks ten
years ago were not a
strategic success for alQaeda. He’s right. Osama
bin Laden’s strategy did
fail, in the end – but not
for the reason that Jenkins
thinks.
Jenkins argues that
Osama bin Laden believed
the US was a paper tiger
because it had no stomach
for casualties. Kill enough
Americans, and the United
States would pull out of
the Middle East, leaving
the field free for alQaeda’s project of overthrowing all the secular
Arab regimes and imposing Islamist rule on everybody.
In bin Laden’s 1996
fatwa declaring war on
America, Jenkins pointed
out, he claimed that the US
would flee the region if
attacked seriously. Indeed,
bin Laden gave the rapid
US military withdrawal
from Lebanon after the
bombing of the Marine
barracks in Beirut in 1983,
and the equally rapid
retreat of American forces
from Somalia in 1993 after
18 US soldiers were killed
in Mogadishu, as examples
of American cowardice.
Other al-Qaeda commanders disagreed, Jenkins says, warning that the
9/11 attacks would enrage
the United States and
“focus its fury on the terrorist group and its allies,
but bin Laden pushed
ahead. When the United
States
did
(invade
Afghanistan), bin Laden
switched gears, claiming
that he had intended all
along to provoke the United States into waging a
war that would galvanise
all of Islam against it.”
Jenkins is quite
explicitly saying that bin
Laden never realised that
the United States would
respond violently when his
organisation murdered
thousands of Americans.
He would have been dismayed when the US invaded Afghanistan and
destroyed his training
camps. And therefore, the
think-tank expert concludes, the United States
did not fall into a trap that
bin Laden had deliberately
laid for it when it invaded
Afghanistan.
Well, that’s one point
of view. Here’s another.
Bin Laden was fully aware
that the United States
would invade Afghanistan
in response to the 9/11
attacks, and he wanted it to
do so. He believed that the
US would then get mired
in a long and bloody
guerilla
war
in
Afghanistan, a replay of
the war against the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan in
the 1980s in which bin
Laden himself had first
risen to prominence.
Military commanders
are always planning to refight the last war; terrorist
commanders are no different. Bin Laden hoped that
a protracted guerilla war in
Afghanistan, with American troops killing lots of
Muslims, would indeed
“galvanise all of Islam”
against the United States.
So why didn’t he say
that beforehand? Why did
he claim that the United
States would flee screaming at the first atrocity, if
he really expected it to
invade
Afghanistan?
Because revolutionaries
who resort to terrorism
always talk freely about
their goals, but they
NEVER publicly discuss
their strategy for achieving
them. They can’t, because
the strategy is so profoundly callous and cynical.
Terrorists generally
have rational political
goals – usually a revolution of some kind. In bin
Laden’s case, he wanted
Islamist revolutions across
the Muslim world, but he
had been notably unsuc-
Kindness
The state or quality of being ready to help others. Just
as she has done us many kindnesses one kind action
leads to a good example to be followed in all directions the greatest work that kindness does to others is
that it makes others kind too. Do onto others as you
would like them to help you. Just like doing things in
a friendly manner or a natural way. We all can learn
from someone if we are all willing to take care of
things. When a person gives away a smile you will go
that extra mile and that will make life worthwhile. If
flowers were friends I would pick them.
Submitted by Raymond Olson, Lumsden, Sask
cessful in whipping up
popular support for such
revolutions. So how could
he build that support?
Well, how about luring the
United States into invading a Muslim country?
Revolutionary groups
often resort to terrorism if
they think they lack popular support. Their aim is to
trick their much more
powerful opponent (usually a government) into
doing terrible things that
will alienate the population and drive it into their
arms: it’s the political
equivalent of jiu-jitsu.
They are trying to
bring horror and death
down on the population by
triggering a government
crack-down or a foreign
occupation, in the hope
that it will radicalise people and turn them into supporters of the terrorists’
political project. But the
people they seek to manipulate must believe that it
was the oppressors or the
foreign occupiers, not the
terrorists, who pulled the
trigger. That’s why bin
Laden lied about his strategy.
He probably didn’t
even warn his Taliban
hosts in Afghanistan that
he was planning 9/11,
because they would not
have welcomed the
prospect of being driven
from power and having to
fight another ten-year
guerilla war against anoth-
er invading superpower.
Bin Laden’s strategy
was not original with him:
he had been fighting as a
guerilla and a terrorist
leader for fifteen years by
the time of 9/11, and people of this sort have
ALWAYS read all the standard texts on their chosen
trade. The notion of using
the opponent’s strength
against him absolutely permeates the “how to” books
on guerilla war and terrorism, from Mao to
Marighella.
So bin Laden dug a
trap, and the United States
fell into it. In that sense his
strategy succeeded, and
the guerilla war that
ensued in Afghanistan did
much to turn Arab and
Muslim popular opinion
against America. (The
invasion of Iraq did even
more damage to America's
reputation, but that really
wasn’t about terrorism at
all.)
In the long run, however, bin Laden’s strategy
failed, simply because his
project was unacceptable
and implausible to most
Muslims. And the most
decisive rejection of his
strategy is the fact that the
oppressive old Arab
regimes are now being
overthrown, for the most
part nonviolently, by revolutionaries who want
democracy and freedom,
not Islamist rule.
“Diabolique”
curated by
Amanda Cachia
Reviewed by
Shanna Mann
Diabolique was a
2009 exhibition at the
Dunlop Art Gallery that
explored issues of violence, war, and human
conflict. Diabolique is a
book that collects the art
of the exhibition, and
includes essays as well as
introductions and a foreword by the curator.
Although I felt the
themes of the exhibition
were well-examined, the
underlying emotions wellanalyzed, and the general
format well-organized, I
was initially turned off by
the provocative, one might
say incendiary language
with which the curator,
Amanda Cachia describes
the exhibit. Her deep love
for this grotesque collection of war art is as clearly
depicted as the maggots
on Jake and Dinos Chapman’s horrid little skull.
Pressing on with a
Dear Ellen
Dear Ellen:
Can I get protection
even if I am not a Canadian citizen?
Signed Shihara
Dear Shihara:
YES. You do not need
to be a citizen or legal permanent resident to get a
protection order. A lawyer
may be helpful, but it is
not necessary to have one
in order to get a protection
order.
Applications are generally available at court-
houses, women's shelters,
legal services offices, and
some police stations. A
court generally will not ask
about your immigration
status when you ask for a
protection order, a child
custody order, or dissolution. Ask a legal services
attorney (i.e., attorneys
who provide free legal
services to low-income
individuals) or an immigrant advocacy group in
your area about the policy
in your court. You can also
contact
your
local
women’s counselling centre and they can help you
look at your options. For
more information on abuse
go to envisioncounsellingcentre.com or call Envision
Counselling and Support
Centre
24
Hour
Abuse/Sexual Assault Support Line at 1-800-2147083. Or write to Dear
Ellen at Box 511, Estevan,
SK S4A 2A5
Ellen
determinedly open mind, I
was pleased to note that I
recognized several of the
artists’ names, among
them Douglas Coupland,
Mario Doucette, and
Fawad Khan. I felt
obscurely proud that the
Dunlop Art Gallery (a
building I’ve never seen,
much less visited) attracted and evidently inspired
artists the world over.
However, I remained
unmoved until I saw
David Garneau’s painting
of Neil Stonechild, complete with handcuff
impression on his face,
and read the artist’s struggle with his decision to
show the painting. He consulted with elders, who
finally advised him to
ignore the traditional
taboo of not making
images of the dead; artists
are “granted certain
license because their
results often provide a
greater social good than
the harms their research
may inflict.”
Finally I began to see
the point and purpose of
the exhibit; to show to us
what we would rather
ignore, and lay bare the
lies we tell ourselves and
others about how and why
we are involved in armed
conflict around the world.
With two brothers in the
armed forces, this awareness was not welcomed,
but ultimately crucial.
How Ta
Look at the News
* Police in Fort Walton
Beach, Florida, arrested
Lon Allen Groves, 40, on
a variety of serious
charges after a brief
standoff at his home.
They say that Groves
was drunk and had been
arguing with his wife
when he suddenly
pushed her to the floor
and held a 9mm pistol to
her head. They’d been
arguing over which
granddaughter was her
favorite. “I’m guessing
his favorite is the one
who brings beer,” commented Comedy Wire.
Gene Hauta
R Town
ON-LINE
- Week
of September
5, 2011
Page 5
RTOWN
NEWS
- Week of
September
5th, 2011,
2011-- Page
Mind You! by Jayne Whyte
a long-term or chronic illness like mental illness is
a journey.
“I want to go back” is
a familiar complaint. We
want to be rescued and
sometimes wish someone
else would make the decisions and take the responsibility. But the illness and
sometimes the stigma and
losses caused by the illness are part of our dis-
ability. And we rebel
when other people make
the decisions and take our
voice and choice away
from us. When we realize
it is impossible to go back,
we can move forward.
Everyone is changed by a
major happening in our
lives.
A speaker at a Canadian Mental Health Association meeting said, “You
can become someone you
like better.” She urged us
to realize that each of us is
unique, in our attitudes,
values, self-concepts and
goals. She said that with
practice we can choose to
live in the present
moment, to look forward
with optimism, “The
future is possibility.” We
have to be realistic about
our situation and possibili-
ties. We have to continue
to make decisions about
the important things like
job and income, housing,
and personal relationships
as well as health services.
Recovery is not just
for people with disabilities. Everyone has something to recover from. We
are always altering our
attitudes and goals based
on our life circumstances,
limitations and strengths.
The speaker noted that
“recovery occurs in the
midst of symptoms” as
people find a sense of satisfaction and peace in our
daily living.
Jayne Melville Whyte
is a consumer of mental
health services who learns
and teaches through the
Canadian Mental Health
Association.
The Future is Possiblity
Learning to live with
Order of
Canada
The Order of Canada
is the centerpiece of Canada’s honours system and
recognizes a lifetime of
outstanding achievement,
dedication to the community and service to the
nation. The Order recognizes people in all sectors
of Canadian society. Their
contributions are varied,
yet they have all enriched
the lives of others and
made a difference to this
country. The Order of
Canada’s motto is
DESIDERANTES
MELIOREM PATRIAM
(They desire a better
country). United Newspapers of Saskatchewan will
publish on a regular basis
information on those in
Saskatchewan who have
received this Order of
Canada. Some have
passed away, but the
importance of this Honour
remains the same.
Peggy McKercher,
C.M., S.O.M., B.A.,
Saskatoon, Sk.
Member of the
Order of Canada
Awarded: April 13, 1994
Investiture:
March 1, 1995
An active volunteer in her
Saskatoon community,
she is the first chairperson
of the Meewasin Valley
Authority. Her dynamic
leadership has helped
strengthen the Authority's
valuable work in preserving the Saskatchewan
River Valley environment.
One result has been the
creation
of
the
Wanuskewin Heritage
Park, which illuminates
the history and culture of
the area's First Nations.
How Ta
Look at the News
* A new eye test reportedly
can
detect
Alzheimer ’s Disease
before any symptoms
start to appear. “The
most obvious is when a
person has bad eyesight,”
quipped Jim Barach,
“and they keep forgetting
to bring their glasses for
the test.” Gene Hauta
PUZZLE NO. 312
ANSWERTOPUZZLE NO. 312
HOW TO PLAY:
Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every
3x3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9 only once.
Each 3x3 box is outlined with a darker line. You already
have a few numbers to get you started. Remember:
You must not repeat the numbers 1 through 9 in the
same line, column, or 3x3 box.
Page 6 - R
Town ON-LINE
- WeekofofSeptember
September5th,
5, 2011
RTOWN
NEWS - Week
2011, 2011
Sports as Seen by Gene
* According to RJ Currie,
historians say the practice
of setting figures a penny
short of one dollar began
roughly one century ago.
“They add it continues
today with 99-cent stores
and Canadian Football
League salaries.”
* Simmons asks a very
good question. “Why
don’t the Chicago Bears
do the decent thing and
just release Andy Fantuz?
It’s not as if they’re using
him in any meaningful
way. It’s not like they’re
giving the former CFL
star a real opportunity to
make their team — or
even that they believe in
him.” In a lop-sided preseason loss to the NY
Giants, he did not get into
the game until there were
just three minutes left in
the fourth. “By any definition, in any sport, that’s
garbage time. If the CFL
all-star Fantuz isn’t considered good enough to
get considerable secondhalf playing time, then
he’s wasting his time with
the Bears as they are they
wasting his. Best thing
for Fantuz: A return to the
CFL, where he can —
and does — make a difference.” And the Riders
sure need him! At least
they didn’t lose last
weekend, but back-toback games against the
league-leading Blue
Bombers is a tough return
for Coach Miller.
* Generally NFL playbooks are thick periodicals the size of the Yellow
Pages, but the Buccaneers
have downloaded their
playbooks on iPad 2s and
distributed them to each
of their 90 players. Players can also use the tablet
computer to reference
video files of games, and
practice and situational
videos of any NFL team.
Obviously, many people
fear that a computer whiz
could hack into the playbook.
* Greg Cote of the Miami
Herald, on New Yorkers’
knee-jerk reaction when a
5.8 earthquake struck:
“Rex Ryan was doing
jumping jacks again.”
* Ohio State’s suspended
star Terrell Pryor was
allowed by the NFL to be
drafted but he has to sit
out for five weeks as
penalty for his college
infractions. “He drove
eight cars on campus in
two years,” said Argus
Hamilton. “If we can just
get him out there working
he could save Detroit.”
* Hamilton also noted
that the Miami Hurricanes are facing probation after a football booster gave players cash,
hotel suites, alcohol, sex
parties, hookers and a
yacht. “Don't blame the
booster. He is just trying
to show young people
that you don’t have to use
drugs to have a good
time.”
* Brad Dickson of the
Omaha (Neb.) WorldHerald, on the expected
80,000 on hand for the
Sept. 17 Ohio StateMiami football game:
“20,000 fans and 60,000
NCAA investigators.”
* Budd Bailey of the Buffalo News, after police
took 49 pairs of shoes
from LSU quarterback
Jordan Jefferson’s apartment: “Breaking the old
mark set by Imelda Marcos.”
* RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com, on the $6,000
cost of a 50-yard line
wedding at Michigan Stadium: “This puts a whole
new spin on ‘a costly
midfield gamble.’”
* Jerry Greene of
ESPN.com, with a sure
sign you live in a miserable sports town: “Habitat for Humanity won the
bid to build the city’s new
stadium.”
* The Boston Glob’s Bob
Ryan, on “The Sports
Reporters,” on ESPN on
Colts QB Peyton Manning: “He’s so good he
could make a 100-catch
receiver out of a hat rack
and a shovel.”
* Ken Fidlin points out
that Vernon Wells and
Alex Rios are being paid
a total of $35 million this
year by the Angels and
White Sox, respectively.
At the time he wrote that,
they had a combined batting average of .212 (174for-826) and both had
been benched at times.
Wells has an OPS of .616.
Rios is at .572. “Whenever you furrow your brow
about the direction of the
Blue Jays today, think of
them.”
* Simmons says Jose
Bautista can forget about
back-to-back 50 home
run seasons because of
his slow second half.
“But consider his dominance nonetheless: Since
the beginning of last season, Bautista’s 91 home
runs lead all of baseball.
The powerful Prince
Fielder is 31 homers
behind him, with the
closest to Bautista being
Albert Pujols with 73
homers and Mark Teixeira with 68.” For Simmons, the crazy Bautista
stat of this season: He
had 20 home runs by the
end of May. He’s hit 17
since.
* Every time you want to
take the Blue Jays seriously, they lose a home
series to a team they have
no business losing to. “If
they can’t start beating up
on baseball’s softies,
they’ll never contend,”
noted Simmons. Their
Big Three pitchers of the
future have become the
Big One and the Question
Marks. There is no doubt
that Ricky Romero is a
developing star, but Brett
Cecil and Brandon Morrow have certainly not
emerged as stars this year,
and have, in fact, backslid
terribly. Morrow won five
games in July and looked
like a No. 1 starting
pitcher. But in the other
four months of the season, he has just four wins.
He continues to get hammered in his latest starts.
Brett Cecil
* At 21 years and 135
days, Henderson Alvarez
has become the youngest
Toronto pitcher to earn a
victory since Kelvim
Escobar in 1997 and the
youngest starter to win
since Phil Huffman did it
32 years ago.
* RJ Currie: “Derek Jeter
and Minka Kelly have
reportedly split up after
three years. Chicks may
dig the long ball, but
some are happy to see
Jeter hitting the infield
single.”
* Simmons says now that
the lovely Minka Kelly is
no longer the girlfriend,
shouldn’t some entrepreneur be promoting a Girlfriends of Derek Jeter calendar? “With Kelly, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel,
Tyra Banks and Vanessa
Minnillo, and all those
months, I’d buy one,”
said Simmons.
Vanessa Minnillo
* Robinson Cano, Russell
Martin and Curtis
Granderson all homered
with the bases loaded to
make the Yankees the
first team in major league
history to hit three grand
slams in one game. The
feat happened in a 22-9
victory over Oakland, a
game in which the Yankees were behind 7-1 in
the third.
* Dwight Perry says
major league history covers 200,000 games
(seems low to me?) and
the Yanks are the first to
hit three big ones. “Or as
the feat is now known
among seamheads, a
quadruple-triple.”
* Bill Littlejohn, recalling
the last time the Yankees
had three grand slams in
one day: “The morning
David Wells ate breakfast
at Denny’s.”
* From Steve Schrader of
the Detroit Free Press:
“How did medical personnel get that moth out
of Cardinals outfielder
Matt Holliday's right ear?
a) Tweezers. b) They
shined a light in his left
ear. c) They waited for
Bat Night. d) They told
Tony La Russa it was a
pitcher, and he went to
the mound and removed
it.”
* Ron Gardenhire has
been ejected 60 times
during his tenure as
Twins manager, and has
been fined anywhere
from $250 to $2,500.
Gardenhire told the St.
Paul Pioneer Press: “I’ve
written more checks (to
MLB) than I have the
IRS.”
* Simmons: “When you
see Prince Fielder, you
know he’s Cecil Fielder’s
son. But I still can’t get
over the fact that big John
Mayberry’s son, John
Mayberry Jr., plays centre
field. Doesn’t seem
right.”
John Mayberry, Jr.
* Orioles TV analyst Jim
Palmer, to the St. Paul
Pioneer Press, on Twins’
catcher Joe Mauer going
from 28 homers in 2009
to one this year: “I would
assume he’s not healthy.
You know, he didn’t forget how to play.”
* Attorneys representing
cash-strapped Dodgers’
owner Frank McCourt in
the team’s bankruptcy
case have petitioned the
court for legal fees of
$1.7 million for just 5
weeks of work, and it’s
not looking good. In
reporting this, Dwight
Perry wrote, “In lieu of a
personal check, McCourt
asked if they’d take a
backup infielder.”
* Dwight Perry called
this little item, Vin numbers. He reports that Vin
Scully will return in 2012
for a 63rd season as the
play-by-play voice of the
Dodgers. “That is, health
willing and the divorce
judge doesn’t award him
to Jamie.”
* I liked Simmons’
assessment on one of the
most beloved Toronto
athletes, John McDonald.
“As a career utility
infielder without much of
a bat, McDonald somehow found a way into the
hearts of Jays’ fans, just
by being the everyman
shortstop who showed up,
rolled up his sleeves,
asked what needed to be
fixed and got the job
done. His popularity, at
times, has been a mystery, even to those he
played with and for. But
the emotion from the
public was genuine.
Strange, the way this city
can be, fawning all over a
McDonald, yet distant in
a way from all the brilliant years of Carlos Delgado. We love effort. We
love try guys. We love
professional athletes with
humility. The assumption
is McDonald will return
to Toronto next season as
a free agent, back in his
familiar perch, back in
the only city in major
league baseball that
would consider him a
hero.”
* If you had heard that
the Jays had re-acquired
relief pitcher Brian Tallet,
but wondered what happened to him, here’s the
story. The Jays activated
Tallet off the 15-day disabled list, some 10 weeks
after he hurt his right
ribcage with a hard
sneeze. While examining
Tallet for his ribcage
injury, doctors also discovered he was suffering
from a kidney condition
that delayed his recovery.
In his first appearance
with the Jays, he botched
a save opportunity and
the Jays designated him
for reassignment the next
day.
* Yankees pitcher Ivan
Nova improved his
record to 13-4 in a 3-0
win over the Twins. “Has
there been a more celebrated Nova since Villa
and Bossa?” asked Perry.
Ivan Nova
* “Giants’ closer Brian
Wilson was diagnosed
with elbow inflammation,” observed David
Thomas of the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram. “Apparently it was a result of
spending too much time
combing his beard.”
* Huntington Beach
headed home with the
Little League World
Series championship.
They waited until the bottom of sixth inning,
before striking to defeat
Japan 2-1.
* Perry says, when it
comes to getting cold
feet, nervous grooms
have nothing on Justin
Gatlin. The 2004 U.S.
Olympic
100-meter
champion arrived at the
IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South
Korea, suffering from
frostbitten feet — courtesy of wearing wet socks
inside a cryogenic chamber. As he told AP:
“Before I even came here
it was like walking on
fiery pins and needles.”
Perry quipped, “Bet he
can’t wait for the first
heat.” There was a huge
upset in the 100 m final
as Usain Bolt, who has
dominated for three
years, was disqualified
for a false start, opening
the door for training partner and fellow Jamaican
Yohan Blake to win the
gold over American Walter Dix and Kim Collins.
While everyone had been
wondering what Bolt
would do to his world
record of 9.58 seconds, it
was Blake who won his
first 100 title with a slow
time of 9.92, the only
racer to break 10 seconds
in the final.
Justin Gatlin
* Gatlin, who has made a
successful return to competition this year following a four-year drug suspension, got out of the
blocks slowly in his semifinal heat and could only
finish fourth, failing to
advance to the final.
* Janice Hough of LeftCoastSportsBabe.com,
after Bethany (Kan.) College suspended its men’s
golf team for three tournaments for posing naked
except for strategically
placed drivers: “Let us all
pray this idea never
occurs to John Daly.”
* For her marriage to
NBAer Kris Humphries,
Kim Kardashian wore a
white wedding dress.
According to Alex Kaseberg that is about as
appropriate as Richard
Simmons getting married
in a Chicago Bear uniform.
* Brendan Shanahan, the
new head of discipline in
the NHL, was suspended
by each of the previous
four men who held his
job.
* ‘Til next week…
Gene Hauta
Earth Talk
R Town
ON-LINE
- Week
of September
5, 2011
Page 7
RTOWN
NEWS
- Week of
September
5th, 2011,
2011-- Page
International Literacy Day
celebrated
On September 8, 1966,
International Literacy Day
was celebrated for the first
time. In November of the
previous year, the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared
this day to be International
Literacy Day. Today, it
brings global attention to the
798 million adults and 131
million youth worldwide
that lack minimum literacy
skills, the majority of whom
are female.
Credit: iStock Photo
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is evaluating 757 imperiled plant
and animal species to determine if they should be added to the federal
Endangered Species List by 2018. Among the wildlife getting a closer
look is the walrus, pictured here.
Dear EarthTalk:
What’s the gist of the
recent
agreement
between the Center for
Biological Diversity and
the federal government
regarding adding many
more plants and animals
to the Endangered
Species List?
J.J. Scarboro,
Tallahassee, FL
The agreement in
question forces the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS) to make initial
or final decisions on
whether to grant some 757
imperiled plant and animal
species protection under
the Endangered Species
Act over the next six years.
In exchange, the Center for
Biological
Diversity
(CBD), a leading advocacy
group devoted to animal
and plant conservation,
will withdraw its legal
opposition to a May 2011
agreement
between
USFWS and another conservation group, Wildlife
Guardians. CBD argued
that the agreement with
Wildlife Guardians was
too weak, unenforceable
and missing key species in
need of protection. The
new
agreement,
if
approved by the U.S. District Court as submitted in
July 2011, would make
many of the provisions of
the old agreement obsolete.
“Scientists and conservationists have a critical
role to play in identifying
endangered species and
developing plans and priorities to save them. The
extinction crisis is too
big—too pressing—to rely
on government agencies
alone,” says Kieran Suckling, executive director of
CBD.
CBD reports that the
work plan under the new
agreement will enable
USFWS to move forward
with
systematically
reviewing and addressing
the needs of hundreds of
species to determine if
they should be added to
the federal Endangered
Species List by 2018.
Some of the species in
question that will get a
closer look—and which
CBD hopes are “fasttracked” for protection—
include the walrus, the
wolverine, the Mexican
gray wolf, the New England cottontail rabbit, three
species of sage grouse, the
scarlet Hawaiian honeycreeper ('I'iwi), the California golden trout, the Rio
Grande cutthroat trout and
the Miami blue butterfly,
among others.
The 757 species up for
listing consideration span
every taxonomic group—
including 26 birds, 31
mammals, 67 fish, 13 reptiles, 42 amphibians, 197
plants and 381 invertebrates—and occur in all 50
states and several Pacific
Island territories. Alabama,
Letter to the Editor Policy
We encourage you to submit your letters and
comments. It is United Newspapers of
Saskatchewan/ R Town News’ policy not to
accept unsigned letters and reserve the right to
edit for length, clarity or good taste. The opinions expressed in our paper(s) are not necessarily the opinions of our Management and/or Staff.
Georgia and Florida are
home to the majority of the
species (149, 121 and 115
in each respectively).
Hawaii, Nevada, California, Washington and Oregon each play host to
dozens of unlisted imperiled species as well.
“The Southeast, West
Coast, Hawaii and Southwest are America’s extinction hot spots,” says Suckling. “Most of the species
lost in the past century
lived there, and most of
those threatened with
extinction in the next
decade live there as well.”
CBD considers the
agreement a big win and a
key piece of its decadelong campaign to safeguard 1,000 of the nation’s
most imperiled, least protected plant and animal
species. Some two-thirds
of the species listed in the
agreement were not previously considered to be candidates for protection for
USFWS. “This corresponds with the conclusion
of numerous scientists and
scientific societies that the
extinction crisis is vastly
greater than existing federal priority systems and
budgets,” adds Suckling.
CONTACTS: Center
for Biological Diversity,
www.biologicaldiversity.or
g; United States Fish and
Wildlife
Service,
www.fws.gov; Wildlife
Guardians, www.defenders.org/support_us/wildlife
_guardians.
EarthTalk® is written
and edited by Roddy
Scheer and Doug Moss
and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental
Magazine
(www.emagazine.com).
Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe:
www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue:
www.emagazine.com/trial.
South African children
learning to read
© GreaterGood
South Africa
Literacy forms the basis
of the United Nations “Education for All” campaign,
which aids in the causes of
gender equality, education
for better paid employment,
and education for future
generations. UNESCO
recently released a project
called The Alphabet of
Hope. An anthology of
works by a number of world
famous authors, including
Canadian Margaret Atwood,
it aims to raise awareness
for the need for literacy.
In Canada, programs
that encourage literacy
beyond the traditional education system have long
been established. Organizations that provide such pro-
grams include, but are not
limited to, ABC Literacy
Canada, the Canadian Literacy and Learning Network,
the Government of Canada’s
Office of Literary and
Essential Skills, Postmedia’s
Raise-a-Reader campaign
for children, World Literacy
Canada, as well as a number
of family literacy programs
throughout the country. Perhaps the oldest organization
is Frontier College. A pioneer in the field of adult
education, Frontier College
was created in 1899, as the
Canadian Reading Association, the only national, nondenominational organization
to provide education to
workers in remote parts of
Canada. A group of young
“labourer-teachers” were
sent to isolated lumber, mining, and railway camps
across the country where
they worked by day and
taught other labourers by
night. Today, this literacy
organization is supported by
a network of volunteers who
tutor adults in the workplace, homeless street youth,
prison inmates, people with
disabilities, and newcomers
to Canada.
A Frontier College
classroom in 1912
© Library and Archives
Canada/PA-061766
A number of historic
events, persons and sites that
are associated with the
advancement of literacy in
Canada, including the
above-mentioned Frontier
College, which was designated a national historic
event in 1991. St. Ann’s
Academy, Pictou Academy,
and Craigflower Schoolhouse, the oldest surviving
school building in Western
Canada, have also been
commemorated as National
Historic Sites. Educators
such as Mademoiselle
Onésime Dorval, known as
Saskatchewan’s “first certified teacher,” and Kahkewaquonaby (Reverend Peter
Jones), the first to make
Ojibwa into a written language, have been made
National Historic Persons.
Pioneering authors Julia
Catherine Beckwith Hart,
Susanna Moodie, Gabrielle
Roy, Philippe Aubert de
Gaspé, Stephen Leacock,
Lucy Maud Montgomery,
and Mohawk poet, Emily
Pauline (Tekahionwakeh)
Johnson, have been designated National Historic Persons. The homes of famous
authors and intellectuals are
recognized as National Historic Sites, most notably,
Orillia, Ontario’s Stephen
Leacock Museum / Old
Brewery Bay, E. Pauline
Johnson’s Chiefswood,
located in Brantford,
Ontario, and Lucy Maud
Montgomery’s home from
1911-26, Leaskdale.
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Page 8 - RTOWN NEWS - Week of September 5,
2011
5th,
2011, 2011
SASKATCHEWAN SUSTAINABILITY
The Toxic Legacy of 9/11
by Jim Harding
So much has already
been said about the
destruction of New York’s
Twin Towers and the
deaths of those left inside.
Is there really anything
more to say? Or are we
ready to say and hear
more? Is ten years long
enough that we won’t just
re-traumatize ourselves
with the overwhelming
images of suffering?
Though American
audiences typically “eat
up” disaster movies, they
apparently aren’t ready to
see a real one on 9/11. Collective post-traumatic
stress has drawn people to
more fantasy and escapism.
So-called Reality TV
shows, having little or
nothing to do with reality,
are now big hits.
COLLECTIVE
TRAUMA
Why is it still so difficult to learn from 9/11?
What might we begin to
learn on the 10th anniversary?
The collective trauma
is understandable; it’s the
first time the U.S. has been
attacked on its own soil.
And in the aftermath of the
planes being flown as
explosives into the towers,
U.S. officials, with much
Canadian support, had to
land thousands of airplanes
across the world. A presidential order was given to
shoot down any commercial plane that didn’t
respond to military orders,
a certain death sentence for
innocent travelers. There
was widespread chaos.
With the uncertainty
and paranoia about what
might have come next,
things could have easily
gone from bad to worse.
Actually they did! And
they still are! The military
and toxic legacy of 9/11 is
still catching up with us.
The live televising of
the 1500 foot buildings
consumed by fire and then
collapsing into a hurricane
of toxic debris had a global
impact. These pictures,
continually re-played, are
burned into our collective
brains. People are prone to
do nasty things in the aftermath of such reinforced
trauma. It matters little, critiques of the U.S.’s geopolitical role, or the psychological and cultural
roots for righteous rage;
just stand aside. The U.S.
has been at war non-stop
with someone since 9/11.
While it’s all expressed as
retributive anger and fighting the “war on terror”, it
carries an irrational undercurrent.
ONGOING WARFARE
Ongoing warfare has
played a central role in the
U.S.’s rising debt and the
right-wing politics of “cutting entitlements.” America has seen its worst economic downturn since the
depression. The 2008
financial meltdown almost
brought the global economy to a standstill. Some
detached observers might
conclude that the government has been so obsessed
with fighting wars, it lost
sight of regulating its own
economy.
Strange things happen
when blind patriotism
rules. 9/11 was used as an
excuse to invade and destabilize Iraq, which led to
hundreds of thousands of
innocent victims. But this
suffering and death isn’t
packaged by any single,
catastrophic event, such as
the death of 2,605 people,
including 411 emergency
workers, on 9/11. Our public morality is shaped by
our own propaganda. Most
people ignored the stunning fact that most of the
“bombers” were from the
U.S. ally Saudi Arabia.
Deception about an imminent threat from Iraq’s nonexistent WMD resonated
deeply with an already
frightened America. As fallacies were sifted from
truths, most Americans didn’t know who or what to
believe and a rash of conspiracy theory has gone
viral.
THE NEW “NIGGERS”
Human rights suffered
greatly as the Security
State steadily gained
See our
online paper
at rtownonline.ca
ground. While there’s some
public resistance to intrusive airport security we
wouldn’t have previously
tolerated, many draconian
practices have become normalized. Some future historians may actually conclude that in the big picture
Bin Laden won, as the
American Dream and
Empire continues to wane.
The U.S. has remained
more concerned about
“getting its man” than with
controlling its destiny in
the post-9/11 world.
Some people have
endured much more.
Scape-goating Muslim
Americans for what happened on 9/11 has been
quite widespread. It’s com-
forting when we can point
to the burning of the
Koran, and suggest it’s a
small handful of extremists
perpetuating Islamophobia.
But discrimination works
in subtle ways. The Islamic
Scare (remember the Red
Scare!) has even given
some blacks and whites,
with their own history of
racial conflict rooted in
slavery, someone else to
blame. While arresting a
Muslin American, one
black policeman was
reported to whisper “you
are the new niggers”. Some
research shows that since
9/11, the wages of Muslim/Arab Americans have
dropped relative to other
ethnic groups. Racial pro-
filing is now commonMight environmental
place. A Muslim American awareness deepen from the
comedian with the same ongoing catastrophe? Will
name as a “terrorist” has one legacy of 9/11 perhaps
been arrested and jailed be prohibitions on toxic
building materials used in
several times.
What do the millions construction today? So far,
of Muslim Americans real- the wars in Afghanistan
ly have in common with and Iraq have been a huge
the handful of Saudis that distraction from global
planned and executed the warming. Ongoing military
campaigns have not only
attacks?
VICTIMS OF TOXICI- led to hundreds of thouTY
sands of innocent victims,
There’s been much they have added greatly to
political toxicity since 9/11, the burning of fossil-fuels
but the physical toxicity and the steady build-up of
will do more harm and it greenhouse gases. They’ve
won’t distinguish Muslim left long-lived toxic
from Christian or the non- residue, such as radioactive
religious. The toxic dust, depleted uranium (DU)
containing everything from used in many missiles, as
asbestos to heavy metals to “a weapon – going on and
dioxin, is directly linked to on”.
deaths of emergency workGwynn Dyer constanters. Fibrosis is increasing- ly reminds us that the actuly showing up in clinics. al deaths from terrorism
Scarred lungs can’t effec- continue to be quite small
For Jack Layton, a of its political opponents.
tively
exchange oxygen compared to those from
It was remarkable to
social democrat and only
and
carbon
dioxide, leading traffic accidents; or, it now
briefly the Leader of Her see, however, how Layton
Majesty’s Loyal Opposi- was honoured in Alberta, to lung and heart ailments seems, from the toxic aftertion, there was a state the most Americanized and a propensity for other math of 9/11. The high profuneral and there is the province and home to illnesses from the weak- file reporting of each and
promise that his name will most of Canada’s right- ened condition. A slow every terrorist event however, keeps us locked in
be preceded by the title wing philosophers and death!
In
spite
of
constant
fear
and fear can be contaRight Honourable. These fundamentalist Christians.
public
praising
of
emergious.
The politics of fear
are rare honours for a man If the outpouring of grief
gency
worker-heroes,
it
is
only
starting to subside
who laboured in a third across the nation is someparty and was fated to lead thing more significant than took years of lobbying to across the border, and were
the parliamentary opposi- an emotional response to get the U.S. government to another attack to occur, it
tion for only a few pain- the cruel way Layton’s create a $5 billion package might again raise its ugly
wracked weeks. To any but political triumph was fol- for treatment and compen- head. The Harper governthe hopelessly uninformed, lowed by a personal sation. The Environmental ment milks “fear” every
his accomplishments in tragedy, the direction of Protection Agency (EPA) chance it gets; it’s hard to
Canadian politics are well- politics in Canada may initially turned its back on imagine Harper getting his
known. It was the funeral begin to veer leftward. “the national heroes”, by majority government withwhich revealed the Instead of easily overpow- prematurely declaring the out constantly playing to
extraordinary individual ering political neophytes contaminated air safe. It “fear” in the wake of 9/11.
Our society is more
Quebec,
the ignored dangers from the
behind the public figure. from
dust
residue
that
seeped
militarized
than before, and
Canadians grieved for him Harperites may find themin an outpouring of sorrow selves struggling against into buildings and homes, the greatest shift in public
and some clean-up crews resources has not been to
which almost approached Jack Layton’s ghost
The political system in were allowed to work with- address the mounting globthe emotional hyperbole of
a funeral for an American the USA is broken. Party out respirators. There will al environmental crisis, but
loyalties are more impor- be latency periods for the to build up the military
president.
tant than the welfare of the cancers coming from 9/11; capacity for even more
But not quite.
That American politi- nation. There are too many as one victim put it: “9/11 war. So-called natural discians and news media debts and too many mili- left the dust as a weapon – asters last year – most
notably in Japan, Pakistan,
showed no interest in Jack tary commitments, too going on and on.”
It’s
now
estimated
that
Australia
and the U.S.,
Layton is evidence enough many guns, too many pris60,000
people
are
at
risk.
were
estimated
to cost
(if more is needed) of the oners and too many failing
In
2010,
18,000
people
$260
billion,
up
from
$60
growing ascendancy of elements in infrastructure
both the Political and Reli- country- wide. Change received some kind of billion the previous year. It
gious Right in our south- cannot come quickly under treatment. In terms of lost seems we all remain in
ern neighbour. Canada is the Congressional system, lives, the slow dying will some political and environbeing influenced by the but the structure and prac- be a much greater catastro- mental peril after 9/11.
Jim Harding is a
same trend. In his last and tices of the Canadian Par- phe than the deaths coming
directly
from
the
event.
But
retired
professor of envimost successful campaign, liamentary System make
it
won’t
be
melodramatic.
ronmental
and justice studJack Layton was a propo- rapid change possible here.
DISTRACTION
ies
who
lives
in the Qu’ApIn the Layton life
nent of a kinder and genAFTER 9/11
pelle Valley.
tler version of Canada. story, we may be seeing
Voters in Quebec who the beginning of a coaliabandoned the separatist tion which wants the
How Ta Look at the News
dream turned to the NDP armed forces to return to
* David Cross’s wife bought a van from the Used Car
in massive numbers peace-keeping, laws to be
Superstore in Portsmouth, N.H... “It was a piece of
because they felt there more gentle, prisons, to
crap,” Cross said, citing multiple issues. When the
was nowhere else to go, rehabilitate rather than
dealer refused a refund and even refused to negotiate
but there were no similar punish, and every citizen
the price on another van, Cross wanted to get even.
concentrations of NDP to share in the wealth of
He returned to the lot at night and drove the van onto
the nation and in the assurvoters in other regions.
the lot, and into multiple vehicles. Cross said he never
Even
in ance that a poisoned planet
hit a car under $20,000. In all, he says, “I took out
Saskatchewan, birthplace will be healed.
seven vehicles, including my own.” He then casually
Or perhaps the Layton
of the CCF/NDP, official
flagged down a police cruiser and turned himself in.
comments about Layton story is a national soap
A Singaporean army draftee drew quite a bit of
*
and his lost battle with opera which will be
attention
to himself when he was photographed physicancer were muted. dropped from the schedcal training in army fatigues but with his maid followAlthough well ahead in ules in less than a year.
ing behind him carrying his backpack on her shoulthe polls, Saskatchewan’s
William Wardill
ders. Army officials say the draftee had since been
ruling party wad careful
Copyright 2011
counseled.
Gene Hauta
not to burnish the image
A State Funeral
Psychology for Living
by Gwen Randall-Young
No Shame Requesting
Psychological Help
Are we embarrassed or
ashamed when our car
breaks down? Inconvenienced, frustrated maybe,
but not embarrassed. We
just get it fixed. Do we
think less of ourselves if we
need a gallbladder operation, or break a leg? Again,
we may feel inconvenienced, but we know these
things happen, so we just do
what needs to be done, and
give ourselves the time to
heal. Why is it then, when
our emotions break down
so that we cannot function
as usual, so many people
feel ashamed and disappointed in themselves.
Clearly there is still a
lot of fear and judgment
around 'mental illness'.
There is a big difference,
however, between things
like stress reaction, burnout,
emotional breakdown, and
things like psychotic or personality disorders. Many
fear 'taking leave of their
senses' and being unable to
get back. So when we ourselves, or a loved one, show
signs of 'losing it' (sanity,
not the temper) there is the
fear that the crying jag, or
depression will land one in
the nearest psychiatric
ward! This is the same kind
of catastrophizing as thinking because your child listens to rock music; he or
she will end up a drug
addict.
Most people go
through times when they
experience some depression, anxiety, or emotional
instability. We are all
human after all, and sometimes life is hard. But taking stress leave, medication,
or time away from it all is
not the beginning of the
downward slide into insanity. In fact, it is the best antidote!
Freaking out about an
emergent weaknessin ourselves or others will only
make things worse. The
best thing is to simply surrender, and accept that for
now you (or they) simply
cannot handle things like
before. Recognizing breakdown as a signal that something is wrong and needs
readjusting is the first step.
The job, relationship, workload, lack of sleep or time
for self may need to be
addressed.
The best thing you can
do if you are the one who is
suffering is talk about it
with a trusted, supportive
individual. If you are an
onlooker, the best thing you
can do is to listen. Don't
offer solutions immediately,
but focus more on what the
individual really needs.
We need to normalize
the types of experiences I've
described here. No one
should feel any more
ashamed when their psychological 'immune system'
breaks down than when
they succumb to a cold or
flu. They may need medical
support, and just as important, they need love, support, understanding, acceptance, patience, time, and
encouragement. They need
all of these, in order to heal,
and we can help.
Gwen Randall-Young is
an author and award-winning Psychotherapist.
Check It Out
My Laundry Mat Friend
Don’t you just hate it
when something breaks
down? Did you ever notice
how your car, washing
machine, combine or
whatever only breaks
down when you’re using
it? It’s a real inconvenience.
So Saturday morning I
began one of my least
favorite chores - laundry.
After tumbling for over an
hour, the dryer was still
running and wouldn’t stop.
Inside its depths, the
clothes were tumbling, but
the dryer wasn’t drying.
This must be how the
farmers feel when their
combine breaks down in
the middle of harvest, I
thought.
Off I went to the local
laundry mat, my bags of
wet laundry dragging
behind me.
“Why don’t you just
throw the clothes in the
dryer and leave?” my husband suggested.
But I was familiar
with laundry mats. If you
put your clothes in the
dryer and left, someone
was sure to come along
after your dryers had
ceased its cycle, dump
your still damp clothes on
the nearest available
counter top and put their
clothes in instead. It’s really irritating.
No, I felt compelled to
stay and supervise, so my
husband dropped me off
and left to do some
errands.
After putting the
clothes in the dryer, I sat
down and looked out the
window, which wasn’t
exactly edge of your seat
entertainment. Another
woman had finished putting all her laundry in the
washers and was standing
by the doorway.
“I’m going to Tim
Hortons,” she said.
“Can I come along?” I
asked, and she agreed.
“Nothing like going to
Tim’s with a stranger, is
there?” I asked her.
She laughed and we
exchanged names. Now,
we were no longer
strangers. We purchased
our Tim goods at the drive
thru and returned to supervise our laundry.
During the course of
the dryer cycle I learned
more about that woman
than I know about a lot of
people who I’ve been
acquainted with for years.
I knew her kids and she
knew mine. We knew each
other’s occupations and
that of our husbands,
whether or not we had
grandchildren and our
places of residence.
And when my dryer
stopped, she even helped
me unload my laundry into
my bags, thus becoming
acquainted with items
rarely seen by outsiders my underwear.
As we continued chatting, I was amazed when
she shared the ingredients
of her family’s secret (but
not so secret anymore)
family recipe, which she
was preparing for supper
that very evening. I imagine I could have coerced
an invitation to supper if I
had felt so inclined, but I
reasoned a supper invitation should probably wait
until the next laundry mat
visit.
Our visit ended far too
soon when my ride
arrived. My new laundry
mat friend helped me carry
my laundry bags out to the
car and we exchanged a
hug, like long lost friends.
Incidents like this are
one of the perks of living
in
small
town
Saskatchewan, where pretty much everyone is willing to engage in friendship.
Joan Janzen is a
columnist, living in
Kindersley, Sask.
It’s cynical election season
R Town
ON-LINE
- Week
of September
5, 2011
Page 99
RTOWN
NEWS
- Week of
September
5th, 2011,
2011-- Page
by Murray Mandryk
We're passed Labour
Day and the signs point to
that special time.
The combines are
rolling, the leaves are starting to turn and the annual
'Rider-Bomber Labour
Day Classic is in the
books.
However, this special
time comes around not
every year, but once every
four years. It's pre-election
time - that magical time
when we can suspend fanciful notions that politicians do things for the
greater good of us all and
recognize the much more
cynical reality that what
they do is often about getting themselves re-elected.
In fairness to the
Saskatchewan Party government that's truly driving
much of the cynicism now,
the fact that we know we
are having a fall election
campaign does mitigate a
tiny bit of the cynicism
that usually accompanies
this season.
For the first 106 years
of this province's existence, the surprise of
springing a campaign on
an unprepared opposition
was an effective tool of
government. That Premier
Brad Wall would voluntarily give up this political
tool by legislating set elections days is a welcomed
act that shouldn’t go unnoticed.
But lest anyone thinks
that set election dates
meant a complete end to
the cynical game playing,
think again. Not withstanding a ban on formal
government advertising
that also starts this week,
the Wall government has
been busy at the cynical
game of pre-election
announcements.
And what's irritating
about its eagerness to buy
our votes with our own
money is that this is something the Sask. Party government said it wouldn't
do.
Responding to concerns raised by Liberal
leader Ryan Bater in 2009
that the Sask. Party might
be willing to sacrifice the
building of a new
Saskatchewan Hospital in
North Battleford for the
building of a football stadium in Regina, Health
Minister Don McMorris
was indignant. He vowed
his government wouldn’t
do what the previous NDP
government did.
"(A new hospital in)
Humboldt was announced
seven years in a row,
specifically before an election," McMorris told the
North Battleford NewsOptimist. "That won't be
the case under our government."
Well, here we are in
cynical election season and
it’s exactly been the case.
First
came
the
announcement a mere 81
days before the Nov. 7
vote of $8 million towards
the planning on a new
$110-million psychiatric
hospital in North Battleford. (The Battlefords, by
the way, was one of the
five closest seats in the
2007 election.)
Not only is this what
the NDP government did
with the Battlefords hospital, but also it's being done
with less of a money commitment and much closer
to the vote. At least the
NDP made its promise 21
months ahead of the eventual 2007 provincial vote
and set aside $39 million
in the next budget to
replace the 100-year-old
Saskatchewan hospital by
2010.
But, evidently, the
Sask. Party believes in the
old adage of "in for a
penny, in for a pound"
when it comes upping the
pre-election cynicism ante.
Last week - a mere 69 days
before the provincial vote it announces a replacement
for Moose Jaw's Union
hospital.
The only thing that
needs to be said about the
Moose Jaw hospital
announcement is that it
was even more cynical
than the first announcement in that the government is committing a paltry $5 million to planning.
The news release did,
however, have a quote
from Moose Jaw MLA
Warren Michelson on what
"a historic day for Moose
Jaw and area" it was.
Michelson happened to
win in 2007 by the
slimmest margin of victory
in that entire general election. Recently, his re-election task has been made
more difficult by the decision of Progressive Conservative party leader Rick
Swenson to run in the seat.
It seems that one of
the benefits of Wall’s set
election dates is we can
now pinpoint when the
season of pre-election cynicism begins.
THE SASKATCHEWAN ADVANTAGE
Lower property taxes.
Four balanced budgets.
Better crop insurance coverage and effective and immediate
ÁRRGUHVSRQVH
Lower surgical wait times - since 2007, 18 month waits are
down 75 per cent and 12 month waits are down 55 per cent.
Increased basic and spousal income tax exemptions - you keep
more of what you make.
,QFUHDVHGUHYHQXHVKDULQJPXQLFLSDOLWLHVÀQDOO\KDYHD
long-term, stable and predictable source of provincial funding.
( 8 8 8 ) 7 0 8 -7 7 8 0
www.skcaucus.com
info@skcaucus.com
MOV ING SA SKATCHEWAN FORW A RD
Pause for Reflection
Page
10 -ON-LINE
RTOWN NEWS
- Week
of September
2011,
R Town
- Week of
September
5, 2011 5th,
- Page
10 2011
S CIENCE M ATTERS
by David Suzuki
David Suzuki
Our future depends
on learning more
about our home
Biologists recently
found a strange monkey
in the Amazon. They didn’t know this unusual
creature with its bright
red beard and tail even
existed. Researchers also
found what they believe
to be a massive river running 6,000 kilometres
underneath the Amazon
River. The underground
Hamza River is 200 to
400 kilometres wide,
though, whereas the
Amazon ranges from one
to 100 kilometres wide.
These are just two
examples of how much
we have yet to learn
about our planet. As for
the plants and animals
that share our home, a
recent study – “How
Many Species Are There
on Earth and in the
Ocean?” – suggests that
of the estimated 8.7 million species on Earth, 86
per cent on land and 91
per cent in the oceans
have not been described
by scientists. And
describing just means
identifying and naming.
It doesn’t mean we know
anything about population numbers, geographic
distribution, what they
eat, how they reproduce,
or their relationship with
other species.
Authors of the study,
published in the scientific journal PLoS Biology,
argue that understanding
the range of biodiversity
in our world is crucial to
conservation. In many
cases, plants and animals
are going extinct before
we even know of their
existence. “We know we
are losing species
because of human activity, but we can't really
appreciate the magnitude
of species lost until we
know what species are
there,” study co-author
Camilo Mora said.
As well as the titi
monkey, other animals
recently
discovered
include a small African
antelope, a bacterium
that consumes iron-oxide
on the sunken Titanic, an
underwater mushroom, a
jumping cockroach, and
a “prehistoric” eel found
in a cave in the Pacific
Ocean. The eel has so
many unusual features,
including a second upper
jaw, that it has been classified as a new species
belonging to a new genus
and family.
And, several species
that were thought to have
been extinct have since
been rediscovered. However, researchers say this
doesn’t mean they have
recovered. Pretty much
all of them are still at
risk of extinction. In fact,
92 per cent of all
amphibians and 86 per
cent of all birds and
mammals are believed to
be facing extinction, and
tens of thousands of
species are being wiped
out every year.
Many factors are at
play in this biodiversity
crisis, but most are related to human activity.
Habitat destruction and
conversion of land for
agriculture and development are big ones. The
spread of invasive
species, overexploitation
of natural resources, pollution, and climate
change are also major
contributors to what
some scientists are calling the sixth great extinction.
Unlike the previous
mass extinctions, this
one is human-caused.
But the history of these
extinctions should also
tell us something. Nature
and the planet are
resilient. They bounce
back after major crises,
but – and this is crucial –
not until the cause of the
extinction or crisis has
dissipated. This means
we humans are putting
ourselves on a path to
extinction. The way out
is to recognize that we
are a part of the natural
world and not something
that stands outside of it.
We absolutely depend on
all that nature provides
for our existence.
Bringing about necessary changes won’t be
easy. It will require stabilizing and reducing global population, reevaluating our economic systems to reduce the pressures of consumerism,
addressing
climate
change and pollution,
protecting large swaths
of terrestrial, marine, and
freshwater habitat, and
learning more about the
natural world. Conservation efforts are essential.
These will help plants
and animals become
more resilient to climate
change, but they can also
help slow climate
change. For example,
forests absorb and store
carbon, so protecting
them not only helps the
by Ken Rolheiser
plants and animals that
live in them, it also helps
reduce the amount of
carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere.
Of course, as the
species study makes
clear, we must address
the massive knowledge
gaps about our world.
Unfortunately, economic
pressures, antipathy
toward science, and the
fact that we often spend
more money to learn
about other planets than
our own mean that we
have a long way to go to
avoid catastrophe.
We can’t and needn’t
give up hope, though.
Thanks to the work of
scientists and other
thinkers, we learn more
about our world every
day. Above all, we really
need to learn how crucial
this knowledge is to our
future.
Dr. David Suzuki is a
scientist, broadcaster,
author, and co-founder of
the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David
Suzuki Foundation editorial and communications
specialist Ian Hanington.
heard the first time? Learn
to smile!
Repeating has its
advantages. Comedian
Chris Murphy tells us
Frank Sinatra was asked
how he can sing the same
songs over and over again
for so many years.
Learn to smile when
you repeat, God does
A woman tells her
husband, “GO to the store;
LAY DOWN the mulch;
GET the kids from school;
rent SOME videos, and
finish the REST of the
dishes.” You can figure out
what the husband hears.
I recently concluded
that we should learn to
smile when we are asked
to repeat a message. God
does. He smiles when he
says, “I forgive you.” We
know how often He has to
do that!
I have seen the unfortunate situation where
requests for a repeat result
in a louder and irritated
tone of voice. I come from
a big family, so I can use
this example safely. But
think about it! Whose fault
is it if the message can’t be
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It Is What It Is by Judy Sorestad
I’m sure glad it wasn’t
W
A weekly commentary by the
Member of Parliament for Wascana
(goodale@sasktel.net)
POLARIZATION IS
NOT A GOOD PLAN
FOR CANADA
Both the Conservatives and the NDP claim
that Canadians would be
better off with only two
political parties (them, of
course) dominating our
system of governance –
one on the right and one
on the left, just like the
Americans.
They contend such
polarization would make
politics so much simpler.
Every decision would be a
straight two-way choice:
Black or White? Good or
Bad? Right or Wrong?
Simpler? Maybe. But
better? Not necessarily!
Proof of the havoc
caused by simplistic polarized politics, is obvious in
the economic chaos battering the United States.
The world watched in
disbelief this summer as
the Americans took their
country to the brink of
defaulting on their debts –
risking another global
recession – because sterile
ideologies locked them
into reckless confrontation.
There was no search for
creative ideas or sensible
common ground.
With divisions so
deep, one prominent financial rating agency downgraded America’s creditworthiness – “due to a lack
“They’re not the same
songs,” Sinatra said. The
audiences are different.
Chris Murphy says
jokes get better with age,
of credible leadership in
Congress”. That triggered
wild and costly gyrations
in global currency and
stock markets.
These are the fruits of
polarization!
The carnage didn’t
stop at the US border. The
pensions and savings of
millions of Canadian families took a huge hit,
because they rely on stock
market growth and stability, which polarization
undermines.
Thousands of small
businesses (Canada’s best
job creators) are hurting,
because a frail American
dollar and worried American consumers make it
tougher for us to export.
With the US economy
staggering and their polarized political system incapable of finding effective
solutions with broad-based
buy-in, the prosperity of
millions is jeopardized.
A Conservative/NDP
push for ideological polarization in Canada is selfserving and wrong.
Balance, inclusion and
accommodation. Fairness
and innovation. Not the
wedge politics of division,
but public policy that recognizes strength in diversity and tries to pull people
together. This approach
will serve Canada better.
like wine. You have to
repeat them. That’s why
they call it an act! Re-reading a book again can give
you different meanings,
Murphy says.
Over the years God
repeats many bible passages to us through the
written and spoken Word.
Surprisingly, we still get
new meanings and messages if we are finally listening.
And that is the key to
love and success. If the
other party is finally listening and asks, “What did
you say?” Now is the time
to use the gentle smile and
add the love that might
have been missing in the
first place.
me!
The other day, my
husband saw a snake, near
the steps. George doesn’t
have much of a problem
with those creepy, crawly
creatures. I, on the other
hand, cannot even come
close to voicing such a
statement.
For as long as I can
remember, I’ve never had
any use for the beadyeyed, slithering, creepy
crawlers. Yes, I know they
are one of God’s creations,
but I still can’t bring
myself to have a good feeling about a (gulp) snake.
It must be hereditary.
My sweet, loving Mother
refused to share any space
with a snake. I think Mom
loved almost everyone, but
her heart could not
embrace a snake. Dad use
to tell Mom, “It’s a garter
snake”, to which Mom
commented, “A snake is a
snake, is a snake.” Very
well put, Mom. I thoroughly agree.
I was about ten years
old. Mom was planning to
take us to a baseball game.
She went upstairs, to get
our outfits for the occasion. Toward the top of the
stairs, Mom did a sudden
about face, and came “flying” down the stairs.
Mom’s hot pink circular
skirt acted as a “parachute” for her downward
“flight”. The reason for
Mom’s actions was the
garter snake lying on the
top step. Its arrival
changed the course of the
evening’s events. There
was no ballgame for us.
Mom spent the evening
planning our new guest’s
demise. Since Dad was
working late, Mom, with
all five of her little ones,
walked to the nearest
neighbor’s. However, upon
their return, the snake was
nowhere to be found.
Later that night, when
we were in bed, our brothers had some fun. They
sneaked into the girls’
room, slipping the hands
under the covers. They slid
their fingers along our feet,
giving the impression that
we were sharing our bed
with that snake. The neighbors likely wondered why
all the screaming from our
household late at night.
My first husband and I
had a home in the country,
with our two year old
daughter. One afternoon, I
observed Myra in the back
yard, very much intrigued
by something on the
ground. I felt compelled to
move in, closer, for further
investigation. To my horror, Myra was fascinated
with a slithery creepy
crawley. I ran to the
garage, found a hoe,
returning to the back yard.
I quickly removed Myra
from the area, returned,
and started chopping. Tom,
our next door neighbor,
approached, to see what
was commanding my
attention. When he saw, he
said, “Judy, it’s dead. It
was dead - a long time
ago.” When Ray returned
home, later that afternoon
Tom related the incident to
him.
“Yep”, said Tom, “that
was really entertaining.
That snake didn’t stand a
chance with Judy and her
hoe,” Tom chuckled.
Some things never
change. I think I can safely
say, this is one such thing.
You’ll never find me getting chummy with a snake.
Not gonna happen.
R Town ON-LINE - Week of September 5, 2011 - Page 11
RCMP Reports across the province
RCMP Sandy Bay
Found human remains
On November 28,
2009 Travis MISPONAS, a
six year old boy from
Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan,
was reported missing to the
Sandy Bay RCMP by his
guardian. An investigation
was conducted into his
whereabout's which concluded Travis MISPONAS
was last seen playing with
some other small children
near the Churchill River in
Sandy Bay. Based on the
investigation
Travis
MISPONAS was presumed
to have slipped into the
river. Immediate searches
at the time did not locate
Travis MISPONAS. Subsequent recovery searches
using the RCMP Underwater Recovery Team also
failed to yield any results.
On June 10, 2010 the
RCMP Historical Case
Unit in Saskatoon used the
Alberta RCMP helicopter
to search the Churchill
River system in hopes of
locating evidence of Travis
MISPONAS' whereabouts.
This also did not reveal any
new information.
On August, 15, 2011
human remains were discovered on the shore of the
Church Hill river system
near the community of
Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan.
The remains were discovered by local berry pickers,
who quickly notified the
RCMP. An extensive
search of the area was
completed by the Sandy
Bay
RCMP.
The
Saskatchewan and Manitoba under water recovery
team also conducted an off
shore search, however
nothing further was located.
The remains were sent
for DNA testing which
concluded that they were
that of Travis MISPONAS.
The RCMP's Historical Case Units in both
Saskatoon and Regina are
responsible for investigating and reviewing missing
persons files. In long term
missing person cases, the
RCMP request DNA samples from the family when
DNA from the actual missing person is not available.
This is to facilitate the later
identification of remains,
such as in this case.
RCMP - Maidstone
Residential Break-in
Maidstone RCMP are
requesting the public's
assistance. Sometime
between August 14th, 2011
and August 16th, 2011
unknown suspects broke
into a residence North East
of Lloydminster and stole a
mirror, CD Player, painting
supplies, tools, 2 Gravity
chairs and alcohol.
If you have information about this or any other
crime, please contact Lloydminster Rural or Maidstone RCMP at 310-RCMP
(7267) or 306-893-4800 or
you
may
call
Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS
(8477).
RCMP Fort QuAppelle --Homicide update charges
laid
On August 30, 2011 at
12:17 p.m the RCMP
major crimes Unit south
arrested a 17 year-old male
and laid a charge of second
degree murder and robbery
in relation to the death of
Kyle Daniels of Fort
Qu'Appelle on Feb 19
2011. The youth made his
first appearance in Regina
youth court at Regina
Youth Court.
The youth cannot be
named under the provisions of the Youth Criminal
Justice Act.
RCMP - Battlefords
Rural - Motor Vehicle Pedestrians Collision Red Pheasant First
Nation
Battlefords RCMP and
Ambulance were dispatched to a complaint of
pedestrians struck by a
truck on the Red Pheasant
First Nation at approximately 9:30 pm on August
30, 2011. A vehicle was
stopped on a roadway as
three males were attempting to start a motorcycle.
An oncoming truck driven
by a lone male collided
with the motorcycle. Two
males were injured as a
result of the collision and
were transported by the
driver of the truck to meet
with the ambulance.
The investigation into
the incident is ongoing and
alcohol was not a factor in
the collision.
Red Pheasant First
Nation is located approximately 35 km south of the
Battlefords.
RCMP Southey
motorcycle collision
On August 31, 2011
Southey RCMP members
responded to a serious
motorcycle accident on
Highway 22 approximately
8km east of Southey.
The operator of the
motorcycle was injured and
taken to the Regina General hospital. The operator of
the motorcycle was wearing his helmet at the time
of the accident. The injured
driver is a 59 year old male
from British Columbia.
The name of the injured
male is not being released
at this time.
The RCMP traffic
reconstructionist was
called and attended the
scene, and Southey RCMP
continue to investigate the
accident.
Unity RCMP - Theft
Unity/Wilkie/ Macklin
RCMP are requesting the
public's assistance for
information regarding the
theft of a white 1992 GMC
pickup, white 2008 Triton
enclosed 4 place snowmobile trailer, a white 2009
Arctic Cat Crossfire 8
Snow Pro and an orange
2008 Arctic Cat M8 snow-
mobile. The thefts occurred
on or about the night of
August 31st 2011 in the
town
of
Scott,
Saskatchewan.
Anyone with information about this crime or
others occurring in our area
is asked to contact the
Wilkie RCMP at (306)
843-3480 or to call Crime
stoppers at 1-800-222TIPS (8477).
Help us keep our communities safe.
Fort Qu'Appelle RCMP Assault/Sexual Assault
Pasqua First Nation
(Update)
Fort
Qu'Appelle
RCMP have charged a 23
year old man from the
Muscowpetung
First
Nation with Sexual
Assault, 4 counts of
Assault and 3 counts of
Failing to Comply with
probation after a report
made of Tuesday August
16th by the accused's
spouse. The incidents in
question happened over the
previous month. The accusations include two separate assaults against the
couple's infant son where
the child was choked on
one occasion and bitten on
the face on another by the
accused. The accused was
located and arrested without incident in Fort Qu'Appelle on the afternoon of
August 17th. He has consented to a six day remand
and is scheduled to make
his first appearance in Fort
Qu'Appelle Provincial
Court on Thursday August
25th at 10:00am.
UPDATE: A new charge
of Escaping Lawful Custody has been sought
against the 23 year old man
charged in the noted incident after an attempted
escape after a brief court
appearance in Fort Qu'Appelle on September 1,
2011. Upon being escorted
back to his cell from the
courthouse, the male eluded the escorting member
and escaped from the
detachment as the overhead
doors were closing. The
male lead police on a foot
chase for approximately 3
blocks before being cornered in a lot adjacent to an
industrial business. The
male was located attempting to hide in the cab of a
parked truck on the lot and
was taken back into custody without further issue.
RCMP Major Crimes
Unit - Punnichy
On September 4, 2011
at approximately 8:30 a.m.,
members of the Punnichy
RCMP responded to a
complaint of a fight that
had occurred between two
men on the Kawacatoose
First Nation. Upon arrival,
RCMP members found a
27 year old male in medical distress and provided
First Aid until EMS attendThe other male
ed.
involved in the incident
had already left the area.
The victim was transported
to the Wynyard hospital
where he died from his
injuries.
Police have arrested
one male in relation to the
incident and charges are
pending. Members of
Major Crime South, Yorkton Forensic Identification
Section, Yorkton General
Investigation Section and
Saskatoon Traffic Services
are assisting in the investigation.
The victim's name is
not being released pending
family notification.
UPDATE: Permission has
been received from family
member's to release the
name of the victim in relation to an incident that
occurred on Sunday morning at the Kawacatoose FN.
The deceased is Dennis
DUSTYHORN, 27 years
old, from the Kawacatoose
FN. Mr. DUSTYHORN
was recently residing in
Regina, SK.
Charged in relation to
this offence is Ryan Daniel
David Assoon, 23 years old
from the Kawacatoose FN.
ASSOON has been
charged with Second
Degree Murder and will
make his first appearance
in Punnichy Provincial
Court this morning (Sept
6th) at 10 a.m.
Estevan: Motor Vehicle
Accident: September 5,
2011
On Monday September 5, 2011 shortly after 3
p.m. a two vehicle accident
involving a north bound
semi truck and a south
bound "Moped" occurred
south of Estevan on Highway 47. The semi truck
was driven by 31 year old
male from the Carlyle area.
The driver of the "Moped"
was an elderly female from
the Estevan area. The
female was taken to hospital by ambulance and is in
serious condition. Traffic
movement will be reduced
to one lane until approximately 6 p.m.
RCMP Labour Day
Enforcement - Summary
of Charges Laid
RCMP Enforcement
Action yields multiple
charges over Labour Day
Weekend.
A joint Traffic Safety
enforcement action took
place over the labour day
weekend on the #1 Highway near Moosomin. Several Detachments from
across the province as well
as RCMP Divisional Traffic Services members participated in the enforcement action. This entire
operation is a joint effort
between the RCMP and
SGI who share the same
goal of creating safer highways. Also assisting during the two day enforcement was personnel from
the Saskatchewan Ministry
of Highways.
The following charges
were laid in relation to this
event:
• Impaired Drivers: 4
• 24 Hour Suspensions: 3
• Criminal Code Investigations: 3
-Break and Enter suspects identified in a
Manitoba break-in
-Several cartons of unstamped
tobacco
seized
-Seizure of four stolen
hand guns
• Seized Vehicles: 5
The following Summary Offence Ticket Information's were issued for
the following offences:
• Speeding: 2
• Speeding Past Emergency
Vehicles: 2
• Fail to stop at a stop sign:
1
• Unregistered Vehicle: 4
• Unregistered Trailer: 1
• Using Electronic Equipment while driving: 1
• Tinted Windows: 5
• Not wearing a helmet: 1
• Not wearing a seatbelt:
24
• Livestock Act: 2
• No drivers license: 10
• Administration Suspension: 1
• Alcohol Gaming Regulation Act: 2
There was also a ticket
issued for having a smoked
cover over a rear licence
plate. By focusing on noncompliant motorists in the
areas of impairment, speed,
failing to stop for stop
signs, unlicenced drivers,
unregistered vehicles,
improper seat belt use and
mechanical fitness of vehicles, the RCMP & SGI
hope to make roadways
safer for all travelers.
RCMP - Rash or Rural
B&Es from around
Prince Albert area
The
RCMP
are
requesting the public's
assistance in relation to a
rash of rural break-ins.
Over the summer
months, numerous Break,
Enter and Thefts have
occurred in several rural
communities. Most recent
locations targeted include:
Parkside, Canwood, Shellbrook, Leask, Waldheim,
Choiceland, Smeaton, Kinistino, Crystal Springs,
Birch Hills, Domremy,
Hoey, St. Louis, Unity,
Denholm, Zealandia, as
well as other communities.
The targeted locations
have been mostly Post
Offices, RM/ Town/ Village Offices, SGI Offices,
Churches, and other small
businesses. The break-ins
are occurring in the late
evening, early morning
hours with cash stolen and
safes on site either stolen
or damaged from attempting to gain entry.
If you have information in regards to these
break and enters, please
contact your local RCMP
Deatchment or if you wish
to remain anonymous,
Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Surgical Information
System launched
Surgical patients in
west central Saskatchewan
will benefit from a new
state of the art system that
has been introduced in the
Prairie North Health
Region's two largest hospitals.
The Surgical Information System (SIS), an electronic system that streamlines process for patients
and staff, is now operational in both Battlefords
Union Hospital and Lloydminster Hospital. It allows
health providers to electronically schedule surgeries, book operating rooms,
arrange appropriate surgical equipment, and track
patients through different
stages of the surgical
process.
Since
November
2007, the number of
patients waiting longer
than 18 months for surgery
has dropped 75 per cent
and the number waiting
longer than 12 months has
dropped 56 per cent.
Prairie North Health
Region's implementation
of the SIS marks the first
time the system has been
simultaneously introduced
in more than one site - a
major milestone in
province-wide implementation of the system.
The SIS is unique in
its ability to exchange data
with Saskatchewan's surgical wait list, which tracks
all patients waiting for surgery in hospital operating
rooms. The SIS automatically updates the provincial surgical wait list
immediately after a patient
has received surgery.
The two Prairie North
hospitals join those in
Prince Albert and Swift
Current in using the system. The next facilities to
introduce it will be in
Saskatoon and Moose Jaw.
The SIS supports the
goals of the Saskatchewan
Surgical Initiative, among
which are to ensure that by
2014, all patients have an
opportunity to have their
surgery within three
months. Since the Surgical
Initiative began in April
2010, the number of
patients waiting more than
18 months has dropped 57
per cent (879 cases). The
number waiting more than
12 months has declined 43
per cent (1,729 cases).
Data to June 30, 2011
shows that of the 23,424
people currently waiting
for surgery, about 2.8 per
cent (676 cases) have waited longer than 18 months.
R Town ON-LINE - Week of September 5, 2011 - Page 12
Classifieds
“Don’t Mind the Mess”
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698-2271 (phone) 698-2808 (fax)
unos@sasktel.net (e-mail)
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The difference between
treasures and clutter
"Look what I just
found!" My son's voice is
thick with rage. In his
small hands is the penguin
poster he painted in school
last year. It's terribly wrinkled and stained, and
there's tomato sauce oozing down the expansive,
black and white gut.
"Well, isn't that nice!"
I reply weakly.
"Oh, yeah? If it's so
nice, why was it in the
garbage?" He shoots back.
It's a fair question. The
same question I've struggled to answer many times
with the other kids. As
usual, my reply is brutally
honest.
"Yikes! How in the
world did that get in there?
Thank you so much for
rescuing it. You did such a
great job with that, I can't
even imagine throwing that
out!" He glares at me in
wide-eyed disbelief as I
take it from him, gingerly
brushing the coffee
grounds off the back
before placing it under a
bunch of magnets on the
fridge. The tomato sauce
rolls down in hardening
clots, running a red line to
the kitchen floor. I sigh,
knowing that now it will
probably be weeks before I
can safely attempt to dispose of this horrific masterpiece without raising
suspicion.
There are times when I
think my kids are psychic,
especially when I'm trying
to get rid of their stuff. I
know that penguin painting
was near the bottom of the
garbage bag with days of
rotting leftovers holding it
down, yet somehow, my
son sensed its presence.
Amazing. My kids should
take this show on the road.
I can see them up on stage,
analysing rows of garbage
bags and boxes, and to the
crowd's utter astonishment,
being able to successfully
locate discarded sneakers,
broken toys, long-forgotten
collections and craft projects, and drawings they did
long before they even
knew how to hold a pencil.
To a child, everything
is a treasure. And parents
generally feel the same
way until the treasures start
to consume the entire
house. When every available drawer in your kitchen
and office is stuffed with
worksheets, tests, and
paper snowflakes, something's gotta go. We
already have scrapbooks,
baby books, and storage
containers filled with their
works of art and precious
souvenirs..If I kept everything my kids hauled
home, either from school,
camp, or just priceless, ohso-beautiful things they
found out on the yard, my
home would soon become
a cluttered, stinky museum. And with six kids, that
wouldn't take very long.
I generally wait until
they're not home to begin
the carnage. That way
they're not standing right
beside me wailing, "But
those pants still fit me,
mom! I don't need to close
them!" I try to be brutal,
but it's hard. When every
little object and page is
dripping with your child's
personality, tossing it into
a bag seems heartless.
Then you think about how
cool it will be to actually
have a spot for your
kitchen utensils, and the
task becomes much easier.
There's also a statute of
limitations to keep in mind
during the cruel culling
process. School papers
need to be at least a few
weeks old, works of art
need to be compulsory and
generic, that way you're
really only throwing out
homework. Favourite
clothes have to be unworn
for at least a year, and their
other potential uses have to
be exhausted (ie.- ratty tshirts can be used as night
shirts, torn jeans as cutoffs). There's also an art to
playing ignorant when the
child senses an object is
missing. ("What happened
to my wasp nest collection?" "Gee, I don't know.
Did you look in your sock
drawer?") But don't be surprised if years from now,
your married child suddenly asks, "What did you
ever do with that popsicle
stick pencil holder I made
for you in Kindergarten?"
At this point, all you can
do is hope that a vacant
stare is enough.
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