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QUICK REFERENCE
Mon. Oct. 1 Mon. Oct. 8
Tue. Oct. 9 |
HELLO FROM THE COMMUNITY OF EAGLESHAM, ALBERTA, CANADA CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S WEATHER FORECAST FOR EAGLESHAM, COURTESY OF THE WEATHER NETWORK. Click HERE to visit a wonderful site showing satellite imagery of the Eaglesham area!
May I start this out by saying that this website is the sole property of Patty Swinimer of Eaglesham, AB. Any and all editorial opinions expressed here are mine, and mine alone - unless of course, you want to email me with whatever it is you want to say. Just make sure you include your name and address, and whether or not you want your comments made public. Thanks! * * * * * * * * * * It's October. A very cool, wet, windy one. Harvest is not going particularly well, from all accounts, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that it all comes off the field in good shape. This year is a bit different from most other years - it's a civic election year as well. That means that our municipal government is reforming, getting reading to elect some new councilors. Normal term for a councilor is 3 years. I'll just mention at this point that election day is Monday, October 15th, and the voting station for Ward 6 is at the Eaglesham Community Hall. You need to be a bit more cautious this year - the ward boundaries have changed, and the east-west road to Tangent is now the dividing line in this ward. In other words, if you live on the same side of the road as the Community Hall, you're not in Ward 6 anymore. If you're not sure, please call the County office at 694-3793 to make sure which ward you ARE in.... Here in Birch Hills County, we're divided into a ward system. Four out of our seven wards saw only 1 person willing to run for the position of councilor, and they've now got the job by default. In one ward out of our 7 wards, nobody stepped forward to run for the position. In two of our 7 wards, we're actually having an election! And in one of those two wards having an election, I'm running for the councilor's seat in Ward 6. I say that in the interests of complete disclosure. So what, you say. Things run according to the way they've always run here. Why get involved in all those dang political things anyways? Here's why: Tangent is the ward where nobody wants to run. Nominations are now closed, and it's time for the Minister to get involved. A number of things can happen. He can tell council, "Okay, just run the County with the number of councilors you have." He can also say, "Okay, let's amalgamate Tangent with another ward - you pick, or I'll pick." He could also appoint somebody to represent Tangent. Whichever option is chosen, one thing remains the same - YOU HAVE SOMEBODY NOT OF YOUR CHOICE TELLING YOU HOW THINGS ARE GOING TO BE RUN IN TANGENT. If things start happening that you don't like, or you'd like to see something start that you would like, where does that leave you? The answer is, without a voice. Now I'm not running for the seat in Tangent, but by golly, I think it would be bordering on the tragic if somebody doesn't step up to the plate and run for that councilor's seat. By not participating in the election, you are losing the privilege of having somebody of your CHOICE represent you - and if something happens that you don't like, there won't be any room to grumble, because you couldn't have cared enough to get out there and send somebody to council to represent you. Don't let government by accident happen to you! Sharon Hughes, a local Tangent resident, librarian, and regular contributor to the Peace Country Sun, says it all very eloquently in her column of Friday, September 28th, 2007 - you can read it here. Hopefully we'll have an all-candidate's debate here in Eaglesham. We're trying to get one set up as we speak. I would urge EVERYBODY to get out and attend! We've got some important issues coming up that we all need to deal with - not just Eaglesham, but the entire County. Here's a few of 'em the way I see it: CRIME - What crime, you say? This is Eaglesham! We have no crime here! We're in the country! We leave our keys in our vehicles, and our doors unlocked!! We don't need alarms on our vehicles or houses! We don't even need the police, for cryin' out loud! We know every single one of our neighbours, and we say hello or wave to everybody we see, because we know 'em. We can walk anywhere, anytime, without being afraid of anything. Does that sound familiar? It's a lovely fairy tale, and for the most part, everything I've just said is true. The fairy tale part comes in when you think that the world is coming to Eaglesham, like it or not. We DO have crime here, and plenty of it. How many of you have had gas stolen from the tanks in your yard - or worse, right from your vehicle, in your driveway? How many times has the school been trashed? How many times has equipment been "borrowed" and taken for a joyride? Who's had to avoid underage, unlicensed kids on quads racing down main street Eaglesham? How many people are happy to buy liquor for underage kids? Let's take a look at some of the obvious facts here. First of all, we are, literally, in the middle of nowhere, and everywhere. If you took a map of this area, stuck a pin in Eaglesham, and drew a circle with a 200 mile radius, there we would be - smack in the middle of all the action in the Central Peace! Yet it seems that we are nearly inaccessible for most services. We are supposed to be dealt with by the RCMP detachment in McLennan, not Spirit River. When you phone the number listed in the phone book (324-3061) for the McLennan detachment, it puts you through to a dispatch center in Edmonton - yes, Edmonton, not McLennan! I spoke recently with a constable at the McLennan detachment, and here's some of the information he gave me: On paper, the detachment has 5 constables and the staff sergeant; in reality, they have 4 constables and the staff sergeant, and he's not on full-time duty until October 9. There's usually 2 constables on duty, and 2 off - one is on call out of those 2 that are off. Keep that in mind - 2 constables on duty at any given time. The McLennan detachment covers an area of nearly 10,000 square kilometres - you read that right - TEN THOUSAND SQUARE KILOMETRES. From east to west, they cover Highway 2 from 25m east of McLennan to the Little Red Church on Highway 49 nearing Codesa. From north to south, they cover to 100m south of Nampa to 6m south of the Smoky River Valley on Highway 49 towards Valleyview. Oh, and they also cover all the way down to the Shaftesbury Ferry and Tangent Park. That's approximately 105km from east to west, and 90km from north to south. Did I mention that there's normally 2 constables on duty at a time???? There's something terribly wrong with this picture. The RCMP is under federal funding. We live in the richest province in the country, and the federal government has just announced another billion or so surplus for the year. Why, for crying out loud, can't we get a few more constables up here? Who's falling down on THAT job? I'm only guessing here, but I'm gonna suppose that the average annual salary for a constable is...ah...maybe $50-60,000.00 a year. Let's put that in perspective - how much was the travel budget for the PM's office? Entertainment expenses? How much - sorry, all I heard was a deafening silence! My response to this entire problem is GIVE US MORE COPS UP HERE!!! Come on Stephen and Ed, and Hector - between the three of you, you should be able to cough up a bit here - and Chris, how come you never bring this up in your MP newsletters?? I'd really appreciate it if government on ALL levels would actually DO something for us, instead of just telling us how much they plan on doing. Crime isn't just a problem with accessibility to the RCMP. It's also a problem with the criminal justice system. The Youth Criminal Justice Act (formerly the Young Offenders Act ) doesn't have many teeth left. Lawyers.ca says,..."The Juvenile Delinquents Act of 1908 enunciated a philosophy which required that children adjudged to have committed delinquencies (i.e. breaches of municipal, truancy, provincial, or federal law) be dealt with not as offenders, but as being in a condition of delinquency and requiring help and guidance and supervision." The new Act is a bit different: "The Young Offenders Act, unlike the Juvenile Delinquents Act of 1908, focuses on the responsibility of young persons for consequences of their behaviour." For those who are interested and concerned, you can read the entire new Act here. Take a look at the section entitled "Declaration of Principle". It says, in part, that society is entitled to protection from illegal behaviour. It also says that parents are responsible for their kids' behaviour!! - the section says, in part, "...(h) parents have responsibility for the care and supervision of their children, and, for that reason, young persons should be removed from parental supervision either partly or entirely only when measures that provide for continuing parental supervision are inappropriate. Moms and Dads of the world, pay attention!! The entire Act basically says, let's see if we can rehabilitate these criminally-bent youngsters and prevent them from assuming a life-long habit of crime. It will frighten and alarm you to read the rest of this Act, when it comes down to what society can and/or can't do to protect itself, and how these kids are dealt with. Please go read it for yourself. Having said all that, it's not just a problem with young offenders, here in Eaglesham. We have our share of adult criminals, too. * * * * * * * * * * Here's an excerpt of an e-mail I received yesterday in response to the topic of Crime - the author wishes to remain anonymous:
Another can of worms. These dang worms are all related, I think. I should maybe use the "elephant" symbolism for this, rather than liken it to a can full of worms....this is akin to the concept of an elephant sitting in your living room. It lives there, eats all your food, hogs the remote, and never picks up his own garbage - and yet nobody is willing to admit that the elephant is actually THERE. So it is with life in a small town. I'm going to cogitate on this letter for a while before I post what I think - would you care to join in the debate? Monday October 8, 2007 - Happy Thanksgiving! The school newsletter has arrived at home, and interestingly enough, there's a note that reads as follows: ...." Community Policing Meeting: People in the community of Eaglesham have been asking for increased policing in our community. The RCMP have suggested that we have a community policing meeting. Please contact Mike McKay (359-2712 or mikemckay@pwsd76.ab.ca if you want to suggest a date or add items to the agenda." Bravo, Mike!! I phoned in and added my name to the list of interested parties right away - have you? Can we get behind this as a community and get something accomplished here? I also hear that the RCMP is having a hiring blitz, looking to hire a bunch of new recruits to replace those members who are approaching retirement age - more good news! * * * * * * * * * * In case I forgot to mention it, Eaglesham is a very small town - a hamlet, actually. You can read about it in a lovely short piece penned by Peggy Ulland entitled "A Brief History of Eaglesham". We also have a narrative authored by Mr. Al Powers, who, with his family, was an early settler here in Eaglesham - a very very entertaining read! Believe it or not, this was quite the busy place at one time - there was a farm equipment dealership, a gas station, stores, etc....and at one time, we were big enough to actually have a mayor!! As time went on, of course, things changed - small family farms gave way to larger corporate farms; kids moved away because there wasn't enough money or interest in farming for them to remain (the oil patch has sucked the life out of more things than the ground); farmers retired, or died; and basically, attrition ate away at a lot of the old timers. We are still mainly agricultural here; if you're the type of person that likes statistics, take a look at our general stats here. There's an interesting compilation of land use trends that show that not much has changed in a 30-year period, except for a brief spike of furious activity around 1981. Our Agricultural Real Estate Transfers show that we're still undervalued here, stacked up against the rest of the province. You would think that that statistic alone would make us a pretty attractive bet for somebody looking to invest here, wouldn't you? It has. The Hutterites now have 4 colonies here in Birch Hills Country - they are the largest, most visible examples of agricultural investment in this county at the present time. Now we are under the care and control of Birch Hills County - the administration office is located in Wanham, which is at the far western boundary of the county. This happened by way of a mysterious and convoluted process called "amalgamation" way back in December 1996. As a small cog in the bigger wheel within an even bigger wheel, we've been keeping a very tenuous hold on the control we have over what affects us in our daily lives here in the County. Bit by bit, vote by vote, that control is being chipped away....what the heck, you say?!?!? How do you figure THAT? Gosh, speaking of turkeys, my turkey dinner is ready - weren't we on the topic of turkeys??? I'll be back after a little while. * * * * * * * * * * 9:00pm - Man, that was a LOT of turkey! I got a call about a half hour ago from my esteemed opponent in this election, Mr. Warren Smith. Unfortunately, he's busy all week and had to decline my invitation to a candidate's debate. I'm sorry it didn't happen, because I think we had a lot of things that are debate-worthy, but I urge anybody who's reading this to call me if you want to ask any questions about this upcoming election here in Ward 6. The Central Peace Signal has published the responses from most of the candidates in their current issue; you can read the Birch Hills responses online here or wait 'til the paper hits your mailboxes. I had a quick read through the candidate responses from all jurisdictions, and a few common threads emerge: we're all concerned about growth, or the lack of it, or how it's too fast and we can't keep up with it; we all have sometimes-fractious Council meetings and members; we argue like a bunch of little kids but we don't kiss 'n' make up as well; we want our own kids to be happy here, and to stay and raise their own families here but sometimes find it hard to come up with a good reason for them to do so; and we desperately need some new blood, new businesses, new thinking to stay alive.
What do you think? Email me or sign the guestbook below, and let me know - don't be shy!  
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