Year-End 2018! Happy New Year!

I'm back!  I've not contributed anything to my blog in a very long time, but I'm going to try to change that today.

Here goes!

STOP!  I don't know in who in Beiseker decided it was a good idea to install stop signs on the First Avenue extension where it crosses the CN tracks, or why.  Visibility is great there.  You can easily see a train coming!

It certain situations (such as fog) it might be harder to see a train already on the crossing, especially if the cars are dirty and the reflectors aren't showing up in your headlights.

Perhaps it's an insurance liability thing; if you hit a train there, it's your own fault because you ran a stop sign.  In my opinion, a more sensible solution to the issue would be the installation of warning signs 50 metres from the crossing warning motorists that they're approaching an uncontrolled railway crossing.

Christmas Cheer!  I don't know if it's my imagination, but the village appears to be decorated far more for Christmas than in past years!  I'm glad I wasn't chosen to judge the annual Christmas Light Display contest!  It must have been a very difficult job picking the best of so many beautiful displays.  In my mind you're all winners!

Here's a special shout-out to the Village of Beiseker!  Their display is extra-beautiful this year!  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

Ho Ho Ho! Here's a big thank you to the volunteer firefighters of the Beiseker Fire Department who spent much of their Christmas Eve driving Santa up and down every street in Beiseker!  Their noisy little procession makes Christmas in the village just that much more special!

I will take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!

Forest Fire Catastrophe a Sign of Neglect!

As I sit here looking out over my smoke filled village, I have come to the conclusion that the forest fire catastrophe in the West could have been far less traumatic if the people of Canada had been more proactive.  First, let it be said that I have very limited experience with forest fires.  I spent a very, very brief time at a fire lookout station back in the sixties.  Also back then I was commandeered to fight a forest fire.  That lasted less than two days!  

I did learn that forest fires destroy valuable resources.  They kill both men and critters. Man made structures are at their mercy. They are very hard and exhausting to fight.  And they can be better controlled if they are caught early!

Here's what I think Canada should do to stop what is happening in B.C. now.

• Build more look-out stations or towers in forested areas. These would act as early warning sites so fires could be spotted and attacked early.
• Create more "forest fire first responders" who can be brought into a fire early. 
• Build, equip and staff more forest fire halls, much like urban fire halls across the forested areas.
• Build more forest fire fighting aircraft like the Canadair CT415 which could be placed at more fire stations like the one in Rocky Mountain House.
• Hire more full time forest firefighters.
• Encourage more controlled burns to reduce the amount of undergrowth which can fuel a fire for months.
• Attack all forest fires.  We can no longer afford to "let nature take its course"!
• Create a national forest fire response system which could coordinate the moving of personnel and equipment to fight fires across Canada.

Would this be expensive?  You bet your bippy!   But when you consider the cost of fighting those fires and the destruction they create, it might just turn out to be a good investment!   I think it is the responsibility of the federal, provincial, and municipal governments to work together with the forest industry to build this strategy.  Remember Slave Lake, Fort Mac, and that huge grass fire in Saskatchewan among others.  I think it's time we do the math!

Poor Old Sir John A.

I was appalled over the removal of the bronze statue of our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald from in front of Victoria's City Hall.   I was not upset with the reasoning behind the removal but in the way it was done.  It was announced that the statue would be removed just days before the event.  A crew showed up before the dawn and proceeded to haul it away to storage.  A handful of protesters were on hand but it was so early in the morning, most folks were still in bed when the deed was done! 

There was and still is no plans announced as to where the statue is to be relocated.  Maybe those in charge of the move are hoping people will forget about Sir John A. and the statue can be melted down.

Sir John A. MacDonald is a hero of mine!  I know he drank too much and he discussed political theory with lampposts among other things, but he stitched together the fabric of what was to become the greatest nation in the world; Canada!   Yes I know he screwed up some things but most of what he did led to the creation of this country.

When it came to the natives of Canada, our indigenous people, Sir John A. and his cohorts screwed up bad!  They thought the best thing for our indigenous children was to send them to boarding schools and make little English kids out of them.  Boarding schools were a way of life in Britain back then so it seemed a good idea at the time.  I am sure that had they known of the abuse and cruelty that would take place in those residential schools that they would not have pushed the idea!  As it turned out the residential schools have become a very sad chapter in this nation's history.

If moving the statue acknowledges that the way the indigenous people of Canada were treated back was terrible, then its move was long overdue!  But where's it going?  I think it should it should be rededicated in front of Victoria's federal building, wherever that is.  After all Sir John A. was a federal leader.

Removing his statue cannot rewrite history.  It is what it is!  Removing his statue cannot punish Sir John A. for his screw-up with the residential schools.  I hope that removing his statue might acknowledge that screw-up and declare that all Canadians are now moving on!

Canada strong!

Beware Beacon Heights!

I ask all residents and visitors to Beacon Heights to be extra cautious while driving through our neighborhood.   There are a number of children living in our area who have no concept of traffic rules and safety!  They will dart out in front moving vehicles without even looking.  They will ride their bikes and scooters down the center of the street while vehicles are attempting to drive by!  They leave their bikes, scooters, and other toys on the street and will run out to retrieve them at any time!  Our 30 km/hr speed limit is far too fast!   I have decided to come to a complete stop and wait for them to pass.  I have voiced my concern to them on a few occasions with no effect.  Please be aware of these kids and adjust your driving accordingly.  We do not want a child injured in a traffic accident in our subdivision!

More This and That

The Fire Truck Saga;  I heard that the Village of Beiseker has sold our old-new fire truck that was languishing down at the Public Works Yard!  I didn't hear what they got for it but I hope it was around the $25 000.00 mark.  That was what I figure it was worth.

I was very pleased that the young fellow who lives down in the Okotoks area was cleared of all charges related to a shooting at his rural home.  The young man found some folks trespassing on his property and allegedly trying to steal some of his belongings!  A shot was fired and the trespassers left.  They have since been arrested and face numerous charges.  The property owner was also charged for discharging his gun and other things.  I understand all those charges have now been dropped.  The charges against the trespassers and possible thieves remain!

The above mentioned story reminds us that rural policing in Alberta has its challenges.  We've all heard stories of folks having to wait more than half an hour for the police to arrive at the scene of an incident.  There are solutions;

• Increase the number of personnel at every detachment in rural Alberta.   This would be expensive but well worth it! 
• Remove the RCMP from highway traffic duty.  This would free up officers to do other duties.  Re-create the Alberta Provincial Police to do highway traffic duties.
• Have the provincial government strongly support local crime watch groups.

I worry that the large patch of prairie grass which extends right through Beiseker may become a fire hazard as the grass dries out later this summer.  The land belongs to Alberta Trail Net.  It was lent to the railway museum which appears to have disappeared like a feather in the wind.  The Village can't afford to mow it down.  What's going to happen?

Little Bugs

Early summer is bug season in this part of the world.  The mosquitoes were ferocious earlier on and now those black & yellow wasps are back!  Here are some other little bugs that annoy me:

• It bugs me to have to bump over all those "speed bumps" in parking lots!  There are some lots in Airdrie which are particularly bad.  I have to almost stop the car then ease over these lumps!  It discourages me and other motorists from visiting those shops and eateries!  I guess they're discouraging vehicle traffic there.
• It bugs me to have folks step out into a crosswalk without even checking for traffic.  They're too busy talking or texting on their cellphones!
• It bugs me when dog owners do not pick up after their pets.  There are some pooches which regularly leave dog-logs on my front lawn for me to pick up!
• It bugs me when I see an individual operating what appears to be a commercial auto repair business on a lot zoned residential without so much as a local business license!  That is against village zoning bylaws yet the village is powerless to stop it!
• It bugs me when, while waiting for a passing train, I notice that every rail car that passes is covered in graffiti!
• It bugs when the price of gasoline jumps up by more than ten cents a liter just before a long weekend! 
• It bugs me when I see drivers taking unnecessary chances trying to pass someone moving farm machinery then flicking the bird to the tractor driver on the way past.  Especially in the spring and fall, farmers need to move equipment from one field to the next quickly.  Other drivers should show patience!  

So there are a few of my little bugs.  Do you have some?

The Ridiculous Pipe Dream

This whole debate about the twinning of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline from Alberta's oil sands to the west coast has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous!

There is overwhelming evidence to show that the project will have minimum impact on the environment of either province.  A pipeline is much, much safer that shipping the oil by rail!  In my opinion, the economic benefits to Canada will be widespread and significant in a positive way! 

Yet the protesters and the support groups demonstrate against each other.  Folks are blocking access to the pipeline building sites.  The squabble has become a farce on democracy.   I suspect that most protesters don't even understand what they are really protesting and why!

Yet the fight goes on!   I think now the fight is being waged, just because!  The reasons for the initial debate have been lost in the rhetoric over the past few months.  Let's just quit all this silliness and build the pipeline!  And maybe we should build a huge oil refinery in Fort Mac. as well! 

The Great Fire Truck Challenge

A few years ago, the good people of Beiseker donated to buy a newer fire engine.  The money was raised, and a truck was found in the States.  It was purchased and trucked to Beiseker. 

It was from the southern U.S., so there were a few things that needed to be changed so it could live in our not-so-tropical climate.  A block heater was installed, along with a cab heater and a heater to keep the water pump warm. A few other modifications were made.

A few short years later the pump needed to be rebuilt.  The truck was sent in to "experts" in Calgary to estimate how much it would cost to fix it.  Those experts said the truck was a complete disaster and it would cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair!

I disagree!

I think that much of the repairs could have been done locally and the cost of putting the truck back in service would be considerably less than the estimate given to us.  Instead, now that truck now languishes in the public works yard, out of service!

I believe that truck can still be repaired and sold to recoup some of the money this community worked so hard to gather!  It is NOT scrap!  It is a major capital expense for this village!  What is council going to do?

New Aero-Kard!

I am very excited to report that Aero-Kards has produced, printed and delivered its first new card in almost two years!

The new Aero-Kard belongs to air show performer Kevin Maher of British Columbia flying the Stearman Kaydet!  The new card will be included in Aero-Kard packs beginning in July, and will be available at air shows across Western Canada. Aero-Kards are back in production!

Posts, Pipelines, Apologies and Korea

I was pleased to see that the Village of Beiseker is in the process of replacing those posts along Second Avenue by the Post Office.  Council had them installed years ago, but they were honestly pretty ugly. 

They were placed there to discourage folks from driving up and parking on the curb, public reserve strip and sidewalk when picking up their mail.  That caused significant damage to the concrete work along there.  Since it happened mostly during the snowy winter months, I would imagine Council will replace them with something that could be removed during the summer months.

Nationally, after listening to the bickering back and forth between the premiers of Alberta and British Columbia over this pipeline, I was happy to hear that the Feds are going to buy the pipeline and push the project through!  The Federal Government has done this kind of thing before to save a project critical to the benefit of all Canadians.  The CPR is probably the best example.  I'm hoping that they can start building later this week and that the B.C. Premier will come to his senses.  Allowing the few members of the B.C. Green Party to dictate B.C. NDP policy is a bit like the tail wagging the dog!  Their energy should focus on the construction of the safest, most environmentally friendly pipeline in the world.  It can be done!

Our provincial and federal governments have also become "Professional Apologizers"!  They spend much of their time (and our tax dollars) apologizing for the screw-ups of previous governments.

• We apologized for detaining Japanese Canadians during World War II.
• We apologized for putting the Head Tax on Chinese immigrants over a hundred years ago.
• We apologized for the Residential School debacle inflicted on our Indigenous Canadians.
• We apologized for the brutal treatment of Ukrainian speaking students in schools across the province less than a hundred years ago.
• We apologized for the "scoop" of indigenous kids during the 1960s.
• And more!

It's important to recognize the fact that even when governments have the best of intensions, they can still screw things up big time!  We need to come to terms with these huge mistakes.  But we should be spending more time figuring out how to help the victims overcome their adversities created by these mistakes.  I think that throwing money at these old wounds isn't helping very much at all.

The federal Liberal Government has also decided to mess around with the Firearms legislation again thus alienating all legal and law abiding gun owners across this great country. Why didn't they consult with the myriad of firearms, shooting and hunting clubs before deciding the criteria for a "bad" gun?  Just because a gun is painted black and looks bad doesn't mean it is!

And finally:  All this bumbling around between the U.S. President Trump and the leader of North Korea reads like a playground spat.  I say quit the posturing and make this meeting happen!  This stupidity on the Korean peninsula can't go on forever!

The Flood of 2018!

It's been quite a week in Beiseker!  Village council declared a local state of emergency when flood waters started filling basements and crossing roads!  I was most impressed with Public Works this week.  That tiny force of less than a half dozen started battling flood waters last Sunday and they never let up until they won!  If you meet Public Works Foreman Dave, give him a hearty "well done!"  He and his crew deserve that!

I was also very impressed with the Emergency Management Team made up of many different agencies and departments who set up in Council Chambers on Tuesday and ran the whole operation under the leadership of Mike Richter!  Mike; you and your team were awesome!  Throughout the crisis our CAO and her staff, the mayor and councilors were very much in the loop helping out everywhere and maintaining a high profile!

We had our own crisis brewing at the Beiseker Airport!  Several hangars, and our meeting house were flooding and some aircraft were in danger!  The quick actions by volunteers who pumped water for countless hours saved the day!  At one point Rocky View County sent out a huge pump which moved a ton of water and gave us chance to get ahead of the situation!

Overall it was an incredible operation and one which saved our village!  Thank you all for your efforts.

Bad news:  Several homes ended up with flooded basements!  At one point overland floodwaters compromised our sanitary sewer and several basements were flooded with sewage!  All is well again now but these folks will need help to get their lives back to normal!  If you are one of those misfortunate residents please register with the village office as soon as you can!  If you know of someone who has been affected by the flooding please check with them to make sure they're ok and that they've registered.  Red Cross clean-up kits are available from the Beiseker Fire Department and the Village Office. 

Now is the time for us to help our neighbors!

Well done everyone!

p.s.  As you know, I'm retired from village council;  I stayed out of way, and watched.  I was curious to see how this council would react to this serious crisis.  They and our Village staff were incredible!  I was very proud of them all!

Ridiculous!

I have heard that Dr. David Suzuki told a large gathering of Calgary teachers at their convention last week that "Alberta's oil must stay in the ground!"

What is the matter with this guy? 

What was even more alarming was that very, very few teachers walked out on him and many gave him a standing ovation!

What's the matter with those Albertans?

NDP vs. NDP!

Alberta's NDP Premier Rachel Notley is going head-to-head with British Columbia's new NDP Premier John Horgan over the building of a new pipeline from here to the coast! 

After very extensive research and study, the pipeline has been approved by the federal government and was accepted by the outgoing B.C. premier!

This ridiculous impasse has brought up some very thought provoking questions!

• Can one Canadian province hold another for ransom over access to markets?
• Can a province (in this case B.C,) simply thumb their nose at our federal constitution?
• Can a newly elected provincial government simply cancel agreements made in good faith by its predecessor?
• Can a very small group of radical environmental types derail a plan which has been accepted by both federal and provincial governments?
• Can two provinces in this kind of dispute simply be allowed to slug it out with each other without federal intervention?

If the answers to these questions are "Yes", we're in big trouble!

Coffee With Council a Huge Success

Photo from Arcadia Cafe, via Facebook

Last Saturday morning, our Village Council instituted "Coffee with the Councillors"!  We were able to get together in the Arcadia Cafe and discuss issues affecting the village over a cup of coffee. 

I thought it was a huge success!  There were some barbs and some kudos thrown about but overall it was an excellent informal gathering!

Something I said might have been taken as a criticism of council but I did not intend it in that way.  I mention that the Village of Beiseker is owed almost a quarter of a million dollars in unpaid back property taxes!  That's a lot of money to a small village like ours! 

I certainly did not mean that information as a criticism of our council.  It's not their fault!

Think of how your life might be affected if your employer told you one day that he was going to withhold up to 20% of your wages and pay you sometime in the future; maybe three years in the future!  How would that affect your planning and your budgeting?  That's exactly what this village faces every year when dozens of folks here don't pay their taxes on time!

Think about it!

Natural Selection

I have heard that there are some young people (mostly young men) who are trying to eat those laundry detergent pods while photographing themselves doing so!  There are plenty of warnings printed on the box telling us these things are very dangerous and poisonous!  Yet these folks are still trying to eat them!  They can cause serious injury and even death if ingested!  Why?

My only explanation comes from a book written by Charles Darwin called the On the Origin of Species.  It's colloquially called "natural selection"!  Read the book.  I think it fits that criteria perfectly!

It's The Little Grinches Who Try To Get You!

As we pass the Twelve Days of Christmas and this season comes to an end, I would like to wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas and all the best in this New Year.  We had a wonderful Christmas season with our children and our grandchildren!  I hope your Christmas was a good one, too!

We had some little Grinches who tried to spoil it for us but they have failed!

1. To those Grinches who vandalized my car; you didn't spoil our Christmas!
2. To Mother Nature who decided to give us some very cold winter weather; you didn't spoil our Christmas!
3. To those who vandalized some of the Christmas decorations around the Village; you didn't spoil our Christmas!
3. To our beloved NDP government who added another nickel per litre onto the price of gas as a Christmas Present; you didn't spoil our Christmas!
4. To the "Genius" in America's White House and his "Little Rocket Man" in North Korea; despite all your blustering back and forth and your comparing the size of each other's button; you didn't spoil our Christmas!
5. To the entertainment world where we learned there are some men in that realm who are or have been behaving very badly; we support those women who had to put up with that crap! And men: you didn't spoil our Christmas!

The Christmas Spirit prevailed!  For a few days, a few hours or a few minutes, we enjoyed the company of our families and friends and we dreamed about what Peace might feel like!  The Grinches have failed once again!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good:  Our provincial government set up a plan to design a standard hospital building which could be built in locations around the province thus saving huge design and architectural fees.  A city (like Airdrie) would get a standard generic hospital building which then could be modified as to the needs of that city!  In Airdire's case; a large, that would be a well equipped obstetrics and maternity ward!  Hope for the Airdrie Hospital!
The Bad:  Our provincial government has now cancelled the above mentioned project and appears to be adrift regarding any organized provincial hospital program.
The Ugly:  We still have Airdrie patients being driven or flown into Calgary for treatment which could be provided by these now ghost hospitals.  More babies are going to born on the QEII as Airdrie's young population continues to grow!  Is there still plans to build a hospital on the edge of Calgary at the corner of Stoney Trail and Centre Street?  Who knows! And why there?

The saga continues!