Board Chair should resign,

says editorBY JUDY SELLIN

It all be-gan around 1 1 : 4 5 p m on Monday e v e n i n g , when OEP’s Sr. Editor received a F a c e b o o k m e s s a g e that the

chair of the Fort Saskatchewan Public Library Board, Dallas Kristiansen, wanted to speak to him via telephone. Kristiansen’s message asked for “ten minutes... fi ve if you don’t interrupt me.”

The request for an interview was complied with by our Sr. Editor, believing there must have been an important or urgent mat-ter. The interview went on for much longer than fi ve minutes. Throughout the interview, Kris-tiansen repeatedly requested that his comments be considered what we call “on the record” -- variously indicating that he wanted what he was saying to be published in OEP.

However, what Kristiansen told OEP was, in my view mostly ap-palling in content. His comments were so riddled with vulgarity, expletives and slurs, that most of it cannot be quoted word-for-word on these pages. In fact, in my view, as I listened to the in-terview, it seemed to be nothing more than a shameful, demean-ing and targeted rant on Kris-tiansen’s part -- confusingly mov-ing from topic to topic, in what I characterize to be a verbal ram-page about several outstanding members of our community.

In his rant, Kristiansen even saw fi t to include some current and prospective City Councillors, and also verbally targeted a female senior manager within the City’s administration with a terribly de-meaning label.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3...

Volume 3, Number 27 Price: FREEFort Saskatchewan, Alberta • Friday, May 3, 2013

By REECE SELLIN

A wildcat strike that saw local correctional staff walk off the job in support of their colleagues at the Edmonton Remand Cen-tre, came to an end this week.

The Alberta Union of Public Employees, which represents correctional staff at the Fort Saskatch-ewan Correctional Centre and Edmonton Remand Centre, announced early Wednesday that they had reached an agreement with the provincial gov-ernment to end their job action.

In a media release, the AUPE indicated that the agreement will include a “new occupational health and safety review to in-vestigate and address concerns that have been raised regarding the new

Edmonton Remand Cen-tre,” and that there would be no penalties to individ-ual AUPE members as a result of the job action.

“Over the last fi ve days, Albertans and Canadians have been made explicitly aware of the health and safety concerns of front-line correctional peace of-fi cers. These offi cers do a demanding job, in a chal-lenging environment and do so proudly,” said AUPE President Guy Smith.

“These offi cers need to know when they are on duty that their health and safety is protected and that the concerns they raise will be addressed seriously,” he said.

But, a fi nding of the Court of Queen’s Bench that the AUPE was in contempt of court for a breach of a back to work order may

still have consequences for the union.

“AUPE will deal with the government’s pursuit of a dues suspension and dam-ages in relation to the re-cent strike activity in the appropriate forums,” said Smith on Wednesday, referring to a move that could see the union liable for damages and stopped from collecting union dues for six months.

“These are matters of fact and law that will be ar-gued and decided on their merits before the courts and the labour relations board,” Smith said.

“Until we have had the opportunity to make our case before those forums, I will not be make any statements in regard to those issues,” concluded.

Over Easy, PleaseTalking about Tra� c: Page 3

LOCAL

WESTMAN NOT INOCTOBER RACE P. 6

HEART & SOUL

HAVE YOU PLANTED SEEDS OF BELIEF? P. 4

49 days until Summer!

WILDCAT STRIKE ENDS, AGREEMENT REACHED

Pat Wimbs, Chapter Chair of AUPE at Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre speaks to ap-proximately forty of his union brothers and sisters last Saturday afternoon. Photo: Reece Sellin

Published in print and online every Friday

SAT SUN MON L: 9 L: 7 L: 5

H: 21 H: 23 H: 20

TUE 19/3P CLOUDY

WED 16/3P CLOUDY

THU 11/3P .CLOUDY

FRI 15/4P. CLOUDY

Over Easy, Please May 3, 2013 Page 2

Spring SaleOn Now!

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

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

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BOARD CHAIR, CONT.

During what turned out to be a lengthy commentary, Kristian-sen also reiterated many times that he considered himself a “representative” of the City, given his current role as Chair of the Public Library Board, as well as his previous role chair-ing the committee that assisted in the development of the City Hall/Library/Square project. Rarely was there a sentence that was not laced with vulgar-ity or vulgar innuendo through-out the interview. Kristiansen even vividly described, in com-plete derogatory anatomical detail, what he felt that certain prominent male individuals in our community ought to do to themselves.

The main question, for me, that immediately arose after the interview was why would Kristiansen initiate the inter-view with us, the media, while being totally careless and reck-less about his conduct of com-munication? I asked myself, is he also voicing these views in other venues?

It is my strong opinion that when you are a volunteer on a local board or committee, you are understood to be represent-ing the City of Fort Saskatch-ewan. In fact, although the City’s boards and committees do not remunerate their public members, taxpayer dollars do go into board operational bud-gets and into individual board member expenses such as re-treats, conferences, training op-portunities, and the like.

Hence, I feel it should be ex-ceedingly clear that one’s per-sonal opinions should be clearly stated as such, and disclaimed as not representing those of the board or committees they are associated with. To me, that is a basic standard that most every local board member in Fort Saskatchewan under-stands and demonstrably up-holds. However, it is also my opinion that Mr. Kristiansen certainly did not uphold those standards in his interview with OEP. Which raises another question: what was the motive for Kristiansen requesting an

interview?

It’s good for the community to have healthy political opinions, especially with a municipal election coming up in October. But when those opinions turn into on-the-record vulgarity, in-sults and misogynistic slurs by the Chair of a board, I certain-ly believe they have not only crossed protocol boundaries of proper board conduct, but have betrayed far more important boundaries of what we should expect from those who are ap-pointed to be effectively pub-lic representatives within our community. In essence, when we are members or chairs of any boards, we are in essence ambassadors of our city, and hence should be examples and leaders within our community, to the best of our ability.

Kristiansen also boasted that he considers himself the “mean-est [expletive] in Fort Saskatch-ewan,” pointing out that he can apparently even ensure that certain candidates don’t get elected in October. Despite his public claims he is not running, he told OEP that he’s still not entirely certain, because he has apparently been offered exten-sive funds if he wishes to run a campaign. Although, Kris-tiansen also said “they’re more afraid of me if I don’t run, than if I do,” alluding to his ability to ask “any and as many [exple-tive] questions” he wants at the likely upcoming election forum.

It is my strong belief that not one person that was defamed, ridiculed, or objectifi ed by Dal-las Kristiansen was deserving of this for any reason. It causes me to wonder, do we have a new term surfacing here, one we would can defi ne as “po-litical bullying?” Or perhaps that’s too light of a defi nition. For me, I am disgusted more than I am disappointed. I am upset more than I am angry. And, I am appalled more than I am shocked. If you wonder why I am more appalled than shocked, it is simply because on another level, and at another time, a similarly misogynistic label was fl outed about by an-other board chair against an-other upstanding female in our

community. My personal sen-timents for these women, who are both great leaders in our community, is equally that they were both undeserving of the misogynistic slurs they have been labeled with.

The comments of Kristiansen should not be taken in stride, therefore we did not let this pass, without presenting our concerns regarding him to the Library Board’s executive di-rector, Angela Kublik. Our Sr. Editor had a brief conversation with her, at which time Kub-lik said she would contact the board’s membership. Approxi-mately two hours later, OEP heard from the Library Board’s Vice-Chair, Ian Hunt, who is-sued a terse formal statement on behalf of the Board, which stated in its entirety: “Mr. Kris-tiansen’s actions were his own, and in no way refl ect the sen-timents of the Fort Saskatch-ewan Public Library Board.”

I beg to differ that Kristian-sen’s comments were senti-ments, but rather in my view, his words were a conglomera-tion of insults, that included racial slurs and remarks about MP Tim Uppal, a vast lack of respect, sexist and misogynistic comments about myself and a female senior City offi cial, and debasing comments about the physical appearances and intel-lectual capacities of several sit-ting members of Council.

In my strong opinion, even though I believe the Library Board was not aware of Kris-tiansen’s comments until we contacted them, nonetheless the depth and viciousness of Kristiansen’s comments is beyond excuse and past the boundary when just an apology would suffi ce. I believe Kris-tiansen’s conduct warrants an immediate resignation from the Fort Saskatchewan Pub-lic Library Board, which is staunchly backed by a string of defamatory Facebook posts and mockery comments about Reece Sellin running in the Oc-tober municipal election, which were publicly posted on Kris-tiansen’s Facebook timeline after the Public Library Board made their statement to OEP.

May 3, 2013 Page 3Over Easy, Please

LettersCANDIDATE APPLAUDS

EXPENSE MOTION

On April 23, City Council-lor Frank Garritsen put forward a motion to make the mayor and councillor expenses public, transpar-ent and available for all taxpayers to see. I applaud this motion, and have some questions in regard to why the motion was tabled, rath-er than pushed forward. City Council receives funds for travel and expenses; courses and conferences; and $1000 each for a “pro-motional” account. While their salaries are reported annually, and are captured in public record, none of the other funding is.

My citizen understanding of the promotional account is that the $1000 can be used for most anything (regis-tration for a municipal golf tournament, sponsoring of a non-profi t organization, or for the purchase of pro-motional giveaway items – monogrammed golf balls, tees, etc.

Considering the ongoing

saga of some Alberta Health Services employees and the expense claim “errors” with-in the provincial govern-ment that we all hear and read about on a semi-regu-lar basis, this local proposal by Councillor Garritsen has been a long time coming.

Quite frankly, I am sur-prised that transparency of how this funding was spent was not already the norm. As someone who works for the Alberta Public Service, I must be accountable to taxpayers for the trips I am making, the meals I am eat-ing, and the mileage I am accumulating as I do my job. I cannot rent a movie in a hotel, go golfi ng or bowling after hours when away from home, on the taxpayer dime. My expenses and items I claim compensation for are all available and on public record. I had wrongly as-sumed that municipalities (particularly one the size of Fort Saskatchewan) already had these policies, proce-dures and transparencies in place.

On October 1, 2012 the Government of Alberta im-plemented a new compre-hensive disclosure policy on travel, accommodation, meals and hospitality ex-

penses. Information re-garding this policy, and travel and expenses of vari-ous elected and government employees can be found at:bit.ly/SWUbQ2

An inappropriate expense, such as using taxpayer money for personal enjoy-ment, is tantamount to a misappropriation of funds. Those who are entrusted with our tax money and who claim reimbursement of ex-penses must be accountable for their actions and fi nan-cial decisions.

Although I am merely aspir-ing to a seat at city council, and am not yet in an elected position, I may have misun-derstood or missed out on some crucial information that I would not be privy to at the time of writing this.

However, I can tell you this: no public funds received by a member of city council should be kept private, hid-den, or under wraps. When you put your name up for public offi ce, you accept that you are spending the pub-lic purse. There is no such thing as “private funds”.

Sheldon BossertFort Saskatchewan

Talking about Tra� c

This is Part One of Series on Traffi c and Drivers License Enforcement.

There’s often a lot of talk about traffi c law enforce-ment in Fort Saskatch-ewan, with residents con-cerned about everything from street parking rules to photo radar cameras. In an effort to better inform the public, we have decided to run this series over the next two weeks.

This week, we talked to Josie Krokis, Director of Community and Protective Services for the City of Fort Saskatchewan.

OEP: If you’re a new resi-dent, be it from within Can-ada, how long do you have to obtain an Alberta Opera-tor’s License?

JK: “90 days... if you’re go-ing to stay her past that, you need to go to registries [to obtain an Alberta license.]

OEP: Can you tell us more about the general approach to traffi c enforcement in Fort Saskatchewan? How do you enforce the stan-dards?

JK: “You look at three as-pects: public education; en-forcement of laws that there are there; and road design and engineering. So pub-lic education is, as issues come up, that becomes one of the things that we focus on. Excessive traffi c noise has been a big concern with citizens, so that’s one of the things we are focusing on.

Kind of our theme for 2013 has been “have the conver-sation...” we stop people at traffi c stops and have the conversation -- talk about what’s happening, if there’s an infraction... doing public education one-on-one. A lot of those traffi c stops are ed-ucational in nature, not just focused on tickets.

They may be warning tick-ets or tickets, but a lot of them will be conversations. Whether it’s license plate covers, or equipment on the vehicle, or their vehicle is a little bit loud, or they need to be a little more careful as to what they’re looking at when they’re driving. Now you notice a lot of people on their phones while they’re driving. We have a lot of

work to do in that area.”

OEP: Can you tell us more about any changes to traffi c enforcement going forward?

JK: “We plan to continue with a fully integrated traf-fi c unit. We’ve started that now, with more joint opera-tions... and we plan to con-tinue to have that strong relationship. It’s a really good partnership with them together.”

OEP: What have been some of the outcomes of their work?

JK: “Our collisions are down, and our fatalities are down...

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

Over Easy, Please May 3, 2013 Page 4

SCARS Pet of the Week - Spectrum

I’m only 5 months old but so much has happened in such a short amount of time. To think that only yesterday I was on my own, rummaging through garbages and begging for food, and now I’ve got a warm bed and a full belly and a foster mom who loves me, it’s all such a blur.

I am well versed in many as-pects of dog-ness. I can walk on a leash, go in my kennel, fetch pine cones, stare dra-matically into the distance...its quite a “spectrum” of abili-ties some might say. *pause for laughter* Haha...my foster mom also likes to muse about my lineage, she says I have quite the “spectrum” of breeds going on in me...

I would like to close by say-ing that I may be a mutt but I have been given a chance, and to thank you, I will show you all that this mutt will be a better dog than any pure breed could ever hope to amount to.

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

Dingers by Ken Schotsch

Sunny Smiles Beautiful Babes

Inspirational Thought

“Your home portrays your per-sonality, your identity, a sense of energy... defi ning who you are and how you live”

-- Sara Ban Breathnach

Spiritual Thought“Keep the faith, your hearts desires are closer than you think” -- Lena Parr

Random Act of Giving Suggestion

Hang a basket of fl owers on your front yard and give one to your next door neighbour too.

Two Thumbs DownTo those who are still texting while driving.

High FiveTo Jan, Susan and Sue. Jan is a server at Aunty Sue’s Res-taurant. She is absolutely at-tentive and personable which makes customers feel special and appreciated. Susan is the part- time cook who always has a smile, great laugh and is downright friendly. Thank you Sue for having these wonder-ful ladies working in your res-taurant. Give Jan, Susan and Sue a high fi ve next time you see them.

Book of the Week

It’s Your Time by Joel Osteen

Song of the WeekIf I had a Million Dollars -- Barenaked Ladies

A Spoonful of Sugar...

...sprinkled over a cup of steaming whipped hot choco-late is yumming good.

Funny Yokes

Q: How did the chicken get his feathers ruffl ed.A: They were teased.

Q: What does a egg and tur-tle have in common?A: They both have shells.

Did You Know?

...that applying soap, vin-egar or toothpaste to mos-quito bites helps reduce the itch?

Community Info

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

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

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

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

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

May 3, 2013 Page 5Over Easy, Please

By Fort Sask Life Church Pastor BILL OLSEN

L a s t w e e k , I wrote about the power of belief. I constant-ly try to e n c o u r -

age others to believe that they can do more than they are now, or believe they can do something they’ve never tried.

Fortunately, there is a large contingent of those who are always trying to improve themselves and are pushing the envelope a little further just to see what can become of it. Most of those are our leaders, or will soon be.

But what about those who aren’t out on the front lines? What about those who have a hard time just getting out of bed some mornings?

Sometimes, just getting through the day without cutting, or running to a mind altering drug or drink to relieve the unbearable stress or pain they fi nd themselves in is a huge vic-tory.

Sometimes these same things fi nd their way into the rich and famous, as well as the down and out... Pain is pain, no matter who you are. Obstacles are still bar-riers that are roadblocks to success, and they need to be addressed in every element of society.

Heart & Soul: Seeds of Belief

When I’m “out front”, lead-ing others in a certain direc-tion, I can become discour-aged when I don’t see the results I’m hoping for, and need others to instil confi -dence in me through their belief in me, as much as I endeavour to do the same for them.

The secret to any success I’ve ever experienced, was the result of a good foundation that is built through posi-tive relationships. Things began to work out for me as soon as I discovered that I couldn’t do many things on my own. I needed to humble myself and realize that I needed the strength of oth-ers in my life.

Sometimes we can get quite “needy” though, and can develop a strong addiction for others to keep giving us what we need and forget about the principle of “sow-ing and reaping”. This is a Biblical principle that real-ly works... every time. But, it does require a bit of pa-tience as well... it’s always good to develop patience.

A good farmer prepares the ground he’s going to plant seed into. He makes sure that he’s done his best to work it well, so the seed has the best opportunity for growth and multiplication. Once he’s put in the labour to plant, and then tends it on a regular basis, he is patient as he waits for the time for harvest.

People are just like that ground... it takes others, along with the person, to in-vest time, encouragement, and education in order for

mindsets to change. This in turn brings forth lifestyle change and the fruit of suc-cess in whatever area that might be. The “water” for things to grow in a person’s life is often the encourage-ment that comes from the “belief” we have in each other.

Consider this as well... we all have seed to sow in each other... we all have battle scars from different things we’ve gone through, and all have wisdom and encour-agement to share as the re-sult.

Everyone has a talent or ability in some area that needs a place to be “plant-ed”. God built into our DNA the desire and ability to re-produce ourselves... both in who we are, and what we do.

If we couple that with this sometimes seemingly fool-ish idea that we can believe in each other... our commu-nity, our country, our fami-lies, will be radically differ-ent. But, you have to “sow” seed in others fi rst, in order for it to have fruit in your own life.

It takes a little “Belief,” or you might use the word “faith” to begin the cycle... but I know it works, I’ve seen it happen in the hun-dreds of lives I’ve sown into, because I believe in them.

Have a great week!

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

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

Over Easy, Please May 3, 2013 Page 6

Odds, Sods & Nods

“Something for everyone!”

By STUART MCGOWAN

Greetings to all!

Well, I think fi -nally some b e t t e r weather is FINALLY on our col-

lective doorsteps. Yes, I know in my last column I did show some optimism with regard to the weather and how most of us (well at least myself) felt about getting some warmer temperatures. As of this writing, Monday is targeted for somewhere in the 25C range.

So to start off, let me see, where to begin. Ahhh yes, at the beginning. I spent the last week teaching First

Aid in Calgary at a branch of the company I work for, the came home, packed and dashed (well, ok, drove) to Jasper Park Lodge for the annual Alberta Library Conference.

It is a weekend packed with opportunity to learn what other libraries are doing in their communities to keep themselves relevant in this age of electronics and fast paced change. Librar-ies are more relevant now than they ever have been. A library is more than four walls and books. When was the last time you visited your local library? Can’t remember? Well now is as good a time as any to do so. Yes, I am aware that the li-brary at the City Centre is under construction and is somewhat reduced in size, but go visit and let the staff help impress you with what they have at their fi nger-tips.

This is my Nod for the week. The staff are helpful there

but it is with the helming of the process by Library Di-rector Angela Kublik that the whole thing continues to operate smoothly despite the construction. Come and see what you can fi nd there. If you are looking for infor-mation on something, the library is the place to fi nd it. Think the internet has all the answers? If you do a search and in your 1.5 sec-onds get over one million hits or possibilities, wait for your librarian to come and show you how to effectively refi ne your search to cut that number dramatically.

This is one of the many ways the public library can serve you. With a population of just over 20,000, the Fort Saskatchewan Library had over 100,000 visits. Way to go!

An Odd, if you will or now for something completely different, is the Fort Sas-katchewan Historical Soci-ety’s People Of The North Saskatchewan festival on

May 9 & 10. This is a FREE event and you can see and taste and experience many different sights, sounds and of course taste of how life was over 100 years ago.

The event will be held on the Museum grounds and the Old Fort site over the two days and you will be able to see a blacksmith in action, check out the old schoolhouse, see some old machinery in action, see the Alexander First nations demonstrate native danc-ing, see a real live buffalo and much more. It starts at 9:30 a.m. and runs until 3:00 p.m. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity!

The Sheeptown Players are performing “Polter-Heist”, an interactive Murder Mys-tery at the Lakeview Inn & Suites on May 10 & 11. Tickets are $40.00 for din-ner and show and are avail-able from Sobeys, Twice But Nice, Pitbull Tattoos, Sharp-er Image and Safeway. The show starts at 7:00 p.m. and

the doors open at 6:00 p.m. There will be a silent auc-tion and cash bar.

Come be part of the BOO or-ganization and see who gets murdered. Help us solve the puzzle. For further infor-mation call 780-999-6844 or check out our FaceBook page, Sheeptown Players Drama Society.

For the Sod this week, I don’t really have one, other than the weather. So have a safe week and remember to help others, you would like it if they did the same for you.

Cheers for now!

Major Boost for Bike Tour A local bike tour has ob-tained a major boost thanks to railway company CN.

As part of CN’s Miracle Match Campaign, all in-dividual donations up to $5,000 each to Stephie’s Bike Tour for the Stollery will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

“It’s fabulous news for us and the Stollery,” says event organizer Sheila Gagnon.

Other aspects of the tour are also going well -- regis-traitons are up somewhat from the same point last year. Also, Gagnon reports that many volunteers have signed up at this point, but more are always welcome.

Gagnon also says that the new 60km tour option has become quite popular.

To fi nd out more about the tour, which takes place on Sunday, May 26, 2013, you can visit their website at stephiesbiketour.com.

Councillor Opts to Retire

A long-time Fort Saskatche-wan City Councillor is leav-ing municipal politics.

City Councillor Don West-man took to Twitter Wednesday morning to an-nounce that he is not run-ning in October.

“It’s offi cial! I’m not running for re-election this fall,” read Westman’s tweet.

A resident of Fort Saskatch-ewan since 1976, Don has served on Council since October of 1998. Westman worked as a Correctional Offi cer until his retirement in 2007.

His announcement means that the next City Council, following the October elec-tion will have at least two new members, due to his departure from Council, and due to the resignation of former Councillor Ed van Delden.

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

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

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

Josephburg Community Church.21380 Township Road 550 (intersection of Twp. Rd. 550 & Sec. Highway 830) Aas you en-ter the hamlet of Josephburg. Ph: 780-998-9331 Fax: 780-998-9305 www.josephburg-communitychurch.ca Pastor: Rev. Audrey Daley

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

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

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

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

Chamber sets new record at

trade show For the third year in a row, the Fort Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce has shattered their all-time Trade Show Attendance re-cord.

6,547 people attended the event, a nearly 10 per cent increase over last year. There was also record utili-zation of a free shuttle ser-vice offered by Fort Taxi & Bus Lines.

“The community support for the trade show has been amazing,” said Trade Show Committee Co-Chair & TD Bank Branch Manager Kelly Lilja. “There was posi-tive buzz in the building all weekend. Our volunteers deserve a great amount of credit for establishing that environment.”

Judges also selected the best booths in the show. Taking top honours as “Best Overall” was Visser Green-houses. “Most Original” booth honours were taken by The Landscaping Com-pany, while the City of Fort Saskatchewan got the nod for “Most Interactive” booth.

The Fort Saskatchewan Trade Show and Sale will return next year on Apr. 25th, 26th and 27th.

May 3, 2013 Page 7Over Easy, Please

SALONSCOMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

SOUPS, SUBS & SANDWICHSHOPS

BARBER SHOPS

Fort Saskatchewan’s Categorized Business Section

JANITORIAL & CLEANING

PET CARE

REAL ESTATECELLULAR PHONES

GELATO

PHOTOGRAPHY

Tails of Wags & Whiskers

“Maliha: Part 1”

By CAROLE MCGOWAN

H e l l o g e n t l e r e a d -ers! This is not a pleasant tale, and I strug-gled with my deci-sion to

share this with you. Please be aware it is very disturb-ing so grab your tissue box and a good strong cup of coffee. If you are faint of heart, move on to another enjoyable page in OEP. It was very upsetting for me to read all the details of this horrifi c tale again. There is so much to tell, this will be the fi rst of two parts.

Back in August 2010, a kind lady driving by a ru-ral community noticed a dog in great distress. She

contacted PARS (Prairie Animal Rescue, who has since merged with SCARS), to report her fi ndings. An animal rescue volunteer was able to catch the dog, and when they realized the horrible state she was in, rushed the dog to the West-lock Veterinary Clinic.

The lady who found the dog went back to the area where the dog was found, to make some inquiries, and found out that a group of teenag-ers had covered the dog’s head with a bag and then beat her with sticks.

The vet who treated the dog claimed it was the worst case of injuries to a dog in-fl icted by humans that she had ever seen. The poor, gentle creature was in ter-rible condition. Her nasal cavity was caved in and it had caused a severe infec-tion. Her nose was literally fl at. Her teeth pointed every which way. She could not breathe out of her nose, and she could not eat properly. Nothing could be done for her at that point in time, as

she was too emaciated to be put under anaesthesia for surgery. Because the injury happened months prior, it made it even more diffi cult to repair the damage.

After she was treated at the vet’s, she was admitted into SCARS foster care. As she was too weak and malnour-ished to have pain medica-tion, her foster family gave her gentle massages in or-der to ease her pain. The large holes in the roof of her mouth made it diffi cult for her to eat properly; the food would travel into her na-sal passages and she would choke. She had to be slowly hand fed small bits of food. Despite the horrible things that were done to this beau-tiful creature, she still loved and trusted humans. She was named “Maliha”, which is a Hindu term for strength and beauty.

As she gained weight and grew stronger, she was able to take antibiotics for the infection in her nasal cav-ity, and medication for the severe pain she was in. By

late September 2010, Ma-liha was strong enough to undergo surgery. As her teeth were misaligned, she had to have all her teeth re-moved, and unfortunately one tooth was lodged in her nasal cavity. There were also several large holes be-tween her mouth and nasal cavity, which made it diffi -cult for her to breathe, and caused infection from food getting stuck in her nose. It took four hours for a won-derful vet from Mayfi eld Vet Clinic, who kindly do-nated his time to make the surgery more affordable for SCARS, to repair Maliha’s face. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, there were two pencil size holes in the roof of Maliha’s mouth that could not be repaired.

In February 2011, a special-ist was called in from Vancouver, as the decision had been made to attempt to

close the two holes, one 7cm long and the other 4.5 cm long, by grafting. Cartilage was taken from Maliha’s ear to provide a bridge for the missing bone in her jaw, and hopefully close the holes between her mouth and nasal cavity.

Although the operation ap-peared to be successful, the damage to Maliha’s nasal cavity was too severe and the grafts did not hold. That is the fi rst half of Maliha’s story. In two weeks time. I will arm myself with tissues and strong coffee, and share with you the second half of this tragic tale.

Over Easy, Please May 3, 2013 Page 8

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Biscuits and Gravy: “Roller Derby Elite”By BRIAN MASONbrian@overeasyplease.com

Back in my good ol’ days, r o l l e r s k a t i n g was the d e f i n i -tive craze of the

school. Anybody who was anyone was a roller skat-er. Of course, those crazy daredevils were the roller-bladers darting around the neighborhoods of houses well more than thirty feet apart, or rather more than fi ve feet apart like today’s neighborhoods.

But that was one of those crazes of the time, anything really, to keep us outside and active. I think at the time parents had it right, not so much to keep a kid active, but to keep those cot-ton pickin’ blasted kids out of their hair. Well played mom and dad, well played. Either way, I was deter-mined to skate. Mom found a place downtown in Mor-ganton that taught skating -- roller skating, that is, for you frigid igloo-dweller -- not ice skating on a perpetu-ally frozen surface. So down to the Collette Recreation Center we went to start up classes. Mom handed me a new pair of skates for the class. I still remember those things too, bright neon green wheels and all. Now, for me, camo wheels would have been better, but hey

green was green in my book. I strapped those things on and stood up proud. All for about fi ve seconds, before I face planted doin’ what looked like a Red Skelton routine, hands scissoring out and all. Though, after a few lessons, I got better. Slowly. Slowly was the key word with me, you see, at least that’s what my instructor said. No, not that I was slow, but that I needed to be slow, trying to speed around the rink. Sure, speed is all well and good, but when you can’t seem to get the hang of stopping, that creates a bit of a problem. That problem, mind you, never really got any better. Skiing and skat-ing, could never learn how to stop to save my life, liter-ally. But I digress, as usual. I loved to skate, chasing after the cute girls on the rink, runnin’ into walls while tryin’ to pay atten-tion to them, rather than where I was goin’. I always thought they were laughing in delight of my company, boy was I wrong.

But lessons went well, and graduation time came quick-ly. For our graduation, we had a special guest come to skate with us, and hand out our certifi cates. Now, you non-Southern folk likely won’t really understand this part. This is where those new fangled computers will come in handy. You see that day none other than NASCAR racing champion Morgan Shepherd came to our class.

Turns out he was the next door neighbor of our in-structor. We were all pre-

pared with trading cards and other things in hand. This fella came and signed everything we had, and for those less fortunate, he had posters and other items he gave away to the kids to have him sign them. With the graduation coming to a close, Morgan put on his roller skates and skated with the class to his favor-ite song, Chattanooga Choo Choo. I don’t think in all my days will I forget seeing a NASCAR legend dancin’ on skates to a song like that in an old recreation center. But it taught me something very valuable that day.

First, is to be careful of who your role models are and those of your children. Indi-viduals like most stars and such are hardly a role model worth having when they give next to nothing back to the community. Morgan didn’t do this for publicity, the news had no clue he was going to come that day, he did it simply for the chil-dren.

For me, it said that no mat-ter your position in life, no matter what advantages and gifts you have you al-ways have that chance to make someone’s life, some-one’s day a better adventure and a better reality. Even something as simple as skating around an old beat up recreation center will mean the world to someone less popular or less famous.

Take the time to make them see that they matter just as much as you do and be worthy of that title of elite -- elite not just in status but elite in the charity of the heart.

Flimsy Whimsy: Lily

By JAI MURUGAN jai@overeasyplease.com

I looked f o r w a r d to greet-ing the lilies each day. “My my, aren’t you look-ing dain-ty today? Y o u ’ r e

absolutely dazzling! Those tiny pollen fi lled stamens are so intricate. Your cous-in is so white, her skin so soft, with the right num-ber of dimples.” They and other beauties of their ilk make wonderful imaginary friends.

Unlike women, you can compliment them on their stunning beauty without getting an ugly stare of, “You dirty old man, trying to pick me up with such lines!”

One sad morning about a quarter of them had their heads cut off. At fi rst I imagined some unscrupu-lous midnight fl ower thief and a few cheap bouquets for a French wedding. Would have been a nice wedding – especially the fl ower arrangements along the sides of the church be-neath the stained glass.

Then I saw the telltale rem-nants of behaviour – that unmistakeable two toed mark of those stealthy but cruel ones, the real crimi-nals – deer.

Don’t get me wrong – I like deer. But why can’t those %$#!?s stay in the %$#!? ravine where they %$#!? belong?

So it’s off to consult with experts: hardware store guys, the internet, my cous-in Bob the know-it-all who occasionally does, and the lily rancher I’d bought the bulbs from.

“Fox urine,” said the hard-ware guy. Three days and they learned to jump it. Ain’t no foxes in these parts. “Scary dangly things on strings. Works like a scarecrow, especially at night,” advised the inter-net. Not even one evening. Some extra string tickling pretty deer noses.

“A deer repelling water hose and siren attached to a motion detector,” said Cousin. Next morning some little kid set it off, and I got scolded in a foreign language by his Mother, and nearly fed a fi st by his overly muscular father. So, I phoned the lily guy. Some-thing in his tone indicated he’s been asked before.

“Build a fence. A big one.”

TRAFFIC CONTINUED...

I think it’s a combination of education and road design and enforcement.

For example, Veterans’ Way [Highway 15] was re-designed, and people natu-rally drive slower on that road now. We had the in-tersection safety devices at our two original locations, so people now naturally just drive slower.”

OEP: Are there any chal-lenges as a result of indus-trial growth?

JK: “Yes, volume of traf-fi c; like right now we know we have the shutdowns and turnarounds happen-

ing... out of province license plates are a challenge. Sometimes, when you’re do-ing a traditional traffi c stop and pulling them over, you can check out the validity of that license plate a little easier. When we’re doing automated enforcement, it’s a little diffi cult.”

OEP: Parking is often a big issue... What are the local rules for on-street parking?

JK: On-street parking is al-lowed. We follow the provin-cial rules... 72 hour parking on the street.

Parking against the fl ow of traffi c, we enforce when we see it. We have had com-plaints about parking on

the lawn, and I have talked to several residents my-self... some do it because of the plugging-in issue.

If they want to keep doing it, they need to pour a hard surface. Sometimes they widen their driveway, and put in an angled piece, and that’s allowed.

We’re also working on a plan to improve that for next year, with the narrow carriage with streets and snowbanks -- looking at re-moving snow a little bit dif-ferently, to try to preserve the curb-to-curb.

I think next year, it should be better.”