Back in 2014, then mayor of New York City was asked to attend the Groundhog Day ceremonies at the Staten Island Zoo. For some reason, recounts the mayor at the time Bill de Blasio, they gave me some big gloves.
“I go there and it’s seven in the morning, which means my motor skills are not at their best. I put on these gloves and they’re like, ‘Here’s a groundhog,’ I’m like ‘What the f…? ‘I’m like, ‘Don’t you have a little more coaching to go with this or whatever?’ It was idiocy!” he ranted.
“Why would you want an elected official to hold a groundhog? I don’t know anything about holding groundhogs. So the whole thing is just insane. There’s an original sin here. Don’t hand someone a groundhog, right?”
The groundhog squirmed. De Blasio jiggled and scrunched. Charlotte clawed and wriggled some more. De Blasio squished and ducked and finally, dropped Charlotte.
Charlotte was stunned. She laid still. Later, she died from internal injuries.
Rest In Peace, Dear Charlotte!
A lesson to be learned here for any kind of event organizers. Politicians often only have a few skills. Chief among them is the ability to be elected. Groundhog wrangler is very likely on the long list of things they are not be very skilled at.
Good thought for any kind of event organizers: Check such things out ahead of time with any special guest you might be thinking of ‘honouring’ with a surprise!
Slave Lake town council has voted to extend that town’s photo radar for another year. The vote was not unanimous. Just 4-3 in fact.
Those in favour said statistics showed that photo radar did in fact slow down speeders. Those against said it was just a money grab ‘cash cow’ situation. News reporting on the situation was not clear, but it seems Slave Lake is going from getting 22.9 per cent of fines collected to getting 11.3 per cent. The Alberta government sucks up 40 per cent, while the actual operators of the radar system take in 48.7 per cent.
Not much of a ‘cash cow’ any more, although to be fair, under the old contract the Town only got 22.9 per cent of fines anyway.
Hmmm. A lousy 11.3 per cent of fines. Is it worth the hassle from a few voters, and now from three councillors? Or what price do you put on safety? Why not increase fines if safety is a big concern? There are many arguments here.
At the end of the day, it’s almost like government is once again telling us they know what is best for us.
Maybe they do. But photo radar is usually never an election topic. It’s also been a long time since we heard it was on any ballot during an election.
“Weaseling out of things is what separates us from the animals. Except for the weasels.” – Homer Simpson
The Page doesn’t recall that much rain May 21-22, but apparently Slave Lake, and by extension Lesser Slave Lake, did get a bit.
According to one fellow at the North Shore Homestead, Lesser Slave Lake went up a whole six inches.
He measured the rainfall at just under two inches at his place.
An extremely low Lesser Slave Lake is notorious this year for eating propellers.
Many people aren’t even put- ting boats in the water. To be fair, lots of people are still enjoying boating. Just carefully when in shallow water.
Good news for the entire region, including firefighters and farmers, rain is in the forecast. As for all our lakes, well, they can’t get much lower can they?
Speaking of which, the annual meeting of the Lesser Slave Watershed, which covers a huge area surrounding that lake, is coming up Thursday, June 22. 3 p.m.. It was scheduled to be at the Slave Lake Inn and Conference Centre but has been switched to a virtual meeting via Microsoft teams.
The group is looking for directors for a slew of positions, including oil and gas, member at large, angling, tourism and others. See ad in this week’s newspaper on page B1 or www.lswc.ca. Free to attend but you need a membership to run for office.
“A reactionary is a man who thinks doctors know more about medicine than politicians do; that builders know more about housing than bureaucrats do; that farmers know more about food than clergymen do; that bankers know more about money than university professors do; and that people who live in the North know more about Indigenous than people who live in Toronto do.” – Richard Needham
“People will believe anything if you whisper it, tell them not to tell anybody else, or put in on Facebook.” – Grandpa Jonesy