Benefi t raises over $15,000

A benefi t to support the Mich-alycia family, who tragically lost one of their family members in an explosion that severely burned two more members of their family last month, raised over $15,000.

The event was arranged by Char-lene Andrews and a group of local volunteers over the course of just two weeks. Those who still wish to make donations to support the Michalycia family can do so by visiting any TD branch, citing the Michalycia Burn Victim Fund.

Federal dollars to

boost Sportsplex

The Government of Canada an-nounced this past weekend that it would be providing the City of Fort Saskatchewan with $250,000 to support the nearly completed renovations of the lo-cal Sportsplex.

“The Sportsplex Arena was reno-vated because of the expressed needs of our community,” said Mayor Gale Katchur at an event at the Sportsplex site on Satur-day. “With these improvements, organizations will be able to host larger events here, which also means an economic benefi t to the community,” she concluded.

Volume 3, Number 22 Price: FREEFort Saskatchewan, Alberta • Friday, March 22, 2013

BY REECE SELLIN

The October 21, 2013 mu-nicipal election may be 213 days away, but one local resident has already declared an intention to run, marking the begin-ning of the local campaign season.

41-year-old Fort Sas-katchewan resident Shel-don Bossert told OEP this week that he intends to seek a council seat in this Fall’s election. A Senior Manager with Alberta Education, Bossert has resided in Fort Saskatch-ewan since 2003, after relocating here from Hin-ton.

“I’ve been talking about doing something like this for years,” Bossert ex-plained. “I would like to see Council have more representation from my age group,” he explained, citing local growth in the age 30-45 demographic. “I think I bring that to the table,” he says.

In addition to his involve-ment in Minor Sports -- his son plays minor hockey, while his daugh-ter is involved in ringette -- Bossert is also known by many locals as being a passionate advocate for pedestrian safety within the local highway cor-ridor, and for recently

attempting to stimulate interest in alternative commuting options, such as a car-pooling program in Fort Saskatchewan.

Citing Fort Saskatche-wan’s growth and role as a “bedroom community” for many who live here, Bossert told OEP that he still feels decreasing the number of vehicles com-muting each day is “bet-ter for everybody overall.”

What remains unclear at this early stage in the campaign, however, is who else will challenge Bossert for a Council seat.

CONTINUED ON P. 2.

Over Easy, PleaseThe Next Issue of OEP will be April 5th

BISCUITS & GRAVY

A BROKEN CAMERAP. 8

THE ISSUE

FORCED TO GIVE UP THEIR CHILDREN P. 2

93 days until Summer!

ELECTION SEASON BEGINS

41-year-old Sheldon Bossert (R) and his family. Bossert announced he intends to seek a seat on Fort Saskatchewan City Council in the upcoming election. Photo: Supplied

Published in print and online every Friday

SAT SUN MON L: -15 L: -15 L: --10 H: -5 H: 0 H: 3

TUE 2/-12SUNNY

WED 3/-9SUNNY

THU -2/-10P. CLOUDY

FRI 3/-5P. CLOUDY

Muncipal Campaign Starts in Earnest as Newcomer Enters Race

Over Easy, Please March 22, 2013 Page 2

Adorable Plush Easter Bunnies

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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The Issue150,000 unwed mothers forced to give up their children for adoption

By OEP Editor JUDY SELLINjudy@overeasyplease.com

I am sure there are many, in-c l u d i n g m y s e l f , who did not have k n o w l -edge of

what transpired to thousands of unwed mothers and their children in Australia from the 1940s through to the 1970s. On Thursday, Australian prime minister Julia Gillard deliv-ered what The Guardian de-scribed as a “historic” national apology. In Parliament, Gillard acknowledged and apologized to the thousands of unwed mothers “who were forced by government policies to give up their babies for adoption over several decades.”

It is diffi cult for most mothers to surrender their child(ren) for

adoption. As one man whom I spoke to recently about adop-tion, I think said it quite ac-curately, “giving up a child is not a selfi sh act, but rather it is a courageous act of love, on hopes to give their child a bet-ter life than what [the parents] thought they could provide.”

The Guardian also reported that more than 800 people were present, many in tears, for Gil-lard’s apology, which at its con-clusion received a standing ova-tion. “Today this Parliament, on behalf of the Australian peo-ple, takes responsibility and apologizes for the policies and practices that forced the sepa-ration of mothers from their babies, which created a lifelong legacy of pain and suffering,” said Gillard

The apology went on to acknowl-edge the “profound effects” that the policies and practices had on fathers and the hurt caused to siblings, grandparents, part-ners and extended family.

For me, the most powerful and accurate description of Gil-lard’s apology was when the Australian government de-plored that their practices were

shameful and denied mothers of their fundamental rights and responsibilities to love and care for their children. How true... as who among us has the right to force a mother, in any man-ner... to relinquish her child?

Although it is somewhat com-mendable that the Australian government is committed to giving about $5 million towards support services for families that were affected, and to assist biological families to reunite, we should seriously ponder on how this even began. Still more questionable, perhaps, is how it continued up until a few de-cades ago. For those of us that had children born in the 1970s and 1980s, it really was not that long ago.

In the state of Western Austra-lia, parliament apologised in 2010 to mothers and children for forced adoption practices in that state, which continued into the 1980s. The Australian government should apologize and fi scally offer support to those affected, however, there will continue to be a signifi cant loss and sadness for many.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

NEW CANDIDATE, CONT.

The only current City Council-lor who would confi rm that he intends to run for re-election was Stew Hennig, who told OEP on Wednesday that his name would “defi nitely” be on the October ballot.

But others on Council were not so quick to reveal their inten-tions.

Frank Garritsen told OEP that he was “offi cially not announc-ing” his intentions at this time. “It’s March; I honestly don’t think residents of Fort Sas-katchewan, at this particular point in time, have any inter-ested in people offi cially cam-paigning,” Garritsen said.

Although he already knows what his decision will be, Gar-ritsen says he will make an of-fi cial announcement in June.Councillor Tom Hutchison was

not prepared to make an an-nouncement at this time, ei-ther, pointing out that in the last election, he did not make an offi cial announcement until August.

“Ever since I’ve been on Coun-cil, I always made a commit-ment that I would not decide a long time in advance,” Hutchi-son explained.

“If I decided ‘yes,’ I would be in campaign mode the whole time... [otherwise] I would be in ‘exit mode.’”

For his part, Councillor Don Westman has apparently not made a decision about whether he will run for another term on Council, although he indicates that he is leaning in one direc-tion.

“I’ve set a deadline at the end of April [regarding my deci-sion],” Westman explained. “I

know which way I’m leaning, [but there are] a couple things I need to clear up,” he explained.Mayor Gale Katchur was also restrained regarding her plans, however residents may learn of those soon. “I am waiting un-til April to make an announce-ment,” she said.

Councillor John Mather could not be contacted for comment before OEP’s press time.

In the meantime, there remains plenty of time for others to get on board with their own cam-paigns. A candidate’s informa-tion package is now available on the City’s website at www.fortsask.ca.

Those looking for more infor-mation on Sheldon Bossert will soon be able to do so on Facebook. In the meantime, he invites anyone interest-ed to follow him on Twitter (@FtSaskCouncil13).

March 22, 2013 Page 3Over Easy, Please

In Burundi, Africa

“It Needs To Be Told”

By OLIVIER N.

T h e r e a r e t i m e s we talk or read a b o u t poverty in Afri-ca but still we

cannot give or get a good understanding of what that is really happening in some places in this part of the world. It’s obviously differ-ent from what is being writ-ten in the newspapers or told in TV documentaries, and the reality of facts in the villages. I would say it’s just a glimpse or a sample of what I will call ‘real facts,’ since even a writer would miss words to report what’s happening.

I personally struggle to re-port what I have been see-ing in the village of Gatum-ba; this is my home village, though. I have been living there for years, but I am still unable to report all the struggles of the people out there.

Gatumba is one of the poor-est communities in Bujum-bura, a province of Burundi harshly stricken by the civil war that lasted more than a decade, and caused thou-sands of people to be killed, with many others fl eeing the country. It is located a few miles from DR Congo, and inhabited by around 4,000 households. Most of them are very poor, and live by working in the fi elds, earn-ing low wages from those with a moderate income.

In most households, they have two to six children sheltering in an insecure small “hut”-type home made of grass and mud; when it rains, the water enters their homes. Most of the time, the children live with their mothers; the dads are absent or dead. These brave women do struggle and sometimes do the impos-sible to provide food to their children. Most of them work in the fi eld many hours a day to earn less than $2 - not even enough for food.

I can’t dare to imagine what will happen if they them-selves get sick, or if their children fall ill; sadly, they will usually die from lack of medication. Here is a scary fact from this village: I, with the hospital ministry from my church, went for an out-reach in Gatumba last Sun-day. Gatumba has no hospi-tal, and only small but not well-equipped health cen-ters.

One is a public health center while others are privates. When we then arrived at the fi rst health center, the rooms were empty. Nobody was being treated in that health center. Then we moved to another health center – this was the pub-lic one - which means the medical services are less ex-pensive if we compare what it would cost in the private health center.

But even there, only four patients were being treated, among them a woman who was about to give birth. At last, we visited another pri-vate health center, where we found three patients be-ing hospitalized. But how could a medical center go empty or be of that less number of patients? Does it mean people of Gatumba do not get sick? Of course not…they die at home; they don’t go to hospital, for they can-not afford the medication. It’s very sad that one can die because he lacks a medi-cation that would cost $5 or even less.

The community of Gatumba

does not need only medica-tion – clean water is also a big need. Some people use the water from the Rusizi River – which is very heavy polluted, since large mam-mals such as the hippopot-amus and crocodiles roam the banks of the river. Some other people dig wells to get water to drink, to use for washing utensils, cooking, etc. I cannot imagine how bad the lack of clean water can affect the health of peo-ple and the children in the village.

The village has a very young population – most of the children are still school-aged but they do not attend school because of the pov-erty, while others have en-rolled in classes but have dropped out. The families do not have enough food; so kids are weak and won’t get motivated in school while their stomachs are empty and aching. And due to poverty again, for some households, they will pre-fer to send a boy at school rather than a girl, for she would help to look after her siblings and other home du-ties, etc.

Well, as I said above, this is just what I can report in my article. I would love to give more detail of how life looks like in this village, but I just can’t get words to re-port it all. I wish something could be done to help it – to give hope to the kids and a dream for a better future. There is a big need, though – from education to health care.

Cuts at EIPSElk Island Public Schools announced last week that it expected a “challenging” fi -nancial year, including cuts, following the 2013 Provin-cial Budget announcement.

“This provincial education budget represents tremen-dous challenges for EIPS. Decreased funding will re-quire us to make diffi cultdecisions using the limited resources we have, but we will work to maintain an excellent public education system for our students, staff, and community,” said Board Vice-Chair Colleen Lopushinsky.

Over Easy, Please March 22, 2013 Page 4

SCARS Pet of the Week - Maeve

I am set-tling in at my new fos-ter home. I have n e v e r had such

warm care from humans, such love and affection, and food whenever I am hungry. I didn’t know such a life existed. I am nervous in my new foster home, but every day I face a new fear, and move forward. I get along with the resident dog and cat. I am a little nervous going through doors, but I’ll get the hang of it. I can fi nally relax now that I don’t have to worry about food and shelter. For more information on how to adopt this pet, visit SCARS at www.scarscare.org.

Dingers by Ken Schotsch

Inspirational Thought “If you want to annoy your neighbors, tell the truth about them.” -- Pietro Aretino

Spiritual ThoughtSome neighbors think they have to be like God and watch you do everything.-- R. Brett Jr.

Random Act of Giving Suggestion

Create an Easter Basket and leave it Easter Sunday on the doorstep of someone that is not a close friend or relative.

High FiveTo the media person and late night shopper at Sobey’s a few evenings ago, who took the ex-tra time to put his shopping cart away.

Two Thumbs DownTo the driver who took up two parking spaces with his blue truck this past Wednesday, one of which was designated for disabled parking, just to stand around outside the ve-hicle to have a cigarette and chat.

A Spoonful of Sugar...Sprinkled over sliced bananas and cream is yummy.

Song Choice of the Week

In The Heart -- Edmonton’s Sean Sonego

Book Choice of the Week

Dear Life: Stories -- Alice Munro

Did You Know?That the world’s largest snowman was made in Can-ada this past January 2013 by Bob Mann of London, Ontairo. The 20 foot tall snowman was attired with a scarf made from 4 regu-lar scarves. It took Mann, along with assistance of his wife and 8 year old daugh-ter, from Friday through to Sunday night to complete the large Snowman.

Funny Yokes

Q: What is the one thing an egg does not want to get into?A: Hot Water

Q: When does an egg feel the safest?A: When it is one of the doz-en.

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.

March 22, 2013 Page 5Over Easy, Please

Sunny Smiles

OEP Editor Reece Sellin (R), OEP Columnist Walter Melnyk (C) and Pat Calvert at the United Church Perogy Supper on Saturday.

Beautiful Babes

Celebrity Babe Edition. Know who this is? Check next week to see if you are right! Last week: Mia Farrow.

By Fort Sask Life Church Pastor BILL OLSEN

T h i s morning, my son s h o w e d me a pic-ture of a complete-ly frozen man with

a look of complete despair with the caption that said, “Come to Edmonton, they said.... It would be fun, they said”. I’ve felt that way many times as winter beats on this land not fi t for the faint ofheart.

Out here we have two sea-sons: winter and July, or, if you happen to be somewherewhere there’s an actual hill, “ten months of winter and two months of poor sled-ding”. Yep, only around here do you have multiple auto pile-ups, caused by “Spring storms”, (they call them).

Oh how wonderful to cele-brate the fi rst day of Spring, by smashing your vehicle to obliteration into a random snow drift that snuck out onto the highway off some fi eld. (It would be fun, they said), “Oh look, a Spring storm!”

People, Spring is when fl ow-ers bloom, grass is green, and birds are happy because they don’t have to wear par-kas anymore. Where I come from, Spring is something you actually see come to pass, not just a day printed

on a calendar... I don’t real-ly care what it says on your calendar... It’s still winter! (There, there now, Bill, ev-erything will be okay.)

It’s now Spring, and I still have a snow bank that’s as tall as me, and people are still playing tag with their cars on icy roads... but I’m going to get a jump on things this year.

My church got tired of me complaining, so to shut me up, they got me a state-of- the-art snowblower that can be switched in and out of po-si-track. It’s got a head light (that’s to add to the punish-ment) and no heater... but it’s got Tim-the-Tool-Man Bimford power! Oh yeah!

So, I’m gonna light that sucker up, and blow my snow bank onto my neigh-bors yard, rake all the leaves off my lawn that I didn’t get to due to the “Fall storm” that blew in, and set up mylawn chair and absorb all this “Spring” sun we’re

having between “Spring storms”. The burn I’ll get on my northern Alberta white skin, will be from the “Spring” wind, but at least I’ll have Spring on my green lawn with happy birds. I’m beginning to think that if I don’t take things into my own hands here, we’ll be shoveling snow until Sep-tember, and that’s really, really sad...

Actually, a couple of years ago, there was a radio con-test, where people were guessing when the big snow pile in Edmonton would melt... you can only live in Alberta to think you can make a contest out of some-thing like that. One person actually guessed it right... it fi nished melting in Septem-ber that year.

In spite of becoming very tired of the snow and the cold... a much worse thing would be to suffer from the coldness of heart.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

Heart & Soul: First Day of

Spring

Over Easy, Please March 22, 2013 Page 6

Gettin’ More of the Good Stu�

“Who’s Filling Your Cup?”

By IAN HOPE

As a col-umnist, I always en-joy getting feedback. Even when the reac-tion leans t o w a r d s

negative, it tells me that at least people are reading. If no one is reading or inter-ested in the insights I try to share in my column, why would I want to write? Also, readers have to realize that as a motivational speaker and people skills train-ing facilitator, it’s clearly my job to promote positive thinking, skills and behav-iors. As I’m trying to be darned good at it, I admit to wanting to fi nd and reveal the proverbial ‘silver lining’ in workplace and life situa-tions wherever possible.

My last column for example was about the attitude that

we have and how it can ei-ther serve as a propeller in our life, or if we’re not mindful, as an anchor. Our attitude is clearly an impor-tant choice, and we must be conscious of what we are choosing as it can directly impact our outcomes, good or bad. In response to that article though, one reader commented on Facebook that ‘feel good’ motivational writers like me can actu-ally make people feel worse about their home and work life circumstances. He’d done everything the right way, she said, and while having thoroughly prepared for the dynamic career change she was seeking, the desired job advancement and opportunities continued to elude her.

I regret making anyone feel bad, as sharing my experi-ences and what I’ve learned about successful approaches and techniques over the many years is purely in-tended to encourage people, lift their sights and make their lives better. I recog-nize though that as they say, ’one size doesn’t always fi t all’.

So what’s the answer, folks?

When something impor-tant is not going well, are we best to surrender to a bleak fate and resolve there is simply nothing we can do to improve our situation? Is a small step taken moving forward still not far better than a step sliding back? I continue to assert that by being persistent and adopt-ing a more positive attitude, you can only help and not harm yourself.

To do that though, you do have to believe in ‘you’ and while I know this is some-times diffi cult, if you don’t believe in yourself how can you expect that of others? If you don’t pour the right and good things in life into ‘your cup’ who will? You’ve heard before of someone with a problem hoping ‘that the cavalry will ride in’ to save them, but in my life I have found that these mounted riders seldom showed up when really needed, and in-evitably it was up to me to become my own ‘hero’.

Let me illustrate this point by referring to a study that was done during WWII by the Canadian military. At the time, there were numer-ous convoys of ships carrying

equipment, munitions and supplies across the Atlantic to support the Allies in the Battle of Europe. Enemy submarines were attacking these convoys and many of the merchant marines going into the water from sink-ing ships were drowning at sea. Interestingly though, while they had expected the highest mortality among the older seamen who were not as physically strong and healthy as their younger counterparts, they found the reverse to be the case. It tended to be the older sail-ors who were surviving!

Long story short, after studying things, they con-cluded that despite the greater strength and physi-cal endurance of the young-er men, the older fellows seemed to have the advan-tage. Having had more life experience, most important-ly with challenges they had faced and overcome across the years, these older mari-ners had greater belief and more personal conviction that they could, and would, survive. In the midst of their tragedy, they were more likely to hold on and fi ght the turbulent seas wanting to claim them. As desper-

ately as they surely felt at that time, they had learned through their experiences to do what they could - that no one else would make that next stroke for them. Chill-ing circumstances indeed, but still refl ecting the effect of positive attitudes at the extreme.

In closing this week, I want to share a provocative defi -nition of the term ‘negativ-ity’ which has really stuck with me over time. As I re-call, it described negativity as ‘a loss of optimism and a strong belief that there is nothing that can be done to improve things.’ While we all feel this way at times, most often with patience, a great deal of persistence and, yes, hard work, things often do get resolved or at least made somewhat bet-ter. Happy thoughts to you!

Ian Hope facilitates work-shops that raise the bar on key people skills. His in-sights are highly relevant and valued in today’s work-places. To enquire about Ian speaking or training at your event, send an e mail to ianhope@albertacom.com or go to his website at www.ianhope.com

THE ISSUE, CONT.

There will be those that, regard-less of the the government’s as-sistance, will never get to meet their birth parents, and birth parents who will never get to meet the child or children they were forced to give up for adop-tion. From 1940 through to the 1980s, there have been children and birth parents who have died, ending any hope of a reunion.

By the words of Prime Minister Gillard, the devastation is trans-parent. “Unwed mothers were pressured, deceived and threat-ened into giving up their babies from the second world war until the early 1970s, so they could be adopted by married couples, which was perceived to be in the children’s best interests...”

There are still other state and territorial governments within Australian that have not yet apologized.

In 2011, Roman Catholic hospi-tals in Australia did apologize for forcing unmarried mothers to give up babies for adoption, and also urged state governments to accept fi nancial responsibil-ity. Catholic Health Australia is the largest non-government hospital operator in Austra-lia, and admits that the adopt-ing out of children to married couples throughout the 1950s to the 1970s was “regrettably com-mon.”

Although adoptions in Australia are mostly controlled by state laws (here in Canada, adoptions are similarly controlled by each

province), the federal govern-ment in Australia had contrib-uted to forced adoption in that the federal government failed to provide mothers with full wel-fare benefi ts, which widowed or deserted wives would have been entitled to until 1973.

A rapid decline of adoptions be-gan in 1972, but not before it peaked at near 10,000 in that year. It is suggested that the decline was in due in part to the availability of welfare, the use of oral contraceptives and legal-ized abortion. The highest adop-tion rates were in the late 1960s.

It is believed that forced adop-tions that took place were near 150,000 a fact that is mind bog-gling to say the least.

Eyes on the Tiger

The Fort Saskatchewan Giant Tiger held its 5th Anniver-sary celebration this past weekend. Celebrating here is the Giant Tiger Mascot with store staff member Glenda.

Police recover

nearly $1M in stolen vehicles

Police in Edmonton have re-portedly recovered close to $1 million worth of heavy equip-ment and vehicles that were reported stolen, but detectives are concerned there may be more stolen property still out there.

EPS detectives began a four-month investigation after a skid-steer was reported stolen from a job site last October. After further investigation, detectives recovered addition-al property in connection with the fi le from various locations in and around Edmonton. The investigation continues, as po-lice believe there may be other stolen equipment or vehicles connected to this fi le that may have been sold to unsuspect-ing buyers.

March 22, 2013 Page 7Over Easy, Please

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

Fellowship Baptist Church. Pastor Jim Paulson. Wor-ship 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: Stephen 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 enter the hamlet of Josephburg. Ph: 780-998-9331 Fax: 780-998-9305 www.josephburgcommuni-tychurch.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. Saturdays: 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 Par-sons-Horst. Regular worship times: Sunday @ 8:30am Holy Communion (BCP) and 10:30am Holy Communion (BAS) with Sunday School. 10029 – 99th Ave, Ph: 780-998-3620.

SALONSCOMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

SOUPS, SUBS & SANDWICHSHOPS

BARBER SHOPS

Fort Saskatchewan’s Categorized Business Section

JANITORIAL & CLEANING

PET CARE

REAL ESTATECELLULAR PHONES

GELATO

HEART AND SOUL, CONT.

Sometimes the weather can get us down when it’s grey day after day. Sometimes life is as hard on the in-side as it is on the outside. The best remedy for that is good friends and close family... the warmth of deep friendships can melt away the coldest of winters and be the most powerful encouragement we could ask for, when harsh things come our way...

I’m always intrigued by the story of Jesus sleeping in the boat in the midst of a tremendous storm while

His friends feared for their lives. I heard the new Pope say that he felt that Jesus was sleeping... but they awoke Him, He stood and rebuked the storm and it was calm, then He turned to them and asked why they were so fearful and lacked faith. Before they started their journey, He told them they were cross-ing the sea. He had no doubt that they were go-ing to get there and had a nap while the winds blew. He wants us to have con-fi dence in what He says, and what He does. He said there would be four seasons... we’ll experience them all! Happy Spring!

Sleep Loss Precedes

Alzheimer’s Sleep is disrupted in people who likely have early Alzheimer’s disease but do not yet have the memory loss or other cogni-tive problems characteristic of full-blown disease, researchers at Washington Uni-versity School of Medicine in St. Louis re-port March 11 in JAMA Neurology. The fi nding confi rms earlier observations by some of the same researchers. Early evi-dence tentatively suggests the connection may work in both directions: Alzheimer’s plaques disrupt sleep, and lack of sleep promotes Alzheimer’s plaques.

Over Easy, Please March 22, 2013 Page 8

Except where otherwise copyrighted, all content of this newspaper, includ-ing advertisements, is Copyright 2012, Tuckbook Inc. Editor: Judy Sellin (judy@overeasyplease.com); Senior Editor: Reece Sellin (reece@overeasyplease.com); Advertising In-quiries: (ads@overeasyplease.com); Mail: PO Box 20005, Fort Saskatch-ewan, AB, T8L 4C8; Phone: 780-934-0139; Fax: 780-589-1188.

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Biscuits and Gravy: Broken

CameraBy BRIAN MASONbrian@overeasyplease.com

We’ve all run across t h o s e i m a g e s that we’d rather not r e m e m -ber or see a g a i n .

Unless, that is, we were competing for World’s Most Horrifi c Image contest host-ed by Rosie O’Donnell.

But besides the point, there are no doubt a plethora of old high school yearbooks, class pictures or the ever elusive driver’s license pho-to that we’d rather end up in a sealed room with the Arc of the Covenant. After all, both can be arguably rather dangerous and world-end-ing. I remember one very warm day, the normal day in the hills of the good ol’ South, when I had that unique chance to go get a legal document to drive an auto-mobile. Of course, the town was likely put on alert, and hazmat teams placed on standby.

What else would one sus-pect when a Southern teen-age boy goes to get their learner’s permit? Dad seemed especially nervous, probably as he was the one who’d have to ride with me in the car, but the fi ngernail marks on the armrest were

probably just for show, I’ll bet. But off we went, down to the good ol’ DMV, that’s De-partment of Motor Vehicles for you yankeefi ed northern folk. Anyways, we waited in line for about as much time as it took God to won-der what the heck had gone haywire in the South, till we fi nally got to the exami-nation table. I took my test and wouldn’t ya know it, I passed. I think dad wanted to call a recount, but there wasn’t a hanging chad to be found on that ballot. I sat down in the chair, try-ing my best to fl irt with the lady North Carolina State Highway Patrol offi cer, and waited for the camera to do it’s little trick. I waited and waited and then the fl ash. I never will fi gure out why they don’t warn you that the fl ash is coming. Its like they wait and fumble with the machine till you make the most ridiculous face non-humanly possible to press the button. But regardless, it did fl ash and then began to whine like an ol’ hound dog kicked in the fam-ily jewels. The lady trooper looked bewildered, and then with a not too hushed tone exclaimed that I had bro-ken her camera. I laughed, thinking for sure she was just joking to try and throw off my fl irtations, but as she handed me a print out of my new license, it began to be-come more clear. The picture was darker than an French town square during the dark ages, and looked about as pleasant as a serial killer’s retirement

party. She laughed and said the camera wouldn’t start up again, and was in fact broken. Apparently I’d have to come back tomorrow if I wanted a better photo; of course, my dad had a fi eld day with that one sayin’ the State would go bankrupt with repeated camera pur-chases. Well, now humbly and mortifi ed with shame at the events, I took my new li-cense and ran as they closed the booths for new licenses for the remainder of the day. Although I had to actually comes to terms that I had broken a camera, it gave me a new realization. You see I never had a keen in-terest in my appearance. Much rather, I always had a glum outlook on myself and would constantly put myself down. But in that moment, I realized that even if my photo had come out horribly discombobulated, it didn’t matter. What that image showed wasn’t the truth of the moment, it wasn’t the memory or the reality. The reality was that my family and I had a great day that day, and that I had a good laugh about it in the end.

The reality is, folks, that what views come to us from outside are not the core, the reality and the essence of who or what we really are. If you want to remember a moment, you won’t fi nd it by trying to look glamorous, but rather by trying to be beautiful on the inside. A camera will break eventu-ally, regardless of the im-age, but a soul lives on for-ever in the hearts of those it touches.

Flimsy Whimsy: Hole

By JAI MURUGAN jai@overeasyplease.com

Back in p i o n e e r days be-fore back-hoe time, n e i g h -b o u r s had to dig death holes by

hand. It didn’t matter what the temperature was or what day of the week the person had passed, that six foot trench had to be dug. No shortcuts either, as the religious opinion of the day forbade it.

“How would old Harvey feel if he knew he was only 5 and a half feet under when everyone else here is the full six feet?” To be on the safe side, each group of grave-diggers had its hard-core referee who made sure they went an extra inch be-low the well-measured stick they kept in the graveyard tool shack.

When it was fi fty below and the wind was howling like some banshee from Baffi n Island, the work went on in shifts, with intermittent coffee breaks brought over on schedule by loving wives. In summer water could be added to soften the clay, so

winter digs took fi ve times as long. Two men to the hole was the rule, as that was all that would fi t with-out endangering knees, groins, and necks of the living. The warm-up break meant rest and reminiscing in an idling half-ton.

Other than coffee, humour was a necessary facilitator and encouragement, de-spite the grim circumstanc-es.

“No more political argu-ment from him, and one less vote for those durned socialists.”

“Poor old beggar won’t talk his way outa this one.”

“I don’t see why I should help. He ain’t gonna help dig mine.”

“If I remember right he was a short man.” ... “You mean short on breath, don’t ya?”

“He won’t wake up stiff to-morrow, but he’ll be one.”

“Convince me what’s wrong with cremation again. Them old trees over there look like they’d burn mighty well.”

But when the digging was done they all left, not one wondering who’d be next.

That would be un-neigh-bour like.

Bus Accident 1960

By WALTER MELNYK

My dad and I were s t a n d -ing by the p i g g e r y watching the freight train go by

it at a high speed. I told my dad that the train was trav-elling at over 60 miles an hour. How I knew that was because I rode the freight train with cattle to the To-ronto Royal 2 different times, so I had a pretty good idea how fast the train was going. Little did we know that the freight train was going to demolish the Chip-

man bus going to Lamont.

When the train hit the bus, it split it into two halves. Half went to the station and half went a long way into the ditch. Seventeen chil-dren were killed -- 15 girls and 2 boys. Little did we know that there was an ac-cident until daughter Judy came home from school and told us about it. Edna imme-diately went to the hospital, for she was a nurse, and she wanted to help if she could.

I got off at Skrip’s place while Edna proceeded to Lamont. It didn’t take Skrip and myself long to drive to Lamont and offer our blood if they could use it. Howev-er, they had suffi cient blood. We visited with the grieving parents and the parents of

the children who were hurt.

Mac Haines and I started a donation fund for the fami-lies. Mac had the telephone exchange so it didn’t cost us any money for phone calls. We had to have everything registered by the govern-ment and we had donations from all parts of the world. The Lions Club helped with the funerals and their ex-penses. They had a night in the Chipman school were 17 coffi ns were lined up in a row. The crowd was over-fl owing and we had the Lions members there col-lecting donations. When it ended up, they put some money for grade 10 bursa-ries. Many days were spent on that project.

TO BE CONTINUED...