Valid license, invalid license

This is Part Two of our Series on Traffi c and Drivers License En-forcement.

For most who come from other provinces to live in Alberta, one of the fi rst things to accomplish is paying a visit to an Alberta Reg-istries offi ce to obtain health care coverage, and perhaps more sig-nifi cantly to many, to obtain an Alberta Driver’s License.

But provincial law in Alberta is such that all newcomers who take up permanent residence here -- regardless if they are from elsewhere in Canada, or anoth-er country entirely -- have just ninety days to obtain an Alberta License if they wish to continue legally operating a motor vehicle.

Licenses can be transferred be-tween provinces; and, in the case of some countries, Alberta has what is called “reciprocal agree-ments,” which enable foreign li-cense holders to easily obtain a local license.

However, for many arriving in Al-berta from countries not covered by such an agreement -- such as temporary foreign workers from places such as Mexico, India, Pakistan and the Philippines -- the driver’s licensing process is somewhat more complicated.

And, as OEP has learned, not fol-lowing Alberta’s driver’s licensing rules can lead to signifi cant and sometimes even criminal conse-quences for those who try to un-fairly ignore or bypass the prov-ince’s driving laws.

In this week’s installment, we in-terview Darren Hodson, who is a Senior Investigator and Forensic Document Verifi cation Coordina-tor for Service Alberta. In brief, Hodson, who is also a provincial peace offi cer with the power to lay criminal charges, is responsible for Service Alberta’s verifi cation procedures and programs for the Northern Alberta region. A simi-lar offi ce exists in Calgary for the southern half of Alberta.

CONTINUED ON PG. 3

Volume 3, Number 28 Price: FREEFort Saskatchewan, Alberta • Friday, May 10, 2013

By REECE SELLIN

It may be Emergency Pre-paredness Week across Canada, but the message from the City of Fort Sas-katchewan is that local residents should take di-saster readiness seriously the entire year.

“It’s meant for all of us to know that this is some-thing that needs to be in our minds at all times, not just this week, but as we go through our day-to-day lives, to be prepared in the event of emergency,” the City’s General Man-ager of Community and Protective Services, Ward Antoniuk told OEP.

Antoniuk hopes that the City’s efforts this week, in cooperation with regional, social service and indus-try partners, will be “ab-sorbed by local residents,” and brought into how the Fort’s citizens go about their daily lives.

One of those efforts was a very successful barbecue held in front of Station Square Sobeys on Tues-day afternoon -- which also demonstrated the City’s commitment to public engagement when it comes to disaster readi-ness.

“We’re looking at a num-ber of means of communi-cation to our community about the roles and re-sponsibilities each of us has in the event of a ma-jor emergency,” explained Antoniuk. “And that re-ally relates back to if an emergency happens in our community, it likely will take time for emergency workers to reach you -- so we need to be prepared to take care of ourselves and our loved ones for a mini-mum period of 72 hours,” he continued.

The City’s outreach is also going beyond individual residents, and also en-

gaging community part-ners. Although front-line emergency responders of course play a key role in providing assistance in any major disaster, An-toniuk points out that lo-cal social service agencies would also likely play an important part in helping residents.

“One of the roles of the municipality is, of course in the event of a major incident, the reception centre may be activated,” said Antoniuk, citing how social service agencies would be involved in di-saster response. “There-fore, we would call upon members of local agen-cies to assist us to get residents registered and through there, and make sure each of their needs are identifi ed with respect to clothing, food, medica-tions, whether they have pets, and so on.”

CONTINUED ON PG. 6

Over Easy, PleaseHappy Mother’s Day!

LOCAL

New Café to Open Soon P. 8

GETTIN’ MORE OF THEGOOD STUFF

“Drive and Let Live” P. 6

42 days until Summer!

ARE YOU PREPARED?

Ward Antoniuk, the City of Fort Saskatchewan’s General Manager of Community and Protective Services, prepares hotdogs at Tuesday’s Emergency Preparedness Barbecue at Sobeys. Photo: Reece Sellin

Published in print and online every Friday

SAT SUN MON L: 4 L: 13 L: 10

H: 25 H: 27 H: 23

TUE 17/6SUNNY

WED 20/4SUNNY

THU 23/8P .CLOUDY

FRI 22/8P. CLOUDY

Over Easy, Please May 10, 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

11228-87 Avenue, Fort Saskatchewantaxifort@telus.net

Repair and Servicing • Wheel AlignmentsBuses, Heavy Duty & Light Trucks

Automotive • Licensed Inspection Facility (C.V.I.P.)

Over 100 Varieties of K-Cups Available!We also carry DMC � oss!

SCARS Event!

Saturday May 1110:00 AM

The IssueA Tribute to Mothers

By OEP Editor JUDY SELLIN

P e r h a p s being a m o t h e r can be ranked as one of the most im-p o r t a n t jobs ever.

But for most mothers, being one is not really a job. Rear-ing children, be it now or sixty years ago, always had challeng-es... striving to do the best we could with what we had.

There was a time not so long ago that stay-at-home moms were really frowned upon; like there wasn’t, or still isn’t, a great amount of work that goes into motherhood at any time.

And, for most of us, we have memories of our mothers -- some good, and maybe for some, not so good. Some may have been raised by grandmothers, aunts, siblings or foster moth-ers. But whomever was the mother fi gure in our lives, they did play a very important role... be it they raised us, or be it that they could only give us life.

Sunday is Mother’s Day, a day to refl ect on the woman, the

mother, who gave relentless hours of her time to her fam-ily. I have never met a perfect mother yet, and doubt that I ever will. But, I have met many mothers who have tried their very best to be a mother their children will honor.

This Mother’s Day, do your heart good by making sure you honor your mother in some way, be it giving her fl owers, giving her a card, or making that phone call just to let her know that she is appreciated.

A mother is a mother forever... let your mother know she is honored!

Expanded services at local salon

Downtown Fort Saskatch-ewan’s Blondes, Brunettes & Redheads (BBR) Salon has re-cently expanded its services.

BBR esthetician Adriana is now offering Swedish relax-ation massage from Tuesday to Saturday by appointment. The service is billed as a way for clients to improve circula-tion, release tension, and in-crease fl exibility. Prices start at $45 for a half-hour session, with one hour and one-and-a-half hour slots available.

BBR is also pleased to welcome their new stylist, Megan. Ap-pointments with her can be booked by calling 780.589.3839 or by visiting the salon at 10202 100 Ave.

Top: BBR Stylist Megan.Bottom: BBR Esthetician / Masseuse Adriana

Foul Play Ruled out in LRT death

The Edmonton Police Service has determined the manner of death of the male struck by an LRT train on Monday, May 6, 2013 as non-criminal.

The Edmonton Police Service responded to a call of a pedes-trian struck by an LRT train early Monday morning.

The train was heading south-bound to begin the day on Mon-day, May 6, 2013 when it came across a body on the tracks be-tween the Coliseum and Belve-dere stations.

The train was stopped as soon as possible, however the male was declared dead at the scene.

RCMP Look For Robbers

The Strathcona County RCMP is on the lookout for a pair of armed robbery suspects who held up a pair of Sherwood Park convenience stores on Monday, April 29, 2013.

The fi rst suspect is described as a dark complected male, ap-proximately 6’ 1” tall and 220 lbs. He was wearing an green Edmonton Eskimos hoodie, dark pants and sneakers dur-ing the fi rst robbery and a dark colored hoodie with dark pants and sneakers during the sec-ond incident.

The other suspect is pproxi-

mately 5”7’ tall, weighing 190 lbs. He was wearing a red ball cap with black balaclava and a dark colored jacket, pants and sneakers.

Anyone with information on these crimes is encouraged to contact the Strathcona County RCMP at 780-467-7741 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

May 10, 2013 Page 3Over Easy, Please

LICENSES, CONT.

We talked with Darren about how foreign licenses are authenticated in Alber-ta -- a common procedure for those coming from other countries, who may have driving experience in their home jurisdiction, and who may wish to therefore skip some of Alberta’s graduated licensing process.

OEP: “Is it correct that all foreign licensing documents are sent to your offi ce for verifi cation?”DH: “We examine them all forensically. We do occa-sionally fi nd a reciprocal li-cense that is fraudulent, but by far, it is a much smaller number than countries that are non-reciprocal... all the other ones, they get their licenses on the back end. So what happens is they make their application for GDL-exemption... and then the application comes from the Registry Agent to ei-ther my offi ce or the offi ce in Calgary... and we exam-ine them. If we forensically authenticate them, we will backdate the driving histo-ry to the date on the out-of-country license... It allows an individual to bypass the learner phase, possibly the basic road test, and allows them to go straight to the advanced road test, depend-ing on if they have more than two years of experi-ence or not. We’re one of the only jurisdictions that back-dates... [And] we’re also one of the only provinces that actually forensically exam-ines the documents.”

OEP: “Do you think other provinces may be missing some things?”DH: “I know they are -- I know there are examples where a document has been surrendered to [another province]... and then a per-son will then surrender that exact same license to Al-berta, I will determine that it’s fraudulent, and then contact the [other province]. Alberta is, by far, the coun-try leader, and in fact the North American leader as far as forensic document ex-amination and the security quality, facial recognition, the whole process...”

OEP: “How many docu-ments go through your pro-cess that are fraudulent or can’t be verifi ed?”DH: “This program started in 2006... when we started doing the forensic examina-tion, they were estimated that 25% of the documents that were being forwarded at the time were suspect or fraudulent. That number has dropped to just below 2%... In the month of March, my offi ce examined 774 ap-plications... out of that num-ber, 22 of them were deter-mined to be fraudulent...”

OEP: “What can happen if someone knowingly submits something that’s fraudu-lent?”DH: “If someone submits a document to the Alberta Government that they know is fraudulent, that is re-ferred to as uttering a forged document. It’s a Criminal

Code offence. Within our unit, we do lay charges. I think since our unit start-ed back in 2006, we’ve laid over 700 criminal charges.”

OEP: “You use some pretty state of the art technology in your department...”DH: “It’s fairly state-of-the-art... [for example, the VSC] is an instrument that allows us to look at docu-ments... using a variety of light sources and the entire light spectrum from UV to IR. So that assists us with various security features on different kinds of docu-ments, whether it’s lami-nate overlays or holograms or raised print or windows or UV -- anything you can think of. It’s the same type of instrument you’d see on CSI all the time, when you watch the show... that [show] obviously is made up, but it does come up with the same result... We have image suites that we use with them that al-lows us to take snapshots of what we’re looking at on our instruments to show to suspects or other people to show what we’re looking at and why we have concerns with documents.”

OEP: “How do people end up with fraudulent licens-es?”DH: “The standards of ob-taining a driver’s license in many parts of the world are you know someone, you pay for it, you buy somebody alcohol, you know someone who can get it for you, and that’s just how it’s done... We understand that. And, often, some of the people from these jurisdictions are victims through that they don’t know the documents they are getting are not genuine. Because, some-times, the documents are being sold under the coun-ter by registry agents with-in those jurisdictions...

Now, not all of them are victimized -- because in the case of the Philippines for example, there’s a specifi c group of people referred to

as ‘fi xers...’ They’re more of a middleman kind of a thing... We even say on our GDL Exemption user guide that we have on the inter-net, do not use a fi xer, be-cause you’re not going to get a genuine document. It’s a middleman that’s a scam-mer. And it’s not just in the Philippines; there’s other countries that even refer to them by the same name.”

OEP: “If someone is unsure about the validity of their documents, what would you tell them to do?”DH: “Honesty is the best policy. When you go into the Registry Offi ce and you submit your documents... they should be up front right at the time, be telling the Registry agent that... and we would deal with that situation on a case-by-case basis... We’re not out to ruin people’s lives, but we do have a responsibility to only give driving history to people who can prove that they have it.”

OEP: “Lastly, can you tell me a bit about international driver’s licenses?”DH: “There’s no such thing as an international driver’s license... the proper name is an international driver per-mit (IDP)... it’s meant to be a translation document that is accompanied by a valid driver’s license. The only thing an IDP actually does is tell law enforcement... what type of vehicle that person is allowed to drive on their out of country license... Regardless of the validity date on the IDP, what we’re concerned with is the valid-ity date on the license. If the license is expired, it doesn’t matter what the expiry date on the IDP is.

A temporary foreign worker has ninety days to transfer their out-of-country license to an Alberta license. At that time, they should be surrendering their out-of-country license and IDP. Because what’s happening is they’re driving on their IDPs without their license.”

Over Easy, Please May 10, 2013 Page 4

SCARS Pet of the Week - Widdacur

Ouch!! I just found out that foster mom, my biggest fan, my main (wo)man has been telling people that she thinks I’m the strangest mix? Go fi g-ure...and here I thought I was rockin’ this look! I’ve got the ears and long body of a corgi but my size suggests some-thing a little bigger....maybe even some Husky!

I’m super people friendly but I’m a little selective about my doggie buddies.

Guess you could say I’m more of a ladies’ man cause my best-est friend is Sadie. She’s ex-ceptional! We LOVE to play together and she even puts up with all my roughhousing an-tics. She probably knows that I’m kinda sweet on her.

I’m a high energy guy so I defi -nitely need my exercise. I’m great off leash and love my daily quad rides through the trails.

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

Photo of the Week

Sunny Smiles Beautiful Babes

Inspirational Thought

Decorate your home or a spe-cial room in your home in your style and let your creativity fl ow.

Spiritual ThoughtEvery time you hear an emergency vehicle, pray for all that may be involved in that situation. It is a good spiritual habit of prayer to practice in your life.

Random Act of Giving Suggestion

On Mother’s Day take the op-portunity to write your mother that personal letter you often have thought about doing. If your mother has passed on still purchase her a mother’s

day card...put a personal note in it for her from you and place it in a special and private place for your viewing only.

Two Thumbs DownTo fast food workers who use the washroom, never wash their hands and then go imme-diately to prepare food. Food Safety?!

High FiveTo those who remember some-one else’s mother on Mother’s Day.

Book of the WeekI am my Mother’s Daughter -- Iris Krasnow

Song of the WeekMama’s Song -- Carrie Under-wood

A Spoonful of Sugar...

for a Mother’s Day orange juice is easy and delightful. Take a chilled clear glass or wine glass and dip the rim in lemon or lime juice then immediately dip the rim into a measure of white sugar. The rim of the glass use have a sugary crystal appearance. Add crushed ice and orange with a fresh straw-berry garnish and serve your Mom a lovely breakfast drink.

Funny YokesQ: Why was the Hen sad?A: Because all her chicken littles grew up to chicken bigs.Q: Why are most chickens roasted feet up?A: It is easier to fi t them in the roaster that way.

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.

Constantine, 3.5-years-old (L); Elijah, 13 mos. (C) and Ezekiel, 13 mos. (R) at Walmart McDonalds last week. Last Week’s celebrity babe: Bill

Clinton

Don, Debbie and Lisa @ the Children’s Miracle Network BBQ. Fort Walmart associates raise funds each year to reach a goal of $5,000 by

having staff bake sales, recycling bottles and other endeavors.

7 38 7 2

2 9 1 7 51 9

9 2 46 5

6 3 9 4 77 8 3

6 9

© 2

011

Syn

dica

ted

Puz

zles

, Inc

.

5 4 8 7 6 9 2 3 13 9 1 8 5 2 6 4 77 2 6 1 4 3 8 5 98 3 5 6 9 7 4 1 22 1 7 4 3 8 9 6 59 6 4 5 2 1 7 8 34 8 2 9 1 5 3 7 61 7 3 2 8 6 5 9 46 5 9 3 7 4 1 2 8

SUDOKU

To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely.

For many strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org

If you like Sudoku you’ll really like ‘Str8ts’ and our other puzzles, Apps and books. Visit www.str8ts.com

The solutions will be published here in the next issue.

No. 124 Medium Previous solution - Easy

Prepared Pup. This prepared pooch, decked out in a fi re helmet, thinks that you should be sure that you have extra food, water and other pet needs along with your family’s emergency kit preparations.

May 10, 2013 Page 5Over Easy, Please

By Fort Sask Life Church Pastor BILL OLSEN

Only in Al-a-ber-ta can you have a blizzard with a wind chill of -20C, complete

with a whiteout and then have a +30C heat wave with-in seven days of each other... this really is a unique place in which we live, don’t you think? By the way, I RE-ALLY like +30C. It suits me just fi ne. But now we have our 12 week sprint before the frosty days in August take over, then we start polishing up our snow shov-els and blowers once again. Sorry, I really do try to be an optimist.

I love seeing people out in t-shirts and sunglasses, en-joying the warmth, allow-ing the sun starved skin to get some sun vitamins and a little colour. I have a friend who is black that called us white folks co-loured because, when we’re born, we’re pink, then we turn white, we go out in the sun then turn red, and if we tan, we turn brown, when we hurt ourselves, we turn purple, and if we hold our breath too long, we turn blue. I believe he’s right -- we are coloured... multi-coloured -- and that’s as in-teresting as our weather!

Anyway, I guess I didn’t re-ally have anything brilliant

Heart & Soul: A Little

Encouragement

to say, so I thought I would waste your precious time and suck you into some com-plete foolishness and try to make it interesting at least. Hopefully it’s working!

Actually that’s not true... Lately, I’ve been on this soapbox about seeing good things in others, then “call-ing it out”. To be one who can inspire another to do what seems to be impossi-ble. People on planet Earth do this every day. They literally move mountains to get at coal, put a water-way or a river where there isn’t one (and move massive ships through them), plant forests, and even irrigate deserts and turn them into oases.

I watched a presentation a few years ago, where an NGO went into a country that was just that: a desert. They sent in their big equip-ment and built a waterway that fi lled a lake they had dug, planted trees and veg-etation and then began irri-gating and farming the area around it. The layout was in a bit of a valley, so with the hills surrounding the lake, it actually began to affect the weather enough that it began to rain and helped to sustain itself. I fi gure if someone can come up with an idea like that, we can en-courage each other to reach for the “stars” just a little.

I’m always impressed with anyone who comes up with a unique solution for a prob-lem that seems to have no resolution. We truly are a creative bunch, that have the ability to do incredible things... if we can use this stuff to build people and

healthy communities we could change the world... but we have to put away our self-serving, self-entitle-ment in order for it to work.

I’m am of the belief, and have proven it to work, that if you constantly look for opportunities to be a bless-ing to others, build them up, and call out the hidden good stuff in them... you’ll always reap the benefi ts of your efforts. I always enjoy being near those who are encouraging me to reach a little further. I fi nd that as I’m being “stretched,” seem-ingly impossible things are attained, and the courage to try other ventures seems reachable.

Maybe we just need a little warm sunshine to help get things going. It always puts us in a better mood... While we’re out walking and en-joying the break from win-ter, we can encourage the child who’s learning how to ride their bike, along with the teenager who is com-ing out of a huge depres-sion and needs a little light to shine. Maybe the single mom who has lost their partner can use a little help to turn things around and the Grandpa who now lives alone could use a friend to tell his stories to... All of these individuals have good things inside... it’ll be more visible when there are those who take the time to care, and through encourage-ment, begin to “call” it out into the open. God gave us each other and all this that surrounds us to look after. I think we can do a much bet-ter job of it... we just need a little encouragement to do so! 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 10, 2013 Page 6

Gettin’ More of the Good Stu� “Drive and Let Live”

By IAN HOPE

Today I want to talk about the impor-tance of life, both the lives of others as well as your own

life. What provokes me to write on this topic is the tragic death last week of a young man who was driv-ing his truck on the road’s shoulder while trying to pass a left-turning vehicle. This happened just a few ki-lometers west of the Fort on Highway 15, when his front

bumper collided with the back of the other vehicle, causing him to veer into the ditch.

It happened at a very busy ‘T’ intersection where the west-to-east running road-way has only one lane on each side, and where driv-ers very occasionally turn left (legally) to travel north to their homes along that road. When this happens at rush hour, the traffi c can really slow down. All too often, impatient drivers take to the shoulder to pass, even though passing on a shoulder is well known to be strictly outside the rules of safe-driving, and results in very large tickets and major demerits when caught.

Each time I turn left there, I grimace as I wait to make

my turn while looking in my rear view mirror at the maniacal drivers speed-ing up behind me, illegally on the shoulder and just inches away from my pas-senger side rear bumper. I was so concerned about this intersection, that almost a decade ago, I wrote to the Minister of Transporta-tion, pleading for them to do something about what I told them was a ‘sure thing’ for major accidents and fatali-ties.

Not surprisingly, the mail was bounced down the line to a bureaucrat who re-sponded that the highway was within their ‘standards’ for such a highway with a 100 km/h speed limit. Hmm, I wondered how it was that two lanes at 100 km per hour on a straight piece of double-lane high-way would not warrant re-duction when the road nar-rows to one lane, and then dips and twists while fl ow-ing by an almost hidden ‘T’ rural intersection. I had suggested the speed limit should be 80 km per hour given those variables.

In this case, I feel the gov-ernment failed to give due regard to the hazards that had been pointed out. We can’t always be sure that the roads have been made completely safe, or that

something won’t happen in front of us that we may not be prepared to deal with. Indeed, the only tool that may be available at any mo-ment on the road, folks, is our own skill and mature attitude as a driver.

Almost everyone I know would say, “I’m a good driv-er”, yet in reality, many peo-ple simply are not good driv-ers. In order to say that you are a ‘good’ driver, it would have to also be true that you are a ‘safe’ driver and a ‘pa-tient’ driver, and one who is committed to following the rules of the road. It would also require that you under-stand that the rules apply to everyone, including YOU!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been motoring across the bridge on High-way 15 and had to slam on my brakes when an incon-siderate (and yes, POOR) driver suddenly decides to turn left at the end of the bridge - both sides of the roadway are clearly marked by signs that say ‘NO LEFT TURN’ with menacing red slashes over the left turn arrow. But these selfi sh and thoughtless drivers ob-viously have the attitude: “that rule applies to every-one else- not to ME!” This, even though the taxpayers have gone to great expense to provide not one, but two

side roads, that allow right turning vehicles on both sides of the highway safe ac-cess to Lamoureux Road.

I confess to hating the word ‘accident’ when it comes to motor vehicles, since that often gives the impression that the mishap involving injuries or death, was both unintentional and unavoid-able. The truth though is almost ALL motor vehicle accidents are AVOIDABLE. I apologize for capitalizing, as I know that in today’s text world, that is a form of shouting, but this is af-ter all, a matter of life and death - so please do let me yell this time. I beg of you, drive today and always like your life and the lives of others depend on your skills, your attention behind the wheel, and your willingness to obey all of the rules and laws. Drive and let live… as you think, so you drive…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

EMERGENCIES, CONT.

For those looking to get bet-ter prepared for an emer-gency, Antoniuk says there are a range of resources available. For example, the City’s Emergency Action Guide -- a magnet-backed preparedness guide de-signed to be placed on the fridge -- is available at the Fire Hall. “This guide is going to help all of us to be better prepared,” said Anto-niuk.

Notably, that guide recom-mends that residents also have a 72 hour emergency kit for themselves and their loved ones. A checklist of items, is provided in the guide.

Antoniuk also suggests that residents ensure they are registered with the North-east Region CAER call-out

system, which is one of sev-eral means by which the City can get information out to affected residents in the case of a local emergency.

“We would like residents to know if they haven’t reg-istered already for the NR CAER call-out system, that they can call 780.424.0162 or log on to NR CAER site www.nrcaer.com,” Antoniuk said. The NR CAER update line at 1.866.653.9959 can also provide information on specifi c incidents or odd ac-tivities. The callout system would also be supplemented by many other information outlets in the case of an emergency, says Antoniuk. “We’re going to be utilizing virtually every means pos-sible,” he confi rmed, includ-ing social media such as Twitter, the City’s website

at www.fortsask.ca, and possibly the community’s si-ren system and the Alberta Emergency Notifi cation sys-tem.

Speaking specifi cally to a si-ren system activation, Anto-niuk told OEP that “the idea with the siren activation is to seek information immedi-ately, and stay tuned for ac-tion that may be required of you.” He suggests a servo-powered radio may also be useful in situations where there is potentially a power outage along with an active need to distribute instruc-tions to local residents.

And lastly, Antoniuk point-ed out that ensuring we are ready for an emergency is something that requires a community-wide effort. “It’s a responsibility we all share for our own safety and protection.”

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.

GARAGE SALEJosephburg Community Church

May 25, 20139:00 - 8:00 pm21380 Twp. Rd. 550

Intersection of Twp. Rd. 550 & Hwy 215Josephburg

Roses F� Rosa

May 10, 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

From Burundi, Africa

“The Other Heroes”

BY OLIVIER N.

Here is s o m e -t h i n g I have noticed in so-c i e t y : p e o p l e o f t e n r e c o g -n i z e

good in others once they are not here any longer. You’ll hear them say, “that was a great man,” or “she was a great woman,” and “we’ll miss them.”

However, most of the time when these people are still around, they aren’t recog-nized, or people only taken them for granted.

There is a Burundian say-ing: “Uwambaye ikirezi ntamenya ko cera”. We often take precious things

for granted until the day we lose them.

To have a caring and lov-ing family is not some-thing we should take for granted, because there are millions who are living in a familial crisis around the globe; having a dad or a mother is the most valu-able gift one can have on earth.

If you still have both of them, perhaps you may not understand how it is to not have them both, or either of them… but you should be grateful and cherish them more than anything.

Having grown without a father, I know how it feels not to have a father’s love and affection – still I can-not imagine how much worse it can be not to have a mother’s love and care. I esteem myself as being more than blessed to still have her around.

Have you ever imagined how it could be for some-

one who does not have anyone to call ‘brother or sister?’ I have seen this in China – a Chinese friend of mine was always amazed with large African families – they were only fi ve in three generations: grandma, grandpa, two parents and herself. She so wanted to have a sister she could talk to, or an old brother to protect her.

There are things that tru-ly move my heart when an ‘ordinary’ person does a ‘little’ thing that people will recognize. Yes, we do not need to be ‘extraordi-nary’ to do ‘outstanding’ deeds. The little we can do with a good heart can be extraordinarily unfor-gettable – that’s actually what makes people excep-tional and remarkable in our communities.

It is very encouraging and inspiring when a City Mayor recognizes an or-dinary kid who tried his best to save his friend, or a police offi cer to be honor-ably awarded for their out-

standing work to protect the community, or a boss recognizing an employee to be the ‘best employee’ of the year, or a University rewarding the outstand-ing effort of its students to achieve their academic goals and involvement in community services, etc. It is really inspiring to know there are people who care, and who give the best of ourselves to their neighbors, their com-munity, and the world.

We should not take all of those people for granted. Because, the day they aren’t here, our lives can’t remain the same – they are our heroes. Be thank-ful we still have them with us, and let us tell them we appreciate it when they give us their best. And, let them know we love them.

Have a wonderful week-end, and as always, give the best of yourselves to those who know you, and the world around you, and God the Creator will be proud.

Sheep Unveiled

A new public art project here in Fort Saskatchewan was unveiled last week.

“Olive,” a life-size sculpture of a sheep that pays homage to the lon-gest-serving member of the City’s ovine lawn-mowing crew, saw its fi rst public display last Saturday.

The sculpture was created by Don & Shirley Begg, of Studio West lo-cated in Cochrane.

Over Easy, Please May 10, 2013 Page 8

Except where otherwise copyrighted, all content of this newspaper, includ-ing advertisements, is Copyright 2013, Tuckbook Inc. Editor: Judy Sellin (judy@overeasyplease.com); Senior Editor: Reece Sellin (reece@overeasyplease.com); Advertising In-quiries: (ads@overeasyplease.com); Mail: PO Box 3153, Fort Saskatch-ewan, AB, T8L 2T2; Phone: 780-934-0139.

Visit Us On The Web

at www.overeasyplease.com

Live DJ every Thursday and Friday.

Make your requests!

Biscuits and Gravy: Wing and

a PrayerBy BRIAN MASONbrian@overeasyplease.com

A few y e a r s back now, I was h e a d e d back to-w a r d s E d m o n -ton from

the town of Vulcan, Alberta. Now the true geek I am -- yes I may be a red blood-ed through and through redneck -- but I’m also a true geek. But while driv-ing down the highway, I crested a hill only to fi nd a rather large hawk seated somewhat comfortably in the road. Now, a hawk is nothing unusal in the coun-try, but one in the road was something completely dif-ferent. This buzzard was seated as comfortably as a pig in a Mississippi mud hole in the summer sun, and wasn’t movin’ for anything, not even my car. Well, I swerved and thankfully missed the feathered fell-er, and made a quick turn around and headed back to-wards the hawk. Well I pulled off to the side of the road and got out. Something just didn’t seem right. Walking up, the hawk made an attempt to fl y, but was having some diffi culty. He could extend his wings; which he did and could about bear hug my little car with the size of his wings, but couldn’t get air-borne. Well, he kept a good eye on me, and made pretty good intentions on what he would do with his razor sharp claws and beak that would no doubt love to take a quick little peck in my di-

rection. I had no intention on harmin’ the critter, no I didn’t think about lunch in this situation, but he wasn’t entirely certain about that. Not much meat on those bones anyways. With his array of weaponry available, and my lack of the same, I fi gured the only way to approach the matter was diplomatically. So heading to the back of the car I got out my old heavy trench-coat. For once my love of odd clothing choices paid off. I fi gured it was thick enough to help me in my plight. Cars were starting to swerve past me and the hawk, only being tipped off by my hazard lights. I knew I had to get this feller off the road fast before either of us were hurt. Well, I opened that big trenchcoat and the hawk stretched out his enormous wings. As I moved closer I began to notice a shadow and hear that ever iconic sound of a hawk. Yet, it wasn’t coming from the feller I was trying to slip up on. I looked up and dis-covered that this gent had a very dedicated compan-ion. She swooped down a couple of times to try to get a better look but never once came close enough to endan-ger me, so I fi gured maybe she had an idea of what I was trying to do in the fi rst place. But before I could try and toss that coat over top of the hawk, an old beat up pickup truck pulled up and a white-haired feller got out. The old farmer took the coat from my hands and walked around the bird. While I dis-tracted the hawk he tossed the coat over top to confuse and shut out the light for the hawk and carefully picked him up and walked him into the tall grass off the road to give him a place to hide to

heal. The hawk never made a single fuss, almost as if he knew what we were trying to do. The old man came up and we talked for a bit and confi rmed what I was thinking that the hawk had a bruised, yet not broken, wing. He handed the coat back to me, and thanked me for taking the time to try and rescue the bird, some-thing he didn’t see people do often. All the while he was watching the lady hawk cir-cling over head, protecting her mate. I left there shortly after-wards, but it really got me to thinking about all the dy-namics involved. It got me to pondering not only the relationship we have with loved ones, and the unfet-tered protection they offer without question when we are in jeopardy, but also the aid of those around us.

You see folks, even when life comes to dire circum-stances, when we’re placed in a circumstance where it seems that all hope is lost, when we are trapped be-tween lanes of danger with no hope of retreat, there are still those chances that a prayer can be answered. Now, you may think that humanity has lost its chiv-alrous nature, but folks, there is hope out there no matter the circumstances involved. We can sit on the highway of life and let the dangers and evil of life run us over without a care. We can let despair drag us down. Or, we can trust in those who watch over us, the loved ones who would give their lives to protect us, rather than leave our side. We can trust in those who come to our aid, and rather than lashing out at them, trust that they are there to be that prayer -- fl ying in on a wing of our prayer.

Flimsy Whimsy: Team

By JAI MURUGAN jai@overeasyplease.com

T h e r e w e r e u s u a l l y the four b r o t h -ers, the minimum n u m b e r to pick two teams and have

a game. The Imaginary brothers stayed away for fear of not being accepted.Games then were born of poverty and imagination, not from media hype to pro-mote capitalism, such as the necessity of three hun-dred dollar hockey sticks.

My favourite category wasn’t those that involved balls, or those that involved nets, or even those that involved exercise. Undeni-ably earthy, it was those that involved spittle. Cus-tomarily pure unadulter-ated spittle, but occasion-ally some foreign object like a watermelon seed, a paper wad, or penny thrown in.

If you had a cold, you weren’t allowed to compete, for that was quite natu-rally an unfair advantage. Similarly, the use of any liquid that may substitute

for, or stimulate saliva was banned - forbidden as per the holy but unwritten rule book.

Certainly there was no theft of Dad’s ‘Hagen. That would have been easily de-tected by the colour code. The gooey stuff had to be produced biologically, with-out outside interference of any kind.

There were many vari-ances: distance, targets, quantity, rate, or combi-nations of both. When it came my turn to choose and there were no watermelons around, it would be: Which team can fi ll the cup high-est in ten minutes from aiming directly above, but without bending the knees?

Back then I had no idea why, but I seemed to have uncanny ability at this one; therefore it behooved me to choose it. The team would take turns hovering over the glass. Whilst one would aim, the other would work on creation of more slime, each facet a defi nite skill in and of itself. (Mother was never impressed if we forgot to wash the glasses when the fat lady sang.)

Many years later, my den-tist mentioned I have atypi-cal highly productive saliva glands. I keep it a secret. Some brothers hold grudg-es.

New Café Opening

Fort Saskatchewan’s cof-fee connoisseurs will soon have another café option to choose from.

Tamara Bellamy and her husband, Dwayne Lakusta, plan to open Fort Saskatch-ewan’s fi rst Second Cup franchise on May 19th. The outlet will be located near the new Rexall drug store in Southfort.

Bellamy told OEP that the Fort Saskatchewan location has been in the making for nearly four years.

For Bellamy, what began as a customer’s passion for Second Cup’s premium cof-fee and relaxing atmosphere soon grew into a desire to open her own outlet.

Working a stressful job in the past, she found Second Cup to offer what she terms “a little escape.”

“Second cup, for me as a cus-tomer, gave me that little bit

of serenity,” she explained.

When the opportunity came up to open a franchise, and in turn deliver that seren-ity to other people, Bellamy decided to take the business plunge and open her own outlet.

“I love it, as a customer. Therefore, it was my only choice,” she says.

Second Cup, which was founded in 1975, currently boasts more than 360 cafés across Canada.