ECA Review 2019-04-17

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2 April 18'19 HANNA/CORONATION/STETTLER, AB. ECA REVIEW OPINION The opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of this newspaper. EDITORIAL Fact or opinion R R R R R Published by Coronation Review Limited Brenda Schimke ECA Review Last week I was asked to speak to a couple of Grade 7 Language Arts classes about my work in journalism. It was a pleasant surprise that students were being taught how to write opinion pieces and news stories and learn the difference between writing fact versus writing opinion. Thank goodness, alternate facts were not an option! We talked about getting ideas and content and the pitfalls of not doing our due diligence to gather facts and ensure our opinion writing was informed and fact-based. “ Interacting with people of different backgrounds, religions, viewpoints and economic status, and travel outside the North American bubble were also important to keep us away from silo thinking. Specifically, I encouraged the students to seek facts from published newspaper articles, magazines, journals and books or watch documentaries and podcasts which have independent oversight and rules governing their accuracy. For this newspaper, our check on facts and slander is the National NewsMedia Council. Interacting with people of different backgrounds, religions, viewpoints and economic status, and travel outside the North American bubble were also important to keep us away from silo thinking. Then I emphasized the two areas that do not shape my opinion—social media and the opinion of others — which include antidotal stories from friends and acquaintances and talking heads on radio, TV or online. “ An antidotal story going around this election season and was told to me by a dearly loved person. She said, “Her friend’s daughter in Lacombe had been forced by her teacher to join a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA).” My follow-up questions included. “What did the parent do?” “Did the principal handle the situation to her satisfaction?” “Did she have to take it higher up to the School Board or Minister of Education?” Alas, this friend-of-a-friend did not have an answer for any of my questions. Even though I love and admire this person, I put absolutely no credence in the story, nor did I pass it on to others as fact. When the outcome is left to our imagination, it should set off warning bells. I personally don’t believe there is a principal, school board or Minister of Education who wouldn’t have taken this complaint seriously and acted appropriately. It’s human nature to accept a ‘story’ from a friend and pass it on. It is also in our human nature to assume things we hear over and over again are most important, when in fact they could be a distraction from what is truly important. Like the teeny-tiny little bit of time or participation that GSAs make up in a publicly-funded school has been blown out of proportion. Instead it helped distract the electorate from the real issues in Alberta schools—the much-needed approval of the new K-4 curriculum which has significant improvements to both math and language arts curricula, and the underfunding of educational assistants and classroom teachers. Independent thought is being eroded when we are force-fed by mathematical algorithms on social media or follow the opinion of others without reading and thinking for ourselves. We threaten rational debate and civil society when we pass on unverified antidotal stories as fact. Accepting opinions as facts or antidotal stories as truth leaves us under the power of someone else’s opinion which history has shown to be very dangerous. ECA Review prize giveaways Congratulations to all of our winners and thank you to everyone that stopped by our booth this past weekend! Bill Kieser of Castor was the winner at the East Central Alberta (ECA) Review booth at the Stettler Trade Show April 12 - 13, 2019. Kieser won the barbecue co-sponsored by Stettler Home Hardware. Other winners of donated prizes included Jess Wagner of Leduc taking home the Stettler Flooring Giani Granite Paint kit, Wells Furniture stool with train design, Tracey Brost of Stettler. The Fountain Tire $50 gift certificate went to Donna Chapman of Stettler; Auto Trust three oil changes for the price of two was won by John Bruce and Crystal Bardwell, both from Stettler. ECA Review hoodies went to Tammy Blum, Camrose; Kathy Klasssen, Stettler; Peter Brodie Stettler; Audra Lotoski, Stettler and Bill Hallet, Big Valley. The Kids Guessing game was won by Deacon Sutton, the Uncle Tim’s Treats Blanket for guessing closest to the 524 gold nuggets in the pot and the Dairy Queen two kids meal coupons went to Sidney Simon. 72 pt East Central Alberta EVIEW 60 pt 48 pt 36 pt LETTERS POLICY • Letters to the Editor are welcomed • Must be signed and a phone number included so the writer’s identity can be verified. • ECA Review reserves the right to edit letters for legal considerations, taste and brevity. Letters and columns submitted are not necessarily the opinion of this newspaper. MEMBER OF: Office Hours Mon. - Fri. 9 am - 5 pm R 30 pt Subscriptions: 4921 - Victoria Avenue $42.00 in Canada; $74.20 in US; Tel. (403) 578-4111 R 24 pt $135.15 Overseas. (All prices include GST) Mail: Box 70, Coronation, AB Canada, T0C 1C0 Website ECAreview.com NANA’S BLOG Hope for the future? by Lois Perepelitz I think we all know someone who is always talking about how much better things used to be. How things are so much more expensive now, how young people don’t do this or that nowadays, or families don’t do this or that anymore. I have found myself having conversations like this more often lately, but usually with people in my own age group. When my granddaughter gets bored she phones someone, usually her parents or me. She phoned the other day and when I mentioned something about Easter her reaction stunned me. She started with families losing family traditions, fewer and fewer families doing things like Easter egg hunts and decorating with homemade decorations. They don’t make a special day of it with new outfits for Easter Sunday at church and big family suppers. The Easter basket of chocolate goodies has to be bigger and fancier every year. Colouring boiled eggs and a chocolate bunny is not good enough anymore. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a 23-year-old talking. When she started talking about the reasons this is happening, I realized that this girl had been doing some heavy duty thinking about this. She believes that families just don’t have the time or money to do a lot of JOYCE WEBSTER Publisher/Editor publisher@ECAreview.com BONNY WILLIAMS Circulation Manager Perepelitz BRENDA SCHIMKE Editorial Writer TERRI HUXLEY Reporter 587-321-0030 news1@ECAreview.com these things. She blames this on society. Society has people believing that they need the biggest and best of everything. You need the biggest TV, the newest cell phone, the brand name shoes and jeans. All this costs money so you have to work more to get all these things, then you have neither the time nor the energy to do anything so you just go and grab whatever is the quickest. Stores take advantage of this by putting up big fancy displays that make the kids want that so even if you have the time to make up a nice basket at home you don’t because you don’t want your child to be the only one without a big fancy store bought basket. She wishes people would just stop and see that they really do not need all that stuff, society just makes you think you need it. She thinks if people could just ‘see’ then maybe they would stop worrying about what others have and bring back some old family traditions or even make some nice new ones. Does this mean that young people are starting to figure out what has real value and what does not? That maybe, just maybe, some of the things their parents and even grandparents grew up with, might have value? That conversation sure gave me hope for the future. YVONNE THULIEN Manager office@ECAreview.com GAYLE JARAWAY Marketing 403-578-4111 advertise@ECAreview.com LISA MYERS-SORTLAND Graphic Artist JUDY WALGENBACH Marketing 403-740-2492 marketing@ECAreview.com R 18 pt
ECA REVIEW HANNA/CORONATION/STETTLER, AB ApRIL 18'19 3 Intermunicipal Development Plans postponed Terri Huxley ECA Review The provincial government has mandated that each municipality must have an Intermunicipal Development Plan (IDP) with each of their surrounding neighbours. County of Stettler council were presented with two, holding a public hearing at their regular monthly meeting held on Wed. April 10. No written or verbal submissions were received so the hearing closed. Council asked administration how far along the municipalities of Donalda and Big Valley were in the process. They found Big Valley has been transitioning as there is a new CAO so the document has yet to be seen by their councillors. Council determined they would pass only second reading so Big Valley could get caught up before they continue on as they may bring changes in the future which requires further paperwork. Audited 2018 Financial Statement Peggy Weinzierl of Gitzel & Company presented the financial statements and independent auditors report to kick things off at the council meeting. Council approved the 2018 audit and COUNTY OF STETTLER financial statement and appointed Gitzel and Company as their auditor for another year. Weinzierl felt the county was in decent financial shape. A prime example of this was their debt limit which they are nowhere near close to reaching. The Municipal Government Act (MGA) sets a limit of $27.9 million in which a municipality can borrow but the County of Stettler has only $1.2 million tied up with wiggle room of another $24 million. “The province of Alberta probably wishes”, joked Weinzierl. She mentioned that the county is mostly under budget for the majority of their essentials but the Public Works department still takes the most financial support with $11.5 million, 53 per cent of the total budget. Of that large amount, $704,000 is put towards gravel contracting, $1.65 million for gravel material and almost a million in fuel costs. Oil supplier chosen On March 7, the County of Stettler received proposal quotations for the “2019 Supply and Apply Calcium Chloride Brine (32 per cent)”. Rick Green, Director of Engineering and Public Works, felt Kortech HANNA COUNCIL Hanna financially stable Terri Huxley ECA Review As required by the Municipal Government Act, each municipality must submit its financial information return and the auditor’s report on the financial information return, and its financial statements and the auditor’s report on the financial statements to the Minister by May 1 of the year following the year. Council accepted the audit and financial statements after a presentation was made by Jeff Faupel with Endeavor Chartered Accountants at their meeting on Tues. April 9. One of the biggest changes compared to previous years was how the summary and other guidelines are laid out as their findings are now spread over two pages instead of one. The summary now leads the report as well as their opinion. Responsibilities of both parties are outlined on the second page. Overall, the town’s financials were ‘present fairly, in all material aspects’ according to their financial audit opinion. Council, under the guidance of Faupel, went over the total revenue and expenses. Revenue was slightly down by approximately $200,000 as it was Walt’s TRADIN G P O S T Opening Sat., April 6 th at 11 am Featuring Terra Detrick - A Dime For Change Angela Suntjens - Dryland Fabrications 4 st. - 2nd Ave. West, Hanna Ab. Open: Tues - Wed 2:00 - 7:00 pm Thurs - Sat 11:00 am - 7:00 pm budgeted at $7.5 million while expenses exceeded their initial expectations by surpassing their predictions at $6.9 million to $7.5 million. Overall user fees and taxes have been consistent with other years but transportation, protective services, and wastewater treatment and disposal made an increase to their expenses. They don’t budget for amortization which was approximately $985,000. The Town is also waiting on certain grants that would have increased its total revenue. A total of $1.4 million in deferred revenue from 2018’s budget and $1.3 million from 2017 comes from a few important programs and grants. The lion’s share of this came from the Alberta Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) but the town is still waiting on the Federal Gas Tax Fund and the Special Areas RCSC Recreation Advance at $141,139 and $180,000 respectively. The MSI is expected to go towards town infrastructure projects while the federal gas tax has been allocated to certain eligible expenditures Hanna has yet to place money. Faupel mentioned that the town has no real long-term debt but they have entered a new lease for their grader. Turn to Audit, Pg 8 Our Lady of Grace Catholic Parish would like to say Thank You to our community and the surrounding communities who came and supported our Roast Beef Supper. Above all we hope you enjoyed the time of shared fellowship with family and friends Calcium Services Ltd. of Edmonton made the most sense as “We have good luck with Kortech.” The lowest bidder of Camrose provided a unit $0.210/litre while Kortech bid slightly higher at $0.215/litre. Typically, the lowest bidder is chosen but in some instances it can be different as decisions are at the mercy of council. Green further explained that Kortech had changed their source or storage material from tankers to open pond format and the company had issues with their distributor last year as they were not getting the right consistency. It has been known to be a provincial problem. Since they changed their operations, Green wanted to give them a helping hand and mentioned how he had done his homework before thinking Kortech was the best option. Council agreed to stick with Kortech at $0.215/per litre with minimum load size or 21,000 litres, minimum application rate of 10,000 litres/hour per spray truck, and additional spray time $150./ hour. As for calcium, Green has been looking at the material as an alternative to using oil for dust control. Before, it was more expensive to the county as they depended upon outside companies to apply it but this winter they built their own application system to avoid this. This year will act as a trial run for the material in case people want to make the switch. Green mentioned it is environmentally friendly as it is not corrosive or harmful to environment as well as clearances to reassure those who may be concerned. One of the top concerns is making sure the calcium work well with the oil but if all works well, they will be able to replace the oil with calcium as their consistent product. Business Directory Matt Stahl ONSTRUCTION For All Your Carpentry Needs, You Name It We Do it! Hanna, AB 403-857-9885 • mattstahl1987@icloud.com Bill’s Waterwell Services Well Drilling Ltd. Pumps & Repairs Well 403-747-2120 Drilling drillerbill@xplornet.com Pumps & Repairs 403-747-2120 drillerbill@xplornet.com Wecker PLUMBING & HEATING LTD. • Plumbing • Gas Fitting • Air Conditioning • Sheet Metal • Commercial Refrigeration Serving the Big Country (403) 854-4774 Centre Street Hanna, AB Castor Sheet Metal Plumbing Heating & A/C Furnace Repair 403-882-3388 S. Barnes Trucking For Livestock Hauling Call Stan Barnes Res 403 578 3265 Cell 403 575 5264 Professional Directory DENTIST Dr.McIver In Coronation MONDAYS 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Call Anytime for Appointments 578-3811 Located in Coronation Mall East Central Chiropractic & Rehab Dr. Craig Larson, Dr. Carissa Kimpinski, Chad Brummund, Patrick May Hanna, Castor, Consort, Forestburg (403) 854-2110 410 2nd Avenue West, Hanna, AB JEFF M.FAUPEL, CPA, CA MONICA N. FAUPEL, CPA, CA Three Hills - Tues. Coronation - Wed. Oyen - Mon. (by Appt) Canmore - Mon-Fri 800-267-5601 E.Roger Spady Professional Corporation Barrister & Solicitor Coronation Mall Coronation, AB 403-578-3131 Office Hours: Tuesday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. DAVID’S TREE SERVICE - tree pruning - tree removal - height reducing - hedge shaping - disease diagnosis and management I.S.A. Certified 403.741.9635 Big Country Construction & Building Supplies Ltd. • Custom New Homes •All Farm Buildings • Renovations • Windows and Doors • Overhead Doors & Service • Retail Sales Quality Customer Care 403-854-3585 AUTO BODY REPAIR LTD. Quality Collision Repair and Professional Service… Guaranteed! Find out more about us at: www.brennanautobody.com Phone: 403-742-3555 4109 - 48 Avenue, Stettler Kendra Walgenbach, CPA, CA Chris Annand, CPA, CA Naomi Roth, CPA, CGA Kamron Kossowan, CPA P.O. Box 1328 4702 - 51 Ave., Stettler Tel: 403-742-3438 chapmanandco.ca CORONATION VISION CLINIC Dr. Ward ZoBell Tues & Thurs 10 - 4 403-578-3221 HANNA VISION CENTRE Eye Health, Glasses Contacts Dr. Dennis A. Heimdahl Dr. Ward ZoBell Tues, Wed 9-5 Thurs, Fri 9-4 403-854-3003 Fill this space with the professional services you offer. Call now 403-578-4111 UNLIMITED HIGH‐SPEED INTERNET Now Serving: Coronation, Fleet, Talbot, Brownfield, & Veteran. More to come! Plans starting at $50/mo. Packages from 5 to 25Mbps 403.578.4214 Service Wise - We Specialize 403-742-5237 Stettler, AB Kikel Meat Packers Government Inspected Abattoir RR #2 Bashaw, AB Ponoka County 424008 780 372 2178
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ECA Review 2019-04-17

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