Dear Editor,
After coming home from the open house on Tuesday evening (Dec. 11) at the Legion to meet Kerry Towle, our MLA from the Wildrose Party, I decided it was time to write a letter to the editor.
First of all, we would like to thank Matt and Kathy Toonders, and Dale and Shirley Mannix for organizing and cohosting the evening get-together. It is always good to meet with those who are more informed and involved in local politics than we are. These people are good watch-dogs. They will howl and hound the politicians whenever necessary.
It was a delight to talk with Kerry Towle again. Kerry is also a force to be reckoned with as she has all her ducks in order, and she knows the facts. Thanks Kerry for doing your job of being our voice as our representative in provincial government … especially to do with our local concern of the closure of straight through crossing on 781/11. The reasons for closure, or not to close, have been hammered out many times. We don’t need to hear them again.
But, allow me to digress for a moment. Being it is the Christmas time of year, our thoughts are somewhat focused on the creator of the universe who left His home in heaven and came, in flesh, to this world. He was the greatest man who ever lived on earth or ever will. Yes, He does have a name and it is Jesus Christ of Nazareth who came to be the Saviour of the world. His teachings turned the world upside down. He told His disciples that He came not to “be served” but to “serve”. He hardly seemed like the right candidate for the messiah as the people wanted a powerful king to rule over them … therefore He was rejected by the elite ruling class of the day.
From my understanding of democracy, the people who are elected to be our representatives are also to be our servants. Please correct me if I am wrong. Kerry has repeatedly said, that she was elected to “serve” the people who elected her. She is doing her job. For some reason or other, she, too, has been rejected by the ruling class of the day in both the local and provincial governments. Why?
The whole issue with the 781/11 intersection, illustrates the point that I want to make. How many more meetings, public outrages, studies, recommendations, accidents and deaths will have to happen before someone hears us.
The time and money wasted with the attempt of re-doing the intersection several times … each time make it more dangerous than the last “improvement”. All the money and resources expended on the said intersection, would have gone a long way towards paying for traffic lights, let alone what it has cost the PUBLIC in smashed vehicles, injuries and lost lives.
Each time their mistakes have to be corrected, we pay. Already people have run into the newest brain wave of an idea — cement barriers which can’t be seen when covered with snow. Will, both the local and provincial public servants be willing to take the ear plugs out and their blinders off and become our servants?
Possibly our local government could also explain why just a select few were invited to attend one of their meetings, only to be visited by a couple of uninvited citizens who weren’t supposed to be there. What was on the agenda that was so secretive? Or was Kerry being put into the lion’s den?
Next year Sylvan Lake will be celebrating her 100th birthday, and from my understanding there are going to be some wonderful events during the summer.
If the remaining few businesses on main street are able to survive, it must be easy to get to main street or they too may have to close their doors. There is a solution. Bulldoze all that paraphernalia off the highway and get some lights there so people from the south can have easy access into our town.
What is the next plan? A local protest by amassing 500 people to stand out on Hwy 11/781 corner demanding the road to be reopened? Why not? I’m sure there would be some media from a couple TV stations willing to come and report the occasion. I have a feeling that council has wiped their hands clean of this issue and is hoping it will eventually die and can be laid to rest.
Winston Churchill famous speech of just a few words, “NEVER GIVE IN, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.
Pat Ammeter … a lifelong, born in Sylvan Lake resident when the beach was big enough so we could play ball. I probably did hear Winston Churchill give that famous speech on the radio