Editorial & Opinion – Page 133 – Morinville News

Reader displeased with denial of tax exemption request

Oct 16, 2011 1

Dear Editor:

I read with interest that the tax exemption was denied for the three non-profit childcare sites in Morinville. As executive director of McCauley Community After School Care Association I would have expected to hear this from the town not from the local newspaper. I would also have appreciated a request from council to attend the meeting to give our view point on this issue. We were given this exemption last year and t is my understanding that town administration recommended an exemption for this year. I believe that we are the only non-profit child care… […]

Letter to the Editor: Resident concerned about franchise fees

Oct 12, 2011 3

To the residents of Morinville, what do Franchise Fees mean to you? Up until a short time ago, it meant a line item on the Electrical bill and the Alberta Gas bills. It is near the bottom of the bill just above the sub-total. I normally just ignore this line as it is the smallest portion of the bill… […]

Editorial: Is Sturgeon County Council dysfunctional?

Oct 11, 2011 2

Watching a councillor squabbling with the mayor over a point of procedure is something that crops up from time to time in any council meeting anywhere in the country. But it seems of late to be the standard operating procedure of Sturgeon County Council, one that causes meetings to drag on longer than they perhaps should and one that (for some councillors) seems to be causing items to get left hanging along with members of Sturgeon County Administration who have to work on material brought to council… […]

Editorial: It really is all about the power of one

Oct 10, 2011 1

Getting up early to attend a 7:30 a.m. breakfast meeting is no thrill on a good day, and doing it on the day our print publication goes to layout is certainly not a good day. But get up we did, along with a smattering of other Morinville business owners to hear motivational speaker Ian Hill talk about how to increase our business and our sense of community by giving more of ourselves. It was a pretty wild concept for many to take in, particularly at so early an hour… […]

Editorial: Foam in the fountain and other musings on schmucks

Oct 2, 2011 1

Stopped at a traffic light in St. Albert I observed three vehicles in a row come to a rolling or no stop at all while rounding the corner to go into Home Depot. A better and more enlightened man would observe the poor folks were in desperate need of some electrical fixture or much-needed part for their toilet that simply could not wait the 2.7 seconds it takes to come to a full stop… […]

Column: Can social media help me find a Job?

Sep 28, 2011 Comments Off

By Melanie Orban, Employment Advisor –
Career Employment and Counselling Services

According to Wikipedia, social media “refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.” Social Media, including networking websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, are tools that can be helpful during your work search. Social media can help you to find job opportunities, network with other professionals, and be noticed by employers and recruiters… […]

Editorial: Saying goodbye to a summer friend

Sep 25, 2011 Comments Off

This past Friday may have marked the end of summer with the fall equinox, but summer in Morinville will officially come to an end this Friday with the final instalment of the Farmer’s Market.

In looking back over the past season we have little reason to thank summer for its efforts this year. Sure, it marked the same period of time on the calendar as it always does, but it didn’t do much for us in the way of… […]

Editorial: A young community needs some young ideas

Sep 18, 2011 1

If the full details on Morinville’s municipal census have shown us anything it is that Morinville is a young community. Seventeen per cent of our population is between the ages of 25 and 34. The median age for a Morinville resident is 33.6 years of age, a figure consistent with data revealed in the previous census. Another 17 per cent of our community is made up of residents between the ages of 12 and 24. […]

Editorial: A little community pride goes a long way

Sep 11, 2011 1

Many of us fall into the trap of focusing on all the things a community lacks or all the things the community and its leadership is doing wrong. Spend ten minutes in a coffee shop anywhere in town and you will hear rumbles and grumbles about photo radar, the school situation, uncut weeds, barking dogs and why a new subdivision doesn’t have sidewalks, parks or other things. We hear grumbles about how council spends too much money on one thing and not enough on something else… […]

Dave Foe’s View: Back to school means all eyes on the road. Yes, that means you

Aug 30, 2011 1

With kids returning to school this week, most RCMP detachments in the province are issuing their cookie-cutter press releases of back-to-school safety tips. Blah, blah, excited children forget safety rules. Blah, blah drivers need to look out for darting children with lunch pails, etc. No, the preceding is not me diminishing the importance of such messages, but rather what it must sound like to many Morinville motorists who hear the annual message re school and road safety. Seems to me people simply aren’t listening or if they are, they don’t seem to give two thoughts in a twin hula hoop about it… […]

Editorial: Distracted driving one outcome of a distracted society

Aug 28, 2011 3

Twenty years ago when the phone rang it was generally for something important, a customer wanting to place an order, a colleague requiring detailed information on some joint work or your mom giving you the latest scoop on aunt Sadie’s recent gall bladder operation. If someone dared to call with the mundane or trivial garbage we now routinely accept we’d all have said, ‘I’m sorry, but I cannot talk now. I’m working.’… […]

Editorial: Champion Petfoods situation stinks

Aug 21, 2011 2

With little more than a week left in August many of us are wondering why we can still smell cooked meat wafting through the air like an abattoir on gossamer wings. Last January we were informed by Champion Petfoods President and CEO Frank Burdzy that come August his company expected to have the plant’s odour problem licked as clean as a bowl of his company’s Orajen pet food… […]

Editorial: What are we to make of society?

Aug 14, 2011 2

My father would often take pieces of bread, break them up in milk, add some sugar, then proceed to eat it. He lived through the depression and the meal is one he would have consumed many times. He continued to eat it on occasion throughout his life even though he could have ate pretty much anything … […]

Letter: Drop off tips from Midstream Support Society

Aug 8, 2011 Comments Off

Dear Neighbours:

It happens most nights. Individuals are unloading their unwanted items behind the Community Corner Drop -In Thrift Store. Normally this is not a problem. Since some items are not suitable for resale it has become a problem… […]

Letter: Resident disappointed and upset about vandalism

Jul 31, 2011 2

Dear Editor:

I write this today and cannot decide if I am more disappointed than I am upset but for sure I am both. Thursday night some person(s) ripped out my flagpole along with the Canadian flag and some of my solar yard lights, threw them on the lawn of my neighbour two doors down who happens to be retired from the armed forces… […]

Editorial: We can learn a lot from our youth

Jul 31, 2011 2

My nephew turns 12 on Aug. 2, and like many young men his age he plays too many video games and watches too many zombie movies. But I’m a curmudgeon who believes that previous generations were superior in all respects… […]