Is the first thing that comes to mind is “here we go again another lecture about how to stay safe while using the internet!”  I am not going to go on about the rules of what you should and should not do.  You have heard enough about those, you should know them.  I will say that we talk to you a lot about this subject because we are concerned.  There are a lot of dangers out there, some of them worse than picking up a virus.

Believe it or not we do know what is happening out there.  Maybe not to you exactly but we do know what the trends are.  For example Facebook is a very popular website for connecting with your friends, sharing pictures with them and keeping in touch. Like everything else it has a darker side.  There is a lot of communication that goes on there and we know that some people are not very friendly on Facebook.  They use it as a tool to intimidate, put down and bully people.   Not a very dangerous example but one that is happening.

Another example is the internet predator, they are out there hunting you down for one reason.  Make no mistake these guys are not trying to be your friend just for friendship, they have a more sinister purpose.  They want to use and abuse you and then forget you.  When you first start talking with them they will be great, but they will change.  In fact I bet most of you have been in a chat room and someone has said things to you that have made you feel uncomfortable.  What options do you have there?  Not many, you can close the chat, tell your parents what happened.  We do have options on finding out their identity and possibly proceeding with criminal charges.  How would you feel if you could point these guys out to the police?

We as adults do not give you guys enough credit, you know what makes you feel uncomfortable and you know the difference between right and wrong.  We should be giving you the option of being able to point these guys out.  What they are doing is wrong and it should be easier to put them in a spot light so we can find them and prosecute them.  You should have the power to do that.  Internet service providers should be working with the law enforcement and the federal government to provide a quick and easy way to bring these people to the attention of law enforcement.

How would that make you feel?  Would you feel safer?  Would you feel proud that you did something to help yourself and others?  Something as easy as hitting a button and reporting what they said.

I will be back in the Schools, doing presentations, teaching Dare, meeting with students and providing some form of policing presence while there.    I have noticed that there has been some changes in the all the Schools while I was away.  Changes in staff and changes in the class rooms, there are more split classes this year than last.

I will be blogging again now that I have access to the website.    The last few months have been very busy to say the least.  I have been working like crazy getting DARE going again, trying to resume a presence in the Schools in general just trying to find out what is going on.  I have been doing some drug and driving information presentations which have seemed to be very well received.  I hope to do more presentation in the future for the communities in our area as well.

The incident in February where  two of our members got shot has also caused some interesting things to occur.  One is the county has come together and shown a very high level of support for the two members and our detachment which we do appreciate very much, it’s nice to see that our hard work is appreciated.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that voiced their support.

In March we had invited Liz Murray the author of the book “Homeless to Harvard” to attend the Daysland School and present to the Students.  That evening she did a presentation in Killam for anyone who wished to attend, free of cost.  I attended that presentation and found her message to be a great one.  Different people took away different messages, but it was all good.

I will be trying to get a new message on the board at least once a week, but I have been looking at my calendar and I will be away lots in April.  Check in once in a while.

The loss of a school is a huge blow to the community.  A school is a big attraction to young families, if there is no school will the families stay?  Will no school attract new young families to the community?  Will the teachers stay in the community if they have a long drive to their next job?  What about the spouse of the teacher?  What if that teacher has children?  I think the loss of a school is the death knell of a community, it is just the start.  No school, no residents with children, no new residents, no jobs, no businesses……… no community.

The reason for bringing the closing of the schools up, I have been told is economics.  I think that economics does have a place, but some things are more important than money.  Is it worth the money to send our children to a place where they learn not only how to think, but to become great citizens?  Or do we want to make sure that we save a few dollars in the education system to only spend it later in the Criminal system because our children don’t know how to relate to other people.

Politics have no place in deciding our children’s future, we should be doing what’s best for our children and our community.

The one thing that really concerns me is the fact that we have to bring in a new law to make people pay attention to the road while they are driving.  Aren’t people supposed to be paying attention while they drive?  After all they are in charge of keeping the passengers in their car safe, and the other drivers on the road as well.  Since when did we as a society start having such low regard for our and each others safety that there needs to be a law to regulate it?  Driving is one of those skills that should have our full attention, and we shouldn’t need other people to tell us that.

These costs are not limited to law enforcement but can be and are usually very diverse.  For example there could be costs associated to child welfare, medical, mental, possibly welfare costs; the different areas or agencies that could be involved are virtually limitless.

Alcohol has always been a problem in our society and until we realize that, it always will be.  I am not saying that it cannot be enjoyed responsibly but there is always a certain segment of our society that cannot do that.  One just needs to look at the statistics for impaired driving for confirmation.   In November I had taken the Killam and Sedgewick grade nine class to the Camrose Courthouse to see how our Court system works.  Most of the cases that appeared before the Courts involved alcohol.  Actually only four did not involve alcohol.  Alcohol is the cause of lots of issues in our society and I am glad that the media brought it up, but what is being done about it?

I have to say that this year has had a very good start.  I had the chance to participate in the “welcome students”  activities, and had to say that I really enjoyed it.  I was very surprised to see that the top male student could throw that ball as hard as he did.  The top male was at 116 km/hr, and the top female was 76 km/hr.  I haven’t heard any feed back in regards to the hotdog lunch, but from what I saw everyone was happy to have some free food.

As far as initiation goes, I have to say that the high school students did a good job!  You guys and gals should be proud of yourselves!  Some things happened that should have never happened, but they seem to be isolated incidents.  I am very happy as to how things went, keep it up.