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.

Also we are still looking for input for a Youth Project, we want to set up something that you, the Youth want.  Like a skateboard park, or somewhere to play video games on a big screen or what ever you guys decide, but we need your input.  So if you think of something let me know.  Here is your chance to get something in your community going that is just for you.

During an assembly later students got to hear from the responders what it is like to have to notify parents their son or daughter was just killed and how the collisions affect responders. A parapalegic came in and spoke about what his dreams were before an instant changed his life, and how he survives day to day now.

Organizers hope the message about distracted driving are understood by the students. The effort is worth it if even one person learns from the demonstration.

Daysland school had students from grades 7-12 attend, Hardisty, Killam, Strome attended sending their grade 9 classes.  We do this project because we value you guys, we want you to make good decisions because as you get older the consequences of your actions gets costlier.  We don’t want to see you get killed or kill someone else.  How would you live with your self is you killed your best friend?  Why find out?  Just avoid the whole thing and make smart decisions.