While looking back at the last couple of weeks I am starting to wonder whether the phase of the moon has had some effect on the actions of some people here in Meota.
Those I am wondering about are not regular law abiding citizens of this community, but those who do not have any respect for the property of others.
As you may know from reading my writings over the last while, we had the warm up shack at the skating rink broken into then shortly thereafter the post office became the target of some nefarious types, who stole a number of packages from the building along with some other mail.
Well, they've struck again at the post office and that is why the windows are boarded up. I don't know if there is a good solution to this problem.
At the warm up shack we had to resort to putting expanded metal protection over the windows to deter the vandalism. To this point that has worked well but, the aesthetics have suffered and so has the visibility of the rink surface from inside the building, which was the main purpose of having the window there in the first place.
At the post office building, they may have to resort to some kind of similar non visually pleasing solution to keep the hooligans at bay. In the process it is the whole community that suffers.
How do we as residents respond to the sight of armoured windows and maybe eventually doors all around our community? I have little doubt there is a negative impact on our emotions to live in a town where we have indicators staring us in the face that remind us we are not secure and we are at the mercy of those who do not respect our investment in our homes, public buildings and businesses. What image does it give a visitor who drives down our streets to see bars on windows?
What options do we have? RCMP forces have their plates full with crime levels that at many times are much more serious than the robberies we have here. Their plates are full to the point where they just cannot make a timely response to calls that come in from here.
This was evident a couple of years ago when the local bar was broken into and the only response was no response at all, since all of the officers who would have responded were already busy.
When we, as citizens, see something happening and call in to the North Battleford detachment they are often unable to give the minor offences we have called about any attention. So what can we do?
I have seen citizen groups organized to assist the official police force and in some cases they have done some good, but there is, in some situations, a problem with those who join these groups signing up for the wrong reasons and in the end they have become the problem.
In my younger years there was a town constable who patrolled the town and who would defuse some of these lesser problems and they often had the effect of defusing the escalation of offenses. In those days the younger generation had a higher level of respect for those in office and thus the system worked. Today we see less of this respect for those who are put in the position to uphold the needs of society. This respect, in some instances, was downgraded by the actions of those who were in a position of authority when they let power go to their heads and gave young folks good reason to disrespect them. Respect goes both ways. If we don't give it we don't get it.
Even so, I feel we, as a society, have to take some action to make our residents and businesses have reason to feel that they have some level of security. Yes, this will cost us in our tax rolls, but we either have the choice of paying this way or by having to shell out to repair our community after the damage has been done. It comes down to the old scenario of pay now or pay later. We all have to take some kind of responsibility for the safe living conditions in our communities or suffer the consequences.
In Bridge action over the last while there were a number of gatherings at which they pitted their skills against one another. Nov. 7, in contract bridge, Warren Iverson took first place with Mary Greenwald coming in second. Nov. 14, first place went to Joyce Antoine with Frank Antoine placing second. In duplicate bridge play Nov 8, it was the team of Ray and Marnie Davie taking first with Beatrice Novlan and Jin Hamilton coming in second. Nov. 15, Robert Iverson and Joyce Antoine took top honours with Ray and Marnie Davie placing second.
Card play shifted to Kaiser Nov. 10, with Herman Hoogland taking first place, Anna Tucker coming in second, a tie for third and fourth was held by Ken Tucker and Linda Ard.
Nov. 11 it was canasta at the tables with the winning team being Jean Gansauge and Charlie Walker.
Quote: "It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities." Josiah Charles Stamp
