No gripes with newspaper

There hasn't been much activity on my site for the past few months and for good/poor reasons. I've been going through what is called slow fuse but total burn-out. Working 10-14hrs a day with few off will apparently do that and yet I had few complaints.

Despite the bizarre work schedule and writing time-lines, I enjoyed it and come out with no regrets. I put so much time and effort into my articles that it was occasionally depriving me of sleep and sanity. It didn't drive me crazy, just made me wonder why I tried so hard if next week it was going to be in the recycling bin or buried online. Completely worth it though to find and break my limitations and find out what I didn't care for or really enjoyed about the business of writing.

Short list of non-good times:

Fire & collision scenes = Not excitement or drama, only cold, icy & scary to hope it wasn't someone I knew.
County meetings and local politics = more interesting than I'd think and straight out of Leacock's writing.
Local swim meets = splash zone and worse on a cold camera lens and CMOS sensor, but 200 kids -- track a dozen?
School/community fundraisers = nice philanthropic attempts, but came up disappointingly short sometimes.
Economic development committees and a conference or two = exceeded my expectations entirely, but still dry.

Worst part, interviews going hostile or confused, or not even happening for lack of call-back leaving me with half/no article to write on a subject that needed sources to fly.

Most unfun was sleepless nights, away from my lovely lady and close friends, finishing up articles for a few days before deadline. There was always one with notes from a source didn't make sense, or wouldn't be good to quote as questionable facts, even less fun to salvage.

The good parts? When I was told I made a difference in someone's life or non-profit cause, it made up for the rest of a long haul. I wrote about exciting local sports and fun hobbies, tournaments and charities drives. It was an intrinsic reward to hear that I got it right about little known subjects like fur trapping, medical sonar technician, or martial arts training.


Free local sports games and fun concerts, more than I could race between the arenas, pools and community halls on a weekend before Monday deadline. Meeting and interviewing intriguing people was amazing -- more than a few of them shy/humble, but really interesting once they uncorked their hidden passions.

It was half frustration in getting let go because I finally admitted I wasn't cut out for the long hours, short deadlines of a small weekly newspaper, and hard to get to that point. It felt like I had no life even though I was doing an amazing amount of work out in the community and adrenalin high. Yet if I went out for a beer, someone would frown on it.

If I said something controversial, ignored a lobbying interest, or wrote unpopular truth, I would hear about it loudly.

What I did learn the most and enjoy was when an interview turned into something more than the 15 minute special news spot and a feature worth profiling something out of the ordinary. Those were the best parts when I could pitch something to my editor that was more than basics. For the record, editors have a wry sense of humour, wealth of experience and seem to love still learning new subjects.

When what I was writing clicked and I got a rare great response. When what people were doing was out of the ordinary and they didn't realize it until they read the article and went wow, that was too kind of you to paint us in that light, but thank you.

After writing nearly 250 articles and three car oil changes over the last six months, I saw my share of action -- moments of disbelief that I was having so much fun, or there lack of. Going through articles for scrapbook and portfolio, I had grown as a writer. So I can only hope writing independently and freelance will be just as amazing a journey.

If I get another shot at a newspaper? Great.

But the best part? My own desk and a press badge. Mission complete.

return to blogger?

The eagle has landed and it's one small step to a small town newspaper but a giant leap for Phil's kind of adventure.


After a few months of madness busy beyond belief -- both from combination of finishing my internship up in Whitecourt to moving my life yet again and into another job as a full-fledged journalist in Ponoka.


I'll explain in a follow-up soon why I'm standing on a cat-walk over a bunch of cows, but for now, here's the article.


Six weeks in I'm loving even the high pressure nearly daily deadlines just to try to keep up with the flow of the new assignments hitting my desk. There's so much happening in town and as my role as roving reporter dictates, I've been everywhere between Red Deer and Edmonton and a lot of the time in little towns I'd scarcely heard in passing. All I know is I handed in 1,000 on my out-of-town mileage in one month.


It was like lifting weights and then realizing I picked a heavy one, requiring so much more concentration and effort, but totally worth it when I can finish the set of reps. I'm happy to report I'm starting to raise my writing stamina and even though I wrote four articles today and did half a dozen interviews, I'm still going strong.... almost.

Broke down and finally started texting twitter thingies and started to log some of the fun and insight I was having. As much fun as blogging was, I was doing over a dozen articles every week and my editor here in Ponoka is helping me to top that. I was excited to have my own desk when I was an intern, now I feel a tiny bit of cabin fever I spend so much time in my office. Not complaining because I get to write a ton of fun articles and photo assignments for whatever I can dream up and keep newsworthy.

So far, I've been nearly making par. Check-it if you want an time-line of how exciting my days got over the last few months. Don't worry, I rarely wrote more than one a day. It sounds odd that I finally tried out twitter, I just had heard such terrible repercussions with slander and job-dismissal over comments, that I went slow. Plus it takes a moment to come up with something that isn't lame.

Word of advice, avoid over-doing the caffeine. Withdrawal sucks without some ibuprofen and yoga does wonders too ^_^ Then again, yoga seems to work for everything.

It's just the Christmas special which has kept me busy since I managed to get through Remembrance Day special with a dozen articles extra to write in a week over my usual ten assignments. After this, it quietens down -- not until after I get through another dozen fun articles with way too much cuteness and Christmas joy.

Anyhows, here's a search result link to my three dozen articles that were posted on the website, I'll try to link a bunch later of my favourites over the past few weeks. Enjoy.

It's been quite an adventure and I wish I thought to twitter some of the more cool moments I've had. Such as culture shock of hanging out for assignments on the Hobbema reserves near Ponoka. Who knew it's possible to put up a stop-sign with a Cree translation on it. Learn something every day ^_^

As part of my return, I'll start rocking the cooking experiments. Admittedly, I've collected up a few over the last month and haven't had sufficient time to post them. Fun times for all. So time to sleep and I'll write the next time I slow down after production day, which I have a bunch of them coming up pretty quickly. Meh... fun times.

Glad to be writing too much to be able to write my blog. Working the writing lifestyle and still loving it.

Goodnight and stay classy or whatever.... Brain stops with a zonk.

-- plr --

Blitzed in a good way

As you may notice, I've been tardy on writing in the past week and a half. After all was said and done, it turned into a long long long stretch of highway that got me from Calgary out to Whitecourt and around the region. After I got back, I still feel like cat-napping in the summer sun after work is done.

A long weekend let me hang out with my Sharon for an extra couple days. However, I sure felt a squeeze of compressing the five day week in four though. Telephone tag for interviews and getting all my articles written? Barely... It worked out in the end though and I learned lots from it. Admitting I need more sleep too. Here's a link to a few articles from Drayton Valley:

Fallen soldiers honoured in mural - Drayton Valley Western Review
Keeping the hampers full at area food banks - Drayton Valley Western Review
Coach, board look forward to season ahead - Drayton Valley Western Review

Very busy town and I hated to go as they were just welcoming as the previous towns and it's been a real pleasant experience on my road-trip to cover other reporters' holidays. So I'm back in Whitecourt and sleeping in my own bed, cooking meals and cleaning my room up after returning home.

Total odometer reading from town to town? just shy of 800km in 25 days logged for work and about 1500 to see my Sharon in Camrose. Totally worth it for catching up on peace & quiet / quality time.

More on long haul driving in a little while -- and I admit, I'm not as speedy on 'to be continued' at times so just like everything else, make a task list and get'ter done when I can as ideas come up while I'm writing and I need to catch up on them on occasion.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, a few of my stories were posted on the home newspaper that I had written before I left on the road:

Oilmen open clubhouse doors to the community - Whitecourt Star
Neighbours become friends at original block party - Whitecourt Star

So there you are with it being a bit compressed. As I originally started this blog to share stuff with my parents, friends and family and it's gotten a bit bigger than that now ^_^ I know I already posted that block party story. It's one of my favourites so far and it's a tiny bit exciting to see my articles on the Whitecourt Star website, a legit newspaper online ^_^

So you might notice a shift to less actual articles as I post them on the company website and would feel like I was doing it twice over. However, it'll be more of a journal of the journey taken to get those articles come together. I hope I don't bore people, but really there's all kinds of neat stuff and small miracles that happen when getting things done by deadline.

Still bound by FOIP and respecting privacy of people I interview. Yet some of the little stuff that happens can be really nifty and some of the theory put into practice would be good reflections as well. Thanks for bearing with me as I change the tempo. With journal writing, but for a journalist that's a paradox. It's both play on words and sometimes reality as I have so much happening, it'd be nice to be able to figure out what happened the past week a few weeks from now. Especially when I'm journal-ing other people's lives 98% of the time. Such is news-worthiness -- an eternal struggle of what to print since newspapers were born.

Much as I hate to say, oh read my blog if you want to know what I been up to lately. Much the same as my camera serves as a photo journal at times. It won't be overload of TMI and I still plan to have fun links, stories and opinion pieces -- Stuff I don't have enough space in my pages in the newspaper.

And there's so much paradox between natural beauty and reality of the economy up here so tons to write about. It's been an eye-opener of a road-trip.

Good times still to come but for now? Sleep time.

-- PLR -- 

Skeeters from all over Hwy 16 and other surprises

By Philip Rushton
Hinton Parklander

Being in a new office every week as a temp during summers and after graduating is nothing new for this intern.

On the other-hand, being in a new town every week is very different.

Shooting photos on a river jet-boat one weekend, then a rodeo, then munchkins in theatre camp Wizard of Oz presentation, and who knows what next. It's a great part about community newspaper.

Not so great is being lost in a new town every week with directions like 'across from Tim Hortons'. If only I knew where the Timmy's is located. Or 'where the old fire station was before they moved'. I don't know where the new fire station is, let alone the old one.

Near empty food bank asks for reinvestment

By Philip Rushton
Hinton Parklander Reporter

While the economy is recovering, donations, which help low income folk cope with the rising living cost, are in short supply.

The Hinton Food Bank's glass is half full or empty depending on the view on the matter.

"We serve 50-150 people per week, that's a lot more than a student's pantry to keep stocked," said Bernie Kreiner, Hinton Food Bank president.

Users of the food bank often have little extended family in town according to Kreiner, daycare, food and transportation costs rise faster than wages so it's hard to balance household budgets.

Stats are difficult to track annually, but the food bank tracks between 3,800 to 5,000 visits by clients, per year. Which represents five to 10 percent of the community.

"We give them food to meet the needs over two to five days if stretched properly," said Kreiner.

The food bank needs to stretch the budget of the community's generosity in food donations of an estimated $40,000 to $60,000 and $30,000 cash which goes to buying fresh produce, dairy and meat.

"If the economy's better, people don't think to donate as much," said Kreiner.

"It's not visible because we're not dealing with homeless, just people who are struggling to make ends meet."

During the festive times around Thanksgiving and Christmas the food bank storage is overflowing with donations, but in the summer, it's difficult to keep up with year-round demand.

"All it takes is for people to donate a little bit of their groceries to the bins in town," said Kreiner. "It's greatly appreciated for those in greater need."

With a bustling room of six to 10 volunteers preparing to disperse food on Tuesday nights, others make grocery runs to pick up donations and perishables during the week. Another volunteer does intake applications and carries a cell phone for emergency food access on case-by-case situations.

"There's satisfaction in knowing we're helping those in need," said Kreiner.

When not busy, people like Kailey Little, home for the summer from university, are happy to help.

"I'm blessed to be in a family that doesn't have issues for food, so to be able to help others feels great, said Little, who is going into 3rd year political sciences and education at U of L.

Other volunteers like long time helper Larry Matwie and his wife Marni, who coordinates the program, have paternal instincts and lots of compassion.

"There's lots of thank-yous when we hand out food," said Matwie as they see the impact over time.

Smiles extend to volunteers when large donations come in from companies' week-long campaigns, Christmas parties and other creative fundraising.

"At the ball tournament there was a challenge of which team could come up with the most weight of food collected," said Kreiner. "It's wonderful when special events raise funds."

However, food banks in different communities have been creative too in a trend to reduce dependency of regulars by enabling them to provide for themselves. The food bank here has three plots at the community garden for clients' use and Kreiner has been working with a few research students from West Yellowhead Community Futures Leadership who will find results by October.

"Seeing how other food banks have been successful," said Kreiner. "We asked the question of how this operation could reduce dependency."

Yet more volunteers are always needed in the meanwhile and the food bank would be happy to train people and put a good experience on resumes.

"Working here is fantastic and we get to get hear people's stories," said Little.

A suggestion from Matwie and Kreiner is to invite high school students looking for a rewarding way to fill volunteer hours for graduating requirements.

"Look at the smile on my face and chuckle in my talking," said Matwie.

"Some people who just need a hand-up in life," said Little.

People interested in volunteering can contact Bernie Kreiner at (780) 865-9355 or at bernie.kreiner_at_shaw.ca. To contact the Hinton Food Bank call (780) 865-6256.


PS Have to admit it was a little hard to report and write this. I'd been working all day and shot this story on the way home before making supper. Was legitimately tiny bit on the hungered side so it was easy to put myself in someone else's shoes.

It was also very warm vibes back in that little store-room, for jokes were fast back and forth. For the record, I'm not sure but that still counts as a grip & grin ^_^ The guys were joking that passing the meat was like Pike St Market and I'd agree they seemed to be just as much fun as the guys who throw fish.

Local history rich with stories of coal miners

Philip Rushton

Hinton Parklander Reporter

The Alberta Coal Branch Homecoming saw miners gather in Cadomin August long weekend to unwind and catch up on old times.

With strong coffee on hand at the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) office, many stories of old days before when coal driven locomotives were driven by strong coal miner's labour.

Old timer miner, mechanic and millwright Syd Alexander recently retired with a gift more symbolic than a gold watch for long mine service.

Union president Brent Bish presented him with an authentic miner's oil lamp on July 28 with an engraved plaque of Alexander's union service years 1971-1992.

"Brass won't spark and there's not going to be any flame leaving the glass," said Alexander.

He explained each miner had a lamp to work by and avoided methane gases in the mine as even an electric drill mis-sparking could trigger an explosion.

When titan sized mining machinery broke down, Alexander and other mechanics tore it apart, using cranes to install the larger parts.

"Those shovels are built sturdy, but so is 250 tonne of rock," said Alexander. "Beating away at a wall they didn't get around to blasting properly, it's going to give."

From 45 cubic yard hydraulic shovels and 250 tonne haul trucks to caterpillar earth movers and mobile drills, Alexander fixed everything as a heavy duty mechanic at the Cardinal River mine.

"Mining is its own thing with repairs," said Alexander.

Working with a shovel and then as a mechanic up to as maintenance planner, Alexander never tried to work on any union politics.

However, in his opinion, Walter Bish was the best manager the mines ever had.

His son Brent Bish will tell a story or two about how the union advanced the workers over the years.

"There were some pretty tense strikes, in '74 guys were at the pickets with baseball bats, whips and chains," said Bish.

As mine general manager during the early 70s Walter was involved in negotiations, and had worker's best interests in mind.

"He was always there for the men and it broke his heart when some of them figured they had been cheated on the contract," said Bish.

It is a fine balance between efficiency of company time and money and caring for the workers and their families with collective agreements regarding benefits and respecting employment standards.

"There hasn't been a strike here since 1981, as most people have pride in their jobs and do a good job wanting to be recognized for it," said Bish.

Mining runs deep in Bish's family coal veins. When they came up from the United States in 1905 to stake a claim on the land that came with the mineral rights.

With eight relatives in mining, Bish tradition continues since Brent's grandfather struck pick to rock. After a few years mining, Bish's son went to engineering school.

"There's a lot of people making a living down there and it's a different way of life on the coal branch," said Alexander.

With Coalspur's plans to break ground in 2012 for construction for a new mine the region will continue to have new stories to tell of coal mining at future reunions.

my very own desk and taxi driving

That's right... I took a photo of my desk that I thought I'd have to sleep under it eventually, plus it's exciting to finally be at home in a news-room office.

Maybe I should explain a news reporter's desk and by far my mine isn't half as messy or completely stocked as it should be, but after all I'm just interning in different towns for now. At least I have my stock of licorice and other snacks.

Having been in a bunch of offices, I do have a number of desk arrangements from old type-writer tables to tiny desks and from being scrunched in the corner to taking over the editor's office while she was on holiday. I'll have to dig up the other photos so more to come on that. Life of intern....

Just to clarify, no, I didn't eat peanut butter by the sporkful. It just happened to be there and my favourite weapon/spork was for the Ichiban noodles.

The peanut butter was to go with the loaf of bread I tore through for snacking and to have with microwaveable meals -- for the record lean cuisine meals are much tastier than I expected and almost home-cooking.

There's not too much extra time to escape for lunch unless it's on the way from a photo assignment or interview so I spent my afternoons editing photos, writing stories and snacking.

The stack of paper behind my laptop was press releases and drafts of articles needing corrections. Getting everything done was was an interesting balancing act of eating loving what I was doing and praying I could get'ter all done somewhere near deadline.


So I followed my editor's lead as we slid on headphones and typed away until we started to see fuzzy and yell back and forth weird and funny at the time comments: about stories we were writing; questions to the cruel editing gods of why photos didn't fit or quotes didn't make sense; really question why we were there instead of sleeping.... good times!

Learning tons as I'm writing and starting to get back into the rhythm of writing and nailing off 4x's as much stuff as I had to do in j-school and loving it.

I'm tired, lonely, and grateful for the opportunity, still writing too late with exhausted fingers and back.... trying to figure out a dozen interviews into stories and still loving it,

Didn't do it for the money nor the honeys nor the sweet salary. Doing it for the people who need their stories told and ain't doing it for free finally. Satisfied in seeing by-lines and people wanting to help in their community so keep assignments coming, I'm loving what I'm doing and where I wanna be living the dream

Did I mention I got to drive around a golf course looking for photos during an amateur golf tournament? And get paid? It's like driving a taxi with no sea sick clientele in the back! I love driving on the clock from interview to photo op and back to office. Keeping on my toes and planning out my own day, good times.

So that was my Saturday morning work assignment, cruising in a golf cart ^_^ Made up for the insane amount of hours writing happy and depressing stuff and editing all sorts of photos. All worth it and all paying my dues to the industry so I can earn my press badge. And no I still refuse to take a normal self-portrait right-side up -- too cool and original for that.

$50 reward for apprehension of losers

Retired citizen Don Maxwell is declaring open season on pesky Friday night partiers who have knocked over and broken antlers off his lawn ornament Dogpatch late at night July 22.


PS that was the actual headline and I was pretty happy to write it.... people can be so stupid. What I didn't write was the elderly guy's more grumpy response that he'd hunt those party animals himself if he wasn't so old and shaky with a gun. And again I love the country-side feisty spirit.

It's a long weekend, so stay safe and sober up before driving

Drinking and driving makes you a bloody idiot. They will literally be wiping blood off your steering wheel. Too graphic? It's been said thousands of times in thousands of ways, yet it never seems to be enough?

Kudos to RCMP officers who spend weekends at check-stops. Officers don't want to be marking off wrecked vehicle scenes that could have been avoided, or be knocking on doors to tell sad news to people they know in the community.

A MADD report from 2008 states that 1,162 of 2,694 vehicle collisions fatalities were caused by impaired driving and these are conservative estimates. 43 per cent of these could have been avoided by wiser choices. There are 149,028 crashes in 2008, or roughly 408 per day. Inconceivable.

Stats aside, why do friends not take away an impair friend's car keys? It is everyone's responsibility to take care of friends and family if they know they are too impaired to drive.

Thankfully it's becoming cool to be the designated driver, not the designated drinker. Most bartenders will give a DD free non-alcoholic drinks and the ladies love a sober responsible chap looking after his friends.

Responsibility is giving someone else the car keys when the party's getting started, planning to phone a taxi on speed dial or ask the waitress or someone else to dial for you. This is a simple gesture compared to apologizing to a victim's family.

The MADD mothers did fancy math with Ministry of Transportation stats and estimated social costs of death and damage caused by impaired drivers totals a chunk of change worth $21.62 billion in 2008. Why not plan ahead and change those numbers? Walk home or crash on the couch at the party.

Stay safe and have a fun summer out in Canada's outdoor playground. Plan ahead to sober up first and don't ruin the weekend because there's no undo button on the steering wheel.

P.S. this was my first real editorial and the publisher helped me a bit to polish it up into something more tactful, believe me, my first draft was pretty passionate and there were more stats of all the stupidity... but the inconceivable! comment I got to leave in because she likes Princess Bride too.

I loved simple effectiveness of these MADD campaign posters, very smart in a brutal way. So ya... a close subject to the heart when one of my soccer buddies was killed while driving his motorcycle by a drunk on the highway, so hence the heated writing.


If one more person changes his/her mind, my job is done, this is what I signed up to do ^_^ make a difference. Cheers to a safe weekend.

$10,000 (blank) cheque for Museum Society

On July 20 Foreman Rod Bailer (left) from Canadian Natural Resources Limited present Edson and District Historical Society VP Shawn Berry (right) with a $10,000 cheque to help finish the new museum.

"We're working hard to get things finished for the grand opening," said Berry.

The public grand opening will be Sept 25. "We're happy to partner with the community to help out," said Bailer.




P.S. So it was a short publicity happy story and extended cutline for a few quotes, but yaaahhh about a blank cheque? I just barely caught the foreman and VP still at the museum -- was finishing up another interview and lost track of time almost.

So I got creative since someone else had already left with the cheque to be deposited.... so hence the blankness of the envelope that cheque had come inside. I really hope nobody noticed from looking at the 3x4 photo in the newspaper but I must confess my guilt here as I was supposed to get a grip & grin -- something in j-school they tell you to avoid unless the editor likes and wants one -- so make it interesting.

Photographers can get away with a lot because there's not a lot of time and imperfect conditions, but I'm pretty proud of this last ditch save with blank envelope.

At least I got the guys to walk to the caboose on display outside -- which doubly made my day just because I LOVE trains that much ^_^ creativity for the win for another day in the life of a newspaper intern.

Barbaric Axmen rugby comeback

By Philip Rushton

The Edson Axmen and the Edmonton Pirates destroyed each other on the battlefield and came to a 22 all tie.

"It was a team effort to the end," said Danny Kuzmic, "anyone can fall over the line to score."

The Axmen came from a slow start behind 22-5 at half-time and stopped the Pirates.

"It was a high emotion game," said Wade Heidler, "There might have been a punch or two, but we leave it on the field."

With ankle, knee and ribs injuries on both sides, the Axmen were without any substitutions.

"Nobody walks away unscathed," said Kuzmic.

The Axmen had 4 tries and 1 conversions and the Pirates had 3 tries, 2 converts and a penalty.

"These guys have a lot of heart and we're still undefeated."


P.S. these guys were 100% heart. When I was finished shooting photos and interviewing, I got an invite to party from true gentleman Danny. The team was hosting dinner and liquid bread for Edmonton team after having to drive so long to get there, so everyone chatted it -- after they'd destroyed each other on the field, all friendly afterwards.

It's just how they do hospitality in small towns, the more the merrier. Nice when I didn't feel like I had much to do on a Saturday evening after living in a hotel for weeks on my own.


P.S.S. I've covered a lot of sports, but I've seen few through a view-finder where I had to look away to keep from incredulous laughing and winching at the same time -- these guys are viciously mauling each other. Train-wrecks are less explosive.


Like EPIC STRUGGLE, short of mauling each other, but apparently that's the proper term for ripping the ball out of the other guy's arms - mauling. Football through a telephoto lens looks painful, but these guys weren't wearing tons of pads.


Good times.... like there were guys just at the bottom of the brutal tackles holding their heads to avoid having ears ripped off by the inch long cheats. Someone was always slow to get up afterwards. When someone was down for the count, the other team kicked the ball out of bounds, even though they had possession.


And only one penalty called? I played soccer for years and we'd get cards for the amount of stuff they got away, jersey grabbing, vicious elbows, knees, straight-arms flying tackles, okay the punches actually got a penalty and there's a lot of loss of possession and scrums if it seems like both teams are destroying each other too much from what I could tell. And they were grinning from ear to ear at the end.

It was incredibly cool to watch and hear the thuds of train-wrecks of guys solidly connecting or deftly avoiding tackles -- a graceful running game. Soccer might be gentleman's game played by ruffians. However, I can see why rugby is the opposite -- gentlemen playing a ruffian's game -- other than amazing amount of swearing, but that's a whole different matter.

Taking care of healthcare workers

By Philip Rushton

There's great people who work mental health who have extraordinary patience and gifts to help people who are incapacitated or unable to cope on their own without assistance. Health care workers spend years in studies and lonely frustrating practicums, working long hours on energy and determination alone with some support from family and friends.

However, that's less mentioned than when something goes wrong like Melissa Ekkelenkamp walking off ward in Edmonton, everyone jumps in to search or points fingers. However, there are everyday patient-centric policies and procedures in place. When internal investigations happen, improvements will be made. Dedicated people have the trust of families who have caring for their relatives with home-care.

Mental health care is one of those hot-button issues to be tip-toed around until things go wrong. One doesn't have to look hard to find health care working.

When working in small but mighty community partnerships with Alberta Health care programs and projects on shoe-string budgets. Miracles despite funding cuts, though social programs are sometimes first to feel over-stretched.

Now I know some compassionate and hard working nurses, social workers and care-aids; even when I'm checking into ER or phoning HealthLink without having a doctor, I can see nurses are trying hard to balance needs.

Others I know who work in mental health would feel guilty if they lost one of their patients. On good days, patients just want to talk about normal subjects and have their worries addressed. On bad days, when depression and delirium hits, nurses and care aids dig down for extra patience and grace to deal with those under their charge.

So for the Ekkelenkamp family worried about their daughter and their sister in Edmonton for nearly two weeks, for people who know first-hand about how vulnerable people with mental barriers can become, our hopes and prayers are with them that she is found okay.

So a thanks to the volunteers who are out there looking for her. Kudos to the strength of healthcare workers who treat it as more than just a job. A thank-you and support from the province when things are running smooth would be good too.



PS: there are no photos of mental health nurses to protect their patients' privacy, so on annoying side-note it's really really hard to find a non-sexy or non-recruiter's website nurse photo.... lots of photos of Nurse Jackie, but she's not exactly a shining example of good nursing profession. More on that later... very deep and divided topic....

Thanks for cute drawing to an artist from S. Korea:
http://windship.deviantart.com/

Also, although a British nurse, meh... caring for babies is pretty universal.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Nursing_baby.jpg

Cops on trail of copper thieves

By Philip Rushton

Late last week, $1,000 of heavy gauge copper wiring was stolen from Open Energy Corporation's job site.

“There's on-going investigation with the operator's group and police,” said Brian Tweedy, Open Energy Corporation Superintendent.

World-wide copper prices have gone up in the past three months, rising to over $4 per pound.

“With a couple of big spools, you have to melt it down or scrap it,” said Marcel Preville, manager at Edson Home Hardware.

Thieves have stolen piping from air conditioning units and leaving electrical and telephone companies sub-stations in dangerous situations and customers without power.

“You have to be pretty ambitious to do all that work,” Preville said. “There has to be a easier way to make a living.”

RCMP have been working together with companies to help prevent theft so selling stolen goods will be harder.

“It's irritating to have to deal with this,” said Tweedy, “but it's not going unnoticed and won't be ignored.”


PS I wish I had copied the link to this brilliant cartoon blogger who had come to the same un-funny punny lame play on words that I tried to work into the headline. Thanks!

Yellowhead county left soggy

By Philip Rushton

While counties downstream were hit worse, Yellowhead County was left only with flooded yards and roads.

“The culverts are all running on maximum and overspilling onto roads,” said Don O'Quinn, “but water is starting to recede.”

As director of infrastructure services, O'Quinn said the county office has taken phone calls from people worried about their yards over-flowing.

Marcel Preville, manager at local Home Hardware, advised that people check or replace sump pumps, eaves-troughs, and other water removal and vapour barrier materials.

In case you're handsome and as not handy, there are solutions other than duct-tape.

“We know lots of reputable contractors who will help,” said Preville.

The flooding resulted in a few gravel roads being washed away, but crews will be out to fix the roads soon as the rain slows down.

“There's not much you can do about it,” said O'Quinn. “It's an act of God so you should check with the insurance company to make sure you're covered.”

If there are any problems or concerns, people should contact the county at 780-723-4800.

“We've had our fill of water now so it's too much of a good thing,” said O'Quinn.

Visit alberta.ca/home/336.cfm for more info flood preparations and environment.alberta.ca for flood updates.

thanks for photos from:

http://ontheroadwithdickandmaryann.blogspot.com/

www.theeagle.ca (Edson Radio Station)

story behind the story, after the jetboat race pt2

With a whiff of gas fumes and mile long plume of spray, the jet-boaters roared past, some only 10ft from the shore where we were tied up.

It was fabulously loud and exciting.

My heart was racing, my camera zoomed in and tracking, my feet balanced on the bow of the jet-boat which slightly rocked as the racers flew by.

Having waited so long for this, I was having so much fun!

The jet-boats flew by, gunning the throttle at speeds over 100mph and approaching 140mph. Defying gravity with barely a few feet of hull touching the water still, most of the boat wasn't in the water. Skimming the surface and zipping around floating logs, it was a deft display of steel nerves and practiced grace.

Some of them were having troubles because the cross-wind wasn't helping. Some of the boats were reared up like they were popping a wheelie and others were low in the water -- I wouldn't know why, but guessed that they'd sucked up something that wouldn't spit out the back very easily.

After all 30 boats had flown by and then turned around and raced back to the finish, starting staggered one minute apart, we left too.

My camera was starting to die as the batteries hadn't been charged in a while, but I was more than happy.

The boat's skipper stopped to talk to some friends who were parked on the bank watching the race. They had beers for the passengers but I still had to write my article and he still had to steer home.

We were almost home and there was a log jam of boats trying to get up the one boat launch. So the skipper asked if I'd like to see how high the river had gone on the other side of the peninsula.

In retrospect this should have foreshadowed my troubles to fording the car along the road. I was game and off we went, the boat bouncing off some incredibly high peaks and valleys I didn't think were possible outside of ocean waves. Like 4-5ft swells. It was still fun.

We got to the bridge and I'm like can you touch it? He was like sure why not? I asked if he could hold it and he eased the throttle, let go the wheel and stood on tip-toes. Still was 4inches short, but it was supposed to be 4-6ft lower. Incredible amount of rain. This was the photo that appeared on the cover of Whitecourt Star, my first issue of printing.... WOOT.

We got back and parted ways with much thanks. The skipper was more than happy just show off a beautiful way to get around on the hidden water-highway of Alberta.

Got in my car after I had packed up my camera and downloaded my photos. I followed the last trucks and jet-boat trailers back to town.

And then I got to where the road ended and 2ft of water began. The water had crested a few hours before. Good to know now.

There were two 1/4ton trucks and a car stalled and dragged back out on the side of the road. This was a very bad sign of attempting to drive through it.

So I backed out of the way of the trucks and someone gave me a ride back across so I could find someone to tow me across.

The newspaper publisher had told me to call her if I needed any help. This would qualify as help needed. The waters were still rising.

She said not to worry the other reporter almost got trapped out there too the day before in his SUV. It wasn't much in the morning.

The fact that those huge trucks were up to their running boards and past the axles said I was going to be waiting for a while to find someone to drive.

No problem, she'd call and ask her brother. He phoned to say he'd be there in 15 minutes. I'm guessing he'd just got off work. No matter, I needed help and he was happy to lend a hand.

He got there and got to work, pulling out a tow rope. He asked which city I was from. Half-teasingly he pointed out that only a city boy would try to get across that in a little car and not have a truck. Fair point....

After a few tries we got through and I'm happy to report my car-doors are water-tight. Lesson learned that water that is up to my knee is a bad idea to drive through. No doubt, but what I didn't know was that water will over-flow onto roads when it's raining bad enough, hard enough.

Was mightily glad that someone was wiling to come own and help me out on short notice. AMA would have taken hours to send a tow-truck. It was a quiet statement of how neighbours look after each other. I was totally grateful and left a Timmy's card with my publisher as a token of thanks.

It was a wild and wet long day. My car got the under-side washed. I met some very down-to-river people and got a glimpse of how the camaraderie extended to random strangers and friends alike.

Why am I in Whitecourt Alberta? Where is Whitecourt anyway?

Those two questions are still alluding me after living there for a week and then packing my bags for a road-tour of central Alberta. Don't get me wrong, I love getting out and exploring this 1/12th of Canada I'm living in and soaking in all the beauty on occasion.

Still, I like my home-cooking and home-comforts. And in a hotel room I have neither. At least I feel at home in a newspaper office. Didn't expect it so fast.

Should have been more specific when I was carelessly wishing for more excitement and road-tripping this summer. There was even a road-trip mapped out in the Alberta Motor Association magazine in the spring and I was like oh that looks gorgeous for a weekend! A 14hour round trip didn't sound as cool when I got to hour five and I was dying.

That was until after a week and a bit of talking to the publisher and working out details, other than the fact to whether I was hired or not. When I got there for the second interview to meet the editor it was very much on the spot, welcome aboard, when can you start?

Wrote up my job resignation letter just like that a month ago now which seems like it flew by so fast. Started thinking about packing my bags, boxes and life up into a U-Haul and driving out on my lonesome to some town I had never heard of until now.

Nothing new about that part, I'm used to learning some random name of some random town or village in the prairies. I'll be talking to someone and they will rave it is their gorgeous hometown but they're glad they left that drunken dump.

Oh. Change of topic.

And suddenly I was faced with the prospect of not knowing what kind of adventure I was signing up for as an internship reporter. With a steady paycheque, good room-mates and friends, and lots of contacts and projects to do in Calgary, I wasn't exactly excited about pulling up roots initially.

Not just for the super huge amount of nesting I'd done, filling up the entire living room in the town-house I was renting in when all the boxes were packed. Also I'd miss the house's cats and my friends too.

At the same time, as the Marine in WWI famously said, 'Com'mon men, you wanna live forever?' I trained for this moment of 'going over the top.' I wasn't going to hide in the trenches and not get on the front-lines of newspaper. I felt like I really was going to jump out of a perfectly good airplane in my comfy little life in the city. There is no Good Earth Cafe in Whitecourt AB. No so sure I wanted to leave my favourite writing spot behind. Part of me wanted to wait it out hiding with a mug-full of good coffee and good atmosphere.

With all those thoughts of dam, I'm actually going to be shooting and writing and publishing people's stories, talk about living the dream.

It almost has sunk in as I'm into my second week of reporting, that by-line is in a real non-college newspaper and I'm getting paid to do it? Kinda cool feeling that I dreamt about since... since high-school when I decided I naively wanted to be a National Geographic reporter.

My ten year reunion came and went a few months ago and I was like screw this? It had hit that I had a one-year badge from Home Depot.... where's the ejection seat button? Not that I didn't like it there, it just wasn't what I signed up for after college finished.

Found out about the internship and wasn't sure what to think. Talking to friends, some said to pray about it, some said to get my crap together and some just were happy I was still working and volunteering at my church. Very well and good, but I felt like I was spinning my wheels in the mud, gunning the engine but not getting anywhere.

My beautiful Sharon is half done her degree in Nursing and I needed to get somewhere with my j-school certificate that says I can write, time to earn my keep. My honey was very supportive even if it meant I'd still be far off in the distance three hours drive away. At least it wasn't in another province. My parents were just as happy even though they had no idea where I was going either. So that gave me a bit of courage, especially when Sharon was like I told you so and she was thrilled.

So as I mauled over the offer over the weekend and snapped at it. Very first and only interview and offer and off I went. I had heard of the neighbouring small town of Mayerthorpe unfortunately as the Slain Four Mounties were on that stake-out in the farming community.

As I traced the google map up to Edmonton and northwest towards Grande Prairie on 43 hwy, six hours was starting to seem like a lot. I had rented a moving van, but now I was actually packing up my bags into it with help from a few good friends. It was surreal.

Having found most of my friends for coffee or a drink to celebrate moving to the boondocks to hang out with red-necks and farmers and write small-town newspaper, was I ready to go? I've only been there for not even two weeks and every stereotype has been refuted already. Everyone's been so welcoming but more of that soon enough.

Yes it's sunk in and I'll try to write more soon because the 7 hour drive alone was wild. It was definitely into God's country without barely a sign of civilization other than road signs and long haul truckers at rest stops. More on that tomorrow.

Seeing how I have to be up and pulling together layout for copy proofing, must post and pass out, living the dream and I'm glad the coffee wore off.

Even so, I think I might miss the cats more than they miss me as long as someone will give them a belly-rub, but how could I not miss those goofy fluffy rascals a bit? My other room-mates were happy for me too.
Goodnight and good-luck. More on Edward R. Murrow later....