‘Too much work!’ That’s what we heard from an oilfield guy the other day. That might not be very useful without some context, but it does mean a guy is busy. Come to think of it, that could be interpreted two different ways. He was saying he was too busy to participate in some after-hours activity. So both bad and good. When the work is available, you take it. Either that, or you get out of the game altogether.
Another tidbit: A guy who works for one of the bigger energy companies doing business around here was telling us the other day not only are things heating right up in the way of oilfield activity; they’re also getting quite warm in the COVID vaccination requirements department. Show proof of the vax, or else, in other words. His story was mainly about his efforts to get a pastor to sign off on an exemption for religious reasons. How that works we’re not sure, but we hope it doesn’t mean he (or anybody) thinks they are exempt from the virus because of the strength of their faith.
Here’s another thing: actual organized football at a Slave Lake high school. Why is it happening? Because of one teacher with a love for the game who moved to town and was willing to tackle what is a fairly large task – all in addition (or maybe only mostly in addition) to his regular classroom job. His name is Taylor Hulme, and good for him! Good for his assistant coaches as well, who have stepped up to shoulder some of the burden. The Michener Rams won’t actually start league play until next fall, but they have been enthusiastically practicing lately, and it’s nice to see.
It’s nice to be appreciated, so we appreciate right back the nice things people occasionally say about how much they enjoy getting their weekly Lakeside Leader. Some of them are in Marten Beach, where Dan Rose has been taking copies of The Leader every Tuesday or Wednesday morning for the past several months. Thanks!
Dennis Barton called The Leader the other day: ‘Are you interested in looking at an Anglican prayer book from 1886?’
Well sure. Why not?
Dennis has brought by a number of historical items over the past few years – usually photos or documents. But this is the first time he’s gone back as far as the 1800s. If he keeps digging deeper, will the dates get even older?
The book belonged to Wendy’s mother’s family. It is inscribed by somebody named ‘Aldous’ with the date in 1886.
Printed by the firm Eyre and Spottiswoode, ‘Printers to the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty.’
The book is in pretty good shape for being 135 years old.
Hwy. 2 was blocked at the Athabasca River bridge for several hours on the morning of Oct. 26. We got that first-hand from somebody who was trying to get to work in Slave Lake from Smith and had to go back and around on the old highway.
That route was getting a lot of traffic that morning and was in terrible shape, he said.
What had happened on the bridge, the RCMP tell us, was a big truck lost control, “due to poor weather conditions.” It hit and damaged the guard rail. The driver of the truck was taken to hospital in Slave Lake, for precautionary reasons. No charges are being laid.
A contact in Edmonton has been pushing for the re-developers of the former Charles Camsell Hospital site to be searched for unmarked graves before development goes ahead. He sent us an update last week. It includes a letter from architect Gene Dub, stating that radar was used (presumably at the developer’s expense) on the site.
Travis Gladue wants the investigation to go further. Please quote me on this, he says.
“I would like to see the other two sites in Enoch and St Albert scanned as soon as possible. The Federal Government is not providing assistance due to the fact that the hospital is not connected to residential schools. This is very disappointing to hear because this was a federally run hospital in 1944, taken over by the province until it closed in 1996.
“Former patients shared accounts of people being buried at the hospital, in addition to reports of physical, mental and sexual abuse, accounts of forced sterilization, shock therapy and experiments with TB vaccines on patients without their consent.
“This matter needs closure so many families are impacted. My Great Grandfather never came home from the Camsell.”
Gladue’s grandfather was former Bigstone Chief Maxime Beauregard.
