There are a few things on my mind this week so I will address each one with some brief comments.
This Monday morning during the airing of the Holocaust memorial: 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, I listened to horrific testimonies of some personal experiences’ survivors endured as prisoners of the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jewish race. It is adamant that societies all over the world continue to educate their children of this atrocity so that humanity isn’t caught in the same scenario again, touting superiority one race above another. No one knows exactly how many people were sent to Auschwitz, or how many died there. However, historians estimate that between 1940 and 1945, the Nazis sent at least 1.3 million people to Auschwitz. About 1.1 million of these people died or were killed at Auschwitz.
******************************************************************************
In regard to the City of Moose Jaw considering fining individuals that are encroaching on city property, including back alleys where unproductive space that harbours weeds as tall as trees is utilized as green space, I am actually appalled. Take a drive down multiple alleys in the city during the summer season and just take a look at how the city is maintaining the full back alleys by dealing with the weeds that are on THEIR property; not! In this age we are living in, you would think that the city should be giving awards to those that utilize and maintain the space for good use in an environmentally friendly way. Maybe the city should be offering a discount on individual property taxes for their individual upkeep of city property? See Robert Thomas’ article in this edition, ‘Potato Patches and Petunias Could Be Quagmire Issue of 2020.’ Things at City Hall seem to be getting goofier by the day. Come on people of Moose Jaw, stand up and make your voices heard, even to the ombudsman if you need to! As the saying goes, “If you don’t stand up for something, you will fall for anything.”
As well, there is an article in this edition, ‘City seeks public input on possible council salary increase at meeting’ where it was reported that only ONE person attended the meeting to speak their mind. I found this to be both rather amusing and slightly appalling. In a recent note to the city communications’ manager, I asked how they informed the public? The response was that they utilized their website and social media to advertise their survey of which he reported as of Jan. 24th there were 360 survey responses and that the survey was active to Jan. 28th. He also said that the committee was very satisfied with the response, in a city of a population of almost 100X that. I’m not buying it and if that is deemed a satisfactory response, God help us.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
