Ryan's Adventures in Alberta

My those nails look to be just the right size for this coffin

2007-07-02T21:44:00.001-07:00

Well,

Let's not let this cruel death go on any longer. I don't work for a small rural newspaper anymore, Alberta is still strange, but it's lost it's novelty and it took me the better part of a month to find the time to kill this thing so why bother anymore I say.

Yes for anyone who ever strolls by this thing I am killing the blog. I started a new job last week with the St. Albert Gazette and my shock and surprise at rural Alberta will be fading away now. St. Albert is a suburb of Edmonton and I am now very much back in an environment I understand.

There are still rodeos and oil, but there are also malls and suburban housing stretching in all directions.

I started this thing up with the goal of sharing my thoughts on some of the weird
things that happened to me out here, but now some of you have moved this way and the rest of you e-mail me or learn what is going on in my life through facebook and such.

I can now be reached through my work e-mail rtumilty@stalbert.greatwest.ca and you can now check out my work online at www.stalbertgazette.com

In my new capacity I will be covering courts, crime and the politics of Sturgeon County which surrounds St. Albert.
No more school concerts, plays, bake sales or other crap I am pleased.

Sturgeon County is also home to upgrader alley which some particularly well read people out east might have heard about. Essentially they are going to build these upgraders, which turn heavy oil(bad) kind of a sludge into lighter crude oil (good) which can be made into gasoline and other fine things. (This description is not meant to be talking down to my audience this is really all I understand thus far.)

It is making for some interesting stories and should continue this way. There are four of these things planned for Sturgeon County alone and they cost a few billion each. Also they might poison the water land and skies, I am checking into that one.

Anymawho as a final good-bye to all of you loyal readers I give you fire photos. I was at this forest fire a few weeks before I left Westlock and got to get really close and get some great shots. As a downside is smelt like a potent mix of campfire and ashtray for a few days and breathed in a lot of smoke, but the photos turned out really well. (Do not try this at home by the way this is only for professional idiot news photographers)

The perfect storm

2007-01-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

So this post is a few weeks late, but that's because I just managed to reattach my fingers. We had a really big storm here that swept through the prairies and caused all kinds of problems.

The weather people predicted it fairly well in advance and gave everybody a good heads up. This, for reasons I can't even begin to explain, caused my boss to wander about our office the whole day before the storm shouting "It's the Perfect Storm!"

Anyways, after the storm it got freakishly cold, -41 plus windchill cold. My car struggled to start and when I turned the key it kinda sounded like it was dying or screaming or saying "Why did you move me to Northern Alberta?"
Foolishly, I chose to go to work and by chose I mean had to go. I would have liked to stay under every blanket and sweater I own and pray for my apartment catching fire, but you can't always get what you want.

Instead I went out and took photos of Westlock during the storm. I was really pleased this week when the temperature climbed into the low minus numbers and my testicles came back. They along with my sense of warmth took off.

So, keeping in mind the sacrifice my body took to take them, here are the photos.

Really we are all winners

2006-12-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

But in a slightly more accurate way Joe is the winner of the leadership pool. I say slightly more accurate way, because Joe was kind of the default winner. (I know the two sweetest words in the english language)

I am sorry Joe but much to my dismay Grant Fuhr did not win the PC leadership.

Anyways, Joe you get a big pat on the back next time we catch up or alternately Darcy you could give Joe the pat on the back for me.

I am just disappointed there was no duel.

Oh and in the small world, weird shit-o-meter, if any of you happen to see the Globe and Mail from Dec. 2 they took a quote out of one of my stories. Wacky!

Cut-off date for pool

2006-11-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

Alright,

Even though the first ballot has already happened in Alberta I have decided that I will accept entries for the Liberal leadership pool up until Nov. 29.

While still technically a tie-breaker, considering many of the guesses involve people not in the race (although, I am pulling for Grant Fuhr) I don't know how much it will matter.

I am Ryan's sense of warmth

2006-11-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

I am Ryan's sense of warmth. I am angry and disappointed with Ryan. When Ryan said he was moving to Northern Alberta I was a touch dismayed. When winter came unusually early to the province and he did not move, I was very angry with him.
When the weather forecast said high of minus 28, I told him to go fuck himself and went back to Ontario. Before I left I heard reports that several of Ryan's extremities were planning a revolution.

Scroll down

2006-11-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

Sorry all those interested in high stakes political gambling this meth feature I wrote is now taking up a lot of space so scroll down and place your bets on the next Liberal leader. You might want to actually read the feature if you are so inclined.

Long-awaited meth feature

2006-11-14T20:59:00.000-08:00

I suppose that might be a touch ballsy, but I have been working on this for a month and a half or so. So here it is. There is also a version of this about 1,000 words longer, but this is the version that ran in the paper. It doesn't miss too much in this, but if any of you are feeling particularly interested I could send it to you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Living with addiction
Former addicts talk about the devastating impact of meth

Frank and Chance both began snorting cocaine at 13.
As their addiction continued they became fuel blown addicts and they stayed on drugs despite the devastating effects on their health, the break down in their relationships and the financial toil that drove them to crime.
Now finally clean, they tell a terrifying story. It is a story of despair and hopelessness, of violence and crime.
It is a story of drug addiction.
Both these men, whose names have been changed for this story, experimented with a wide variety of drugs, including the latest one to hit the streets of rural Alberta communities — crystal meth.
The drug gives users a strong and addictive high that can last for hours at a stretch. However, it also leaves long-term users with severe kidney and liver damage. In addition, long-term users are left with brain damage that may be permanent.
Crystal meth users are rarely only meth users. They experiment with a wide array of drugs. In the case of Frank, he came to the drug only after having a firmly entrenched addiction to cocaine.
Before long this coke addiction also become his occupation as he dealt the drug to others and used the profits to feed his own habit. It was through this line of work that he was exposed to crystal meth.
“I had been dealing coke for two years before I realized anything about speed or crystal meth,” says Frank. “I was 16 or 17 and someone offered to pay me off with speed.”
Speed is just one of many names for methamphetamine and while reports have claimed that the drug has the power to completely addict people from the first use there is little proof to suggest this is true.
“At first I wasn’t really addicted to it, I was well into cocaine at the time,” says Frank. “There was no euphoric feeling to crystal meth at first. I must have banged (injected) it at least a dozen times before I started to feel anything.”
While he takes complete responsibility for his actions, Frank says the social group he hung out with gave him little in the way of options.
“When I was 13 my friends mostly ranged from 25 to 65. Most of them wore leather jackets and rode Harleys,” says Frank. “You didn’t really say no to these guys. If they offered it to you, you just took it.”
Chance’s life followed a similar path, but for longer and to more desperate places. He spent years living on the streets and in jail, struggling for years to pull himself off drugs.
At 47, he bears the scars of a lifetime of drug abuse and has the appearance of a much older man, someone who lived too hard and too fast for too long.
Chance was also exposed to drugs at the age of 13 and while he doesn’t blame the circumstances of his life, he says they did play a role.
“I had an alcoholic father and I kind of learned how to deal with life from him.”
Chance says that he didn’t want to drink because he associated that with his father’s addiction.
“I found that I never really wanted to drink alcohol because that was my father’s thing and so I got into drugs and it didn’t really matter what kind of drugs,” says Chance.
Chance says in those early days, and throughout his addiction, he avoided dealing with problems by using drugs.
“When you’re not dealing with those feelings and those problems they just get bigger and bigger and so you use more because you just can’t deal with life straight,” says Chance.
“All I wanted to do was just fit in and I found that if I had dope
for someone I became the man.”
The young age at which both men started using drugs is not uncommon. When the Premier’s Task Force on Crystal Meth released their recent report, they focused many of their recommendations on youth.
Const. Dan Thibeau with the Westlock RCMP, says that in the three years he has been here he has seen a noticeable decline in the number of meth addicts. The decline has been particularly pronounced in youth.
“It seems to be more a late 20s to 30s and even upwards from there to the point where we are seeing people in their 40s, 50s and 60s,” says Thibeau. He says that unfortunately along with a decrease in the number of meth addicts they have seen an increase in the number of cocaine addicts.

Supply and demand

One of the greatest challenges with this epidemic has been cutting down on the supply and availability of the drug.
Unlike other drugs, meth can be made by combining a collection of legally-available chemicals and over-the-counter medicines. Even with stricter controls having been placed on those chemicals, meth is still on the streets.
Simply put, meth is cheap, easy to produce, and highly addictive. From the standpoint of the criminal organizations, which have made and continue to make fortunes through its distribution, meth is the perfect tool on which to expand their empires.
When their resources are worn down users frequently resort to crime to find ways to pay for their habit creating a two-pronged crime wave wherever meth is present.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Ian Sanderson, who is in charge of drug awareness and gang investigations for Alberta, says that because of the sheer profit potential of the drug there are dozens of criminal organizations dealing meth in the province.
“The criminal intelligence service of Alberta put out a report a couple of years ago and they identified pretty much every recognizable criminal group as having some type of connection to the meth trade,” says Sanderson. “For organized criminal groups the whole thing is about money and controlling their share.”
He says his department is watching how the drugs are being moved around the province in an attempt to track the progression. He says the trends in the meth problem here have mirrored the progression of the drug in American states like Washington, Oregon and Colorado.
“To compare ourselves to places like the U.S. and see how bad it could really go, we haven’t reached that. And a lot of that is we started our response before it became an absolutely out of control problem province wide,” says Sanderson.
Alberta reacted faster to the problem so Sanderson is hopeful the province won’t follow the same course as those states.
Sanderson says that law enforcement is unsure as to exactly where the meth is now coming from. Over the past few years police broke up a number of large scale labs that were distributing the vast majority of the meth available on the streets.
Since then the labs have disappeared but the drugs continue to show up. Sanderson says his team is working hard to figure out just where today’s supply is coming from.
“One of the things we are diligently working on is determining whether these labs have just gone further underground or whether they have left the province,” says Sanderson.
Sanderson says, based on the American example, a worrying trend would be the emergence of home-based labs.
Because meth production is a relatively simple chemical process it can be manufactured by amateur chemists in their own homes. These small labs produce a insignificant amount of the drugs on the street, but can eat up a lot of time for law enforcement.
“If the trend continues the way it did in the United States then we would see more of these home-based labs, which become the majority of the work that law enforcement responds to even though they only produce five per cent of the drug,” says Sanderson.
He says the portability of the smaller labs makes investigating them particularly hard.
“You can do the process in about an hour. To get the information to do a search warrant on that place would probably take 100-200 hours,” says Sanderson. “They are easily moved. They can be up and gone in about an hour.”
The life
Both Frank and Chance spent time dealing drugs to pay for their own habits and as time progressed they gradually became involved in more serious crimes.
“I resorted to dealing and that lasted until I was about 18. Then I was lucky enough that my dad put me through judo and I put myself through a few years of kick boxing and I turned to enforcing to get my drugs,” says Frank.
“I started as fists for hire and it eventually became guns for hire. It just kept getting worse and worse.”
In time, as the demand for his line of work began to subside, Frank eventually gave up on finding pretenses for his violence.
“I would just make up an excuse and do a home invasion and just take what I needed to get high,” says Frank.
Sanderson says meth always brings an increase in crime.
“There is a direct link to an increase in many types of crime, including violent crime assaults perpetrated by its users and things like vehicle theft and identity theft.”
Sanderson said that the nature of the drug makes users more paranoid and aggressive.
“People who are involved with it tend to develop a psychosis so that they don’t tend to deal well with authority figures. There is an officer safety issue when people are coming down from this drug,” says Sanderson.
He says the effects of the drug also make users more predisposed to crime.
“While they are on this they are not eating or sleeping and their brains are extremely active so they tend to burn off that mental energy by thinking about criminal activity,” says Sanderson.
Chance also used crime to help pay for his habits, but he became more involved with organized crime.
“We lived like rock stars. We had planes, we travelled in limos and that was at an early age for me and all of that was happening because I had got into the drug scene,” says Chance.
“People would trip over themselves to come hang out with me so I thought at the time I was on top of the world.”
For Chance his criminal life became one more thing to juggle in an act that was already becoming hard to balance.
“I lived a triple life. Here I am hiding from other people that I am in a gang and I am hiding from the gang that I am still using,” says Chance.
His life finally caught up with him and he was put in jail for three years.
In jail he stayed away from meth and cocaine, but still turned to drugs to solve problems.

Road to recovery

When Chance was released from jail he began a life on the streets in Vancouver and Calgary. It was there that he was first exposed to treatment.
“I tried with all the brain power that I had and all the skills that I had, which was nothing to try and stay clean and sober,” says Chance. “I thought treatment centres were for the rich and I thought detox was for heroin addicts.”
The first step for Chance and all addicts is admitting that they need help. “I thought it would be fairly easy, but it’s changing your whole way of thinking. Taking what you think is the truth and turning it right around,” says Chance. “You have to be humble enough to be teachable and that was the hardest part.”
Diane Hyndman, an AADAC addiction counselor who works with recovering addicts in Westlock, says the key for any successful recovery is that the addict wants to change.
“It’s that old cliché, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. So a husband will bring a wife, or someone will bring in their kids and try to make change happen for this person, but unless the person in their own mind is willing to make a change it isn’t going to happen,” says Hyndman.
Frank says admitting he had a problem took longer than it should have.
“I had seen buddies overdose, I have seen guys get shot. I overdosed myself half a dozen times,” says Frank. “I had bypassed everyday life. There was Frank the family guy and Frank the addict for about a year and then it just became Frank the addict.”
Both men emphasize the importance of a 12-step program in bringing about their recovery. They describe their addiction as a failing they have always had and they needed to put their faith in a higher power, any higher power, to be able to move past the addiction.
They also emphasize the importance of having a sponsor who has been down the same destructive path and has found ways to cope.
Chance’s road to recovery was a long one and he says it didn’t work at first.
“I have been in and out of detox 52 times. I have been to nine treatment centres. It wasn’t easy. If you are from the street, it’s not something that is easy,” says Chance.
“The only way I knew to stay clean without changing myself was jumping from treatment centre to treatment centre. It gave me about a year living clean, because I couldn’t buy anything while I was living there.”
It was only when he finally started to change his thinking that he managed to stay clean. “You have to step outside of yourself. You have to get completely out of the way and buy into the program of recovery.”
For Frank cleaning up meant hitting rock bottom.
“I went over to this guy’s house for a New Year’s party and we tied into a quarter pound of blow and a couple of ounces of meth over the course of 11-12 hours, except I was at gunpoint the whole time,” says Frank.
“They kept getting me loaded, which wasn’t a chore for them. I was more than willing to do their dope. At the end of 11 to 12 hours they just let me go.”
When he left that party he left drugs behind. In his last act as a user he shoved a half gram of crystal meth up his nose and called his sponsor.
He then went to a marathon meeting for cocaine and crystal meth anonymous and has been clean ever since. He remembers the exact time he started the recovery process — 7:47 in the morning of Jan 1, 2005. “I think I was a full blown addict before I stuck my first needle into my arm. I hit bottom when I was 14 and just spent another 10 or so years identifying that fact,” says Frank.
Frank says the challenge was realizing that the only thing that mattered was that he was prepared to change.
“All the things that I have said and done don’t matter. What matters is that I wanted to stop and I said I would stop and then I didn’t. And telling yourself that you will never do that again and then doing it again. And the feelings inside, the wanting to pay rent, and show up on time, and to go to the birthdays and to be a family man. The biggest thing is the emotional and spiritual vacuum inside,” says Frank.
He says that one of the problems in getting better in Westlock was that so many of the people he knew were still using. “You’re either a doper and if you think about recovery they assume you’re a rat. It makes it hard.”
Hyndman says that if addicts return to a life surrounded by addicts then they will definitely end up using again.
“If I have somebody go to treatment and their supports are drug-using people, they are going to relapse,” says Hyndman. “Not only are they trying to kick the habit, now they need a whole new set of friends.”
Chance says part of the reason he agreed to be interviewed for this article was that he hopes it could stop the next generation of addicts.
“If I could keep one person clean for another hour by doing this, then I am happy. Or if something that I have said has triggered them to maybe think about getting better then I am even more happy,” says Chance.
He says parents have to understand that if their child is using drugs it is likely just a symptom of some other problem they are having.
“When your kid is using it is not their problem, it is your problem. Usually when a kid picks up drugs it’s not the problem, it is the solution to some other problem,” says Chance.
Frank says he hopes people understand that addicts don’t wear signs.
“You don’t have to be drinking out of a paper bag to be an alcoholic, and you don’t have to have a rig hanging out of your arm to be an addict.”
Sanderson says the one thing he want people to know is that recovery is possible. “They are not write-offs, they are not throwaways,” says Sanderson. “There is an awful lot of help for these people. There is life after meth.”

Leadership race pool

2006-11-08T19:29:00.000-08:00

Ok kids,

It's time we start using this blog for what it was really designed for; High Stakes Gambling and by that I mean bets on who will win the liberal leadership race for bragging rights.
As a special added twist, we will also be taking your best stab at the Alberta PC leadership race. (Anyone who bets on Ted Morton will keep my up at night and can thus no longer be my friend)

So here's how it works.

In the commment section below post who you think will win the race and on what ballot.
(IE Joe Volpe trillionth ballot, after the Quebec wing blocks an office chair because they are unsure of its stand on the "nation" question.)

Keeping in mind there is no money in this little game, the tie-breaking rules are entirely arbitrary.

1. You have to get the right Liberal candidate
2. You have to get the right ballot
3. You have to pick the right Conservative
4. You have to be the first to make these choices.

(If at this point if we are still tied we get to the arbritary rules, a special hat tip to Dan Blouin)

5. Are any people left in the tie breaking round me? (If they are they win)
6. How much do I like the person left in the tie-breaking round? (Is it possible for me to pick a favourtie?)
7. Are the people in the tie-breaking round willing to fight it out in a duel?
8. Commence duel.

Let the betting begin!

Cool photos

2006-10-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

We have a volunteer fire department here in Westlock, as do a lot of small communities in the area. They work hard and deserve credit for giving up their free time to help out when needed.

For a news photographer the thing about volunteer firefighters is they don't get to the fire as quick. Which means sometimes I hear the fire call on my scanner and get there first. Our fire chief got to this one first, but he goes in a pick-up truck and arrives on scene to decide exactly what is needed. (How many trucks etc.)It makes for the opportunity for better photos.
In this case the building was an abandoned storage shed and nobody was hurt.

Where did I go? Oh there I am!

2006-10-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

Ok,

I know I disappeared for a while, but to make up for it . . . Adorable photo. We ran this as cover a few weeks back and I have received more comments, calls and questions about it than anything I have done since I got here.

Okay this is the other thing I have ben meaning to show you all. Every town in the prairies has something to set itself apart. Westlock up until a little why ago was home to the world record harvest. Essentially, they got a couple dozen combines and speed-harvested a field. The whole thing raised awareness for the Canadian Foodgrains bank that sends grain to Africa.
Then Winkler, Manitoba decided to get smart. This summer they broke Westlock's record, but in fairness they did it for a good reason as well and the people of Westlock took it in stride.

Officially plans were well underway long before Winkler decided to break the record, but I think there was a plan to give Westlock a new claim to fame.

And so, the Canadian Tractor Museum, which is also here in town decided to build this. It is a antique tractor mounted on a 60-70 foot pole with all the trimmings of a weathervane, or, as I like to call it "The World's Largest Tractor-Shaped Weathervane." (I am trying to get the town to recognize it and by that I mean badgering my co-workers with the idea of starting a campaign in the paper, so far to little success.)

Here is the crazy thing, it works. The slightest wind blows and it moves and changes direction. It is actually really impressive. They got some kind of a bearing and people who know things about machining things and they did it.

Speaking of people who should quit . . .

2006-09-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

If you are a Liberal, with any hopes of bringing down Stephen Harper in the next election, you need to have Joe Volpe quit. I would encourage all of the front runners (cause they listen to obscure blogs) to try and cut him a side deal. If he gets out now and makes himself scarce he can be a junior cabinet minister. (Might I suggest Minister of Tomfoolery)
While I do think people should be innocent until proven guilty, if he stays in the race until the convention and is cleared of all of the allegations surrounding him, he still loses. Not like close vote loses either, more like the way King Cobra always lost to G.I. Joe. (Wow, that's a random 80's reference)
Anyways, I really think the Liberals would be good to distance themselves from this man. Especially, since they already have this they stole money from us thing hanging around their head.

Also spoke with another leadership candidate and I have started to notice a interesting trend in Alberta politicians. They come off more unpolished than politicians in Ottawa, but I haven't decided if maybe that's just their polish.
For example, in my years in Ottawa interviewing all kinds of people I never once heard a politician or a lobbyist say "I don't know." I heard plenty an answer that indicated they clearly didn't, but I never actually heard the words.
Ted Morton, an Alberta PC candidate said those words in an interview to me. I asked how one segment of his rural economic plan, which would see more royalty revenue flow to municipalities would affect municipalities also facing high costs, but (like Westlock) devoid of oil he said "I don't know." I can't decide if stuff like this is either genuine politicians being genuine or a disturbing new trend where nobody wants their PM or premier to be the smartest guy in the room.

I am Ryan's sloth filled weekend

2006-09-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the first significant time off I had in a while. I calculated it on Friday when I was finishing my week's worth of stories and, as of Friday, I had worked 23 of the last 24 days.
We had a special supplement on natural resources and a bunch of other things and 24 days later I had done an ass-load of work. Some of those days were half days, but others were days and half.
When I first decided I was going to leave foreign affairs I started looking at daily newspapers exclusively. In retrospect that was a mistake.
I am doing very good work out here. I was complemented recently by my boss who also gave me a raise upon the end of my three month probation. It has occurred to me that you don't have to be at a big newspaper to do good work, but you do have to be at a good newspaper.
The crazy amount of days I work are because I work on a lot of stories. Everyone else I work with also works crazy hours. My boss works six days a week every week, I think the other reporter has been working as long as me if not longer , but we all want to see a good paper at the end of it.
I told my boss on Friday when we were putting the paper together that I thought the other reporter might be close to a burn out.
I am trying to decide whether I warned my boss because I was worried about the other reporter or my burgeoning workload. I think it's perhaps 50/50, maybe 60/40, possibly 90/10.

Jan Wong should really quit

2006-09-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Ok,

I could make a big long argument about all of the reasons why, but all I am going to say is that she's not very good. She's an excellent writer, but a horrible and unethical reporter and this job has two sets of skills.

She doesn't have the other set.

Random thoughts

2006-09-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

Knifefight's twin?

So I am driving around town this afternoon and a cat runs in front of my car. It was about 20 feet ahead of me so there was no danger, but the cat stopped looked at me and stood there for a bit.
As though to say "I know you can run me over, but I am going to stare at you for a bit." Suddenly, knifefight's tragic accident seems easier to understand.

Welcome foreigners

It has come to my attention that the blog has a new found Scottish audience. (the actually from Scotland kind as opposed to my immigrant parents)

Welcome.

So I got out a map and decided to share some info. Westlock is about as far away from Toronto, where many of you have visited, as Glasgow is to Eastern Russia, assuming you could drive across the North Sea.
The town I live and work in is about an hour from the provincial capital Edmonton. Alberta is experiencing an unprecedented boom economy because there is oil here and apparently, international demand.
The oil we have here is mixed in with the sand as opposed to being under it and is expensive to refine without the help of vast amounts of engineering and science that I don't fully understand.

Wow, Plastic bag!

My attention span has become even shorter since I started reporting again. I know some of you who lived with, worked with, raised me might find this hard to believe, but, um hey is that a shiny thing. Yes, yes it is!

Alright that's all for my thoughts today.

There is another leadership race?

2006-09-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

So I met with one of the candidates from the Alberta leadership yesterday and I have to say I realized how much I have been ignoring provincial politics out here.
This isn't an Ontario kid bias, I have never cared about provincial politics and I find that provincial politicians are generally uninspired and petty (not to say Federal politicians aren't the same some times).

If I had my way they would be stripped of most of their powers and reduced to street naming and holiday proclamating. (Not the kind of holidays you get off, the stupid ones people randomly declare and have certificates and photo-ops for.)

But off topic rant aside, in our current state of affairs the provincial governments hold sway and I suspect Alberta will hold much of that sway in the years to come. You know, with the giant pile o' money and the oil and did I mention the money.
So the leadership race is important, especially since the PC leadership winner will be premier. The chances of the Liberal or NDP Leader becoming premier are about as good as Darcy's ill-fated run for pope. (You had my vote champ)

The leadership candidate I met was Ed Stelmach (seen to the right) or as I have taken to calling him, much to the dismay of my colleagues, Ed! He was a fairly standard politician no direct answers, broad ideas, no controversial stands.

In my admitingly limited research, I found most of the candidates for the leadership have, in terms of ideas, very little separating themselves. They all have different backgrounds and different experience, but there are few radical ideas.

The other interesting thing about the race is that anyone can join the PC party for $5 and cast a vote. Which, while also being democratic and open, is also a very clever fundraiser. Ralph Klein and his pals are not as dumb as I often assumed.

Speaking of Klein, now that he is a lame duck he has gone a little off the reservation. He has been on TV all summer saying all kinds of terribly entertaining things.

For example, earlier this summer he told the press at his annual BBQ that he doesn't understand why anybody would want his job because it is so much work. He also says it hasn't been nearly as much fun since the press made him quit drinking.

Why I am going to Hell (specifically)

2006-09-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

Alright,

Most of you can probably think of a number of answers to the question posed above, some of you are coming with me.
But I have really noticed how often my journalistic instincts and my being a human being instincts can conflict.

For example, this week we were sitting in the newsroom with the scanner chattering away and next thing we hear "We have a line sprayer versus a semi collision all units report." I and for that matter the other reporter and our publisher looked at each other and expressed more or less in unison. "Wow, I bet that will make an awesome photo."
The guy in the paint sprayer was mildly injured and the semi driver was just fine, and I believe as shown to the right it does make a pretty sweet photo. (It was also one of the easiest accidents to find, just follow the freshly painted lines until you find paint all over the road.)

That said, it kinda reminded me of the discussion we often have around the newsroom about how often as journalists you benefit from tragedy in the lives of others.

Example number two:

I interviewed a guy last week who had just returned from Afghanistan. Other than he was a local guy and he had been in Afghanistan, I knew little to nothing about him.
Over the course of the interview I learned a lot of things, but there was nothing spectacular to the story.
Then I found out he had been sent home a month early because he was injured in a suicide attack. The attack killed two other soldiers and I suddenly had something to make the story interesting.

Even though he talked a lot about working with Afghan people and building bridges, giving out medicine etc., I still think the attack is the most interesting thing about his time there. Actually, I know it is.

I also know that the accident is a good photo. We are a mostly subscription paper, but we also sell quite a few in shops around town and a good photo makes all the difference in pick-up. In the end, the accident was our front this week.
I think reporters might just be more honest about basic human instincts. Of course, it is also possible we're all going to hell.

Prelude to the stupid

2006-09-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

I interviewed our local MP this past week because he is going back to Ottawa soon. We talked about everything that will likely be on the fall session and, if he is any indication, we are in for a giant waste of time.
Westlock - St. Paul MP Brian Storseth is a rookie MP and to his credit he is very active in the communities he represents.
Storseth goes to lots of community meetings and this summer he has been at every fair, picnic, church outing, town hall, etc there was. He has also arranged his own get to know your MP nights. In fact, I watched him sit with less than ten people for two hours.

He also puts out community polls in his householders. The most recent, which thus filled up a lot of time in our interview, was on gay marriage. (He's opposed)

I talked with him about a whole bunch of things and like almost every politician he was evasive and avoided actual answers.

Essentially, his argument was the last vote wasn't free and fair because the Martin cabinet was forced to vote with their boss on the issue. I think it very unlikely the vote will change and even if the Conservatives call an open vote for their caucus the opposition parties don't have to do the same and they have more votes.

But a debate about reopening the debate is pointless if you don't talk about what you would do with the newly reopened debate.

I asked him why he was opposed to same sex marriage in general and he said, while he thought everyone should be treated equally, (same benefits etc.) he didn't like the idea of the government telling churches who to marry.
To which I said, doesn't C-38 specifically state no church will be forced to marry a couple against the church's wishes?
He told me he thought it could be interpreted differently. I didn't have the bill in front of me, so I couldn't call him on it, but does anyone think there is ambiguity in the following:

"It is recognized that officials of religious groups are free to refuse to perform marriages that are not in accordance with their religious beliefs."

It is right there in the bill that no church will be forced to marry a couple of the same sex. I suspect this issue has a lot more to do with votes than morals and I know it will take up a lot of valuable time.

In a country that is supposed to value equality, human rights, and diversity it seems insane that we will, I fear, waste a month debating rolling back rights we extended to a minority group.

The war in Afghanistan, labour shortages, the crisis poised by the baby boom's retirement, our healthcare system, national unity, skyrocketing tuition, and the price of stamps all seem more important to me than whether or not two people of the same sex can marry.

Even if I was opposed to the idea, I would like to think that I would want my government to spend time on more important things.

But hey, at least we get to waste some time, eh?

An anonymous member of the editorial staff wrote a similar version of this rant as an editorial this week, so I am expecting angry letters soon.

City kid gets weirded out in a small town

2006-08-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

I realized I haven't put a photo up in a while so here's a completely unrelated shot of the world's biggest wagon wheel and pick in Fort Assiniboine, Alberta. I took it on the way to, or on the way back from a forest fire a few months ago.

And now the focus.

I have noticed everyone in town knows who I am. This likely has something to do with the photo beside my name in the paper. (investagatory journalist at work)

We have over 5,000 subscriptions and the town only has 5,000 so everybody reads us and it didn't take long for everyone to figure out who I was.

It's weird to be in a community where people know who you are even though you have no idea who they are. The older people also start up conversations about an article I wrote, or the other guy wrote, or something someone wrote one time in their lifetime, or the weather that day, or where their medication might be.

But never mind that now.

Anymawho

My point, (other than the obvious people know each other in small towns) is that it is an interesting experience to be recognized and not know why. Growing up in Markham the only people who knew you actually knew you.

I have had this experience before, because my mom has worked in the same hospital for 30ish years and when my brother and I visit people point at us and say "Barb's kid." They also tell you they were in the room when you were born, which as I am sure Andrew can attest is weird.

But I have never had it on such a large scale.

(wow this post got rambly stay tuned for more lucid thoughts in the weeks to come)

Working on a meth feature over the next few weeks. It is a crazy problem out here.

The Canadian justice system in action

2006-08-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

I went to Westlock court today. Westlock is part of a provincial circuit court and every Wednesday a judge comes to town and goes through the docket. It can be a bit of a drag, but with a few guilty pleas and a trial or two you can get a few nice stories.

The Mayor of Westlock is also the most popular (Read: only) defence lawyer in town.

I often deal with the Mayor in both of his jobs. He is a good guy and a good lawyer and he usually helps Westlock's less fortunate with their legal problems.
Sometimes a court will have a duty counsel, whose job it is to help the defendants who don't have lawyers. Westlock doesn't have an official one but the Mayor usually serves this purpose.

Today he wasn't there because he is on vacation. The divide between people with money and people without money was never more clear. A couple of defendants offered guilty pleas without any access to a lawyer, or in one case any access to a shirt. Criminals and alleged criminal alike tend to make poor decisions, so them planning their own legal strategy is usually a bad choice.

The judge was compassionate enough to not take the guilty pleas and to get the guy a shirt, but those guys could have seriously screwed up their life because they didn't have access to good advice.

I am not saying they might not be guilty, but a lawyer might have found ways to get them into an alternate program or a better sentence.

It just realy exposed that if you have money and can get a lawyer you will do better than a guy who doesn't.

photos from the fair

2006-08-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

This is a photo from the RCMP musical ride. I find it kinda nice that even though the RCMP are responsible for policing huge parts of the country and protecting the Prime Minister, they still come to rural communities in another form and pose for pictures and visit seniors.
There is something very Canadian in that, not taking oneself to seriously.

This, for those of you like me who didn't know, is a chuckwagon. They go very fast and occasionally tip over.

Go bull Go! (see post below)

This is the midway at night.

Ryan learns about rodeo

2006-08-21T19:14:00.000-07:00

I went to the rodeo at the Westlock fair this weekend. I was working, but I probably would have gone to see it anyway because I had never been to a rodeo.

There were a whole bunch of events at the rodeo and I have to say, I was impressed by the athleticism of the participants. I also found the whole thing entertaining. I got right up close for the bull riding event, right at the gate where they let the bulls out. I got to see the whole process up close and let me tell you something.

I am now cheering for the bull.

You see they take this belt and wrap it around the bulls testicles and pull really tight and then they electrocute the bull, occasionally in the testicles. That's what has the bull all pissed off. I always thought in my naive Eastern way that the bull was just pissed someone was riding it.

You could probably jump on a bull no problem if you didn't electrocute its testicles first.*

I am not an animal activist. I eat lots of meat, I am ok with the seal hunt, and while not a hunter I don't think they are evil, but it seems a touch outlandish to vilify a bull that is pissed because you just electrocuted it in the testicles. If someone electrocuted you in your testicles would you not be pissed off? (use your imagination ladies)

* I take no responsibility if someone tries this.

I took some cool photos at the fair. I am going to put them up soon.

Our first technical glitch

2006-08-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Apparently gremlins crawled into my computer and made it so only registered users can post . The problem has been corrected please stay tuned for more exciting errors.

Our story so far

2006-08-17T23:06:00.000-07:00

Ok kids,

Well I thought I would give everyone a quick update. I moved out here from Ottawa in June of this year. I took a 4500km (give or take) drive out. The drive gave me a sense of the county and if you get the chance the trip is worth it just for the experience.

I have been reporting on a wide array of issues. Westlock is caught up in the Alberta economy and while the town is not awash in oil like some Alberta towns, it is growing and new development in town has been a story that I continue to report on. I also report on courts and crime, farming, (which I know nothing about) local politics, sports and anything else that crosses my plate. As Edmonton grows it is also becoming a more viable option for commuters.

I am hoping the Westlock News is going to be a stop along my career not the end of the line. I work super long hours and would like more time to work on some stories, but quite often the time isn't there.

Our paper is about 20 pages each week and that means I write 10-12 stories, plus photos a week. We only have two reporters so we work on a ten day on four day off schedule. It works out to be the same as a regular job, but ten days on can be a lot. Mild whinnying aside, my worst day here is better than my best day at the cushy government because I enjoy what I do.

Hey look at this interweb thingy

2006-08-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

So, I am assuming you noticed I now have a blog. Many of you are probably wondering a number of things so I have designed a helpful Q&A.

Why do does Ryan /Andy have a blog?

I started this blog for a number of reasons. I moved out here a few months ago and have been living in Westlock, Alberta working for the unoriginally-named Westlock News. I left a cushy government job to come out here, because I missed reporting and not doing it was hurting my soul. I have been surprised by the number of people that are interested in what all is going on out here, so this is how people who want to know can find out.
I also take a lot of photos and thought a few people might be interested in them, mostly because a few people have expressed interest in them.
I also don't get the opportunity to vent about politics the way I once did in Ottawa and I am going into withdrawal.

How often will said blog be updated?

When I feel like it. A few times a week probably.

Where is Westlock?

An hour northwest of Edmonton, not 45 mins as a certain lying town website would have you believe.

Ryan / Andy ? WTF?

Long story short, Andy is a nickname that got out of hand and now there are some people who get confused when I use my actual name. For those of you on the other side of this equation Andy is not my name it is a nickname and it is Darcy's fault.

Why is this blog sometime broken?

This is a question I am expecting will come up so I am preempting it. I am a blog novice and there were a whole bunch of things here I didn't fully understand. I am assuming if something goes wrong there may be a steep learning curve. The other reason is because Nick touches himself.

*Interesting side note blogspot's spell check doesn't know the word blog. Now that's irony.