Boyle Over

I keep forgetting about Boyle, and that's not good.

Boyle is a village about a half-hour's drive from Athabasca. They are also in our broadcast range...they are also on my beat. I've been so busy these past couple of weeks trying to establish myself in Athabasca and make nice with the community that I've been forgetting that I've got to do it all in Boyle, too.

I've already shared similar concers with my boss, and she's been understanding for the most part. "Well, the newspaper has two reporters (Mark note: three, if you count the fact that the editor/publisher occasionally gets off his butt and writes a story), and we've only got you, and we understand that you can't be in two places at once."

It's nice that the bosses understand...but still, it's frustrating for me, when I open up Athabasca's paper, and go, "Aww, why didn't I know that! It's my job to know!"

Like the shock I got from yesterday's paper. I had no idea that Athabasca is one of the towns under consideration to get Alberta's new police academy.

I only know what was officially announced a year ago.... Alberta is looking at opening up its own police academy. According to Klein, this is so that county mounties, city cops, First Nations tribal police, and all other kinds of bylaw enforcement officers can get an equal and consistent training in policing.

"It's the first step towards a provincial police force," my father noted after the announcement. It's been rumored for years that Klein has a hidden agenda to create an Alberta Provincial Police force...my father believes that, and has seen lots of "first steps" over the past few years. Allowing Fish and Wildlife Officers to carry sidearms was a "first step"...this experimental Highway Patrol that they're going to put on Highway 63 to Fort McMurray is another "first step," according to Dad.

But yeah. I gotta get more info on this police academy. I've got to get more information on Boyle...my first Boyle village council meeting is tonight. That'll be a good first step.

There's lots of things I should get on. So why am I wasting time with a blog entry?

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Oh, by the way, I had a real good trivia question this morning.

The question: "According to a survey of world travellers, Paris, France has the world's best restaurants. Which city has the second best?"

Answer: Rome, Italy.

The trivia bit I found listed the top 3...in case anyone's interested, the third-best restaurants in the world are in Hong Kong.