Community

For those of a certain vintage, you may recall a TV show called WKRP in Cincinnati. It was a comedy series about a radio station, but the episode that sticks out for me was on censorship. It related to a song by a member of one of my favourite bands of all times, the Beatles. It was John Lennon’s song “Imagine”, considered one of the great peace anthems. The opening line is “Imagine there’s no heaven…”.

Fifty-five individuals registered for the Polar Bear Dip and raised $18,365.59 during this year’s Winterfest

In times of war, or high conflict, fear and suspicion about people who are “different” become two of the leading emotions. That was certainly the case more than 100 years ago with a local businessman, Victor B. Freytag.

February 23, 2023, marks the centennial of the oldest continuous service club in our city - the Rotary Club of Red Deer.

If you’ve been a bit bagged lately, you’re not alone. And this time I don’t mean “bagged” as in tired, wasted, or generally having as much energy as a wet noodle. I mean ‘bag’ as in the thing you carry your groceries and other stuff in. And the question is: are you carrying around a bundle of bags these days? I know I am.

Poll

One hundred and four.

Doesn’t it seem like everything is some sort of competition these days? Oh, I don’t mean regular competition stuff like hockey games and livestock judging at the Fair or seeing which neighbor can shovel the snow off their sidewalk first. I mean contests on TV where artists, for example, are challenged to paint something like, say, a Bob Ross mountain with happy little trees or somebody without clothes on and then they are “judged” by “experts” and prizes are given for the “best” painting.

One outstanding individual from Red Deer, who was to attain national importance, primarily with the United Church of Canada, was Mrs. Nita Dawson Thorne.

Everybody should have a clubhouse – especially when you’re a young rabblerousing reprobate. It could be a shed in the backyard, a tree house somewhere or an honest-to-goodness special place where only you and your friends can go and hang out. I was one lucky guy; I had a whole bunch of them.