Murray Wood's Blog

Family lore has it that my grandfather only ever took two bullets with him when he went deer hunting. And he almost always brought one bullet back.

Well, I have a rifle that came from my grandfather, but I’m sorry to say that it didn’t come with his legendary shooting ability. Opening day of white-tail season saw me forget the clip for the rifle. So, it was now effectively a single shot. I could only put in one shell at a time. This would have been fine for Grandpa; not so much for me.

First thing in the morning, I was presented with a fairly easy shot at a nice buck. I rushed it, didn’t compensate for distance and wound up sailing the bullet high. Later in the day, a couple of shots again that should have taken an animal, again unsuccessful.

I’m not an amazing shot, but I’m usually not that bad. It was one of those days. But here’s the thing…I don’t really mind. I love being out on the prairie this time of year. The air is crisp but not bitterly cold. As I walk through coulee bottoms and poplar bluffs, I don’t really care if I push out a deer. At one point, I heard a noise.  A great horned owl lifted off, but set back down again, unconcerned. I stopped to watch. It stared back at me, then grew disinterested and swivelled its head nearly 360 degrees in search of something more intriguing.

Following game trails through the bush and tall grass, seeing where deer have bedded, flushing partridge and grouse, watching a coyote lope across the prairie, or a buck in the rut, nose to the ground, oblivious to almost everything but that overpowering scent. These are as much the rewards of a day in the field as bagging an animal.

Sometimes one comes home empty handed. That’s why they call it hunting. But it’s never a wasted day. My grandfather would have told you that.
 

There are, it seems, three kinds of drivers on the roads. Mario’s, Uneasy Rider’s and the rest of us.

Mario’s seem convinced they are the superior drivers. They seek not only to gain advantage by bumper shining the car ahead of them, but to demonstrate their Andretti like abilities by making a show of changing lanes. Not for them, the signal light, followed by shoulder check, followed by a smooth merge. They dart a quick glance behind, then swoop into the next lane with a burst of speed, as though they were grabbing the pole position at Monaco.

Mario can be found (most of the time) at the next red light, having won the race and arrived there a few seconds ahead of the rest of us. Because after all, it’s not like the lights are synchronized.

Still Mario is generally preferable to the Uneasy Rider. At least Mario doesn’t slow me down. The Uneasy Rider is identifiable at a red light. They are the ones leaving at least a car’s length or two between them and the next car. I don’t know why. But it sure backs up the traffic trying to turn left. Because the Uneasy Rider seems to love the left lane most of all. Grimly clenching their steering wheels, they poke along in what the rest of us know to be the fast lane, sure that the virtue of controlling everyone else’s speed is its own reward.

How about this? A Mario Lane for the speed demons, an Uneasy Rider lane for the nervous slowpokes, and a regular lane for the rest of us? Then if we could just synchronize those traffic lights, we’d be in business.
 

I wonder what the caller who described Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan as a war crime thinks about this?

I wonder what the young college student who wrote a column describing Remembrance Day as a depraved celebration of war, violence and death thinks; particularly since his family fled the Taliban?

The world is horrified…again…at the action of terrorists who want to return Afghanistan to another century. Eight girls walking to school, had acid hurled in their faces by two men on a motorcycle.

You can understand why the Taliban doesn’t want young people, particularly girls to get an education. Educated people can’t be manipulated as easily by those who combine a twisted view of religion with terror tactics.

To those who think Canada’s military shouldn’t be working to restore stability and rebuild Afghanistan, would they turn the country back to people who throw acid in school-girl’s faces, or kill teachers? Would they want their daughters growing up in such a country?

There are crimes against humanity taking place in Afghanistan still, but Canadian soldiers are risking their lives to make life there better. Thanks to them, we can look forward to a day when Afghan children can hop and skip to school like children should, without worrying about terrorists trying to stop them.
 

I’m not surprised, but I am disgusted. Once again, a trip to the mall finds me shaking my head. A store with a proud Canadian tradition had its Christmas decorations up, in advance of Remembrance Day.

I saw a Christmas tree, but I didn’t see any wreaths with poppies, or for that matter, I didn’t even see poppies on the store’s staff.

Maybe poppies are bad for business? It has the opposite effect one me though. I won’t spend a penny before Remembrance Day in a store that doesn’t have the decency to wait until November 12th to start playing Christmas music.

And on Remembrance Day, I can guarantee you won’t find me shopping. The more than 100 thousand Canadians who died for our freedoms, died for our right to dishonour their memory. But that doesn’t mean we should. 

Remembrance Day, in my opinion, is not a day to get an early start on Christmas shopping.

That should be even more apparent this year, as we reflect on the 97 Canadians killed in action in Afghanistan.

As far as I’m concerned, stores should be closed.  But the least a store could do is wait till the 12th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to open for business. It’s called respect.  One caller described a store in Regina as having a sign up that it would open at 11:02. 

But let’s be honest. The stores wouldn’t open if there weren’t shoppers. So it’s up to everyone to ask themselves, what’s the best way to observe Remembrance Day? Going shopping? Or to the cenotaph?

There was one miracle from the Bishop on Saturday. That he was still the starting quarterback in the 2nd half.

At one point, a guy behind me hollered, are you saying Boo or Boo-ishop?
Right about now, Rider fans expect that was the last time they’ll see Michael Bishop at Taylor Field. But it wasn’t entirely his fault. After all, the coach left him in there. And there were the two fumbles on kick returns.

Sloppy, sloppy football by the offense and special teams. However, the offence was consistent. It scored a field goal in every quarter.

The defence certainly did its part, but it would have been a miracle to turn the ball over 7 times and win a playoff game. And why didn’t they throw Andy Fantuz the ball till the 4th quarter?

I think the turning point was the flypast from the Snowbirds. That was about the last thing we had to cheer for.

Well, it was a miracle season in some ways nonetheless. For the team to do what it did with all of those injuries and let’s face it…no clear starting quarterback. That’s something to address for next year. We have a great defence…we have a solid offence. Now, we need one of the young quarterbacks or a quarterback to lead the way.

It’s one thing to lose in the playoffs, but when you lose ugly, it makes for a longer off-season.

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By the way, once again this year, there were some idiots who were cheering and making noise during the minute of silence for the soldiers who fought and died for our country,   In fact it was worse than last year's playoff game on Remembrance Day.  Add that to the boors who hooted and hollered during the moment of silence for Ron Lancaster, and it leaves me really wondering about the intelligence of some people. 

Harold David Smeltzer is heading to  Regina and you can forgive women and parents of children if they’re a bit uneasy.

Smeltzer, as you have been hearing, spent the last 28 years in prison. He abducted five year old Kimberley Thompson as she was on her way to kindergarten in Calgary in 1980. He drowned her in his parent’s bathtub and stuffed her naked body into a garbage can a few blocks away. For five months, Calgary lived in fear.  Smeltzer was only arrested when an 11 year old girl he had raped recognized him as he was out walking.

That’s right, an 11 year old girl…Smeltzer had raped or sexually assaulted others;  he eventually admitted to assaulting 40 victims between 1975 and 1980. He was sentenced to life with no parole for at least 25 years.

Smeltzer had been in jail in Prince Albert.  A three hour parole hearing was held this week; member’s of Kimberly Thompson’s family travelled to be there, to fight his release. But the parole board hadn’t even notified the family, they found out only when a reporter notified them. But if Not that it made any difference…as Kimberly Thompson’s mom, and family wept, the parole board granted Harold Smeltzer day parole in Regina for six months.

How could the board have reached this decision? That’s the question many are wondering, just as they wonder how many strikes should it be in this country till violent sex offenders, particularly those who prey on children. How many strikes till they’re out?

3? 10? 20? 30? 40? 50? Smeltzer is over 40.

As an indication of how completely through the looking glass backwards this system is, it turns out that the reason the family wasn't told of the parole hearing wasn't that someone screwed up.  Actually, it is Parole Board policy  to NOT tell victims or family of such a hearing.  They aren't allowed to solicit feedback!  Why not?  Who is our justice system more concerned about?

If you’re tired of violent criminals getting parole and families being forced to re-live the most jagged, painful moment of their lives, then you need to speak up. Tell your MP. When enough Canadians speak, politicians will start taking action.   In the meantime feel free to check out this site set up by Kimberly Thompson's family to push for a change in our laws. 

The sign in Chicago last night said it all.

“We have overcome.”

45 years after Martin Luther King told black Americans to keep dreaming, last night it was hard not to think that his dream has come true.

The tears in Jesse Jackson’s eyes spoke for a people.

Barack Obama of course does not come from the same American experience as most black Americans. But he has managed to re-enfranchise their hopes while inspiring many others who want change, who wanted something and someone to vote for.

This could not have been imagined just a few short years ago. In my lifetime, black people who marched for their rights were set upon by police dogs and water cannons. In my lifetime, Jim Crow laws kept blacks segregated in the south, while in the north, a much more subtle, unwritten set of laws applied.

Just what it will mean to have a black president remains to be seen. One hopes that beyond smashing the colour bar, it means not very much aside from the positive symbolism and the inspiration it will provide about obstacles that can be overcome.

Even without John on the air, the time-change debate came back this week.

My colleague David Kirton raised it yesterday. As usual, I heard a number of people labouring under some misconceptions. So, here are some facts to consider for the debate.

1. Saskatchewan people are not afraid of change. That is a canard.

2. We are on Daylight Saving Time year round.

3. Saskatchewan does not straddle two time zones; we are not divided by a time zone. Fact: Saskatchewan is the only prairie province that is entirely within one time zone. The Mountain Time Zone is centred in Saskatchewan and extends into Manitoba and Alberta.  (Info here)

4. Despite that, we are on Central Standard Time, which is one hour ahead of the time zone we live in.

5. Daylight Saving Time does not save energy. In fact, a study in Indiana, where half of the state recently adopted DST, found that energy consumption actually went up! Turns out that rather than using that extra hour to be outdoors, more folks were plopping on the couch, turning on the tv and cranking up the air conditioning.

So....have the debate about changing the clocks. But don’t let anyone tell you that we don’t get Daylight Saving Time.  Sunset in Saskatoon on Nov.3,  was 5:35, a full half hour later than Calgary at 5:07. Vancouver saw the sun set almost an hour earlier, at 4:48.

Were we to move another hour forward in Saskatchewan, not only would it be light till 11PM in high summer, but our mornings would be much darker in October and March. Last Friday, the sun rose at 8:01 in Saskatoon. That would’ve been 9AM if we moved an extra hour forward.

Just some facts to consider.