Busy day at the pond ... Ducks take flight north of Biggar last week, the cooler days of fall are threatening, even though the summer heat still makes an appearance. Enjoy those days out there, winter will soon be upon us! (Independent Photo by Kevin Brautigam)
will be
Last week,
this week after
and
Students
hitting the books
the summer break comes to a close.
both Biggar Central School 2000
St. Gabriel School, held backpack nights on August 28. Kids eagerly met their new teachers, Educations Assistants and staff, took a look at their new home room, and put
all their new school supplies in just the right spot. Although they were sad to see an end to the summer, meeting up with old friends put a smile on their faces - at least that is what teachers were saying!
(Independent Photos by Kevin Brautigam)
by Erroll Horst, Biggar Fire Department
August was thankfully a slow month for the fire department with various members being on holidays and trying to enjoy the nice weather.
With four practises during the month we focused on some maintenance issues like cleaning trucks and testing all the equipment with engines or batteries. We also ran a “blind search” contest where the members have glasses on that give them very limited vision and they have to locate five various pieces of equipment located on the trucks. It is a timed event with the winner (fastest) taking home a prize.
Our biggest practise of the month was in partnership with a local business, Rack Petroleum. We arrived on scene to find an injured worker on top of the fertilizer bins. Working together with EMS the members assessed and stabilized
the patient. With the use of ropes and accessories the patient was lowered to a level where he could be transferred to our ladder truck, and was then successfully lowered to the ground. Update is that he fully recovered.
Huge thank you to
Rack Petroleum for giving us this opportunity to advance our training. There where four calls during the month - a grass fire, a baler fire, one false alarm, and one investigation request, bringing the year to date total to 45 calls.
by
Sgt. Dereck Crozier, Biggar Detachment
This past week 35 calls for were received.
Traffic related incidents, showed six tickets and four warnings being issued. The most significant traffic infractions were a $570 fine to one vehicle travelling 35 kilometres above the posted limit, and an erratic driver in a black tinted Dodge with Alberta plates and a slip tank that went through radar at 200 km/h, eventually slowing to 158 km/h on the second attempt to speak with them. The vehicle then fled from police north into the RM of Glenside to avoid the spike belt.
Three reports of vehicles being operated consistent with drivers that are impaired, a grey Suburban on Highway 376, a silver Mercedes using the 364 grid, and a white Dodge Ram on Highway 14 east of Kinley.
Call for assistance to
the town office to speak with a disgruntled male that was causing a disturbance.
Another arson to the outside of a home on Fifth Avenue West. The renter was home at the time and was able to alert a quick response from our fire department before the structure became a total loss. The incident remains under investigation with the assistance of the provincial fire investigator.
Forty-three-yearold Lyle Silbernagel was arrest and charges for assault and will be appearing in Provincial Court on Sept. 4 at 10 a.m. this week. It will be a busy docket day for Biggar with 54 individuals required to make an appearance before the Judge. Lawyers will be busy this day with a 17-year-old youth and their 15-year-old accomplice that have spent the last eight months on a rebellious rend. With a total disregard for others and rules to follow, the two compiled a résumé of 34 charges before the court. How-
RM of Biggar council minute highlights
The regular meeting of the RM of Biggar No. 347 was held July 16 at the municipal office at 9 a.m. Attending were Reeve Jeanne-Marie de Moissac, Councillors Melanie Peiffer, Dale Thomson, Mark Sagon, Greg Mundt, and Brian Watson (Absent: Brad Poletz), Administrator Sandi Silvernagle, Assistant Administrator
Maria Danychuk, and Foreman Darren Comstock.
The following are some highlights of the meeting.
Council agreed that the June 2024 Bank Reconciliation and the Financial Statement be received and filed as presented.
Council agreed that payments for cheques,
online payments, online utility payments, Mastercard, monthly remittances, and June payroll in the amount of $437,702.89 be approved.
Council agreed to pay Silver Eagle Excavating Ltd. for the following: $11,100 - Custom Cat Work, Monarch Well site. $22,200 - Custom Cat and Grader Work,
Build up road north of Aman’s. $8,457 - Custom Scraper and Grader Work, Fix soft spot south of Aman’s. $23,760.83, Custom Trucking of Gravel.
Division 2-6 reports for July 2024 were given by Councillors, as were the Reeve, Foreman, and Administrator reports.
Council agreed the meeting be suspended
a bountiful harvest as the days of fall come ever closer. (Independent
ever, this should not come as a surprise to most, as the wheels of justice can be drug out over time as Makenzie Mitchell makes another appearance before the court on her role in the Break Enter and Theft from the liquor store last summer.
The aforementioned 17-year-old youth has been charged with: Uttering Threats x1, Arson x4, Minor Possessing Alcohol x1, Mischief x2, Theft of Vehicles x4, Drive Without a Licence x1, Break and Enter To A Residence x3, Possession of Stolen Property x1, Theft under $5,000 x1, Causing Unnecessary Suffering To Animals x1, and Failing To Comply With Conditions x2.
The 15-year-old youth has been charged with Arson x4, Theft of Vehicles x2, Possession of Stolen Property x1, Break and Enter To A Residence x2, Minor Possessing Liquor x1, and Failing To Comply With Conditions x3. Take care out there!
at 9:30 a.m. to open a Public Hearing regarding the Discretionary Development Permit Application submitted by Jason Lindgren. The Public Hearing was closed at 9:45 a.m. It was resolved that the Development and Building Permit Application at SE 16-35-16 W3 from Jason Lindgren is approved.
Council agreed that the following correspondence by accepted for Council’s information and filed: Biggar Library Board - June Meeting Minutes. Randy Aumack - SARM. CEPCA (Canadian Emergency Preparedness and Climate Adaptation) - Emergency Expo September 24-26.
Council agreed to appoint Councillors Watson and Thomson as the voting delegates on behalf of the RM of Biggar for the SARM
Director for Division 6 election taking place July 31.
Council agreed to donate $500 for the Home Run Sponsorship level to Biggar Minor Ball for the purchase of scoreboards.
Council agreed to donated $200 for the Sask Central Victim Services Black Tie Bingo Night fund raiser on August 17.
• 10:58 a.m. Councillor Mundt left the meeting.
Council agreed to appoint Reeve de Moissac and Councillor Watson to be on the Curling Rink committee.
Council agreed to hire Darren Comstock as the RM of Biggar’s Foreman, effective July 5.
Council resolved to approve the per diems in the amount of $4,972.80.
• Meeting adjourned at 1:42 p.m.
No troubled waters ... Serene and peaceful, a quick outside getaway puts all into perspective. Here’s hoping you are enjoying the summer days, and that our farmers are having
Photo by Kevin Brautigam)
Biggar Fire Department members lower a simulated victim down their ladder truck at the Rack Petroleum’s fertilizer facility. (Photo for The Independent courtesy of Erroll Horst)
Even friends of the CBC are mad about the big bonuses
by Kris Sims, Canadian Taxpayers Federation
When both the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and Friends of Canadian Media agree that CBC bonuses are wrong, the fight’s over This is even weirder than the Masters of the Universe cartoon episode, where the hero He-Man teamed up with the villain Skeletor to save Christmas.
The CBC doled out $18.4 million in bonuses while, at the same time, threaten- ing to eliminate some positions just before Christmas. And that has even its “friends” upset.
A group called Friends of Canadian Media typically func- tions as a cheerleading squad for the CBC.
The group has praised the broadcasterstate for years, comparing people who want it defunded to fans of professional wrestling - as if that’s a grave insult.
But this latest plot twist from the CBC has even its friends delivering a smack- down.
In an e-mail to sup- porters about the CBC bonuses, Friends of Canadian Media stated:
“This decision is deeply out of touch and unbefitting of our national broadcaster.”public
The CBC’s cheer team now agrees with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation that the bonuses are wrong. But that’s where the agreement ends.
da’s“CBC/Radio-Canaper capita fund- ing currently sits at a 60-year low, thanks to decades of neglect from successive gov- ernments of all politi- cal stripes,” the group writes.
The CBC has “low funding” and is suf- fering from “neglect”?
The CBC’s govern- ment funding is astro- nomic, and it gets an obscene amount of attention from our government despite its ratings circling the drain.
The CBC’s taking $1.4 billion from tax- payers this year. The money we spend on the CBC could pay the salaries of about 7,000 cops and 7,000 paramed- ics. It could buy more than 3,000 homes in Alberta. It would cover groceries for about 85,000 Canadi- an families for a year. What the CBC costs taxpayers is the oppo- site of low funding.
The CBC has dished out $130 million in bonuses since 2015. There are 1,450 CBC staffers taking home six-figure salaries. Since 2015, the num- ber of CBC employees taking a six-figure sal- ary has soared by 231 perThecent.Canadian Press reported that the lat- est round of bonuses for executives at the CBC is more than $70,000 per person. That’s more than the average Canadian family takes home in a year.
The CEO of the CBC, Catherine Tait, is paid between $460,900 and $551,600 in sal- ary every year. She’s also entitled to a bonus of up to 28 per cent. For the kids paying attention in math class, that’s a potential bonus of up toThat’s$154,448. a super weird form of low funding andIt’sneglect. got to be tough to land that woe-isme message when millions get thrown around for bonuses.
Even a CBC news anchor asked her boss tough questions about the bonuses on national television.
“The Canadian Taxpayers Federa- tion, through an FOI request, showed $16
million were paid in bonuses in 2022. Can we establish that this is not happening this year?” Adrienne Arsenault asked Tait on Dec. 4, 2023.
“I am not going to comment on something that hasn’t been discussed at this point,” Tait replied. It turns out those bonuses were in the works, and now we know they’re costing taxpayers $18.4 mil- lion this diansMeanwhile,year.Canaare tuning out of the CBC while still
being forced to pay for it.
According to its latest report,third-quarter the CBC News Network’s share of the national prime- time viewing audi- ence is 2.1 per cent.
Put another way, 97.9 per cent of TV- viewing Canadians choose not to watch CBC’s English-lan- guage prime-time news program. The CBC needs to be defunded. It’s a huge waste of money, a tiny handful of Canadians are tun-
ing in and journalists should not be paid by the government. It’s a good bet the debate on that larger point will keep getting hotter. But this part of the debate is down for the count: the outrageous CBC bonuses must end. When the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and Friends of Canadian Media agree, consensus has been achieved, and the fight’s over.
Why left-wing activists get the Hamas-Israel war all wrong
by Hymie Rubenstein,
editor of REAL Indigenous Report, retired professor of anthropology, University of Manitoba
At 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas, the Iranbacked terror group controlling Gaza, launched an unprovoked and vicious surprise attack on more than 20 communities in Israel, brutally murdering some 1,200 innocent people, injuring more than 5,400 and seizing 239 hostages, many badly injured.
The knee-jerk response of many left-wing radicals, along with their feckless political enablers, was to either justify or downplay the violence, seeing it as a response to the perceived persecution of Palestinians. This reaction was shaped by an overly simplistic understanding of critical race theory, a Marxist-based ideology that views all human interactions as a conflict between oppressors and the oppressed.
This knee-jerk response was also evident dur-
ing the Oct. 24 Security Council meeting on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
During the meeting, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a ceasefire, stating that the Hamas attacks “did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”
Similar sentiments are expressed in the 1988 Hamas Charter, a document that promotes jihad and rejects any negotiated peace with Israel. The charter states that “The Holy Land is regarded, like all lands forcibly conquered by Islam, as unalienable property belonging to the Muslim public.”
This sentiment reflects the group’s stance that Palestine, as part of this Holy Land, cannot be surrendered or compromised through peace talks, as it is considered Islamic land by divine decree.
The violent language found in the original Hamas charter and its 1998 revision has been backed by 10 wars aimed
at the extermination of Israel and by hundreds of terrorist attacks targeting innocent men, women, and children in Israel and abroad. These attacks have occurred since Israel’s re-establishment as a sovereign state in 1948 - a process that stands out in a world where many countries were formed either through violent conquest, as in much of Europe, or through relatively peaceful colonization, as seen in Canada.
In a statement on Nov. 14, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed deep concern about the impact of the ongoing conflict, particularly on civilians.
“On TV, on social media, we’re hearing the testimonies of doctors, family members, survivors, kids who’ve lost their parents. The world is witnessing this. The killing of women and children, of babies. This has to stop,” he said.
His statement can easily be interpreted as an attempt to blame Israel for the war, as it focuses
on the suffering of Palestinians without explicitly mentioning that Hamas started the war. In other words, kindly fight Hamas with one hand tied behind your back.
Not surprisingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately fired back on X (formerly known as Twitter), writing: “@ JustinTrudeau: It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust.”
“While Israel is doing everything to keep civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm’s way. Israel provides civilians in Gaza humanitarian corridors and safe zones, Hamas prevents them from leaving at gunpoint.”
“It is Hamas, not Israel, that should be held accountable for committing a double war crimetargeting civilians while hiding behind civilians.”
Critical race theory also underpins the simplistic assertion held by many Western activists that because Israelis are white invaders and Palestinians are black indigenous people, the current conflict is just like American Jim Crow and South African apartheid: Israelis are racist victimizers; Palestinians are oppressed victims. Such a comparison is ludicrous.
Unlike Europeans, who have no historical claim to America or Africa, Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel. They have lived there continuously for over 2,000 years, even after being exiled by the Romans in the first century AD. This connection means Zionism - the Jewish nationalist movement aimed at recreating and supporting a Jewish state in the Promised Land - is not an expression of “settler colonialism.”
Israel has never been a colony of any country, nor was it established as one. Therefore, Zionism is a movement of indigenous people seeking
self-determination in their ancestral homeland rather than an external colonial project.
As for the apartheid charge, there is nothing remotely resembling the South African example. Jews and Palestinians share the same DNA given their origin in the same Middle Eastern area. Some 45 per cent percent of Israel’s Jewish population is categorized as Mizrahi (“Oriental” Jews defined as having grandparents born in the Middle East, North Africa, or Asia). When Muslims are included, 70 per cent of Israelis are “people of colour.”
Those who wish to defend or excuse Hamas, are free to do so. But they should stop equating colonialism with Zionism and making nonsensical comparisons between the Palestinian cause - whether for statehood or the genocidal elimination of the Jews - and black liberation struggles in America or South Africa.
Notable Notes
Bob Mason
Dad used to say things like:
“Back in the summer of 19 aught 4,” et cetera, and much as we’d love to emulate the enthusiasm that young people seemed to have had in those days, here we are a hundred years later looking a little desperate as we contemplate the man-made economy of things, and kind of wonder just what the manmade future holds.
‘Twas ever thus!
I was going to say “pages” but actually whole books have been written about the extra intelligence of “man” who, believe it or not, according to Mr. Amar Khayyam (about 12 hundred aught 2) had found out that: Heaven is but a vision of fulfilled desire; And Hell but the shadow of a soul on fire.
“The Summer of 20 aught 2”
Cast on the darkness into which ourselves, So late emerged from, shall soon expire!
And here, Y.T. (Yours Truly) is, a thousand years later, trying to point out to whoever reads this, much the same thing! Progress?
Much as we’d like to, we must admit that “life” hasn’t really changed that much. All over the world and all throughout history, there have been hates and loves, enthusiasts and laggards who have, “Bided their destined time and gone their way.” To be sure, all through the centuries, there have been the rich and the poor, and that very distinguishing comparison is in itself a man-made fallacy. Although fine phrases like, “Let everyone’s body be a temple unto righteousness” adequately describes the philosophers high-class view of things. It is that downto-earth line, “A man’s a man for that” that we most understand!
In our younger years, all of us studied history and many of us would like to just shrug it off as a kind of useless subject and get on with the present. But really, history
is our record of mans social experiments, both good and bad, and should surely be studied over and over until we do realize that what we call “humanity” is really only a part of our world, instead of the impression we all get that we “progressive” parts of Creation are the only ones that count!
Of course we are a very unique part of that Creation, but let us not believe that our world was established only to benefit us!
Just as the edges of space have never been quite understood, also the limits of Creation have never been quite grasped either!
Just as people, who peer through the huge telescopes of the world, are amazed at the seeming infinity of things, so are the ones whose sophisticated microscopic studies prove the endlessness of Creation!
How can this also ran living thing called “man” with all his so-called superior intelligence bring himself to believe that his existence is so important? And, having finally gotten to realize what a small part of Creation he really is, now can he expect “change”
Chocolate Milkshakes For National Chocolate Milkshake Day
by Emily Rokke, News Canada
These are the best chocolate milkshakes to try for National Chocolate Milkshake Day which is September 12! Which one do you want to try first?
Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Milkshake
For this delicious milkshake, combine your favourite strawberry ice cream with your favourite chocolate ice cream and some chocolate shavings. Blend them together with a little strawberry milk to your preferred consistency. You could even slice a couple pieces of chocolate-covered strawberries to top your shake as well. Would you try this version of a chocolate shake?
Chocolate Fudge Milkshake
For the ultimate chocolate milkshake experience, use your favourite chocolate ice cream, chocolate fudge and chocolate milk. Blend these ingredients until you have the thickness you want and make sure to drizzle as much fudge as you want to the top of your shake, too. Is this one of your favourite chocolate milkshakes?
Oreo Chocolate Milkshakes Oreos are delicious and added to a shake, what could be better? Smash your Oreos and add
them to your chocolate ice cream. Along with a splash of milk, blend it all up and of course, add some crushed Oreos to the top of your shake. Black Forest Cake Chocolate Shake
This may be a little out there for some but if you love black forest cake, why not make it into a shake? Combine chocolate cake, maraschino cherries, a little cherry juice, vanilla ice cream and a little chocolate fudge and blend until smooth, adding liquid like more cherry juice or a splash of chocolate milk if you need or want to. Would you try a chocolate shake like this?
Chocolate Vanilla Swirl
Milkshake
This milkshake is a little more work but it looks awesome and you can taste each of the two ice creams in it. Combine chocolate ice cream and chocolate milk together until soft but not runny and add it to a piping bag. Do the same with vanilla ice cream and vanilla almond 9 (or regular) milk. From there, pipe both of the ice creams into the same cup, at the same time and drink up! Depending on where you place your straw, you can enjoy either chocolate or vanilla, in the same shake!
Vanilla Milkshake With Chocolate and Peanut
to be “progress” while all around him is this huge ill-understood and unchanging world!
Like mentioned before, we really haven’t changed that much! When it gets right down to it, dollars aside, the main ambition of life is the same as it’s always been - all this “fast lane”, “high living” bit is just the little extras that we often think we need. And a large part of humanities troubles, I think, are in that very fact! We almost expect those extras!
As a person who doesn’t sit, chin in hand, pondering worldly predicaments, maybe Y.T. shouldn’t even be writing this.
As an “oldster” whose point-of-view is bound to be different from the oh-so modern one, Y.T. can expect quite a bit of criticism from the younger types out there, and maybe this is good! At least in a way, it might lead to someone expressing their own practical thoughts as compared to having their thinking done for them by quoting some of the far too outspoken partisan opinions of the day... Whew!
If a magpie were to pay some attention to the
constructive opinions of, let’s say, Frank Lloyd Wright or Doug Cardinal, and begin building his upside-down nest in a different way than it did ten-thousand years ago, one would know that these co-inhabitors of our planet were hanging with us. But they’re not!
The bees still gather honey - as they did at the beginning of time - and the flowers still produce it the same way.
So much for my little lecture on birds and bees! And, according to me, man should curb his
creative ambitions a bit and go with the flow! Who do we think we are, anyway, to mess around with a plant that has been tested and retested ever since time began?
Just like the little gopher running across the road, man himself will be run over again and again by the huge wheels of time that were never part of his own invention!
Try as we might, to me it seems that our “superior” intellects will never develop a better plan than we had in the first place!
Butter
Technically this isn’t a chocolate milkshake but vanilla brings out the peanut butter and the chocolate in this shake and it does have chocolate and is a milkshake so it still begins on this list. Take your favourite vanilla bean ice cream and add smashed Reece’s cups until your heart’s delight. If you need to thin it out while blending, add milk! Is this one of your favourite “chocolate” milkshakes to enjoy?
Nutella Chocolate Shake
For this shake, use your favourite chocolate ice cream and add Nutella to your liking, along with some chocolate milk to thin it out while you blend it. If you love Nutella, you will love this type of chocolate shake. It may even be your new favourite dessert and one of the best chocolate milkshakes you’ve ever had!
Grasshopper Layered Shake
If there is one thing that goes best with chocolate, it’s mint. For this shake, layer sweet mint ice cream, then chocolate and repeat until you get to the top of the glass. Add your favourite chocolate and mint cookies or candies, smashed, onto the shake and enjoy.
NOTICE OF CALL FOR NOMINATIONS SCHOOL DIVISION ELECTIONS
Public Notice is hereby given that nominations of candidates for the o ce of:
Board of Education Members: Sun West School Division No. 207
Subdivision No 1 (Eatonia, Eston, Marengo) – Number to be selected: 1
Subdivision No 2 (Coleville, D’Arcy, Plenty) – Number to be selected: 1
Subdivision No 3 (Biggar) - Number to be selected: 1
Subdivision No 4 (Dinsmore, Harris) - Number to be selected: 1
Subdivision No 5 (Beechy, Elrose, Kyle, Lucky Lake) - Number to be selected: 1
Subdivision No 6 (Davidson, Kenaston, Loreburn) - Number to be selected: 1
Subdivision No 7 (Town of Outlook) - Number to be selected: 1
Subdivision No 8 (Town of Rosetown) – Number to be selected:1
Subdivision No 9 (Town of Kindersley) - Number to be selected:1
Will be received by the following elections o cers on the 9th day of October 2024 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm and during regular business hours from September 18th to October 8th inclusive or by email to jamie.cowell@sunwestsd.ca
Jamie Cowell Sun West School Division O ce 501-1st Street West, Rosetown, SK
Dated this 1 day of September 2024
Jamie Cowell Returning O
Dear Money Lady,
I am doing up a new will and want to change my executor because I want someone in my family instead of a friend. I am on my own and in my 70’s now. I have two daughters that
As a student growing up, there is an inevitable rite of passage that occurs in
live near me. Should I pick one daughter or can I have both?
Thanks, Gerald. Thanks Gerald for your question - you should choose both girls. By having both daughters as your executors, this will allow them to manage the duties together and if they’re your sole beneficiaries, it makes sense to have them together. When you draw up your will, just make sure that the lawyer uses the wording as “jointly and severally” meaning that one or the other can make a decision about your estate. If it is not done this way, and instead written as “joint-
ly,” they will both need to agree, sign or transact on all duties together in person, without exception.
Let’s look at the basic duties bestowed on an executor today. First they will need to arrange your funeral, cremation or burial, so it’s always a good idea to pre-plan to make it easier on the executor(s) since the decisions have already been made by you. Once that’s done they’ll need to get all the ID and credit cards of the deceased and the most recent will. All credit cards, memberships and services will need to be cancelled. All bank accounts and any safety
deposit boxes should be closed, and a new bank account opened specifically for the estate. The bank most likely will want to see the probated will in order to do this. If the deceased had private insurance, the executor is to advise the company of the death and arrange payment of any amounts owing under the policies.
Next the executor needs to collect all debts or payments owed to the deceased, and this will include promissory notes, corporate accounts, or any accounts receivables. If the deceased was a business owner, they will need to obtain a copy
of the partnership or shareholders agreement to determine the estate’s rights, responsibilities, entitlements and liabilities. All real estate assets and investments will need to be transferred to the ownership of the estate account and it will be up to the executor as to whether the assets should be sold or liquidated.
Every executor must keep impeccable notes and run everything through the new estate bank account. They will also need to advise CPP and OAS and fill out the application for the survivors’ benefit for any eligible dependants. Capital gains, losses or
any tax obligations will need to be determined in order to file that final tax return with the CRA.
I am pleased that your daughters live near you. There are so many tax implications that arise when your executor(s) is out of province, or even worse, not a permanent resident of Canada.
Good luck and best wishes!
Written by Christine Ibbotson, author, finance writer, national radio host, and now on CTV Morning Live, and BNN, syndicated across Canada. Send your money questions (answered free) through her website at askthemoneylady.ca
The weirdest September of your life
every person’s life without them realizing it. And it always happens in September. It is a weird and awkward September and it happens in every person’s life, regardless of gender, status, or financial situation. No one ever talks about it. It just happens. And nobody ever sees it coming until it’s too late. Some of us are happy
to see it come, but the vast majority of us are saddened to experience it once we realize it is happening.
Nobody ever prepares you in any way for the weirdest September of your life.
And that weirdest September of your life is:
The first September that you no longer have to go back to school!
All your life until this particular September, you always went back to school in the fall. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, you just did.
are no longer a student. With the beginning of that first fateful September, you are now officially an adult. Things just drastically changed for you in that moment and your life from then on will never be the same.
Now you have to look for a job, find a mate, buy a house, establish a life, and begin to do all the other un-fun sucky things that go along with the inevitable ushering into adulthood.
my college friends, and have fun.
But with the arrival of that first September after leaving school, the realization that I could never go back to school again as a full-time student washed over me like some kind of profound and humbling epiphany. For the first time in my life, I realized in that heartbreaking moment that I was now a full-time working stiff.
in that old song, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone”. While profound in its simplicity, that line holds very true to this day. How were we to know that back when we were fulltime students, being in school was as good as it was ever going to get for most of us?
Like the mob of lemmings in that classic Sunday night ‘Wonderful World of Disney’ nature episode back in the day, following each other over the cliff and into the ocean because that’s just what they did, you simply went back to school every September in your youth because that’s just what you did. It was simply a part of your natural instinct as a student to return to school every fall.
But with the beginning of that first fateful September that you don’t go back to school, you
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e BIGGAR & DISTRICT ARTS COUNCIL has a new PICK 3 Option for the following 2024-2025 concert series. You pick the 3 concerts that you would like to attend. Contact Ross at deMoissac Jewellers at 948-6443 or on-line at www.Ticketpro.ca or phone 1-888-655-9090
PICK 3 is a great option for a busy lifestyle when you can’t see all the concerts!
The kids who thought they knew everything back then couldn’t wait to ditch school and did so at their earliest opportunity. But most kids just wanted to stay in school and hide from the outside world for as long as possible. I know I did.
The first year after I graduated college, I was working in my first ever job in my chosen profession in an office in the city. When September rolled around at the end of that summer, I was ready to chuck the job and go back to college. Back to pub nights, dorm life, seeing my college friends again, and carefree college fun.
I could feel the call within me that September to go back to school like always. Like the salmon migrating back to that one specific stream to spawn, I wanted to go back to school that fall like I always did to learn stuff, hang with
And in that moment, for the entire month of September, I was completely and utterly lost. I suppose, in a way, it was almost like a loss of innocence. A realization that I had, without understanding it until that very moment, passed from one stage into another in my journey of life. And in my heart, I was not ready to make that step. But I had no choice. It was suddenly upon you and you had no choice but to deal with it.
But as the years began to pass, the instinct within me to go back to school every September finally started to quieten within my heart. And after a few more Septembers of struggling with this thought, the urge within me to return to school every fall was finally gone.
As a clueless student, no one ever realizes how good they have it until it’s too late. Like the line
But that’s all over and done with in this weirdest of September moments. No more going back to school in the fall. No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks. Ever.
No more doing the silly little student things that you just took for granted in your youth: No more cutting classes, no more smoking behind the gym, no more hanging out at the mall, and no more partying with your friends every weekend until the wee hours of the morning. No more ‘Glory Days’, like in the Springsteen song. Those days are now gone forever.
Welcome to responsibility. Welcome to earning a living. Welcome to becoming a concerned and caring parent. Welcome to paying off a mortgage and a car loan. And welcome to all the other things that come with being a grownup. Welcome to adulthood. It happens to all of us. Just do the best you can!
BUSSE LAW
Keith Schell Remember When
Christine Ibbotson
Ask The Money Lady
by Calvin Daniels
How the world envisions turning off the tap in terms of reliance in fossil fuels is indeed interesting.
Of course living in Saskatchewan where oil and gas are significant contributors to the economy there will be many saying there is no need to change.
But, at present there is certainly a trend away from fossil fuels, and that means interest in
Food or Fuel?
alternate energy sources that include generating electricity from the sun, tides and wind, and turning to bio-fuels
The latter is of course the one of greatest interest for Prairie farmers.
Bio-fuels need to be created from some source material, so cereal grains can become ethanol - the long-standing plant at Lanigan an example, and canola oil can become bio-diesel.
There is no doubt that the significant growth in the canola crush sector in Saskatchewan has been in response to an expected increase in demand for canola oil for bio-diesel production.
Of course using cereal grains and oilseeds for fuel production, while diversifying markets for farmers, does beg the question of whether it’s the best use of
the resource in a world where hunger still exits in large numbers and population continues to grow.
Would farmland being used to produce grains and oilseeds destined for bio-fuel production be better off producing human consumption foods?
That is likely at least in part what is driving efforts to diversify what source materials are used in bio-fuel production.
And, of course one also has to recognize the move away from fossil fuels is a process most certainly in a state of flux at this point.
Automobiles are naturally huge consumers of fuel especially in North America where the idea of mass transit, or bicycling to work, has never seemed to catch on at levels you might expect.
Harvesting Memories
by Delta Fay Cruickshank for
the Biggar Museum and Gallery
By the 1920’s most of Saskatchewan’s agricultural land had been cultivated by the settlers.
Farms were expanding and most farmers could afford small gasoline or kerosene-powered tractors. Crops were harvested with binders and threshing machines, a threshing crew of 20 or more men moving from farm to farm. Soon combines came and fewer men were needed to bring in the crop.*
I remember stories my granny told me about the threshing crews arriving for the harvest on their patch of land near Herschel.
Of course there was excitement - new faces, news from Saskatchewan or even from the East, possibly where they came from, Lake of the Bays, Ontario.
My granny, at the ripe old age of 12 was put in charge of making the bread for all those hungry men. Sixty years later, she could still put out the best bread ever!
She told me her mother prayed every night that it would not rain. First because it would delay the harvest, and second because all those hungry men would still be there, eating! That was at great cost to their own stock of provisions and the little bit of cash they had!
Farming in the area got difficult for her father, so they left and went up to Meadow Lake, where it was decided that farming just wasn’t what he could do.
But her brother did end up marrying a girl from this area. She was Edith Green, Alice (nee Donahue) Ellis’s best friend. Her family had left the Bear Hills to run a store in Meadow Lake, leaving the sons with the farm. Edith went with her parents until she needed to attend High School. She came back to Biggar to further her
education. Alice was so happy to have a girl living just next door, and they became fast friends. Edith did go back to Meadow Lake and met my great uncle, and they married. Eventually they moved to Youbou on Vancouver Island with their eight children. Alice met Hugh Ellis and
stayed here in the area and eventually was part of the team of volunteers who created the Biggar Museum and Gallery. And now, here I am. It is a small world!
* Credit to: WDM Harvest Program - History of Agriculture in Saskatchewan.
So we have seen a push toward a bio-fuel component at least at some station pumps, and a move to electric cars which is an even larger step from fossil fuel consumption.
But, will electric vehicles be the future? Or, for example, will the emerging hydrogen technology leave EVs as little more than a blip in the automotive industry?
For producers eyeing the bio-fuel sector in terms of markets, short term they look enticing, longer term the prospect seems less clear.
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Calvin Daniels Agriculture
Harvest on the Little Farm, 1930. (Photo for The Independent by the Biggar Museum and Gallery)
Harvest near Biggar, 1935.
Massey Harris near Biggar, 1935.
Wheat stooks on the Mann Farm near Biggar, 1939.
Randy Weekes, MLA
Biggar - Sask Valley Constituency Office 106- 3rd Ave. West, Box 1413 Biggar, SK S0K 0M0
Open Mon-Fri 9am-12pm & 1-4pm
Toll Free: 1-877-948-4880
Phone: 1-306-948-4880
Fax: 1-306-948-4882
by Trudy and Dale Buxton
We will resume our Nova Scotia trip next week. This week, though, it’s a trip to Regina and Mosaic Stadium. It’s a beautiful day on Sunday for a bike ride to Regina.
Attention: Janet
Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders! This is the 59th annual tilt between the two clubs and one of the most anticipated games on the CFL schedule.
Please proof and get back to me by return email.
Thanks, Urla
The special occasion? It’s game-day for the traditional Labour Day Classic between the
Shop Local | Shop Biggar
We travelled the traditional route of going into Saskatoon and then down Highway 11 to Regina with all the other folks that are headed that way. I have noticed that the price of gas varies from town to town. While we topped off at Hanley who, at the time, seemed to be the cheapest.
which incidentally is the only business running in Aylesbury. It is the childhood home of Ashley Luther, who modelled and advocated for women’s health as Elly Mayday.
Open Mon-Fri 9am-12pm & 1-4pm
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Post a picture on Facebook of your completed passport page with our custom stamp and tag us!
The first one to post a picture of a completed passport page with the custom stamp wins a prize!
Get out and get shopping!
If you want to get into some traditions while travelling down to Regina, there is always a cool bar on the way offering their best beverage before getting to the game.
One of these bars is in Aylesbury, a small community of about 40 people, named after a town in Buckinghamshire, England.
Incorporated as a village in 1910, Aylesbury never really gained that much in population - the peak was around 180 people. The school was closed in 1970 and kids are bused to the closet community, Craik.
WE’RE HIRING!
Calling all “Out of the Box” thinkers!
Do you have a background in marketing or are willing to learn how to become an excellent marketer? Are you looking for a way to channel organizing skills?
We are looking for a Marketing Coordinator to join our organization and take on the marketing activities for the Biggar & District Credit Union, Insurance Services and Accounting Services.
Your main responsibilities will include developing marketing material for traditional and digital marketing platforms, maintaining and developing websites and social media channels, organizing public relations events, sourcing, and procuring marketing material for inhouse and external use.
Working closely with the HR/Marketing manager your innovative ideas, your eagerness to succeed, and your openness to new and exciting possibilities will be your best assets.
The ideal candidate is one who is willing to embrace a rollercoaster approach to what works best. Does this sound like you?
Tell us who you are by applying here with your resume and cover letter https://secure.collage.co/jobs/biggarcu/47441. Showcase your creativity and innovative ideas. For this position we accept resumes and cover letters in the form of PowerPoint presentations, videos, photobooks, Word documents, or any other format you can think of. for this position. Apply today.
The community made national headlines back in the 1980’s when the residents rallied to keep the post office. To this day, the post office is run out of the hotel,
Back to the hotel and what is called “The Elephant Bar,” one of the most famous of Rider bars in Saskatchewan.
Tradition has it that years ago there was a bus load of fans that were headed to the annual Labour Day game who wanted to stop in Aylesbury for a quick drink. However, the bus driver didn’t want to stop and there was almost a mutiny. The bus driver finally gave in and made a U-turn and stopped in Aylesbury. Since then, it has almost become tradition to stop at the Elephant Bar on the way to a game.
Of course, there is the watermelon.
Another fine tradition that has become quite popular is the wearing of watermelons on your head. There have been many explanations on how this fine tradition
was started but most say that in 2001, a couple of Rider fans went to the Banjo Bowl in Winnipeg wearing make-up and watermelons on their head. Two fans were interviewed in the newspaper, and the marketing staff of the riders got involved and ran with it.
Speaking of the return game in Winnipeg, the Banjo Bowl was started in 2003 when the place kicker, Troy Westwood of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers referred to Rider fans as a “bunch of banjo-pickin’ inbreds.” The Banjo Bowl was born.
This was our first time to Mosaic Stadium for an event, and it is quite the place to view a football game - a memory I will hopefully repeat soon when the Saskatchewan Roughriders play at home again.
A good day was had by all ... even a loss to Winnipeg! Next week we continue with the Saskatchewan Traveller.
The Riders scoring a touchdown at the Labour Day Classic.
Saskatchewan Legistlature Building and gardens in Regina, Sk
Biggar Knights donate
The Biggar Knights of Columbus recently received a sizeable sum of money from the James and Lawrence Meier Fund from the Saskatchewan Knights of Columbus Charitable Foundation. The Biggar K of C grant application was approved to the tune of $4,500. Money went to the St. Gabriel School Breakfast and Lunch Program and the Biggar Food Bank.
Lost your phone?
Protect yourself from unauthorized transactions
Nowadays, losing your phone or tablet can feel like losing a vital part of your identity. With a significant amount of personal and financial information stored on these devices, unauthorized transactions can become a major concern. To safeguard yourself, it’s crucial to follow these preventative and retroactive measures.
Preventative measures
Know where your data is stored: wallets store payment information either in the cloud, on the device or on the SIM card. Knowing where the info is stored is helpful in the event a phone is lost or stolen.
Secure your data: Use strong, unique passwords or biometric locks, like fingerprints or facial recognition, to protect access to your device. Enabling twofactor authentication on your accounts adds an extra layer of security. Never share your PIN or password, and use different passwords for your device and payment approvals.
Keep devices updated: Regularly update your phone and tablet to ensure you have the latest security patches. These updates often address weaknesses that could be exploited by hackers.
Lock your devices: Always use a screen lock to prevent unauthorized access. Even a simple PIN or password can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized transactions.
Monitor your devices: Keep an eye on your devices and be cautious about where and how you use them. Regularly review your mobile wallet and transaction history for any unusual activity. Retroactive measures
Contact your service provider: If your device is lost or stolen, promptly contact your service provider. They can deactivate the device, restore it to factory settings and place it on a national list of stolen devices. This will prevent it from being used on
any Canadian mobile network.
Report to local law enforcement: File a report with local law enforcement to document the loss. This could assist in the recovery of your device.
Notify financial institutions: If you suspect any unauthorized transactions, contact your bank and credit card companies immediately to block your accounts. This will prevent additional unauthorized transactions and minimize potential damage. They have processes in place to handle such issues and can guide you through recovery steps.
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Pictured is Father Edward Gibney, left, St. Gabriel School Principal Rick Garchinski, centre, and Biggar K of C Grand Knight Ed Young.
Ed Young, left, and Biggar Food Bank’s Barb de Haan. (Submitted Photos)
Grade 1 Gardeners
Greenthumb Science ... Last year’s Biggar Central School 2000 Grade 1 students were learning about plants and animals by hatching butterflies and raising plants. Throughout the summer the school’s friend, Mr. Leith Larson and family, helped maintain the beds at the school, ensuring that the vegetable crop will be bountiful and the flowers are blooming. Larson ensures the weekly watering and weeding happen, keeping the school garden beds beautiful and happy. Current school year students and the local Biggar food bank are the recipients of all things grown. Thank you Mr. Larson! And thank you, BCS! (Photos for The Independent courtesy of Jennifer Singer)
Saskatchewan’s Snakes: Slithering to Risk?
A group of animals that is often maligned as being slimy, aggressive pests, the truth could not be further away!
From Garters to Rattlesnakes, our slithery reptiles play a very important role in keeping our grasslands healthy. A role that is slowly becoming atrisk as these critters disappear from their historic ranges.
Saskatchewan is home to nine species of snake, mostly found across the southern portions of the province. Of these nine, four are now listed as species at-risk of
extinction, another one added just this year.
“Plains Hognosed, Bullsnakes, Rattlesnakes, and the Yellow-bellied Racer are all now listed,” Emily Putz, Habitat Stewardship Coordinator for Nature Saskatchewan states.
“Their habitat is disappearing, and they are extremely susceptible to roadkill events, whether accidental or otherwise.”
Referring to the persecution snakes deal with both at their wintering sites where they gather together and
on the roadways that they approach to bask on.
“I think people don’t know a lot about our snakes, and so are creeped out or scared by them, thinking they are slimy and aggressive,” Putz continues. “That could not be further from the truth though.”
Snakes scales are made of dry and cool keratin, the same material as our hair and fingernails, that are overlaid in one direction to help them move smoothly across the ground and into cover. A cover they will readily take when approached.
“All Saskatchewan snakes are for the most part non-aggressive and shy, more likely to flee at the first sign of human movement nearby.”
Even the rattlesnake, our only venomous snake, uses their venom sparingly as a last resort, usually when startled or unable to escape. They will rattle primarily to scare you off first.
Snakes are excellent pest control, with the smaller species, such as the red-bellied, smooth green, and our three gartersnake species primarily feeding on insects, worms, and small amphibians and rodents. Hog-nosed and Yellow-bellied Racers are in between, feeding on mice and voles; while our largest snakes, the Western Rattlesnake and Bullsnake, eat mainly rodents including pocket gophers and ground squirrels. In addition to controlling rodent populations, snakes
are prey themselves for many tertiary predators and also play a role in dispersing nutrients and seeds in their movements.
“If we lose these snakes, not only are we losing unique and interesting species, but we are also losing all the good these critters do for the environment, both pasture and farmland included,” Putz concludes.
Want to help their recovery? Helping can be as simple as moving over when you see one on the road, a basking snake is not quick enough to move out of your way; or by teaching the younger generations that snakes should be
valued and not feared, even if you are scared of them yourself. You can also get involved in Nature Saskatchewan’s Stewards of Saskatchewan program, by reporting sightings of the four at-risk species to our toll-free HOOTline, 1-800-667HOOT (4668) or e-mail Emily Putz at outreach@ naturesask.ca. If you are a landholder with these species on your land, become a steward and participate in our annual census! Every sighting helps with tracking the population and range of these cryptic reptiles. All caller and program participant information is kept confidential.
Bullsnake
Eastern Yellow-bellied Racer
Smooth Green Snake
Ko’s career a knockout on LPGA circuit
What a great career professional golfer Lydia Ko has enjoyed.
And while her career may be winding down, fans of the Ladies’ Professional Golfers’ Association are hoping that Ko’s stated plan to retire three years from now at age 30 gets postponed.
Ko was an amateur, at age 15 no less, when she won the Canadian Open, a regular LPGA event, at Edmonton’s Royal Mayfair Golf Club in 2012. Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke, the New Zealander won the Canadian Open the next
year, at age 16, at the Vancouver Golf Club.
Needless to say, she was ready for the professional ranks.
And what a great career! Twenty-one LPGA wins, three of them majors. Three medals in three trips to the Olympic Games, including a gold this year. That Olympic victory in Paris not only gave her the gold medal, but it was the one final point she needed to earn Hall of Fame status.
The LPGA’s Hall of Fame criteria is based on a point system - one point for each tournament win; two points for a major; one point for an Olympic gold. The win in Paris put her over the top, and then she went out and won the season’s final major, the AIG Women’s Open at the home of golf, St. Andrews, two weeks later.
“My mom says I played better golf when I was 15 than I do now,” said Ko with a chuckle during a post-AIG interview.
Golf writer Ron Sirak says Ko has had three distinct acts in her career - the kiddie run when she won two Canadian Opens and 11 other titles before turning 20; a bit of a downturn between 2018 and 2021 when she won only once; and then a five-win rejuvenation starting in 2022.
“I think we’re going to see a burst of golf from her like we saw in her teenage years,” said Sirak.
Ko is 27 and was married two years ago. She hasn’t publicly said that motherhood is in her future, but announcing that she would retire at 30 leaves the presumption that the next phase of her life beckons. Former World No. 1 golfers Annika Sorenstam (age 38) and Lorena Ochoa (28) both retired at relatively early ages for family reasons. Ko said the three weeks that included the Olympics and the AIG major at St. Andrews
was like a “whirlwind.”
“It was crazy to get into the Hall of Fame by winning the gold. These are things that I could have never imagined because they were just too good to be true. To say, ‘Oh, like what are the odds that that’s going to happen at the Olympics, and then a couple weeks later I’m going to win the AIG Women’s Open,’ I would have thought somebody was messing with me. But here I am, and it’s just been unreal. I feel very fortunate.”
Golf fans have been fortunate to watch her in action for the past 12 years. Will she give us a few more?
• Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbage. com: “Rich Hill, 44, is back in the Majors with the Boston Red Sox. Well come on, why isn’t someone signing Jamie Moyer? He’s only 61. Am sure his fastball can still rattle glass.”
• RJ Currie of sportsdeke. com: “Forty-four-year-
old Rich Hill is back in the Majors pitching for the Red Sox. Despite rumours to the contrary, he is not considering a name change to Rich Over-The Hill.”
• Another one from Rj Currie: “A turning point in the Ti-Cats/ Bombers game came when Hamilton returner Jordan Byrd lost the ball which was returned by the Bombers for six. They said he was stripped, but I think Byrd got plucked.”
• Headline at theonion. com: “(U.S. gymnast) Stephen Nedoroscik Under Fire After Video Shows Him Whipping Pommel Horse.”
• Headline at fark.com: “NY Jets already in ‘Just End the Season’ form.”
• Another fark.com headline: “At least no one broke out the Benny Hill music when the Yankees make three errors in one inning.”
• Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi: “The only place success
comes before work is in the dictionary.”
• The late NBA great Wilt Chamberlain: “They say nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds.”
• Steve Simmons of the Toronto Star: “A reason to avoid Argo games: They charge $8.50 for a bottle of Diet Coke (or regular Coke) at BMO Field. They asked me if I wanted a receipt when I bought one. I said ‘no, I’m as embarrassed about this as you should be.’ The same bottle sells at your grocery store for just over $2.”
• Kendall Baker of Yahoo Sports, on the eve of the start of the college football season: “Yahoo! It’s Friday! My weekend to-do list: (1) Watch college football. (2) ... Oops, looks like that’s the whole list.”
• Care to comment? E-mail brucepenton2003@ yahoo.ca
We all remember what it’s like to live through a product shortage. After all, it’s only been a few years since the pandemic and the Great Toilet Paper Shortage.
As weird as the COVID toilet paper shortage was, it’s not the only time people had to scramble for weird items. From now-extinct spices to human corpses, all manners of strange commodities have been in short supply over the years.
Here are eight unusual shortages from historyand one that’s ongoing to this day.
The Roman Silphium Shortage Silphium, or laserpicium, was a North African plant that ancient Romans loved to the point that they put it on everything. And we mean it - it was used in cooking, in medicine, as an aphrodisiac, a perfume, you name it. And then there was no more. The Romans (and other ancient peoples) used so much silphium that the plant went extinct.
Silphium had already been worth its weight in gold, but the plant’s death caused its price to skyrocket. Those with the means hoarded as much as they could, while poorer classes turned to alternatives, like asafetida.
You can’t help but
wonder what silphium tasted like for the Romans to eat it to extinction.
The British Firewood Shortage Britannia used to rule the waves, so they needed ships. To construct those precious vessels, English shipyards needed immense amounts of wood.
So did everybody building houses on the British Isles. And then the people living in those houses needed firewood for heating and cooking. By the end of the 1500s, practically all British forests had been chopped down. That led to a massive firewood shortage, with the price of a bundle of wood increasing tenfold between 1540 and 1620.
The shortage was so severe that it fuelled British immigration to the New World, eventually resulting in the birth of the U.S. It also led to the transition to much more energydense coal, which in turn fuelled the Industrial Revolution.
Scotland’s Corpse Shortage
In 1823, Scotland introduced legislation that dramatically reduced the number of criminals sentenced to death. What was perhaps good news for human rights was terrible for Scottish medical students.
You see, to be a good doctor, you must know human anatomy. But with fewer dead criminals, Scotland’s medical academies ran out of corpses to study.
With schools paying ever-rising sums for fresh corpses, some less scrupulous people saw an opportunity. They started digging up freshly-buried bodies and selling them to medical schools for quick dirty cash.
Things haven’t really changed much, since there’s currently a new Scottish corpse shortage. We haven’t seen any reports of people digging cadavers up this time, though.
The WWII Stocking Shortage
One of the newfangled military branches first employed to effect in the Second World War was airborne infantry. However, manufacturing all the parachutes, ropes, and other materials required lots of nylon.
As a result, the U.S., Germany, and many other fighting countries diverted all nylon supplies from civilian to military use. That means women suddenly ran out of stockings - a terrible thing to happen, considering stockings were the latest craze.
The ladies got creative, though. One of the most popular substitutes was paint-on stockings, with
women using makeup products to basically draw stockings on their legs.
Yet, it just wasn’t the same thing. When nylon rationing finally ended after the war, each country saw “nylon riots” as women were ready to fight for new hosiery.
Operation Pig Bristle
Following the Second World War, Australia had a bigger problem than a lack of pantyhose.
All the young men returning from the front to start families needed houses - but Australia ran out of paintbrushes to paint the homes.
Now, Australia isn’t that far from China, and China grows plenty of pigs from whose bristles they used to (and still do) make paintbrushes.
The problem was that China was embroiled in a violent civil war that made visiting it extremely dangerous.
So, the Australian government launched Operation Pig Bristle.
Three Royal Australian Air Force cargo planes flew several daring missions to war-torn China to acquire 25 tons of pig bristles.
All so that Australia’s own veterans could have a nicely painted house.
The Johnny Carson Toilet Paper Shortage
The pandemic-era toilet paper shortage isn’t, bizarrely enough, the only one in U.S.
history. There was another one in 1973, that kicked off with a joke Johnny Carson told on The Tonight Show.
At the time, American commercial facilities were having issues securing enough toilet paper for their daily operations. During his show, however, Carson cracked a joke about the situation that made it seem the whole country was running out of butt wipes.
People flew into a toilet paper-hoarding frenzy, which in turn led to stores rationing supply, resulting in occasionally violent confrontations.
The situation was defused only after Carson himself delivered a public apology, explaining he had exaggerated the shortage for humours sake.
“I don’t want to be remembered as the man who created a false toilet paper scare,” he said in his address.
The 2012 Twinkie Shortage
You might remember this story. In 2012, Hostess Brands announced it had filed for bankruptcy and would cease its commercial operations during the same year.
People went nuts. Where would they now get their horrendously preservative-laden snack cakes from now?
Soon enough, stores
throughout America ran out of Twinkies as people began hoarding the cakes in massive numbers. Some of the mass buyers didn’t even like Twinkies - they planned to later sell the infamously unperishable cakes at a huge profit. Well, those plans kind of went down the drain. Hostess Brands was bought out by a couple of investment companies and Twinkies were back in stores by mid-2013.
The Sriracha Shortage Finally, it’s time to cover our latest shortage. However, as any fan of spicy Asian sauces can tell you, this one is by no means historical.
The sriracha shortage is still very much ongoing, and has been for a few years. Huy Fong Foods, the Californian company behind the famous rooster-labeled sauce, seems to have perpetual difficulties in sourcing chili peppers. In 2016, the company ran out of peppers due to some shady dealings with supplying farms. In 2022 and 2023, Sriracha production stopped due to droughts in Mexico. Things aren’t much better this year. The company again halted production in May 2024 because the year’s chili crop was “too green.” Maybe it was the right choice. Would you eat green sriracha?
Bruce Penton Penton on Sports
Business & Professional …
Business & Professional …
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It’s easy to lose perspective when it comes to the important friends and family in your life, Aries. Start rethinking where to devote your attention and energy.
TAURUS –
Cancer, if you are not up for a night out on the town or much socializing the next few days, it’s perfectly fine to stay close to home. Everyone needs a break from time to time.
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Apr 21/May 21
Taurus, if you feel adventure is calling you, you can always take a break and get out there and answer that call. Take a road trip this week or even explore a new neighborhood nearby.
GEMINI –
May 22/Jun 21
Gemini, be sure to get off to an early start regarding plans this week. Let others involved know that you’ll probably be picking them up bright and early.
PHONE......306-951-0078 or 306-951-0098
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BIGGAR HOUSING AUTHORITY
Housing for families and seniors
Rent based on income Call: 306•303•7246
Please get back to me with changes/corrections by return email this morning.
Thanks Urla
LEO –
Jul 23/Aug 23
Leo, when you are in a good mood, it’s hard for people around you to keep up with your level of energy. Don’t be surprised if some people in your posse tire out before you.
VIRGO –
Aug 24/Sept 22
Virgo, you’ve never been good about asking for help. This week you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how quickly a family member jumps in to give you the boost you need.
Typically you are very easy to get along with, Libra. But this week others may describe you as uncompromising and uncooperative. Think about what is prompting this change of tune.
SCORPIO –
Oct 24/Nov 22
Scorpio, you aren’t about to settle without getting what you want. When road blocks come up this week, you may be frustrated when things don’t go your way. Stay the course.
SAGITTARIUS –
Nov 23/Dec 21
Try to fill your days with the arts and music this week, Sagittarius. They are what you need right now to put you in a positive mood and turn things around.
SUDOKU
Things have been busy in your life, Capricorn. That mile-long list doesn’t seem to be getting any shorter. You might need to call in some help to get through all of the tasks.
AQUARIUS –
Jan 21/Feb 18
Aquarius, someone has been keeping tabs on what you have been doing from afar. You don’t know whether to be flattered or concerned about this attention. You’ll learn soon enough.
PISCES –
Feb 19/Mar 20
Pisces, it is time for loved ones to get together and have a serious conversation about something that involves the whole family. You just don’t know if you’re ready to deal with it.
12. Greek mythological princess
14. Scent for men
Abba
39. Part of (abbr.)
40. Hateful 41. Collide
44. European football heavyweight
45. One who works for you 48. Song
49. Ancient marvels
50. Bridge building degree 51. Delivery boys
CLUES DOWN
1. Continent 2. Submissive 3. There’s a lot in a bowling alley
4. Sun up in New York
5. Court decision __ v. Wade
6. Finish line 7. Young women 8. Hives of activity
9. Hyman Roth’s right-hand man Johnny
10. Eastern U.S. river
11. Popular cooking ingredi-
17. Cost, insurance and freight (abbr.)
18. Once more
20. Irate
23. Triangular spaces above a door
24. Norwegian playwright and poet Henrik
25. Atomic #58
26. Patti Hearst’s captors
29. Natural logarithm
30. Talk incessantly
31. Went by
32. Strives
35. Fall back
36. Manila hemp
38. Not easily explained
40. Former “Double Dare” host Summers
41. Mollusk
42. Capital of Togo
43. Letter of Semitic scripts
44. Founder of Babism
45. Indicates near 46. Family of regulator
genes
47. Indicates before
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BIGGAR MUSEUM
How is your gardening growing this year? Do you have an excess of produce? Will you be making relishes, jams, jellies, chutneys, pickles, etc. and homemade crafts. Would you like to sell some of your bounty?
The Biggar Museum & Gallery will be hosting a Home Harvest alongside their Soup Sale on Friday September 27, 11:00 – 1:00. Tables are available in the gallery; all we are asking is for a donation. Call 948-3451 to reserve your spot now!
PRAIRIE NOTES ADULT COMMUNITY CHOIR
Wednesday, September 18, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., registration night for Prairie Notes adult community choir at Redeemer Lutheran Church. 75$ a person, $130/couple. Phone Cindy Hoppe at 306-948-7147 for more information. No experience necessary, just a love of singing
BIGGAR WALKING / EXERCISE GROUP
BIGGAR COMMUNITY HALL
Starting October 7, 2024 at either 9:30, 11:00, or 1:00 Monday, Wednesday, Friday Pick Your Time Everyone Welcome - Men & Women Exercise Therapist in attendance monthly For more information: Contact Cheryl Amy at 306-948-5338
OBITUARIES
LEONARD SEBASTIAN KNORR
December 16, 1942 - August 31, 2024
Leonard Sebastian Knorr, was born December 16, 1942 in Kerrobert, SK. He passed away peacefully on August 31, 2024 at the age of 81. He leaves to mourn his partner Susan Yaschuk; his children Brian (Rosetta) Knorr and their children Jeremy and Riley, Cheryl (Doug) Joel and their children Jon (Taylor) and son Myles, Danielle and Jessica (Keegan;) as well as Susan’s children Murray (Nicole) Yaschuk and their children Leah, Kate and Eli, Carmen (Michael) Yaskowich and their children Allan (Lynn) and son Connor, Erica, Alex, Aaron (Naiomi). Two sisters Lillian Bosch, Katie (Harvey) Yankee; and two brothers Henry Knorr and Reiny (Cathy) Knorr; along with numerous nieces, nephews and extended
family. He was preceded by his parents Phillip and Josephine Knorr, brothers Jack & Mike, sister Madeline, brother in-laws Joe & Norman and sister-inlaw Madge. A Memorial Service will be held at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church (109 7th Avenue, West, Biggar, SK) on Friday, September 13, 2024 at 2:00 pm. Interment to follow at the Biggar Cemetery with a reception to follow the Interment at Biggar Community Hall. In lieu of flowers, a donation in memory of Leonard can be made to the Stranraer Elks No. 178, Box 293 Plenty, SK S0L 2R0. Arrangements entrusted to Gerein Funeral Service.
St. Gabriel roman CatholiC ChurCh 109 - 7th Ave.W, Biggar Father Edward Gibney Parish Phone: 306-948-3330 Saturday Mass.......7:00p.m. Sunday Mass....... 11:00a.m. our lady of fatima CatholiC ChurCh, Landis Sunday Mass.......9:00a.m.
Presbyterians, Anglicans and Lutherans St.Pauls Anglican Redeemer Lutheran 205 4th Ave. E 319 7th Ave. E
SEPTEMBER 8 REDEEMER LUTHERAN SEPTEMBER 22 REDEEMER LUTHERAN Rev. Daphne Bender Pastor’s cellular Phone: 1-306-621-9559 Office Phone: 306-948-3731 (Messages are forwarded to Pastor’s phone immediately)
9-11
“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no-one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”
Throughout all time, people have attempted by their works to reach God.
The Tower of Babel would be an example of people’s attempt to reach God through their own devices instead of the way that God has given us. So sometimes it is massive projects, sometimes, it is personal efforts of do-gooding.
People tend to keep trying to make peace with God in ways other than what God has given us in His Word. God has given us the Gospel which is showing us that we cannot keep God’s law - that all of us have been born sinners because of the choice that Adam made.
God has sent Jesus Christ, the holy Lamb of God, to die for mankind. Anyone who will believe on Jesus Christ and acknowledge his need of a Saviour
will be given the righteousness of Christ and will be born into the family of God. This is the Gospel - the Good News of Scripture.
As a person has received Christ, the person no longer needs to strive to prove their own goodness - God sees us as ‘in Christ’. The question of acceptance is settled.
We, then, need to learn to ‘enter that rest’. We need to learn to trust God. We need to learn all that we have ‘in Christ’. We need to be in God’s word, letting the inspired words work in our inner most being. We need to learn how to lean on God in all the trials of life because He is our Creator and Sustainer and Jesus is our great high priest who is always interceding for us. More and more, we want to know God’s word and to let the Holy Spirit to work in us and guide us.
As we do this, we are entering into the rest that God has designed for us.
GET YOUR COPY OF THIS GREAT BOOK WRITTEN BY BIGGAR’S OWN LISA DEJONG AVAILABLE AT THE INDEPENDENT
Biggar associated gospel church 312 - 8th Ave.W. and corner of Quebec St., Biggar Sunday Service 10:30 a.m. All are welcome to come and join us Biggar United ChUrCh REGULAR SERVICES SUNDAY 11:00 am Minister Dale Worrall Inquires Call Church Office 306-948-2280 Leave Message
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH SATURDAY SERVICES BIBLE STUDY 10:00a.m. CHURCH SERVICE 11:00a.m. 320 - 6th ave.east contact: 306-951-8445 3 abn www.amazingfacts.org
NEW BEGINNINGS CHURCH ...In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope...1Pe 1:3 You are Invited Sunday Tea and Coffee -10:15am Worship - 10:30am NEW HORIZONS 117 3rd Ave. W, Biggar
BIGGAR and DISTRICT ARTS COUNCIL
Annual General Meeting Tuesday September 10, 7:00 p.m. at the Biggar Museum New Members Welcome!
by Rev. Bev Dyck, former pastor, Biggar Church of God Hebrews 4:
If you remember the discontinued Cinnamon Spread from years ago then you will love Cinnawin!! Homestyle Cinnamon Spread made right here in Saskatchewan. Get yours at the Independent
Chef Dez on Cooking Potato Salad with Fresh Corn and Dill
Chef Dez On Cooking
• 8 cups water.
• 2 tablespoons salt.
• 1 ear of fresh corn.
One of the most popular summertime side dishes is potato salad, and my wife’s recipe also takes advantage of fresh corn season. Enjoy!
Potato Salad with Fresh Corn and Dill (Recipe created by Katherine (Mrs. Chef Dez), chefdez.com) “For the seasoning salt, I highly recommend the recipe in the cookbook: Cooking Around the World with Chef Dez”
Send your food/cooking questions to dez@chefdez. com or P.O. Box 2674, Abbotsford, B.C., V2T 6R4. Chef Dez is a Food Columnist, Culinary Travel Host and Cookbook Author. Visit him at chefdez.com
• 3 pounds (1.36 kg) red potatoes (or other waxy potatoes), diced 1-inch.
• 1 small onion, finely diced.
• 1/4 cup white vinegar.
• 2 medium celery stalks, finely diced, about 1 cup.
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise.
• 1.5 teaspoons liquid honey.
• 1.5 teaspoons grainy mustard.
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill.
• 2.5 teaspoons seasoning salt.
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more to taste.
• Fresh dill sprigs, for garnish.
• 6 slices crispy cooked bacon, crumbled, for garnish, optional.
1.) Add the water to a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and stir in the two tablespoons of salt until dissolved. Add the ear of corn and cook until tender, about three minutes. Remove the corn and set aside to cool.
2.) Return the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the diced potatoes and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside to cool slightly in a large mixing bowl.
3.) In a small bowl, combine the onion and vinegar and let sit for 10 minutes. Pour this onion/vinegar mixture over the warm reserved potatoes and allow it to be absorbed.
4.) To the potatoes, add the celery, mayonnaise, honey, mustard, chopped dill, seasoning salt, and pepper. Remove the kernels off the reserved ear of corn and add to the potatoes as well. Gently mix everything to combine while lightly mashing together. Cover and chill for at least one hour or up to three days. Adjust seasonings to taste, if necessary. Garnish with fresh dill sprigs and the optional crumbled bacon.
