Like probably most of you, sometimes I get a lot of stuff that has a way of becoming bottled up in my head.
They might be things you’ve been meaning to get off your chest for a good long while, or they might be things that just simply need to be said in order to try and ‘balance out the universe’, so to speak.
We live in a time where if one person says something on the internet, it becomes gospel after it gets shared about ten thousand times.
This week, I thought I’d take the column and present something of a sequel to the ‘mixed bag’ format, where I burn through a number of bullet-pointed views, comments and concerns that are out there in the collective public. Whether you want to consider it my way of righting some wrongs that are out there, or just making sure people have the 100% facts, that’s entirely up to you.
With that, here we go…
Cart Before the Horse:  I absolutely love the optimism surrounding the new swimming pool facility being built in Outlook, but two things are happening with it right now; one, fundraising has hit a roadblock, and two, some people are already putting the cart before the horse as it relates to operation of the pool. Specifically, the question is already floating around social media about when swimming lessons will be scheduled. I really don’t think this is the conversation to be having when roughly $500,000 still needs to be raised so that the facility can even be built to begin with.
If You Think It, Do It: Keeping on the topic of the swimming pool, I think something needs to be said about the effort put in by the fundraising committee since it was formed over four years ago. The dedication and the consistency shown by this tiny group of people has been nothing short of incredible, but that being said, it’s quite obvious that they’re getting tired. With $500K still needing to be raised, it’s time for some new blood to step up and bring forward some fundraising ideas. You don’t even have to be on the committee to raise money for this thing; we’ve seen examples of even some of Outlook’s youngest citizens gathering up dollars to add to the coffers by way of lemonade stands. Personally, when it comes to raising money, I don’t think there are any bad ideas. If you can think it, then do it. Depending on this small group of committee members to find a way to drum up half a million dollars is not only unfair, but also a little selfish.
Fanning the Flames: I’ll be the first to defend the industry of journalism nine times out of ten because I’m an advocate for freedom of the press as well as freedom of speech – and hey, I’m a reporter too – but the way that CTV, CBC and a number of other news outlets handled the outcome of the Gerald Stanley trial was so horrifically one-sided that it was almost criminal. The basic rule of thumb in presenting any sort of news story is to strike a balance and present both sides so that the public can form their own viewpoints. And while I understand that getting the Stanley side of things post-trial may have proven to be a difficult task, the way that the media kept pushing the race card did absolutely NOTHING to point our society towards any kind of progress when it comes to squashing racism. To be further blunt, they showed an obvious bias and played the role of victim sympathizers while ignoring the facts that came out of that courtroom.
Going Green: Outlook’s town council voted in favour of allowing a cannabis retail outlet to enter the business community a month ago. In a recent edition of our Sweet & Sour blurb, someone appeared upset that there wasn’t any kind of public meeting to hear the views or concerns from residents. That’s all well and good, and perhaps this person even has a valid point, but it’s also not as if the town was keeping this a secret. It was public knowledge, as is all town business stemming from council meetings, and we ran articles on it leading up to the vote. I feel that sometimes, people simply want a platform so that they have an audience for their opinions. Instead, an email or a phone call to the town would have sufficed; something that a number of other people did prior to the vote.
It’s nice to have this spot every week to let loose on a few things rumbling around in my noggin now and then. I’m sure there’ll be a next time because they’re not the only ones.
For this week, that’s been the Ruttle Report.
