Opinion

Dear Editor: With the three per cent increase in property tax and water rates I think the council and mayor are dumping increase debts on the backs of the taxpayers.

January is a month of second chances. It's a time to reflect on the past and ask what will we do differently in the new year.

It would be easy to dismiss the ambitions of Paul Pettypiece's Forth Junction Heritage Society project for central Alberta as over the top and unachievable. Certainly, the scope of the plan is enormous.

The upcoming Alberta Property Rights Task Force open house at the Olds Cow Palace on Wednesday, Jan. 11 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. is not just for Alberta farmers and landowners.

Oh how I tire of the use of the twisting of true statements to convey distorted impressions! I tried an experiment this week. I handed a dear lady, a staunch supporter of the CBC, a copy of Blake Richard's Wild Rose Report that had just come in.

On the face of it, the province's new impaired driving legislation, Bill 26, is clearly unjust. Canadian law says an impaired driver is someone who registers a blood-alcohol level above .08. The new law will mean drivers who blow between .05 and .

This week a new gold medal champion will be crowned at the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships held in Edmonton and Calgary.

In reading the letter from Dennis Combs thanking all those who helped bring the MVMA gun club back to life (Gun club back in local hands, Dec. 13) there is one name not mentioned that deserves a special thank you. That name is Dennis Combs.

Arnie Shea died on Dec. 11 in the Sundre hospital at the age of 73, succumbing to multiple myeloma ñ the most common type of bone cancer ñ after a three-year battle.

The Christmas season is a time to show our friends and families just how much we value and cherish them.