Yorkton can be a breeding ground when it comes to rumours, but sometimes when you see smoke there is fire. Of course, there is a lot of smoke and fire in La Ronge and one of the rumours last week concerns that very issue. A couple of sources, who I deem to be reliable, informed me that when the military was headed up north to help battle the blazes; they were considering spending a night in Yorkton. Hotels, obviously, are not an option so it is alleged that an inquiry was made and provisions were set to get them in to the Farrell Agencies Arena. My sources tell me a fee was associated with any stay and while I would rather not publicize the amount (because it’s tough to verify that unless it comes straight from the horse’s mouth), I can tell you it was enough to offend me to the point where I wondered why we, as a city, would charge any dollar amount at all to the military, especially in an emergency and a time of need. I’d go a step further and offer a free breakfast before they headed back out on the highway. Because my column is such that it’s an opinion and not fact; I don’t usually make ‘reporter like’ phone calls or send emails to check out a story; but in this case I did. Mayor Bob Maloney said the military never confirmed they were coming and the last communication was that they were going to travel straight through to La Ronge. Maloney also says, “If they had asked council to waive fees there would not have been any issues with that; but no requests were made to my office.”
I sure wish I could offer an opinion on the Confederate Flag and its mass removal from society. The fact is that I have no idea what the flag even means. I feel like the American who thinks Yorkton is close to Montreal. I just hope it’s not a case of over-reacting because some guy with a few screws loose posed with it before going on a shooting spree. If that’s the case, it may be time to remove Gold’s Gym from our lives too as he was wearing one of their shirts.
Zodiac Seats France is one of the biggest manufacturers of airplanes in the world and they have filed a patent for face-to-face seating because they feel with their design, you can herd more cattle — I mean jam more people on to the aircraft. I’ve seen pictures. Basically, it’s a triangle. You have two seats facing north and one facing south in between the two facing north. Awkward. A social media commentator made me laugh when he said he wants to patent the idea of drugging all passengers and just throwing them on top of one another and stacking human beings to the ceiling in order to fit more people.
There is a fascinating situation in the NBA where the Dallas Mavericks thought they had a 4-year, $81-million contract with DeAndre Jordan; only to find out Jordan changed his mind before signing his contract and he ended up going back to his previous team, Los Angeles Clippers, instead. Apparently, the NBA allows for a window whereby you can announce that you have signed players; but they don’t actually put ink to paper for a week. Jordan, it’s believed, decided either with or without influence from the Clippers; that he had a change of heart and wanted to return to his previous team. One of the issues is that Jordan never even called the Mavericks to tell them. Another issue is that in sports, a hand shake agreement is (normally) just as binding as a written contract when it comes to agents making deals with teams. In this case, it’s believed Jordan’s agent couldn’t reach his client and Jordan did all of this on his own (with help from the Clippers, of course). My take is that Jordan isn’t a guy I’d want on my team as I’m not sure if he’s really on my side. He’s too wishy washy. Secondly, any grown man that can’t make a phone call to say he’s decided against his original decision isn’t a grown man. I can appreciate the handshake agreement as much as anyone, but a deal isn’t a deal until it’s signed.
