Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison is taking a bit of heat for not attending that city’s Pride Parade over the weekend. I’m not sure if I can word this in a way that comes across as non-offensive or not, but I don’t understand why he needs to be there. Why is his absence taken as an opposition to the Pride Parade? To my knowledge, he hasn’t taken a stance against it, he just hasn’t gone. It’s not his thing. He isn’t going to try and stop those folks from bringing awareness to their cause. He just isn’t going to be in the middle of it. I think that’s okay. To me, it appears as though organizers are trying to bully him into going and I admire Mayor Atchison for not attending.
The drunk driver of a stolen truck who killed two innocent 17-year-old kids and badly injured another has been sentenced for her offense and a judge has deemed the lives of those lost and hurt to be worth…wait for it…six years. The judge, who showed no apparent compassion for the families of those who don’t have loved ones anymore, felt enormous sympathy for the accused in this case. The judge said nobody cared for her while growing up so it was not surprising that she did not have an opportunity to develop her own parenting skills. After she had a baby she started using hard drugs and alcohol and then entered into a relationship with domestic violence lost a second child when he was just 10-months old. She started selling herself to pay for drugs and joined the Indian Posse. Well boo hoo. Who’s accountable for the death of these two teens? Because the accused had a bad upbringing, nobody? Seriously? If the person who did it isn’t responsible, maybe throw the parents in jail for raising a gang banging thief who murdered two innocent people.
Our system doesn’t recognize bad people anymore. Anyone who does something mean does it because of an illness or because their parents didn’t raise them properly. A couple of weeks ago, there was an incident at the Yorkton Regional High School that was so serious, it shut down every single school in Yorkton as well as Melville for an entire afternoon. Parents were called, people were frantic. The accusation was that a gun was pulled during a car show. Well, a 20-year-old man has pled guilty and been given 12-months probation. It was noted the man has been sick with a mental issue. Of course. 12-months probation. That ought to teach someone else from pulling this stunt. Scary punishment. Oh right, it’s not about the punishment. It’s about trying to understand your feelings of terror as a parent of someone who goes to school really don’t matter. You have to feel bad for the young man who caused the commotion because he’s not feeling well. The thousands of others affected really don’t matter.
If someone causes a school to be locked down and then pleads guilty or is found guilty of the related offense was given a real lengthy jail term, do you think it would happen again in the near future? Isn’t part of deterring crime the resulting punishment? Why do you think so many people speed down the highway, but so many fewer people commit murder?
There has been increased chatter in various social media circles about a push to the Canadian government to ban smoking. I’m not a smoker, but I would not be in favor of this. In fact, I’d even go so far as to suggest legalizing marijuana use and taxing the heck out of that too so that governments can have added revenue streams through people who choose to engage in such a thing.
