Battlefords News Optimist

Not everyone was at the Craven Country Music Jamboree or the Roughrider game at Mosaic Stadium in Regina.

Litter seems to be a North American constant that we seem powerless to eradicate. I am often appalled at how the area around the Royal Bank Tower in North Battleford looks when a stiff prairie wind arrives to stir things up.

If talent had a semi-solid form, it would have oozed from between the very bricks of North Battleford's Third Avenue United Church last week.

I headed for the raspberry patch early Sunday morning - nothing like fresh berries on whole grain cereal.

This month I watched an event transpire through press releases on my BlackBerry that I was not present at, yet I could visualize clearly. That's because I had seen it before. July 12, the first e-mail from RCMP media relations came in.

For the first time in history, the Battleford Parade has been officially cancelled, after heavy rains put a damper on festivities July 16. "It's a tough decision," said Mayor Chris Odishaw at the regular town council meeting July 19.

One person is dead following a rollover near Glaslyn on the weekend. RCMP say the crash happened about five kilometers west of the town on Highway 3, where a vehicle struck a culvert and flipped over after veering off the road shortly after 11:30 p.

It was an extra special day for the Scott Research Farm Friday. Not only was it celebrating its 100th anniversary of agricultural research in Saskatchewan, but mustard seed producers received a boost from the federal government.

The man who entered guilty pleas in connection to a February ATM stabbing incident at the Royal Bank will be back in court Sept. 9. Michael John Duperron had previously pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and breach of a long term offender order.

I've been wishing for the call for a couple of years. I wasn't waiting by the phone, but every summer I hoped to get a chance to go on a real canoe trip.