Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 23, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba a4 Winnipeg free press sunday december 23, 2007 top news my top ten wishes for the new year not resolutions but a lifelong improvement plan i be never been a believer in new years resolutions. At Best they re a sincere but delusional wish list. They Tell us who wed be if we never ate Fried foods drank too much red wine and stopped flipping other Drivers the Bird. Wed be better people but strangers to those who know and love us in spite of our quirks foibles and twitches. At worst resolutions Are a Guaran teed Way to make sure you feel like a failure within the first weeks of a new year. Every january my gym fills with eager beavers in Snappy new Lycra shorts and to shirts decorated with inspirational messages. These Are the folks who have resolved to lose a Little weight get into shape and take up a new sport like weightlifting or Marathon running. By Valentines Day most of the new Bies Are gone. I assume their skin tight shorts sports bras and $20 water bottles Are gathering dust on resolutions from past years like the Treadmill exercise Bike and the Abd Minizer that seemed so promising in the infomercials. I say this while openly confessing i would never go to the gym without constant encouragement from my fit and Lovely husband. The physical Bene fits Are merely a Side effect to avoid ing his helpful suggestions and keeping peace in my Home with that confession i do have a list of new years wishes. Call them resolutions if you like. I a thinking of them As part of a lifelong self improve ment project. I fully expect to turn 75 still easily irritated intolerant of prejudice and slightly snot tier than is really Appeal ing. That wont change but maybe some of the important stuff can. Feel free to adopt any of these that Appeal to you. 1 tithe in Many religious traditions congregants Are encouraged to give a percentage of their salary Back to their place of worship. That a Laud Able ? but what if we took it a step fur ther what if we tithe our time our kind Ness and our compassion what sort of world would we live in if All of us agreed to give an hour a week to helping someone else to read ing to school children to visiting with seniors to volunteering in a soup Kitchen or food Bank 2 remember Erma Bombeck the late humorist Best known for her laugh out loud look at women and their families offered a piece of advice i be never forgotten. In a column she wrote shortly before she died Bombeck listed All the things she wished shed done instead of worrying about grass stains and Marks on the freshly washed Kitchen floor. I wish id burned the Pink Candle sculpted like a Rose before it melted in storage she wrote. Seize the Day. You can Wash the floor tomorrow. 3 smile More there a Little in my life that deserves a sour attitude. What a worse i be Learned that when i a in a bad mood i a contagious. 4 cherish friends sounds obvious right but we take our friends for granted forget to thank them for being gifts in our lives and Don to always pick up the phone when we should. 5 be a traveler not a tourist staying in an All inclusive resort is not the same thing As seeing a country meet ing its people and having experiences outside your Comfort zone. The All inclusive resort feeds your desire for Comfort free drinks and Beach volleyball. Travel feeds your soul. 6 drink Good Champagne or eat Good chocolate. Or read a Book that makes you feel guilty. Or have a Mas Sage. Or curl up at night with your partner and let them Tell you Why you re spectacular. Believe what they Tell you. Don to Dis parents want police in High schools Pembina trails committee asks trustees to support hiring two officers by Nick Martin and Kristy Rydz p Dembina trails parents want police officers in their High schools. Parent councils at the four Pembina trails High schools and nine Middle years and Junior High schools have asked trustees to support hiring two school resource officers so to be shared among their 13 schools. One officer would be stationed at fort Richmond and Vincent Massey collegiate the other at Oak Park and Shaftesbury High schools. There Are already five police offi cers in seven High schools and their feeder schools in Winnipeg school division Cost shared by the school division City and province. Fort Richmond collegiate Parent Cameron Buchanan said that he began talking to other Parent councils Early in the school year. There were a num Ber of incidents in a number of schools the first week of school that appeared to be gang related he said. We formed a committee that represented 13 schools at the Middle and High schools Levels. With the closing of the Community police stations we lost that connection to uniformed policing Buchanan said. They a do rotational visits to the schools. We want to set up a random pattern ? we want to set up an element of Surprise Buchanan said. Nadira Barney 16, a Grade 11 Stu Dent at fort Richmond collegiate said a police presence would help her feel safer. I think it would be better because there a a lot of violence at our school. But at the same time a lot of kids Don to care. No one really listens to authority she said late last week. Barney said she believes officers on duty would make students think twice about their decisions. I think it would be a Good thing. There a a lot of threatening. Fights break out Over the Littlest things but being scared of being busted by police would be a Good thing Barney said. Some students just want to stay out of trouble. Id like to keep my nose clean and not see them everyday said 17-year?old Jamie Slater a Grade 11 Fri Stu Dent adding that he does to see a major violence or drug problem. I guess it would make kids feel safer but i Don to think we have that serious a problem. Its the occasional fight but what school does to have that Slater said. Trustees could vote on the proposal Early in the new year. They re quite hopeful they la be Able to obtain funding support Pembina trails superintendent Lawrence Lussier said. We need More service than we re currently getting from the police. The response times to schools Are Way Down since Community stations closed. Jon Gunn director of Urban development for intergovernmental affairs said there is provincial Money Avail Able for schools outside Winnipeg school division but there would have to be Strong evidence of safety con Cerns and of Community support. The City needs trustees and the province to sign on before deciding whether there Are Money and officers available. I tried to be Clear the last time we did this in Winnipeg school division ? we Don to spearhead these programs said coun. Gord Steeves chair of the Protection and Community services committee. We will consider it ? we wont Promise anything. We do want police officer position ing to be based on need not because one school has an Active Parent association and one does to Steeves said. I know the parents Are Well-inten?tioned.?. agree its unpleasant and will discourage More of this kind of conversation. 7 dance like no ones watching because most of the time no one is. 8 laugh at yourself at corny jokes at the Way Happy babies chortle. 9 find something you believe in and then do something about it. Maybe its god or saving the whales or fight ing poverty or helping your children grow into Loving responsible adults. It does to matter. Just be Able to go to bed at the end of the Day and know you did your Best. 10 accept the hand you be been dealt and then move on. You can spend your life fretting that you have big thighs bad parents a Lousy Job Mousy hair or grew up on the wrong Side of the tracks. Change what you can and live with the rest. Bitter does it suit anyone. Good Luck with your lifelong self improvement projects. And Happy new year. Lindor Reynolds blogs at Holiday hour around the City. Civic offices dec. 24 closed at noon dec. 2526 & Jan. 1 closed. Winnipeg transit dec. 25, 26 & Jan. 1 sunday schedule. Libraries closed dec. 24 Cornish Munroe Osborne sir William Stephenson St. Johns Windsor Park and West end. All other branches 10 . To noon dec. 25 & 26 closed dec. 27-30 regular hours dec. 31 sir William Stephenson closed All other branches 10 . To 5 . Jan 1 closed. Swimming pools dec. 24 and 31 closed at noon dec. 25, 26 & Jan. 1 closed. Holiday hours in effect until Jan. 5. Recycling garbage collection schedule dec. 24 Day 2 dec. 25 & 26 no collection dec. 27 Day 3dec. 28 Day 4 Jan. 1 no collection Jan. 2 Day 1. Leisure centres dec. 24 closed except for fort Rouge Leisure Centre and pegu is fitness Centre 6 . To 4 .Magnus Eliason recreation Centre 9 . To 1 . And freight House Leisure Centre 9 . To 11 30 . Dec. 25, 26 and Jan. 1 closed. Animal services Agency dec. 24 8 30 . To noon dec. 25, 26 and Jan. 1 closed dec. 27 & 28 8 . To 6 . Dec. 29 & 30 noon to 5 . Assiniboine Park zoo regular hours 10 . To 4 . Dec. 25 noon to 4 . Conservatory open daily including dec. 25 9 . To 8 . Manitoba Public insurance including Mph offices claim centres and Dri ver licensing offices dec. 24 close Dat 1 . Dec. 25, 26 & Jan. 1 closed aut Opac line in Winnipeg 985-7000 outside Winnipeg 1-800-665-2410 dec. 24 closed at 1 . Dec. 25 closed dec. 26 8 30 . To 4 30 . Dec. 31 7 . To 6 . Jan. 1 closed. Liquor stores dec. 23 12 to 6 . Dec. 24 & dec. 31 8 . 6 . Dec. 25, 26 & Jan. 1 closed. Manitoba children a museum dec. 24, 25 & 26 closed dec. 31 9 30 . To 6 . Fort Whyte alive Centre dec. 24 & 25 10 . To 5 . Regular hours 9 . To 5 . Manitoba museum dec. 22 & 23 10 . To 5 . Dec. 24 10 . To 1 . Dec. 25 closed dec. 26 Jan. 6 10 . To 5 . Winnipeg Art gallery dec. 24, 25, 26 and Jan. 1 closed. Canad inns Winter wonderland dec. 25 closed otherwise regular schedule 6 . To 10 . I Brief charges in mans killing ramp have charged a Man in connection with a homicide on the Garden Hill first nation. Bobby Alec Rae was found dead on thursday in the Community located 615 Kilometres Northeast of Winnipeg. Ramp arrested and charged James Curtis Beardy 20, with manslaughter. Beardy was remanded into custody and will appear in a Winnipeg court room on monday. Of after hitting train two people were fortunate to receive Only minor injuries when their vehicle crashed into a moving train Early sat urday morning. Heading Ley ramp said a vehicle was heading West on the South perimeter Highway when it hit the northbound train near St. Annes Road. The 83-year-old male Driver and a 77?year-old female passenger sustained minor injuries although there was major damage to their vehicle. Both were rushed to Victoria Gener Al Hospital. Investigators say alcohol was not a Factor but Road conditions and visibility were contributing factors. Heading Ley ramp traffic services and up rail police Are still investigating the collision ;