The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Two weeks ago, I wrote an editorial arguing that Chucky D's Meal Mobile should be allowed to stay at the paved area off the south end of Main Street. Entrepreneurs Chuck Laderoute and Dawn Linnick had initially been denied permission to park there. City council had aesthetic concerns and worries that if one business was allowed to stay, others might follow, ruining what is supposed to be a tourist destination. I must say that column was one of the most well-received I have ever written. I found almost unanimous agreement for my position among those I spoke with. One friendly gentleman Ð I have no idea who you are, but thanks Ð even stopped by my restaurant table to say he really liked the piece. Others were more vocal, saying things about our city council that weren't fair at all. Whenever I heard such remarks, I felt some degree of guilt. Did my silly little column, if only in a small way, help spark some of this? Did my editorial offend city council? Maybe I'm overthinking things here, but I know it was certainly never my intention to do either. Although I'm the one who has to ask the "tough questions," I have a lot of respect for city council. That's why I was troubled by some of the comments I heard during this entire Meal Mobile saga. I know what a tough spot city council is in. It's easy for Joe Public to sit with his coffee and spew off about how "City council needs to do this" or "City council needs to do that." It's easy for me to sit at my cluttered desk and write, "Let the Meal Mobile stay", but who am I? I haven't been elected by the fine citizens of Flin Flon. So when our city council makes a decision, that decision must be afforded respect, even if we as individuals disagree. I'm not just talking about the Meal Mobile issue, but all issues. And you know what? If one of our elected officials strongly feels that a certain situation is not best for our community, I want him or her to go with gut instinct Ð not what my opinion happens to be. Lord knows I could be wrong. When Flin Flonners go to the ballot box, we put our trust in these people. We don't qualify that by saying, "Oh, by the way, if I disagree with you on such-and-such, I expect you to shape up!" No politician in history has ever made all of the people happy all of the time. People so often can't grasp the idea that what's popular and what's right are not always the same thing. To use a famous example, the abolition of slavery in the United States wasn't hugely favoured when it finally happened, but it was obviously the right course of action. And look at how much initial opposition there was to the Iraq war. That turned out fine, didn't it? (Okay, bad example). The people on city council are just like the rest of us. They want the best community possible. So even when we think one of their decisions is incorrect, let's cut them some slack. One More Thing... It has come to my attention that there was perhaps some misinterpretation of a photograph we ran on Wednesday. The photo showed the Smoke Stack in the background of a desolate-looking parcel of land just outside Creighton. I can assure everyone we weren't trying to make any sort of veiled point with this picture. The truth is, I happened to stumble upon the area and thought it was unlike anything I had ever seen in the Flin Flon area. Having taken dozens of photos of the landmark Stack, I was looking for a different kind of angle. That's all. Have a great weekend, everybody! Local Angle runs Friday
