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4925-48
Street
Camrose, AB, Canada
T4V 1L7
Phone:
(780)672-3142
Fax:
(780)672-2518
E-mail:
ads@camrosebooster.com
or
news@camrosebooster.com
Site
update occurs
each Wednesday
Dear Editor:
The purpose of this letter is to advise your readers to check their utilities bills.
Here’s what happened to my in-laws, who happen to live in the Wainwright area.
They recently received their June natural gas bill. It seemed unusually high for roughly 20 days in May and the first 10 days of June. It turns out that the gas company had been slightly underestimating their natural gas usage since their meter had been last read in November, so there was some “catching up” to do when the actual meter reading on June 10 revealed the discrepancy. That’s fair enough; they used the natural gas, so they should pay for it.
But what should they be charged for this natural gas?
It turns out that the price of natural gas more or less doubled at the end of May; this disclosure is made on their bill. Careful reading of their bill also discloses that the utility company chose to charge this higher price for gas that was burned during the winter!!
It seems to me that it would be much fairer to charge some kind of price averaged over the winter (which turns out to be a price similar to what the price was in May, before it more or less doubled). In my opinion my in-laws were overcharged about $100!
Needless to say, we called the utility company to complain. The company spokesperson said the bill would be re-evaluated.
Now I’m going to check my own utilities bills a bit more carefully!
John Otto Olson
Camrose
Editor's note:
The following letter is the outcome of a discussion in the social studies class of Janet MacMillan, teacher of the Grades 1, 2, 3 class at the Edberg School. The students determined that Edberg needs more residents. They decided that writing a letter to publicize the fact would help.
We praise the teacher for making classroom learning relevant in dealing with community concerns; we praise the students for actually doing something they hope will help.
The letter submitted reads:
Dear Editor:
We, the Grades 1, 2, 3 class of Edberg School, are writing to ask for your help. We want some people to move to Edberg and we are asking you to please print this letter in your newspaper.
We think Edberg is a great place to live. Everybody cares for each other and it is a safe place to live. It is fun and has good people. It is not crowded and it cares about the environment.
People are working together to build a new skating rink. If there is a fire, accident or a robbery we help our neighbours by calling for help. It is fun because there are four playgrounds and you can go anywhere you want. You can ride your bike around and not be afraid to be hit by a car. The adults slow down when they see a child on a bike or when they are walking. All the kids are friends. Edberg has a church, three baseball diamonds, a community hall, a library, a seniors' drop-in centre, a bank and a post office. All the community works together to keep the town pretty and in good shape. We have a Canada Day celebration, a toy BINGO, Kids' Night Out and we have Summer in the Park.
We need more people in Edberg because we are afraid that in a while Edberg will not have any more people here. We want more friends and if there are more children then maybe we can open our school again. We want the restaurant to reopen to have a place to eat and a place for our parents to work. If there were more people we could open a grocery store and then we could save on gas and money. If there were more children we could have our own baseball team and have a covered skating rink.
Edberg is a great and awesome place to live!
The Grades 1, 2, 3 Class of Edberg School
Janet MacMillan, teacher
Dear Editor:
Consider Packing Your
Fluoride Toothpaste on
Your Next Trip to Edmonton
Many governments and health organizations including Health Canada, the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Dental Association, the Canadian Medical Association, and the World Health Organization endorse the addition of fluoride to drinking water to prevent tooth decay.
As part of a summer student research project, we measured the levels of fluoride in drinking water from Camrose and Edmonton taps on several days from May 1 to June 20, 2008. Our results showed that the fluoride levels in the water from Camrose taps averaged 0.8 mg/L. This is within the Canadian Dental Association’s recommended amount of fluoride in drinking water which is between 0.8 to 1.0 mg/L. We also found that the levels of fluoride in the water from Edmonton taps averaged 0.1 mg/L, which is well below the recommended fluoride level in drinking water.
In a recent advertisement in the Edmonton Journal, EPCOR indicated that it had stopped adding fluoride to drinking water in November 2007. Addition of fluoride is expected to resume at the end of June 2008. Until the levels of fluoride in Edmonton water returns to the recommended levels, it may not be a bad idea to pack your fluoride toothpaste on your next trip to Edmonton.
James Kariuki, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry,
Augustana Campus, U of A, Camrose
Dear Editor:
The 19th Annual RONA MS Bike Tour – Leduc to Camrose – took place on June 7 and 8, 2008. With 1700 cyclists and 500 volunteers, the Tour raised a record-breaking $1.52 million for MS research and services.
For the first time, our Saturday festivities including a finish line, Rider Village, dinner and dance and camping, were held at the Camrose Regional Exhibition grounds. On behalf of the MS Society of Canada, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the entire Camrose Regional Exhibition grounds staff, led by general manager Wynn McLean, for their hard work throughout the entire weekend event.
We were amazed to see how flawlessly the event went off; considering this was the first time we used the grounds. From start to finish CRE staff worked with our volunteers, committee members and staff to make the transition to the CRE seamless.
Specifically, we want to recognize certain staff for their exceptional efforts:
Norm Watmough provided excellent operational support leading up to and during the Tour and we are very grateful for his easy-going attitude in dealing with all of our many requests.
Paula Mohler and Darren Broen prepared a phenomenal meal for the cyclists Saturday night. Not only was the food delicious, but somehow they managed to feed 1,700 people in less than 40 minutes! Cyclists raved about the food throughout the weekend.
Finally, we would like to thank Dwayne Roth for his exceptional efforts during the aftermath of the hail storm. Dwayne remained calm throughout and was extremely accommodating to us during this stressful time, even going out during the storm to rescue wet campers. We are particularly grateful to him for staying on site the entire night and for providing extra support to all of the cyclists.
We have received countless emails and phone calls from our cyclists stating how pleased they were with the high level of service they were receiving from CRE staff.
The City of Camrose is fortunate to have a professional organization such as the CRE, providing facilities and services to the people of Camrose. The MS Society staff is very appreciative of the quality of service from the CRE and we are looking forward to visiting Camrose once again on June 13 and 14, 2009.
Keltie Troock
Bike Tours Manager
