Agriculture vrs "Development"

Dear Editor
The Twin Valley Resort project proposed for the Little bow Reservoir has drawn a line drawn between farming and development. Seems everytime the government tells us that a new dam will benefit agriculture, we end up with another subdivision around a "lake." This "lake" came with the added cost of $80 million to relocate a Hutterite colony. Twin Valley Resort now wants to put 360 condos around this "lake. Their huge Calgary lawyer reminded me of Goliath as he roared for and hour and a half against the idea of council interfering with their public access to this area. A dozen farmers sat quietly in the back rows listening to how unfit their land was for agriculture. I wondered where Goliath thought his dinner came from. He stressed the added tax revenue that would come into the area with this development and suggested the fire risk would be held in check by high insurance rates. As for increased road traffic, the condos owners would take the longer highway route in from highway 2 rather than short cut by the old road. When Goliath finished it was time for lunch, perhaps his strategy since only 5 of us returned in the afternoon. Many, like Nanton's Mayor Blake, had other meetings and harvesting demands. Blake left written questions about the increased demands on volunteer fire department, ambulance and police services from this development larger than the town of Stavely. Before any protestors could speak, Goliath demanded 30 letters in support of the project be read into record. I recognized some names from the Silver Willow Lodge but others were from as far away as Sherwood Park. (shareholders?) Finally at 1:30 PM, neighbours to this project, Gerald Lyon, Diana Andrews and her daughter, spoke on behalf of themselves and Parkland Agriculture Society. The daughter, a 5th generation member of a farming family, wondered how she and her husband could continue farming amidst this new settlement. These "David's" plead not only to protect agriculture but also the environment they cared passionately about. I left wondering if this time Goliath would prevail or would he be smitten by a council that stuck to a long held tradition of protecting agriculture in Willow Creek Municipality.
Sincerely
Larry MacKillop

waiting for the revolution

Aug 19. 2007
Concerned about a trilateral meeting in Quebec that might see our Cdn water sold, Linda and I attended a rally in Calgary. I took the opportunity to grab some falafel from a Lebanese shop playing Arabic music next to the Hudson Bay building. How Cdn! Enroute to the rally we passed side signs advertising fringe theatre productions. Took me back to my 3 fringe efforts including Tender Meat News, my play about North Americans obtaining heart replacements from Guatemalan street kids in exchange for our artificial ones. The media in Saskatoon and Edmonton were incensed at mackillops conceit in blaming them slammed me into closing both places early. My inadequate talent and funds led to a technically bad show. I had more success plays about a Marxist children's writer stuck with a tone of moldy Nicaraguan coffee he had bought on speculation as well as a play about a Canadian nationalist who goes to Florida to bury his Aunti America only to find his nationalism is rooted in that rather than love of his own country. That was then while today I was a senior joining a protest about world fascism.

I arrived at the city hall plaza to find 4 friends sitting at a table. Byron Price works for a society helping the poor. We donate a lamb each year to his fund raiser. Jim Beck is a retired med professor who I met 37 yrs ago when I hosted a meeting of people wanting to start a left wing newspaper in Calgary. We support a consortium for blind people he helps in El Salvador. Jack Century, whom I met through The Council of Canadians and NDP, has orchestrated a possible production of my play, Dr Dave Lander, at the Jewish Centre. Then came Ed Wolfe, an 84 year old geologist who supported my formation of an institute to get sex education into Calgary schools despite strong opposed from the John Birch Society. The rally was small with passionate young people speaking about the shame of leaders and corporations meeting in secret to give way our water and heritage. I had a chance to connect my old friends with each other. Jim and Jack are both descendents of Polish Jewish immigrants to USA.. Jim and Ed both renounced their US citizenship over their country's actions. It was Byron who connected me with Tom Jeyachandran, who took Linda and I to see his native India. When the rally ended I got the email address of a fiery young speaker, who told me she was a student in Social Welfare (another chapter of my life, I taught there). She said she had been wanting to join the NDP and God knows we could use some fire there! Linda and I took Byron and Jim for a bowl of Po at a Viet Namese restaurant. I asked the manager, a woman I recognized, how long she had been here and she replied 21 years. We gave Byron and Jim a ride back to the NW where Byron gave me a large piece of Spring salmon sent for us from Tom. As I drove Byron back to the C Train stn where he'd left his car, we stopped to greet one of his condo neighbors, Helen, a survivor of Auswitch. Then Linda and I left Calgary, a place with so many connections and a revolution not yet begun.

water, saskatoons and Dad

Water for my trees brings me such a good feeling. Each day after I check Lloyd's Frankensteers, I stop at the water trough and fill my 90 gallon tank via the solar pump.. I always pour a libation of water over the solar panels and watch the watt metre climb as high as 300 when sunlight is directly on the panels.. I haul the water back to my little trees and give each an ice-cream bucket measure of water. I note the aphids gone, partly due to the watering and also the Tanglefoot I put on each trunk to deter ants from climbing to attend the aphids (their cows). As the tank empties I open the top and smell the water as I tip back to get the last 5 gallons on one last tree. I try to be egalitarian but, like the swallows feeding babies in nests on our house, the open mouth gets more than its share. A few trees are recovering from having their bark scraped by buck deer last winter. (I stop hunters from shooting deer and they do this to my trees!)
A nice diversion yesterday was to pick some saskatoons. (All Westerners know this is like a blueberry but better in flavour) I found some hanging like grapes along the fence at the bottom of a small coulee with a stream of water flowing by. The steers could not trample and rub the bushes due to the fence. I filled my bucket quickly ( I like to strip berries rather than pick them carefully and sort them later) As I returned to my truck I noted the water source was a spring my Dad used to love digging out. Seems it went dry when he died but is now back again. I felt close to him as I saw the water seep out of the sandstone rock and begin its journey. It was obvious the steers had been drinking this water as well as the medicated water at the trough. Back at the house I sat watching the BBC world news and sorted my berries. For supper that night Linda rewarded me with a saskatoon pie.