Columns

At the start of this year, a nine-year-old girl was shot and killed in Tucson by a young man some speculate might have schizophrenia. He also shot 11 other people, five of whom died. The intended victim was Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

After years of drafting and wrangling over budgets and cost, St. Albert’s new $51-million Sturgeon Community Hospital opened to the public in January 1993.

The letters pages of this newspaper occasionally feature spats over photo radar. Typically the squabbles begin with a wail from someone recently nicked for a contribution to the civic coffers by having too heavy a foot on the accelerator.

This week I had to get my car fixed for a trip out of town. I left it with a mechanic whom a friend recommended, so I couldn’t drive my wife to work the next morning.

Now 126 years old, St. Albert acquired new land, taking control of Riel Business Park from the Royal Bank of Canada, which had owed the city $2 million in back taxes on the property.

There’s been success with my debut history column — courtesy Mayor Nolan Crouse, the Gazette has retrieved copies of the paper from 1965 and 1966.

Our city council has announced with great fanfare that it has kept the most recent budget’s inflated rate to below three per cent. It is still above the national rate of inflation but, at least for the sake of optics, they are trying.

Fireworks at Seven Hills, social gatherings, the anticipated countdown from 10, the clinking of glasses and a rousing chorus of Auld Lang Syne — all telltale signs that 2011 has arrived.

So long, 2010. It was nice while it lasted, for some more than others. The past year was a rollercoaster affair for the newsmakers on St. Albert's political scene.

Who would have dreamed that the events of that cold, lonely night in Bethlehem would change the world forever? The choreography of events was miraculous.