By Yvonne Dick
New Year’s resolutions have been around for a very long time — 153 B.C to be exact. Started by Janus, a mythical king of early Rome whose name was lent to the month we know as January. Resolutions were set to forgive enemies, make peace with the old year, and welcome in the new year and all the hopes for it.
Ponoka and area dignitaries still make resolutions today. Here are a few of them.
Ponoka Mayor Larry Henkelman: “The town’s resolution is to have open communication between citizens of Ponoka and the town council, by having open houses with council or coffee with council. Feb. 15 at 6:30 p.m. is our first one.”
Wetaskiwin MP Blaine Calkins: “I have a personal goal that I am going to be doing. I will be accompanying the Canadian Forces this summer in the Nine Million March in Holland in July, and I hereby resolve to make sure that I can march for 40 kilometres for four days in a row by July. I’m going to find out if I can!”
Ponoka Ag Society president Sherry Gummow: “My personal resolution is to become more spiritually and physically fit. Business-wise, we will continue to provide excellent customer service to existing and new customers.”
Lacombe-Ponoka MLA Ray Prins: “I have a couple of new year’s resolutions. First of all, I am going to continue to live every day with an attitude of gratitude. Secondly, my wife Pauline and I look forward to spending time with our children and grandchildren.”
Rimbey Mayor Sheldon Ibbotson: “I have a New Year’s resolution every year, and that’s to read my manual for my cellphone. I’ve only ever made it to page 14, but I do know how to use the Internet on it now and I can do a few things on it — I haven’t learned how to text. So my new year’s resolution is to become more technologically proficient.”
Want to know the best thing about new year’s resolutions? If you break them, you can always try again next year.