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Level of public services enraging

I am writing to you today to express my frustration with how the public services are unsatisfactory.

Dear Editor,

I am writing to you today to express my frustration with how the public services are unsatisfactory.

It’s New Year’s Eve and I just came back from the outdoor rink. And to no surprise, there were about 6-7 inches of snow covering the ice surface. Knowing better not to pack my three children up to go skating on New Year’s eve at the only rink in town, but to make sure that the people running this facility actually did their job first was a wise choice.

This has been the fifth time in the four years I have lived here that this has happened.

Having moved here from Red Deer, where there are 60+ outdoor rinks maintained over three times a week, our inability to maintain one is sad.

After being let down again, I proceeded to the rec facility to find someone to speak with about it.

The man I spoke with told me he was in charge of the outdoor facility. I asked him if he was aware that there were 6-7 inches of snow covering the ice surface. He said “Yes, I am aware of that, it snowed last night.” I replied that there was still 6-7 inches of snow on it today.

I then asked him if he was aware that it is New Year’s Eve today, and that this is the only outdoor ice surface to skate on in this town. His response was that “there may be 20 cm of snow falling tonight and tomorrow.”

I finally came to the understanding that if it snows, or may snow, in Ponoka, Alberta, CANADA! Then the public works people do not have to do their job and maintain the only facility left responsible to them.

Disturbed, I turned and walked away. I went out to the rink where a couple of grandparents and a father and mother had spent hours shoveling a small section of the surface for a couple of 6-7 year old kids could skate, while the people paid through taxes, drank coffee and enjoyed a party in the lobby of the rec facility. With a broken heart full of rage, I had to write my first letter to the editor.

I pray it never happens again.

Ben Quine

Ponoka