Medicine Hat Media

Posts Tagged ‘Suffield’

The following is a story by Matt Reeves posted on to Facebook yesterday recounting his near brush with death while being stranded on the blizzard-filled highway, last night. There is rough and “colourful” language here and this is an exact verbatim of his original note, posted here with permission. -Vaughn

*Edit* Medicine Hat News article

Matt Reeves writes:

How I and my basset hound almost died Saturday… YES quite literally almost died Saturday… THANKS RCMP BROOKS… I mean USELESS ORGANIZATION OF MORALLY BANKRUPT GOVERNMENT PAID THUGS

Today (Saturday the 8th of January 2011) I made the mistake of attempting to drive from Calgary to Medicine Hat… at 35 – 60kph depending on conditions… driving cautiously… and I did pretty well at that speed most of the trip. Really I did!!!

At 5PM I fishtailed and then skidded into the ditch north of Suffield only going 35kph and stuck the front of the jeep in four feet of snow… tried forward and reverse with zero movement… totally and completely stuck. I got out to see how badly stuck I was and got snow up to my crotch and then snow blown with what felt like a -40 wind chill factor. Got back in the jeep due to freezing cold. Now was soaking wet and really cold. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »


We all have an opinion on the Medicine Hat Police Service, but what happens to our opinion of the organization and its chief, Andy McGrogan, when they get called to deal with a potentially live artillery shell that happens to be in a school? No hype intended or required, they accomplished this all on their own:

The story starts out with James Chatfield, an electrician and a former British Army soldier, doing work in CAPE School. He stumbles upon an artillery shell in a storage room above the stage of the gymnasium that is rarely used. Though it is kind of random that it was there, anyone would understand that the principal, teacher, students and parents would definitely treat this as a threat; anyone but the Police, it appears.

The Principal immediately called the Medicine Hat Police, who responded that they were “too busy” to deal with it right away. The Canadian Forces Base in Suffield was then called, but the school was out of their jurisdiction, so the Police were called a second time. At length, an officer was sent to remove the shell in a fairly unprofessional manner. As the unofficial story goes, the officer knocked on the shell and apathetically tossed it into the back of his cruiser before taking off. Does Medicine Hat have a bomb squad? I cannot see the need for one, but having an experienced individual probably would not be such a bad thing.

Obviously the shell had been sitting there for over half a century and is probably a dud, but as the former soldier, James Chatfield says: “As soon as that outer shell starts to rust and corrode, these things can be dangerous,”

The Police Chief, Andy McGrogan, then followed up with:

“We wouldn’t have made it a priority call, because as I said, we get so many of them. We don’t get calls about them every day, but it’s not uncommon for us to get calls about shells, and in most cases, we find they’re basically duds or they’ve been expended,” McGrogan says.

“It was a shell from 1940 — it’s been there for decades. I’ve got to wonder what’s the rush sometimes.”

Pretty witty, but concerned parents and teachers do not like wit, and probably like Andy McGrogan and a seemingly unconcerned Police Service even less. What is more important than a possibly explosive artillery shell sitting in a school? I bet if the Police Chief’s children went to that school, they would have been there as soon as possible.

The official story can be found on The Medicine Hat News


The village of Suffield is hosting their giant community walk-about sale this weekend.  There will be a huge variety of items including furniture, appliances, antiques, coins, stamps, sports cards, memorabilia, and fishing equipment.  If you have some time to spare on the weekend then take a scenic drive down the Trans Canada Highway and check out the goods!

Suffield’s Community Walk-About Sale
Saturday and Sunday, June 13th and 14th
10:00AM – 3:00PM
For more information please call: 403-544-3696
Google Map


Events

Community




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