• Rural Saskatchewan is continually having to prove its worth to The Powers That Be, it seems, whether their concerns be over health care, education, roads or agricultural issues.The latest trial is about where and how children should be schooled. Within Prairie Valley School Division alone, no fewer than 11 communities are involved in battles to save their schools and thus ensure that they remain attractive places for others to locate and indeed for some of their own to remain.

At one such meeting, at Kennedy, we had the distinct pleasure of hearing one Bob Brickley speak about the challenges of keeping a small school vital in spite of, rather than with help from, higher authorities. His brief and matter-of-fact comments embodied all that is right about rural life, and all that is wrong about senior governments’ attitudes toward it. Bob spoke from the heart, and not from a written page, and from years of experience. But if there had been a script it should be required reading for us all.

Refreshing, too, were predictions by a number of folks, among them Pat Beaujot and Mayor Tye Cancade, that better days lie ahead for the district. The potential for ethanol production, which should serve to strengthen the farm economy, coupled with promising job prospects both in manufacturing and in the oilfield, could indeed turn the trick. Let’s hope so.

• Unrelated quote: “The great thing about television is that if something important happens anywhere in the world, day or night, you can always change the channel.” - From “Taxi”

by Michael G. Kearns