City Notebook: All our rain, all at once

By COLLIN GALLANT on June 30, 2019.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Wasn’t that a mighty wind, storm and downpour in town on Thursday? Perhaps seemingly more so after two years of essentially teetering on the edge of drought conditions.

Volumes of rain for Thursday’s storm obviously varied across the city, but the 41 millimetres measured at the airport in two short cloudbursts were twice as much as the Hat had received in the previous 27 days of June (our rainiest month).

That might bring up a perennial question that even pops up in the newsroom from time to time: How could it have only rained 41 millimetres, less than two inches, when it’s two feet deep on the street?

Like many things it’s a matter of simple math, which I’m certain everyone wants to do on the Saturday of a long weekend.

Well, picture a community that’s 10 blocks by 10 blocks (or 100 square blocks). An inch of rain falls over the entire area, and if it’s bowl shaped, will find the lowest spot. Obviously, some would soak in and some run down the storm sewer, but failing that, the height of water in the centre block would be 100 inches, or eight and a half feet deep.

Accolades

Manyberries native Jenna Ranger and her husband Jason were named Saskatchewan’s Outstanding Young Farmers at a Canada Farm Progress show last week.

The pair grows primarily canola, wheat, oats and some lentils on about 11,000 acres near Prince Albert, where Jenna Ranger practises dentistry under her maiden name, Gogolinski.

Two Hatters are joining the Order of Canada this fall, it was announced on Thursday, with Ronnie Burkett appearing in a photo in the Globe and Mail’s national edition regarding the story. Oilman Keith MacPhail is the other Hatter on the list

Also, it was well reported earlier this spring that local history buff and industrialist Malcolm Sissons would join the Alberta Order of Excellence this year.

But, has anyone here mentioned that Ron Sakamoto will join him in this year’s class?

The concert promoter is now based in Lethbridge, but grew up in the Hat, and few people have done as much to promote country music industry in Canada. As any self-respecting municipality would do, we’ll claim him, too.

Sad news

The backpage of the News on Friday featured obituaries for two pretty big wheels in the Medicine Hat community.

Austin Curtain, who owned the Canadian Tire franchise here for 33 years and sat on the corporation’s board of directors for 10, passed away on June 15. His service is set to take place on Monday.

James Pritchard, the patriarch of family-run Pritchard and Co. law office, will have a private service. He served as president of Medicine Hat College, the Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce and had a host of roles in the Law Society of Alberta.

A look ahead

Council sits on Tuesday to hold a public hearing on a potential tax abatement package for 603 First Street parking lot, as well as potential changes to existing land development plans to accommodate the proposed Community of Coulee Ridge on the city’s south side.

100 years ago

The 52nd Dominion Day was marked by the Medicine Hat News with a full page statistical account of Canada’s accomplishments and standing on the world stage.

“Never has any people been endowed with a nobler birthright or blessed with prospects of a fairer future than the Canadians,” read a headline quote on June 30, 1919. It was attributed to the Earl of Dufferin, Canada’s second governor-general in the early 1870s.

Local celebrations involved a bogey tournament at the golf club, a football match between the Vets and the Callies, mixed doubles tennis tournament, and children’s sports day arranged by the Moose Lodge.

In local baseball news, the Rotary “Rampagers” and the Cypress Club “Cloutsmiths” put on a match “with too many thrills to fully detail” at the athletic grounds.

In global affairs, Germany formally signed the Treaty of Versailles on June 26, but Dominion Day would not double as a Peace Holiday, Prime Minister Robert Borden announced. A proposed one day holiday to signify the official peace would be considered after legislatures of the three major allied powers ratified the pact.

“We make peace as we make war, without weakness,” said Borden.

The city utility department restricted watering lawns and gardens to mornings and evenings in order to keep up with demand for households and businesses during working hours.

A letter writer backed a plan for a southern Alberta lacrosse circuit: “If there is one thing we’d rather do than drink real beer on a hot day it is to look at a lacrosse game.”

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-526-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com