A6 | The Mountaineer | Rocky Mountain House, AB www.rock-e.

ca Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Opinion Opinion
EDITORIAL
|
LOOKING BACK
|
from the files of The Mountaineer
You cant run a proper farm without a wife, any more
than you can run a proper farm without a tractor.
Not all dogs go to heaven
Elizabeth Gilbert
(b. July 18, 1969), American author
from Committed: A Love Story, accounting the history of marriage
Fists, ghts and facts
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5 YEARS AGO
Hundreds participated in the
Canadian Cancer Society Relay for
Life, raising over $170,000.
10 YEARS AGO
A federal election was called
for June; new boundaries divided
Clearwater County into three con-
stituencies.
15 YEARS AGO
Dean Schweder began duties as
Tourism and Economic Coordinator
for Rocky.
Rocky Elementarys Gr. 5/6
French immersion class went on a
eld trip to eastern Canada.
20 YEARS AGO
Rodeo Queen contestants
were Carmen Haney, Jeanett
Neal, Patricia Miller and Debbie
McLeod.
25 YEARS AGO
Cool, windy weather failed to
disrupt the annual Big Horn Rodeo
at Caroline.
The provincial government
approved an application to mine
a glacial lake in the Whitegoat
Wilderness.
Scotiabank celebrated 25 years in
Rocky.
Shawn Lee, 15, was rated as one
of the top Midget age cross-country
runners in the province.
30 YEARS AGO
Dick Gehrke was elected vice-
governor of Kinsmen District Four.
Ideal weather blessed the annual
Big Horn Rodeo.
A four-room addition was opened
at St. Matthew School.
35 YEARS AGO
Graduation exercises were held at
David Thompson with 32 students
taking part.
Ted Jamieson, manager of local
Treasury Branch, was transferred to
Fort McMurray.
40 YEARS AGO
Stampede Queen candidates
were: Dawn Christenson, Con-
nie Ekelund, Debbie Hogberg and
Marianne Whitesell.
55 YEARS AGO
The Hudsons Bay returned to
Rocky after an 84-year absence, by
opening for business in the former
Killico Stores location on Main St.
60 YEARS AGO
M. A. Wolkove reported a poor
year for trappers.
Mr. and Mr. H. McKervey of
Frisco moved to Missouri.
Married: Leroy Johnston and
Marjory Brown, both of Carlos.
70 YEARS AGO
Butter ration was cut down.
The water in Prairie Creek was
warm enough for bathing.
The local Victory Loan made its
quota of $62,000 with $1,000 over.
80 YEARS AGO
Sid Erickson of Horburg reported
muskrats plentiful.
The CPR advertised a cruise to
Alaska for $80.
90 YEARS AGO
A Class A road was being built
east of town.
Bad forest res across the river.
This week in 1984, the Rocky High School Rodeo Association played in a donkey polo
match with CKGY radio celebrities as a fundraiser. The RHSRA won 4-1.
FILE PHOTO | THE MOUNTAINEER
I
f you think bullying doesnt happen in a small
town, youre wrong.
Bullying happens everywhere.
Pink Shirt Day, now known widely across
North America and having been observed in
Rocky Mountain House schools, is an interna-
tional day to raise awareness
against bullying.
Pink Shirt day was started
by two Nova Scotia high school
students in support of a Grade
9 student who was bullied for
wearing a pink shirt to school.
The next day, the two older boys
bought 50 pink shirts to hand
out to other boys in the school.
Kings Central High School,
where Pink Shirt Day got its start, serves an
area comparable to Clearwater County. If it can
happen there, it can happen here.
The idea of a pink shirt day to stand up
against bullying caught on easily; its a simple
thing, to wear a pink shirt for a day.
Its far more difcult to eradicate bullying
altogether, or make an ongoing commitment to
reducing the detrimental effects of relentless
bullying.
Thats what our homegrown bullying aware-
ness group is doing.
Stop The Madness Universal was launched
last year by three area students. Initially they
wanted to provide a local resource for address-
ing self-harm, but their project has since grown
to encompass all manner of bullying and facts
on mental illness. Its mission is to provide sup-
port for people suffering deep effects of bully-
ing: things like self-harm, depression and eating
disorders. These types of mental disorders
can be exacerbated by bullying, and Mary-Lou
Parks, Breanna Choma and Brandon Charlton
have made it their mission to offer help and
resources to their peers.
In so far as bullying awareness campaigns go,
they are taking a different tack. That is ghting
the harmful effects of bullying rather than the
bullying itself.
They are quite right when they say bullying is
not likely to end tomorrow.
There have been highly publicized cases in
Canada extreme bullying Amanda Todd, the
15-year-old British Columbia student who killed
herself after years of relentless cyerbullying
and extortion made headlines only after it was
too late. Rehtaeh Parsons of Nova Scotia died
following a suicide attempt after enduring more
than a year of harassment and sexual exploita-
tion. These and the lesser crimes of schoolyard
taunts are going to keep happening.
The group is aptly named. Its madness that
youth are being driven to depression, despair
and suicide because of constant cyberbullying,
sexual harassment, and downright mean and
criminal actions of others.
(Though many bullying incidents can be clas-
sied as assault, Rocky Mountain House also in-
troduced a bullying bylaw in April 2004, the rst
of its kind in Alberta. The bylaw, which carries
nes up to $1,000 for second offences, is used as
a last resort for law enforcement personnel.)
The founders of Stop the Madness have
shared their stories on their anti-bullying
website. You can read how these young people
endured years of taunts, mental anguish and
anxiety at the hands of their peers. They are
heart wrenching stories, and those behind Stop
The Madness deserve high praise for sharing
their stories so that other students may not feel
so alone.
Its an honour to meet Mary-Lou Parks, Bre-
anna Choma and Brandon Charlton. They have
proven their resiliency over years of bullying
and have come through stronger and wiser,
through a little scarred.
Instead of hiding the wounds, they are using
them as talking points to spread the message
that bullying is serious, and the effects are seri-
ous and far-reaching. They are using their own
experiences to prevent another student from
suffering as much as they did.
Hopefully we at Stop The Madness Univer-
sal can make a difference in our community,
Breanna Choma told The Mountaineer. No one
should have to go through this, but it happens
and even though its hard it is possible to get
through it. All three of us are proof you can get
through it, but the difference is you dont have
to do it alone.
T
his coming week, UFC heavy-
weight ghter Roy Big coun-
try Nelson will be visiting
Rocky to hold a training seminar
and an autograph signing session.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a
fairly new sport. The sport has
been talked about for many years
prior to its conception, but the
rst ofcial martial arts league
was Pancreas. Pancreas started
in the 80s and continued to lay the
ground work for the UFC. The UFC
is the premier ghting organiza-
tion today.
In the early 2000s, the UFC blew
up and it was hard not to hear
about. But not all the press was
good.
Described as Human cock-
ghting by U.S.A Senator John
McCain, the sport was vilied and
compared to gladiator level brutal-
ity.
I have watched every single UFC
that has been released. I was a
huge fan of Pride
Fighting Cham-
pionships and en-
joyed taking part
in various Martial
Arts throughout
my lifetime. I
would call myself
well-versed on the
subject of ghting,
but it doesnt seem
like many politi-
cians or advocates
are.
The rst thing that is always
talked about is the violence. The
brutality. The blood.
But as Canadians, are we not used
to watching people ght? Are hock-
ey players known for their ability
to mediate situations? No, and the
sport of hockey is not focused on
ghting, but it is tolerated.
The effects of mixed martial arts
can be hazardous to a humans
health, yes. That is a fact. But the
percentage of athletes who have
died in mma is signicantly lower
than almost every other sport.
More people die playing football,
boxing or shing each year, than
have died in the entire existence
of mma. More teens are injured
cheerleading each year than mma.
Lets put that one on for size. The
most dangerous activity related
to sports is cheerleading. It has
resulted in the most deaths, broken
necks/vertebrae, and injuries than
most other sports combined.
So the next time you watch an
mma ght or decide to turn on the
UFC, keep in mind that as danger-
ous as it looks, the ring girl with
the sign is more likely to get hurt.
I mean, those catwalks can be slip-
pery in high heels.
NICK ODEA is a staff reporter for the
Mountaineer. He is an avid martial arts fan.
He can be contacted at nick@mountaineer.
bz.
W
ith over a million views on
YouTube, the cat that saved
a boy from a dog attack in
California has become famous. Its
a heroic story that illustrates the
strength of a bond between a boy
and his pet. But the dog, like other
dogs deemed dangerous has been
euthanized. Closer to home, a dog
in Calgary was euthanized after a
vicious attack a few weeks ago. Ca-
nine attacks are continuously ap-
pearing in the news, though there
seems to be little information on
prevention. Even more so, it seems
that dogs are the ones that receive
the harshest punishment.
Any canine attack on a person
or another animal is unfortunate.
Celebrity dog trainer, Cesar Mil-
lan says on his website, Dogs are
not naturally inclined to attack
humans unless they feel a threat
to themselves, their pack or their
territory. We cannot always avoid
the problem because some dog
owners are irresponsible or negli-
gent.
Therefore, it should not be the
dogs that receive
the severest
penalty, but the
owners. A larger
consequence
for dog owners
and an obedi-
ence program for
dogs before they
are subjected to
euthanization
would be more
constructive. This
could ensure own-
ers are more compliant with their
pets and warrant that dogs receive
the proper attention. In addition,
an easily-accessible program that
provides more awareness of be-
havioural obedience and respon-
sible practices for owners could be
resourceful.
People who disagree may argue
that programs as such would be a
waste of time and money, or that
owners would not make use of
these programs. However I debate
that if owners have the right
resources available, there would
be fewer attacks and an increase
in sensible dog owners. Dogs that
are rehabilitated could either be
reunited with their families or put
up for adoption for an owner who
is willing to take care of it.
One of my dogs is a rescue from
a shelter. He came from a home
where he was not given the proper
attention. Although he was by no
means as hostile as the dog that
attacked the boy in California, he
would become defensive of his
territory. Since bringing him home
a year ago, he has made a huge im-
provement in his behaviour. This
poses as an example of the capabil-
ity of change that dogs have.
This topic could launch both
negative and positive arguments,
and is most likely not a priority.
But until it is, dog owners: please
take care of your pets and contin-
ue to practice being a responsible
owner.
BRITTANY FONG is a summer reporter at
The Mountaineer. She can be reached at
brittany@moutnaineer.bz.
Local group
offers
support for
victims of
bullying
Stop the
Madness
BRAND NEW
DEA
NICK
ODEA
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BRAND NEW
UNDER THE
PALM TREE
BRITTANY
FONG
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UNDER THE
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 NEWS The Mountaineer | Rocky Mountain House, AB | A9
www.rock-e.ca
BY BRITTANY FONG
SUMMER REPORTER
Bullying unfortunately
is a topic that keeps
reappearing in schools.
It is a challenge because
both the victims and their
families do not always
understand the effects of
bullying and how to man-
age it effectively. Three
Rocky Mountain House
high school students,
Mary-Lou Parks, Breanna
Choma and Brandon
Charlton launched a cam-
paign in 2013 called Stop
the Madness Universal to
provide more awareness
of bullying and to offer
information on how to
manage the consequences
of bullying.
We aim to provide
awareness to the com-
munity and hope that we
can lessen some of the
effects, says Choma.
The campaign that
started as a Facebook
page for a friend called
Stop Cutting soon be-
came Stop the Madness
because we realized
there was more madness
out there than just cut-
ting, says Parks.
The Stop the Madness
group had received such
overwhelming support
from followers on their
Facebook page that
they decided to create a
website.
We provide them
(youth) with informa-
tion on how to help
themselves, so if theyre
dealing with self-harm,
for example, they can go
to our website or ask us
questions on how to deal
with it, says Choma.
The website provides
a list of helplines as well
as links with information
about the effects of bully-
ing on mental health. In
addition, the group has
provided contact emails
so that people are able to
contact them if they have
any questions.
At one point or an-
other we have all been
bullied in some way,
shape or form and have
dealt with the effects it
can have on youth. We
want people to not only
be more aware, but also
know how to deal with
the issues because bul-
lying is not necessarily
going to stop tomorrow,
says Choma.
Stop the Madness has
received support from
the Family and Com-
munity Support Services
(FCSS) Alberta and are
hoping to seek additional
support from Rocky
Mountain House and
Clearwater County high
schools.
They have travelled
to different Clearwater
County events, most
recently appearing at
Safety Day, to spread the
message that they arent
alone, they shouldnt be
afraid to stand up and
be strong for who they
are, says Charlton, and
speak to the people who
can help.
Stop the Madness also is
trying to speak to bullies
themselves. The people
who are bullying others
dont always realize what
they are doing and how
it can affect people, says
Choma. A lot of them
think that it simply makes
people go home and cry,
but it can do a lot more
than that and were trying
to send that message out
as well and make people
realize the recourse of
their actions.
In the years to come,
Stop the Madness hopes
that their website will
reach out to youth world-
wide. But for now, they
are focusing on organiz-
ing a tie-dye event that
will get the community
involved and aware. They
hope the event will
include workshops and
tie-dying of Stop the
Maddness t-shirts, but
the group is still in the
initial stages of plan-
ning. For more informa-
tion visit their website,
http://stop-the-madness-
universal.weebly.com.
High school students use website to promote
anti-bullying campaign
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See you at the fair
Grace In braves the super slide while her brother, Dennise In,
looks on from above. PHOTOS BY LAURA BUTTON | THE MOUNTAINEER
Jordyn Whittaker, Maria Whittaker, and Hailey Rain enjoyed a
tasty treat of cotton candy at the fair.
Kenzie Colwell, Jack Bradley, Liam Colwell and Evan Bradley
took a spin on the motorbike carousel at the Wild Rose Shows
Midway hosted by the Rocky Mountain House Co-op. Fifty per
cent of all proceeds from the fair were to go to St. Matthew
School Council.
Website provides
information about
effects of being
bullied
Breanna Choma, 16, Mary-Lou Parks, 17, and Brandon Charlton, 16, co-founders of Stop the
Madness, hope to spread awareness of bullying and offer help on how to manage the effects of
bullying. BRITTANY FONG | THE MOUNTAINEER