ROTHENBURGER – Urban winter wussies need to count their blessings
Winter, outside city boundaries. (Image: Armchair Mayor file photo)
I WAS STANDING at the kitchen window Friday morning, enjoying my first jolt of caffeine, gazing out at the frozen river. It’s always frozen this time of year.
In the background, the TV news was going, with a reporter excitedly explaining that some river back east was, OMG, actually frozen over. That kind of thing just doesn’t happen thereabouts, obviously.
“Be safe!” cautioned the anchor back in the studio when the reporter finished talking.
Be safe? The reporter was wearing a thick winter coat and heavy mitts, and standing on the deck of a very sturdy looking ice breaker.
The media are abuzz with such stories these days from places having genuine winter weather this winter.
I’m convinced the only Canadians left with any Canadian fortitude live either in Newfoundland or in the B.C. Interior somewhere outside the city boundaries of Kamloops.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, former school board chair, former editor of The Kamloops Daily News, and a current director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He was awarded the Jack Webster Foundation’s lifetime achievement award in 2011. His editorials are published Monday through Thursdays, and Saturdays on CFJC Today, CFJC Midday and CFJC Evening News. Contact him at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Let’s face it, not everyone is made out of the same tough cloth as you MR. But the city is a different beast. It is an apparatus that serves many many people not all as capable on their own two feet as you and I. The city is the heart of the region and the snow removal budget and the snow removal procedures should be taken seriously.
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