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A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE JUNE 13 Right time, wrong place

Your intrepid reporter is lucky this is a small town - I'd really get lost on a big city beat.

The local cops had some information from an informant that something was going down. The RCMP Community Consultative Group was putting on the annual Mountie for a Day program.

So I got a hot tip from a reliable source at the local constabulary that a bust was going to be going down at The Spot in Midway at 9 a.m. last Monday morning.

I wasn’t sure what was going to happen but I knew it would involve the RCMP and some Grade 7 students who had been chosen to be Mounties for a day. This involves getting to hang out with the RCMP, learn what they do, gather the evidence at a mock crime scene, and then take the case to court. Lunch is also involved in the middle of the day too.

This year KJ Taktsang and Ronnie Puno from Greenwood Elementary and Trinity Shipton and Ebony Spalek from West Boundary Elementary were selected.

Now I had no idea what was supposed to happen – all I knew was that I’d been tipped off to be at The Spot in Midway at 9 in the morning.

So there I was sitting at the window box table they have in their coffee shop area waiting for the action to start.

I was talking with the mayor and the folks who came in to buy gas or whatever. A lot of business seems to happen there.

One thing I started to realize is that when you sit on a stakeout like I was long enough then everybody starts looking suspicious.

It was getting on to 9:15 when Carol Dulyk pulled into the parking lot.

She got out of her car and kept looking down the street. She was rubber-necking to beat the band – something was going on down there. I glanced down the road, but from my position in the store I could only see an ambulance stopped down in front of the Mile Zero Café. But the driver was just chatting with a pedestrian – nothing special.

Finally Carol came into The Spot and asks the mayor, “What’s going on down at your old store? The police have it all barricaded off!”

I quickly packed up my stuff and went to the scene of the crime – there’ll be a full report in next week’s paper about it.

***

There were two bench-clearing brawls in a baseball game between the L.A. Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks the other day. I was like watching a baseball game and all of a sudden a hockey game breaks out!

It seems the two dugouts had let their sportsmanship slip a few notches that day. Pitchers tossing the ball at the batter’s heads even!

You don’t see too many of these dustups at golf courses. They must be better mannered or something.

Oops – I just did a quick YouTube search – seems there is anger on the links too.

***

No nonsense on this next piece. Serious business, so pay attention.

Nelson RCMP are warning the public about a telephone fraud scam that has victimized at least two elderly local residents over the past two weeks totaling $4,000.

The scam starts by receiving a telephone call from a person who claims to be a distant relative that is currently in jail urgently requiring money to be “wired” within the hour to his lawyer to get out of jail (usually for the amount of $2,000).

A simple rule is to never give money away on the phone to someone who called you to ask for it.