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Town of Stettler writes off almost $22k in bad debt
by Stu Salkeld
Written by Stu Salkeld
Stettler town council wrote off almost $22,000 in bad debt by resolution at the regular council meeting Dec. 7.
Councillors read a memo from town Assistant Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Steven Gerlitz that stated the municipality has a policy that prior to the end of the year staff will present council with a list of unpaid and uncollectible debts that each amount to more than $300, adding only council can authorize those debts be written off.
"For 2021, $15,935.87 should be expensed as bad debts in excess of $300, which represents 21 accounts," stated Gerlitz in his memo.
During discussion he told councillors this amount was all unpaid utility bills and mostly involved renters who had moved away from Stettler with town staff exhausting all avenues to recover the money.
He also pointed out there were $5,479.73 in unpaid fees for fire department call-outs and $561.26 in unpaid taxes linked to mobile homes.
Bad debts under $300 per account don't need council approval to be written off, but Gerlitz noted staff must notify council of these debts.
"As well, I have expensed 10 accounts under $300 totalling $1618.24 and expensed 13 inactive accounts with credit balances totalling $16.51," stated Gerlitz.
He pointed out that the unpaid utility bills were a very small amount of the budget.
"Based on local 2021 utility revenues to date of approximately $4,124,343 the utility write-offs totalling $18,115.37 represents 0.44 per cent of revenues (2020 = 0.27%)," stated the memo.
Councillors unanimously approved writing off all the unpaid accounts of more than $300 each.
Museum budget
Councillors read a proposed 2022 budget from the Town and Country Museum requesting $42,000 from the Town of Stettler for next year's operations. The budget included an unsigned letter describing some of the museum's operations.
The agenda memo to council noted that in 2010 the museum requested $18,000 for its budget and last year requested $34,000.
Mayor Sean Nolls stated he felt the proposed budget should be discussed at an upcoming committee of the whole (COW) meeting where more time could spent on it. Councillors agreed.
FCSS funding
Councillors heard a presentation from Stettler & District FCSS on its proposed 2022 operating budget. The presentation was made by board member James Nibourg and executive director Shelly Walker.
The proposed budget showed no request for increased funding and that FCSS requested $39,287 in town funding which reflected Stettler's 20 per cent portion along with $157,148 in Alberta government funding, the remaining 80 per cent portion.
Nibourg noted the FCSS staff worked hard over the past 20 months to keep the FCSS office in Stettler open and functioning, whereas the federal employment office and the provincial Alberta Works offices both closed their doors.
The report included information on FCSS programs which include grief support, rent assistance and many more.
Councillors unanimously approved the Stettler FCSS budget request.
Councillors also approved the Stettler Public Library's request for funds after a delegation presented the library's proposed 2022 operating budget. The delegation included Library Manager Rhonda O'Neill.
The proposed budget included a request for $$250,117 for the library's 2022 year.
O'Neill stated donations and fundraising for the library have been going very well although the library was requesting the town council grant them higher funding akin to 2020 levels.
Coun. Gord Lawlor stated library staff worked very hard during the pandemic and may have been even busier then than usual.
Mayor Nolls stated he felt that having a great public library is an important part of economic development, as new residents often visit the library soon after arriving.
Councillors unanimously approved the library's budget and funding request.
Board of Trade
The Stettler Regional Board of Trade (BOT) presented their 2022 budget to council, including a request for grant funding of $372,776.
The staff memo to council included a listing of previous BOT funding requests, which began with $160,450 in 2009 and concluded with 2021's request of $372,805.
BOT Executive Director Bryan Geddes and Project Manager Donna Morris presented to council and noted the BOT once again had to cope with pandemic restrictions in 2021 which meant postponing many large events such as the trade show to next year.
They also noted the popular Pheasant Festival held every autumn has been spun off and now has its own board of directors.
Councillors unanimously approved the BOT's 2022 budget and funding request.
Councillors unanimously approved a grant of $16,450 to the group of volunteers working on a Stettler community history book. Stan Eichhorn spoke to council on behalf of the volunteers.
Town CAO Greg Switenky asked Eichhorn if the volunteers were successful in getting a $10,000 grant from the provincial government, to which Eichhorn responded no, the group had been turned down.
Eichhorn stated not much had actually changed since earlier this year when the group presented to council.
Switenky asked if the volunteers still wanted the $10,000 grant councillors had promised at that time to which Eichhorn answered, "We'd be very happy with $10,000."
Eichhorn pointed out volunteers are working on the book as often as possible and there was no release date set. In fact, that's why, explained Eichhorn, the volunteers didn't want to ask for deposits on the book because no date is yet known.
Councillors, after examining the volunteer's list of upcoming expenses, approved by resolution a grant of $16,450 from the cultural reserve account for the history book project.
Stu Salkeld, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
Stu Salkeld
Stu Salkeld, who has upwards of 28 years of experience in the Alberta community newspaper industry, is now covering councils and other news in the Stettler region and has experience working in the area as well.
He has joined the ECA Review as a Local Journalism Initiative Journalist.
Stu earned his two-year diploma in print journalism from SAIT in Calgary from 1993 to '95 and was raised in Oyen, Alta., one of the communities within the ECA Review's coverage area.
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Most of the time when I'm making sourdough bread, I'm working with an old starter. I've got six different starters in my fridge, and when I'm ready to bake, I pull one out, feed it until it's lively and I have enough to work with, then I take out what I need. I feed the remainder and put it back in the fridge for the next time.
A new starter is different. It's not quite as enthusiastic, and it's never as complex as the next few loaves. And it's unpredictable. The crust and texture from the first dough is not necessarily what it will be like for subsequent loaves.
After a while, the sourdough settles into the sort of starter that it's going to be from that point on. The first few loaves, though. are usually a little unpredictable. The crust, texture, flavor, and speed of rise can change from one loaf to another. After a while, though, it becomes more stable. You'll know what to expect.
Combine these, mix, and cover until it's bubbling and rising. Figure at least an hour, possibly more.
Knead (I used a stand mixer. Kneading by hand is fine, too) Add water or flour as needed to get the consistency you need. I added one more ounce of water.
Form the dough into a ball, drizzle with a little olive oil and put it back into the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until doubled in size. This took about 3 hours.
Remove the dough from the bowl and form into a ball. Don't mash it to death - you want to keep the bubbles that have formed. Set the dough on a prepared baking sheet a peel and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside until it has doubled, then slash the dough and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes until the bread is nicely browned.
Need to know how to grow a sourdough starter? Look here.
What is the difference b/w this and your "starter-along" sourdough bread recipe? I always make the starter-along one which sits overnight 2x (once on the counter and then in the fridge). How do the results compare??
This one doesn't ferment as long, so the flavor isn't quite as complex or as sour, depending, of course, on the flavor of the starter.
This recipe did not work for me at all - although, I took out the second rise to try to keep the sourdough taste to a minimum, trying to make a sourdough bread my family will eat! So anyway, even though I added a lot of extra flour, the dough was very sloppy when I put it on the tray. I just ended up with a thick, pizza-like bread which didn't cook through properly. I think my sourdough may have been wetter than yours. Also what does it mean "by volume" with the amount of sourdough to use?
"by volume" means to measure in a measuring cup rather than by weight.
Since it's hard to tell how wet anyone's sourdough is, you really need to adjust the amount of flour you use. It should be the density of a regular bread dough.


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'I Dream of Congo: Narratives from The Great Lakes' is an exhibition combining words and images from renowned international creatives alongside an exhibition of photos taken by women in eastern Congo, produced by Congo Connect. The exhibition celebrates the resilience in the region despite years of war, whilst posing hard questions around the international community's inaction in the face of the conflict, the continuing illicit trade in minerals from Congo and the failure to stem the tide of sexual violence.
The exhibition was first shown at Conway Hall, London, before moving on to other venues in the UK. In 2015 it was displayed at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London's Excel Centre, spearheaded by William Hague and Angelina Jolie. At this summit Congo Connect hosted an event and film screening with Dr Denis Mukwege, Founder of Panzi Hospital and Vava Tampa, Founder of Save the Congo.


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"Atomic Blonde": An Overstuffed Plot Ruins the Fun
Posted on August 1, 2017 by Wyatt Crosher
"Atomic Blonde" is directed by David Leitch and stars Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Sofia Boutella, and John Goodman. The film is based on a graphic novel series by Antony Johnson and is about an MI6 agent who must go into Berlin towards the end of the Cold War in order to find a certain list of names that could extend the Cold War for decades if found in the wrong hands.
This is a film I was very excited to see, as the trailers seemed to show a female John Wick styled character, and with that, I was hoping for many of the same things that make the "John Wick" series so great. So, coming in, I hoped for a lot of energetic action with some great choreography and a story compelling enough to join it all together.
The action is definitely this movie's selling point, as when the action sequences are in full force, the film is at its peak. The action is terrific in this movie, as the camera maintains a very still shot while there is quite a lot going on, and it makes for some very cool moments of Charlize Theron ass-kicking. One sequence in particular towards the final act involving a staircase is simply brilliant, and is easily a highlight action moment not only in this movie, but for 2017 as a whole, as it made my jaw drop to the floor in its seamless camerawork, choreography, and visceral tone.
The performances in this movie are all good, and while I wish some of the lead roles blew me away more than they did, everyone in the main cast was very solid. Charlize Theron is very good in the lead here, especially when it comes to the intense action scenes, but she also brings some interesting layers to the titular character throughout the film. James McAvoy is also great in the film, as he brings a lot of energy to his character that could have otherwise been lacking with a lesser actor in the role. I found John Goodman and Sofia Boutella to be good here as well, as Boutella specifically had a very unique character, one that brought out some interesting story elements in the plot.
The visuals and the score used in this film are both very good, as the retro soundtrack used really allows the action scenes to pop with some flare. The cinematography by Jonathan Sela is great, and it really nails down the late 80s Cold War vibe that the movie is going for, and it does so with a style unique enough to keep the visuals interesting.
Sadly, "Atomic Blonde" is not the female "John Wick," in fact, I found it to be a significantly less fun version of the Keanu Reeves-led films. While director David Leitch is not going for the same feel as "John Wick," he seems to go at this movie way too seriously, and the film suffers all the more for it. There are significant gaps in time where there are no action scenes whatsoever, and the storyline that is going on between these events is overly complex and too uninteresting to keep my intrigue.
More about the story line, as it is just way too complicated and goes through far too many twists and turns that feel like they have no real purpose for existing. I like the performances by McAvoy and Theron, but their characters become completely muddled by the overbearing story around them, and it becomes hard to even enjoy these two as I found myself consistently weighed down by the over complication of the plot.
The movie runs a bit too long at 115 minutes, as, once again, the movie cares too much about its convoluted storyline to ever really have as much fun as it should. There should be a good twenty or thirty minutes of exposition and plot completely cut out and changed, as the movie often feels as if it is running in circles with what is going on. Remove the crap, add some more action as you promised in the trailer, and there could be a really entertaining film in here, but as it stands, I was truly bored with "Atomic Blonde" far more than I should have been.
"Atomic Blonde" has solid performances and some terrific action sequences, but the few cool moments of action do not make up for a plot that I never cared about as much as the movie wanted me to, and a series of twists and turns towards the end that felt either obvious or totally unnecessary. There is a lot of potential wasted here, and I just have to imagine what could have been if David Leitch decided to make a fun movie instead of a grim, overstuffed action film with very little action to latch onto.
Get tickets and showtimes for "Atomic Blonde" here
What did you think of "Atomic Blonde"? Comment below with your thoughts.
Posted in Action, Movie Reviews, Mystery, Thriller, Uncategorized
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Transaction Systems Architects soars on analyst comments
Transaction Systems Architects (Nasdaq: TSAI) rose 57 percent Thursday after an analyst praised its plans for expansion into new high-growth markets.
Shares in the company, which supports software products and services focused on facilitating electronic payments and commerce, were up 15 7/8 to 43 5/8, bounding over the company's previous 52-week high of 42 1/4.
Credit Suisse First Boston said it had raised its rating on e-commerce software maker to "strong buy" from "buy" and said company dominates the "plumbing infrastructure" of the electronic payments industry. CS First Boston set a near-term target price target of $60 on the stock, and said it believes company will spin off its Internet banking assets.
Transaction Systems Architects had announced plans to leverage its newer lines of business in order to drive higher overall growth. The company's new CEO, David C. Russell, said the company has created new business units that have higher-growth potential than the company's core consumer banking business. Russell said the goal would be to give these new units the capital to grow.
Specific examples include the company's Systems Solutions Group, which grew well last year, and is well positioned in the e-commerce "plumbing" arena. The company also has other, more nascent units, in areas like internet banking, e-commerce payments and smartcard systems, it said.
Discuss: Transaction Systems Architects soars on analyst comments


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