"People who work at McDonalds have small brains" - Alexa

Easter weekend beheld amusement and disappointment. In order for my disappointment to be acknowledged, I let the town of Moosomin know how I felt about them. Embarassingly enough, Gordon Sinclair found it interesting. I suppose it is more so my embarassement, considering I am the one that informed him of it - upon the encouragment of others I must say. Perhaps I will become famous to those who indulge themselves on negativity and rants about something or nothing found in his column daily. Thankfully he is not a writer from the less classy newspaper in Winnipeg; the Sun. That would be more of an embarassement. Either way, it happened and, embarassement and potential fame aside, for your interests sake or not, you will find my ill-written and un-educated vocalized opinion below.

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April 1, 2008


To the Town of Moosomin and World Spectator,


It is with much dismay that I am writing this letter regarding an event that was nothing short and far more than an annoyance. Let me describe the scenario to you in hopes that you too might feel the vexation that I did upon my encounter with the RCMP in Moosomin.

While driving home from an Easter weekend getaway to Saskatoon to visit family, my dad and I were cruising down the highway passing an abundance of cops; every 75 kilometres, or so it felt. We were not stopped by any, as we were abiding by the speed and other laws – or so we thought. While coming up in Moosomin, my dad, being the driver, slowed down to 50 as that is the speed limit is in the town. We were approaching about five RCMP cars in a driveway on the right and made comments about yet another speeding trap on the highway. Much to our surprise, we got pulled over and confused my dad rolled down his window to see what the problem was. It turns out that as his passenger I was wearing my seatbelt improperly. Instead of wearing the strap on my shoulder, I had it tucked under my armpit. As the RCMP officer told me my offense, I informed him that I was completely unaware that it was illegal. Regardless of my ignorance, the RCMP officer happily issued me a ticket for $165. It wasn't as though I was not wearing a seatbelt; it wasn't even as though the belt was behind by back, just tucked under my arm. While the one officer issued me the ticket, the other RCMP officers were all standing around, seemingly content to watch the entertainment.

There are a few things that irritate me about this situation. The first is the outrageous cost of the ticket. Considering the fact that it was an offence that I had no idea was illegal, a ticket should not have been issued, but rather a warning. RCMP are supposed to be there for, as citizens, our own protection. With a slogan of "Safe Homes, Safe Communities", I do not hesitate to say that I was far from causing the community of Moosomin any danger. Given the circumstance, (i.e. Driving a speed of a mere 50 kilometers an hour), I was not at risk of rib damage for myself which the RCMP officer described as the reason the seatbelt needed to be worn above the shoulder, nor was I putting anyone in the town or the highway at risk through my ignorance. My second concern is the fact that there were 5 RCMP cars parked in this little parking lot, as many of the officers stood around chatting and laughing as only a few of the officers were doing the pulling over, for ridiculous offences, I must say. I feel offended as a citizen who pays taxes to RCMP in my country that they are so busy chatting, and pulling over innocent unaware drivers of highway laws that go unadvertised, rather than doing something worthwhile, something that will actually make a difference in this country. After the officer finished writing my ticket, the whole crew packed up and left the site. Because of this, I am sure that they were trying to quickly fill their quota of tickets issued. This being said, it is quite obvious that they didn't care to keep the homes and community of Moosomin safe, they wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. Before leaving the side of my car, the officer said to me, "If you want to fight this ticket, you need to appear in Moosomin on June 3rd. Vanessa, if you fail to pay the ticket or appear in court, there will be a warrant for your arrest". Please, you are going to arrest me? You are going to throw me in a cell with serious offenders?

To you Moosomin, to a town that I used to enjoy driving through, stopping for gas in, purchasing snacks for my trips to and from Saskatoon, I will now take my business elsewhere. In regards to your revenue generating RCMP officers, I am thoroughly disappointed in your choice of priorities. As the passenger of a Manitoba driver passing through my neighboring province, have some courtesy. Stop focussing on catching unaware young citizens and educate them. As for me, I am now aware of the law, I did not need a ticket of $165 to learn that though. What I needed was an RCMP, one that was legitimately and truly concerned about my well-being, to inform me, so that I might stay safe and be aware of the danger.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,


Vanessa Hiebert