{"id":10270,"date":"2015-04-01T17:51:39","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T21:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=10270"},"modified":"2015-04-29T22:47:51","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T02:47:51","slug":"inside-aurora-a-clear-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-a-clear-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: A Clear Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was walking through the arboretum recently, and as frequently happened when I was there this time of year, I spied a familiar figure sitting on a bench; the Easter Bunny.
\nHe had regaled me with tales of woe over the years associated with his annual event at the Seniors\u2019 Centre. He had gotten behind on preparations, hidden his eggs at the wrong place, gotten the date wrong, even been worried about competition from Santa. He really was an issue-prone mammal.
\nNoticing he looked stressed yet again, I paused when I reached him.
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d I asked.
\nHe sighed heavily.
\n\u201cThe Town\u2019s not introducing the clear bag program,\u201d he said at last, looking up with red-rimmed eyes.
\nThat was the last thing I expected to hear. I sat down beside him.
\n\u201cWhen I heard that Council was considering a clear bag program,\u201d he explained, \u201cI looked into it further, and found that it applied to a number of different municipal containers, including Easter baskets.
\n\u201cEaster baskets! Those brown wicker things? Really?\u201d
\n\u201cIt was in the fine print of the proposal about other containers, and maybe it was borderline for inclusion. I could have argued it, but it was part of a municipally-sponsored program, so I decided to play it safe. The last thing I wanted was to show up on the big week-end, and be turned away. Think how disappointed all the kids would have been.\u201d
\n\u201cSo, I did some research and managed to find a manufacturer who would create baskets out of clear plastic strips. Here, take a look.\u201d
\nHe reached under the bench and pulled out a beautiful basket that looked like something that would have come out of a glass blower\u2019s artisan studio in Venice. And yes, you could see right through it. I was very impressed.
\n\u201cThese look great!\u201d I enthused, trying to cheer him up. \u201cSo, did you make enough, and are they all ready?\u201d
\n\u201cYes,\u201d but Council decided not to go through with the clear bag program. After discussing it for months and it looking like it was a sure thing, they voted against it at the last minute.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, these things happen. But you\u2019ve still got the baskets in time, so what\u2019s the problem?\u201d
\nI could see tears welling up in his eyes.
\n\u201cI used up my entire budget on the baskets!\u201d he wailed, hiding his face in his little paws.
\n\u201cWhat, all of it?
\nThe sobbing continued, until he finally managed to control himself a bit, and looked up.
\n\u201cDo you know who much work this was? The research, the design, the manufacturing, the delivery\u2026I only got the minimum number I thought I\u2019d need, but it still cost a fortune.\u201d
\n\u201cSo you\u2019ll have baskets to give out at Easter, but no eggs or treats to put in them?\u201d
\nHe nodded quietly. \u201cNot even a jelly bean.\u201d
\nWe sat in silence for a while. Eventually, I stood up, and reached into my pocket.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s twenty bucks,\u201d I said, handing over the bill. \u201cIt\u2019s not much, but you\u2019ve a couple of days left. Maybe you can find a few more people to help out.\u201d
\n\u201cI sure hope so,\u201d he sniffed, taking the money. \u201cThanks.\u201d
\nAs I walked away, I hoped maybe he would check in on some of our Council members. I know it wasn\u2019t their fault that he\u2019d used up his entire budget unnecessarily, but chipping in a few bucks would still be a nice gesture. <\/p>\n

Feel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston I was walking through the arboretum recently, and as frequently happened when I was there this time of year, I spied a familiar figure sitting on a bench; the Easter Bunny. He had regaled me with tales of woe over the years associated with his annual event at the Seniors\u2019 Centre. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2FE","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-20 17:12:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}