Eleven men and one woman from Leader, Sask., have bared all in the 2007 Highway 32 Pothole Calendar. One man is pictured riding in a canoe in a pothole, another plants potatoes in a pothole and a third has a strategically placed hubcap. In the background a sign reads "Lost: Highway Paving Crew. Last seen 10 years ago."It's a humorous approach to a serious problem, calendar organizer Gord Stueck said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
"Highway 32 from Leader to Swift Current was so bad . . . you were driving all over the road trying to avoid these potholes," said Stueck.
It was so difficult to travel, Stueck said, that ambulances were forced to take alternate, longer routes.
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They are not amused;
"They're very creative people," [Saskatchewan Highways Minister Eldon] Lautermilch told reporters after seeing the calendar at the provincial legislature."But I don't think a calendar is going to rebuild a road. I think recommendation from my department in terms of priority will probably be a fairer gauge."
He also insisted the condition of Highway 32 had not escaped government notice.
Grab yours before they're all snapped up by Sask Tourism. Proceeds from calendar sales are going to the Leader Lions Club.
(Uh-oh... the story has gone international. )
The last time I drove in Saskatchewan was actually to the Leader area about six years or so years ago and it was bad back then. Between Hwy 32 and the roads by Fusillier whose number I forgot, my old van was literally torn apart. As someone who travelled many backroads in Alberta trying to capture prairie images, I was really surprised at Saskatchewan's "highways". Those roads are bad!
BTW Is Delisle putting a calendar together? There is no doubt that there is a local there that could bring in huge sales. [insert grin here]
Frankly I find it hard to believe that there is a Sask hiway worse than the one (55) east from Turtleford. My wife and I adventured to our old country this past summer and was surprised by the state of some roads. I hope these creative people win better roads out of this very humorous calender.
And yes, it was on the DrudgeReport early this AM. I liked their headline 'Nude people show their potholes on calender' Didn't mention roads in headline. What a great come on.
How about wide-spread publicity about the problem? Think that'll work, Eldon?
But I don't think a calendar is going to rebuild a road. I think recommendation from my department in terms of priority will probably be a fairer gauge.
Lessee, here. I don't think a calendar is going to rebuild a road, either, but this calendar has probably done at least as much to rebuild the road as the Ministry of Highways (or whatever it's officially called) has in the past few years. On the other hand, it's reassuring that Mr. Lautermilch has realized that calendars don't rebuild roads. The second sentence, however, sounds as if he thinks that a recommendation from his department in terms of priority is going to rebuild the road. That's wrong. Men with heavy equipment and large quantities of things like concrete and asphalt rebuild roads. Recommendations don't rebuild anything. It would be nice if he understood that.
You folks need to do the "adopt-a-highway", as we have done here in B.C., (formerly "Beautiful B.C.", now rather overcrowded, and rapidly going downhill, unless we elect a socialist party to save us.)
As highway foster parents, you can not only pick up litter, but can patch potholes, and do your own paving! The materials are readily avail;able at Canadian Tire.
Good luck, and happy motoring!
btw, texas canuck has a darned goog idear there!
I don't know how Laudermilch can look at himself in the mirror. They have $34,000,000.00 to spend on a road to casino that isn't even built yet . That road is not nearly as bad as Highway 32, 368 and some of the other highways on the Sask Party Worse Highways in Saskatchewan list. How much is this road to the casino going to benefit the people of Saskatchewan?
Then a few days later the Dippers have the audacity to announce an $880,000,000.00 "rainy day fund" aka vote buying slush fund.
It seems the Dippers are so out of touch with reality that that they have convinced themselves that the public can't see through this charade.
These Dippers are so proud of themselves because they have stockpiled almost a billion dollars of taxpayer money while the infrastructure in the province is rotting away. Am I the only person who find this situation totally ludicrous ?
The Dipper support is the cities and on the reserves so that is where all the money is going to be directed. They totally ignore the fact that areas like Leader and St. Brieux paid an inordinate amount of taxes into this slush fund. This isn't even on the Government radar.
Any community with roads like this should organize and go public and keep embarrassing this sorry excuse for a government . Keep the pressure on them. I really don't think they will ever change their ways but if nothing else it keeps this issue in the public eye come election time .
Kate thanks for posting this and again shining a light on the discriminatory ,destructive policies of the Calvert Dippers.
By my calculations, at $400,000 per mile (or km, I don't remember which measure the Minister was referring to in the article)to actually PAVE Sask. highways, the $806 million that the gov't of Saskatchewan spent subsidising 174 jobs in the small town pulp mill that was subject of such controversy earlier this year would have paved 2015 (km/mi)in the province.
Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?
Oh and by the way, I completely support Texascanuck's "Delisle calendar" idea. As long as one of the months features Kate in those "Daisy Duke shorts", I'm in for at least a couple of calendars...
hey what happened to my hat tip?
hat tip, shnap tip. About 6 people forwarded the item -which I was already aware of. I was holding off waiting for my calendar page - which I don't believe any of the newsmedia got. (Though I hardly checked all of them)
Maybe now that Mike Richards (Kramer) will be doing even less work,he can adopt a highway out in Saskabush. There was a great episode in which he adopted a stretch of highway. At the very least someone will be doing something.
" Frankly I find it hard to believe that there is a Sask highway worse than the one (55) east from Turtleford."
Uhh, no offense rockyt, but unless they've changed the designation the highway east of T'ford is Highway 3 not 55. At least, it was the last time I was back home in Jun '04.
As for driving roads my philosophy was to put the pedal to the metal, figuring that when I hit the first pothole I would be airborne and miss the next half-dozen :-)
How is the road to Climax?
I blame all this Tom foolery on the 1975 Grey Cup in Calgary (Trudeau was there!). That gal ran out on the field and started showing us her talents. When she was hauled off she declared that she was just stripping for christ. Well I don’t know how that worked for her but it’s sure become a cheeky way to try and raise funds etc.
It’s all well and good for Paris and Pamela to foster their career advancement by pulling there knickers down.
But if me and mine are anything to go by (haul yourselves out of the tub and snap a self portrait in the mirror) it’s not a sight that the general public would like to dwell on for more than a blink.
They’d have a better campaign if they had pictures of baby kittens that needed to be rushed to Saskatoon’s government station for emergency wet nursing.
Usiaily you see those cracked urns from PETA going naked for this animal rights poppycock but this is weird
Filled with potholes,u-turns,long stretches of boredom,sometimes bushy,sometimes smooth,often you can't get there from here.The best way to get there is to have a capable navigator and really pay attention to what she says,remember she has been there without you.Most likely can travel that road alone,with her eyes closed.If all else fails,buy rechargeable batteries.
The above was how to get to climax.
Read the paper this AM . More slush money for cities and First Nation priorities.(6 million for French school and who knows how million for aboriginal skills training).
Expect more of the same escalating as election day approaches. No money for rural highways. Not now, not ever from the Dippers.
Rural Saskatchewan and way of life is being exterminated. I often wonder if most people that live in Saskatoon and Regina (and all of the "bigger centers" know or even care that rural Saskatchewan is on it's death bed. The time of death will depend on many factors: communities working together, crop prices, roads, weather, ethanol/biodiesel projects, hospital/school closures, missed tourism opportuniites, government funding, etc...
Kudos to those citizens of Leader and area who have taken it upon themselves to raise awareness about the deplorable state of this road. Rural communities HAVE TO work together, or they will die sooner rather than later. I've said it before--what is this province going to look like in 25 years? 50 years? What kind of legacy are we leaving our children and further generations down the road?
Does anyone know how I can order this calendar?? I think it is amazing!
Found it! You need to place the information right in the face on top near the good old Mr. Schiender! Looking forward to the community proving the Highway Minister wrong, I'm from NYC and I just ordered a bunch for Xmas presents! Community Action Rocks!
Hey no wonder i got lost!
Thanks for all the kind comments and support regarding our pothole calendar. I guess you could say our reception by the Minister of Highways was rather "chilly". Check out www.highway32.ca for info on purchasing calendars, video of road trip, etc.
For the record: There are hundreds on millions of dollars in economic activity generated from the Leader area by the oil/gas and agricultural industries and some tens of millions of dollars in royalties and taxes paid by the same to the provincial government annually. We not only need a new road, we DESERVE a new road. For the life of me, I do not understand how a new highway to a casino will place the casino at the same economic level as the Leader area. Something is seriously wrong when the government tries to build a new tourism site while allowing lack of maintenance and capital investment in roads devastate the tourism industry we have built in the Leaeder area over the last decade. Visit www.leader.ca to determine how active our tourism committee has been. This year was a write-off for tourist traffic for us - because of the roads.
Saskatchewan Naturally - go figure.
Gordon Stueck, Mr. January, Leader SK.
"How is the road to Climax?"
About as exciting as the road to Elbow.
Hey how far is Moose Jaw?
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...about 6' from it's rear end.
ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT GRNTLY DOWN THE ROAD MERRILY,MERRILY,MERRILY,MERRILY LOOK OUT FOR THE HORNYTOADS
unsteadiness disbands!curved distort molder?emulated!wet Keynesian
unsteadiness disbands!curved distort molder?emulated!wet Keynesian