TRAGEDY REMINDS US OF THE HEROES AMONGST US

There is little else that can be said of the shooting of four RCMP officers
near Mayerthorpe this past week.

Lloydminster Meridian Booster -- There is little else that can be said of
the shooting of four RCMP officers near Mayerthorpe this past week.

RCMP officers Anthony Gordon, Brock Myrol, Lionide Johnston and Peter
Schiemann were gunned down by a psycho bent on taking the lives of these
four men. And for what? We'll maybe never know as this coward took his own
life rather than face the inevitable time in prison for this horrendous act.

It's no surprise that an event of this proportion brings with it questions
of what went wrong and why? There are others who are using this tragedy to
push their beliefs on gun control or even the legalization of pot, arguing
that this could have been avoided if the drug was legalized.

None of this matters now, and anyone using this as fodder should be ashamed
of themselves.

At the end of the day we have four dead men - because the shooter in this
case doesn't deserve that designation - who were doing a job that many of
us take for granted.

In all communities - especially rural communities or small cities like
Lloydminster, we often don't see the very real danger our officers face
every day. While there aren't shoot-outs on a daily - or even yearly basis
- - in this region, the Mayerthorpe tragedy is a reminder that all
communities are at threat when drugs and weapons are thrown into the mix.
And that's not just something that is happening somewhere else. It is
already happening here.

There is little good that can come from this, but maybe we can all take the
time to remember that police officers are here to do more than hand out
speeding tickets - they have offered out their lives on the line for the
rest of us every day, and for that we should be grateful. Thank-you and
rest in peace to those who have already paid that price for us