Wily coyotes linger on the city links
There are two kinds of dogs at the Victoria Golf Course.
“There are the great hotdogs served in our restaurant by Paul Shufelt’s Robert Spencer Hospitality Group, which operates Workshop Eatery and Woodshed Burgers,” head golf professional Kevin Hogan says.
“And there are two families of coyotes with litters living behind the seventh hole and are at times mistaken for dogs.
“The coyotes have been here for a few years and must know about social distancing because if you move towards them, they take off.
“They also disappear when people are walking their dogs. But please do not let a small dog walk in the area behind the cricket pitch. Coyotes also enjoy a hotdog.”
Hogan says one laid-back coyote regularly suns himself on the adjacent cricket pitch.
“Staff down here call him ‘Doug Hicks,’ ” Hogan says.
“The former Edmonton Oiler is now working in our pro shop and everyone thinks he’s friendly and easygoing.”
The Victoria Golf Course and Driving Range is Canada’s oldest city-run golf course and continues to be one of the busiest municipal courses in the world.
“We are very busy, but golfers can book a week in advance online at Movelearnplay.edmonton.ca
or by dialing the city’s 311 number,” says the golf pro. “The course is in great shape and the weather ahead looks good.”
ROMAN THE ROCK
Indefatigable Dr. Roman Bayrock is helping his Riverview Rotary Club run a “Shred Fest” Saturday, June 27.
“We are offering to shred people’s old tax returns and other sensitive papers,” says chiropractor Bayrock. “Funds raised will help some of the many inner-city children who have never owned a new pair of shoes.
“These youngsters have never experienced the many positive benefits of wearing a good pair of shoes and our plan is to see every child at Delton Elementary School in a new pair of running shoes by Oct. 31.”
People can see their papers shredded in front of them from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the north parking lot at Kingsway Mall.
The cost: a donation or $10 per box. No limit to the number of boxes supporters can have shredded. Social-distancing rules will be in place.
Bayrock is forever helping others and recently played a leading role in his club’s servicing of 200 donated wheelchairs being sent to different charities or to needy overseas countries.
Among the many projects, Bayrock in the last couple of years has helped Rotary send a number of decommissioned ambulances and fire trucks with equipment to Latin American countries. He also played a key role in creating a fresh water supply for a Ugandan village where people were dying after drinking water from a ditch used by animals.
Bayrock and his wife Sandra are true philanthropists and never stop looking for ways to help.
When they discovered a store selling soccer balls for $5, they quickly arranged a competition that led to the purchase of 860 soccer balls.
“It took a team of 16 all night to deflate them,” Sandra says. “They went to Belize, Ukraine, South Africa, Mexico, Honduras, Cuba and Uganda.”
TOO BUSY ISOLATING
Fearful of contracting
COVID -19 and perfecting social-isolating, I overlooked sending a congratulatory note to former politician Peter Elzinga and his wife Pat.
The couple recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.
“I robbed the cradle as Pat was 20 and I 21 when we married,” Elzinga says. “We recognized we both have warts and shortcomings, however we had/have a greater recognition of responsibility to each other.”
Elzinga was first elected to parliament in 1974, representing Pembina as a Progressive Conservative. He resigned in 1986 to become Sherwood Park’s MLA and a member of Premier Don Getty’s cabinet.
Elzinga co-chaired Ralph Klein’s successful bid to win the leadership of the Alberta PC Party in 1992 and subsequently became deputy premier. Resigning, he chaired the PC party’s election campaign for several years and returned from the private sector to serve as Klein’s chief of staff from 1998 to 2004.
Today Elzinga chairs the board of Atlas Biotechnologies Ltd., a company providing the cultivation and production of medical cannabis products for the health-care sector.