Newspapers get some of their best ideas from readers, but anyone who has ever had the experience of picking up a paper and reading an editorial, all the while trying to figure out if the editor lives on the same planet they do, must surely wonder sometimes. Wonder no longer. We really do - at least sometimes.Pastor Dan Murphy, who heads the Thompson Pentecostal Assembly, sent along a note in an e-mail after reading our editorial last week, which offers food for thought.
In the editorial, we suggested, "While we are reflecting on Thanksgiving this year, it is also apropos to reflect for a few minutes on some of those who are leaving Thompson soon, or who have left recently, and their contributions in making this a better community to live in. For that, too, we give thanks."
Murphy agreed, writing, "We do need to recognize the impact of those who have done so much."
But he also went onto add, "My other thought is that our focus often is on those who are moving away and not on those arriving. TPA has long given a picture or token of appreciation at a potluck to the members leaving.
"Now we are wanting to celebrate those who are new, not only those who are leaving.When it comes to the city there is not enough emphasis or intentional effort being given to those who are new or considering moving to Thompson.I have met three families in the last month with little or no connection to the people of Thompson. I wonder how long disconnected people stay?
"It has been my observation that it becomes a temporary place for them. As you said, we have been virtually untouched by the economic downturn.We will see those coming to Thompson for work only increase.How are we going to welcome this new generation of Thompsonites? "Times have changed but somewhere back then something happened to keep many here for over 30 years, but I am sure it happened within the first few months of their arrival."
Many things have changed in Thompson in recent years, unfortunately not all for the better, making the task of truly welcoming newcomers into our community both more urgent and essential than ever. Two recent statistics are worth considering briefly.
Thompson lost more than 400 voters, meaning residents 18 or older who had lived here for at least six months, between 2006 and 2009. Secondly, according to Statistics Canada's new Police-Reported Crime Severity Index (PRCSI), released last April 21, Thompson two years ago had the ignoble honour of taking top spot for violent crime on the list of 229 communities nationwide with a population greater than 10,000. Thompson's ranking was 461.6, more than four and a half times the national average for 2007 of 96.5.
At the other end of the scale at 229, was North Saanich, B.C. with a ranking of 9.5 - 10 times lower than the national average. Violent crime in Thompson is 48 times greater than violent crime in North Saanich, according to the rankings.
Instead of just adding up the number of crimes reported to police annually and converting that into a rate per 100,000 people, serious crimes, like murder and sexual assault, are now calculated in a different way. Under the old scheme, one murder carried exactly the same weight in a community's violent crime rate total as a common assault. In the new system, one murder equals 300 common assaults; one robbery equals 20 mischief charges. Every community ends up with a crime severity index that reflects not only the number of crimes, but also the severity of crimes.
Mayor Tim Johnston observed recently at a neighbourhood community meeting at Westwood Elementary School that it has taken him two-and-a-half years - more than half of his four-year term - to learn what his most important job as mayor is: In a nutshell, he said, it's recruitment of newcomers to Thompson and retention of existing residents.
Echoing Murphy's observation that "we will see those coming to Thompson for work only increase," Johnston said the influx of transient, temporary contractors over the last few years, while welcome from an economic perspective, means many people who have been living here don't have the same stake in the future of the community as permanent residents do. Once the job is done, they're gone somewhere else.
As for the violent crime statistics, Johnston told that same meeting Sept. 23, "Drugs and gangs are just ripping this city apart."
To Johnston and the rest of council's credit, they have pressed provincial Justice Minister Dave Chomiak hard on the issue.
And just as we noted by name some of those who are leaving, or who have already left last week, we should mention here some of new arrivals, including James Crouch, Sun Life Financial manager; an irrepressible Brit, who has been stirring things up by refusing to accept status quo explanations, "But this is how we've always done things," pretty much since the day he got to Thompson. Likewise, Ryan Land, whose school last year was in Accra in West Africa's Ghana - and who sometimes has the Arrested Development tune "Africa's Inside Me" looping through his head - has arrived at the helm as the new principal of R.D. Parker Collegiate.
Hope lives. Welcome, all, to Thompson.
