Following the Kincardine Scottish concert in the park Saturday night, Dana and I ran into one of her former students.

Casey Cerson, who grew up in Bervie, is a piper with the Air Command Pipes and Drums in Ottawa which entertained at the Kincardine Scottish Festival the past couple of years. Last week, the band played for the Queen and was unable to work Kincardine into its schedule.

However, Cerson was here and he played the solo part of Amazing Grace in the park.

Anyway, he wanted to know how former KTTPS principal Don Ribey is doing. He said Ribey took his Grade 8 class to the Stratford Festival to see the Importance of Being Earnest. Casey, whose real name is Earnest, said he has never forgotten a line in the play - company is like fish; after three days it starts to smell.

That line has been used by many over the years – one of the first to use it was Ben Franklin.

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Things have certainly changed in the schools since his days at KTTPS.

I was thinking that Tuesday morning of last week after everyone on our staff involved in taking Grade 8 graduation photos reported in on their Monday evening experiences.

Back in Ribey’s day, principals seemed to want their top students featured in the newspaper. In the past few years, I get the feeling the schools could care less.

Rounding up the graduates with little or no help from teachers is not a fun job.

Anyway, we seemed to find most of the grads and we know that parents and grandparents still like to see them acknowledged. 

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Dana and I were at the Scottish Service Sunday at Knox Presbyterian Church.

Guest minister, Jim Weir, had a number of interesting comments. In England, if a town wanted to be called a city, it had to have a cathedral. In Scotland, a town had to have a university to be considered a city.

That’s why the Scots, who basically settled what is now called English Canada, have provided the world with so many forward-thinking inventions over the years.

In Canada, we pay lip service to education but we’re doing something wrong when we graduate a percentage of students each year who can barely read and write.

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Still on Canada, there was lots of flag waving at the Canada Day event in Kincardine on Thursday.

If we’re going to wave the flag, July 1 is the day to do so – we’ve had a successful year on the world stage (Olympics).

This is a great country; Canadians likely enjoy more freedom than the citizens of any other country.

To keep it that way, we need to be responsible citizens.

When you see how little interest Canadians have in our political system, you have to wonder how much longer we’ll enjoy those freedoms.

You would like to believe every good Canadian citizen could at least get out and vote – yet the percentage who cast ballots each year continues to fall.

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If you are planning on getting married, get your licence in the Township of Huron-Kinloss.

You must set up an appointment in Kincardine and that takes about 30 days.

The price in Ripley is better and staff is not nearly as officious. Indeed, they are quite friendly.

That’s my daughter’s experience and I’ve heard others relate similar tales.

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Sunday after a two-week plus visit, we dropped daughter Sarah and family at the London airport. So life will now return to normal – I hope.

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Watch how you drive and park in Kincardine, otherwise you might end up featured on a youtube video entitled, idiot drivers in Kincardine who feel they are above the law.

The video features people who park in handicap zones, no parking zones, in traffic lanes at places like Tim Hortons, the two large malls and the post office. A driver who likes to pass on the highways, despite two solid lines is featured. Every photo has a nasty comment – things like inbred moron, a…hole and the like.

I’d heard there was such a video out there and then someone sent me an e-mail a couple of weeks ago with his comments and a link to the site.

The e-mail writer finds the video petty, vindictive and bullying. He wonders if youtube has allowed us the freedom to bully and defame as we see fit.

From looking at the video, I’d say the drivers in Kincardine have pushed the maker of the video to the edge.

But you don’t have to watch a video to see people who have no qualms about inconveniencing other drivers and thumbing their noses at the law. The author of the video doesn’t even mention the drivers who leave the downtown Tim Hortons by way of the entrance or drive the wrong way up Harbour Street.

The video maker ends his show by saying Kincardine needs bylaw enforcement.

In some ways, perhaps the man with the camera was pushed to the edge by civil authorities who fail to enforce parking bylaws.

If the municipality is not going to enforce bylaws, it should take them off the books.

Has the video maker gone too far to make his point – sarcastic comments, printing of  licence plates? In a civil society, I would say so.

A couple of weeks ago I refused to print a letter to the editor because the author wouldn’t allow his real name to be printed. On youtube and other sites, you can obviously print anonymously anything you please. No name, no balls is my philosophy.

Despite the video, there is still the problem of the inconsiderate drivers who seem to believe they have the right to park wherever they please.

I don’t use internet personal sites like facebook and youtube. We’ll stick to communicating through the Independent.