Can't bank on Edmonton Journal's "Money Game"

It seemed like fun contest -- at first...
In late September of 2005, the Edmonton Journal invited its readers to join in the "Money Game" which involved collecting 'money' printed in the paper for use in bidding for 24 prizes.
Available were cars, holiday trips and merchandise ranging from a $1,200 computer to a $30,000 Mini Cooper car and a $50,000 BMW. Bank notes for $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, $100,000 and $1 million appeared in the paper over about 10 days with a total of $2.5 million available to each subscriber.
No limits were set on how much more could be collected by various means.
Bidding opened on groups of four prizes per day for six days. While you could bid any amount on any prize, no one could win more than one. Bidding was to remain open for each group for three days, after which the names of the highest bidders were to be published.
I strategized how and when to bid, figuring the odds would be best for the lowest value prizes. But, obviously, I'd have to scrounge money from wherever -- from friends and relatives, by looking in papers left in coffee shops etc.
When the first of two $1 million notes were printed, things began getting crazy.
I decided to buy some papers, reasoning that buying 10 papers for their $1 million coupons
was no more foolish than buying some Lotto 649 tickets.
Trouble was, all the stores seemed to be sold out! And when I began to look for papers in the Journal street boxes, they were empty!
Someone wrote in The Journal's "Venting" section that they saw people methodically stealing armloads from Journal street boxes.
A United Way of Edmonton official said some of their agencies had members and supporters collecting Journal money in hope of winning a prizes for the agency.
With this kind of stuff going on, I figured I had to step up the ante or drop out.
I had no shame. I got more friends to collect for me. I did the rounds of several coffee shops, looking for discarded Journals. I climbed into newspaper recycling bins at several locations.
When the second $ 1 million note was printed, I was up before dark, looking for Journals at dozens of gas bars and convenience stores. They were all sold out except for one with a sign saying "limit of 2". I bought two.
My local Safeway store opened its doors at 8 a.m. and I was the first one in. There must have been 60 Journals for sale. I figured that in good conscience, I couldn't take more than 20. As I
left the check-out, I looked back and saw that a young couple had scooped all the rest...
By now I had amassed about $103 million, clipped from more than 240 papers. But I knew that I didn't have a hope in hell against thieves. Their bids would probably be in the BILLIONS of dollars.
When the names of the first four top bidders were published, I was dismayed to see that bid amounts were not shown. That would have set some kind of bench mark.
Still, I figured my wad might be worth something to other bidders and I tried to sell it in a Journal want ad. They refused to accept it. Nor would its competitor, the Edmonton Sun.
A few days later, a Journal ad said they had changed the rules.
Names of the top bidders would no longer be published because "unsportsmanlike" people hassled the top bidders. None of those named had been declared winners, it added.
Names and photos of all 24 winners will be published on or after October 23, it said.
It will be VERY interesting if The Journal is fair to its readers and publishes the bid amounts. Just as interesting would be to hear the winners explain how they amassed their dollars...

Addendum: After a two-week extension of the date for announcing the winners (because of the schmozzle created by the stupid rules), the names and pictures of the winners, together with their bid amounts, were published. They ranged from $301 million for the least desireable prize to $1,206 billion for the BMW and $4,851 billion for the Mini Cooper.
Considering how many papers I had to find to amass my bid, I figure the winner of the Mini Cooper had to collect at least 12,000 papers.
How was that possible? It would have made for a fascinating newspaper story. Curiously, not a word about it appeared in The Journal...

A new North Sask River pedestrian bridge to nowhere?

A bicycle/pedestrian bridge over the North Saskatchewan River is nearing completion in Edmonton's booming southwest corner, attached to new Anthony Henday Drive bridge.
The link -- as shown in the attached photo -- will be the only pedestrian river crossing between the Quesnell bridge and Devon.
But it may be a bridge to nowhere if off-leash dog walkers and dirt track mountain bikers who use Terwillegar Park have their way.
Last spring, they persuaded City Hall to halt the extension of a multi-use trail through the park to the bridge site.
They claimed that providing a wide, smooth trail would eventually see Terwillegar become another Hawrelak Park. They want to preserve it as a huge off-leash park with only rough dirt trails for cyclists.
Terwillegar has been held in reserve for park use for several decades and the off-leash dog walkers and mountain bikers gravitated to it. Fair enough.
But must the status quo be preserved indefinitely? Who speaks for citizens at large, for cyclists who may wish to commute through the park to the city centre?
Terwillegar is supposed to be an integral part of the "ribbon of green" involving valley parks and an 88-km multi-use trail from Fort Saskatchewan to Devon. Who will champion the ribbon of green?
The River Valley Alliance, a private corporation involving Edmonton, Devon, Fort Saskatchewan and four area counties, claims that its main goal is to "facilitate" the ribbon of green.
But this group which meets in private and produces no annual reports takes a "hands-off" approach to trail development in the park.
Sol Rolingher, an Edmonton lawyer who chairs the Alliance, says while a trail through the park is part of the ribbon of green, they will not take a public stand on it.

Update, 21 Jan '08
Nothing has changed in three years. The dirt track between the bridge and Terwillegar Park is still fit only for mountain bikers and hikers. When it's wet and muddy, it's almost unusable.
The City continues taking baby steps in extending the Ribbon of Green public spaces and trail in southwest Edmonton. It recently bought the large flood plain opposite Terwillegar and below the Edmonton Country Club and will hold it in reserve for park use.
Construction will start later this year on a pedestrian bridge linking the upstream end of Fort Edmonton with this new park reserve which is a key element of the RoG. Another pedestrian bridge is needed to link the upstream end of this land with Terwillegar Park.
The River Valley Alliance is still dead on arrival as far as becoming a public advocate for the RoG and reviving the Parks Department's plan for a multi-use trail linking Terwillegar and the Henday bridge...

Maligne (special dog!) takes us for a walk

What a glorious, golden fall day it was this past Friday (30 Sept 05) when Maligne, our daughter's dog, took us for a walk from our home, down past Crestwood School to McKenzie Ravine and the trail bordering the North Saskatchewan River.
The leaves were at their most colourful. Here and there were clumps of highbush cranberries, tart and delicious. (Did the fur traders manage to avoid scurvy and other diseases when they found them 200 years ago?)
Maligne loves looking for squirrels. When she spots one, she'll almost climb up the tree after it.
She has a game in which she brings along her soft, nylon frisbee and gets me to throw it for her. Every now and then she drops it on the ground and pretends to forget it. After we've gone down the trail 50 metres or so, I'll notice she no longer has it and I'll ask where she is.
"Oh, that thing," she seems to say and goes trotting back down the trail to find it.
Then she comes tearing back along the trail with it in her mouth, catches up with us and drops it nearby. Then she does it all over again. She seems to be greatly amused by our antics...