EDITOR;
I moved into Clearview Lodge here in Taber in 2003. If I’m still here next November, I will be a resident here for seven years.
After the first year and a half of this time, about six of us were using the old treadmill — four men and two women. When this equipment needed repair, I put through a motion at residents’ council regarding repairing it, even though the Taber and District Housing board was oblivious we even had  any exercise equipment. They removed it.
From here on, we tried to get a new treadmill, some other way. After talking to the chairperson, who by the  way I worked with at the museum society for 16 years, she advised me the board was going to check with a physio doctor for advice regarding getting a treadmill.
I told her, “Good, I am presently seeing this physio doctor as a patient.”
About three weeks later, my treatments were finished. I asked the doctor if anyone from Clearview Lodge had been inquiring about the treadmill  for the lodge, and he said no. I decided to attend the next board meeting, and I told the board I was going to request the Legion, of which I am an executive member, for a donation. I received no response from the board, not realizing this was just the beginning of all future meetings with this board.
The next time I attended a meeting, with Charlie Foote on March 30, 2006, and told them the request for our donation was approved by the district commander,  again there was no response. So, I ordered the treadmill.
The CAO cut off the donation by just a quick call to the Legion office. But you see folks, the board had accepted  a motion from one of their new members, that a six-month moratorium be put on the treadmill issue, as of March 8, 2006. I was notified of this  by hand-delivered mail on April 6, the same time the treadmill was arriving.
This was nothing more than a stall to stop the donation, as the treadmill was paid for by me and was in my room. A few days later, the CAO and the manager came to my room. The CAO was smiling and notified me that if I would just be patient, there were going to find a place for the treadmill. I said nothing, and they left.
They had been informed by the minister of health and wellness, and perhaps the minister of seniors and community supports, they should supply a treadmill  to seniors who wished to use it. A couple of days later, I told the manager that perhaps they had forgotten that, as they wouldn’t accept the Legion donation, I paid for the treadmill, and was not about to donate anything to the board. I was told a few days later the board  was not buying my treadmill, which I expected.
Their treadmill, which came in Jan. 1, 2010, is locked up in an 80-square-foot room since it arrived. With all the regulations for a Clearview resident to use the treadmill, no residents are coming forward. It will be seven months at the end of July, and no residents have come forward. The management are letting staff use the treadmill, and they do not have to obey all the new regulations, such as picking up keys  at the kitchen, and too many more to mention here. The rules are so strict, that so far no one has applied.
The rules are completely different at Green Acres in Lethbridge. This foundation has six lodges in the city, and one in Coaldale and Picture Butte. Their rules are posted  For Residents Only, No Children, and Residents Using These Machines do so at Their Own Risk.
The Legion-ordered treadmill is still in my room. I have been a member of the Taber Legion for 65 years, but I have never heard any one to not accept a donation.
Now, as far as me meeting with this TDH board , the CAO or the manager in the future, it would be a waste of time. I do not wish to be there and receive no response or recognition. As my late friend Charlie Foote said as we were leaving the March 30, 2006 meeting, “Do they know you?”
I said, “Yes, some of them do,” but they are either afraid of talking or do not wish to.

JOHN MOYOR
Taber