Wolfville's woes

The Town of Wolfville has some serious issues to resolve, and quickly.

First of all, Acadia University faculty are on strike, walking a very long and prominent picket in what amounts to the heart of the town. One of Wolfville’s claims to fame is the presence of that particular institution within its boundaries, but I imagine the news the place is virtually shut down at the moment is unsettling.

If this job action continues for a sustained period, how can the town afford to be quiet? Local business must surely feel the pinch now that the bulk of the student body has packed up and gone home to wait out the negotiations. And if disconcert hasn’t arrived at town hall yet, fasten your seatbelts.

The longer the strike at Acadia endures, the greater the discomfort downtown. And anyone with two clues knows that sooner or later the town will have to strip off the gloves and get involved if the university and its faculty can’t find a way to settle things.

Bottom line here? It just doesn’t look good. Two strikes in the last four years.

However, there’s a distinctly more sinister undercurrent that could cause greater trouble in the future, and that’s the issue of rowdy students partying off campus.

The article on this page details the circumstances, but here are some key words relative to the matter: chaos; nightmare; urinating; assault; naked.

If you can find a positive spin in there somewhere give me a call, would you, because nothing in that litany evokes a good feeling. Kids are running roughshod over the town and somebody has to step up, get tough and take a stand.

The RCMP are aware of the problem, but they have only so many resources and it’s not as if rowdy students and public drunkenness (to put it mildly – see Wendy Elliott’s story on this page!) are the only things to occupy their attention.

University spokesperson Scott Roberts says that off campus students can’t be policed by the university because “our capacity is limited.”

Mayor Bob Stead told this newspaper recently that Wolfville has always had a ‘convulsion’ of students in the fall and cited how the town’s living in community committee has been working with students and landlords.

All reasonable, but when a person is assaulted in his front yard, parents don’t feel their kids are safe, and property damage is a routine weekend occurrence, I recommend less talk and more action. All stakeholders – town councillors and community members, police, university personnel and members of student government – must combine their collective thoughts and power to grab this thing by the throat.

It’s astounding the national press corps hasn’t tumbled to this story yet, though I’m sure it’ll happen, and soon. I think you’ll agree as well there’s enough going on without that headache. Even if classes are currently on hiatus right now, don’t wait to figure this one out. Any hesitation will undoubtedly come back to bite you.