We hear stories of fundraising money mysteriously going missing. These instances aren't commonplace and they certainly don't happen a lot on PEI.
About the most despicable theft in recent memory involved someone stealing Legion Poppy money. This has happened maybe twice in the past 20 years or so. Purchasers use the honour system to pay for the Poppies. Money is deposited into a container, that is usually not monitored, on a counter in a business, restaurant or wherever the Poppies are being sold at the time.
The theft of this money is more than likely opportunity as opposed to pre-meditated. It's a reprehensible action but it does happen.
However the attitude of those who know 27-year-old Tim Yap or his victims may not be so nonchalant. The Murray Harbour man was sent to federal penitentiary last week for defrauding friends and family of at least $220,000 over the last three years.

Kudos to the 2012 Grade 12 students from Montague High School for putting their personal mark on their graduation celebrations.
This year the majority of the students said "no" to a prom, which for the past few years has been poorly attended anyway. They have opted instead to hold a banquet.
As the ogre in the movie Shrek says to his friend the mule, "change is good donkey." This is especially apt since the lives of this group of graduating teens who are about to say farewell to the security of grade school take their own personal paths in society.
But change, which is inevitable, can also mean, among other things, challenge. The test in this instance is to make a banquet more appealing to these young people so this new event might become a new tradition carried on by future graduates.

Dialysis is a life sentence. Transplants, for any number of reasons, aren't an option to the majority and the individuals who suffer from dialysis-related conditions spend years tied down by a procedure that dictates their daily routines month in and month out.
To add to their frustration and stress, cutbacks by the province will mean one more corner of the rug will be pulled out from under them if dialysis units are taken out of Alberton and Souris, two rural Island communities. This would force those using the service to drive to Charlottetown at their own expense in all kinds of weather.
Preying on the weak, those who are too ill to fight for themselves is callous to say the least. It's so heartless that people are now afraid what might happen next.
That trepidation was shared by more than 200 people who attended a meeting in Souris to discuss the closure of their hospital's dialysis unit last week.

A story on page 3 this week tells about persons with disabilities being bullied in the workplace - an issue that regrettably is difficult to identify and address.
The subject reminds me of something that happened in Alberta many years ago.
My job between college and The Graphic was at a cabinet factory in Calgary. It was assembly line work in a plant where disabled individuals worked side by side with able bodied employees. Each had their own task to complete and no exceptions were made. At the end of the day orders would have to have been filled and ready for shipment.
On a certain Monday morning, early into the summer day a new employee, a girl of about 17 or 18 years of age, joined the team. Her job was to plane strips of wood that would be used to make doors for the cabinets a little further down the line.

Many valid points supporting the province's CAP (Computer Access Program) have already been made but when the loss of the program literally tosses some Islanders back into the dark ages of cyberspace they bear repeating.
The federal government announced the program would be sliced and diced in its 2012 budget last week leaving users stymied.
The service on PEI snowballed from 14 sites in its inaugural year in 1995 to the 38 or so currently provided.

Area residents' thoughts are guarded in relation to the province's plan to replace a small wooden bridge that separates MacLure's Dam and the Murray River.
The structure has been there since the 1950s so local folks are certainly not opposed to seeing a more sturdy and safer bridge replace the beaten one that's there now. But it's what potentially could take its place that's creating subliminal thoughts to churn.
An environmental engineer from the Mainland has been hired as a consultant for the project so it's a safe bet no damage will be done to impact the water system.
That's a good start but what now?
The value of the little wooden bridge is consequential, not necessarily in financial terms but the ambiance it creates is second to none anywhere in this province.

Whether it's in an ice rink or in the workplace, winners are fueled by passion. We can all learn a valuable lesson from a few hockey teams that, over the past couple of weeks, used that emotion to claw their way to the top and conquer their goals.
Some might say the adult arena is filled with stress, responsibility and deadlines - that our jobs aren't childish games that produce victors for the day only to be replaced by new names wearing different coloured jerseys the next.
Others see there really is little difference between the minor hockey player and a labourer on the job.
Both roles require diligent effort and desire to be successful. Wouldn't employers revel in the joy and gratitude of workers possessing the same passion for their daily tasks as so many young players have for their sport?

Word is afoot that the Canada Tree committee will entertain an offer from a corporate sponsor, if any are forthcoming, to help finance a permanent home for the national treasure.
Now before anyone goes off half cocked with visions of blinding neon lights blinking a message larger than the golden arches at the base of tree, you might consider the possibilities. (No offence to the fast food chain.)
Admittedly the first thought that popped into my head was 'desecration.' How could anyone show such disrespect to this cherished work of art?
But then it occurred to me that the artist who created the tree, the late Tyler Aspin, didn't follow through on his vision to see it stuffed in a warehouse for no one to see.
Therefore if big business had the dollars to finally make 'the Treehouse' a reality then why not put their money, provided it was done tastefully of course, to use?

How many times have you heard a disgruntled hockey fan exclaim, 'That referee sucks?' or 'That ref is blind and shouldn't even own a whistle'?
At one time or another rink-goers have pretty much heard all the colourful language that often accompanies berating on-ice officials.
But now as the hockey season winds down alleged threats towards a referee in West Prince have allegedly gone from verbal to physical.
West Prince RCMP is investigating a complaint of a hockey referee allegedly being assaulted as he left the ice following a Midget AAA game in O'Leary Friday night. According to a police report a male is accused of grabbing a 19-year-old official and shoving him against a wall as they were leaving the ice. As a result a 47-year-old Sea Cow Pond man will appear in Summerside Court April 5 to answer a single charge of assault.

A salute to fisheries in this week's Eastern Graphic paints a rather dreary picture of one of the province's top three industries.
The eight pages in this section reflect the views of specialists in the industry and its leaders, along with the men and women who face challenges daily throughout their respective seasons in a struggle to make their living from the water.
Economic hardships are echoed by lobster fishers across the province who simply want fair prices for their product.
Surely by now the stigma of the filthy-rich fishermen has been quashed considering the growing numbers of people heading west to earn money to pay the bills. Fishermen make up a good part of the Alberta-bound contingent and like so many other Island families too many must cope as single units until the breadwinner returns.