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t] il U Spring in a subdivision is filled wit an alien madness. Lucas Letterpress first noticed it shortiy.after the snows disappeared. Lucas, many will recali, is editor and prop. of the Beaver Fiat Tail (Motto: We Give A Dam).' So here is Lucas, as our story begins, performing bis weekly Sunday walk througb the subdivision. He stops at the post office: an edifice designed to look like row after- row of green boxes stacked one on top of the other. Developed by Ottàw1i bureaucrats.sitting in iavishiy ap- pointed multimillion dollar federal buildings, it is known as Federal Cheap. But it is flot the post office that Lucas finds so appealing. SÃ"on he leaves his.-admlr'atlon? the green letter boxes, and continues to the fence inspection. Luc 1as learned a poem once in high schooi. Hecan neyer recail the author nor much of the poem. But one line sticks in hbis mipd now as he inspects -the sideyards of the sub- division: Good fences make good neighbors. We sbould point that the ýneighborhood is going through its first honest spring. The last of the sod was laid last month. Now the only time the mud shows through is when the weeds poke up tbrougb the gaps between sod. patches. Fences. They started, Lucas bas learned, by two of 'the bomeowners, (maie) who started to chat over the property lime one day back in Marcb. In neigbborhoods, maies talk about fences. over property lines because women's liberation bas not yet been invented in new subd ivisions. Women stay in the bouse and bang curtains and think of wails for, men to paint the same nigbt the Stanley Cup finals are on. Maies get liberted only long enough to bang drapery track. Maies also soon learn they must knock the muck,r grass trixnmings, or dog mistakes, from their feet before entering. the bouse. Otberwise maies learn to WITH OUR FEIET UP by Bill Swan. A lien madness vacuum, scrub and disinfeet. And do dishes. Or duck. Some maies already do ail those tbings. Lucas smiles. Strange, be thinks, bow women neyer 'dig fence post holes? He must niake a note of that for future editorial uses. It being Sunday, Lucas gets to see only the mopping up operation He stands stock stilli at tbe corner and watches the four, no five, men, wrestle the post hole mnachine to the ground. Down, down, down into the soil goes the auger.. In- to tbe sod. Into the mud. Into the discarded insulation. Into the discarded two by fours. Into the broken concrete block. Will arcbeologists of the future think this is wbere we buried our trash? Wiil they tbink that ail these discar- ds from construction sites are part of the bloom of our civilization? Anothereditoriai, someday. The post boles, Lucas bas learned from personal research, are ten inches in diameter and tbree feet deep. In these, four by four posts of pressure treated wood, eight feet long, wiil be encased in concrete and set (at sllgbtly different angles one from the other) for posterity or Ar- mageddon to disimpact. Lucas, thinking biynself part socioiogist,. watcbes the group of men for a time. Wbat force impels men to work in groups, be wonders. In pioneer days, men gathered together, to help eacb other witb barn raisings and thresbing gangs. Now they do the same with fences. Do modern women gather for drapery-hanging bees? Who is iiberated? At the final bend in the street, Lucas stands stili on the sidewaik'and watches, hands behind bis back, rocking back on bis heels and forward; up to bis ful four foot tweive. For at this point be can see a second group of men, ail pitching in to "rattie tbis fence up in no time fiat." Lucas bas been watching this projeet for months, through the signs of diplomfacy, to treaty organization, stakes, string, beer and steaks, postbhole digging, the en- casing in concrete of embaimed four by fours, and now, finaily, "The Fence. " .And in this particular corner of the subdivision, the fen- ces are at tbis moment being completed. The men are standing around, drinking beer (and on a Sundayl) served to tbem by wives dressed in denim jeans with drapery hooks in the pockets. Lucas watcbes as the last of the fen- ce boards goes into place. As though tbey were entombing eacb other in some suburban wine cellar, the neighbors disappear from one another, safely fenced away forever. And the objeet of ahl the fencing fetisb, the cbildren, those blessed littie creatures wbo are to be walled off fr o!n danger: wbere are they? Lucas turns to go home. The children are where tbey want to be; kicking tbe soccer bail from curb to curb across the street and running to and fr0 across the unfen- ced front yards. VALMED Health Services Ine, gave a foot care demonstration at the St. John Ambulance office last Wednesday. Here, nurse Elaîne MeBride shows Yvet- te Bassaure proper foot care techniques. Free Press photo Council passes on meeting Whitby council bas requested that the Ministry of Environment issue a certificate of approval for a new recycllng building without holding a public meeting.' Normaily, a certificate is not issued tuntil a public hearing is beid to assess the environmentai impact of the site and builing on the surrounding area. However,the ministry can waive the meeting if asked to do so by resolutions from Witby council and the Region of Durham. The Region passed a similar resolution on Marcb 17. Since a site plan for the building was to; be submitted'to the Town before June 1, with construction scbeduled for this summer, it has been suggested that. a public bearing wiIl delay the construction. Witby's public works depar-. tuent say, they can review the building to their satisfaction when the site plan is submitted. Staff and coundil wil also look at what -impact trucks carrying recycled waste Wil have, on Garrard and Cobins R& ". ' Town appliés.fordebentures Whitby council bas appiied for $1.6 million in debentures to extend Manning Rd. from Anderson St. to Thickson and buy property for a new recreation compiex in the nor- th end of town. The debentures could be used by the Town to finance the acquisition of property to extend-Manning Rd., at a cost of $200,000; to start con- struction of -the Manning Rd. exten- sion at a cost of $900,000; a nd the. acquisition of property at a cost of $500,000 for land for the new recreation compiex. Mayor Bob Attersiey says deben- tures will oniy be used if the Town does not have sufficient funds in reserve accounts. Attersiey says the Town is currently negotiating for "several" pieces of land north of Rossiand Rd. He would not give the exact locations of the lands, saying it would "disýtnrt the negotiations. " When council approved the motion to assemble the lands for the new, recreation compiex in March, 1986, staff was instructed the area should be north of Rossland Rd., south of Taunton Rd. and east of Brock St. N. The motion also stipulated that tbe Town would proceed witb the compiex, as development dollars became availabie, eliminating the need for debenturing. Attersley could not say when the Town wili purchase the land, but he said it is "possible" in 1987. Debentures sought to finance substation Debentures totalling $50W,000 have been approved by Witby council for the construction of a bydro substation by Whitby Hydro. The substation is needed as a direct resuit of the growtb in town, says Hydro manager Tom May. Plans for the station, to be built alng Hwy 12 nortb of the Grove Side Cemetery, bave been in the works for f[ ve years. "This is a comfortable time to build it,"P says May. Construction oni the station is expected to begin in late June or eariy July. The $500,000 is to be debentured over a term of 10 years. FREE'DYNAMIC * ELECTRONIC * AIR CLEAN ER M"< EiM i'( LO ANfP LA NI FINANCED 6V THE &JROYAL IBANK AI interest rates below prime. TO UALIFIEO PUACHASERS When ifs hot and humnid, *look to I06 for cool, quiet comfort with ICG *Climafizer Central Air Bea thehbeat -. buy an ICG Climalizer before JuIy 15, 1987. AMI Onyaalabetompaliipliq e liii AIR CONDTIONING ICG ... Comfort You Con, Count On coe...mGa HEATING à AIR CONDITIONINO LTD. 11 INDUSTRIAL DR., UNIT 23, WHITBY 668-811 WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3,1987, PAGES5