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PAGE 12, WHITBY FREÈE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2,1988' News? Cail Veronica Colangselo. Phone 655-8945 Throughout the Olympie competitions held ln Calgaryitunar this past two weeks my lnterests have been focused on the iMy ufalhi h ugswsams eee nSbra figure skating events. I don't profess to know much about night when I watched Elizabeth Manley surprise-everyone judging such events and 1 realize that it's not like a hockey T and win the long free program, thus securing the silver game in. which the team that scores the rnost goals w105 SEEMdAd'J.YAEJ ' 1*1 medal for Canada. the game. Judging figure skating doesn't seem to be that yVrncCoagl For two weeks the focus of attention had been on East objective. Evidently judges watch the performances andbyVrnaCongo Germany's Katarina Witt and America's Debi Thomas. t then assess them in termis of their technical and artistic was to be a toss-up as to who got the gold and who took the worth on a scale of 1 to 6. Apparently, what is more important silver. Witt had been quoted as saying "Who has the and relevant than the marks themselves, is the position or strongêstnerves has thébestchance to win.". Itseems Miss. ranking that each judge assigns askater. The trick, though, Witt had correctly analyzed the situation. For-'Debi s peforer.dest be consistent in order'to be fair to each Thomas. the pressure seemed too much and she bùckled Is formter. W inners already decided under, making miany unfortunate mistakes that cost her 1a, From what I understand, judges for these events work odmal 'their way through the ranks, firat judging local event s and mmnd (and my eyes) Our Canadians'performance outshone The real star of figure skating in this Olympies, though, is moving up untll they are qualified'to judge Olympic-calibre ail the others in the free dance program. It was outstanding Elizabeth Manley. Even though Katarmna Witt won the gold. events. By the time they are involved in judgmng such even- in. every way. Their routine was more difficuit, the foot- medal, the night wasManley's. Her performance was. ts you would expect their integrîty to be above reproach. work more intricate and by far more entertainixig than any vibrant and.perfect. In My eyes hier performance was by I'mnotsosure. of the others. They took their cue from the popular modern far more difficult than Witt's and she totally outahoneher, The more I see of figure skating compétitions, the more I ballet "Elite Syncopations," with ragtime music by Scott eVenwithout theshowgirl costume!1 have come to sense that the winners are decided long Joplln and Joseph Lamb. I May be just slightly prejudiced In the past Elizabeth Manley has had difficulty getting before a skate blade touches the ice. by the music since this ballet happens to be my favorite and hier nerves to cooperate and settle down for competitions. The most flagrant display of unfair judging, in my mind, I have seen it performed by the National Ballet of Canada Perhaps, because most *of the heat seemed to be directed occurred in the.ice dancing event. It seems to me that-stan- at least four times, but I figure that this gives me an edge towards Witt and Thomas, Manley was able to stay-calin dings in ice dancing are decided before the ice is even when commenting on their interpretation, which was first. and do what she said she'd do..skate for the fun of it. While. flooded. It was. predictable Natalia Bestemianaya and cîass. Witt and Thomas were being focused upon, Manley was Andrei Bukin would covet the gold and Marina Klimova * Even so, the gold or silver was not to be their's. I don't given the opportuity to concentrate on herself and her per- and Sergei Ponomarenko would take the silver, leaving the think it would have mattered what they did on the ice. formance. bronze for our own Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall. Being a true champ Wilson, 260of Port Moody, B.C. said, This time the judges seemed to recognize an outstanding Wilson and McCall are seven-time Canadian champs "Ice dancing is différent than any other skating division achievement when they saw it and rewarded her justly. wvho have been stuck i third place in the world champion- and honestly, we don't»get upset by the judging"..Well, They cidn't even seem to be influenced by Katarina Witt's ships for three years behind the two Soviet pairs. To my I'm not as charitable as Tracy Wilson, it bugs me because 'costume, or shouldlIsay lack of it? Mail service concerns'raised ByVERONICA COLANGELO Ashburn residents held an infor- mation and organizing meeting on Feb. 24 to consider the community's concerns regarding the changes proposed by Canada Post to postal service inAshburn. With the change in ownership of the Ashburn General Store on Dec. 24 and Canada Post's policy of eliminating the position of post- master in rural post offices, the new owners entered into an agreement to operate a retail postal outiet on Canada Post's behaîf. Canada Post then proposed the installation of locked "superboxes" for those residents whose mail goes to general delivery and is currently pieked up at the Ashburn post offic 'e. Many residents want to know if the location of these boxes be inside the Ashburn General Store or out- side; whether there will be a rental charge on theboxes; and whether. superboxes should be installed at ail ,since it appears residents are quite satisfied with the service as it presentlyexists. Whitby councillor Gerry Emm stated he was unable to find out from repr 'esentatives at Canada Post who was responsible for making decisions regarding the 'Ashburn post office. The previous post- master, Moyra Griffen, also said she was unable to get a clear answer fi-dm Canada Post's Anne Reimanis as to who would make the decisions, other than "it's made in0Ottawa. " North ward councillor Ross Bat- ten made personal attempts at Canada Post's Bay Street offices, to get in toucli with authorities, to no avail. He says it seems his attempts were being blocked, and couldn't get anyone to talk to anyone. Canada Post reps Reimanis, Richard Jones and Chuck Talbot, manager for rural services, ap- peared at the general store a ha 'If- hour prior to the start of this com- munity meeting. They brought with them a survey to be distributed to the community residents by mail. Basically, the survey asks if residents would like to have locked boxes or would they wish the service to remain the samne. Many residents fear that since it is widely known the return of any kind of mailed survey 18 very low, that the real majority would not necessarily be represented. Canada Post representatives requested permission to attend the meeting and were told that they could briefly appear after residents had a chance to, discuss the issues. At the meeting a resident askedý Talbot if the service would change. He stated that the change was in the IN A PHOTO whieh ffrlst appeared i an edition of The Free Press last November, Alice Carnegie is shown with her quilt that was recently judged as best in On- tario i the Canada Packers' annual competition. A lice 's quiltjudged, the. best in Ontario With the fourth entry that s he lias had in past years in the annual Ontario-ýwide Canada Packers quilt c ompetition, Alice Carnegie of Brooklin was recently judged 1988 win'ner of the prestigious event'at the Royal York Hoteî in Toront o. "I'm really quite pleased, " said Carnegie, a resîdent of Heber Down Rd., whose quilt with a 1"Stringoëf Pearîs" pattern will now go on tour at fairs and othereévents in the next year. Carnegie, a mother of two, who has been quilting for about si x years, lias been in the same competition, part of the convention of agricultural societies in Ontario, on three previous occasions. But *this is her first win, and it's accompanied by te first prze of $,<y> 0f her top entry, she says only that Iwaprtygod "I'malwaysworkingon.something," shesays. Strawberry Cottage Stuio Professional studio near'Brooklin offering seminars and classes for both the beginning and experienced student. Register now for spring classe s. Lorraine Coombs> 655- 3688