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2 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, March 7, 1979 Section Two Editorial CommentI What An Incredible Performance It's doubtful if we'll ever know who wrote the script for that tear- jerking soap opera in Toronto that lasted from Thursday night until Saturday, featuring Maple Leaf Coach Roger Neilson. It was a masterful performance that hit the air waves and the print media with the impact of World War III. We can't recall anything to compare with it in our years of newspaperimg. The Leafs had been mediocre in their recent games, playing like a bunlch of incompetent amateurs and appeared to be on their way to elimination from a playoff spot. Something had to be done quickly to rectify the situation and Coach Neilson was the obvious scape-goat. Owner Harold Ballard pulled the trigger during their game in Mon- treal and became the bad guy in the plot. Then came the reaction from the outraged fans and the players too, if we can believe what we read. The sports writers and announcers joined in until everyone was at fever pitch pleading to give quiet, hard- done by Roger another chance. Ballard finally gave in and Roger was given a standing ovation when he appeared behind the bench after the national anthem on Saturday. It was beautiful. To make it even a more successful drama, the Leafs squeaked out a win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sàturday and won again on Sunday over the New York Rangers. Roger has been vindicated and the Leafs have emerged from their slump. Hopefully, they will continue their winning ways and emerge the Stanley Cup champions, with Neilson receiving a nomination to the Hockey Hall of Fame. With a federal election in the of- fing, we couldn't help wondering if the Liberals, apparently weak in Metro, might try to lure Roger Neilson from his replay tapes to be a candidate for them. With all the sympathetic build up he's had from hockey fans, he might just be a win- ner, especially if they could put across something spectacular to match the events of the past weekend. Unfortunately, Mr. Neilson's firing and restoration almost wiped such minor news items as the war between China and Vietnam, the Middle East Peace talks, etc. off the front pages. We can catch up on them .now peace is prevailing at Maple Leaf Gardens. The Contributing Factor The human race has created an extremely organized and complex society. By the act of banding together to live, by recognizing the needs of other members of the community, man expresses his commitment to the continuation and development of that society. There is no one member of the community who has not something to contribute to the betterment of the whole com- munity. Out of this concept arose the great helping societies of the 1800's, among them the Red Cross, first created to ensure medical aid for wounded soldiers. Out of that initial purpose have sprung more than a dozen services through which Red Cross branches reach out to assist members of the community. These services include assistance for senior citizens and young people alike, and range from direct care to improvement of the quality of life for the disadvantaged. None of these services can con- tinue without the contributions of other members of the community, whether it be a contribution of time volunteered to aid in the direct delivery of service, or a contribution of money to help fund the out of pocket expenses of the services. Your contribution may even take the form of a commitment to donate blood regularly. March is Red Cross Month. What better time to express your com- mitment to the rest of the com- munity by making your contribution through the Red Cross branch? Call today and pledge your support. Gord Reid 623-4294 or 623-3115. Tale of 100 Lukewarm Christians By Mansell Stacey Note: A good dictionary, such as Webster's New Collegiate Dic- tionary, Not George Webster's (Although I purchased recently my present copy of one of the above from George Webster of Rickaby's Ltd., with the kind help and courtesy of Mrs. Linda Moorcraft) says that Lukewarm means "Iacking convic- tion or half-hearted". "Obviously then a Lukewarm Christian lacks conviction and is half-hearted in a truly Christian way of life. For example, he may belong to a church because "it is good for business", and may attend services there spasmodically, as on Christ- mas Sunday, Easter Sunday, and perhaps even on his birthday if it happens to fall on a Sunday, which it rarely does. Many people may recognize this short narrative poem as a take-off on an old well-known poem about "ten little Niggers." Here is a tale for all of you, male and female. There were one hundred lukewarm Christians who thought they were fine; eleven didn't like the minister and then there were eighty-nine. Eighty and nine lukewarm Christians stayed up Saturdays too late; eleven overslept on Sundays, and there were seventy-eight. Seventy and eight lukewarm Christians needed to have their sins forgiven; eleven forgot to ask God to have them forgiven, and then there were sixty-seven. Sixty and seven lukewarm Christians liked to chirp, like little chicks; eleven didn't like the new music, and then there were fifty-six. Fifty and six lukewarm Christians thought they could drink and drive; eleven went off the road, and then there were forty-five. Forty and five lukewarm Christians were rowing their boats for heaven's far-off shore; eleven rested on their oars too much, and then there were thirty-four. Of you think their number is going to shrink to twenty-three and to twelve, and to one, thus making the story almost done, You are wrong, because the thirty and four lukewarm Christians suddenly became warmer and war- mer until they became quite hot in their desire to convert lukewarm Christians to hot Christians like they themselves were. Then from thirty and four their number grew more and more until it became one hundred and four. And therefore, there's hope for all of you that you might become hot Christians too, and so become con- verted to Christians true. The moral of this tale is obvious to all of us. Hence, let's all of us here and now start to become true Christians (not just lukewarm Christians) by going to church next Sunday, and by of- fering to help your minister to ad- minister his duties in ev'ry way throughout the year so that at the end of the year's end he'Il say to ev'ry friend, "The year nineteen hundred and seventy-nine has been not only fine, but the very best in all my ministry!" "Cross Country Skiing" ugarand Sice Blue Monday $ ed ey 1 Twn of tfhe iuarterhaks, onmv By the time this appears in print, the worst of the suffering in Canada will be over. And I don't mean that dreadful February cold snap which turned us into our annual winter condition, a nation of misanthropes. Burst water pipes, cars so cold you can't even put them into reverse to back out in the morning, and tem- peratures that would freeze the brains of a brass monkey are bad enough. But we're used to them. We know that in another four months, we'll be gasping in a heat wave and beating off mosquitoes. No, that's not the suffering we did this February. It was being smugly satisfied on a Thursday night, mildly dismayed on a Saturday afternoon and utterly humiliated on a Sunday night that caused the suffering. Talk about blue Monday. That Monday in Feb., after them Rooshians had kicked the living stuf- fing out of Canada's finest, was so blue it was almost purple. I'm not saying that I, personally, suffer when Canada's primary ex- port, hockey players, is no longer marketable. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that I bleed a little, in- ternally, when a bunch of rotten red, pinko communists make a group of fine, young, liberal, capitalists look like a bunch of old-age pensioners whose Geritol has been cut off. Right after the second game, I went to the clinic and had a cardiogram, just in case. I must say we took it well, as a nation. For once, there were no alibis. How could there be, when hundreds of millions of people saw our collective Canadian noses being rubbed in it? Sports writers, their guts chur- ning, praised the play of the Russians and intimated that they knew all along what would happen. As they always do, after the event. The Canadian players showed more grace. The best of them simply admitted they were beaten soundly by a superior team. But they knew in their hearts that they, and all their highly paid buddies, were facing not a physical Siberia, but a Siberia of the soul. They were the Best in the West, and they had not been just beaten but thoroughly trounced, by the Best in the East, where hockey is a relatively new sport. Not for me to ask, "How did it happen?"' All the experts have agreed that the Russians skate bet- ter, pass better, and are infinitely superior in physical condition to the pampered Canadian pros, who weighed an average of nine pounds more than their opponents. It is only for me to ask, "Why do we suffer so much when we're licked in hockey?"- And I think I know the answer to that. For a century or so, Canadians have been hewers of wood and Wait for Refinery Decision Last week, the long-awaited report of the federal environmental panel investigating sites for the Eldorado uranium refinery was released. No doubt the panel prepared a very thorough, well-researched and thoughtful report. But it seems to us that the document lacks guts. After months of hearings, resear- ch and study, the report nforms us that all three sites considered by the federal environmental assessment and review panel would make good nests in which the proposed $100 million uranium refinery could roost. That conclusion is a big disappoin- tment. One would think that con- sidering all the time and money spent on this federal investigation, the panel would have been able to drop a few hints on whether Sud- bury, Blind River or Hope Township should be the site of Canada's newest nuclear refinery. Surely this panel, which has in- vestigated all three sites would be more qualified than any other group to recommend the refinery location. But this sort of concrete recommen- dation seems to be outside the jurisdiction of the environmental panel. The experts from the federal panel have tossed the ball into another court. Their report is simply shuf- fled onto another bureaucratic desk and the merry-go-round continues to spin. Even though a lot of water has flowed under the bridge, we are really no further ahead as far as knowing where and when and if the Eldorado project will materialize. We understand that the final decision will rest with government advisors and the cabinet. In ad- dition, there is a federal election in the offing so it appears extremely doubtful that any decision as con- troversial as this one will be made until after the voters have gone to the polls. The location of the refinery will be at least partly a political decision. Three ridings would dearly love to land the project since it would provide an economic boost to whatever community in which it is built. The refinery can only be built in one of the ridings and the gover- nment would be given the cold shoulder by any riding which was turned down. Therefore, we doubt very much that the selection of a refinery site will be a pre-election decision. drawers of water. Fair enough. We had lots of wood and water, and still have and other people need them. But we also had three superior finished products, manufactured at home, that nobody else in the world could touch, when it came to quaiity: maple syrup, rye whiskey, and hockey players. Our supremacy in these depart- ments is virtually ended. Our whiskey has been watered more and more, our maple syrup has been thinned to the consistency of greasy- spoon gravy, and our hockey players with a few stalwart exceptions, are more impressed with their hair-dos, their press clippings, and their financial statements than they are with beating their opponents. There is a sadness here. Rye whiskey is bad for the liver, maple syrup bad for the teeth, so perhaps their denigration is not a national disaster. But to have a hockey team that is the second or third or fourth best in the world? That is un- thinkable. Every red-blooded, middle-aged male in Canada has hockey in his veins. He personally knows, or his best friend does, or he lives in, or lives in the next town to, or is sixth cousin of, or grew up with, or was preceded by only 10 years by, in school, a genuine hockey player, who made it to Junior. A, or Senior A, or even the NHL, or one of its farm teams. high school football team, Les Douglas and Tony Licari, made it to the Detroit Red Wings organization. My brother-in-law, Jack Buell, played Junior A and Senior A and became a referee. My grandson, at the age of two, was given a hockey' stick and demolished his grand- mother's hardwood floors in the - living-room, smashing a puck'. around the floor with great vigor and a certainlack of control. (She finally put her foot down when he insisted on scrimmaging around the piano while she was giving lessons). To add insult to injury, this idiotic idea of Iona Campagnola, Minister of Jocks has popped up. She wants to give $18.5 million of my money and yours to four Canadian cities, so that they can build big arenas to accom- modate four more losers in an NHL that is already so watered-down with mediocre talent that 60 per cent of them couldn't have made a Senior A team 30 years ago. What she should do is support an Order-in-council which proclaims that, with the emergence of Red China, Russia is now a second-rate power, not worthy to be faced-off aganst. Then Allan Eagleson can organize another Series of the Century with China, where they learned to skate about eight years ago. We'd probably win it by one goal in 1980. And lose it by 10in '81. Letters to the Editor P.O. Box 1472 Yellowknife, N.W.T. XOE 1HO 28 February 1979 Dear Editor: I am wondering if the "Statesman" will assist me in seeking descendants of the James Little family, some of whom may be still residing in the area. James and Mary Little came from Co. Cavan, Ireland about 1847-49 with six daughters and three sons and settled in Darlington Twsp. The 1861 Census lists the family as: James age 45, Mary age 41, William 18, John 10, Mary 12, Robert 7, Alan 4, Latice 1. I have been tracing my family history since 1973 and find that I am a great great granddaughter of James and Mary Little. I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who thinks they might be related to this family, or anyone who feels they knew of any of the family members. Yours sincerely, Caron Szpuniarski. (Mrs. L.H. Szpuniarski) Bowmanville February 28, 1979 Dear Sir, Maybe the eclipse is over- rated but not nearly as much as you imply. I was one of the fortunate' people that was able to watch the progress of the eclipse on television. As the sun went toward total obscurity I saw the "beads of Hercules". After the beautiful corona, as the moon was allowing the sun toonce more begin to reappear, I saw "the diamond ring." And, of course, during totality Winnipeg was as dark as night at 10:40 a.m. or thereabouts. So, though we know why, a total eclipse of the sun is worth observing, when possible which may not be again in my lifetime. Yours truly M. C. Young The Forbidden Light Once I met the Heavenly Jesus, Standing there in bright array, Vivid light no earth can measure From the sunlight of its day. Was it like the moonlight silver In contrast to the blackened sky? Or was it like the star of Venus, Brightest star that hovers by? Insufficient in their glory, A Corner for Poets Giving not the light I sought; Stare, I must, full hard to find it, To bring answers to my thoughts. With the naked eye I saw it; What meaning this apocalypse? For I found the light of Jesus, Deep within the sun's eclipse. Georgina Steffen 1A Hobbs Drive, Bowmanville. Ont. v