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Open Spa From iast week's discussions on the future of Bowmanville Week, one conclusion can be reached. The Town of Bowmanville will shortly be outgrowing its community parks in residential areas. And it will soon need some kind of large, outdoor park area near the town but far enough away that events such as a football game, a carnival or an out- door concert can be held without bothering nearby neighbours. Citizens who wanted Bowmanville Week activities removed from Soper Creek Park have won their case. The general opinion was that events such as Bowmanville Week do not belong in a park alongside residential dwellings. You don't have to have a crystal ball to predict that there will be similar complaints along the same lines as the town gets larger. And the complaints will be justified. The town's parks are close to residential areas and while they are fine for a minor softball tournament or a place to take a quiet stroll, they are no place for any large-scale event such as a track meet or a big baseball game or a carnival. Such events are bound to draw complaints about noise, parking problems. lit- Canadiar There is drama in Canadian History - and not only in that of Western Canada - but it is more the drama of men fighting nature than of men fighting one another. True, there was violence, and plenty of it, during the earlier years of set- tlement. But there has been relatively little strife on Canadian soil since the War of 1812, perhaps for the very reason that nature in one of the world's biggest, coldest and most rugged countries presents such a formidable challenge. Struggling against the elements, wresting a living from an inhospitable land, Canada's pioneers had little time or energy to spare for hatred. Traditional animosities from the old countries of Europe were buried in an at- mosphere of common hardship. The historian A.M.R. Lower has written that Canadians must seek their collective soul in the land, for Canada has none of the social com- mon denominators which normally unite a nation. Certainly the land, in all its vastness and harshness, has left its imprint on the way Canadians traditionally have behaved. From its earliest days, Canada has been a place where people have countered adversity by sharing things in the common interest. This inborn generosity - along with the Care for The Ontario government pays a good deal of attention to the provin- ce's senior citizens, and will un- doubtedly pay more as their numbers grow. But there is an un- easy feeling that not enough atten- tion is being paid, that the things being done to make life for the over 65s as enjoyable as it should be are so unco-ordinated they frequently miss the intended target. The Ontario Council of Health would change that. In a report entitled Health Care for the Aged, an OCH task force calls on the provincial government to get its act together. By the year 2001, the report notes, 13 per cent of the province's population will be over 65 years of age. If clear, co-ordinated planning in the fields of housing and health care is not done, we will by then face a major crisis. The first thing to be done, the 0OCH says, is for Premier William Davis to make "a clear declaration of policy . .. that the government understands these concerns and is committed to con- tinuous and strengthened support ce Needed ter, vandalism and other incidents that occur when you put several hundred persons together in one place at one time. What we really need is a large park on the outskirts of the town, out of range of built-up areas. We are thinking along the lînes of a site con- taining plenty of open space where we could eventually build a new arena, a small football field with stands, a track, tennis courts a parkinglot to handle plenty of cars. Finally, there should be lots of open terrain. We are thinking along the lines of something like Oshawa's civie fields. The location should be near an industrial park or a shopping cen- tre or some other land use that does not involve people trying to eat and sleep and live normal lives in their homes next door. And while we are not suggesting that such a recreational centre is needed in the next five or even 10 years, it wouldn't be too soon for our town officials to begin looking for such a place now. Because if the town is going to grow to the size that some planning forecasts predict, we're going to need it. iHistory vastness o our spaces - has made it possible to offer a home here to millions of people from all over the world. Like history in general, the history of Canada seems like a matter of taking three steps backward for every one forward. Canada has never been without difficulty and dissension. Yet, in the long run, Canadians have always managed to find the way ahead. In recent years there has been a long-overdue public awakening to Canadian history as a spate of popular books on historical subjects has been published, often being adapted for film and/or television. They are worthy of study, as is our history as a whole. It tells a story of divergent political interests restlessly moving, not without a struggle, towards common ground; and of diverse people somehow finding a way to live together peacefully in spite of the differences among them. If Canadian history has a lesson to teach, it is that great things can come of gradualism, conciliation, tolerance and moderation. In this new time of trial for Canada, Canadians should know their own history for their own good. -From the Royal Bank of Canada Newsletter the Aged for Ontario's substantial population of older people." From that it should follow, the OCH recommends, that special systems be set up by the government to make sure older citizens find the services they need, tailored to their needs and not to some irrelevant policy standard. Too many of On- tario s elderly are in institutions, the OCH report says to illustrate the point, because the present system financially rewards institutional living instead of providing incen- tives and more homecare services to enable old people to live in their own homes as long as possible. Health care for the aged, as the 0OCH makes clear, is not merely a matter of doctors and hospitals and nurses. It is also a matter of respect and recognition for a life's work well done and another one beginning. Un- til all these things are put together in one realistic social policy, human potential is being wasted and crisis invited. Skiing on Water at Kirby Hiffis Sugar and Spice Ah!Spring etYm Like most people in this country with any intelligence, I welcome the advent of spring, which in Canada consists mainly of mud, slush, cold rain and colder winds. It is the end of that suicidal season in which we get more and more depressed, irritable, and bone- weary of living in a land where the national sound symbols are the wet sniffle and the barking cough, the national sight symbols are the filled- in driveway and the rusting fender. It's a trying time. For years, I've advocated a mid-February holiday to save the national psych from self- destruction. I've suggested calling it National Love Day, the third Mon- day in Feb.: a day to love your neighbour, your neighbour's wife, yourself, a life, not necessarily in that order. But I've been blocked, year after year, by politicians, who fear the opponents might score a victory if it were named Sir John A. MacDonald Day or Sir Wilfred Laurier Day; and by the industrialists and business community, who blanch with terror at the thought of paying their em- ployees for one more nonproductive day in the year. Hell, a third of their employees' days are non-productive anyway. They may as well throw in a bonus. Yes, I welcome spring, but there's Bowmanville, Ont. March 25, 1979 Dear John; I am writing this letter to voice my opinion on JCs Bowmanville week. I for one think the Council took a very weak stand on the issue of Bowmanville week. There are an awful amount of people in town and in the area who are disappointed in the way the town fathers handled this. As for the debris and lack of washrooms, John, you know there were at least 10 - 13 washrooms available which cost the JCs $3000.00 for one week. They also hired four or five teenaged boys to clean up every day plus JCs and others who helped. The JCs are not responsible for anything that goes on at the north end of the park or on Simpson Ave. All that they are responsible for is the south corner of the park. Also the beer bottles laying outside the JCs pavilion were brought in by people. The JCs did not serve beer in bottles, only cups. As a matter of fact they ended up with about eight cases of empties over and above what they had purchas- ed. one aspect of it that I very nearly loathe. That's when the first yellow sun begins to filter through those murky storm windows, which we daren't take off until mid-May. It isn't the sun that bothers me. It's the Old Battleaxe. She throws away her survival kit, the cataracts are peeled from her eyes, and she starts driving me out of my skull. "Bill Smiley, look at those drapes!" I look. They look fine to me. Same old ones we had in January. Green and gold, turned to a sort of grold with cigarette smoke and hot air from the ancient furnace, but perfectly serviceable drapes. "Look at that rug. Filthy! Look at the chesterfield. The Boys have ruined it: jam, bananas, yogurt! Look at that woodwork. It was off- white in the fall, and now it's off- black! The wallpaper is disgusting!" Well, I look up from my paper with every demand, and everything looks just the same to me as it did a month ago. Comfortable. Warm. Lived-in. I venture such an opinion. It is met with a torrent of abuse, self-pity and materialistic avariciousness. "You don't care, do you?" You'd live in a pig-pen, wouldn't you? Other men help their wives keep the place decent, don't they? Have you no eyes in your head? Aren't you As for the parking on Simpson Ave, or any other areas concerned, all that the residents have to do is phone the Durham Regional Police and they will remove the cars if possible. As you know, I am not a JC but I have been involved in Bowmanville week for about five years and I feel if some of the complainers put as much effort into some of the projects as they do with their mouths we would have a fine commu- nity with lots of things happening. I was, as you know, brought up in this town and proud to be a part of it but people that try to stop functions that benefit the town make it almost impossible to be proud of your home town. The night the fireworks display was on I was on guard duty at the north end of Soper Creek Park and I didn't realize so many people lived in that subdivision. They all came down to watch the fireworks and had nothing but praise for the show the JCs put on. Well John, they wonder why people go out of town shopping, this is one of your reasons, we have nothing, to keep people here and when we get something, someone peti- tions it. It wouldn't surprise me if someone tried to petition the Santa Claus Parade. Again I say if these people were as helpful in community projects as they are at trying to tear them down we might, I said we might, have a good town to live in. Thanks John, for your time and I hope the people that choose to move to Bowman- ville will some day become a part of it. Yours truly, Chas. A. Kilpatrick P.S. I hope the JCs and all the other service clubs keep up the good work they do for our community, Rotary, Lions, Kinsmen etc. Orono, Ontario March 26, 1979 Dear Editor; The Orono Telephone Ratepayers' Association would like to thank the Orono area residents for their ex- cellent support in attending the telephone hearing held at ashamed of this "wreck" room that used to be our living-room?" Faced with a barrage of rhetorical questions, I shift uneasily and an- swer, "Yes". or, sometimes. "No". I never know what to say, but it's always the wrong thing. Frankly, I don't care. And yes, I would live in a pig-pen, if nothing else were available. And no, other men don't help their wives keep the place decent. Not decent men. And yes, I have eyes in my head, two of them, one apt to be black after this column appears. And no, I'm not ashamed of our wreck room. I know who wrecked it, and I love them just the same. And if visitors don't like it, they can go and visit someone else, with a real ree' room. It is confusing, is it not? However, I am an amendable chap. I don't kick a dog, just because he bays at the moon. I don't kick a woman, just because she begins raving when the March sun filters into the dugout where we've spent the winter. I merely blink benignly, start talking supportively. Yes, we should have new drapes. How much? Yes, we should have a new chesterfield suite. How much? Yes, it's time we got rid of that old dining-room suite, which we bought second-hand for $100 20 years ago. How much for a the Orono Arena on March 20, 1979. Special thanks are ex- tended to Mayor Garnet Rickard and the councillors of the Town of Newcastle, Coun- cillor Bruce McArthur and MPP of Durham East, Sam Cureatz for their sincere interest and concern in our plight for a better telephone system in the Orono area The executive of our association will be meeting soon with representatives of Community Telephone Com- pany of Ontario Ltd. to negotiate for numerous im- provements in the present telephone system. The newspaper articles written by your reporters have been commendable and the O.T.R.A. has sincerely ap- preciated your interest and concern related to our telephone problems. We will keep you informed of future developments within our organization. Yours truly, Elizabeth L. Currie Vice-President Orono Telephone Ratepayers' Association new one? Certainly, the rugs need cleaning and the whole house redecorating. How much? It always comes out to somewhere around $8,000. I remind that we have to borrow from the bank to pay the income tax. That we have two cars which we could sell in a package deal, to an experienced mechanic, for $400. That if we don't have some brickwork done, the whole house will: fall down, and we'll be sitting there, in full view, on our new chesterfield. I suggest that she save money. from teaching her piano pupils, pay: back the $1,000 she has spent on long- distance phone calls to her relatives, and take a job as a cleaning lady for a year, and all will be doozy. New everything. She counters with arrows about the booze bill, the cigarettes ac- count, and all the money I gamble away on lotteries. I remind her gently that if she hadn't spent a cool thousand on gold chains last summer in Switzerland, we'd be in clover. And so it goes. After a week or two of this, we have arrived at an impasse. The sun keeps shining, somethîng important, like the children, crops up, and we sail happily into a new year, with the wreck room in tact: warm, comfor- table, lived-in. Doesn't cost a nickel. And you know something? Nobody cares. 17 Quebec St., 17 sexuality. Sucn controversial Oshawa, Ont. articles I do not find easy to March 20, 1979 write; a goodly number of Dear Editor: hours are spent on style and content in order that refuta-, I feel constrained to thank tion is made as difficult as. you for publishing on March 14 possible. all of my letter on the Sincereîy yours, Anglican Church and homo- John Wt Knott. Scarborough Men Hurt In 401 Accident A single car accident on highway 401 near the Liberty Street cut-off shortly after midnight Saturday, resulted in serious injuries for two Scarborough men. A 1976 Chev. driven by Gordon H. Watson, Scarborough, was westbound on the 401 when it left the road and rolled over. According to Ontario Provincial Police, the cause of the accident has not yet been determined and the vehicle is a total write-off. Mr. Watson was thrown from the car and was taken to Bowmanville Memorial Hospital with major head injuries. A passenger in the car, Mr. Benjamin Petch, 47, Scarborough, was also admitted to hospital with fractured ribs and various abrasions and contusions. Both men are listed in satisfactory condition. Two other passengers, David Broderick, 48, Toronto, and David Reed, 35, Toronto were treated and released. O.P.P. Constable Wendy Francis is the investigating officer and charges are pend- ing.