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i 2 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, December 8.1962 Section Two Editorial Comment ) Have a Heart, Guys! A great many people just love Christmas and all that goes with it. They can't wait to drag out all the glass balls, tinsel and other trappings stored in every available space in the house. Those with artificial trees probably have them set up already, just waiting to be decorated with all the glittering ornaments and lights that have been treasured for many years. Often, families get together for an evening or a day off to put up the wreaths ana spot little decorative items all over the house to change its entire appearance for December and Christmas. Then, early in January, it all comes down, is packed away in cartons until another Yuletide rolls around; it's ouite a procedure and a heck of a lot of work for the housewife who indulges in that type of pastime, but they wouldn't have it any other way. A friend of ours, who like so many others is a Christmas nut, has a large, green pine or spruce tree on his lawn and it drives him silly at this time of year not to have it shining with colored lights. He gets a big charge out of it and, as he lives on a street with a considerable amount of traffic, it must be most attractive to motorists and d estrians passing by. It would i even prettier if there were some snow for a base, but so far this year that has avoided this area, sadly for some, but quite happily for others who don't appreciate the thrill of sloshing around in the white stuff and already looking forward to an early Spring. Aside from all that trivia, the point we would like to make is that anyone who goes to all the trouble and ense of decorating a tree with its and is willing to pay the hydro Ils by burning them from now until New Year's or beyond, should have some consideration. Unfortunately, it hasn't happened that way for this particular person. Every year, several times during the Christmas season, he threatens to abandon his delightful phobia and never put them up again. Last weekend was the first time this year that he had his pet tree adorned from top to bottom and what happened? Within a few short hours after darkness fell, some miserable Grinches nad stolen most of the bulbs. They weren't poverty stricken, wanting them for tneir own tree, they were just hell bent on deviltry and couldn't stand to see something pretty penetrating the darkness of their little minds. The bulbs were broken and strewn all over the place. Maybe this year, this chap will decide the happiness he and others get from those few remaining bulbs glowing in the dark isn't worth the effort and he'll take down what's left of them and hide them inside the house where they can't be seen or stolen by others. It would be a shame to have that happen because Christmas wouldn't be the same for him or the folks in that area. So, please guys, have a heart and let this chap fulfill his dream. Leave his bulbs alone. Is that too much to ask? We've just been listening to the evening news, which is usually depressing, more so of late, but this one had a few highlights that sounded somewhat promising. There was an indication that the Canadian Chrysler workers may just be on the verge of a strike settlement. There was nothing specific, except a hint that the company negotiation team had come up with a financial proposal of sizable proportions that could possibly be accepted by the rank and file members. That would definitely be good news for all of those concerned who have suffered a great deal from loss of revenue for food, clothing and housing needs, not to mention any outlay for Christmas shopping. One of the big problems for anyone not directly involved in these affairs is how to figure out who are the good guys and who are the bad. At times, it seems the union leaders are trying to show how much power they have threatening to bring a company, already sustaining huge losses, to its knees. They and their spokesmen at times give the impression that they don't give a hoot if the company folds completely, that it doesn't deserve to exist if it can't pay the same wages as General Motors or Ford who also are losing huge amounts of money. On the other hand, it's difficult to understand how a company such as Chrysler that's reportedly near bankruptcy, can now come through with a wage package that will surely either add to the cost and selling price of their E roducts, or put them out of business y increasing their losses. Not being an economist, we just can't comprehend how they now can agree to pay their employees much more without losing out in the long run. It's a mystery, unless governments will again be called on for financial help. We recall a couple of statements made here by a visiting MPP recently who was commenting on the lack of work at Canadian and American steel mills, which might shed some light on our current problems and huge unemployment rolls. He had been in Korea about a year ago where their almost completely automated steel mills were working at capacity in plants that made ours look old-fashioned. As a result they were turning out steel at much lower prices that were being charged by Canadian and American companies and were getting more business than they could handle. Probably that is also happening in Japan and elsewhere in the car and truck manufacturing fields. Can it be that we have quite effectively priced ourselves out of a number of key markets by our high wages at all levels, low comparative productivity and poor quality products. It's just an idea that probably is being considered by many people these days. A Corner for Poets The Bluebell Hill We'd climb to the top and stand still Gaze with joy down the bluebell hill A place where we all loved to be Now is treasured memory. .The soft carpet of bluest blue Spread over the hill met our view A sweetest scent laden breeze Stirred the bluebells 'neath the trees. Through sunlit hours we'd romp and play Delight in the long summer day A picnic down by the stream Now it all seems like a dream. Amongst. the bluebells we would roam Before starting the long trek home Gather armfuls of the flowers - Fresh from early morning showers. Oh if only we sometimes could Return a moment to childhood That moment I would recapture Amongst the sweet bluebells' rapture. --Mary Stewart Clarke QHfe Canadian Statesman 6233303 Durham County's Greet Family Journal Established 126 years ago In 1854 Also Incorporating The Bowmanville News The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second class mail registration number 1561 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 82-66 King SI. W„ Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 < K D 0 L * JOHN M. JAMES Editor --Publisher RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS - Business Mgr. BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All layout* and compoilllon ol advertisements produced by Ihe employees ol The Canadian Statesman. The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permlsnlon ol Ihe publishers, $15.00 a year -- 6 months $8,00 strictly In advance foreign -- $45.00 a year Although every precaution will be taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising In its columns on the understanding that It will not be liable tor any error In the advertisement published hereunder unless a proof of such advertisement Is requested In writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business office duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted In writing thereon, and In that case It any error so noted Is nol corrected by The Canadian Statesman Its liability shall not exceed such a portion of the entire cost ol such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement, Quebec City Boardwalk Answers Are Hard to Come By SUGAR and SPICE The Older, the Better 7 One of the nicer things about growing older is that we grow steadily more pure. It's astonishing how we shed sin and don morality with each passing year. One night about 50 years ago, for example, I was climbing over a stone wall with my shirt stuffed with grapes, when a stentorian ^voice bellowed, "Hi! You!" My heart leaped into my mouth, I leaped to the ground, the grapes popped out of my shirt, and I took off like a missile, pursued by outraged roars and heavy boots. Later, in the sanctuary of my bed, did I regret my wickedness, revile myself for shattering one of the commandments and swear that I'd never do it again? Not exactly. What I did was regret losing the grapes, revile myself for being scared half to death, and swear a return visit to the vineyard às soon as the heat was off. That's what I mean. Today, I'd never consider such a thing. Oh, I might give my golf ball a very small kick if it was in a particularly bad lie in the rough and nobody was looking. I might tell my wife I'd paid the. hydro bill in time to get the discount when I knew perfectly well that it was in my pocket, unpaid. But I'd never dream of doing anything dishonest, like stealing grapes from a millionaire with a huge estate and a huge gardener doubling as night watchman. Other people are the same. The older they get, the better they get. Not long ago, we visited an old acquaintance, a woman in her early 40s. She had a teenage daughter who was out to a dance that night. The kid was to be home by one. As the hour neared, the mother kept ^ breaking off her monologue about ; her church activities, her eyes , flitting toward the clock. By one- fifteen, wq had to restrain her , forcibly from calling the police. The : kid showed up at one-thirty. You should have heard her mother. You'd have thought the youngster was utterly depraved. Later, as mama served tea and vehemently wondered what was .going to become of these undisciplined, irresponsible teenagers, I couldn't help casting my mind back. Twenty-five years earlier, our hostess had been a regular young rip, whose specialties were drinking gin out of the bottle in backseats of cars, and going for mixed midnight swims au naturel. Recently, I spent a weekend with an old college friend. He had distinguished distinguished himself at university, not through academic or athletic prowess, but for an incredible memory that could recall the words and tunes of all the bawdy songs ever sung. Saturday night I tried to get a few verses of Riley's Daughter, or Cats on the Rooftops out of him, but he was strangely reticent. In the old days you had to hold him down and stuff a sock in his mouth to make him stop singing. Sunday morning, he acted kind of mysterious. Wanted me to go for a walk with him. I decided he was taking me to the bootlegger's, so naturally demurred, but he insisted. Ten minutes later my mouth was still hanging open as I sat in the back row of the Sunday School and watched watched my friend, arms waving, face beaming, leading about eighty small types through the strains of Jesus Loves Me. Last spring I bumped into an old Air Force sidekick in the coffee shop of a city hotel. Hadn't seen him since Brussels, 1945. His name was Dick, but we called him The Count in those days, because he was reputedly, and enviedly, living in sin with a beautiful, beautiful, rich Belgian countess. He was a big, handsome, devil-may-care chap then. Anyway, we chatted. He was pretty fat, pretty bald, pretty dull. "Remember "Remember when we used to call you The Count?", I asked, in an effort to establish some common ground. He muttered something like, "Count me out", and launched rapidly into a spiel on the work he was doing with juvenile delinquents, through a church group. He finally ran out of breath, there was an awkward pause, then: "Guess you haven't, met the wife," he said, turning to a large red-faced woman sitting on the stool beside him, eating a vast sundae. It was not the Countess. And so it goes. You can see them everywhere: people who were once steeped in sin and now pass the collection plate; who were once steeped in gin and whose inflamed noses now light the way for the valiant armies of the temperance movement. Reformed lechers lead the attack on pornography and prostitution. Reformed poachers want the game laws tightened. Ancient golfers will take off as few as five strokes from their actual score. Sex fiends become saintly. It's as plain as the wart on your nose that people improve with age, morally, if not physically. But I'd still like to know why. Is it because they have learned to respect the law and other people's property? Is it because they know the day of judgement is bearing down and they're trying to cover their flaming youth with a nice coat of camouflage grey? Or is it that they simply dort have the stamina to be sinful any more? Perhaps some of you old sinners could enlighten me. Dear Johnny I don't usually write to papers but this is different, being a mother of days gone by plus now a gramma, I deeply feel for the young mother in last week's paper. When my children were little, I shopped in Bowmanville, Bowmanville, spending a whole day there, by going in with our mailman'and waiting for hubby to pick me up after work. I also had to lunch and tend baby, and maybe the managers managers were different; never was 1 put down or belittled, just the opposite, everyone helped you in those days, and even kept an eye on the little one on the seat, while you yourself visited the little girls room. You were treated well, yes I would even say with respect, or was it that they needed your little lunch money more then than I hey do now? Whichever way, I do not feel any mother should be treated or talked lo, if Ihe letter is truthful, in this manner, because she was doing what had lo be. Would Ihe waitress or Ihe manager themselves, like to carry on with a "Wet hum"? Nn I don't think so. Sign me An old fashioned Rural "Mom", Dear Sir: December 3,1982. Re: Blackstock Mother I read with concern the letter from your reader who felt obliged to change her baby's diaper in a restaurant booth. The impression given in your "Editor's Note" is that there are two sides to this story. I'm not sure I. would agree. Reading between the lines, I infer that the lady, being asked to retire to the washroom, refused to do so and made an issue of it, thus provoking the wrath of the manager, who must already have felt himself in a difficult position to begin with. There is no doubt in my mind the lady was wrong to change her baby in the booth; and that the waitress was quite justified in asking her to refrain from doing so, Surely a basic respect for public health rules would dictate more discretion on her part. That a baby should wet a diaper might be viewed as "an innocent and natural act", but the changing of that diaper certainly is not. Nol in a public restaurant amid the handling of food. I'hesitate to inquire whether she might have washed her hands before reluming to her meal! That she should compound her display of poor taste by seeking the sympathy of your readers is unthinkable. She may well have grounds for arguing that restaurants generally should be better equipped to handle such situations. But this is no way to make her point. She should be directed to whatever government agency might be responsible for setting such standards. She might find a more favourable forum for her ideas. A Bowmanville Diner. JackT. Cruise, M.D. 9403 Laurie's Lane Sidney, B.C. V8L4L2 November 20,1982 Dear Editor, It is indeed sad that more than half the world's estimated estimated 42 million blind brethren who can be restored to sight by cataract surgery costing $25 per patient, have to lead their lives in total darkness for lack of this meagre amount, I have been a longtime supporter supporter of Operation Eyesight Universal, a fine Canadian organization which has restored sight to over 60,000 blind folk, treated over 600,000 others for various eye ailments ailments and prevented tens of thousands more from going blind last year alone through its 52 medical teams in 16 different countries. I would like to mention: 1. A $25 tax-deductible donation donation pays for surgery, hospitalization hospitalization and special glasses for one person. 2. Donors receive ID cards signed by performing surgeons, surgeons, giving the name, age and address of persons restored restored to sight because of the donations - hence, a person- to-person program. During 40 years practice as an eye surgeon surgeon in Victoria, I have performed performed many, many sight restoration operations, but none has brought me more pleasure, happiness and satisfaction satisfaction than those performed on my behalf on some poor blind persons in the poor countries countries as indicated on the ID cards I have received. 3. TheO.E.U. was started in 1963 in Calgary by Art Jen- kyns when he heard the plea for funds from the legendary Canadian medical missionary, missionary, Dr. Ben Gullison, who, along with his wife Evelyn, spent 40 years in Sompeta on the East coast of India, and established a 125-bed eye hospital which has restored over 156,000 blind destitutes over the years, 4. Gullison and Jenkyns, both recipients of Order of Canada for their noble work, humbly attribute tne start-up of the project to The Great Healer, who walked the shores of Gallilee 2,000 years ago giving sight to the blind. 5. O.E.U. is supported by all denominations of Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Sikh churches, various women's and men's groups and service clubs, schools, unions, corporations corporations and generous individuals individuals across Canada. 6. The O.E.U. Christmas fund-raising drive is co-chair- ed by two of the most well known and respected Canadians, Canadians, Dr. G. Scott Wallace, M.D,, former leader of B.C. Conservatives, and Dr. Law- rie J. Wallace, 'Officer of Order of Canada', winner of 1981 'Servant of the Year' award from the Canadian Council of Christians and Jewish churches, former de- E to three premiers, also m as Mr. B. C, or Mr. Centennial, I have worked in Cambodian Cambodian refugee camps in Thailand Thailand (through Rotary International) International) and nave seen the immense immense need for 'eye work', I urge my fellow Canadians to feel the joy of sponsoring blind destitutes for ihe priceless priceless gift of sight this Christmas. Christmas. Tax-deductible donations may be sent to: operation Eyesight Universal, P.O. Box 565, Victoria, B.C. V8W 2P3. Yours very truly, JackT. Cruise, M.D., Eye Surgeon Dear Sir; We thought your readers might like a progress report on Forestree Place. Since the sod turning on October 23, 1982, the vite "has been cleared, stripped of the topsoil, and the basement and first floor have been constructed. constructed. Our contractor, Don Wilson, is using as much local "help as possible. The cement is from a local firm, a local building supply company is supplying the lumber, the blocks ana bricks are from thisarea, also local backhoe operators and earth movers have been used. We are hoping to be finished by July with a 56 unit apartment apartment for our senior citizens. We are glad to provide a shot in the arm for our local economy as well as providing a much needed service. We would like to thank you for the stories your paper has carried for us. Sincerely yours, Milt Dakin President Canadian Foresters Project (Eastern) Group