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Section Two The Canadian Statesman. Bowmanvillc, July 9, 1986 3 Efjt Canabtan Statesman 623-3303 (Jcki Durham County's Qreot Famfty Journal Eststoiehed 132 ywre ago In 1364. Also InootporUng - z I ne lew» ins iwscMH noipvnaen The On*» News Second dees me* ugldredon number 1541 Produced every Wodnoedee by THE JAMES PUMJSMNQ COMPANY UMTTED U-M King St W„ NeenneneMe. Omerto L1C 3*1 JOHN M. JAMES Editor--Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher BRIAN PURDY 1 Advertising Mgr. PETER PARROTT Associate Editor DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition of produced by the employees of " Statesman, The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Limited by copyright and must not be reproduced without permission of the publishers. The Canadian $15.00 a year--6 months *6.00 strictly in advance foreign--$50.00 syeer 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 lor 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 if any error so noted is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman its liability shall not exceed such a portion of the entire cost of such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement. We Take Canada for Granted What is Canada and where is it going? That's a good question to ponder on Canada Day. But it's also the kind of issue that we don't discuss very often except in such forums as essays or editorials. The fact of the matter is that we tend to take Canada pretty much for granted. Chances are that very few Canadians spent July 1 engaged in any form of patriotic activity. Some of us even spent the day at work, having decided that it was preferable preferable to enjoy a long weekend rather than have Canada Day free. This is a perfectly sensible way to look at the holiday. But, one cannot imagine the same thing happening in some other countries. Would the Americans, for example, decide not to have a holiday on July 4 merely because of à quirk in the calendar. Perhaps, it is Canada's gift for moderation moderation which is the best measurement measurement of this country. There are some nations which would force every man, woman and child to wave flags and wear smiles on their country's anniversary. But here, you don't even have to take the day off unless you want to. There are some countries in which you almost have to bribe the street car conductor for a trip downtown. In Canada, our biggest scandal amounted to a messy fight over rancid tuna. Some nations are right wing, others are left wing. Canada manages to steer a course down the centre line, allowing both free enterprise and government social programs to flourish together. Canada is a nation of vast wilderness. wilderness. And yet, its cities have the sophistication and excitement of any world class urban centres. Our economy is based on both manufacturing manufacturing and resources. Our official official languages are English and French. Our cultural heritage is both European and American. In other words, Canada is a country of moderation. This means we may lack a certain vitality and passion. Some would say that Canadians are dull or, worse still, so wishy-washy that they borrow from every culture. We prefer to believe that such accusations accusations fail to understand the true Canadian character. For we are merely pursuing the process of living in the best of all possible countries. United Way Goal , 2,15P, 000 A goal of $2,150,000 has been set by the Oshawa Whitby Newcastle United Way for its 1986 fund-raising campaign. , The goal is 12 per cent above last year's objective, according to Sandy Cunningham, public relations chairman chairman for the United Way. The objective was announced last week during a meeting between representatives representatives of the United Way and local media. "This is a realistic figure and the campaign committee feels it can raise it," said the public relations chairman. Forty-two agencies will benefit from this year's fund-raising drive. Sandy Cunningham added that the kick-off date for this year's program is September 15. The process will take a total of eight weeks, with November November 14th established as the probable probable completion date. A new feature of the '86 effort will be a United Way Awareness Weekend commencing September 11 at the Oshawa Centre through the sponsorship sponsorship of Gênerai Motors and Campeau Corporation. All United Way agencies agencies will be invited to set up their information information booths at the Oshawa Centre so that shoppers can see the many ways in which their United Way dollars are used. The 1986 fund-raising drive will be chaired by A1 Mason, with Arnold Bock serving as assistant chairman. Louanne Birkett will be head of the Town of Newcastle fund-raising program. program. Caution Is Watchword When it comes to adding seats on Durham's regional council, the majority of regional representatives move about as quickly as snails on a tightrope. Caution is the watchword. And while a cautious approach does have its benefits, caution is too frequently used by politicians when they don't want to do something but can't give a straightforward yes or no answer. By all logical rules, there should be an additional two seats on regional council. You don't have to be an expert on urban planning to know that Whitby and Ajax are rapidly-expanding communities. communities. Any drive past the fields of freshly-minted houses will .tell you that growth is occurring in these towns. And yet, their representation at regional regional council does not equal their population. Ajax has a population of 33,000 and sends two representatives to the regional regional council while Whitby (population (population 44,000) has three representatives. representatives. The population of the Town of Newcastle isn't much more than that of Ajax and it certainly doesn't exceed exceed the population of Whitby. And yet, we have had four representatives since the Durham Region was founded in '74. So why should anybody begrudge the additional representation on regional regional council? There's only one good reason. And, in our opinion, there has been ample time to explore that reason. Regional council may feel that with a membership of 30 right now, the council chambers could become unmanageable unmanageable if the regional population population continues to blossom and new seats are added accordingly. There's also the fact that additional regional representatives mean more costs in salary and expenses. This must be weighed against the added service the population will receive from having more councillors available. available. If you believe in keeping the numbers numbers of regional reps down, you still may be faced with the problem of having having to re-assign existing seats if certain certain towns continue to grow. After all, we do live in a representative democracy. democracy. It's been over a year since the Province Province of Ontario first introduced the idea of changing provincial legislation legislation to allow the additional seats. During that year, it would seem as though there has been more than enough time to explore all the options. options. However, in the Alice-in-Wonder- land world of politics, things do not unfold logically. The regional councillors decided last week by a close vote of 15-12 that . they need a little more time to mull things over and that more information information is required as to population data and so on. If elected officials really need more information, that's fine. But we suspect that the real motivation motivation is a reluctance to share the power. After all, an additional two councillors in other municipalities will erode the 10-vote block of support support that the City of Oshawa can command command at the Region. And some rural municipalities may feel uncomfortable uncomfortable about the growing power of the urbanized areas. The Region has demonstrated the fact that it may be too close to the situation to look at it objectively. In the end, the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs may be the only government agency able to pass judgment. judgment. It took action from the Province to establish regional government and it may very well require a provincial decision to alter the makeup of the regional council chamber. #1SP Sorry, Officer, I Know I Should Be on the Tracks, But It Gets So Boring! By 1 me •.. by Peter Parrott 1 There are books going around these days which claim to be able to provide provide the instruction you need to teach your preschooler preschooler to read. I even taught a few words to our three-year- old, Stephanie. But something -- perhaps a parental instinct -- is keeping me from teaching teaching her anything further. There's no doubt in my mind that three-year- olds can be taught to read but there's some doubt as to whether or not they should receive that sort of instruction. Several factors make me reluctant to proceed any further. For one thing, there's the question of motiva tion. I think any parent who encourages reading at such an early age has to ask whether he or she is doing it for the child's sake or for his or her own ego. It's a tough question to ask yourself. Nevertheless, the fact remains that just about every child will eventually eventually learn to read and I sometimes wonder if early encouragement only fulfills the parents' understandable need to see their youngster as a high achiever. I also wonder if I have the skills required to teach reading in the correct correct manner. I'd hate to think that my efforts would only create unnecessary unnecessary problems for teachers in later grades. Then, of course, there's the simple question question of whether three- year-olds are truly ready to proceed with reading at such an early age. Not even junior and senior kindergarten classes teach formal reading skills, although they do provide a foundation which youngsters can later use to start the reading process. In other words, teaching teaching reading at an early age could pose problems whether the effort were successful or not. If it were a success, the child would face some rather boring years in early school classes having having already unlocked the mystery of the alphabet. If unsuccessful, it's pos sible that one could damage damage a child's interest in learning things at a later date. It seems to me that children are still entitled entitled to a childhood. They should not have the burden burden of achievement thrust upon them unless they desire it. In other words, there are some protegies who pick up the reading skills or other abilities such as music or sports at a very early age. But most children are not in this category and should be allowed their freedom at least for a time. I'm a firm believer in the idea that the barrier between adulthood and childhood is an artificial one. Children are not empty vessels waiting to be filled with enough information information and knowledge knowledge to make it through life. They are full- fledged human beings who lack only the size and the experience which will make them "adults". Thankfully, we have moved away from the idea that children are a "sub-species" slightly lower on the ladder than those over 18. But if we move too far in the direction of encouraging encouraging kids to act like adults then we will find ourselves in a new dilemma. dilemma. That is to say, we will be in danger of forcing forcing children to "work" and to take on adult re sponsibilities before their time. This used to be known as child exploitation and it has taken us decades to drive it out of our modern modern western society. Of course, there's another reason why threé-year-olds may not be the best candidates for learning to read. They have so many other activities such as riding tricycles, visiting friends, watching bugs crawl across sidewalks, going to McDonald's, drinking Koolaid, visiting visiting Grandma and Grandpa, going to the park, riding on swings, collecting rocks, picking flowers etc. etc. They just don't have the time. Queen's Park Report By Sam Cureatz M.P.P. Ontario's Youth Short-Changed? In the federal Young Offenders Offenders Act, which came into force on April 1, 1984, the "Declaration of Principles" takes into consideration that young persons should not always be held accountable for their actions in the same manner as demanded of adults, although they should bear responsibility for their offences. The governments, both federal and provincial, have found themselves in a precarious situation in attempting to find a balance between the protection of society, on the one hand, and the recognition of the special needs, guidance and assistance assistance required by a young offender, on the other hand. Some of the key elements. which make the legislation dealing with young offenders different from that dealing with adults in the same situations are: 1) Young offenders are not to be detained in the same place as an adult offender, unless it would be dangerous for him or her to be placed in detention with other young offenders, or if there were no separate detention area for youth within a reasonable distance. distance. 2) If a young offender is unable to retain counsel, and a court considers it necessary, it can refer the accused to a legal aid or assistance program, or may insist that counsel be appointed if the above programs are not available. 3) Reports dealing with an offence committed by a young offender under sixteen cannot be published, and hearings can be conducted in camera if the judge feels that this procedure would be necessary to maintain order and the proper administration of justice. justice. Under Section 4 of the Act, the provinces have the power to implement a program of "alternative measures". These alternative measures would be designed to spare the young offender the trauma of ordinary, adult court, and avoid a permanent record, thereby reducing the stigma which could lead to future criminal behaviour. All provinces in Canada, except Ontario, have established such programs, including Probation Orders, which involve the young offenders in personal or community services, services, to encourage them to develop a more constructive role in society. Other pro grams are designed to allow meetings between young offenders and their victims. One must wonder why the Ontario government has chosen not to establish alternative alternative measures, especially when they have proven to be successful in all other Canadian provinces. Ontario's refusal to implement an alternative alternative measures program has incurred a court challenge by a children's advocacy group. In my opinion, one could argue that the Ontario government is short-changing its youth by denying them rights to which youth in other provinces are entitled, which could be viewed as an infraction of the Charter of Rights. Next week, I shall continue to outline the direction in which the government is heading with respect to the Young Offenders Act. Congratulations to Dr. P. Zakarow, Incoming President of the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation, for obtaining funding funding from the provincial government for their biennial convention dinner. I was also pleased to attend the swearing-in ceremony of new Canadian citizens at Oshawa Civic Square. History of Oshawa Rebels Drum & Bugle Corps The Rebels Drum and Bugle Corps, comprised of up to 60 boys and girls, twelve to twenty-one years of age, was formed in Oshawa in 1977. Through the hard work of the young people involved and their instructors, they emerged as Canadian Novice Champions in 1978. They quickly worked their way up to Junior "C" Champions in 1979 and both Provincial and National "C" Class Champions Champions in 1983. The highlight of their 15-day summer tour of 1985 came in Madison, Wisconsin, at the International World Championships. Championships. The Corps finished first in the preliminaries in the A60 class, and second in the finals. Overall the Corps ranks ninth in the world for their class - a remarkable achievement achievement considering the jump up to "A" Class only the year before ! The members practise once a week the year 'round, twice a week from January to May and three times per week from then until completion of the summer tour, to perfect their music and intricate M and M drills (Marching and Manoeuvres). Each of the lines - drum, horn and colour guard - rehearse separately and then together to achieve the polished performances viewed by the public. Thousands of people see them each year as they participate participate in parades, competitions competitions and shows. Each Christmas season they march in 10 to 12 Santa Claus Parades ranging in size from those of small towns to the prestigious and nationally televised Toronto Parade. Several members competed in Individuals Competition in March of 1986 and won 38 medals, 29 of which were gold. In addition, they placed first in the "Mini" Corps category. The Corps takes part in summer parades and competitions competitions every weekend from the end of May until the beginning beginning of September. These activities cost money - for transportation, uniforms, instruments, equipment, and rehearsal facilities. The Corps members work hard to raise these funds through the sale of cheese, meat, maple syrup, bottle drives and a dance-a- thon. With the help of their parents, they hold yard and bake sales, have a booth in Christmas Marketplace, staff a weekly bingo, hold a Monte Carlo night and man a pavilion during Fiesta Week. Money is also brought in through performing in parades, a city grant, and the much appreciated support of the Oshawa Central Lions Club. However, the Rebels have gladly volunteered their time and talents for charitable causes - such as several Terry Fox events, the city's Christmas Christmas tree lighting ceremony, retarded children, Heart & Stroke flag raising, and the United Way. Thé current eight instructors instructors are highly qualified with over 80 years combined experience teaching drum corps, plus over 70 years as marching members! The young people work hard to bring their music to the public and to compete with their peers. The marching members members of the Oshawa Drum Corps are indeed Rebels with a cause!