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> I i 2 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanvillc, March 4,1987 Section Two S(jt Canabian Statesman 623-3303 Durham Countv's Great Familv Journal Established 133 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 62-66 King SL W., Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 JOHN M. JAMES Editor--Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. PETER PARROTT Associate Editor DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition of advertisements produced by the employees of The Canadian Statesman, The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without permission of the publishers. $17.00ayear--6 months $9.00 foreign--$55.00 a year strictly In advance Allhough 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 for 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 or the entire cost of such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement. ) Editorial Comment Winning the War on Drugs The fight against illicit drugs is really really a two-part battle. And two separate separate events occurring in the Durham Region on last Wednesday morning brought that message home. For, you see, both the Durham Regional Regional Police and the lieutenant governor governor of Ontario spent some valuable time battling drug abuse in Durham that day. The effort by the regional police has already been well-publicized and their efforts (along with those of the Ontario Provincial Police) have been jusifiably praised by all. Massive drug busts such as this one are clear indications that the community community has the will to prosecute drug offenders. offenders. And the sheer numbers of arrests will undoubtedly act as a deterrent. deterrent. Perhaps the addict who must support support his habit would not be stopped by this kind of mass arrest. But the police operation should certainly put fear into the minds of those who might be tempted to start using drugs. But arrests of clearly-identified suspects is only part of the fight against drug abuse. For the second half of that fight, we might take a look at the subject of prevention. prevention. And that's part of the message message the the lieutenant governor of Ontario brought to students at St. Stephen's School last week. While the arrests were being made around the Durham Region, Mr. Alexander Alexander was telling young people that drug use and abuse lead in only one direction. Take drugs and you'll probably find yourself unable to become a doctor, lawyer, lieutenant governor or anything anything else. Chances are you'll not live long enough to do any of these things, he told the students. It was a blunt, but effective message. message. And coming from Lincoln Alexander Alexander it was delivered with considerable considerable moral force. Naturally, the arrests and the speech to a Bowmanville school by the lieutenant governor were totally unrelated. And warnings against drug abuse were only a small part of Mr. Alexander's presentation. But the two events, occurring on the same day, illustrate the two-fold nature nature of the war on drugs. Education (especially when it's introduced introduced by good role models) will in all likelihood lead young people to choose not to start drug abuse. And arrests will get the drug traffickers traffickers off the streets and deter others from entering the drug culture or staying there. Along with concerns over illicit drugs, there's also the vigorous antismoking antismoking campaign now under way. And then there's the well-managed fight against alcohol abuse, especially especially through programs such as Students Students Against Drunk Driving. We are also seeing greater concern among all ages of physical fitness, health, and general well-being. Again, this is especially evident among the young people, for whom good physical conditioning is a popular popular pursuit. The ones who only hang around video games and shopping plazas are a distinct minority. Anyhow, it would appear to us that in the battle against illicit drugs we are about to "turn the corner." That doesn't mean we should rest on our laurels. But it does mean that we're rapidly reaching the stage where drug use is being driven back to the gutters where it belongs. And you will not hear any sane person advocate advocate experimentation with drugs. Congratulations are in order to both those who have enforced the laws and those who have been attempting attempting to educate young people and adults about the dangers. The Government We Deserve Politicians are taking a beating. It's partly due to the uproar over the Iranian arms scandal in the U.S. And closer to home, you can take your pick among several "setbacks" that have been experienced by the federal federal government. As a result, politicians are getting a bad name and, in some cases, it's justified. We are concerned, however, that the cynicism over politicitians might develop into cynicism towards government institutions themselves and, perhaps, towards the institution known as a democratic government. This would be most unfortunate. For all of the evidence over the past year points toward the possible failings failings of individuals but certainly not towards the failure of the system itself. itself. Indeed, the fact that we have learned about the questionable inner manoeuverings of big government is further conclusive proof that the democratic system is working. We're able to criticize the mistakes of the past and to learn from them. And that's one of the characteristics that sets our institutions apart from other forms of government. We, at least, have the luxury of catching the gaffes committed by our political leaders and hurling them out of office if their transgressions are too great. Other nations have no such luck. But, as we said at the outset of these remarks, there still seems to be some problems with individual politicians. These arc the true culprits. And there are some who feel that any "political animal" inhabiting the halls of government government will produce about the same results as the current incumbents. It appears to us that one of our difficulties difficulties lies in our selection of "professional" "professional" politicians to fill the political political posts. It seems to us that democracy was never intended to survive through career politicians. Rather, the political political leaders should exist in order to serve their country for a few terms of office and then return to private life huving(ono hopes)accomplished certain certain aims and objectives. But, instead, the art of politics seems to be pursued for its own sake. And this results in persons occupying political office for reasons of prestige, prestige, ego, power, and a number of other factors which are all the wrong reasons to run for election. Moreover, as career politicians hold public office, they block the way for persons from other walks of life who also have much to contribute and could, in all likelihood, enrich the government. It is also our gut feeling that career politicians tend to perpetuate bureaucracy, royal commissions, red tape, by-laws, and all the other obstacles obstacles which are the very things that discourage people from ever becoming becoming involved in the political process through holding public office. It all boils down to this: We are not concerned about our government institutions. But we are somewhat concerned over whether or not they are being occupied by the best-qualified men and women. At times, we are concerned that there's a certain gap existing in Canada between between government and the public. Politics, as does any occupation, functions by certain rules of the game. But it need not degenerate into a game played only by by a select few. If there is cynicism about politicians politicians and present-day government, the solution lies in only one direction. direction. Since our democratic institutions are all intact, we need to blame only ourselves if the persons we elect arc not to our liking. The answer may lie in opening the government to a wider cross-section of the public. But that will require greater participation in the political process. It's not enough to merely complain over mistakes and blunders which elected officials have committed in the past. The democratic process requires requires a higher degree of participation participation than that. The great tiling about democracy is the fact that we (on average) end up getting the government that we deserve. deserve. Good government is not handed to us on a silver platter but is something which we must work at vigorously. And so, it's all up to us. Winter Lingers at Bowmanville Beach r x. Byline... by Peter Parrott The other day, a friend phoned on another matter matter of business and casually casually mentioned that he had liked the latest column column I'd written. "Yes, he said. You know. It was the one about...." and his voice trailed off as he forgot the subject. Then he asked me what it was about. And I couldn't remember remember either. "After all, I just write them. You don't expect me to read them do you?" I might have replied. Anyhow, it was at that point that I decided I'd been doing this too long and I needed a break. Many aspiring writers think they cgtji produce a weekly column. And it's true that they probably could. The : trick is to string the columns together together month after month, year after year without letting the well of creative ideas dry up. Sam at Queen's Park PATIENTS' RIGHTS Last month Ontario's Progressive Conservative Leader Larry Grossman released a discussion paper that urges a new approach to the protection of patients' rights and improved public participation in our health care system. The widely-distributed discussion paper recognizes Ontario as having one of the finest health and social systems in the world. But at the same time, increases awareness that our health care institutions are not working as well as they could. This is most evident in Homes for the Aged, Nursing Homes, and psychiatric institutions. The paper outlines how a more balanced system of patients' rights could be implemented. Major recommendations include: *A Patients' Bill of Rights legsilated to cover all healthcare healthcare consumers. Subsections of the Bill should deal with the special circumstances facing the elderly in long-term care facilities and the mentally ill in psychiatric facilities. * The Ontario Psychiatric Patient Advocate Program should be broadened and transformed into an independent and more comprehensive Patient Advocate Office, This office would assist, and in some cases represent, the general public, residents of Nursing Homes and Homes for the Aged, and people in Homes for Special Care and psychiatric hospital units. * The existing Health Disciplines Board should be transformed into a Health Care Complaints Commission - reporting to the Legislature -with the Jurisdiction to hear appeals from all existing and proposed eomplalnls tribunals. Patients' Rights, Building A More Balanced System, is the third in a series released by the Grossman Task Force On Human and Social Services. The purpose of such discussion papers is to encourage and generate discussion among health-care professionals, politicians, and the public regarding the province's health care system. Ontario does have one of the finest health and social service systems in the world. But it took years of building, examining, reforming and improving to achieve the goals we have accomplished in health care. Patients' Rights was presented as a proposal to the government -- to date, no action has been taken. When it comes to health care, we never rest on bur laurels. In order to maintain our standards we must always be examining, reforming and achieving. The Ministry of Transportation & Communications is holding an Information'Centre at the Newcastle Community Centre, Newcastle on February 11, 1987 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The purpose of the Centre is to give area citizens an opportunity to review and comment on the design proposals for improvements to Highway 2, After numerous requests I am pleased that the Ministry of Transportation & Communications has agreed to place signs at 3rd Line and Highway 115/35 indicating that the intersection is a 4- WayStop." I was pleased to attend the blessing of the new St. Thercsc Roman Catholic Church on Courtice Road North. I was also pleased to attend the opening of the Third Annual Juried Exhibition of Crafts at llie Visual Arts Centre in Newcastle. And it's even tougher to do that along with all of the other photography and writing assignments which also make up a typical week's work. Not that I'm complajp-, ing,.. you understand. Writing this sort of thing; is a dream come true and I've enjoyed it. But when it starts to become a little little less fun than it used to be, then I say that's time to pursue other projects. projects. Well, folks, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'll be hanging up the old "Byline" column for a little while at least. And I'll be concentrating on a new project which Will be a sort of community community ndtebookephtamihg items of interest gleaned from the many happenings happenings around the town. And that, by the way, is the new name for our column. column. "Around the Town." The good news is that this page will not be left with a gaping hole the size of my ususal "Byline". Isn't it funny how newspapers always find just enough news to fill each page? RobSavage will be taking taking taking over this niche in The Statesman. He's the person who's been covering Newcastle council for the past seven months in addition addition to other assorted as signments ranging from pigeon racing to nuclear generating stations. Everybody brings a different approach to the writing of a first-person first-person column and I'm sure you'll enjoy Rob's "Outlook" "Outlook" column which 1 will (if deadlines permit) appear appear in this space next week. I know I'm looking forward forward to it also. And, in the meantime, thanks for reading. We'll be in touch. "The Hands and Feet of the Agency" C,S,0. Board Thanks Volunteers The work of the Community Community Service Order Programs Programs was praised last Wednesday night in a speech by the chief of police for the Durham Region. Region. Chief Jon Jenkins said that although police are also concerned about the victims of crime, they support support the principle of Community Community Service Orders. He noted that this program gives offenders an opportunity opportunity to pay their debt to society. society. And that debt is re-paid in such a way that "both the community and the offender offender benefit". Chief Jenkins added that: "In addition, tax dollars are saved which ordinarily would be spent maintaining offenders in an institution." The Durham Regional Police Chief, a veteran of police work in the Durham Region since 1954, was guest speaker at the annual appreciation night for CSO volunteers. Approximately 50 representatives representatives of agencies which have utilized clients from the CSO program were present last week for the appreciation appreciation dinner held at the Bowmanville Lions Centre. The various churches, government agencies, ser vice clubs, and others who have made room in the organizations organizations for CSO clients were warmly thanked by Ken Bromley, president of the CSO board of directors and Councillor Diane Hamre, immediate past president. Under the Community Service Order Program, certain offenders may be allowed allowed to provide a number of hours of community service service work in lieu of a jail cpntpnpp And the task of the CSO program is to match the clients with appropriate work in the community. Lyn Todd, co-ordinator of CSO, notes that during 1986, 43 agencies have been involved involved in the project. And a total of 2,550 hours of work were completed by clients. Roy Brillinger, area manager manager for probation and parole, also spoke of the benefits benefits of CSO and the effectiveness effectiveness of the local organization. organization. "The record that you have established is known in the Metro Region probation probation and parole office," he said. And he thanked the volunteer volunteer agencies for being the "hands and feet" of the program. "You show the clients that there is another world out there," he said. Durham Regional Police Chief Jon Jenkins was the special guest of the Community Service Order Program's board of directors last week when the organization organization held its annual Appreciation Night. The event, which took place at the Bowmanville Lions Centre, recognized the work of various agencies in the municipality who have found a place for CSO clients in their programs. From left arc: Lyn Todd, co-ordinator of CSO; Ken Bromley, president of Hie CSO Board; Chief Jenkins; Roy Brillinger, area manager, manager, probation and parole services; Diane Ilamre, past president of the CSO; and current vice president president Linda Gardner.